Sunday Homily, December 14, 2014, 3rd Advent, B cycle

Readings:   John 12, 12-16 (Story of Jesus entry into Jerusalem); Isaiah 50, 4-7, I gave my back to those who beat me; Psalm 22, My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?; Philippians 2, 6-11, He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave; Mark 14, 15, 1-39, The Passion.

The community processes out of the cafetorium into the hall where the singing begins and Mike & Ryan lead the procession back into the main celebration area

Because of the extraordinary amount of reading in this celebration, there is no homily.

The reenactment of the Entry into Jerusalem with palms

Special Note: Holy Thursday & Good Friday Services, the home of Curtis & Mabel, 7:00 P.M.

As each person enters into the cafetorium they and their palms are blessed and cleansed with water

Emma with the help of her mother, Beth, lights the 6 candles of Lent

Readings: Exodus 3, 1-15; Psalm 103, The Lord is kind and merciful; 1 Corinthians 10, 1-12; Luke 13, 1-9

Third Sunday in Lent – Introduction to the Readings

Our readings today are definitely a reminder that there is a cultural influence in our readings, which was alive and well at the time of Jesus and unfortunately is still very much alive today.  Namely, if bad stuff happens to you, you must have deserved it and God is getting back at you!  In the gospel we will hear Jesus explain that the tower fell on the 18 people, but that didn’t mean they were bad.  That the people Pilate had put to death were not bad people.  But Jesus ends each of these examples with a scary warning – worse will happen to you if you don’t behave!!

In our second reading from Paul to the Corinthians we find Paul remembering the fate of the Jews who had escaped from Egypt with Moses and saying that God was not pleased with most of them and so they never made it out of the desert!!

It is readings like these that are bad PR for God.  They represent the view of the punishing God.  And yet a careful reading of Luke’s Gospel will show that when Jesus is asked about those who were killed and whether they were greater sinners than the rest, he is quite clear in his response “By no means” God does not operate that way.

The first reading I am saving to comment on in the homily.

Third Sunday in Lent – Homily

“Take off your shoes, you are standing on Holy Ground!”

Most of the time we are not really aware that we are standing on holy ground.  I do remember a few years ago, when Gayle and I were living in California we did a bit of camping.  In the early days of the camping we slept in the back of the Volvo wagon we had.  On one of our trips we had driven down Hwy 1 to San Simeon and pulled off the road just next to some sand hills.  We cooked our meal and as the sky darkened I suddenly became aware that we were on holy ground.  There was a full moon overhead, in the distance we could see the lights of Hearst Castle, the sounds of the waves came in over the sandhills from the Pacific Ocean.  I had a little transistor radio that my parents had given me for my 21st birthday, and I was able to get the BBC World Service broadcasting  the Last Night of the Prom Concerts!  It was glorious.

I think, occasionally we have moments like this when we are suddenly aware of God’s Creation, but sadly most of the time we are too busy to notice our surroundings.  Moses, in today’s first reading was reminded.

In the Gospel, we had an incident where 18 people had been killed by a falling tower.  Big News.  Last month we had 250,000 people killed in Haiti, old news.  We get too much news and we have become insensitive to so much around us.  There is too much demand on our time.  We come here each Sunday to try and take a bit of time out.  To listen to God’s Word and to remember that not only are we standing on Holy Ground, but that each person around us, not just today, but everyday, is representing God to us, and also an opportunity for us to represent God to them.

Readings: 1 Samuel 3, 3-10 & 19, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening; Psalm 40, Here am I, Lord, I come to do Your Will; 1 Corinthians 6, 13-15 & 17-20, Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit; John 1, 35-42, We have found the Messiah.

1 Samuel: This is book one of two books.  The series is 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings; the characters being Samuel, the last of the Judge leaders of Israel-Judah; Saul, the first king; and King David. 

Authors:  Traditionally it was thought that 3 people wrote the book, Samuel, Gad, & Nathan.  Samuel, chapters 1-25; Gad was King David's historian, & Nathan was an editor.  Contemporary biblical experts think this unlikely & say that the works were put together at least 50 years after the time of the events.

Time:  The events take place ca. 1100-1000 BCE.  The compilation & recording of the events takes place ca. 950 BCE. 

Today's Selection: Yahweh is calling Samuel in a dream.  This ties in with the Gospel where three future apostles are called.  Samuel's parents were Elkanah & Hannah, and Hannah is famous because of a touching story about how she came to have Samuel.  She had been barren for years and even Elkanah's other wife ridiculed her.  One day the prophet Eli heard her crying and praying in the temple.  At first he accused her of being drunk.  Then when he talked with her, he promised that she would have a son. 

