Sunday Homily May 12, 2013, 7th Easter, C

Welcome Back, Mr. Luke, and thanks for bringing John & Karen, your super grandparents

Readings:

Sirach  3, 17-18, 20, 28-29, Conduct your affairs with humility.

Psalm 68,  God, in your goodness you have made a home for the poor.

Hebrews 12, 18-19, 22-24,  You have approached Mt. Zion

Luke 14, 1, 7-14,  When you hold a banquet, invite the poor

And likewise to you, Dear Dee, welcome back.

Homily:

A story that touched me a few weeks ago, following the mass shooting in El Paso, was the story of Antonio Basco. His companion of many years was killed in that attack. Neither of them having family in the area, he was feeling really alone in planning the funeral.

Antonio invited the anybody who could to join him at the visitation and remembrance, thinking maybe a few well-wishers in El Paso would join him. What happened?

Our super candle lighting team in action.

Thousands showed up—yes, thousands!—and some came from hundreds of miles away. People heard the story. In their mercy they saw the pain of Antonio’s personal tragedy: he was surviving the loss of his long-time companion.

Their hearts went out to him, and they showed up to be with him in his loss and grief. Many others, who heard of the story, also felt mercy for his suffering and were with him in Spirit, in their hearts.

Watch out, Luke, you will get put to work bringing up our gifts.

From today’s readings, Mount Sinai is where Moses received the law from God – the ten “thou shalt not’s” for a people with a short memory. Those words and warnings scared me as a young person hearing them in catechism class and the special preparation for First Communion and First Confession—the stakes went up for us kids with the pressure of the exaggerated importance of those really big events—1^st communion, 1^st confession. (We definitely didn’t get M & M’s for our penance in First Confession.)

The Communion Team, Connie, Denni, Brent, Mike, and Cheryl.

Rather than the ‘thou shalt not’s’ from Moses on Mount Sinai, it’s ‘Love one another as I have loved you,’ from Jesus. Jesus spoke Good News—that we were never separated from God by Adam’s sinfulness or our own.

God is always with us, all of us. We always have access to God’s Spirit, all of us. The Spirit of God is within us, and is present in all our relationships, all of us. In his words, and in how he lived his life, Jesus brought the Good News.

Mike & Mike, our local sportscasters?

How do you acknowledge God’s Spirit—within you, and in every connection you have with others?  How do you acknowledge the Good News of Jesus and live it?

Our reps to the local Open Window organization, a group hoping to update the Catholic Church, for example permitting women to be priests.

Readings:

Isaiah  22, 19-23,  I will pull you down from your station.

 Psalm 138,   Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands. 

Romans, 11, 33-36,  For from him and through him and for him are all things.

Matthew 16, 13-20,  You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.

Victoria says, "Hi, Folks, Welcome."

Matthew observations–

First biblical scholars agree that Jesus did not say what is in this little story.  Rather, the Matthean community shaped a highly stylized scene that attempted to establish Peter's position as leader of the new community.  The writer, because he wants to authenticate Peter, creates a scenario where Jesus makes Peter The Man.

The girl with the pink blouse and pink ribbon,  Zoe,  also says, "Hi, Everybody, Come in."

Isaiah observations—

1.  Notice the chapter, number, 22.  Students of Isaiah, my favorite, will immediately know this is Isaiah 1.  Chapter 1-39 make up Isaiah 1.  Isaiah 2 and 3 follow.
2.  Since it is Isaiah 1, students will know that the composer lived before the Babylonian Captivity, which took place around 555 before Christ.  Isaiah 2 is composed during the Captivity.  Isaiah 3, whom we had last week, works after the Captivity.
3.  Knowing that things were not good before the Captivity, you can guess that Isaiah 1 is critical of Israeli life.  You would be correct.
4.  Our selection today is both critical, “I will pull you down.”  But it is also talking about a better day.  

Mary Ellen, too, says, "Come in and save me; he's going to talk about me."

