Readings:
Mark 11, 1-10, Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, read as we process in
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, God greatly exalted him.
Mark 14, The Passion in 4 parts.
Sorry, Everybody. Because of the length of the readings, especially the Passion, no homily this Sunday. Next Sunday, Easter.
Readings:
Isaiah 60, 1-6, Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem.
Psalm 72, Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
Ephesians 3, 2-3, 5-6, You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace.
Matthew 2, 1-12, Behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem.
Isaiah observations & reminders:
Who. This is Isaiah III, the third of three.
Time. The Jewish people have been released from slavery in Babylon and are back in a devasted Jerusalem. Around 555 before Christ.
Message: consolation and encouragement. The splendor of Jerusalem will shine again.
Two Wise Men from the East
We all have people who are our models. This morning in celebrating the Epiphany, I would like to tell you about two wise men from the east who have been models for me.
The first is Julius Neyerere who was the first president of Tanzania when the country became independent in 1961. I admire him first of all because he was maybe the first president of an African country to voluntarily retire from the presidency, which he did in 1985, after almost 25 years. He was president all during my time in Tanzania.
Equally admirable to me was that he went to Mass every morning. Yes, he was a Catholic and a very approachable person. He & his family lived in a simple house in Dar es Salaam, the capital and he was open to seeing anyone. He was really interested in the welfare of his people. The country was poor but peaceful while I lived there.
My second model from the east has been in the news this past month of December, because he just died at 95 years of age. He was Nelson Mandela of South Africa. He was and is a model for me because of at least 3 things.
First, he was in prison all during my ten years in East Africa. In fact, he was in prison almost 30 years. That knocks me out. I remember the loneliness I felt in Tanzania at times and I was not even in prison.
During that time on three occasions he was offered conditional release. He refused and demanded unconditional release. Wow.
But what really knocks me is that when he was released around 1990, he held no grudges and took no revenge. On the contrary, he cooperated with some of the people who imprisoned him to govern the country with equality.
A famous move he made once was when he supported the white national rugby team in a major match with the team from another country.
A second move he made wins my admiration. He was elected president of South Africa in 1994. At the end of his term in 1999, as he had promised, he declined to run again, but retired. Phenomenal. Would that some other African countries could follow that example.
Thirdly, all of Nelson’s adult life he fought for democracy, equality, and education.
When he was on trial facing the death penalty or life, which he eventually received, he stated,
“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
Who are your models and why?
Readings:
Acts 2, 14, 22-33, Peter stood up and proclaimed.
Psalm 16, Lord, you will show us the path of life.
1 Peter 1, 17-21, Conduct yourselves with reverence..
Luke 24, 13-35, The disciples were going to a village called Emmaus.
Mike's Homily
There was a short story written by Steve Blow in the Dallas Morning News on Easter morning. It was about a young man who belonged to one of the United Methodist churches, here in Plano. He was out walking some time before Easter on the east side of the church property when he found an old wooden cross in some deep brush leaning against a tree. It had become badly weathered, but he recognized it as the one the youth group used in its sunrise Easter services. Now, a decade or so later, after he had repaired, sanded and varnished the cross, it stood that Easter morning at the entrance of the church; later to be surrounded by a group of faith filled friends.
In the beginning of the reading from the John gospel of last Sunday, the eleven disciples had hidden together in an upper room; they had no faith in Christ. The crucifixion and death of Jesus had filled them with fear.
It is terribly important for us to be reminded of two things. The first is that the gospel stories are written as parables; the second is that after Christ returned to the Father in glory, the Church was given the Holy Spirit and the responsibility to be Christ in the world. Empowered by the gift of the Holy Spirit, it was the Church who extended to the disciples in the upper room Christ’s words, ‘Peace be with you;’ as the Father sent me, now I send you;’ ‘receive the Holy Spirit.’
In faith, they believed! When Thomas returned he did not believe that Christ had come to them. He wanted proof! ‘Unless I place my hand into his side I will not believe.’ A week later, what the Church offered Thomas was not proof, but the opportunity to have faith. ‘Place your hand into my side to receive the treasure of the good news’.
In the Mark and Matthew gospels the disciples are told in like manner by the Church to follow Christ in faith by going after him to Galilee; for the beginning of the Mark Gospel, occurs in Galilee with the words, ‘The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ the Son of God.’
The end of today’s parable from the Luke gospel complements last weeks reading from the John gospel, by also addressing the eleven in the upper room. It begins with two men who are being led by the Church as they attempt to come to understand God’s plan of salvation. Christ, through the Church, tells them that he is truly present to them in the liturgy of the Word and Eucharist.
