Sunday Homily 6-5-11, 7th Easter

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 1, 12-14 (post Ascension, Wednesday), Psalm 27  (good), I believe that I shall see the Good Things of the Lord in the Land of the Living;

also verse 4, One thing I ask of the Lord, to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple.  

1 Peter 4, 13-16; John 17, 1-11

 Begin 6-5-11

Acts:

Observations & a final review—(Author, Date, Place, Subject)

 Author: This is Luke, the physician, the companion of Paul, the Gentile writing for Gentile Christians, and the same Luke who wrote the Gospel of Luke.

 Date: Around 65 years after Christ.  Probably just before the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (70 C.E., a big date in Jewish history), or Luke would have probably mentioned it. 

Place: probably Ephesus, today a ruin on the west coast of Turkey south of Constantinople.  Once this town was a major Christian center.

 Subject: the material works like in concentric, expanding circles, beginning in Jerusalem and ending in Rome after touching Judea, Syria, Ephesus, & Europe.  It treats activities in the early Christian community, some of which may describe they way they wished things were.

Today's selection in chapter 1 takes place just after the Ascension of Jesus, which was officially celebrated this past Thursday.   

 Sources: Good News Bible, New Interpreter’s Study Bible, St. Louis U. Jesuits’ Liturgical web

 Offertory 6-5-11

That I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord

 It may have been a year ago when I talked about Rosemary having a breakdown on her bike riding around White Rock Lake.  To refresh your memory, she had ridden around about half of the lake.  She is down at the south end near the dam.  Her chain fell off and she did not know how to fix it. 

 So she starts walking it in.  She may have phoned me, but I did not answer because I was riding.  People go by.  She walks.  Finally a guy asks if she needs help.  She says yes, he stops, and he puts her chain back on.  Simple.  But significant.

 I was so touched by this guy’s action, that I had decided that I would always ask people if they need help when I see them stuck beside the road.  I talked about it here and somebody special in our community actually assisted a woman whose car had broken down.

 This stopping can be hard, folks, especially for us obsessive compulsive bike riders.  I got to maintain my 16 or 17 or 18 miles per hour average.  Or I have to finish up and run home.  Whatever, for the past year I have pretty faithfully checked with people as I pass, often hoping they don’t need help.  And they did not.

Leo 6-5-11 
 

Until this past Wednesday morning about 7:00.  We had already gone around the lake and were heading north on the White Rock Trail, which runs from the Lake all the way up to Valley View and Hillcrest.  I was passing just north of the Greenville Avenue bridge, going behind a building on Royal Lane, when I come around a bend and see a guy working on his bike in the grass. 

 I yell out, “Need any help?”  And he responds, “You got any air?”

Yes, I did have my emergency air pump and I knew how to work it.  So I stopped. 

 He had repaired a front flat tire with a new tube, but had no air pump.  So we pumped it up.  I took off the pump.   The tire went back down.  Whoa, bad news.  I think he pinched his tube when he put it and the tire back on the rim of the wheel.  The tubes are so skinny & fragile. 

 So I had to leave him.  He said he could call his wife and she would pick him up.  His car was at Valley View & Hillcrest.

 Folks, even though my efforts did not get the guy going again, I was so happy I had had enough resolution to stop.

 I talk about this because of the line in Psalm 27, which says, “One thing I ask of the Lord, to dwell in his house all the days of my life, to gaze on the loveliness of the Lord, and to contemplate his temple.

Quinns 6-5-11 
 

Two comments:

          1.  To be aware that we are dwelling in the house of the Lord, we are challenged to do what is mentioned in the last line, contemplate.  We are invited to be contemplative people, that is, to reflect, to stop and look, to appreciate.  I think this is what I was doing when I appreciated what the guy did for Rosemary.

 Contemplation focuses on the loveliness of people as well as the loveliness of the lake, the mountain, the flower. 

          2.  Secondly, when I was a Jesuit we were educated to be contemplatives in action, that is, appreciating the loveliness of the Lord and helping others to do likewise.  Comptemplation of my blessings leads to gratitude.  Gratitude leads to sharing.

 We are invited to appreciate the beauty of the lake and the bike ride, and to help others do the same.  It may mean simply stopping to fix a chain or pump up an inner tube.  

Alison 6-5-11 

 When was the last time you contemplated the beauty of the Lord?  And helped someone do likewise? 

