Reminder for Sunday, July 22, 2012, 16th Ordinary Time B

Readings: 

Isaiah 7, 10-14,   The virgin will conceive and bear a son.

 

Psalm 24,  Let the Lord enter, he is king of glory.

Romans 1, 1-7,  Grace to you and peace.

Matthew  1, 18-24, She was found with child through the Holy Spirit.

 

 

 Christmas observations:

1.  Celebration of Christmas was banned in Boston up until ca. 200 years ago.  The Puritan influence.  They had seen the corruption of Rome and the inquisition.  They feared and hated Rome and Catholics.
2. Rome had a feast of Saturnalia, which was connected with the Winter Solstice.  It was a feast of the harvest and of light, light returning in the northern hemisphere.  For centuries Roman Catholicism refused to honor the feast, but eventually adopted it as a date for Christ’s birth.
3. The winter solstice had been celebrated for 10,000 years, back when humans started farming.
4. Christmas Eve, Kinshasa, Zaire, 1977.  I was in Kinshasa, Zaire (now, The Congo), Christmas, 1977 and attended a Christmas Eve Mass that was marvelous, singing that went on forever and dancing on the part of the African priest in a very colorful set of vestments.  Having a good set of kidneys helps because the celebration goes on  2 ½ hours.  

 

 

Seen The Spirit Lately?

Ever get the feeling that the world is just getting worse every year, more wars, more killing, more kids being hurt, everything worse?  Where is the spirit of peace and caring?

I would like to propose the spirit is here.  Good things are taking place.  Let me give you 4 examples that have just taken place.

 

 

The first I heard about took place during the ice storm the week after Thanksgiving.  I35 going north through Denton became a parking lot when 18 wheelers got stuck and blocked the highway.  This happened that Friday afternoon and the highway was probably down for the night. 

The pastor of some church in the area heard about the people on the highway.  He gathered a bunch of his community and out they went to the highway with food, hot drinks, and blankets for those who needed them.  Some people were even invited into people’s homes.

You folks would do this.

 

 

At the same time that afternoon our neighbors called to invite us to lunch on the grill because our electricity was off.  They had a gas grill.  The lady across the street offered to let us stay at her house.  She had electricity.  We were on the second of our two day return drive from Thanksgiving at Rosemary’s sister’s house in Hilton Head.

Secondly, you remember that I worked in Oklahoma after the tornado.  I heard of a lady who is making special Christmas ornaments for people who have lost all their precious ornaments.  I thought about those people whose houses I helped to clear out and thought what a nice idea.

 

 

Thirdly, three celebs, two sports stars and one singer.

Ever hear of Andre Johnson of the Houston Texans, a wide receiver.  For the 7^th year in a row he took 12 underprivileged kids on a shopping trip at Kids R Us.  They had 80 seconds, his number, to grab what they wanted.  He even chipped in an Xbox 360 for each kid.  17 thousand bucks.  Sounds like Love for the Kids.

 

 

Also, Damien Lillard, 23, a hot new player for Portland.  He took a whole bus load of kids on a shopping trip.

Then, the singer Beyonce went into a Wal-mart, bought 750 $50 gift cards for everyone that moment in the Wal-Mart. 

 

 

Fourth.   Out of bad stuff, good stuff.  A grandmother was caring for 9 young kids somewhere here in Dallas.  She had bought their presents and had them hidden in her apartment.  Yes, you guessed it, they all go stolen.  The story got out and she received more presents than she could ever have afforded. 

Where are you seeing The Spirit of peace and caring this Christmas?  How are you contributing to it?

 

 

Readings:

 Ezekiel, 34, 11-12, 15-17, As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. 

 Psalm 23,   The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. (good one)

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

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

 

 

Ezekiel  observations and reminders:

I've mentioned how Ezekiel is one of the Big 3 Prophets, #3 after Isaiah & Jeremiah, 48 chapters vs 66 in Isaiah.  I also mentioned how he lived smack dab in the middle of one of the two or three biggest tragedies of the Jewish people, the Babylonian captivity, say 555 before Christ.  He was there.