Visualize the likes of Clare, Barb, Maureen, Mary Ellen, Bernadette, Dee and Marilyn, for example, at the tomb when the sun rises on that first Easter morning, only to find the tomb empty. ‘Didn’t he say that he would rise?’ ‘Don’t you feel his Spirit welling up within you? It would have been a faith experience for them, too.
Together they would have been the vision of angels rejoicing as messengers and teachers of the Word. If they had actually seen a bunch of angels singing and praising God, there would have been no faith. Their freedom to have faith would have been taken from them. It is faith that enables us to become Christ in the world.
So, we have gathered here today in faith, believing that it is by the power of the Spirit that the bread blessed and broken has become for us Christ; that the good news becomes for us Christ; that gathered in his name Christ is present in us, so that we can be Christ in the world.
Readings: 2 Kings 4, 42-44; Psalm 145, The Hand of the Lord feeds Us; He answers all Our Needs; Ephesians 4, 1-6; John 6, 1-15
Kings: 4 observations–
Subject Matter: The Kings, naturally. Especially Solomon after the death of his father, David. But also treated:
1. The temple. Solomon builds it.
2. The death of Solomon who held the nation together.
3. Division: Israel in the north breaks away from Judah in the south.
4. Israel destroyed completely by the Assyrians, ca. 720.
5. Fall of Jerusalem & destruction of the Temple; Nebuchadnezzar & the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 585 BCE.
6. Cyrus of Persia releases the Jews to return to Jerusalem after defeating the Babylonians (remember Babylon was near present day Bagdhad).
Date: from 900 – ca. 550 BCE, or from Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar & Cyrus
Authors: a compilation of many sources that was put together at the end of the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 550 BCE.
Our Selection: There are 2 significant prophets, Elijah & Elisha, his son. In this piece, Elisha it telling a man with 20 loaves of bread to feed a crowd. This is a lead into the Gospel of John about feeding the multitude.
Sources: Encyclopedia of Judaism, Wikipedia
The Miracle of Sharing My Food
I hate to do this to you folks, but every time I read this story about 5 loaves and 2 fish feeding a crowd of 5,000 men (to say nothing of the women), I am reminded of my days in Tanzania, East Africa. You who have heard these stories, please forgive me. They just clarify so much. Here we go.
I was on an overnight train. I was traveling from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the capitol, to Moshi, a town near Kilimanjaro, where the Jesuits had a small one to three person house, which I used as a base when I was not traveling around Tanzania, Kenya, & Uganda giving seminars and retreats.
I had arrived in Dar es Salaam late for some reason and could not make an advance reservation for a first class cabin, which was the only way to go. You shared a little compartment with another guy. Because I was without reservation, I had to buy a coach ticket. These trains are marvelous old antiques from the colonial age, but travel by coach is mayhem. They are packed. Don't dream of getting a seat. Just be grateful that you can get inside. Which I did, sitting on my one small suitcase, expecting to be awake all night listening to the kids, chickens, ducks, and snores of the few who had a seat and the ability to sleep through it all.
You board this train for a 7:00 P.M. departure. You expect to arrive Moshi around 5:00 A.M. This particular night the train came to a halt at about 1:00 in the middle of nowhere. Naturally, nobody knew why we stopped and for how long. We stayed in that spot all the rest of the night and all the following day until about 6:00 P.M.
Everyone on that train had food & water hidden away, except one gringo, who tried to sleep on the rocks on the edge of the roadbed, knowing he would hear the train move and could get up and get back in.
I was actually rescued from dying of thirst in the heat of the day by a young German couple in the first class compartments, the only other white folks on the whole train. I was afraid to drink the water of the Tanzanians because they often did not purify it.
I tell this story because the Tanzanian people on the train I suspect would be similar to the Jews listening to Jesus in that crowd of 5,000 men. People like these do not go away from their base unprepared. Not only do they carry food & water, they hide it so as to not have to share with someone too stupid to bring his own. The women, especially, can hide in their robes lots of things. Hoarding in the cultures we are talking about is no sign of inferiority. It is survival.
What Jesus did that was confounding is that he got these country folks to share their cache. He takes some of the bread & fish and passes it on. The person who receives it takes some, but feels uncomfortable only taking. So the person puts a portion of his or her own in the basket. What do they end up with? Twelve wicker baskets of leftover food.
This interpretation of the 5 loaves & 2 fishes is as old as when I got ordained back in 1971, and before that. I find it fascinating because we can go and do likewise. You & I cannot multiply bread & fish, but we can share treasures. We can share and we can invite others to feel secure enough to share.
