Sunday Homily, February 8, 2015, 5th Ordinary Time, B cycle

 Deuteronomy 4, This great nation is a wise and intelligent people.

Psalm 15, The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord

James 5,  Be doers of the word and not hearers only.

John 7,  All Jews do not eat without carefully washing their hands.

 

 

Ben bringing life.

 

Thanks……

Music,    Ben & Shonda

Readers, Mary Jane & John, & Buddy, our candle blesser 

Gospel,     John Cade

Homily,   John Stack

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

 

 

Mary Jane reads 1st reading

 

Readings:

Download Readings 22nd Ordinary time 08-29-21

Homily by John Stack

Download Homily by Stack 8-29-2021

 

 

John Schanot reads 2nd reading

 

Remember these special people:

For John & Karen Anderlick's unborn grandson;   For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   For Esparza's new great grandson baby & 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,

  

Brent & Meredith, our cancer survivor

 

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 Everybody

 

Birthdays:   Teresa Quinn & Maureen Macchio

Anniversaries:  

Ken & Cindy Cramer, 59th

 

 

Our Dear Ken & Cindy.

 

Community Finances,   August 29, 2021

Expenses: $1030.000

Outreach: $200.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

Rosemary reads her Blessing.

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people,

A heart that forgives the worst,

A mind that forgets the bad,

And a soul that never loses faith in God.

Unknown

 

 

Peace, Everybody.

 

 

 

 

Readings:  Isaiah 40, 1-11, Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God; Psalm 85, Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation;  2 Peter 3, 8-14, The Lord does not delay his promise;  Mark 1, 1-8, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way.

Mass for Second Sunday of Advent, 12-4-11, John Cade Celebrating

 Opening Prayer   Let us pray: O God, we gather together in this season when we celebrate and experience anew your coming in the Christmas mystery. We acknowledge that you are not far away, but with us wherever we are, calling us to live in unity and love. We ask for increased sensitivity to your presence with us and we give you thanks both now and forever and ever…   Amen.   

 
         

A few words about the readings today, from the prophet Isaiah, the second letter of Peter, and the Gospel of Mark.

     The first reading is from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Ch 40:1-5, 9-11. The fact that this reading is from Chapter 40 tells us that the prophet is now turning from chiding the people for their failings to prophesying better times to come and giving words of comfort.

    The words we hear from Isaiah today probably relate to the journey home from captivity in Babylon. Isaiah appears to use this passage symbolically to describe a moral cleansing and renewal by the Jewish people prior to their returning to Jerusalem.

     Georg Freideric Handel is one of the most famous composers in the Baroque period. He was born in Germany, but spent most of his adult life in England and is best known as the composer of the Messiah in 1741. In place of reading the passage from Isaiah, we will listen to the words put to music in Part I of the Messiah. You may wish to sing or hum along. Or you may just want to soak in the power of Isaiah’s words.

     The second reading is from the Second Letter of Peter, Ch 3 (8-14).  This reading also refers to a coming of Jesus, not at Christmas, but at the end of time. It repeats the theme of last week’s reading from Mark to “Be watchful.”  And in the Gospel reading, the author of Mark has John the Baptist introduce Jesus as the Messiah to the people of Mark’s time.

 

                                                              

 Gospel of Mark, Chapter 1 (1-8).            

     The beginning   of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

     People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.

     John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs on his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.       

 

  HOMILY:

     All three readings today refer to the coming of Jesus. First, the prophecy of Isaiah is interpreted by the author of Mark as referring to the Messiah to come. Second, Peter’s reference to the final coming of Jesus at the end of time. And third, Mark’s use of John the Baptist to introduce Jesus as the real thing coming after John.

     In Isaiah Ch 40, and in the first words of Mark’s Gospel, there are pronouncements that something big is happening. Like: “Get ready!”, “Come see!”, “He is coming!”, “Here He is!”

     Well, if you don’t yet know, Lambrini and I are totally enthralled with our grandsons, Leo and Freddie. Recently we have noticed how Leo (almost 3) greets us when we go to his home or he comes to ours. His greeting is some sort of pronouncement, like: “Come see what I did! I did it!!” (pointing to Xmas tree,hands out gesture), -or- “Come see!! I have stuff to show you!!” –or- “YiaYia! Look!! YiaYia’s here!!” – or, last time he came to our home for a visit, “I’m back!”  