Picture 1:   Beginning, with Leo in Jackie McGrath's arms, Shonda & Ray

 Picture 2:   Offertory, Tom & Lynda

 Picture 3:   Leo joining the music team

 Picture 4:   Tom & Theresa Quinn with their daughter, Colleen & her kids, Quinn and Shannon

 Picture 5:   Alison is back!  With her husband John and Cliff

         

 

 

 

Similar Posts

  • Sunday Homily for September 30, 2018, 26th Ordinary Time, B cycle

     

      IMG_2955

     

     

    Sez Luke, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in.  This is my first time here."

     

     

    Readings:  

     Numbers 11, 25-29,  Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets.

    Psalm 19,  The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.

     James 5, 1-6, Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.

     Mark 9, 38-43, 45, 47-48,   If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out

                       

     

    IMG_4399

     

     

    Welcome in, Ben, Cody, and Olivia.

     

     

    The Book of Numbers

    The fourth book of the Pentateuch.  It leaves us with the impression of a carefully structured and organized religious society moving through history under the sustaining and guiding hand of God.  It is a complex collection of historical, legal and liturgical traditions spanning a period of about a thousand years! 

    An outline would identify three broad divisions of the book: The sojourn at Sinai, chapter 1-10 covers the last 19 days the Israelites spent at Sinai. 

    (Story of Sinai by bus from Cairo to El Arishe & Tel Aviv.)

     

      IMG_2953

     

     

    Pardon me for needing your help, Hue, but even at 78 I need help getting dressed & suited up.

     

     

    The second section deals with the journey from Sinai to Moab, chapter 10-22 and covers a span of about 38 years. 

    The third section, chapters 22-36, covers events in Moab  over a period of 5 months. 

    Today’s reading is from the beginning of the second section, when the people are just starting out on their journey.  Moses is getting concerned with the responsibility of all of the people, so God shares the spirit, which is on Moses among 70 elders, even two who were not part of the group gathered around the Tent.

     

     

      IMG_4403

     

     

    The Best Music with Shonda & Ben.

     

     

    The Letter of Saint James

    This is the final Sunday  (Hooray!) for the second reading to come from the Letter of St. James (Santiago de Compostella), which we have listened to for the past five weeks.  In the reading today the mood is very stark!  “Your wealth has rotted away”.  The audience for this letter is the communities outside of Jerusalem.

    Again, remember the letter is a collection of moral observations and instructions, and in today’s reading James’ does not have much that is positive to say about the rich.  The bigger context is to encourage the Christians who are suffering at the hands of the powerful.  James reminds his audience that Jesus is coming again very soon!  Immediately following today’s reading he says “Be patient brothers until the Lord’s coming.”

     

      IMG_4411

     

     

    Tori Lights our Candles of the Week.

     

     

    If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out  (the homily that I passed on because I accidentally read the wrong Gospel for today.)

     

    Two comments about this line in the reading.

    First.  I spent the years 1968-72 studying theology in Toronto.  We had a lot of gray days in Toronto seeing as it is on the northern shore of Lake Ontario.

    One of those days, the news came out in the Toronto newspaper, the Globe & Mail, that a young guy had intentionally blinded himself.  Guess why.  Yep, he read this line in Mark and figured his eyes were a source of temptation.  Doing what?  Maybe just girl watching.

    I remember all the guys (there were around a hundred of us) were repelled by the news.  There was a gut level response that what this poor guy did was sick.  It was self mutilation combined with religious extremism. 

     

     

    IMG_4427
     

     

    The Offertory Team, Cheryl, Grace, & Diane

     

     

    That for me is the negative.  Any way it can be positive?   As a motivator?  Yes.  I’m reminded of how important self motivation is to all of us.  I am reminded by the St. Marks Boy School running by our house in the morning before school.  I am reminded by Tom & Paul & Carrie running their marathons.   I am inspired by Richard losing weight & keeping it off when told he could get diabetic..   I am reminded at the JCC (Jewish Community Center) 6 AM spin class where Haya, a little lady older even than I am who rides with a slightly bummed right shoulder M, W, F. 

    I look upon God’s position on this as infinite demand, yes, coupled with infinite acceptance.

    What do you need?  Motivation?  Look around you.

     

    IMG_4398

     

    Wake up, Luke, it is time to sing and dance.

     

     

  • Christ the King Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020

    Readings:

    Ezekiel  34, 11-12, 15-17, I will look after and tend my sheep.

    Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.  (a beautiful Psalm)

    1 Corinthians  15,  20-26. 28, Christ has been raised from the dead

    Matthew 25, 31-46, He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

     

     

    CB 11

     

    Have a Blessed & Happy Thanksgiving.

     

    Thanks to the Team

    Music,  Ben & Shonda, Welcome Home!

    Readers,   Denni & Tom & Buddy, the candle blesser

    Gospel,  John Cade 

    Homily,   John Cade

    Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

    The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Mike

    Final Blessing, Rosemary

    For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

     

     

    Download Readings Week 34

     

     

    Cade 2

     

    John Cade Homilizing on Thanksgiving

     

    Download Cade 2 Homily – 11-22-20 Thanksgiving – Blessings

     

    Please Remember these special people:

    For Paul & Carrie recuperating;  For Alan Stryker;  For Joe Sullivan;  For John Doherty recuperating;   For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine; For David Dinsmore's bad shoulder from a biking accident;  For Esparza's new great grandson baby, son of Monique;  For all the medical personnel struggling to treat the tsunami of sick people, in particular, locally, Cindy's staff at Presby, Dallas, and at Frisco Presby, the mother of Harper and Betsy, Kendle, working in labor & delivery;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, The Woodlands,   For Loretta's aunt Alicia;  For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody & Ben & Leo & all of Shonda's dear family;  

     

     

    White Rock 8

    Tranquility.

     

    For Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For both Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free;    For John O'Donnell;   For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa; For John Schanot's continued health;  For Anthony & Sabrina;    For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's mother in law, Kalliopi Piskiouli and Lambrini, plus John's daughter, Joey, with cancer,  For the students, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

     

    IMG_2023

     

    Thanksgiving  for Today's Brain Team, Mike & Hue

     

    Birthdays:  Ron Ackerman, David Grattifiori, 61, Joanie Beavers, 40, John Cade, 86, Rose's son, Fred

    Anniversaries:

    Cliff & Jean Wright, 25th

    Barb & Ron Senter, 49th

    John & Michelle Simari, 41st

    Frank & Mary Esparza, 57th

     

     

    Community Finances, November 22, 2020

    Expenses: $2980.00

    Outreach   $225.00  (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

    Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

    And double thanks to all who jumped right in within 1 week to help the 50 families Becky adopted for special Thanksgiving help.  Our marvelous little community has been so generous that the same families already are covered for Christmas.  I feel humbled and privileged to be part of our most generous community.

     

    IMG_2020

     

    Hooray, they are back, Shonda from Air Force duty, Ben from food poisoning, yuk.

     

    Rosemary's Blessing:

     

    Thanksgiving is here.

    As we celebrate this special day,

    May we be grateful for the roads we have taken in life,

    The marvels, the beauty, and the people we have met along the way,

    And the gift to be able to help others today and always.

     

  • Sunday Homily 12-13-09, 3rd Advent

    Readings: Zephaniah 3, 14-18; Psalm, Isaiah 12, Cry out with Joy and Gladness for among You is the Great and Holy One of Israel; Philippians 4, 4-7; Luke 3, 10-18

     

    Zephaniah: date, author, subject, & our selection

     

        Date: two possibilities–ca. 650 BCE, before Babylon & contemporary with Jeremiah.  Or ca. 200 BCE.

     

    Mass 12-13-09

      

    Author: probably not Zephaniah himself, but someone recording what he said.  He is one of the 12 minor prophets, simply because his work is small, only 3 chapters.

     

       Subject: like all prophets, Zephaniah predicts doom and destruction to Jerusalem because the people are not good.  His purpose: alter behavior, especially the religious behavior, of his fellow citizens of Jerusalem.  A rather jealous and punishing god is presented.

     

       Our selection: last lines of the last chapter, a song of joy and rejoicing.  This is the only positive note in the 3 chapters.  Consequently, scholars think it may have been added to the original work.  This is the only time in the 3 year cycle that we have a reading from Zephaniah.  Take a good look.

     

    Andy 12-13-09

    Candle liturgy

    Tony: We have lit the first two candles, one for hope and one for peace. Today we light the third candle, the candle of joy. This should be the easy one, because joy is all around us—in the children, the lights, the music, the gathering together. But how often do we let our preparations—or our memories—push joy to the side? Joy is like an underground spring that wells up within us, but joy is also a choice, an attitude. Like a muscle, it needs to be exercised. So today we open ourselves to joy, trusting that God has already planted it in us. All we need to do is give it care and offer it to share.