Mary Ellen Day at San Vino

I want to talk about you today, Mary Ellen.  I hope you don’t mind.  I did not ask your permission, because I figured a “No” would be what I would got.   

I am doubly bummed because before I took off for the HHH, I had put together a few ideas tying you together with the line from today’s psalm; Do not forsake the work of your hands.  I wanted to show how you have fully lived out the work of his hands, that is, life, and how you have lived!

Kevin, The Best, ready to go.

Then, at about 5:00 this morning I read this article by Scott Burns, in The Dallas Morning News, Happy Money. It is about spending money healthily and happily.  I think, ‘That is Mary Ellen."  Burns’ ideas are

1. Make it a treat.
2. Buy experiences.
3. Buy time.
4. Invest in others
5. Pay now, consume later.

Mary Ellen has done this all the decades I have known her.  And this is the same as living the work of his hands.

For example, make it a treat.  I know Mary Ellen has two favorites, ice cream and wine.  What can you expect?  She is, after all, Italian.  Scott Burns’ treat was Starbucks.

Is that Mary making off with the wine cups?

Regarding investing in others, I know that for some time Mary Ellen tutored kids at Hillcrest High School in English.  She also volunteers as an usher at various venues, like the Winspear.

I do not know how she has paid now and consumed later, but I do know how she has bought experiences and time.  Two examples that involve her traveling to other countries with Rosemary and me.

I think it was 2007 when Rosemary & I planned a trip back to the scene of my work as a Jesuit, Tanzania.  This was going to be a tenting trip and we were going to be traveling in an open topped Land Rover over very rough roads.  I had a guy who ran safaris into the national parks, like Serengeti.

And Judy, too!

We invited Mary Ellen and she was ready, as always.  Everything went super except one time when we were traveling through some wild terrain that had bushes, scrub trees, and tsetse flies.  These flies can travel fast for short distances.  They could catch us standing in the back of the Land Rover looking around.  And they bite.  Fortunately, we got away fairly quickly and there was no damage. 

Another of the many times Mary Ellen bought into an experience with Rosemary and me was a trip to Italy.  We had a crowd, about 8 people.  We had to rent a van.

Mary Ellen with friends?

Mary Ellen not only went with us, she went over a few days early and went to Trieste, Italy.  Why Trieste?  To scatter some of her husband, Chris’s, ashes at the site where he was born.

Chris was a career Marine and Mary Ellen and he had met in Argentina, where Mary Ellen had gone to work for the State Department for a few years.  This is another one of her experiences.  

Chris had been born into a career military family, which was why he had been born in Trieste.  His family was posted there. 

Scott Burns could use you, Mary Ellen, as a beautiful example of just what he is writing about.  I thank you for all the times you have included me and Rosemary in your experiences and time.  I wish you a bon voyage and a continued rich life in Connecticut.

Cupcakes of The Week, Zara & Craig, Kara, and 1/2 of Marsha.

Readings: Jeremiah 1, 4-19; Psalm 71; 1 Corinthians 12, 31 -13, 1-13; Luke 4, 21-30

Jeremiah – The Prophet Jeremiah lived before and during the great Babylonian captivity.  He loved the people, but warned them that they faced catastrophe for their unfaithful ways.

Today’s selection has Jeremiah talking at the beginning of his call by Yahweh to speak to the people.

1 Corinthians, 13 – Here it is: Paul’s famous treatise on what love is.

Love is Patient, Love is Kind

Last night I had the privilege to be part of one of those magic weddings.  There are magic and super magic weddings.  This was super magic. 

A while back I performed a wedding out of Dallas.  Because the couple was not too clerical and I had the opportunity to stay for the reception, which I can seldom do here in Dallas, I wore a black shirt with a silver tie.  Not a clerical shirt.

When I went into the sacristy before the wedding the woman who took care of arrangements was waiting for the priest.  When she saw me in a tie, it was like, “You are the priest!”