     What enthusiasm he expresses for life as it comes to him day by day. What sensitivity to people and events of every day, that we grownups take for granted, or have little wonder or excitement about.

     It seems to me that the use of the pronouncements by Isaiah, and Peter, and Mark, and John the Baptist are intended to evoke in us wonder and awe in the here and now, for what is always coming into our lives, the wonder and excitement children express naturally. ‘Out of the mouths of babes’ we are instructed in how to welcome the Good News that Christmas is coming, Jesus is coming, and that Christmas and Jesus are always coming.

     If you don’t have a 3 or 4 year old in your life, to experience their dramatic pronouncements about daily events and about people, think back to when you did, or a family member did, or a friend or a neighbor did. Listen with your ears and with your heart for the wonder and the enthusiasm they express about all that is new for them every day.

     The question I leave you with is: how do you respond to your everyday Christmas events? How are you preparing for the coming of God who is always here with us?

Picture 1:    Mass Begins

Picture 2:    Candle Ritual, Diane & Jenny

Picture 3:    Jenny lighting the candles

Picture 4:    Bethany & Shonda

Picture 5:    Leo & Rosemary

Picture 6:    John's daughter Joey with Freddie

Picture 7:    Freddie with his granddad  

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, I have told you this so my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

 

An introduction to today’s readings.  We continue reading in Acts. It’s called Acts of the Apostles, but only Peter and Paul are given any space. John is mentioned only 3 times, and for James only his execution by the Emperor Herod is mentioned. So it is more properly Some Acts of Some Apostles.

As Stack said before, we’re pretty sure that Acts was written by Luke who is also the author of the third Gospel. Luke was a Gentile (non-Jewish) from Antioch in Syria, and was a companion of Paul in his travels around Asia Minor, from Antioch, around through Greece, and to Rome. We know Luke was with Paul in Rome when Paul was in prison. Acts was probably written around the time Paul was put to death during his second imprisonment under the Emperor Nero in 64 or perhaps 66 CE.

The other readings are from the First Letter of John and the fourth Gospel. Traditionally 4 books of the New Testament were attributed to John the Apostle: the 4^th Gospel, 3 letters and the Book of Revelation. Scholars say that the vocabulary, grammar and style of writing make it unlikely that Book of Revelation was written by the same person responsible for the 4^th Gospel. Some modern Bible scholars raise the possibility that John the Apostle, John the Evangelist who wrote the Gospel and John of Patmos who wrote the Book of Revelation were 3 separate individuals. The First Letter of John reads like a summary of the 4^th Gospel teachings, and the time of writing is probably similar, in the latter part of first century, sometime between 80-100 CE. 

 

Homily

Today’s readings really speak for themselves.  That they happened to fall on Mother’s Day is serendipitous. In Acts we heard that the Good News is for everyone, without exception: “God shows no partiality.”

The Gospel told us what the Good News is: that God is love and is always with us, without exception. “Remain in my love”….”I tell you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be full”….“I call you friends.” 

And the Letter of John gave us the call to respond to the Good News: “Let us love one another…everyone who loves is of God…”  

On Mother’s Day we get to express love and gratitude in a special way for our mothers. Personally, I have never known a Mother who was not doing the very best she knew how. Not everyone, however, gets to have a Mother who consistently protects them, consistently nurtures and teaches them, and consistently loves them as they wish and deserve.  All mothers are somewhere on the continuum of consistency as mothers. All mothers I have known aspire to be good mothers, and good mothers aspire to be even better mothers. Some mothers were actually Aunts or Grandmothers or adoptive mothers. My mother’s mother died giving birth. So my mother’s mother was actually her Aunt Molly.

I think one of the reasons Mary, the Mother of Jesus, has received such honor and devotion from us down through the centuries is that, without knowing much about her life, we could easily project on to her an ideal of mothering for us to aspire to. I love it that we can do that today for all our mothers. Mothers aren’t perfect and don’t have to be perfect. We honor our mothers for protecting us, nurturing us, teaching us, and loving us as best they can or could.