    Three candles are lit

     All Sing

    O come, O come, Emmanuel,
    and ransom captive Israel,
    that mourns in lonely exile here
    until the Son of God appear.
    Refrain:
    Rejoice! Rejoice!
    Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

    All: Loving God, we open ourselves to you,
    trusting that this is how you made us:
    you created us for joy-filled hearts and lives.
    Show us the creative power of hope.
    Teach us the peace that comes from justice.
    Fill us with the kind of joy that cannot be contained, but must be shared.
    Prepare our hearts to be transformed by you,
    That we may walk in the light of Christ. Amen.

    Tony: Rejoice in God always, and again I say, rejoice
    For God has created you with the capacity for joy.

    All: We will find what makes us joyful,
    And make that our gift to the world.


    Tony:  Trust in God’s good will for all of creation
    and open yourself to God’s gentle, transforming love. 

    All:  We will welcome new possibilities in our lives.
    We will offer ourselves to God’s goodness.
    We will go forth in hope, and peace, and joy.

     

     

    Margie 12-13-09

     

    A Christmas Story 

     

    I have a Christmas story for you this morning.  It took place the first Christmas I was in Africa, 1977. 

     

    The African continent is shaped vaguely like a heart.  I spent most of my time on the east side, Tanzania, Kenya, & Uganda.  But my first Christmas I spent on the left side of the continent, the west.  The country I spent Christmas in was called Zaire in those days for ca. 30 years, now called the Republic of Congo, since ca. 2000.

     

    The ruler at the time was a guy named Mobuto Seseseko and he was corrupt.  He took for himself all the money gained by selling off the country's considerable natural wealth. 

     

    The capitol of the country is called Kinshasa and I was in a town near there called Kimwenza.  I had been giving seminars & retreats in Nigeria and ended up in Zaire at Christmas, how, I do not remember.

     

    Three special memories remain with me from that Christmas.

     

    First, I remember a midnight Mass.  It took place in a big but simple church on the edge of town.  There was probably a thousand black Zaire folks there and one white guy sitting up front on the left side with his eyes bugging out.

     

    My eyes were bugging out because of at least two things.  First, the priest, a local young black Zaire man, he spent a lot of time dancing with a tall, cone shaped hat.  He danced marching in with the drums and the shakers going at it, he danced during the ceremony, and he danced on the way out.  In fact, he did not walk during the ceremony, he danced. 

     

    The other thing memorable was when he finally danced out.  It was probably more than 3 hours since he had danced in.  And nobody was leaving early.  In fact, I discovered that Africans want to celebrate for at least a couple of hours when they come to Mass.  Consequently, a lot of music. 

     

    The second memory I have is the incongruity I felt celebrating Christmas in a tropical environment, like celebrating Christmas in the summer.  Kinshasa has tons of flowers and they bloom all year because it is summer all year.  The bougainvillea, the frangipanni, and the jacaranda with their purple flowers making like snow on the ground, all were flowering along with their cousins.

     

    Tony & David 12-13-09

     

    Thirdly, I remember that Mobutu was mad at the Catholic church for some reason and he decreed that Christmas could not be celebrated on Christmas day.  It was a week day and businesses and schools were all open.  He did not ban the Masses, but people had to pretend to be working and going to school.  I remember walking around the town Christmas day thinking how odd the whole experience was, summer time and the government banning the celebration of Christmas day. 

     

    Fortunately, the government did not get nasty about the celebrating that took place, many of the city folks were Catholic.  In a goofy twist, Seseseko's own sons even went to the Jesuit college in Kimwenza.   Oddly I appreciated more the freedom I had to celebrate that Christmas Mass, and the people seemed to celebrate with even more zest. 

     

    This year here in Dallas we have the freedom to make Christmas a spiritual festival.  

     

    How are you doing it? 

     

    Picture 1:  Mass begins

     

    Picture 2:  Andy Vrabel, one of our own comes home

     

    Picture 3:  Tony with Margie

     

    Picture 4:  Tony with David Hoover 

     

     

     

     

  • Sunday Homily, December 16, Third Sunday, Advent

    Readings: Isaiah 35, 1-6, 10 (again beautiful); Psalm 146; James 5, 7-10; Matthew 11, 2-11

    Isaiah: Again today’s selection from this marvelous book put together some 8 hundred years before Christ presents a dream and a vision of a day of peace and happiness.  To emphasize the beauty we will split the reading again, the first part read by Margarita; the second by her daughter Ashley.

