Sunday Homily, August 17, 2014, 20th Ordinary Time

Welcome, Betsy.  We have been awaiting your debut.  Your big sister Harper has been telling us that you were coming.  And doubly nice, with your dad, Brian.

Readings: 

Acts of the Apostles, 10, 37-43,  Peter said, "we are witnesses of all."

Psalm 118,  This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice & be glad.  (an excellent first stanza)

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

John 20, 1-9, On the first day of the week, Mary Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning.

Congratulations, Leo, you have not lost your touch as the candle lighter.  Thanks.

A little Yeast Leavens a Whole Loaf

This morning I would like to talk about that line that says a little yeast leavens a whole loaf of bread.  For me that idea is translated into the idea that a little act on my part may make an enormous difference.  Little resurrections take place, which I would propose happen every day in lots of ways.

Will somebody please go sit with Sir Charlie.

For instance, there is this girl.  She is probably in her mid twenties, average height, average size, brown hair.  I first noticed her when I realized she was suddenly becoming a regular at the gym of the Jewish Community Center, where I work out mornings Monday through Friday.

I know most of the people who work out at the same time as I, namely about 5:00 A.M.  The hour is the result of long years of Jesuit training.  I noticed the girl because she went about her work out pretty seriously.  Moreover, she seemed to know nobody and never talked with anybody.  My heart went out to her.

Welcome Home, Doug, and thanks for introducing us all to Kim.

So one morning I just walked over to a machine where she was working out and where I intended to work a bit.  I waited for her to finish up, then said to her, “Hi, I’m John.  I see you here most mornings and I admire you.”

Washing of the hands Holy Thursday evening.

Well, suddenly all the lights on the downtown Dallas Omni Hotel flashed on.  The girl broke out this glorious smile and her blue eyes shone.  Her serious face was transformed.  “I’m Molly,” she said.  And now every morning that we are at the gym together we greet each other and she flashes her delightful smile.

Good Friday.

A resurrection event.  Just add a little yeast and watch the results.

What is your latest Resurrection event?

The Hostesses with the Mostesses,  Marlene & Cindy.

What a surprise gift Friday evening, Rose was back in town from CO and showed up.

Readings: Acts 15, 1-2, 22-29; Psalm 67, O God, let all the Nations praise You; Revelation 21, 10-23; John 14, 23-29.

Acts:  a quick summary of the facts–

Author: Luke, a "doctor," a Gentile who converted to Judaism and then became a follower of Jesus.

Date: Maybe before, but more likely after the two big dates–

70 C.E.  failure of the Jewish revolt against Rome & destruction of the temple.

88 C.E.  the Jews who were followers of Jesus leave the synagogue and go on alone.

Material: story of the early Christian communities, not totally historical.

Mother's Day: a brief history–

1.  Greece & Rome: Cybele was the mother of all gods

2.  in the U.S.

a.  Julia Ward Howe: during Civil War, ca. 1870,  as a counter to the tragedy

b.  Anna Jarvis: 1912, pushed for 2nd Sunday of May, Mother's Day, with emphasis on the apostrophe, i.e., a single mother of a family, not all mothers.  Ended up regretting the day because of commercializaiton in the 40's before she died.  Hated Hallmark Cards' canned messages instead of personal notes.

c.  President Woodrow Wilson: 1912, made it a national holiday.

Sources: Legacy Project & Wikipedia

A Mother's Day Story

A year or so after I returned from East Africa, so around '88 or '89, my mom had to go into the hospital for some minor treatment.  She was living at home and I was living at Jesuit, though I went to visit her every day. 

On this particular day I was driving her west on LBJ from Preston to go to what was called at that time, Deadman Medical Center.  It is on LBJ between Marsh Lane & Webb Chapel.

As we ride along she reaches over with her left hand, pats me on the right leg, and says, "I'm proud of you."

Wow!  That blew me away.  I was really touched inside.  Here I am just back from about 10 years in East Africa.  I've been a Jesuit by then 30 years, more or less.  And my mom's affirmation still meant so much. 

Two events happened in that car.  One, my mother used words to affirm me.  Secondly, she touched me in a tender, affirming way.  The result: inner peace, just what is mentioned in today's gospel, the gift, ultmate gift.

If you are like I was when I grew up, I did not have enough positive stroking and certainly I lacked touch. 

You mothers, daughters, married, singles, all of you.  You got the gift.  You can bring peace with two simple acts, a word and a touch.

With whom and how many times a day do you share your gift?   

Picture 1:  3 of the 8 men who all gathered to bless the foreheads of all the female members of the community as our entrance rite, Tony Bob, & Richard 

Picture 2:  Fred blessing Rosemary's forehead with blessed ointment

Picture 3:  Jeff Morrow & Bob McGrath blessing the foreheads of the female members of the community in their section

Picture 4:  Cole receiving his first communion with his mom, Gail

Picture 5:  Shelby receiving her first communion from her mom, Debbie

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 2, 42-47; Psalm 118; 1 Peter 1, 3-9; John 20, 19-31

Intro to the Readings – 2^nd Sunday of Easter

 Our first reading today is from Acts of the Apostles.  Remember this is part 2 of Luke’s story of Jesus and the Early Church, part one being his Gospel.  In Acts, Luke picks up the story right after the Resurrection.  He repeats the short piece about the Ascension, but the main body of Acts deals with the spread of the Good News to the Gentile World.  Our reading today is early in the story and is a kind of interlude about the early Christian church in Jerusalem. 

