Sunday Homily, August 18, 2013, 20th Ordinary Time C

"Welcome in, Everybody," say Cody & Richard.

Readings:

Isaiah , 42, 1-4, 6-7,  Here is  my chosen one.

Psalm 29,  The Lord will bless his people with peace.

Acts of the Apostles 10, 34-38,  I see that God shows no partiality

Matthew 3, 13-17,  Jesus came to John to be baptized

Welcome back out of the hospital, Bill.  So good to see you here.

Mike's Homily

Jesus of Nazareth came from Galilee to John at the Jordan River to be baptized by him.

John tried to prevent him, saying, 
“I need to be baptized by you,
and yet you are coming to me?”

Wire that old guy up, Hue.

Jesus said to him in reply,
“Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us
to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John allowed him.

After Jesus of Nazareth was baptized,
he came up from the water and behold,
the heavens were opened for him, 
and he saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove
and coming upon him.

And a voice came from the heavens, saying, 
“This is my beloved Son, the Messiah, with whom I am well pleased.”

The communion table.

Homily

We are to become the words and actions of the Messiah in our everyday lives; recognizing with joy his presence with us.

Want to know who runs this celebration here?

Chicago is a special place to Judy and I; we spent our honeymoon among our visits there.  I still have a story in mind that a Chicago woman wrote when she daily used a bus route getting to work and then returning home.  Walking to the bus stop each day allowed her to get to know some of people she would say hello to.  She got to know a baker who placed in his window each day donuts and her favorite bear claws.  Occasionally she would purchase a small sack of them carefully wrapped.

The Best Music with Shonda & Ben & David.

One such day, on the way home from work all of the seats were taken. She began taking off her coat, her hat, her brief case and her bear claws just as someone got up to depart from the bus. She and the young man reached the empty seat at the same time.  He let her enter first after he had taken off his coat, hat, scarf and what he had been carrying.

The Celebration team.

Four or five minutes later he opened the sack of bear claws, smiled at her, and began to eat one of them. She was stunned, and began to give him the evil eye.  Having finished the first one, he licked his fingers, of all things, and took a second one from the bag.  He nodded at her to join him. She gave him another evil look.

The Candle Ritual.

Not wanted him to take advantage of her again, she took out two of them, and saying nothing ate them rather quickly while he licked his fingers and smiled at her. She knew that there was only one left, so she tore it in two and gave him the smaller piece, and smiled back at him. 

Mike homilizes.

The bus came to a halt, and he departed, without her having said anything during the whole time they had sat together.  She was angry, especially at herself for having stuffed herself and said without words, “Good Riddance.”  A few minutes later she stood to get off the bus.  As she did so she put her hat back one, followed by her coat, lifted up her brief case and then her scarf. 

The last thing she took from her seat was her neatly folded, and carefully wrapped bag of five bear claws.  The messiah had been in her midst, and she had not greeted him with a single word.

"It is Girl Scout cookie time," sez Our Dearest Harper.

Readings:

Acts 8, 5-8, 14-17   There was great joy in that city.

Psalm 66,  Let all the earth cry out to God with joy. 

1 Peter  3, 15-18,  It is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

John  14, 15-21,  Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Harper says, "Hi, Everybody, Happy Memorial Day."

Reminders on Acts:

What : The second half of Luke’s work, the first part being his gospel.  Acts starts after the Resurrection.  We will read Acts all through May and read the last selection June 1, then June 7, Pentecost.  The work focuses on the spread of the early church with special attention given to Peter and Paul and their conflicts over who was to be a Christian, and Jewish laws, like circumcision.  The conversion of Paul is described. 

CC and Kayla say, Welcome, Everybody, fun to see you."

Who: Luke, an educated and civilized Jew who wrote in Greek.

Date:  around the year 65, or about 30 years after Jesus’ death.

Our Selection: More growing pains in the early community.

Watch 2 readings today, the lovely Psalm 66, and the conditional love in John's gospel.  I would like to talk about unconditional love.

Emma and Sienna say, "It's fun here, come on in."

Could the Love be Unconditional ?