    How to Give Sight, Give Life

    In Utah there is a ranch which specializes in equine therapy for young people.  Equine therapy uses horses to help people & kids find themselves and level out. 

    A family who are really good friends of mine visited the ranch some years ago to check out if it might be a good place for one of their children to get settled in life.  One afternoon some staff people took them down to the barn to look at the horses.  Now the wife in her childhood had done some riding and was pretty confident around horses, which the staff apparently picked up.

    Consequently, one of the women staff members offered her a bridle and asked her if she thought she could bridle a wild mustang they had just brought in.  "Sure," she said, and off she went to bridle the mustang.  Three staff members climbed up and sat on the fence to watch her.  Inside she was saying to herself that she would be firm and brave, remembering that she had once broken her arm with a horse. 

    Using all her skill, determination, and bravery she tried and tried to bridle that mustang, for probably over an hour.  It was even beginning to get dark.  But she was determined she would prove she could do it all by herself.  Finally, with darkness setting in she took the bridle, handed it back to the staff, and feeling defeated said she could think of no other way to bridle that mustang.

    The staff asked, "Are you sure you have tried every possibility?"  "Yes," she replied, "Everything. "I think there may be still another possibility," the staff said.  "What?" my friend asked.  "You could have asked for help."

    Isaiah says this morning that some day the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf be cleared.  That evening in that coral in Utah, my friend saw and heard in a new way.

    There are two pieces to this dynamic.  One, am I aware that I am blind and deaf, and need the help of community?  We are all blind and deaf.  Secondly, am I aware that I have to help others see and hear better?  Or I am less a person? 

    One of the hardest things for me to do is to ask for help.  It is partly pride, but also good Jesuit training.  I’ve been trained to think and act independently.  I can almost learn Spanish or Italian without asking for help.  However, ever try to learn to work a computer without asking for help?  I have had to ask Rosemary a million times how to do things.  Humbling.  And eye opening.

    The staff members sitting on that fence were helping my friend to see and hear.  It is even their profession, a privilege and a call really.  Teachers are helping others to see, parents do it.   Like I mentioned the first Sunday of Advent, flight attendants do it with their hospitality, like happened to Rosemary & me coming out of Hilton Head. 

    A paradox in all this is that when I help another to see or hear better, I receive the same gift.

    My friends never did work with the ranch in Utah, and their child grew up and leveled out.

    How are you helping the person next to you to see & hear better?

    AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-12-16.mp3

    Pastulas

  • Sunday Homily, August 25, 2019, 21st Ordinary Time

    IMG_8572

     

    Welcome in, Everybody, from Jean & John.

     

     

    Readings:

    Isaiah 66, 18-21,  I come to gather nations of every language..

    Psalm :  Go out to all the world and tell the Good News

    Hebrews 12, 5-7, 11-13, Endure your trials as discipline

    Luke 13, 22-30,  Many will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.

     

    IMG_3416

     

     

    Welcome in, Everybody, from The Team.

     

    Isaiah 66 observations:

    Author: Isaiah III.  The book of Isaiah is one of my favorites, as you have heard me say often enough.   Some beautiful passages.  Remember, 3 primary authors are responsible for the 66 chapters, and we are reading the very last. 

    This book is one of the Big 3 O.T. prophets, along with Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Why? because the works are the longest.  There are 12 minor prophets.

     

    IMG_8551

     

    Trouble in the bleachers with Richard & Mike.

     

    Time of composition: ca. 555 to 777,   The Assyrians annihilated the northern Jewish provence or kingdom, called Israel, vs the southern kingdom called Judah, where Jerusalem is.  10 tribes were lost in this destruction, the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel. 

    Remember, there were 12 tribes.  Why?  Because of the 12 sons of Jacob, who was one of the 3 great patriarchs or founders of the tribe, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob, who was also called Israel. 

     Message of Isaiah III: Mostly consolation after the catastrophic mess of Jerusalem that greeted the Jews on their return from Babylon. 

     

    IMG_8554

     

     

    Do I have a deal for you on a almost mint condition red Studebaker.

     

    What is the activity of a prophet?  1.  criticism, 2. prediction of dire consequences, 3. consolation.

    Today’s specific message: this being the last chapter of the whole work, you might guess.  Yes, consolation.



    IMG_8568

    To check out the state of the world, check in with Dona, Bernadette, and Tera (from Iran).