 
The few verses in today’s reading give us what I will call an idyllic view of that community.  And interestingly Luke, writing to a Greek audience uses a word in today’s reading, which only appears here in the Bible, but is commonly used in Greek literature to describe a kind of Utopian society.  I mention this because we could easily feel discouraged when we listen to what that early community was like and then reflect on our own community here today in 2011.  But for Luke’s original readers, this community is the one described by Plato, Ovid and other Greeks as the ideal community where all possessions are shared. 

 There is one other item worth noting in the reading and that is the four actions of this early community, the teaching of the apostles, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers.  These are a great summary too of what Jesus did in his life.

 The second reading today is from the First Letter of Peter.  It was written to the churches in what is today Turkey and Syria.  The communities are having a tough time due to their faith, although they are not being persecuted yet.  Peter’s letter offers them great encouragement.  He probably wrote it around the year 64 from Rome. 

Second Sunday of Easter 2011 – Homily

Today, after we pray the our Father and a few other short prayers I will turn to you and say “ the peace of the Lord be with you all” but what is that ‘peace’?  I think we have a clue from the gospel just read.  To get a better understanding we need to look closely at what is happening in John’s gospel. 

Our reading today comes from the second half of Chapter 20.  Chapter 20 begins with the words “it was very early in the morning on the first day of the week, and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb.”  By the way, chapter 19 ends with Jesus being laid in the tomb.  So we know we are on Easter Sunday morning.  What John’s Gospel proceeds to do is show that faith in the resurrection comes slowly.  Jesus’ disciples were not expecting it.  So when Mary finds the tomb empty her immediate conclusion is someone has taken the body.  Peter and another disciple, the ‘beloved’ disciple show up after Mary told them what she had discovered, and we are told they saw the garments, and that the ‘beloved disciple’ saw and believed, nothing about Peter believing yet. 

 And then we have today’s reading.  It is the same day, but evening.  They are all in a locked room, afraid of the Jews.  So I have to wonder, how big an impact had this early ‘faith’ of the beloved disciple had on the group.  By the way, Mary did see a gardener whom she recognizes when he calls her by name, but I suspect her story was put down to the rantings of a grieving woman??  So Jesus appears in the room, and twice says “peace be with you”.  What is this peace?  He immediately breathes on them, and remember an earlier breathing – in the book of Genesis, when God breathes on the clay and forms man, we now have God again breathing and forming new men!  People filled with the Holy Spirit.  In human terms I feel that this “peace be with you” had the same effect as when a child wakes up in the night crying and a parent wraps them in their arms and says “its OK, I’m here with you”.  The child feels safe. 

 
The resurrection, belief in the resurrection, makes us different people.  Yes it is the leap of faith, not a solid provable fact, but that faith gives us a hope, and a security that nothing can really harm us.  It is what gave the apostles the courage to go out and face that group of hostile Jews.  It is what brings us here this morning. 

 Remember in the first reading today from Acts, that little early idylic community which Luke described, we are not that different.  We come together to break bread, to pray, to learn the teaching of Jesus, and we do share our possessions.  This morning we will be giving anther $2,000 to the CCAC and also some money to the Plano Homes, and those are just two small examples of sharing our possessions.

 So today at our mass, when I say “the peace of the Lord be with you all” reflect for a moment before we offer each other the sign of that peace, do you feel like the child, wrapped and safe?

Picture 1:     Penny receiving a check from Bobby for Plano Community Homes

Picture 2:    Offertory with brother & sister, Bobby & Marlene

Picture 3:    Leo with Jackie

Picture 4:   Wendy's parents

Picture 5:   Gilberto preparing for the 5 Boro Bike tour with 2 of Rosemary's Nephew's kids, Emma & William 

A new community member?  Almost like former times.

Readings:

Isaiah 7, 10-14, Ask for a sign from the Lord.

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

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

Matthew 1, 18-24,  This how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.

Buddy reading The Candle Blessing for the 4th Sunday.

Homily for December 22 by Mike

The Matthew and Luke gospels begin with what Biblical scholars call infancy narratives because the child Jesus is in both of them. You might remember from earlier homilies that the shepherds, who lived in the fields and who took turns watching over their flocks during the night, were a metaphor for the Lord’s apostles. The angel of the Lord, Mary, the manger, the flocks, the swaddling clothes, the birth place of Bethlehem, all these and many others are metaphors.

Our Sister Act lighting the 4 candles for the 4th week of Advent

It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that Mary has given birth in both the Matthew and Luke gospels; but not to a child. She has given birth to the written Good News of Jesus Christ. It is there that Mary’s wildest dreams are fulfilled…and ours, too.

Mike sharing his homily ideas.

The Prophet Isaiah has been in anticipation of the written Good news all through Advent. Today he identifies Christ as Emmanuel,  “God is with us.”  Recall that in the Luke gospel Isaiah identifies the Lord’s journey with us this way:  The spirit of the Lord has anointed us to take the Good News to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captive, to give sight to the blind, to set the downtrodden free, and to proclaim this year to be the Lord’s year of favor.

Thanks to all of you.

 Readings: Deuteronomy 8, 2-16; Psalm 147, Praise the Lord, Jerusalem; 1 Corinthians 10, 16-17; John 6, 51-58

 Intro to Readings 

Our first reading today is from the Book of Deuteronomy, last week it was from the Book of Exodus.  These books are part of what is known as the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament.  They are also referred to as the Torah, or the Five Books of Moses.  They are considered the most important books in Jewish tradition and are the most quoted in the New Testament.  The first four books describe the creation of the world right down to the time when the Israelites are paused at the Jordan River, before they cross over into the Promised Land.  Deuteronomy, the last of these books, is best described as three big sermons of Moses. Our reading today is from the second sermon and in it we have Moses reminding the people of all the great things that Yahweh did for them, by saving them from the Pharaoh, and leading them thru the desert, even though that last piece took 40 years!  They could have used a GPS!  The reading today has two short pieces to it and will sound repetitious.  The reason is that the book was compiled over hundreds of years and from many sources and in those days, consistency was not as important as making sure that tradition was included! 

Body and Blood of Christ – Homily

 Today our focus is really on what happened on Holy Thursday, at the Last Supper.  The church has chosen to have us focus on that event today, now that we are past all of the events of Easter.  What did happen at that Last Supper?  It was “the event” which seems somehow to have defined the early community after the death of Jesus.  For some reason, that meal, and really many of the meals with Jesus, took on significance beyond the normal meaning.  For people in that part of the world then, a meal was an expression of hospitality.  And we ourselves know that sometimes meals can take on a special significance, whether it is due to the circumstances of the meal, or who we're dining with. 

For the early community the events of that Last Supper took on huge significance.  We first hear about it in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, where we find the very familiar phrases, which we still hear today in our Eucharist.  “While they were at supper he took bread and broke it, gave it to them and said, take and eat, this is my body”.  That bread and that wine is what united and defined the early church, and it is still today how we are defined.  Nowhere is the cross the focus of the early community, it is the meal.

We know that food is nourishment for our bodies.  The food we eat, gives us energy to go out and do things.  In taking the bread and wine and giving it to us at the Last Supper, he changed the whole value of the food.  The community was to continue His presence in the world by seeing this bread and wine as Jesus.  And by eating and drinking this bread and wine, as Paul puts it, Jesus was in Paul and living thru Paul.  Like wise, by the action we go thru here each Sunday we are inviting Jesus into our lives and then going out and spreading the Good News.  The effects of Jesus in us, “it is no longer I but Christ who lives in me”, says Paul to the Corinthians.

 If we reflect that for the Jews, the first covenant with Yahweh was sealed with the Ten Commandments.  This new covenant was sealed by Christ’s death and resurrection, but symbolized in the meal.  By eating the bread and drinking the wine, Jesus enters into our lives.  The question now is “what effect that has on our lives”?  For the early Christians it caused others to say of them, “see how they love”.  There are consequences to what we do here; we need to see our participation in this meal, as in some way remaining with us as we go about our lives for the week ahead.  We say that the bread and wine are changed, what we can also say is that, by our participation, we too are changed. 

 But the effects of eating the bread and drinking the wine involve our active participation, Jesus is not going to take over our lives, we need to welcome Him into our lives.  This is not an invasion but an extension of hospitality.  As we share the bread and wine today, let us make sure that we are open to welcoming and living our lives as a people of God, allowing God to be present in His kingdom here on earth.

Picture 1:   Tony beginning Mass

Picture 2:   Offertory, Erin & Chuck

Pciture 3:   Cole, the son of Erin & Chuck, with his grandmom, Diane

Picture 4:   Shonda slipping away from weekend duty with Kent Messer and Jon Waldron

Picture 5:   Anniversaries Brunch

Readings:

Isaiah 9, 1-6, The People who walked in darkness have seen a great  light

Psalm, 96, Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.

Titus 2, 11-14,  Beloved, the grace of God has appeared, saving all.

Luke 2, 1-14, In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus…

Peace 

Download Readings Christmas 2020

Homily:

Download Homily for Christmas Eve 2020

Serenity

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben & Shonda, 

Readers, Beth & Rob,  & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Claire Occipinti 

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Mike 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

Alaskan Forest

Please Remember these special people:

For Paul & Carrie recuperating, plus her ex, Larry;  For Alan Stryker;  For Joe Sullivan;    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, 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 Loretta's aunt Alicia;  For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody & Ben & Leo & all of Shonda's dear family;  

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 a little 4 month old boy undergoing an operation, from Barbara;  For the students, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

More of the forest

Community Finances, December 24, 2020

Expenses: $

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

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Rosemary's Blessing:

Loving Father, Help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world.

Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.

Robert  Louis Stevenson