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

Readings: Genesis 2, 7-9, 3, 1-7; Psalm 51, Be Merciful, O Lord, for We have sinned; Romans 5, 12-19; Matthew 4, 1-11.

First Sunday in Lent 2011– Intro to Readings

 Our first reading today comes from the Book of Genesis chapters two and three, and gives the second account of the creation of the world.  This is actually the older of the two versions. 

 The first chapter creation story was written around the 5^th century BCE and today’s one came from around the 8^th century BCE.  The story in today’s reading is primarily about the temptation by the serpent and the eviction from the garden.  There are just a few points I would like to draw your attention to about these creation stories. 

 This material must be understood for what it is and is not.  It is not accurate scientific information about the beginning of the world.  It is myth.  Now myth, properly understood, is not simply just make believe, but a style of writing which has a clear purpose. Myths are a society’s founding poetic narrative that provides the basic understanding of a society and its reason for being.  There are very similar stories found in other even earlier cultures.

 It is from St. Paul that we get the idea that this action by Adam and Eve of disobeying God was what we have come to know as Original Sin.  There is nowhere in the rest of the Old Testament that we have any suggestion that the people viewed the event as being “Original Sin”.  This idea was later taken up by St. Augustine and got its own legs from there.

 If we pay close attention to the story, there are several things worth noting.  The relationship between God and man, at the outset is perfect!  Everything has been made for man’s enjoyment.  Enter the serpent, and the temptation is “to be like God”.  The relationship was broken by the decision, and from that moment the relationship changed.  Remember that immediately after eating they hide from God.  The humans made the gap between the two.

 Our second reading takes up the same event, Paul to the Romans and this is where that idea of Original Sin is developed and then, as I mentioned above, greatly developed by Augustine and others.

First Sunday in Lent 2011 – Homily

 Welcome to Lent, a time traditionally to ask, so what are you giving up for Lent.  And my usual answer was something like, candy or homework!  Today I am not sure that I am giving up anything, I am going to try to take up something instead.  The original meaning of lent is Spring, and spring is a time of new beginnings. 

 Lent is also the time when those preparing for baptism and entry into the Church through the RCIA program begin their final steps, by signing the Book of the Elect.  I am pretty sure that just as an athlete will train for a competitive event, so too the Church sees lent as a time for us to prepare for Easter. 

Given that I have previously said just this past Easter that if you can understand the Resurrection you are probably committing some kind of heresy, then for me the easiest way to get my head around the whole death/resurrection event is to see it as some kind of sign of God’s unbelievable love for each one of us – and leave it at that.

 The gospel today gives us some ideas for lent.  It is the story of Jesus spending 40 days in the desert prior to beginning His public ministry.  Remember so much of Matthew’s gospel points back to the Old Testament, and we will then recall the 40 years of wandering in the desert. At the end of the 40 days we are told he is faced with three temptations.  The three temptations are best summarized as follows:

1. Change the rocks into bread.  It is a temptation to take the easy way out, there is no one else around, no one will see, no one will know.  We too can be tempted in this way.
2. Jump from the Temple, the place where surely God is most present.  He will save you.  How often do we tempt God?  In our heads how often do we see, if God doesn’t want this to happen, then it won’t.
3. Promise of power, if only Jesus will worship the devil.  The danger of abuse of power, it is such a tempting thing to have power over others.

 My plan for this lent is to focus on these three temptations, and reflect on my own life in terms of each of the temptations.  Perhaps Lent should be a time of reflection on this journey we call life, a time for a thorough examination of conscience.  Remember when NASA was sending rockets to the moon, there was a phrase used “a mid course correction”.  Maybe by taking time during lent, taking a closer look at our own lives, maybe we too could use a mid course correction.

Picture 1:   We begin

Picture 2:   Leo

Picture 3:   Emma

Picture 4:   The Pastry Shoppe

Picture 5:   Curtis & Mabel with Cindy 

Deuteronomy 4, Moses said to the people.

Psalm 33, Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own. 

