Sunday Homily, May 3, 2015, 5th Easter, B

Readings: Isaiah 6, 1-8; Psalm 138, In the Sight of the Angels I will Sing Your Praises, Lord; 1 Corinthians 15,1-11; Luke 5, 1-11. 

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Reflections on the Readings

 

A brief few words about our first reading from Chapter 6 of Isaiah.  This reading could in fact easily begin the book of Isaiah.  It gives us the call of Isaiah.  King Uzziah has died after reigning for over 40 years, 40 years of great security and prosperity. 

   

We are told of a vision, which the prophet sees of God, and notice the threefold repeating of the word Holy.  Only God is holy, all holiness.  The prophet proclaims that he is doomed because mere humans cannot look at God. 

 

 

In our second reading, from Paul, he reminds us that he too saw the Risen Lord, and his response, like Peter’s in our gospel reading, it is the same, unworthiness.

  

 The readings all show up the same response from humans when faced with God.  And in each case God is able to reach thru the response and draw the person into a relationship of discipleship. 

 

 

 

 

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Homily

  

What happens when we come face to face with God?  In each of our three readings today this is what we hear about.  For Isaiah it is a vision of God who is Holy, holy holy! And Isaiah’s reaction is similar to Peter’s and later to Paul’s, one of unworthiness in the face of God’s goodness.  But God is able to reach thru that tendency to turn away and invite all three into a relationship of discipleship.

 

 

Our presence here today also comes from some kind of encounter with God, maybe not as Isaiah’s vision of God surrounded with angels, or Peter’s encounter thru the miraculous catch of fish, or Paul’s vision of Light, but in some way God has reached into our lives, whether thru the action of our parents having us baptized, or thru an encounter with someone as an adult, which caused us to want to be here, we each got up this morning and among all of the options available to us, we chose to be here! 

   

And as we celebrate our Liturgy together we too will acknowledge our own unworthiness, several times.  We start with our penitential rite, in the Our Father we ask God to forgive us, in the Lamb of God we sing “Have mercy on us” and before communion we say “I am not worthy”.  But God has managed to reach thru to us, which is why we are here. 

 

But now the question we need to start answering is “what does it mean to be a disciple?”  God enters my life, so what? 

 

  
 

Let’s take a simple example.  When two people become friends, their lives are different as a result, and depending on the kind of friendship, so too the effect on their lives.  When Gayle and I met, I was single and living in an apartment in Carrollton, and she was single and living in her home in Highland Village.  When we decided to be married, we both left the comfort of our previous lives and set off for California.  This had a big impact not just on our lives but also on the lives of our kids!!  I am sure each one of you can tell stories of how your lives were changed as a result of different relationships you entered into. 

 

So too with our relationship with God.  What is the change?  What does God want in a relationship?  For Isaiah, it was to be a prophet to the people of Judah, for Peter it was to become a “fisher of men” and for Paul, it was to tell the whole world, or as much of it as he could get to in those days, about God. 

 

Our instructions are equally clear, Love God and love one another.  How am I doing in that area?

  

In every relationship, one thing that has to happen is that we have to get to know each other.  Anna in the musical “The King and I” sings that lovely song “getting to know you”, and we too need to continue to ‘get to know God’.  We do so thru our presence here, by listening to his Word.  In any relationship, we will also go out for a meal.  And thru sharing food, we get to know each other better. 

  

And so we are here today celebrating a Memorial Meal with God.  We are reminded during the Eucharistic Prayer to “Do this in Memory of me”.  It is another way of our staying in touch with God.  As a people, we have heard the Church Bell, and responded by coming together as a People, to Listen to God’s Word and to “remember Jesus’ Last Meal with His disciples. 

  

 

What does all this mean for us today  We are called to be a people of Hope, of Love and Forgiveness, a kind of light of Joy to the World. 

 

In the words of St Francis:

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;
and 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

 

Picture 1:  Mass beginning with Tony & Kevin

 

Picture 2:  Sean

 

Picture 3:  Gilbert with Georgie & Zoe in his lap

 

Picture 4:  Jo with Hunter, Audrey, and Dillon

Readings:

Isaiah  43, 16-21,  See, I am doing something new

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

Philippians 3, 8-14, For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things.

John 8, 1-11,   The woman caught in adultery.

 

Says Genevieve, "Welcome, Everybody, where you been?"