Hannah had promised Yahweh that she would dedicate to the temple her son, if she got one.  Consequently, our selection finds Samuel residing in the temple with Eli the prophet.  He would be about 12 years old.

Be aware that while these marvelous stories are mythological, the writer is attempting to convey to a simple people lessons about trust in Yahweh.

Eli Who?

     When I was a young pup of a Jesuit I got to know an old blind Jesuit who was living in the old priests’ infirmary at Grand Coteau.  I can still remember a tall, skinny Fr. McLaughlin doing pull ups on a bar in back of the big, four story building we lived in.

     I got to know him especially well the first Christmas I spent at Grand Coteau, my first away from home.  I had acquired a really good case of poison ivy and could not do much.  I had gotten the poison ivy one recreation day when we were out in the Achafalaya swamp.  I used some Spanish moss after a pit stop in the woods. 

     Fr. McLaughlin received tons of Christmas cards and being blind he needed someone to write for him.  That was my job, which I did mostly standing that Christmas.

     In the Jesuits we had a strong custom of having spiritual directors.  Fr. McLaughlin was my first.  He was a great raconteur of stories, but also a kind listener.  He helped me through my homesickness.

     I talk about Fr. Mac because he was an Eli figure for me.  Fr. Mac & the priest Eli were both spiritual directors.  I would like to talk about spiritual direction and directors.  Two observations.

     First, I highly recommend this old Jesuit custom.  Get a spiritual director. 

     I have one.  Most of you know him, David McKeon, a married priest from the Rochester, NY diocese, a spiritual man and a licensed psychotherapist. 

     I usually visit him every other month, usually just recounting to him the many blessings of life with Rosemary, the life of our community, and my insights.

     Spiritual directors come in professional and semi-professional sizes.  Some are counselors.  Characteristics include:

          1.  The person is a good listener

          2.  They are affirmative

          3.  Like Eli, they reflect back what they are hearing. 

          4.  They do not tell a person what to do.  No “You shoulds,” a really difficult thing for lots of adults to refrain from.  Actually, teachers are trained to do this—with students.

         Secondly, besides recommending that you get a spiritual director, I would suggest that you all are spiritual directors, the semi-professional size.  For years I was a spiritual director for nuns, priests, young Jesuits, and people from various areas of life. 

     Spiritual directors helped me all through the Jesuits and David McKeon still does.  I invite you to consider yourselves spiritual directors.  It happens at meals, coffees, at Tom Thumb, at receptions.  Follow the four characteristics I mentioned, listen, affirm, reflect back, and don’t tell adults what they should do. 

 Furthermore, I invite you to get a spiritual director or counselor. 

 Who is the Eli in your life?

Picture 1:    Georgie & Elizabeth

Picture 2:    Ashley, Jean & Cliff's granddaughter       

Picture 3:    The Kerns, Ben, Candy, Michael, & Mike

Picture 4:    Cole

Picture 5:    Buddy with his granddad, Gilberto

Picture 6:    Leo comfortable in Jean's arms

Readings: Leviticus 19, 1-2, 17-18; Psalm 103, The Lord is Kind and Merciful (the best); 1 Corinthians 3, 16-23; Matthew 5, 38-48.

Homily

 “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  But we are not, and so the Sacrament of Penance, the fourth in the list as we learned it! 

 So far we have discussed the first three sacraments, Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist, and come to the understanding that they are best identified as Sacraments of Initiation.  Moreover, in their original expression, they would all have been celebrated as one sacrament. 

As we received the sacraments as children, we almost received them in this order.  Except that Penance was dropped in before we made our First Communion, and so intruding in the sequence.

Today I want to try to cover, briefly, the history of the sacrament of Penance.  The very early Christian community didn’t have the sacrament.  The thinking was quite simple, if one repented and believed in Jesus and was baptized, one would not sin again! 

 This early community was a very close community, and was also being persecuted for its faith, and so they knew each other very well and we have several references in Paul’s letters to the need to throw someone out if they sinned. 

By the year 150 we do find that the communities recognize three sins, which required special handling; murder, adultery and heresy.  For this there began a practice of what we will call “Canonical Penance”.  It was not pleasant! 

 Since it seemed inconceivable that a baptized person would sin, then they were excluded from the community.  They had to perform all kinds of public penance, wear special clothes and fast; and maybe, after many years of this, they might be welcomed back into the community on Holy Thursday.  And by the way, you could only ask for forgiveness once in your lifetime!  And so began the practice of “death bed” forgiveness. 