     

    Psalm  117:  The best line in the whole bunch of readings.  Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

    Hebrews observation:

     The best thing about today's selection: we have to read Hebrews only one more week.  Awful reading today.

     

     

     

    IMG_8561

     

     

    Welcome in, Jim & John.

     

    Go Out to All the World and tell the Good News

    You all know well  that I love to celebrate birthdays, like we do here at our Sunday celebrations.  I have carried this over to the 6:00 A.M. spin classes at the J.

    Consequently, I am often asking people when is their birthday.  Then at the end of our session I get up front and tell everybody that this person is celebrating a birthday, and give them a BelVita cookie package.  I used to try to sing, but gave it up because singing is not my gift.

     

     

    IMG_8563

     

    With only her first cataract removed, Connie can see!

     

    There is a lady named Haya.  I don’t know her last name..  I only know that I am touched and humbled by her.  She is probably 5’1”, and has a scar on the back of her right shoulder.  She and I are the same age part of every year.

    Because I am intrigued and humbled by the background & history of these Jewish people, I often ask a person how their family was effected by the Holocaust.   With Haya having the same age as I have, I was especially curious to know what she was doing while I was growing up in University Park.  So I asked.

     

    IMG_8612

     

    Who are those two characters messing with Ben?

     

    Turns out that Haya and her family lived in a small town in Poland.  Her father and his two brothers had a small business.  When the Germans took over Poland in late ’39,  Haya’s dad took the family and ran to Marseilles.  The brothers decided to ride it out.

    As things got worse Haya’s dad took the family to the Holy Land even before the Jewish State’s establishment.  Finally the family migrated to New York City and somehow got settled there despite some anti-imigration sentiment in the government.  Haya,  therefore, grew up in NY City.  She never heard what exactly happened to her two uncles and their families.

     

    IMG_8579

    Candle Lighting team in operation.

     

    Now days Haya seems to be in a good place.  I think she has a son and a daughter and maybe her husband is deceased.  Whatever, Haya has a  house in the Glen Lakes gated community on Walnut Hill and Central, a condo in Manhattan, and a condo in Tel Aviv.  She seems to bounce around all three locations.  So on her birthday, which is August 25, I announced to the class and gave her a BelVita.

     On her way  out she whispered to me, “You made this the happiest day of my life.”   I was stunned and touched.

     

    IMG_8605

     

    Thanks, Tom & Denni, Karen & John for bringing up our gifts

     

     I cannot believe what I just heard.   On the one hand, I am touched that such a small gesture can mean so much to her.  On the other, does this say something about her life?   What has she seen in life that I have never seen? 

    Why talk about her this morning?  Two reasons.   Because she is Good News.  The Psalm says, “Go out and tell the Good News.”  People are The Good News.   I want to know her story.

    Secondly, I want also to contextualize the negativity of Hebrews and Luke. 

    IMG_8607

     

     

    Elevation time.

     

    There was a strong belief in these times that God was definitely a conditional love God.  Why did the Babylonian Captivity take place?  The Israelites were bad.  Jeremiah says it, the Isaiahs say it.   And so it was written.  In fact,  according to a minister here in Dallas,  God punished the people in N.O. for their badness.  Remember Katrina?

    Pretty much this opinion of God has been discarded.   Is sickness a penance for a sinful, bad life?   Is this why I got Parkinson?

     

     

     

     

    IMG_8615

     

    Today's Communion team.

     

    Me?  I believe and I propose that people are The Good News, that you are The Good News.  God takes Delight in you

    And you?   A God who scourges and demands penance or a God who proclaims that people are The Good News?

    Haya?  Her birthday will be celebrated tomorrow morning.

     

     

    IMG_8632

     

    Who is this scary person, Harper?

  • Sunday Homily 7-26-09; 17th Ordinary Time

    Readings: 2 Kings 4, 42-44; Psalm 145, The Hand of the Lord feeds Us; He answers all Our Needs; Ephesians 4, 1-6; John 6, 1-15 

    Mass 7-26-09  

    Kings: 4 observations–

    Subject Matter: The Kings, naturally.  Especially Solomon after the death of his father, David.  But also treated:

        1.  The temple.  Solomon builds it.

        2.  The death of Solomon who held the nation together.

        3.  Division: Israel in the north breaks away from Judah in the south.

        4.  Israel destroyed completely by the Assyrians, ca. 720.

        5.  Fall of Jerusalem & destruction of the Temple; Nebuchadnezzar & the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 585 BCE.