 

 Isaiah Observations:

The scene: the Jewish people are captives in Babylon ca. 555 years before Christ.  Isaiah No.1  had warned the people that their bad ways were going to lead to this.   

In this chapter 43, which is Isaiah No. 2, Isaiah has Yahweh reminding them of how much he has done for them in the past and lets them know that they are still his people.  Their lives will get better.   

The first 5 verses of this chapter are some of my favorites in the whole Bible.  Isaiah No.2 is telling the people to not be afraid because he is with them. It goes— 

Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you.  I have called you by your name.  You are mine.  When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you…  When you pass through fire, you will not suffer.   I regard you as precious, honored, and I love you.

 

Leo, The Candle Lighter of The Week, at work.

 

Philippians Observations:

Philippi was a town in Macedonia, now called Greece.  Philippi was the first church Paul set up on European soil.  He is in prison.  He is basically saying that for him nothing has any importance beyond his relationship with Jesus.

 

 

 

The Chair Person of our Welcoming Committee.

 

Punishment or Compassion

I would like to talk this morning about the woman in the gospel, the one about to be stoned to death for being caught in adultery.   An example of punishment vs compassion.   The Law vs Jesus.  The brutality and the injustice of it smacks me in the face.  It is, also, so contemporary.

It reminds me of a very uncomfortable situation I found myself in when I was learning Swahili in Tanzania.   This would have been about ’77 or ’78, when I was just getting into the language. 

 

 

Alison preparing the communion cups.  

 

 

I was at an outstation church from an outstation church maintained by our Jesuit parish in a town called Tabora, smack in the middle of Tanzania, on the east-west train track.   This is the place where I later fell into the grave of a little lady I was burying and the place where I spent Advent and Christmas one year with two young Jesuit interns from the Island of Malta just off the Mediterranean tip of Italy.

On this occasion I was being shown around by the 4-5 men of this tiny village with a small, mud walled church.  I could not have been saying much because the language was still quite difficult for me.

 

Sir Charlie saluting The Queen Mother.

 

It was afternoon of a pleasant day.  We are way out in the bush and I remember the land was fairly green.  It was probably the period of the small rains, meaning, say, February or March.   The long rains come in our summer.  This is south of the equator.

At one point the men and I are wandering up a slope on top of which was a fairly large corrugated metal building, probably built by the government to help the villagers store their produce.

 

Offertory, Tom & Aggie & Allen.

 

As we get closer I can hear voices from inside the building and a thud or two.  Maybe the guys escorting me had explained what was going on and I did not understand.

Whatever the case, we are maybe twenty yards from a door at the corner of the building when, all of a sudden, the door opens and a few guys come out and with them staggers a man who has been beater.  He is dressed in nothing more than something like a towel or a skirt.  He has bruises on his shoulders and legs.  Because he is black I can’t see discoloring, but I see wounds. 

 

The Best, Shonda, Bethany, and Ray.

 

He has been caught cattle rustling.  He took one cow that he found out in the countryside near the village and attempted to get away.  He is a skinny older guy and probably not too smart.  They caught him easily. 

After teaching him a lesson, they are planning to walk him to the police station about 40 miles away in Tabora, the larger town I came from.  Along the way they will pass a few small villages where the inhabitants will also beat him.  If he makes it, jail will look pretty good.  And he does make it, I heard later.

 

Can that be a little mouse I see.  Looks like a familiar little mouse.

 

 

When this old guy sees me, he sees a savior and comes toward me with a begging gesture. 

I am ready to throw up and I want to tell the people to stop beating the man.   But I don’t know the language and I feel very awkward because these people are hosting me.  I feel paralyzed.

What do I do?   I did nothing.  And I was haunted by my doing nothing for years.  I had to forgive myself somewhere along the years.

 

Long time best buddies, Leo and John

 

Two lessons for me here. 

1.  Which is better, justice according to the law or compassion?
2. What do I do if I chicken out? 

 

Anybody recognize this foot?  Looks like it belongs to That Mouse.

 

 

Two of The Best, Cindy & Dee.

 

Readings:

2 Malachi 3, 19-20, Lo, the day is coming that will set them on fire. 

Psalm 98,  The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.

2 Thessalonians 3, 7-12,   Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.

Luke 21, 5-19,  The days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another.

 

 

The best of Teams.

 

Thanksgiving, 2019-11-15

Guess what, Everybody.  Two Sundays and we celebrate my most favorite holiday, Thanksgiving.  To get us into the spirit I want to describe my three biggest blessings of the year.