Baptism was generally recognized as the sacrament for having sins forgiven, and so it became common to delay receiving baptism until one was an adult and past the youthful years of indiscretions.  This almost ended the life of the sacrament of Penance. 

But then along came the Irish Monks!!  Sitting around in their monasteries, they began to talk with one another and there developed the practice finding a “Soul Friend” or Anam Cara to tell ones sins to.  This was the beginning of Confession as we know it, but there was still one missing ingredient.  Absolution. 

 This action did not get officially added until the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215.  But back to the Irish Monks.  They ended up bringing Christianity back to Europe since it had been all but wiped out there by invading barbarians. 

To help with this type of confession, they began to develop penances appropriate to the sin and thus developed books with prescribed penance.  And these penances were extremely harsh, no three Hail Marys for the Irish! 

 Of course given man’s ingenuity, the next thing we find is that those with some money could hire others to do the penance for them! 

 It was Peter Lombard in the twelfth century who first listed Seven Sacraments, with penance being number four, and it was also in this century that we first meet the famous words “Ego te absolvo” which were quickly defended in the next century by St. Thomas Aquinas as the only way to have sins forgiven. 

 By the time the Reformation came some four centuries later, we find the Council of Trent only further declaring that this was the way penance always was and would always be celebrated!! 

 Now in our time, with the aid of better church history, the Second Vatican Council began to restore the communal aspect of the sacrament, and focused on Reconciliation rather than on penance and confession.  

That effort has tended to fall on barren ground as two things have happened.  One was that we all stopped going to confession altogether and, secondly, it seems that the current hierarchy are bound and determined to undo much of what Vatican II introduced.

 Why did we stop going to confession?  I believe there are a couple of reasons.  Traditionally people were not well educated and therefore took everything which the church said without question. 

In the last century, most of us have been educated at least to secondary level and a large number thru third level.  We are able to think for ourselves.  The push by Vatican II towards ‘personal responsibility’ in our relationship with God further aided this. 

 Right after Vatican II came the Encyclical Humane Vitae, on birth control, which most adult Catholics choose to ignore.  Follow that with the current pedophile crisis and who wants to confess to a priest!!

 But as I said at the very beginning, we do sin.  So now what can we do about it?  Well recall that penance is not the only sacrament in the business of forgiving sins.  Baptism does, so does the Sacrament of the Sick, (more about that sacrament on another Sunday) and so does the Eucharist. 

 Recall that there are numerous times in our celebration when we acknowledge our sinfulness and even hear the words “this is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world”.  So the church is possibly heading towards greater recognition of the need for reconciliation rather than confession. 

 I am going to suggest that during one of the Sundays in Lent, we have a celebration of Reconciliation with our Eucharist.  There are even two Eucharistic Prayers for Reconciliation in our missals, but more about this later.  There is no question, but that we sin.  There is also no question but that the whole message of Jesus was one of reconciliation: remember the Prodigal Son, the Lost Sheep.  God does love us, and definitely does not want us to stay away when we fail. 

 Just because Confession has vanished, sin has not.  And we can too easily become very casual about our relationship with God and our community.  There is a place for reflection and acknowledgement of our sins, we have it each time we celebrate mass at the beginning with the Penitential Rite, and maybe its time we found an Anam Cara, a Soul Friend.

Picture 1:   Mass beginning    

Picture 2:   The Nursery, Zoe, Michelle, Torri & Buddy, Randolph, Georgie, Leo & Bernadette

Picture 3:   Leo with Wendy

Picture 4:   Torri with her granddad, Gilberto

"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 10,  25-26,  34-35, 44-48,  God shows no partiality.

Psalm 98,    The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

1 John 4, 7-10,   Let us love one another.

 John 15, 9-17, As the Father has loved me, so I love you.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy be complete.

 1 John and John 15, perfect, fitting readings for Mother's Day

Victoria says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."

Acts:  Another review–

Author: Luke, who wrote both the Gospel and Acts

Date: ca. 40-50 years after the death of Jesus

Our selection: This same selection was read on Easter Sunday.  What is happening is this.  Last Sunday we began the second half of Acts, from chapter 9 to the end.  Last week's reading had to do with Paul returning to the community in Jerusalem after he had his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. 

This week we get into chapter 10 which focuses on two characters: Peter and a Gentile (non-Jew) captain in the Roman army named Cornelius.  Cornelius was supposed to be a good man and he has a voice call him, "Cornelius." "What is it, sir?" he answers.  The voice tells him to go a town called Joppa and talk with a man named Peter.  Cornelius sends two servants.

Emma & Beth, also, say, "Hi, Everybody."

Meanwhile in Joppa Peter has that vision we talked about Easter Sunday: a sheet coming down from the sky with a multitude of animals.  Many of the animals are considered ritually impure by Jews.  Peter is told by a voice to eat from these animals, but Peter refuses.  While this is going on the two servants arrive and the voice tells Peter to go with them.  Peter arrives at Captain Cornelius' house and that is where we take up the story.

Luke is interested here not so much in history as in convincing his readers that the Gentiles as well as Jews are included in the new religion.

Source: Good News Bible

And, of course, our precious Genevieve is all ready for everybody.

Psalms:

Dates:Put together at ca. 300 years BCE.

Author(s): The old belief that David composed all 150 Psalms is just myth.  The reality: many people and groups of people composed the psalms over centuries.

Purpose: songs of gratitude, sorrow, pain, and longing to be sung by the Jewish people, especially in the temple and later in the synagogue.  Special songs were composed for feast days like passover and the feast of lights, to name just two.

Source:Bishop (Episcopal) John Shelby Spong, Origins of the Bible XXV, published 5-2-09 in Mirabile Dictu

Zoe and Tori, the candle lighters are helped by the big sister, Georgie.

A Mother’s Day Story

I would like to tell you a Mother’s Day story this morning.  This is a “hope you don’t have a kid like this” story.  And if you do, maybe it will give you a little hope. 

I admit that I have told this story at least once during the 15 or so years I was working at St. Mark’s.  I don’t think I have told the story here.  If you have already heard it, visit the coffee shop in the back with the kids.

The Beautiful Natalie.

The story took place many years ago.  It was a chilly, damp, gray day in probably November.  It was a Saturday.  Myself and maybe 5-6 of my buddies from Christ the King grade school took the city buses downtown to watch a movie.  At most we were 7^th grade, 11 or 12 years old.

There used to be 3-4 theaters downtown, the Majestic, the Palace, and others.  There was a bus line down Preston Road near my house in University Park and another on Airline, coming along the SMU campus, west side, the Hillcrest side.  We used both bus lines because some of the guys lived further east in University Park.

Emma and Zoe covering world affairs.

So we go to the movie.  We come out, and somewhere, probably at a dime store (remember those?), we buy water pistols.  Then we race around town and run in and out of the department stores, like Neiman’s, having water pistol fights.

Finally, about 4:30, we get on our buses, some on the Airline bus, myself and another guy on the Preston bus.

We get off at my corner, Stanford St., and walk the 2 blocks to my house.  In my back yard I had built a fort some years earlier.  It was on the west side of our house against the west side picket fence.  The fence was against a hedge about 7 feet tall, which ran along the driveway to the garage of our neighbors’ house, Mr. & Mrs. Barnes. 

Cupcakes of the Week to Richard and Monica.

My friend & I went in the fort and hung out.  At one point Mr. & Mrs. Barnes walked along their driveway and got into their car in the garage.  My friend & I climbed onto the roof of the fort. 

Mr. & Mrs. Barnes started backing their car, a white Cadillac, out the driveway.  She was dressed formally and he was in a tux, if I remember correctly.  Mr. Barnes’ head was slightly out the window of his car, looking back. 

And to J.T.

You guessed it, folks.  As they passed by us, we leaned over and let loose with our water pistols. 

Suddenly I knew I was in deep doo doo.   Mr. Barnes backed past the hedge, stopped, got out, and walked over to our front door.  We ran around the opposite side of our house, went across the street, and hid in the bushes.  At that point, my buddy took off. 

After Mr. Barnes finished talking with my mom, he left, and I was ready to go back downtown and move into The Bridge, claiming I was homeless.  Trouble was, The Bridge had not yet been built.  I had to go home, which I finally did.

And even to Fred.

My mom?  She was so mad!   Actually, I think she spanked me with her hair brush.  It was probably a useless gesture, because I was a little big for it to do much harm.  Either way, I felt like a really bad kid.  During the next 6 years I was quite capable of equally dumb acts.  And you wonder why I thought I better get in the Jesuits 6 years later or I was going to hell? 

Shonda, Bethany, Beth, Michelle, Mary, Erin Pack, Erin McClurg, & Cathy and all you moms and grandmoms with young kids, I pray that you don’t have the same challenges my mom had.   Happy Mother’s Day.

Genevieve says, "Wake me up when that old guy stops talking."