My mother, a Methodist of Scotch-Irish descent, immigrated as a young woman from Mississippi to Louisiana in the 1920’s, to teach school in a very small town that was totally Cajun and Catholic. She left everything she knew and moved to live in a ‘foreign’ culture. There she met my father. They fell in love and married. My mother never felt fully accepted by all his family—remember this was 4 generations ago, when Catholics considered themselves the only true believers—everyone else was suspect. She of course had to promise that all her children would be raised Catholic. When my parents’ second child was born, a son, he died right after birth. My Mother was in a hospital in Abbeville where I later grew up, and my father was 10 miles away in the country, where they lived at that time on my grandparent’s plantation.

My father’s sisters apparently told him that my mother wouldn’t want anyone going to the hospital at this time; that she needed time alone before she came home. When I was about 21 my mother confided in me that story, and she finished telling it with the words, “I never forgot it, and I never forgave him.” I share this story, even though it carries her pain, because of what else it told me about her: that even though my mother and father did not have a close/intimate relationship and their married life was a struggle, she was totally dedicated to our family and to being the best mother she could be for us 5 children. And her life was a testament to that.

 

 

We do not get to choose our mothers. But today we get to honor them. However consistent they have been in protecting, nurturing and loving us, we honor all mothers today. We honor them for their dedication, and for their struggles, and for their efforts at mothering us the very best way they know how (or knew how).

 

The questions I have for us are: whoever mothered us, do we know and appreciate how she was mothered? What was her joy, and what was her pain and her struggle? And how do we honor that in our own lives?

 

 

Readings: Amos 8, 4-7; Psalm 113, Praise the Lord who lifts up the Poor; 1 Timothy 2, 1-8; Luke 16, 1-13

 

Luke’s Gospel, 3 observations:

 

1.  The Story.  The rich man and his steward.  The steward is  squandering the rich man’s property.  The rich man tells the steward that he is going to be fired after he prepares the accounts. 

 

 

The steward figures he will make friends with the debtors by cutting their debts to the rich man.  He cuts bills as much as 50%. 

 

 

The rich man, instead of berating the steward, praises him for his strategy.  

2.  What is going on here?  Looks like the steward is stealing from the rich man.   In fact, he is cutting out his commission, not stealing anything.  The Jews reading this parable would know this immediately.  The steward made his living by charging a service fee. 

 

3.  Any lessons here for us?

  a.  One of Luke’s favorite messages: Our God is merciful.  See the Prodigal Son & Good Samaritan.  The rich man praises the steward for being ingenious.

  b.  We are challenged to be equally ingenious.  Use our talents.

 

Extra point: watch out for taking a hit from the sayings at the end, trustworthiness, dishonesty in little things, 2 masters.  There might be a trap here: either/or spirituality. 

 

 

Sources:

Francis Vanderwall, The Liberating Stories of Jesus, chapter 4;

New Interpreter's Study Bible;

New American Bible, on line;

St. Louis U., The Center for Liturgy, on line

 

 

We Need a Mediator to Ransom Us?

 

 

Many of you know that this old geezer loves to dance.  In fact, it was through dancing that Rosemary & I met.  I was looking for the best dancer.

 

 

For the past year or more I have not been able to dance because I could not swing my hips or swivel.  For the past month or at least since I finished the Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred, I have had it in mind that I would like to return to dancing, probably at some special event. 

 

 

The event took place last weekend at the wedding we did in Ashville, NC, for a girl very dear to me.  It was Friday night.  We had finished the rehearsal and gone to a bar-b-que place for the dinner. 

 

 

We returned to the hotel and what they call The Great Hall, the big stone lobby.  Playing dance music was a 3 piece group and a lady singer.  I had thought the wedding reception would be the fitting place to make our dancing debut.  But suddenly that Great Hall, the presence of others from the wedding, and the mood of the place made it the moment. 

 

 

We danced.  I could do it.  It was exhilarating.  Like getting back on a bicycle after a long lay off.  To top it off, the lady singing even complimented us by saying, “Good dancing.”  I was quite touched.