In American history we can look back and identify special presidential leaders, Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt.  They came forward in crisis times. 

Ezekiel was this type of leader in Jewish history.  He saw what had happened to other Jews of the northern province of Israel (Jerusalem is in the southern province of Judah) after they had been carted off as slaves after a defeat by the Assyrians (Syria still).  They intermarried and simply disappeared in the DNA of the middle east.

Ezekiel is in Babylon and is determined that his community would not lose its identity.  He did three things to help maintain the spirit of the community: he emphasized  1. observance of the Sabbath, 2. kosher diet, and 3. male circumcision.

 

 

Eventually after ca. 50 years the community still was a cohesive unit and it returned to rebuild Jerusalem, at least the second or third generation.  The Jews are one of the few peoples to be defeated and scattered, and still return to their original homeland.  They remained there until the Romans defeated them in 70 C.E., returning when?  1948, after the Holocaust.

Today's reading comes to us from an Ezekiel captive in Babylon, and has Ezekiel promising the people a return, a brighter day after the captivity.  He uses the figure of speech, I will.  But I is Yahweh. 

Note on both Ezekiel, Psalm 23, and Matthew: There are two consoling readings this morning, Ezekiel and Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.  

At the very end of Ezekiel’s consoling passage and in Matthew there is talk of the sheep and goats.  Beware of taking this literally.  This is either/or spirituality.  Guess what: we are all goats.  I see heaven full of both sheep and goats.  And I can’t find any evidence of hell.

 

 

 Thanksgiving History: Everyone knows about the first Thanksgiving in 1602 with the Pilgrims and the Indians eating together, the Mayflower, and Plymouth Rock.  

When did our Thanksgiving begin?  Our ancestors have celebrated end of harvest feasts of gratitude for centuries.  Lincoln first focused on a national feast; FDR established the national holiday in 1941. 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving

This morning I would like to talk about Thanksgiving and in particular I would like to tell you about my top three blessings of the year.

Rosemary & I have a habit at the end of the year of writing down all our blessings and gifts of the year.  We usually begin tagging them at Thanksgiving.  And since she is in Princeton, NJ, for her niece’s wedding, I get to say things about her I would not admit if she were here. 

Looking back over the year I have a ton of blessings, but in particular I have three I would like to mention.

 

 

Guess what number One is.  Yep, Rosemary.  I know, and Rosemary reminds me frequently, yes, I married up.  But this marriage  with Rosemary is one of the 3 biggest blessings of my whole life.  10 years in East Africa and my Jesuit career are the other 2. 

You people should have told me how good it can be.  I know, for sure,  all of you gave Rosemary about a year before she had enough of the old geezer bachelor.  However, because of living in community my 40 odd years as a Jesuit I really never was a bachelor.  I loved living in a community with other guys, like in a fraternity.   But it does not come close to life with Rosemary.  And this May we celebrate 10 years. 

 

 

 

My third blessing of the year is my splendid summer filled with fun events.  It started, as usual, with our 5 Boro bike tour of NY with the McGinn family reunion.  The next big one was the bike ride across Iowa with Bill Hammond and about 15 thousand others.  This event is like 8 days of 4^th of July, all the little towns overflowing with spirit and hospitality.  I just try to slow the clock down and absorb it all.

Then comes the Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred bike ride the last Saturday of August, out of Wichita Falls.  This takes preparation and planning on how to survive.  Finishing that event produces such a spirit high in me.

 

 

 

Then in September came our 8 night back pack trip in Yosemite, my favorite National Park among all the ones I have seen.  This was as fun as ever, the campfires, the meals, the views, the quickie bath in the cold river or stream after a sweaty hike, and the exhilaration of climbing into my tent and and into my down sleeping bag on a near freezing night at about 10 thousand feet.