Romans 8, Those who are lead by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Matthew 28, The disciples went to Galilee to the mountain.

Thanks……

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers, Jackie & John Simari & Buddy, our candle blesser

Gospel, Deacon Mike Carrell

Homily,  John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,    Richard and Mike and Hue and David

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

Jackie reading from Deuteronomy.

Readings for Trinity Sunday

Download Readings Trinity Sunday 5-30-2021

Homily for Trinity Sunday

Download Homily by Cade 5-30-2021

John Simari reading from Romans.

Remember these special people:

For Alan Stryker;  For Joe Hogan;    For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   For Esparza's new great grandson baby, son of Monique & Frank with shingles;  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 &  Leo & all of Shonda's dear family; For Ursuline Sr. Mary Troy, Mike Carol's wife. Judy 

Mike Carol reading The Gospel from Matthew

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg & gall bladder op.; For Meredith, cancer free & John Schanot;    For John O'Donnell & Jean;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa;  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 4 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.

Today's celebrants, John & Mike.

Birthdays:   Shonda and Mabel Ekes

Anniversaries:

Community Finances,   May 30, 2021

Expenses: $1,295.00

Outreach: $700.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Rosemary's Blessing

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Taken from IN FLANDERS FIELDS
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915 
during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium

Rosemary sharing her blessing.

Readings:

Acts 5, 27-32 & 40-41,   We must obey God rather than men

Psalm 30,  I will praise you Lord, for you have rescued me.

Revelation  5, 11-14,  Blessing and honor, glory and might forever and ever.

John 21, 1-19,  Put your finger here and see my hands.

Mike sharing his ideas.

Homily by Mike

I have an app that makes me aware on my iPhone when there is an important news event. This happened some weeks ago when white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel.   After I looked at it, I turned my sound to off.

Georgie ready to serve.

What was going though my mind was, ‘How did the conclave decide so quickly.’  I was apprehensive, and didn’t want to know who had been chosen. 

When I did turn it back on later that day, I had a number of phone calls to return.  All but one came from friends who were not Catholic [however, who are one with us through the power of the Holy Spirit].  

Our Emma.

One thing each of them spoke about with joy was the name our new Pope had chosen, Francis.  The name had been immediately identified to the universal prayer of St. Francis, which seeks to have us become sowers of the good news.  It helps us to recognize that all of us are part of the papacy of Francis! Together we are one body; our name has become Francis, too. 

Leo on a roll.

For the last decade I have spent a great deal of time studying the structure spiritual writings: all of which have been composed with some type of structure.  

Look at the copy that I have made for you. The bold print is a mini summary of the Gospel, where we are to be sowers of the good news!  What is not in bold print in the first section are those who have not received or not allowed the seed to take root, to whom we seek to console, understand,  and love. Notice that we address God in both the bold and un-bold

Grace arriving.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. 

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon. 

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

What's it there? Buddy and Emma and Zoe search.

 Today’s gospel reading begins after the Lord has witnessed his Peter, a good man, being the buffoon: going fishing for gentiles in darkness, without casting out the net [composed of his good news] to the gentile side of the lake.   

Cupcakes of The Week, Michael, Jerry, Claire, Olivia, and Maureen and Fred.

Our Lord had chosen a motley group of sinners, and had led them to forgiveness. Today he comes to Peter, whom he had chosen to lead the church, to reinforce within Peter his responsibility to feed his flock!  How? In the light of day in this celebration of Word and Sacred Meal.  The New Covenant meal fulfills not only all of the Jewish feasts; but their Sabbath Scripture study as well.

Olivia at 5 years old.

Recently I saw a film that made me think about Peter, our first pope. It was entitled, An Afternoon with Marguerite.   

It is about a man about 5o who meets Marguerite, 95, in a park. She is a holy, and very educated woman, never married, whose mission has been to serve those in need. She currently resides in an assisted living facility. 