        6.  Cyrus of Persia releases the Jews to return to Jerusalem after defeating the Babylonians (remember Babylon was near present day Bagdhad).

    Date: from 900 – ca. 550 BCE, or from Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar & Cyrus

    Authors: a compilation of many sources that was put together at the end of the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 550 BCE.

    Our Selection: There are 2 significant prophets, Elijah & Elisha, his son.  In this piece, Elisha it telling a man with 20 loaves of bread to feed a crowd.  This is a lead into the Gospel of John about feeding the multitude. 

    Sources: Encyclopedia of Judaism, Wikipedia

    Carey & Kovatis 7-26-09

    The Miracle of Sharing My Food

    I hate to do this to you folks, but every time I read this story about 5 loaves and 2 fish feeding a crowd of 5,000 men (to say nothing of the women), I am reminded of my days in Tanzania, East Africa.  You who have heard these stories, please forgive me.  They just clarify so much.  Here we go.

    I was on an overnight train.  I was traveling from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the capitol, to Moshi, a town near Kilimanjaro, where the Jesuits had a small one to three person house, which I used as a base when I was not traveling around Tanzania, Kenya, & Uganda giving seminars and retreats.

    I had arrived in Dar es Salaam late for some reason and could not make an advance reservation for a first class cabin, which was the only way to go.  You shared a little compartment with another guy.  Because I was without reservation, I had to buy a coach ticket.  These trains are marvelous old antiques from the colonial age, but travel by coach is mayhem.  They are packed.  Don't dream of getting a seat.  Just be grateful that you can get inside.  Which I did, sitting on my one small suitcase, expecting to be awake all night listening to the kids, chickens, ducks, and snores of the few who had a seat and the ability to sleep through it all. 

    You board this train for a 7:00 P.M. departure.  You expect to arrive Moshi around 5:00 A.M.   This particular night the train came to a halt at about 1:00 in the middle of nowhere.  Naturally, nobody knew why we stopped and for how long.  We stayed in that spot all the rest of the night and all the following day until about 6:00 P.M. 

    Everyone on that train had food & water hidden away, except one gringo, who tried to sleep on the rocks on the edge of the roadbed, knowing he would hear the train move and could get up and get back in.

    I was actually rescued from dying of thirst in the heat of the day by a young German couple in the first class compartments, the only other white folks on the whole train.  I was afraid to drink the water of the Tanzanians because they often did not purify it. 

    Ron & CCAC 7-26-09

    I tell this story because the Tanzanian people on the train I suspect would be similar to the Jews listening to Jesus in that crowd of 5,000 men.  People like these do not go away from their base unprepared.  Not only do they carry food & water, they hide it so as to not have to share with someone too stupid to bring his own.  The women, especially, can hide in their robes lots of things.  Hoarding in the cultures we are talking about is no sign of inferiority.  It is survival. 

    What Jesus did that was confounding is that he got these country folks to share their cache.  He takes some of the bread & fish and passes it on.  The person who receives it takes some, but feels uncomfortable only taking.  So the person puts a portion of his or her own in the basket.  What do they end up with?  Twelve wicker baskets of leftover food.

    This interpretation of the 5 loaves & 2 fishes is as old as when I got ordained back in 1971, and before that.  I find it fascinating because we can go and do likewise.  You & I cannot multiply bread & fish, but we can share treasures.  We can share and we can invite others to feel secure enough to share. 

    I finally arrived home to Moshi in the middle of the next night.  I even caught a thief with his hand in my right pocket at a little kiosk lit with a kerosene lamp.  The train had stopped at some tiny station and a lady was selling little pieces of rice bread or something.  I pulled that man's hand out of my pocket, grabbed him by the shirt, and threw him back.  If I had yelled "thief!", he might have been killed on the spot.  I knew the custom and the language, and he knew I knew.  He ran. 

    I also got to know the German couple, even climbing Kilimanjaro with them one of my 5 times.  So, folks, sorry for repeating a favorite story of mine.  The question, too, is the same.

    How am I overcoming my temptation to hoard & sharing my food?

    Barb & Evie 7-26-09

    Picture 1:  Mass with T.J.

    Picture 2:  Bill Carey & Ron Kovatis

    Picture 3:  Ron donating $2000 to CCAC with Claire & Ray, Jackie & Cathy

    Picture 4:  Barb & her sister Evie from Germany