I would like to talk about conditional vs. unconditional love this morning.

It seems I hear a lot about unconditional love for kids, for animals, and for other people.  I like that.  I would like to be able to love unconditionally, at least, once in a while. 

Ever think about how the New Testament presents unconditional love?  In fact, I think the New Testament presents a conditional love.  The whole story of our redemption is based on conditional love.

Here comes The Family, Zoe & Tori & Buddy with their mom, Michelle, and granddad, Gilbert.

What does conditional love sound like?  When Rosemary tells me I will love you if you bring me coffee in bed.  Or I will stay with you another year if you mow the grass.  Look at the word John puts in Jesus mouth this morning, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."

I would propose that God’s love and acceptance of us is unconditional.  I can see this love in people and I think people reflect the nature of God.   Let me illustrate the point with a little story.

"Did somebody say Cupcakes?", Sienna and Brooklyn.

As you know, Rosemary & I head to New York every first weekend in May for the 5 Bike Tour and for a big family reunion at her nephew Brian’s house in Essex Fells, NJ.  After all this is finished Sunday evening, Rosemary & I stay Monday to visit The City and to have dinner with one of her girl friends and classmates from her days at the College of New Rochelle.  Her girl friend is Juanita and her husband is Charlie, fun people.

Believe it or not, they are members of a community very similar to ours.  Anthony Padovano is the priest who coordinates the community.  It was this couple who mentioned they know you folks by name because they read our blogs.   Juanita rattled off the names of the kids, Zoe & Emma, Leo & Cowboy Cole, and others. 

Zoe just looking beautiful again.

So we are having dinner this Monday night.  At least they are and I am having a glass of wine.  I don’t eat after 4:00 and, therefore, don’t have to take meds for acid reflux. 

We were talking about blessings and good things in our lives, when Juanita says that about 4 months ago she had one of those special experiences.

They are getting ready for the beginning of their Sunday Mass when a new couple comes in and sits next to Juanita.   The celebrant welcomes the new couple and says that the man is Jack Egan, formerly a priest of their archdiocese.

Tori at work.

Juanita is immediately curious.  Her mother used to work at the local Catholic Charities and she remembered hearing her mother talk about this Jack Egan. 

As soon as their Mass is over she immediately asks the man if he ever worked at the local Catholic Charities.  He says, “Certainly.”  She says, “Do you remember my mother, Jo Torres.  She worked there many years.  And I remember that she liked you and mentioned your name often.  ”

Who is that Spider Man? Could that be Buddy?

“Yes, absolutely, I loved her.  In fact, I remember frequently coming into her office while she was working on a case study, tears just streaming down her cheeks.”

Juanita is quite touched and says that she never knew that about her mother. 

Jack Egan says, “What a special moment.  I did not know your mom liked me so much and you did not know how touched she was by the people.”

Cupcake of the Week to Maureen for being The Great Grandmother.

An illustration of unconditional love.  And this from human beings.   They receive the gift from The Source. 

What is your image of Our God’s  love for you and acceptance of you?  Conditional or unconditional.  How do you know?

Source: Thanks, Juanita, for letting me share your story with our community.

Who is that Cupcake Thief? Why, that looks almost like Leo. Impossible.

John sharing his research on Matthew & the Jewish environment.

Readings:

Genesis  2, 7-9; 3. 1-7,  The Lord God planted a garden in Eden.

Psalm 51,  Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Romans 5, 12-19,   Through one man sin entered the world.

Matthew 4,  1-11.

Hi, Betsy.

The Gospel of Matthew and the Jewish Synagogue—Talk One

This is the first part in a short series on the relationship between the Jewish synagogue and the Gospel of Matthew.  My primary source is John Shelby Spong’s book titled, Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy, published 2016.

Ash Wednesday at Marlene's house.

Spong is a retired Episcopal Bishop and a Biblical scholar. Other references include The Catholic Study Bible, published 2011, edited by Donald Senior, C.P.; and the Constitution Dei verbum in 1965 by Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI at the 2^nd Vatican Council.

Ash Wednesday, Lynda & Tom.