Finally there was the Viking River cruise on the Danube with Rosemary.  I love riding trains.  But, listening to the water swish by our cabin window beat the train by a mile.  And more beauty.

Can summer get better than this?

 

 

 

And the final blessing, number two, this marvelous community, you people.  When I departed to get married, I never expected to be doing this, especially 10 years later.  I thought it was over.  You people are a treasure in my life and I will continue to celebrate with you like this until I get called to the heavenly homestead.  You are so much fun and make my life so rich.  Thank you.

And your Blessings of The Year? 

 

 

 

 

 

Says Rick, "You missed my birthday party yesterday, but I am still celebrating today.  Welcome in, Everybody."

 

Readings: 

Jeremiah 1, 4- 5, 17-19,   Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.

Psalm 71,  I will sing of your salvation.

1 Corinthians 12, 31-13 4-13,  As the body is one.

Luke 4,  21-30,  Today this passage is fulfilled in your hearing.

 

 This morning we will read the Gospel first, then Jeremiah, and finally Corinthians.  I want to highlight Corinthians, it is so special.   The homily will come after the first paragraph, before the special treatise on Love.

 

 

Good as it gets!

 

Jeremiah observations:

Who:  One of the Big 3 and my second favorite behind Isaiah, whom we will hear from next Sunday.  Why a favorite: because he shares his feelings with gusto. 

When:  you can guess it, before and during the Babylonian Captivity.  Notice how much prophetic energy is concentrated around this one event?  Shows how big it was in Jewish history.  Keep 555 before Christ as the beacon date. 

 

 

Suit up time.

 

What: you can guess this, too.  Criticism of behavior, warning of punishment from God, and eventually a better day.

What today: Jeremiah’s call by God to be his man, really Everyperson’s call to be God’s special.  This call theme carries through our next 2 readings, especially the next one, The Big One.

 

 

Can there be a better welcome than this from Cindy & Dee!

 

A Special Reading, 1 Corinthians

Years ago when I used to do a  lot of weddings, like at St Marks,  I would hear this treatise on Love and I would groan, ‘Not again.’

While still at St. Marks, all of a sudden at another wedding, I tuned in to the reading.  Love is patient.  Love is kind.  That applies to me.  I could be more patient and more kind.  I could be more loving.  (Don’t ask Rosemary)

 

 

Equally welcoming is Dear Jan who arranges communion for everybody.

 

Right around this time there was an instruction from the diocese or Fr. Smythe, ‘Don’t touch the kids.’  I thought about this and realized that I was not hugged enough when I was a little boy.  For one thing my mom was sick a lot and even had some operations.  I remember being taken in by some family friends and being homesick big time when I was a little guy, maybe pre-school.

 

 

Elevation Time.

 

So, once ordained & home from East Africa, I remember one Sunday standing in the entrance to the cafetorium ready to begin the 10:30 Mass.  I decided right then that I will continue to hug all these kids to show them they are loveable and good stuff.  Maybe they will think God really loves them.  A lot of those kids thought I was God once I suited up, so their parents said.

 

 

Having a  nice vision, Hue?

 

To send this message is also why I used to give kids, and, in fact everybody, two or three Hershey kisses whenever they came to me for reconciliation, especially for first confessions. 

The side effect of this, of course, was that my line went on forever and poor Deacon Mike had to stay late to shut down the church.  Everybody else was long gone.  I just wanted to say, ‘Kid you are not bad.  God thinks you are good and a neat kid.’  

 

 

Buddy reading our Blessing of The Winter Candles.

 

 

 

 

Emma lighting The Winter Candles.

 

I  have a handful of very special, positive Scripture passages.  They are like compasses.  This Corinthians passage helps me to continue to be patient & kind and to remind all of you that you are lovable.  (Well, maybe not Sir Charlie)

 

 

 

Teamwork!