Olivia with her sister, Emelia, her grandmom, Sandra, grandfather, Chuck, and her dad, Chris

 He is a large man. He had been severely abused as a child by his mother, whatever man was living with her, and by his teacher at school.  He never went back.  He had lived all these years essentially illiterate tending his garden and doing odd jobs.  He meets Marguerite. He reaches in his pocket and sows some seed to the 19 pigeons that he knows by name.  He is known by some as a good man, by others as a buffoon. 

Torri with her good granddad, Gil.

She sees the goodness within him and begins to sow words.  She always has a book with her, and asks if she can read to him aloud. A friendship has begun. She reads and asks him questions, day after day; and her words enlighten him. She leaves a book with him, later a dictionary.   

At first he is frustrated; later, for she is going blind, he reads to her.  Her nephew sensing that she has a very short time to live, stops paying her monthly rent and sends her to a public facility to spend the rest if her life.   

Harper with her grandmom, Cathy. Where's the hat?

[       ] searches for her, finds her, and steals her away from her dismal surroundings.  The film ends with him driving her to his home where he will take care of her.  

These are some of the words we hear coming forth from his heart as they drive away laughing, talking to one another and sharing a sandwich: ‘This is not a typical love affair; but love and tenderness are there. Named after a daisy she lives among the words surrounded by adjectives in green fields of verbs. 

Bethany , Shonda, and Ray with Leo around somewhere.

Not always are love stories just made of love, sometimes love is not named, but it is love all the same. Don’t die now; just wait, it’s not the hour, my little flower. Not always are love stories made of love; love is not named, but it is love all the same. 

Tape this prayer of St. Francis on your bathroom mirror at home.    Try to become aware of those who seek to be consoled, understood or loved…for it is giving that we receive; it is in pardoning….

Rosemary' Blessing

May the Spirit within us

       Be a source of healing and consolation.

May the Spirit within us

       Strengthen us when we feel weak,

       Warm us when we are cold-hearted,

       Bend us when we are stubborn,

       Move us when we are uncaring,

       Guide us in the way of love.

May we allow the Spirit within

       To empower us in all we do.

Michael Morewood

Buddy reads our Summer Blessing

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben

Readers,  Denni & Tom & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel, John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer, John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike & Ben & Becky & Tom & Richard

Final Blessing, Rosemary

Denni reads from 2 Kings.

Please Remember these special people:

For Richard's dad who just passed recently;   For Carrie Bieda's brother, who also just passed recently;  For our Bill;  For Esparzas, Frank & Mary, who lost their son Jim to sepsis;   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;   For Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;    For Sydney;  & For Sir Charlie;  Shonda's mom;   for Michelle;  

For Jackie's mom;  For a friend, a neighbor, & a doctor, Karen, with brain cancer; For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free.;    For Hue;  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;  for Virginia Mattingly

Tom reads from Romans.

Birthdays:  None this week

Anniversaries:  

Download Readings Week 12

The Art of Zooming, thanks to Mike & Ben & Tom & Richard & Becky.

Community Finances, June 28, 2020

Expenses: $ 500.00

Outreach:  $ 200.00  (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

Tom monitoring our process.

Homily,  from a story Grace gave me:

It so happened that on this particular morning the drive through lane at this particular McDonald's was endless.  It seemed to go on forever.  Trouble was they had what this person wanted.  Plus nothing else would move as fast.

So the person gets on line and the line is moving pretty quickly.  Before you know it, the person is at the first window, the girl waiting for the order.   Trouble was, the order included 3 or 4 other people at home.  It was taking a little extra time to get the order straight.

Suddenly from the car next in line the horn starts blowing.  Hands behind the window are saying,  'Get moving,  Hurry up,  Get out of the way!

'Patience', the person thinks, 'Take the high road.'  'The person is just having a bad morning.' 

John reading from home.

Finally the first person moves on to the pay & collect window.  Both orders are sitting in the window, one big one & one smaller.