Pius XII’s encyclical, Divino Afflante Spiritu (tr. “Inspired by the divine spirit”) in 1943, encouraged all Catholics to read the Bible, and that Biblical study should be in the original languages. And he allowed for the use of the historical-critical method for understanding Biblical texts.  

The Choir on the stairs.

The 2^nd Vatican Council’s Constitution Dei verbum (tr. “Word of God”), in 1965, was set up by Pope John XXIII when (before he died) he nixed the first draft by a Vatican-only group, and asked for another draft from a group balanced with conservative and progressive biblical experts.

Jackie reading.

The second draft, accepted by Vatican II and approved by Paul VI, is progressive, acknowledging that Biblical interpretation requires the insights of historical analysis and literary analysis, and an understanding of the purposes of the text as written for its original audience.    

Frank reading the Gospel.

Bishop Spong begins his study with the necessity of being knowledgeable about Jewish culture, Jewish symbols and Jewish storytelling; otherwise we are unable to understand the Gospels. Most Christians are unaware of the Jewish context of the Gospels. We need to know how the gospel stories would have been understood by the Jewish gospel authors and by the Jewish audiences they originally were written for.

Remember, you came from dust & you will return to dust.

Being Jewish, Jesus and his disciples attended the Jewish synagogue during Jesus’ lifetime and for 2 generations following Jesus’ death, about 55 years.  It follows naturally that the memories of Jesus were deeply associated with the synagogue.  

Ashes for you, Dearest Mabel.

People often overlook that the original disciples and the followers of Jesus were—like him—Jewish.  As Jews they would participate in the life of the synagogue and the weekly Sabbath liturgy. As a result, the synagogue became the setting where the teachings of Jesus and the stories about him were recalled and passed on.

Sandra reading from Genesis.

It’s commonly accepted that the split between the synagogue and the followers of Jesus didn’t happen until the year 88 of the CE. This means that Paul died as a Jew, his missionary goal being to open up Judaism to the Gentiles. So, when Paul’s converts gathered on the Sabbath to ‘break bread’ it wasn’t as a step toward founding a new religious movement (a church), but to add a whole new dimension to life in the synagogue. 

Carrie reading from Romans.

The timing of all this also means that the earliest gospels, Mark and Matthew, written before 70 CE, existed while the Christian movement was part of the life and practice of the synagogue. To end this first talk, let me repeat these three amazing facts: 

Happy Birthday, Michelle

1) Jesus’ followers were members of the Jewish synagogue for about 50 years following Jesus’ death; the split between the Jewish synagogue and the followers of Jesus happened in the year 88 CE; 

2) Paul died as a member of the Jewish synagogue in about 63 CE, over 20 years before the split happened; 

3) the gospels of Matthew and Mark, even perhaps Luke and Acts, were written while the Christian movement was still part of the life and practice of the Jewish synagogue.      

          Rosemary reading her Blessing of the Week.

No mid-week blog this week.  Gone to Mexico.

Readings:  Zephaniah 12, 10-11, 13, 1; Psalm 63, My Soul is Thirsting for You, O Lord my God; Galatians 3, 26-29; Luke 9, 18-24. 

Father's Day, A Brief History:

Mother’s Day background:

1.  In reaction to the Civil War horror, Julia Ward Howe proposed a Mother’s Day, ca. 1870.  It became a custom in some communities.

 2.  Picking up the idea later was Anna Jarvis who influenced President Wilson to declare it a national May holiday, 1912.

Father’s Day:

1.  As a compliment celebration, Sonora Smart Dodd in Spokane, WA began celebrating in June a Father’s Day. 

2.  Her history played a role here, because she had great affection for her dad, a Civil War Vet, who took care of the family as sole parent when his wife died giving birth to their 6^th child.  Sonora was 16 at the time.

3.  Sonora also influenced  President Wilson to establish a June Father’s Day national holiday.  He could not get it through Congress, who thought it was getting trivial.  In fact, while Mother’s Day was eagerly celebrated, at first Father’s Day was considered a joke.

