Sunday Homily, November 3, 2013, All Saints

 Joshua 24, We will serve the Lord

Psalm 34, Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Ephesians 5, Wives should be subordinate to their husbands

John 6, Many of Jesus' disciples said, "This saying is hard."

Good News for Aggie & Alan, The doctor discharged Alan with a clean bill of health.  Congratulations!!

Thanks……

Music,    Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Jackie, Mary, & Buddy, our candle blesser 

Gospel,     John Cade

Homily,   John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,     Richard & Hue & Mike

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy for all these years & will miss you enormously, Becky

Thanks for excellent reading, Jackie.

Readings:

Download Readings 21st Ordinary Time 8-22-21

Homily by John Cade

Download Homily John Cade 08-22-21

And you too, Mary, great reading!   Thanks.

Remember these special people:

For John & Karen Anderlick's unborn grandson;  For Alan Stryker;    For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   For Esparza's new great grandson baby, son of Monique, & Frank;  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, and for Hue & Linda's daughter, Doctor Rosemary Beavers;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, The Woodlands,   For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody &  Leo & all of Shonda's dear family; For Ursuline Sr. Mary Troy,

Today's team, John & John

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.; For Meredith, cancer free & John Schanot;    For John O'Donnell & Jean;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughters, Lisa & Lauren  ;  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; from Barbara, a little 12 month old baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; For Beth's friends & brother;   for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

Peace, Cindy, Peace, Dee.

Birthdays:   Marilyn Ackerman

Anniversaries:   Banzhafs, 50

Richard sharing communion with Dee & John.

Community Finances,   August 22, 2021

Expenses: $200.10

Outreach: $300.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Rosemary reading her Special Blessing.

Rosemary's Blessing:

May you learn to see your self

With the same delight,

Pride and expectation

With which God sees you in every moment.

To Bless the Space Between Us by John O’Donohue

Cheryl, the Dog Whisperer, and Aviana.   More Peace.

Our Dear Chloe says, "Happy Easter, Everybody."

Readings:

Acts 10,  34, 37-43  You know what has happened all over Judea.

Psalm 18,    This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.

1 Corinthians 5, 6-8,   A little yeast leavens all the dough.

 John  20, 11-18,  Mary Magdalene

Charlotte, too, Chloe's sister, says, "Welcome, Everybody, and Happy Easter."

Acts observations:

This book with 28 chapters basically tells the story of what happened to and in the Christian community after Jesus died.  

Keven, also, says, "Welcome in Folks."

Resurrection

Want to know what Resurrection looks like?  Let me give you a couple of pictures. 

As you heard me mention at the beginning of our celebration this morning, I went to the Circle R Ranch in Flower Mound Saturday morning for a picnic titled, For the Love of the Kids.  There are two of these picnics a year.  One takes place around Thanksgiving when busloads of kids come for a picnic with horse rides, hay rides, bounce houses, face painting, dancing on a stage, and visits from Superman, Batman, Santa, and others.  It is enormous, a couple of thousand kids.

Zoe lighting the Easter Candle with the help of her sister, Georgie.

In April the picnic is for handicapped kids.  They come with their families, maybe a hundred or more yesterday.  It is wheelchair friendly.  I have my favorite job.  I stand at the entrance, usually with Beth, and welcome everybody.  I am always touched by something special, some resurrection moment.

So here I am yesterday registering an hour before the kids arrive.  I walk into the big pavilion and unexpectedly the first resurrection moment hits me.  You will never guess what it is.  It is The Community.  I’ve already seen Kevin, Kerry, and Joe at the registration desk.  But when I enter the pavilion I see brown shirts of Bona Responds everywhere.  The first Resurrection moment.  I was so proud to be part of this community.

Just take a guess. Yep, our beloved Gerwer gang at 7, believe it or not.

Later, Beth, I, and another lady named Lindi are at the welcome lane into the pavilion.  Families are starting to come in, many pushing wheel chairs, but all with kids handicapped in some way.  Along comes a family with a little blond girl about 5 or 6.  I am saying hello and welcome to everyone.  The little girl comes right over to me and holds up her arms.  I gulp, pick her up, and hold her.  I did not want to ever let her go.  Another Resurrection moment.