Now you have three choices.  1.  Pay for your order & get out of the way.  2.  Pay for your order and for the small order belonging to the person honking the horn.   Wave and depart.  3.  Pay for both orders and take both orders, which will force the person behind to have to go all the way to the end of the line and start  over again.  That will teach her to honk at older people!

Which is the better way and which would you do? 

Want to know which choice Rosemary would make?!

Readings:  Revelation 11, 19; 12, 1-6; Psalm 45, The Queen stands at your Right Hand, arrayed in Gold; 1Corinthians 15, 20-27; Luke 1, 39-56. 

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Intro to Readings

The Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse is one of those books of the Bible, which really needs careful study.  Written probably around the year 90 CE, its purpose was to offer encouragement to the early Christians who were undergoing brutal persecution under the Roman emperor Domitian. 

The style of writing is highly symbolic.  We find beasts representing evil and in this case the Roman Empire. 

In today’s reading we have a description of a woman, not Mary, giving birth to a child and the dragon is waiting to devour the child.  Our tendency is to immediately think the woman is Mary, but there were mythical stories from India to Rome about a goddess who would bring forth a savior-king, and this woman would be pursued by a horrible monster, a personification of evil. 

Our second reading is from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.  This is the longest of the letters in the New Testament, and in fact is one of the longest surviving letters in Greek from that period.  The letter addresses specific issues within the community, which we are told in Acts 18:4 Paul visited.  Today’s reading focuses on the contrast between Adam and Christ, and the fact that Christ’s mission is to return the kingdom to God the Father. 

Picture 1:   Mass begins with Kevin helping

Picture 2:   Wendy, Shonda, & Ray

Picture 3:   What happens when priests marry: granddaughter Eleanor with mom, Roshene, & grandparents, Gayle & Fr. Tony

Picture 4:   Sienna with her mom & dad, Erin & Payton

You ready to read, Buddy?

Readings:  

 Jeremiah 31, 7-9,  The Lord has delivered his people.

Psalm 126,  The Lord has done great things for us, we are filled with joy

 Hebrews 5, 1-6,  Every high priest is taken from among the people.

 Mark 10, 46-52,   Bartimaeus, the blind man.

While Emma lights the candles, Buddy reads the Blessing of The Candles, a first time ever for Buddy.

Jeremiah observations:

Who:  one of the Big 3 Prophets, 52 chapters, the “broken hearted prophet,” because he hated being so unpopular and having to condemn so much. 

Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe seems to be who put down the prophet’s message.   Jeremiah probably died in Egypt.

When: put together before & during the B.C., Babylonian Captivity, say 555 before Christ  (reminder, Babylon is near present day Bagdad, Iraq).

Remember, too, that time before Christ is counting downward or backwards.

Our Belief.

Interesting Side Note: (another reminder) can you guess when the Genesis story of creation in 7 days was composed?  Biblical research reveals that the creation story was put together during the Captivity, this same time, i.e. ca. 555.

Why?  The priests & prophets (e.g., Ezekiel) of the Jews in captivity determined that the people would not be assimilated into the local gene pool as their cousins in the northern kingdom had done when made to live with the Assyrians.  They decided they would establish customs & religious practices that would make the Jews so different they would not intermarry.  Three special laws were established: 1.  male circumcision; 2. dietary laws and laws about not touching menstruating women; and 3. the Sabbath.

The Healing Touch

The priests put together the 7 day creation story to suggest that Yahweh approved of their Sabbath law.  They had Yahweh rest on the 7th day to bolster their demand that all Jews take a day off every 7 days.  Before the Babylonian Captivity there was no legislated Sabbath and no myth of Yahweh creating the world in 7 days with the 7th being a day of rest.  So, now you know when the story was created & by whom, the priests, and why, to keep the Jews united vs the Babylonians.  It worked, even down to today.

Subject of the work: the usual prophet message—condemn, pay, peace.

Today's subject: Beautiful message of peace and consolation.  It is coming.

Sources: Bishop John Shelby Spong, The sins of Scripture; Wikipedia

The Healing Touch for Emma.

Homily: