Readings: Exodus, 34, 4-9, Note the great line, The Lord is Gracious & Merciful, slow to anger, and rich in kindness & fidelity;
Daniel 3, Glory and Praise Forever;
2 Corinthians 13, 11-13;
John 3, 16-18. Great readings today!
Father’s Day History:
Four steps:
1. The Civil War started thinking about a Mother’s Day. Anna Jarvis pushed it ca. 1907 and it was made official in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson.
2. Monongah, WV mining disaster, 210 fathers killed, Dec. 6, 1907 (just before Christmas & after the Mother’s Day activity). Fairmont, WV. Grace Golden Clayton pushed the idea.
3. Spokane, WA, Sonora Dodd & influence of Mother’s Day. Dodd’s dad had fought in the Civil War and all by himself raised Sonora & her 5 siblings.
4. Pres. LBJ made it special, 1966. Pres. Nixon made it a national holiday, 1972.
Exodus Story:
The Israelite people have been wandering around in the Sinai Desert for many years after escaping from old Pharaoh in Egypt. Moses has been invited up Mt. Sinai to receive 10 Commandments.
He comes down loaded with two stone tablets written on both sides and discovers that the people have become exasperated with him and the wandering in the desert. They have created a gold bull to celebrate with and to worship.
Old Moses, all angry, throws down the tablets and breaks them. He calls Aaron, his lieutenant, tells him to gather the Levite tribe, the priestly tribe, and he tells them to slaughter all the rest. They do.
Then, and here we take up the reading, Yahweh tells Moses to make two more tablets and to return to the top of Mt. Sinai, where he will get another set of commandments. It is here where that marvelous line about the nature of God is mentioned again, "The Lord is gracious & merciful, never gets angry, and is abounding in love."
Beware of taking this story literally. It is mythical history making.
Responsorial Psalm from the Book of Daniel:
A great story. Characters: three Jewish boys, a gold statue, and the great King, Nebuchadnezzar, what a name.
Seems like old Nebuchadnezzar decided to cast a gold statue. He wanted everyone to bow down to it. Three Jewish boys said no. Even though they were favorites of the king, he had to throw them into a flaming furnace.
Far from being burned up, the boys started dancing around in joy and they sang the song we have for today’s responsorial psalm. Though this is totally a mythical story, you can picture them.
Homily was given by Tony Levatino of Holy Trinity Parish.
2 Kings 4:42-44, They shall eat and there shall be some left over.
Psalm 145, The hand of the Lord feeds us;he answers all our needs.
Ephesians 4: 1-6, One body and one Spirit.
John 6: 1-15, The miracle of the loaves and fishes.
The Consecration.
Homily:
From the prominence of the miracle stories of feeding multitudes with so little, and the importance given to the Passover meal by the Jewish followers of Jesus, it’s no surprise that they didn’t take long after he died to make a remembrance of his last Passover meal the centerpiece of their gatherings.
By 325 A.D., with Constantine as Emperor of the Roman Empire, the Eucharistic meal was recognized as a central part of Christian practice. Earlier, about 150 A.D., Justin Martyr, an early Christian apologist, wrote to explain Christianity to the Greek world, how the followers of Jesus had the practice of celebrating a remembrance of the Lord’s Supper when they gathered.
The Offertory with Hugh, Sydney and Mary.
Earlier still is the Acts, written between 80 and 90 A.D. In Ch. 2, is the statement, “They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful.”
Perhaps the earliest written mention of the Eucharistic meal is in First Corinthians, Ch. 11. Scripture scholars agree that the letters of Paul were written around 50 A.D., about 20 years after Jesus’ death. Paul alludes to irreverent behavior at “the Lord’s Supper.” He was criticizing the followers of Jesus in Corinth about turning the meal into “a family squabble”, instead of coming to the “Lord’s Table” with reverence and courtesy.”
The Kiss of Peace.
The Lord’s Supper, the Mass, as it evolved, has had different understandings. Is the Mass primarily a ‘sacrifice’ being remembered and somehow offered again for a people cut off from God? Or is the Mass primarily a shared ritual meal of remembrance, celebrating a people’s thankfulness for Jesus’ Good News that we are already connected with God and always have been?
Exodus 3, 1-8, 13-15, The Lord appeared to Moses in fire flaming out of a bush. (One of the great stories)
Psalm 103, The Lord is kind and merciful. (One of the great lines)
1 Corinthians 10, 1-6, 10-12, Do not grumble.
Luke 13, 1-9, There was a person who had a fig tree.
Exodus observations:
Natalie.
What: this is the second book of the Bible and Torah, following Genesis. It is a story about how the Jewish tribe of people escaped from slavery in Egypt.
Who: the story is about the Jewish people and their reluctant leader, Moses. It was put together, not by Moses, as was thought for centuries, but by a group of the priests even centuries later.
When: it is put together at The Time in Jewish history, yes, during the Babylonian Captivity, say 555 years before Christ. It is a mostly mythological story about how God helped his special people out of slavery eons before Babylon. Do you see a parallel between the slavery of Egypt and Babylon? Could this be a reason for developing the Egypt story, that is, to encourage the people enslaved in Babylon?
Our selection: like the call stories of Isaiah and Jeremiah, here is another call story, this time Moses. Unlike the booklet which edits out part of the story, we will read it all.
Jerry and William arriving.
Psalm 103 observations:
This psalm has one of my most favorite lines in all of scripture, The Lord is gracious and merciful….
There are so many pictures of God presented by the Bible, some of which are quite demanding and unpleasant. Note, for example, the story of the fig tree in Luke this morning. Each of us is challenged to put a face on our God according to our own searching and experience. This line, which is seen in other places in the Bible, is my vision of God.
Emma arriving.
Joseph with the Beautiful Coat
I bet you don’t know why the Jewish people ended up in Egypt and became slaves. This is a Bible story Sunday. Here we go.
Let me tell you the story of Joseph with the beautiful coat. We pick up Joseph living in Canaan, which the Israelites will say later that God gave them. He lives with his 11 older brothers.
Harper arriving.
His father is Jacob, the third of the Big 3, the 3 patriarchs of the Jewish tribe, namely, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob or Israel, father, son, & grandson. Jacob loves his 12th son in a special way and because of this the other brothers get jealous. Unfortunately, Joseph has told on his brothers, informing his dad that they are not taking care of the live stock.
Cathy and Mary arriving.
One day Joseph goes looking for his brothers in the fields. They see him coming and decide they will kill him. Reuben, the eldest, persuades them to sell Joseph to some guys running a camel train by on their way to Egypt. Price: 20 pieces of silver. Sound familiar?
Queen Zoe arrives.
So Joseph ends up in Egypt and is sold to the captain of the king’s guards. He does so well the captain puts him in charge of his affairs. Unfortunately for Joseph, the captain’s wife develops a crush on Joseph. When Joseph refuses her, she gets mad and tells her husband Joseph tried to seduce her. Joseph goes to prison.
The Leo Man.
While in prison he interprets dreams of the prisoners, one of whom is the king’s wine steward and who is released. For two years Joseph stays in prison.
Twins, Leo and Fred.
One day the king has a dream that worries him. The wine steward tells the king about Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams. The king calls him, Joseph interprets the dream. The king loves Joseph and makes him the governor of all of Egypt. Joseph is now in his 20’s.
Rosemary reading her blessing.
Meanwhile, the 11 brothers and Jacob are experiencing severe drought in Canaan. They decide to go to Egypt and ask the king for aid. They arrive and are shown to the office of the governor. Guess whom they see. Joseph. They don’t recognize him. He, however, recognizes them and really messes with them. Read it, a fun story.
J.T. arrives with Georgie and Natalie.
Finally, Joseph reveals who he is with many tears. Old Jacob and all the brothers reunite with Joseph, who lives in Egypt until he is 110 years old.
This is how the Israelites got to Egypt. How they became slaves? The Bible says not a word, but they did multiply like rabbits to numbers which threatened the security of a later king. And, then, along comes Moses and our reading this morning.
Cupcakes of The Week, Jackie and Chuck.
Why talk about this story? Three reasons.
We Catholics don’t get the Bible stories read to us. Even as fables they are marvelous. It is nice to cover them on occasion.
The writers of this story are attempting to convince the Jewish people that God watches over them and protects them. He watched over Joseph and watched over the enslaved Israelites in Egypt, sending them Moses. He even watched over Moses. And Babylon?
Finally, in our life we are each challenged to find out who God is, what is his way of proceeding. These stories give us an image. And so does my favorite line from Psalm 103. Read about how God punishes, pays back, demands sacrifice, sends us goats to everlasting fire? Keep the line near you or in your head,
The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry and is abounding in love.
On this third Sunday of Lent what is your image of God?
2 Kings4, 42-44, “They not only ate, but had leftovers.”
Psalm 145, The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
Ephesians 4, 1-6, “Pour yourselves out in acts of love; and be quick to mend fences.”
Alleluia – “A great prophet has risen in our midst.”
John 6:1-15 (also in Matt 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17) – “Jesus took the bread, and having given thanks, gave it to them.”
Genevieve says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome."
Introduction to the readings:
The Jewish people wanted to have a king like other nations had. Wasn’t God’s idea; the people kept demanding a king; he let them have a king. The idea was that the kings, starting with Solomon, would represent the sovereignty of God by being good kings.