I finally arrived home to Moshi in the middle of the next night. I even caught a thief with his hand in my right pocket at a little kiosk lit with a kerosene lamp. The train had stopped at some tiny station and a lady was selling little pieces of rice bread or something. I pulled that man's hand out of my pocket, grabbed him by the shirt, and threw him back. If I had yelled "thief!", he might have been killed on the spot. I knew the custom and the language, and he knew I knew. He ran.
I also got to know the German couple, even climbing Kilimanjaro with them one of my 5 times. So, folks, sorry for repeating a favorite story of mine. The question, too, is the same.
How am I overcoming my temptation to hoard & sharing my food?
Picture 1: Mass with T.J.
Picture 2: Bill Carey & Ron Kovatis
Picture 3: Ron donating $2000 to CCAC with Claire & Ray, Jackie & Cathy
Picture 4: Barb & her sister Evie from Germany
Readings:
Isaiah 58, 7-10, If you bestow your bread on the hungry, then light shall rise for you in the darkness.
Psalm 112, The Just Person is a light in darkness to the upright.
1 Corinthians 2, 1-5, God chose the foolish of the world.
Matthew 5, 13-16, You are the light of the world.
Kristin and Everett say, "Welcome in, Everybody. " And we say to you, Everett, "Welcome into our world."
Isaiah reminders, again—(I lied again, Folks. I thought we were finished with Isaiah, my favorite, until next Advent. Nope. Not really sorry, though. We have him again Feb. 26, last Sunday before Lent.)
Author: This is Isaiah #3, the composer of chapters 56-66. Isaiah #3 lives after the Israelites have returned to the ruined city of Jerusalem. It is a very depressing experience after the exuberance of being allowed to depart from slavery in Babylon. Like returning to your shattered home after a tornado, hurricane, or forest fire.
Hi, Leo, good to see you.
Date: Ca. 555 before Christ, the composition. The Jewish people of Jerusalem are home again.
Subject: A great day will come for you Jews. You will be a bright light at dawn and your wound will be healed (of your defeat and slavery), if you take care of your neighbor, providing food, clothing, and shelter. The corporal works of mercy.
Welcome to our marvelous community, Michael Tuck. It is so nice to have you and you are welcome any time Ray cannot make it. Or even if he can.
Your Light must shine before Others
This is the fourth or fifth Sunday we have dealt with delightful readings that involve light, either receiving light or giving light. Guess what. I want to talk again about 3 people who are lights for me.
I have talked before about a guy whom I greatly admire, Jim Mahar, a professor of something like economics at St. Bonaventure University near Buffalo, NY. This guy just continues to amaze and humble me.
Hi, Harper. Welcome to the Queen of Girl Scout Cookies.
I first met Jim through Bill Hammond. He, I, and Bob McGrath, all went down to Galveston to help with the clean up and repair of the city after the hurricane Ike in 2008. It seems to me like yesterday and, yet, incredibly long ago.
There were 20-25 of us, mostly students probably on spring break. We stayed in a very hospitable Protestant church. The pastor himself was most friendly and accommodating. The kids had bunk beds on the left & right of the church. We old guys bedded down in a rectangular room with about 20 Baptist Men volunteers. I could talk about those guys all day, they are so good. The only problem that time: one guy in our dorm snored like a bear.
Buddy, our Candle Man of The Week. Thanks, Buddy.
These guys had an 18 wheeler trailer that they had rigged up with a number of showers. The people in the church community fed us 3 meals a day.
This was the first time I worked with Jim Maher. I also went to Moore, OK, a suburb of OK City to help with a tornado that passed through. And now just a week or so ago I get a facebook note from Jim, working with a bunch of St. Bonaventure kids in maybe the Bahamas.
Offertory, Cindy, Bill, and Marlene.
Jim is a bright light in my life. In fact, his light is blinding. I am exhausted just following him from one disaster to another. He and some kids even came to help in Rowlett last year. I did not get to help out, but Bill Hammond was there.
Secondly, I have told you about another light of mine, Coach Frank Hart, mostly bed ridden in a home for elders. I have been visiting Frank almost every Friday afternoon for some years.
Ready or not, here we go.
When I first started entering this house, I noticed the particular accent with which three black caretakers ladies spoke English. I immediately recognized from where that accent comes, East Africa. They were marvelous caretakers.
So one afternoon, I took a minute to speak with one of the girls who bubbled over with personality. I addressed her in Swahili, which I totally still remember.
Anybody know who these characters are??
Folks, I thought she was going to faint, drop her teeth, and go crazy. She yelled to her 2 girl friends and we had a marvelous time. They were from Kenya. Very caring, very courageous girls. Lights to me for their courage in making a better life for themselves and others, like Coach Frank.
The third group: our kids. They don’t have to do anything and I love them. I am so delighted with their presence, which brings light to our celebrations.
The "Juliets," just us ladies into eating together."