For the rest of the time I was in that church her approach to me was disdainful, like I was repellent.  I was getting judged for not having a collar on, like a good priest is supposed to have on.  I was not a terrorist, I was a fellow Catholic, a priest at that time in good standing.  I just did not have that little plastic tab on.  Love is patient. 

How sad we can be, even when we are in the midst of helping to perform a marvelous event like a wedding.  The wedding was magic, but I have felt sad for the woman.  Love is kind. 

She & I are called to the same kind of love in two ways.  We are called to be patient & kind with everyone we meet, even if the person is not a Catholic, or a Plano resident, or a criminal

We are also challenged to be patient and kind with ourselves when we fail.  This may even be harder to do sometimes than being patient and kind with someone else.

Last night’s wedding was blessed from beginning to end.  No one seemed critical of the ceremony or what we did.  Why can’t all of our life be similar?

With whom do you struggle to be patient & kind?  How patient and kind are you when you fail?

Download the mp3 of the homily here.

Says Our Dearest Emma, "Welcome in, Everybody."

Readings:

Isaiah 45, 1, 4-6,  I am the Lord, there is no other.

Psalm 96,  Give the Lord glory & honor.

Thessalonians 1, 1-5,  We give thanks to God for all of you

Alleluia,   Shine like lights in the world   (Great line)

uMatthew 22, 15-21,  Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?

Welcome in Denni, Charlotte, and Chloe, and Tom & Nora.  So good to see you all.

Isaiah observations :

Who : Can you guess which Isaiah this is in chapter 45?  1, 2, or 3?  A little more difficult than the last two Sundays.  This is Isaiah 2, going from chapter 40 to 55.

Today’s selection:  this is not Isaiah 2 at his best.  I like the line, I have called you by your name.  Otherwise, the passage is mildly comforting to the people who are living in Babylonian slavery, around 555 before Christ.

Welcome in to you, too, Dearest Zoe.  Just you wait.  We got something for you.  I have not forgotten.   Get ready,

Cyrus: So, who is Cyrus?          

 Cyrus the Great of Persia, modern Iran, built the first great empire, which extended as far as Athens in Greece.   He was a benevolent emperor of his people and the people he conquered, for instance, the Israelites.

Isaiah 2 is championing Cyrus because he hears of Cyrus coming and hopes Cyrus will defeat the Babylonians and set the Israelites free to return to Jerusalem.  This is exactly what Cyrus does.  Where is Babylon?  Try 50 miles south of Baghdad on the Euphrates River.  What is left?  Rubble. 

Note: Watch out for the alleluia verse.  A good one & I want to talk about it.

Hi, Diane, and welcome back.  Want to learn how to dance?   Diane is one of the best.

Shine like Lights in the World

This morning I would like to talk about the Alleluia verse, Shine like lights in the world.  The final questions are obvious, Who is a light for me, and For whom am I a light in the world.

I have lots of people who answer the first question.  You people, for instance.  What I would like to talk about, however, is two ladies, two black ladies, one of whom has died some years ago.

Our Candle Lighter of the Week in action.

First, ever hear of Juanita Craft?  In the ‘60’s & 70’s Juanita was the Dallas leader of the NAACP and a prominent activist.  She lived in South Dallas west of Fair Park. 

I was a Jesuit intern from ’65 to’68 at the high school.  The summer of probably ’67 I was looking at doing something different.  I talked with Juanita.  The next thing I know I am the only white guy on a Greyhound bus full of NAACP young people and their chaperons.  We were going to D.C. and then to the NAACP national convention in Atlantic City.  Remember this was another tense interracial time.  Sound familiar.  Martin Luther King was assassinated in May, 1968.   This was ’67.

The Best, Shonda, Ben, & David.

I learned two things from Juanita.   First, she was tireless in advocating for her people.  She used the media to help and she eventually was elected to the Dallas City Council.  Believe it or not, she was one of the inspirations for me gathering crowds for those years of planting trees.   Juanita was long dead by then and I had spent 10 years in East Africa.  It was like I would ask myself, ‘What would Juanita do with this dream?’