A little later a Hispanic mother comes up pushing her son in a wheel chair.  We chat and I look closely at the boy, who is about 12 years old and very nice. What I see is that he has a white sweat shirt that says “Jesuit.” 

Some of The Community Team at the Circle R Ranch Love for the Kids picnic, Saturday.

 Well, of course, that starts a conversation, while I hold the boy’s left hand in my left hand.  I’m on his left.  He is tuned in but not speaking, just watching me sort of fondly.  Finally, I reach over with my right hand and caress his soft cheek.  He gives me the most beatific, gentle smile that I was almost in tears as we parted.  A third Resurrection moment. 

I left Circle R in a zone of greater peace, gratitude, humility, and awe. 

Your most recent Resurrection moment?

Who let that Wild Rabbit in here?

Readings:  Genesis 9, 8-15, I set my bow in the clouds; Psalm 25, Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant; 1 Peter 3, 18-22, That he might lead you to God; Mark 1, 12-15, He remained in the desert for 40 days. 

 Genesis:  First book of the Bible, starts with creation & ends with the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob (Israel).

Ryan lights the Lenten Candle

   Author: Not Moses as was thought for centuries before people began to study the work.  At least 3 sources: 

• a Y (or J) source for the group that addressed God as Yahweh;
• an E for the group who addressed God as Elohim (Like two historians calling NYC The Big Apple or New York City, or Denver by its name or Mile High City);
• and a P group that focused on the priestly class, activities, & customs.

 Time: compiled and put together from 950 to 500 BCE.

Today's Selection: the flood has just receded and Noah is receiving a promise (called covenant) from Yahweh that never again will people be wiped out by a flood.  Guess what the sign of the promise is.

Bethany

40 Days

Picture this.  It is night.  Moon & stars.  Sitting around a little campfire are 3 or 4 families, parents and a half dozen kids.  It is maybe 1000 years before Christ.  It  is perfectly quiet except for the howl of a few animals out in the complete darkness.

A little girl says to her parents, "Where did that moon come from?  The stars?  Where did we come from?"  The parents tell her about the stories they heard from their elders.

They say: Before people were here the earth was all desolate.  It was dark & cold & waters were raging.  God came along one day and decided to put some order into this mess.  So he got up the next morning and divided up the daylight and the dark.



Sacrament of the Sick

The next day he got up and created the dome of the sky.  The third day he created the earth and starts plants growing.  The day after that he sets up the sun, the moon, and the stars.  On the fifth day he puts together fish and birds and tell them to multiply.  The sixth day he really has to work hard: animals and especially man & woman.  By now he is tired, so he takes the seventh day off and enjoys his work.  This is the first account of creation in Genesis.

Now at another campfire many miles away a little boy is asking his family the same question.  He is told another story.  One day, say, Elohim is walking on a dirt path (like everyone did.  No pavement).  He leans down grabs a handful, wets it, and molds it into a new form, something with two legs, two arms, and a head.  A man. 

This man is given life and gets put into a marvelous garden with only one command.  Don't eat from that tree.  Time goes on and animals are created which the man names.  However, the man is lonely, so God takes a rib out of his side and molds it into another human  form.  This one, however, is female and becomes man's partner.  The man names her Eve, the mother of all.  This is the second creation story.



Emma with her mom, Beth

At this point in time all is copasetic.  One day, however, while Eve is strolling around the Garden of Eden, a snake begins to talk with her.  Eventually the snake convinces her to try the fruit of the tree.  Uh, oh.  Then she shares it with the Man, now called Adam.  Later, God comes strolling along in the evening and has to call out for Adam & Eve, who are hiding.  He knows what they have done.  They confess and he tells them they will be forever punished with difficult living.  So they get kicked out of Eden.

Adam & Eve have kids.  Cain first, Abel second.  One day both boys make an offering to God.  Unfortunately for some reason, Cain's offering is rejected by God.  He is hurt and gets mad because his brother is accepted.  He kills Abel.  Then he, too, gets punished by God. 