I have always welcomed little kids at the Masses I celebrate, and for sure, at St. Marks. I would normally invite them up around me during the Eucharistic prayer. One time a little boy knocked over the standing candles and another time a little baby barfed on my shoulder while I was welcoming her for maybe the first time.
Is this not a pretty tough group?! Hi, Carol. Love the hair.
Guess what, everybody was so timid and cowed they did not even stop me to let me know the baby had thrown up on my shoulder until after the Mass, when even I was beginning to wonder about where that smell was coming from. These events both took place in the big church, not the 10:30 cafetorium. That 10:30 crowd would have spoken up, probably laughing at me.
And another play station.
Again the questions:
Who gives you light?
To whom do you give light?
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 5th century BCE and today’s one came from around the 8th 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:
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
Readings:
Acts 13, 14, & 43-52, Both Paul & Barnabas spoke out boldly.
Psalm 100, We are his people, the sheep of his flock.
Revelation 7, 14-17, I, John, had a vision of a great multitude.
John 10, 27-30, I know them, and they follow me.
Acts observations & review:
We have already covered this material. What I have here is a quick reminder.
Date: sometime before the year 70. Why? No mention of the destruction of Jerusalem, which took place the year 70, a Big Date in Jewish history. The Romans destroyed not only Jerusalem, but also the Temple, the only place where the priests offered sacrifices. The temple has never been rebuilt and the priests have been replaced by rabbis, teachers formerly. Today there is a holy mosque on the site of the former temple.
Who: The same person who wrote the Gospel of Luke. How do we know? Similarities of style, language (Greek), and theological themes.
Subject: The story of the expansion of the Jesus story in 3 areas, first, Jerusalem, then, Palestine or the Holy Land, and finally, into the Mediterranean and ultimately, Rome. Stories about the early communities are a bit romanticized, like advertisements for Pleasant Valley Retirement Center.
Today’s Subject: noting that the chapter we are reading is 13, you can guess we are not reading about the first circle, Jerusalem. Not even the second, but the third, the Mediteranian.
Sources: Good News Bible, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, Wikipedia
The Lord is Good
This morning I would like to talk about the first line of the third stanza of our Psalm 100, ‘The Lord is Good.’
Our week has been extraordinarily stressful. First, the Boston Marathon bombs. Then, West. I actually was in West at the Czech bakery, the original, genuine bakery in town, about 4:00, Wednesday afternoon, just before the explosion. I have fond memories of one really friendly lady at the bakery and hope she is okay.
I would like to say, yes, the Lord is Good. Also, people are good. And, you are good. Here is what I mean despite the stress of the week.
First, Rosemary & I had our routine appointments to give blood at Carter Blood at Preston & LBJ Wednesday & Thursday. When I went in Thursday afternoon the place was more busy than I had ever seen it. Even extra techs had been called in.
I asked why and they said it was because of, first, Boston, and then, secondly, West, which had just happened that morning. The Lord is good. People are good.
Secondly, remember last Saturday, which seems forever ago? Love for the Kids picnic. About a quarter of you volunteered to make that day special for handicapped kids and their families. God is good. People are good. You were good. This is typical.
Thirdly, this past Wednesday, two days after Boston and the day of the West explosion, I went to Austin with a group of which I was humbled to be part of. The Nuns on the Bus.
We departed Dallas at 5:30, 10 of us, 2 guys & myself, 7 women, 3 of whom are nuns. We arrived at the capitol about 10:00 for a little rally on the steps of the capitol building. I expected maybe 50 people. 300 were registered and another 100 joined, 400 all together from all over the state.
My job was to visit my two representatives, Dan Branch & John Corona. It was in Branch’s office that a remarkable event took place.
The Nuns on the Bus, who had advocated throughout the Midwest in the summer before the presidential election, were requesting our government to not forget the poor, especially that the billion dollars of federal money be accepted for expansion of Medicaid this year. 25% of our population is uninsured, a million & a half.
We are talking with the aide, basically just letting him know our case. I have picked up about 6 people from San Antonio, 4 nice, Hispanic little nuns, and a young, nice looking guy. He had a limp.
Suddenly, the guy, John, tells the aide, “Let me tell you my story and why I am here. I walk with a limp because I lost my left leg in Iraq. I got this prosthesis because I was a vet, no question. I could have even gotten one more expensive. I am here because I have become aware that so many people don’t have that care that I had, people who are working full time and still don’t have enough, certainly not enough to buy insurance.”
The reception office went dead silent. Everyone was touched, including the nice kid who was the aide.
God is good. People are good. You are good.
What are you doing to continue to make it better?
Video: The community blessing Chuck's health and his struggle with cancer (1/2 minute)