For 500 years there were 40 or so kings, and of course they were mostly rather pitiful, a few were pretty good. Today’s reading is from the second book of kings, so during the time when kings ruled the Jewish people, starting with Saul about 1000 years before Jesus, and ending about 500 years later with the Babylonian captivity (555).
Leo & Shonda, too, say, "Good Morning, Folks, Welcome."
There were prophets and holy men before there were kings. They are the ones who kept tabs on the kings and represented God’s take on issues.
Today’s reading introduces Elisha, a holy man respected by Joram, king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. This little story of Elisha feeding a crowd of 100 with 20 loaves of bread was chosen to connect with the story of the multiplication of loaves in the today’s Gospel story. And the letter to the Ephesians teaches what sharing in the meal should signify and bring about in one’s behavior.
Emma, too, says that she and her buddy welcome everyone.
HOMILY:
We have heard many times the reading about the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish. This is the only miracle story repeated in all four Gospels.
How appropriate that feeding those needing food was the best miracle story known; it could be told today with equal impact. I forget the stats, but it’s millions of people, including children, who are hungry every day and without food (who knows the number or percent).
Harper says she thinks it is fun being here.
Also in each of these four repetitions of the story, there is a formula or ritual stated: “Jesus raised his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to his disciples.”
So first, the story is a story about Jesus performing a miracle, which is how writers in those days made someone ‘famously big’ or a ‘god to be reckoned with’.
Secondly, this story was well known, since all four Gospel writers or compilers used it.
And thirdly, one line in the story became part of the shared meal starting with early Christians all the way down to today.
Victoria having just too much fun with her mom.
The reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, liturgically, seems to teach what flows from sharing in this ritual meal. And his answer is unity, recognizing that we are called to be one body, united in love. Paul describes our call from God as pouring yourself out for each other in acts of love, accepting other’s differences and being quick to forgive.
Three questions to mull over:
In your family (at home, here, friends group) how do you see acts of love being shared, and differences accepted?
How quick are you to mend fences and forgive one another?
Do you make the connection between sharing bread here at Mass, and experiencing connection and oneness with others in your everyday life?
Genevieve, who has learned already from previous Sundays how to turn it off, says, "Wake me up when the fun begins."
Habakkuk, 1, 2-3, 2, 2-4 , I cry for help, but you do not listen.
Psalm 95, If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
21 Timothy 1, 6-8, 13-14, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God.
Luke 16, 19-31, Faith the size of a mustard seed.
Says Charlotte with her big sister, Chloe, "Welcome in, Everybody."
Observations on Habakkuk
Who: one of the Minor Prophets. His book, 3 chapters.
When: 555 before Christ. Clear from the text, because he mention the evil Babylon.
Peighton, too, says, "Hi, Folks, Come in." Notice Peighton already has his running shoes on.
Message:
I am watching the wicked triumph, ruin & violence evereywhere.
Curses on the oppressor, Babylon.
God will win in the end
Our Message:
1/2 I see ruin and violence everywhere.
1/2 God says the just will live.
And Genevieve, who has never met a stranger, says, "Wow, it is so nice to see everybody at my party."
Unprofitable Servants? Faith the size of a Mustard Seed?
Wow! What do you think when you hear this reading? How do you feel? Got faith enough to remove a mulberry tree? I need the faith to remove an overgrown Live Oak tree out of our back yard. I, for one, don’t get good vibes off of this reading. And many of the other readings we have had this year from Luke.
Therefore, I would like to dispute with Luke. From my psychology experience, am I seeing a man with a slightly split personality?
Hi, Nora, You look very pretty this morning.
While Luke has the touching Nativity narrative and the magnificent story of the Prodigal Son, and, even, the lost coin and lost sheep, look what else.
We have had the master and his debtors, leave your parents and take up your cross, the narrow gate that only a few get in. Likewise, be ready because he comes like a thief when you are not ready and guess what happens—you go straight to hell!
You know my bias. I believe in a God who is unconditional, unconditional in his love for us. Forget about hell.
Hi, Harper, you may tell your grandmother that we can repeat the homily for her any time, since she missed part of it. And we know she hates to do that.
As another alternative to this discouraging passage I would propose a simple, favorite line of mine from the Old Testament and from one of the Minor Prophets, Micah, only 7 little chapters.
Says Micah in chapter 6 verse 8, “The Lord has told us what is good. What he requires is this: to do what is right, to love unconditionally, and to live in humble fellowship with God.”
Initially this may sound pretty easy. However, is it always easy to do what is right? Like to stand up for peace when everyone wants war?
The Magic, Leo and John
Easy to show constant love? To troublemakers, to other races, to other religions, to the political candides in this fall’s elections?
To walk in humble fellowship with our God? Can this fellowship eliminate fear, fear that I am headed for hell?
How do you do what is right, love unconditionally, and live in humble fellowship with our unconditionally loving God?