4.  LBJ finally designated it to be celebrated the 3^rd Sunday of June.  55 other countries celebrate on the same day.

5.  President Nixon finally got it established as a national holiday.  Date 1972.

A Father’s Day Story

This event happened in mid-March.  I was out in the back yard on a Monday morning about 7:30.  I remember it was sunny, which was rare this past March. 

Do not tell my physical therapist that I was out in the yard walking around with my cane or walker.  I don’t remember which.  I know I was still home bound for another couple of weeks from the second hip replacement.   There was a fear I would fall down and dislocate the thing. 

I know it was Monday because we have our recycle material pick up and I was out putting stuff in the container in the alley.

At some point I am walking back to the porch and the back door, taking the long route to see how many pecan branches had fallen in the yard.  I’m out near the edge of our property where it touches the little north-south street, Camellia. 

Along comes an elderly guy I had seen once or twice earlier in the year (probably younger than I am).  He was headed to the Starbucks on Royal & Preston.  We have a fair amount of foot traffic from the neighborhood pass our corner headed to Starbucks for their morning fix.

He says to me, “You have a really nice yard here.”  Now when he says this, I’m thinking I did not hear him because our yard is a winter mess, lots of small branches still lying around from the first snow fall, everything ragged and unkempt. 

So I say, “Thanks, but the yard is really a mess right now and I cannot do anything about it for another month or so.”  And he responds, “Yes, but you really do keep a beautiful place here.” 

I thank him again and he continues on toward Starbucks. 

I was dumbstruck and touched.  I do attempt to maintain a pretty place.  It is like therapy for me.  Yet this is the first time a passing stranger has ever complimented me on it.  That compliment made my day and it stuck with me.  It even gave me this shot of energy which made me want to go out and clean the place up, but I couldn’t.

The power of a compliment or positive stroke!  They give life.  I have subsequently found out this guy’s name is Harold and he is both a dad and a grand dad.  He has a gift.  It is a gift we all have

When and to whom do you dads put the gift to use?

Picture 1:  Sienna helping with the beginning of Mass

Picture 2:  Special Blessing of Males by the Women, Sandra

Picture 3:  Kiddie Korner, Kayla & Cici

Picture 4:  Sam with his Momma, Pam

Wisdom 18: The night of the passover was known beforehand to our fathers,  that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith,  they might have courage.

Hebrews 11:  Brothers and sisters: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested.

Annette reading from the Book of Wisdom

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben  & Shonda

John reading from St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews

 

 

Remember these special people:

For all the people affected by the floods;  For the Ukraine and the Holy Land; For our new Pope, Leo XIV;  For John Stack;    For Adam, that the doctors may find a remedy for his seizures; For Meredith ;   For Tom  Quinn;   For Warren Wittek; For Becky and Tom Good; For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer ;  For Allen Stryker;   For Mike and Judy Carrell ; For Hue; For Jackie;   For Mary Hall's family and friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition;   For Sir Charlie;  For Ron ;  For Teresa Quinn's niece, Maddie who has a brain tumor;  

                                       

 

Jackie's sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;    from Barbara, a little baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation,  the families of Annie and Michael and her neighbor, Marie and the family;    for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

Jackie sharing her thoughts on the readings

Outreach: $   160.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Mary gets a cookie for her anniversary

Rosemary's Blessing:

Come, O Dancing God,

Spirit of Life and Love,

of  Beauty and Diversity,

stir up my soul,

bathe me in your light,

and unleash my own spirit

that I may dance with you

and be light for those around me

and reflect your love to all that I meet this week.

Edited and adapted from a blessing by Fr. Andrew M. Greeley

 

 

 

 

Ben gets a cookie just because

 

 

 

John Stack Ministries meets on Sunday for Mass at 9:30 at The ArtCentre of Plano,

902 E. 16th St, Plano, Texas.

 

 

JSM Mission-Faith Statement  

 Help create a Catholic Community that welcomes all God’s People, provides for & challenges spiritual & total growth.   Reaches out to help people who are disadvantaged & make the world we live in a better place to live.

Readings:

Leviticus 19, 1-2,  17-18,  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.   