 

 

I talk about this event because I want to tie it into a line in Timothy that says more or less, “There is one mediator who gave himself as ransom for all.”

 

 

My Question: Do we need someone to ransom us?  Ransom us from what?  Did Emma need to be ransomed when we baptized her?  What about Chloe or Zoe or Georgie or Sam or Sean?

 

 

Many of us have been trained to think that we come into this life stained, imperfect, in fact, sinful, not because of anything we did.  But because some distant ancestors, Adam & Eve, sinned and we all inherit it.  If the baby was not baptized and the sin removed, it would go to where?  Not

hell, not heaven.  Limbo.

 

 

 

Folks, what if there is no limbo?  The Catholic Church now says it was just a concept, not a reality.  Go further.  What if we don’t need to be ransomed from anything?  What if there really is no original sin?  That when we see a little baby and think how good it is, our perception is 100% accurate. 

 

 

Biblical scholars and students of the history of religion are now suggesting that, just like Limbo, original sin is a concept thought up to explain imperfect behavior.  If this is so, could it be that none of us is in need of some kind of ransom?

 

 

That lady singer complimenting us on our dancing in The Great Hall was another glimpse into the goodness of people.  The wedding was overflowing with the goodness.  Parents, the marvelous couple, little kids, and even some old geezers.  No need for ransom there.

 

 

And if we don’t need to be ransomed, where does that leave us?

 

 

Picture 1:   Beginning of Mass

 

 

Picture 2:   Emily with her mom, Julie

 

 

Picture 3:   Communion preparation

 

 

Readings:

 Wisdom  1,  13-15, 2, 23-24  God did not make death.

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

2 Corinthians 8, 7, 9, 13-15,  You excel in every respect.

 Mark  5, 21-43, My daughter is at the point of death.  Please come.  Also, Who has touched my clothes?

 

                          Sienna says, "Hi, Folks, Welcome in.

 

Wisdom observations:

One of the 14-15 books of the deutero-canonical books of the bible.  Not part of the orginal Jewish bible, not part of the OT nor the NT, but in between and the subject of controvercy over the centuries.  Were they really part of the bible or not?  How do you know?  Catholic church accepts the books.

Author: not Solomon, but a Jew living in Alexandria, Egypt, who spoke and wrote excellent Greek.

 

             Our Dear Angela, too, says, "Welcome, Everybody."

 

Date: ca. 100-200 before Christ.  How do we know these facts?  Because of text analysis.  For example, while the author wrote in Greek, he uses phrases and expressions that have a Hebrew flavor.  Also, he mentions rulers and places that reveal date and locale. 

Sources: Catholic Encyclopedia on line

 

 

And Genevieve, too, not to be outdone, says, "Hi, Folks."

 

You can do it too

In the gospel today Jesus gives life to a little girl.  I would like to propose that you can give life, too. 

I have a story for you from my Dallas Morning News columnist friend, Steve Blow.  I saw his touching story Friday morning.

 

               Buddy says, "Tori, Did you take my cupcake?"

 

Ever hear of Fausta Twizerimana or Dolena Westergard?  Well, 8 years ago Fausta flew into Dallas and arrived exhausted one evening at the East Dallas Grace United Methodist Church.  She, her five siblings, and her parents were from a refugee camp in Tanzania.  Fausta was 4. 

The Church welcomes refugees and this particular evening Dolena Westergard was there.  Dolena met the family and picked up Fausta. She fell in love. 

 

        Says Brooklyn, "Happiness is being in my mom's arms."

 

The family continued to attend the church and fitted into the fabric of the community.  Dolena watched Fausta and noticed that the girl had a gift for dancing.  She was always doing it. 

After four years of watching the girl dance, Dolena, who was now really a god mother to the kids, enrolled Fausta in the Dallas Black Dance Theatre.  Fausta, now 8, fell in love, too.  Never did she miss a session for the next four years. 

 

  Harper at 4, says, "Happiness is a cupcake on my birthday."

 

Then, along comes 2015 and a notice goes up that the Dance Theatre of Harlem was coming to Dallas to audition for positions in their summer workshop. 