Secondly, a small thing.  Every time we got off that bus, Juanita would tell everybody to clean up every scrap of trash.  I was a bus driver for Jesuit, mostly sports teams.  I never thought of telling the kids to clean it up.  After the example of that old lady, I did.

To round out that summer I even spent the rest of it living in her little house in South Dallas and being active in the NAACP.

The Balloon Girls at work, Zoe & Tori.

The second black lady is named Sondra.  I see her once or twice a week when I go to our corner supermarket to buy bananas & milk & occasionally flowers.  She is the early morning cashier, is probably mid-‘60’s and should be retired,  She is very friendly and knows my name, Mr. John, and, get this, gets up ca. 2 A.M. to catch two or three buses from South Dallas to open up the store at 6:00. 

These two women shine like lights in my world.

Who are the lights in your world?

For whom are you a light?

Offertory ready with Carrie & Paul, Aggie & Allen.

Readings: Acts 2, 1-11; Psalm 104, Lord Send our your Spirit, and Renew the Face of the Earth; 1 Corinthians 12, 3-13; John 20, 19-23.

Pentecost:

Perspective A: The Catholic Encyclopedia says this feast commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit (or Ghost) upon the Apostles 50 days after the Resurrection.  The root of the word pentecost is 5, like pentagon.

Perspective B: biblical students point out that this event is one in a series of events that base their timing on the calendar of Jewish liturgical feasts.  They point out how Mark, the first to write a gospel, started this process by providing Jesus stories appropriate to the first 6 months of the liturgical calendar of synagogue celebrations.  Remember the followers of Jesus spent about 50 years as Jews worshipping in the temple and synagogue, until 88 C.E., when a split occurred.

Luke, our writer today, built his gospel on Mark and expanded it to fill the whole liturgical calendar year.  Mark only covered about 6 months.  Thus, Luke is the only one who presents the Pentecost story and he puts it together with the Jewish feast of Shavout which takes place 50 days after Passover.  Shavout celebrates Moses receiving the 10 commandments 50 days after the exodus from Egypt.  All symbolic events. 

Note another example: Mark tied the crucifixion to the Passover, the feast commemorating the Jews escape from Egypt. 

Whatever we think took place at this event called Pentecost, for me it seems like it was at least a moment of light, enlightenment.

Sources: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Bishop John Shelby Spong.

Pentecost: An Enlightenment

A week or so ago I put together something I have never done before.  I bought a dozen roses at Tom Thumb, took them home to Rosemary to help me arrange them in her artistic way, and drove up to Plano Presbyterian to give a gift of thanks to the staff on the 8^th floor.

I confess I waited until I could walk well without a cane so I could show off for everyone who had helped me out. 

The experience was touching and a bit anti-climactic.  Anti-climactic because I ended up going on a Saturday instead of a work day.  This was because the charge nurse and the nurse who was charged with my care got her schedule changed from a Friday to a Saturday. 

Being a Saturday, the staff of nurses and physical therapists that I had come to appreciate were mostly off.  In fact, the hall that had been such a beehive of activity when I was there was totally quiet. 

Why did I do this?  Because I had acquired this deep appreciation of life and people in that hospital and the recuperation months afterward.  This enlightenment is what I think Pentecost is all about. 

What touched me even more was when I gave my charge nurse the roses. She told that she and her colleagues often hear about one of their patients doing well after they return home.  But in all her years working as a nurse, this was the first time a patient had returned with a gift.  This, too, was a Pentecost moment.

Whom or what do you appreciate most today and what are you doing about it?

Picture 1:  Mass begins, first time solo flying since early January

Picture 2:  Jan & Charlie

Picture 3:  The Dopnut Shoppe, Chloe with her mom, Clare, Maggie with her mom, Tanya, and Hue on the left

Picture 4:   Mike Moretta & Beverly (fiancee until Saturday)

Readings:  Jeremiah 20, 7-9; Psalm 63; Romans 12, 1-2; Matthew 16, 21-27

Jeremiah: One of the 3 great prophets, called the "broken hearted prophet,' because he had a heart rending life predicting punishment of death and destruction for the Hebrews for their sinful ways. 