Time passes and apparently many more of Adam & Eve's kids turn out like Cain.  In fact, God becomes so mad, so disappointed in his new creature man, that he regrets what he has done and decides to wipe everyone off the face of the earth–except one guy, Noah.  At this time, Noah is 500 years old.  He builds a boat and it rains 40 days.  Which takes us up to today's reading, where the water has receded and God promises he will never kill everyone with a flood again, signing his name with a rainbow. 



Sienna with her favorite

I tell these mythological stories for the following reasons.

First, we seldom hear or read these marvels.

Secondly, though it is not in the Genesis reading we have, there is a foundation setting up the thread between this part of Genesis 9 and Mark and today: the 40 days.  Forty is a special number in the old times meaning a sufficient number.  It rained 40 days.  Jesus is in the desert 40 days.  And we are spending 40 days of Lent.

Thirdly, when Jesus came out of the desert he really throws himself into his message, which contains 4 points in Mark:

• The Time is now.
• The Kingdom is here.
• Repent.
• Believe the Good News

Buddy

Fourthly, for centuries up until Vatican 2, the 40 days of Lent focused on fasting and abstinence to imitate Jesus and to do penance for our bad ways.  It was supposed to be a cleansing before Holy Week and Easter and a test of character. 

Fasting usually meant giving up meals.  Abstinence meant giving up a particular item, like Blue Bell or chocolate chip cookies.  I found one amusing note:Thomas Aquinas, one of the great doctors of the Catholic Church who lived ca. 1250, suggested that the faithful abstain from meat, eggs, and dairy.  Why?  Because they were aphrodisiacs and generated lust.  Food, alcohol, tobacco, and sex were all targets of the Church.

Today Mormons fast 1 day per month.  Muslims fast dawn to dusk the month of Ramadan which around mid- August to mid-September.  This fast often includes liquids. 

I suggest that for a positive Lent we might practice sensitivity and service.  This week we might fast.  What about a fast from guilt and stress?  What about fasting from my addiction?  For a week?  Food, alcohol, smoking, work?

How are you going to have a peaceful & happy Lent?



Zoe

Sources:

Dominican Website; Creighton U. Spiritual Seminar; St. Raymond Church, Dublin, CA.;  Wikipedia on Lent & Fasting;

Readings: 1 Kings 17, 10-16; Psalm 146, Praise the Lord, My Soul; Hebrews 9, 24-28; Mark 12 38-44

Kings:

Author & date of composition: the work is a compilation of numerous sources put together near the end of the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 550.

Subject Matter: 1 Kings is part of a 4 book work that includes 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings.  The 3 kings are Saul, David, and his son, Solomon.

The work begins with Samuel, the last great judge, continues through the lives of the 3 kings, and finally shows how Solomon’s sons’ squabbles led to the division of the Jewish nation into two states, north & south, Israel & Judah.  Both states were defeated and the people of Judah taken into the Babylonian Captivity.  It ends on a high note when Cyrus of Persia defeats Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, and allows the Jews to return to Jerusalem.

The Theme: you be good, good things happen to you; you be bad, bad things happen to you.

Our selection: 2 great prophets lived when the kingdom divided, Elijah & Elisha.  They criticized the bad ways of the sons.  In this selection, Elijah tells the king he is going to send a drought to the king's land.  Then Elijah goes away & meets a poor, starving widow with a son.  Watch what happens.  This is setting us up for a little widow in the gospel.

Sources: Good News Bible, Wikipedia, Catholic Encyclopedia

The Widow's Mite

Occasionally these days, despite my persistent denial, I get the message that I may be getting older.  The latest happened on a DART train headed downtown.  A guy actually got up and offered me his seat.  I did not know whether to thank him or consider myself insulted. 

Rosemary & I were on the train going to the arts district and the opening of the Winspear, a glorious Sunday a couple of weeks ago.  The train was full with some people standing.  Rosemary got a seat next to a black guy in probably his twenties.  After about two stops he gets up, passes in front of Rosemary, and offers me his seat. 