 

 

The Candle Lighting Ritual.

 

Blessing 1 is my health.  My whole life I simply assumed that I would always be healthy. 

Trouble started last Thanksgiving when Rosemary, Aviana, & I made our annual visit to Rosemary’s sister’s in Hilton Head.  I could hardly walk, even with a cane.  My routine doctor sent me to an orthopedist.  I’ll never forget the visit.   He pointed to his computer screen, said, “I can fix this.”  He even said he had one opening before the New Year.  Did I want it? 

Wow, did I want it!  I had lumbar stenosis, a pinched nerve in my lower back. 

 

 

Buddy reading The Blessing of the Candles (not memorized yet).

 

While I was dealing with this my parkinson decided to get more active.  My neurologist said exercise, box, work out on ellipticals, anything to get my arms swinging.  He gave me a pill to take 3 times a day. 

We had a May cruise in the North Atlantic & I was pretty nervous, even just with the trans-Atlantic flight.  I took a cane.  I never used it.  Everything improved.  No dizziness, better coordination of my legs and arms. 

Which brings me to today and Thanksgiving.  I am grateful.

 

 

The Offertory with Tom & Susan & Bill.

 

Second blessing  of the year: you people, our community.   The generous spirit of everyone, the eagerness to support & pray for our people who need special care, and the way everyone pitches in.  Buddy & Georgie, John & Mike, Ben & David & Shonda, Jackie & Connie, all plus many others who make our Sunday celebrations so touching.  I am humbled and blessed by all of you people.

 

 

The Communion Team.

 

The final blessing of 2019: Rosemary, my blessing for 15 years & more.

Your blessings of 2019?

   

 

Twins??  The Best.

 

 

 

 Readings: Zecharia 9, 9-10;

Psalm 145, I will praise Your Name forever, My King and My God (Plus the great line, 8-9, The Lord is Gracious & Merciful, slow to Anger & abounding in Love);

Romans 8, 9-13;

Matthew 11, 25-30. 

Zechariah:  Zechariah is the 11th of the 12 Minor Prophets and lived just when the Hebrews were released from the 70 year long Babylonian Captivity, in other words around 535-520 B.C.  In Jerusalem he encouraged the people to rebuild the temple.

He is called a minor prophet only because his little work has simply 14 chapters, unlike the Big 3, Isaiah, Jeremiah, & Ezekiel, who have many chapters.

He was a favorite of the N.T. writers because he is rich in messiah predictions.  Today we have one of those visions.   You might picture how this message is coming across.  The people have been crushed, they have been slaves in Babylon, and the Jerusalem they have returned to is nothing but a mess. 

Psalm 145, 8-9: here it is again, The Terrific line: "The Lord is gracious & merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness."

 

July 4, Independence Day

 July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence signed.

 50^th anniversary, July 4, 1826: two signers of the Declaration died, the only 2 to serve as presidents, mutual friends, Thomas Jefferson & John Adams (excellent source, David McCullough’s John Adams).

 

You Call This Burden Light?

 It was a Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago, a beautiful day.  Rosemary & I left the house about 8:30 to come to Vines.  We drove down Royal Lane to Central.  As always at that corner, we caught the red light.  A guy drives up behind us in a silver or gray Mercedes.

 The light turned green and we drove left up the on ramp to the northbound lane of Central.  The Mercedes is behind me, right behind me, like I can see the color of his eyes in my rear view mirror. 

 I get up on the freeway and move to the left to get into the first lane.  The Mercedes guy whips to the right as I move left, he floors it, and with a roar and a friendly hand sign he races by us and up Central. 

 

 How did I react?  Actually, I feel fortunate because I didn’t.  I even felt a bit sorry for the guy.  A beautiful Sunday morning, no traffic and he has already lost it.  Who knows?  Maybe it was somebody from the community in a hurry to get here. 

 This poor guy exemplifies what is not being talked about in today’s readings.  Unfortunately, he exemplifies the obsessive behavior of a lot of people, especially on weekdays and probably especially on Central. 

 These folks are not rejoicing or shouting for joy, they are not peaceful or restful, and certainly they don’t seem to have a light burden even if they are driving a Mercedes. 

 I grant, maybe he is unemployed now for six months or a year, like people we know.  Maybe he’s like the 30 year old divorced mother of a 10 year old boy, a mother in Medical City right now taking heavy doses of chemo because of the bad kind of leukemia.  Maybe he is the father of the 15 year old boy who hung himself this past week. 