Good Morning, Tori, Good Morning, Zoe. So nice to see you dear girls.
Readings:
Isaiah 5, 1-7, The fruitless vineyard
Psalm 80, The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Phlippians 4, 6-9, Have no anxiety at all
Matthew 21, 33-43, The vineyard owner & the unfaithful tenants.
Good Morning to you, too, Riley, and welcome in from Atlanta. It is so nice to meet you. I knew your mom when she was your age. And you are as pretty as she was.
Reading 1; Isaiah 5:1-7
Introduction:
The vineyard in Isaiah is a sad story. Why? The fruit from the House of Israel should have been praise and thanksgiving to God. But there was no thanksgiving given and no humility shown. There was no lived praise or peace or justice.
Thanks, John and Buddy and Mike, for celebrating today. I knew before we did Paul & Carrie's wedding this weekend, I would be jet lagged out after the wedding and an evening arrival from Grand Canyon and Phoenix.
Reading 2; Paul’s Letter to the Philippians 4:6-9
Introduction:
Today’s reading from Philippians contains a teaching common to several of his letters, “Have no anxiety at all; rather you should give thanks in everything, for that is God’s will for us.
Thanks for the Homily, Mike.
Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew 21:33-43
Introduction: The landowner in the parable is God, and his gift to Israel is the kingdom, the tenants are the Jewish chief priests and elders of the people, the servants were the prophets.
The Father’s son is Jesus, who is the cornerstone, the fountain of living water [the good news], and the source of the Holy Spirit [the new wine].
The Gentiles are to be the recipients of the kingdom.
It was a marvelous, beautiful wedding and I am so peaceful resting in the back row for this celebration. Thanks again, John & Mike.
Homily
Our Liturgy of the Word always leads us to the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
Recall Paul’s teaching, ‘In everything give thanks for that is God’s will for us in Christ, Jesus.’
Paul & Carrie begin their wedding standing on the top of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on a beautiful evening.
In our soon to be celebrated Liturgy of Eucharist, we are presented with the perfect example of Jesus giving thanks to the Father. Of course, he does so with no anxiety, but instead with thanksgiving.
Since the bread that we break and share with one another is a participation in our communion with Jesus Christ; we are invited to join with Jesus as a Thanksgiving to his Father. We, too, as his sons and daughters, through the power of the Spirit, can give ourselves back to the Father.
In the background is the North Rim, to which Paul & Carrie, plus a few others, are hiking this very day. These dear people are in shape. More next Sunday.
Judy and I have a friendship with a couple in Austin who, about 15 years ago adopted a baby boy. After some months it became apparent that he was born with special needs. In everything they gave thanks. The angels in heaven sought to find perfect parents for the boy; and they did. Today he is still has needs; but he is active, full of excitement, and appreciative.
May each of us continue to seek to do God’s will for us in Christ, Jesus.
The celebration of Greg & Erin continues on with the help of Cole and Diane.
Proverbs: You may wonder what is being talked about here. It is Wisdom.
Giving Back
Psalm 8 is one of my favorites because it says that with all the beauty of creation around us, the heavens, the stars, still even more beautiful is the human being. Last week on Hilton Head Island I saw this in a few surprising ways.
First, did you know that at night the island has no street lights? As you ride around the little lanes, it is dark and there is the sensation that you are out in the boonies, which I liked. The island is heavily forested with live oaks and pine, even around the houses. The reason for the darkness is turtle migration. The turtles won’t come where there is a lot of light.
As much as this struck me, the next two things struck me more. They both touch on projects we as a community believe in and support. The first has to do with Habitat for Humanity, one of our favorites. Not only is there an active Habitat chapter on Hilton Head, but there is an all female chapter. The island has a number of retired & semi retired people. The women had helped with the local Habitat projects and decided they wanted to have their own group.
As a group they determined to reach out even beyond the island. Consequently, the women took themselves and their generosity to Ireland, of all places, and there they built a number of Habitat houses. They are still quite active, according to Rosemary’s sister.
The other phenomenon that struck me. Many of the 50 thousand full time residents on the island are retired professional people. They have free time and are ready to contribute it to the community. Many of the retirees are doctors and nurses.
They have set up their own clinic. Similar to the Collin County Adult Clinic we support, all the staff are pro bono, working for free. Dissimilar to our clinic, which is able to open only one night a week, Thursday, the Hilton Head clinic is apparently open seven days a week.This astounded me, because I know how difficult it is for Julia & Al and all the staff here in Plano to open even one night a week.
I’ve visited Clare & Joe probably four times over the past few years. I have ridden a bicycle over numerous shady roads and bike paths through the neighborhoods. This visit I got a look behind the facade. I am impressed. These folks, even in retirement, are giving back, through Habitat and through their clinic.
How are you giving back on this feast of the Trinity?