I certainly was touched.  He, in fact, was embarrassed a bit.  I teased him about thinking that I was such an old geezer that he offered me his seat.  And I thanked him for his sensitivity.

I mention this black guy because to me he resembles the little widow who gave her last coins.  Not that he gave his last coin, but it cost him to get up and give me his seat.  The story of the widow & her two coins is one of my favorite little stories, as is the story of Elijah with the widow and her son.  Two comments.

First, Elijah & the starving widow.  The widow is treated pretty harshly by Elijah.  She & her son have enough flour to make a little cake before they die of starvation in the drought.  Elijah demands some of it for himself.  This is staged by the composer of the story. 

Elijah is the prophet. But also for the purpose of the point he is symbolic of life or even God, demanding.  Responding positively to the demand wins reward.  Obedience, charity, hospitality toward others, all win rewards. 

This can set up false expectations of physical cures and raising from the dead.  A healthy understanding of the story could be that we receive by giving. 

Second, the little widow with two coins in the temple.  Look out for hyperbole here, infinite demand.  Is Jesus suggesting that we give away our last sheckle, our last quarter?  I doubt it.  Lots of pastors have abused this story to wring money out of church goers.  You are told you got to tithe, 10 per cent.  This is why five years ago when we started celebrating here, I did not want to have a formal collection.

The same lesson can come from this story as from the Elijah story.  We receive by giving.  What we receive is a by-product of our giving, not the goal.  The goal is helping the other person who has less.

The black guy on DART did not give me money or bread.  He gave me a seat which can be just as valuable.  He even had to overcome his embarrassment to offer the gift.  I hope my gratitude gave him something.

We, too, are faced with the challenge.  Perhaps even more at this time of year, Thanksgiving & Christmas.  As a community you people are already doing it.  I congratulate and thank you. 

How do you, how do we continue to share our seats with other old geezers?

Picture 1:  The Our Father with birthday & anniversary folks and Kevin

Picture 2:  Choir, Wendy, Ben, & Celeste

Picture 3:  The Donut Shoppe with Gavin, CC, CC's mom, Christy, & John Doherty in the back

Picture 4:  Jim & Diane Drescher

Sir Charlie, you are supposed to be welcoming everybody.  Looks like you are scaring everyone away, like me.

Readings: 

Isaiah 60, 1-6, Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem. (good one)

Psalm 72, Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.  

Ephesians 3, 2-3, 5-6,  The Gentiles are co-heir, members of the same body.  

Matthew 2, 1-12, The Epiphany or opening to the Gentiles.

John ready in case I forget.

An Epiphany Day

This morning I would like to talk about an Epiphany Day, meaning a special day or a wonder day or event or even a person.  December 28 was an epiphany day for me.  Anybody guess why?  Yes, the date of my back surgery, an event I was totally looking forward to.

Emma sharing her candle lighting gift with the rest of us.

The operation was scheduled for 10:00.  We had to be there at 8:00.  Rosemary & I were there at 7:30.  Somewhere around 8:15 they checked me in and gave me the special operation gown.  I was invited to get on my own special stretcher with 4 wheels. One guy wheeled me around and into a 14 cubicle pre-op room.   Along the way we picked up Rosemary and a good old friend.

Buddy reading our Blessing of the Christmas Candles.

I did not know it at the time, but I was going to spend 4 hours waiting in that room.   My doctor got delayed was all I was told.  Rosemary had to leave.  I got to know the names of the pre-op room staff, Matt and Deborah. 

Cody, tell Ben that he cannot go to  sleep until I start talking.

I teased some of the pre-op patients.  Like one lady was begging to have a coffee.  I welcomed back some from surgery.  I had to ask to use the restroom.  I napped.  All these 4 hours my buddy stayed with me.  He read the newspaper when I dozed.

To join this exalted team, it is required that you are named John and that your are old enough to forget your age.

Finally about 2:00 I was wheeled into the operating room, cold as usual.  An hour or so later I was awake, Rosemary was there, and my good friend was there. 

Looking back, the day was an Epiphany Day and the operation an epiphany event.  You know what was another epiphany event?   My good friend.  He came and stayed about six hours, from the time I was supposed to have the operation, through the delay, and up to and past the operation time.  The pre-op room staff even told the poor guy we looked like brothers.