 Are these burdens light?  I must respectfully disagree with you, Jesus, not all your burdens are light!  Some pain and some stress can be unbearable.

 

 So how do I handle this in the light of the observation?  Do I pray and it all goes away?  Not according to my experience.  So what would I do?  I can offer only two ideas to people with great pain or suffering, and at the time the ideas can seem pretty lame. 

 First, the biggie, acceptance.  This is not the acceptance of give up.  If I am unemployed, for instance, I continue to muster up the courage each day to make contacts and search.  This acceptance is surrender to the state of things in my life, ultimately the surrender to death, my own death and the other deaths that take place in my life.

 Secondly, contemplation.  Contemplation of the beauty, the physical beauty, the people beauty, the Spirit-God beauty.  The psalm line that says so much to me might touch you, gracious, merciful, never angry, abounding in love.

 I don’t know what pain or stress was pushing the man in the Mercedes.  Obviously he was not peaceful.  What might help him?

 How do you handle pain & stress?

 Picture 1:   Leo with Wendy & Shonda & Ray

 Picture 2:   Offertory with Sir Charlie & Cliff

 Picture 3:   Alesia with some of her grand kids

  

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing

Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings.

Now, think.

What delight God gives to humankind

with all these things. . . .

All nature is at the disposal of humankind.

We are to work with it.

For without it we cannot survive.

 

Hildegard of Bingen  (1098-1179)

 

 

The Best Music Team

 

 

Thanks to the Team

Music, Shonda & Ben

Readers, Cathy & Kevin  & Buddy, the candle blesser

Eucharistic Prayer & Gospel, John Cade

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

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

 

 

Who's that peeking around the corner?  Becky

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Jim Esparza, the son of Frank & Mary, who just passed last Saturday with 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 Bill;   For Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;    For Sydney;  & For Sir Charlie;  Shonda's mom;   for Michelle;  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;  Virginia Mattingly

 

 

 

Mike, our technology magician.

 

From last Week:

Birthdays:  Shonda (last Week), Deacon Mike ordained '78, Bill Ekes, Alison DeGenova; this week, Bernadette,  

Anniversary:  The McClurgs, Diane & Kent, 48 years, & Diane's knee replacement this past week; Sandra  & Chuck, 59th 

 

 

Download MASS 20 0614 Reading 2 Corpus Christi

 

 

 

Richard & Tom

 

Corpus Christi

We celebrate today the Church feast of Corpus Christi.  Rosemary also reminded me that Friday the 12^th I was celebrating the anniversary of my ordination at St. Ritas.  You will never guess how many years it has been since that day.  Next year it will be 50 years, 1971.  Can you believe that, Folks?   It blows me away. 

For maybe 20-30 of the last years I have tried to point out that to understand the Eucharist and Corpus Christi, I have to know what a special feast is like because I have enjoyed them in my life.  For me the obvious is the Thanksgiving celebration.  Rosemary & I have treasured these Thanksgiving events because we always went to celebrate with Joe & her sister Clare at their house on Hilton Head.

 

 

 

Legacy continues to be a perfect venue.

 

This morning I have 4 unique celebrations that took place in conjunction with the famous tree planting hobby I got myself into.

First.  It was around 1990 when I went big.  We planted Marsh Lane from near Love field to LBJ on two consecutive Sundays in November.   

When we finished, my beloved  old grade school coach and Scout Master, Frank Hart, invited everyone to come to his restaurant just north of LBJ on Marsh Lane.  Everything was on Frank.  Wow, was I touched.

 

 

 

Second.  The next fall we must have planted Hillcrest or Preston.  Too far away from Frank’s restaurant.  Guess who came out and catered the whole gang.  Frank’s son , Frank Jr., who had the Greenville Avenue restaurant, Back Country bar-b-que.  Incredible as it may seem, I had Frank in one of my classes when I taught at Jesuit as an intern ’65-’68.  Frank jr. catered the team for a number of years.

Three.  The next year or so my classmate, Ed Lamberty, brewed up in the Jesuit resident community kitchen a whole bunch of chili.  Venison chili.   Yes, Venison chili.  Word got out and the kids did not want to eat it.  Eat bambi?  Poor Ed.  He was both a hunter and an excellent cook.   I think he quit hunting.