Fausta has been dancing now for 4 years, is 12, and Dolena thinks it would help the girl just to learn how to audition.  No expectations.

You guessed it, Fausta gets selected. 

 

Alison says, "Yes, Harper, I agree, especially now that I am officially an American citizen."

 

Fine, but who is going to buy plane tickets for Fausta and a chaperon, plus about $3,000 in expenses?  This is New York, after all.   

You guessed it again, Grace United Methodist.  Last night Fausta sat in a Broadway theatre to watch an African story, The Lion King.

 

               Gilbert and Michelle (father & daughter), the Great Kid Watchers.

 

Grace United Methodist gave life to Fausta, and, in particular, Dolena gave life to Fausta. 

This week the nine families of Charleston gave life to me and to our whole nation with their forgiveness. 

Just like Jesus gave life to that little girl and to the woman who touched him.

 

                       Rosemary, our best backup.

 

To whom do you give life?

Source: Dallas Morning News, Steve Blow, Metro section

 

Readings:

Acts 2, 42-47,  Awe came upon everyone.

Psalm 118,  Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everylasting.

1 Peter  1, 3-9,  Although you have not seen him, you love him.

John  20, 19-31,  Unless I see the marks of the nails.

 

 

Observations 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.

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: Luke describes and idyllic community, not a real community.  This was utopia, a vision Plato had of the perfect community.  It reminds me of advertisements Rosemary & I get for idyllic retirement communities, beautiful elderly people, smiling, hiking, enjoying excellent meals in charming dining rooms, all in perfect harmony.   Look at the struggles Peter & Paul had with each other’s view of Christianity and you get a view of today’s Christianity.

1 Peter observations:

Peter is writing to the first Christians in what is today Turkey and, get this, Syria.  He is encouraging them in their struggles.

Sources: Jerusalem Bible, Wikipedia

 

 

 The Doubting Thomas Syndrome

This morning I would like to talk about the Doubting Thomas Syndrome.  The syndrome is usually dealt with like a sickness.  The medication and remedy, ‘Don’t doubt, just believe.’  I have heard this since I was a kid in Christ the King school.

The problem with this, of course, is that the remedy is really an invitation to hat check my God given, marvelous intelligence at the door.  A don’t think dictum.  Let me offer an example of how this can put you in an unpleasant mind set. 

 

 

You all know that I have been studying French since I was recuperating from my two new hips in 2010.  You also know that Rosemary & I just returned a week ago from 11 days in France.   I am sure you have also heard and believe probably the common opinion that French are all snobby and rude.  Here is what I saw on one occasion.

Rosemary and I are in a small market, like a small supermarket about the size of one of our convenience stores, but bigger and more like our supermarkets.   I get about 6 bananas and Rosemary gets some things for her evening snack.  It is about 5 P.M., so a number shoppers are wandering around.

 

 

Once we have everything we want and have wandered the store enough, we get into the checkout line.  A young girl is there checking out, very polite and cordial.  I chat her up in French.  The items are scanned just like here until she gets to my six bananas. 

She holds them up, looks them over, and indicates something on the bananas.   Turns out it is not something on the bananas, but something missing, the cost, which should have been calculated back in the little produce department.

 

 

This is all going on in French, of which I suddenly can’t remember squat.  There is a line now of about 3-4 others behind us.  I get the idea finally, but I don’t know where the scale is to calculate the price. I can see us holding up the line for ten minutes while I wander the produce department.

Suddenly, the professional looking French man behind us says in English he knows what to do and would be happy to solve the problem in a minute.  Which he does and we check out.  We depart with wishes to have a nice visit from people around us.   Nobody was impatient.

 

I was most touched and thought, ‘So much for the word around that all French are snobby and rude.’   Certainly these folks were just the contrary.

This exemplifies in a small way how beliefs can be one hundred and eighty degrees off.  We will never know the truth if we simply have faith. 

My Jesuit training pushed us to question, investigate, and to doubt.  The alternative is to hat check my God given, marvelous intelligence at the door.   

 

 

Got no doubts?  Robots & drones have no doubts.  They just do what they are told by someone else.

Got some good, healthy doubts?  How do you handle them?