 Psalm 103,  The Lord is kind and merciful. (Stanza 2, one of the best)

 1 Corinthians 3, 16-23,   You are the temple of God.

 Matthew 5, 38-48,    Love your enemies.

"Welcome in, Everybody," say Olivia and her dad, Cory.

Observations on Leviticus

What :  the 3rd book of the Bible and one of the 5 books of the Torah.

Who:  a compilation of sayings accumulated over centuries, not Moses, as was thought for some years.

Date: sometime after the Exile in Babylon, ca. 555 before Christ.

"Don't forget me," says Tori, "Come in, Folks."
 

Subject:  rules about how to live, how to worship, and the penalties for transgressing.  This is based upon 2 beliefs:

1. The world has been created good, but is vulnerable to sin.
2. Enactment of proper ritual makes God present and ignoring proper ritual compromises the harmony between God & people. 

Some unique rules:

1. Cursing, death.   24.14
2. Unkempt hair, God will smite you.  10.1
3.  You will not tatoo yourself, 19.28
4. Trimming your beard.  19.27
5. Cutting the hair on the sides of your head.  19.27

Today’s Subject:  the best line in the whole work, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”   19.18

Sources:  Good News Bible, Wikipedia

The Offertory Team, Bill, Ray, Bernadette, and Richard.

I want to help people.  That’s what I’m for.

Ever hear of a guy named Clarence Griffith?  I read about him in the Dallas Morning News recently.  Three things are unique about him.

1. He was born in 1913.  Know anybody that old?  104 years.
2. When he was 94 he received triple heart bypass at Baylor, Dallas.
3. Ever since his recuperation he regularly goes to console and help people in the Baylor cardiac waiting room.  He gets them coffee, food, and offers them support, praying with them or just letting them talk.  He says,  “That’s what I’m for.  I want to help people.”

Leo, our Candle Lighter of The Week.

For me, Clarence Griffith has accepted that, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry and is abounding in love.”  Moreover, he is making himself live that image.

Last week we looked at infinite demand that was followed up with promises of hell.  A fear based program.

This week we look at a different infinite demand equally challenging.  The demand is to get rid of fear in our relationship with God using that description, and to help others to do so.

The Team.

This is one of the biggest reasons I have been and am a priest, and even a psychotherapist, to help others get rid of fear in our relationship with God.

Which leads me to three demands presented by Matthew.  If you reflect upon it, these three are a result of knowing that our God is gracious and merciful, never gets angry and is abounding in love.

The Wedding, Patricia and John.

First, Matthew says, using his favorite little figure of speech, ‘You have heard it said, but I say to you…’, when someone hits the left side of your face, offer the right and don’t resist the person who is evil. 

Is this insanity or what?  Has it ever been tried?  Yes, you say, by dead people.   Impossible.  This is the message of the pacifist, a person mostly ridiculed by the rest of us.  Know any?  Sure, John Dear, once a Jesuit, Roy Bourgeois, once a Maryknoll. 

I wonder what would happen if we really did this.  I confess I have not been able to get there. 

Congratulations, John, I am so happy when I am not the only one with tears up here.  Must be because you come from Australia.  Double congratulations.  
 

Secondly, give to the person who asks from you.  Another tough one.  How do you feel passing the men & women begging at stop lights?  I, for one, feel horrible, even though I know they have a number of shelters, like The Bridge and Austin St. Shelter.   I can work in those places and know that we as a community help them, but I still feel horrible passing those people on the corner.

Thirdly, love my enemy.  I really don’t have any serious enemies that I know of.

"I, Patricia, take you, John in marriage.  I promise to be true to you in good times and bad, in sickness and in health.  I will love and cherish you all the days of my life."

Despite failure to live up to these demands, which are infinite, our God is still infinitely accepting, specifically gracious and merciful, never get angry and is abounding in love.   Moreover, relevant to our weakness, he says in the following line, “Not according to our sins does he deal with us.”

104 year old Clarence Griffith is showing people this image of God in the Baylor hospital waiting room.

Who shows this image to you?

To whom do you show the image?

 The Kiss.