He wrote from Jerusalem ca. 600 B.C. and his predictions came true when Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem in 588 B.C., defeated the Hebrews, and took them off to Babylon-Baghdad as prisoners.  Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke as a visual aid to his message.  He may have been ultimately killed by the Hebrews.

Deny Yourself, Take up Your Cross, and Follow Me

This simple little line from Matthew can be very tricky.  It can be approached healthily or in a less than healthy way.  I can witness to the latter in my own life.  I have already described how as a young Jesuit I was expected to do penance and deny myself in various ways, like the practice of using little whips to scourge our backs and little chains with points to wear around our thighs.  This was supposed to bring me closer to God.

I can laugh at this now, but I am humbled at how easily I can be programed.  When I read this line and others like it in the Bible and remember my experiences with such spirituality, I pick up the scent of an ancient philosophy that still influences a lot of religious activity which is not spiritually so sane.  The philosophy: dualism. 

The idea is simple.  Reality comes in pairs, hot & cold, rich & poor, order & chaos, and, in particular for this discussion, body & soul or flesh & spirit or mind & matter.  So far so good. 

The trouble enters with a judgment about the flesh & spirit.  Specifically, flesh is bad, spirit is superior.  Consequently, so that my spirit may reach an elevated plane of purity & perfection, and ultimately closer union with God, I attempt to control the flesh by disregarding the body's existence & appetites, ultimately aiming to live without it.  How about that!

There is a healthy, in fact, a rich approach to the line.  But first a couple of facts.  Dualism is identified as far back as 1000 years B.C. and came out of Zoroastrianism, a religion that worshiped one god and believed in an afterlife.  Did it come from Egypt as so much did at that time?  No, from  Persia, the area we call Iran today.  Zoroastrianism was widespread until Muhammad arrived on the scene around 650 and established Islam.  Through the ages lots of people picked up on dualism, for example, Plato, Augustine, Descartes.

I have two stories about people who healthily acted out self denial.

First, a girl I know who when she was 11 years old thought that she would like to join a swimming team here in Plano. She tried out, more than once, failing each time.  Undaunted, she practiced.  When she was 12 she not only got on the team, but she won the state championship in her age bracket. 

She continued to swim through grade school and into high school, practicing 2 hours early in the morning before class and two hours after school.  She even went to Providence College on a swim scholarship.  This girl, Megan, whom I love tremendously could have slept in two more hours every morning when she was in high school, she could have come home after school and watched TV.  It would have been easier.  This is healthy self denial and because of it she is a girl more alive, more whole, more fully alive with a vibrant spirit.  She is now the mother of Liam, who was our Baby Jesus in the Christmas drama, and the daughter of Rob & Beth.

Saturday we celebrated with a parade in Parker another girl like Megan, Nastia, home from the Olympics.

The second person is Thomas McGowan, 50 years old.  You might have read about him in the paper a few weeks ago.  He was just released from prison after spending half of his life there for a crime he did not commit.  The Innocence Project obtained permission to run a DNA match & he was exonerated. 

I came to know more about him through an old friend and classmate of mine, Tony Levatino, who in his retirement works at the Holy Trinity Center, the outreach arm of Holy Trinity Parish, just like ours.  Tony got familiar with him because his sister works at Holy Trinity and happened to talk with her.  Turns out he could not find a job.  Tony had a connection with the Anatole Hotel and got him hired.

Besides being moved by what Tony was able to accomplish, I was also moved whenTony said Thomas was an excellent man, cheerful, without anger, not wanting to blame anyone.  He accepted his fate while hoping for exoneration.  He was peaceful.  Thomas was a man who denied himself and took up a cross.

These two people have both denied themselves.   Megan strove to achieve, Thomas accepted.

How & why do you deny yourself?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-08-31.mp3