 

 

Remembering….

 

Four.  Remember the big tree planting we did at Plano Senior High one October?  Always October.  400 trees starting at 12:00 noon with a covered dish party at 3:00 in a room on the east side of the school, or maybe in the junior high. We were still celebrating Sundays at Vines High School.

By 1:30 or 2:00 all 400 trees had been planted.  And everyone went to eat.    I can still remember dearest Maureen Macchio coming in at 3:00 with her special meat balls.

How do you celebrate the Eucharist?

 

 

Says Aviana, "Hey, Everybody, we have a new home.  As soon as the truly pleasant couple moves out, we move in.  Isn't that right, Grace?

 

 

Readings: Zephaniah 2, 3-3, 12-13; Psalm 146, Blessed are the Poor in Spirit; the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs; 1 Corinthians 1, 26-31; Matthew 5, 1-12 

 

Zephaniah observations:

 The 3 chapters of the little book of Zephaniah were compose about 600 years before Christ.  Therefore, he is writing shortly before the Babylonian defeat of Jerusalem and the Captivity.  Because of the book’s shortness Zephaniah is considered one of the 12 minor prophets. 

His theme is the prophetic line:

            1. You people are bad.

            2.  You people will be punished by Yahweh.

            3.  You people, after being punished, will return to a happy place.

 

Today’s selection focuses more on how the humble of spirit will pasture their flocks with no one to disturb them. 

 The psalm & Matthew today both focus on how the poor in spirit will be happy, receiving the kingdom of heaven.

 I am struck that in the readings there is a quality of wishful thinking.  For example, in the psalm,  the lord sets captives free, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry, and raises up the bowed down. 

 I can see someone skeptically asking me, “Stack, are you crazy.  You believe this really happens?  Look at history.”  I would like to talk about this in the homily.

 

Poor in Spirit?  Get Real!

 You remember last Thanksgiving when about 35 of us went to help feed the homeless for LifeNet?  Well, while I was helping out, I liked to go around and chat up the people at different tables.

 At one table during the second or third seating over by the windows opposite the side door I ran into 3 elderly white, nicely dressed little ladies.  Folks, they absolutely reminded me of my mother, who would have been mortified to have been eating there. 

 

The ladies were quite friendly, obviously educated, and lived in Richardson.  Were they homeless?  Were they without money, social security, family?  I only knew that they would not have been there had not LifeNet vetted them as being authentically in need. 

 My heart went out to these ladies and I mention them this morning as a lead into the notion that blessed are the poor in spirit, the kingdom of heaven is theirs.  This statement strikes me as really precarious.

 I would propose that there is a healthy and an unhealthy poverty of spirit.  The poverty of these 3 ladies is unhealthy, spirit killing, depressing.  Unemployment, homelessness, all kill the spirit.

 The same is true of Larry Sims, the 60 year old black man exonerated Friday of a crime for which he has spent 25 years in jail.  DNA proof.  Can you imagine being put in jail for 25 years of your life for something you did not do?  I think I would be mad, bitter.  The amazing reality is that these men are all accepting, forgiving, and grateful.  They humble & amaze me. 

 The same was true of the 3 little ladies.

 

 Mr. Sims is number 35 exonerated in Dallas according to my buddy & old classmate Tony Levatino who helps these men adjust to their new life through Holy Trinity Parish down on Oak Lawn.

 This unhealthy poverty of spirit has been so common down through our history as humans.  Suffering has characterized so many lives.  Slavery, holocausts, genocides, wars.

 I have spent my life attempting to raise up people in this poverty.  We are doing it in this community. 

 What then is healthy poverty of spirit?  From my perspective it is two things: acceptance and gratitude.  This brings about peace of spirit.

 I am astounded, but Mr. Sims and the 3 ladies seemed to have acceptance and gratitude.  I do know others who were dying of depression or discouragement.

 

 Can a person work through the unhealthy poverty of spirit to the peace of acceptance & gratitude?  Apparently so. 

 On a scale of 1-10, where is your poverty of spirit, your acceptance and gratitude?

Picture 1:   Mass with Kevin helping

Picture 2:   Emma walking

Picture 3:   Georgie & her sister Zoe

Picture 4:   Zoe with her dad, Randolph & grandmom, Bernadette

Picture 5:   Michelle, the mother of Georgie & Zoe, with Torri & Buddy, the twins, and Gilberto, Michelle's dad