Bill and his special mom, Mabel.

Know who that special friend is?  Mike Carrell, an Epiphany Event.   Thanks, Mike.

Hi, Tom & Joe & Marsha

The Best Teammates

Elevation Time

The Healing Touch with John.

Mike, an Epiphany Friend

Readings: 2 Kings 5, 14-17; Psalm 98; 2 Timothy 2, 8-13; Luke 17, 11-19.

2 Kings:

• Time of the events: 900 B.C.
• Time when written: 550 B.C., during the Babylonian captivity
• Subject of 1 Kings: This book continues the history of the kings taking up with the death of King David and continuing through the story of David & Bathsheba’s son Solomon.  He builds the famous Temple of Solomon.  After his death the nation divides into the northern & southern states, Israel in the north, Judah in the south (including Jerusalem; remember by the "J’s").
• Subject of 2 Kings: This book continues the history of the decline of the two states until Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeats the people. 
• Subject of our chapter 5 (read it all, it is delightful): one of the leaders of the Syrian-Babylonian army goes to visit the prophet of the day, Elisha.  Naaman, the general, has leprosy.  Note the twist of the story at the end.  Thanks is a theme of this selection and it sets the stage for Luke’s story about gratitude.

Gratitude

Last Sunday after our Mass, after Rosemary had counted the income, and had put it on spread sheets, we got in the car to go out for the evening.  I dropped her off at the Royal Lane & Preston Tom Thumb to buy something, she gave me some letters to mail at the corner, and she gave me the two envelopes to deposit in the bank on the same corner.  We always deposit that money right away.

I drove through the parking lot to the mail box and dumped in all the envelopes. All the envelopes.  Namely, her letters and the two bank deposit envelopes.

I knew almost immediately what I had done and, in fact, wanted to reach down into the mail box to retrieve the deposits.  However, I realized I could go to jail for that.  So we typed up a special note with our phone number and put it in the mailbox and figured we would make contact with the Royal Lane post office early the next day before pick up.  Guess what Monday was: Columbus Day, a postal holiday. 

Tuesday morning I got a call from the main post office that they had one of our deposit envelopes and I could pick it up.  When I met the guy I confessed that I was embarrassed to admit that I was the person who put the deposits in the mail box.  He says to me that as a matter of fact it happens a lot on that corner and that a woman had actually put in 10 thousand dollars in cash. 

So we have gotten back the running expenses deposit and still are waiting for the outreach envelope, which he seems optimistic will show up.  The thing that touched me, however, was how this postal supervisor treated my brain dead behavior with such a light touch.  I thanked him for both, for getting the envelope and for making light of it all.  I was really grateful.

The two stories we have in today’s readings are all about gratitude. A few observations.

First.  The temptation is to think I am one of the nine who did not return to thank Jesus. Yes & No.  I would suggest again: we are both.  Lots of times we forget to thank.  Lots of times we thank. 

Second.  There could be symbolism in the nine and one.  Perhaps I am nine tenths ungrateful and one tenth grateful.  This is a pretty normal proportion. A lot of times, however, I am not so much ungrateful as just insensitive, totally unaware.  Perhaps the lepers who did not return just figured they were lucky and went on their way.  The other guy realized he had been given a gift by that stranger and wanted to respond.

Jesus  tells him his faith has saved him.  I would suggest that his gratitude transformed him.

Third.  How is it possible to rearrange the percentages?  Rosemary & I have a favorite little practice that we do every night.  I’ve mentioned it before. We ask each other what were the blessings of the day.  I recommend this. I even recommend it for sitting alone, while savoring the first cup of coffee in the morning, driving or riding the DART to work & back, getting ready to go to school.  Simple question: what were my blessings yesterday or this week?

In that main post office I could have focused on how dumb I was or that I did not get the second deposit back.  Fortunately I could appreciate the supervisor’s light touch and that I had gotten back one envelope, the larger.

You may start now: what were your three biggest blessings this week?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-10-14.mp3