Sunday Homily, June 7, 2015, Corpus Christi, B

Readings:

Acts 14, 21-27,   From there they sailed to Antioch.

Psalm 145,  I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.

Revelation  21, 1-5,  He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them.  I, John, had a vision of a great multitude.

John 13, 31-35,  A new commandment, love one another.

Vicki with her mom, Vivian.

Acts, a couple of observations:

1.  Remember the three rings of Acts, Jerusalem, Palestine, the World (Mediterranean & Rome)?   Since we are at Chapter 28 of 28, you can guess in what ring we are today, yes, the World.  Paul and Barnabas are in the region of Greece.
2. The author, the same as the Gospel of Luke.
3. The date again, before 70

Emma and Zoe.

A New Commandment, Love One Another

I want to talk this morning about the new commandment, love one another. 

It has been a couple of rough weeks, folks. 

Leo.

First there was the Boston Marathon.  I have been at those finish lines, like running the Mexico City Marathon.   I know both the exhilaration and the fatigue, like after the Hotter N’ Hell 100 mile bike ride in Wichita Falls the end of August.

Cara.

Then, West.  I just happened to be in West the afternoon of the evening of the explosion.  I wonder about the delightful ladies at the famous Czech bakery, where we had stopped for kolaches

Then a story that has been gnawing at me, the 10 year old boy starved to death by his father and step mother.  At times I cannot get this nightmare out of my mind.

Torri.

See enough of this and I could get pessimistic and lose perspective on people.  Which is why I don’t normally listen to local news.  Which is why I want to tell you 3 antidote stories of loving one another.

Maureen and Fred renewing their wedding vows at their 50th.

The first is about a Plano boy Rex Burkhead, who has just graduated from Nebraska.  I found this article Friday in the Dallas Morning News.  Anyone know him?  The article does not say which high school he attended.

Mike & Dee renewing their vows at their 55th.

In 2011, Rex had lunch with the Hoffman family of Plano as part of his Nebraska football team’s outreach program.  Why the Hoffmans?  They have a 7 year old son, Jack, who has had brain cancer for 2 years.

Jean and John renewing their vows at their 55th.

As a result of the lunch, Rex and Jack have become buddies.  Even the parents of both families have become good friends. 3 weeks ago the Nebraska football team staged its spring intersquad game.  Little Jack, wearing Rex’s 22 on a small jersey, lined up in Rex’s position in the backfield, was handed the ball on a play, and he ran 70 yards for a touchdown.  Everyone cheered Jack and Rex’s video of Jack’s run became an Internet sensation

Curtis and Mabel renewing their vows at their 60th.

Rex Burkhead exemplifies loving one another.

This even happens in our very own community in so many ways.

For instance, I know one anonymous person who cleans houses once in a while.  One elderly family, in particular, she visits once a week.  It takes her at most an hour to clean the house.  But she always plans to stay with the couple about 3 more hours to talk with them and do little helps. 

I know, also, of a couple of women from our community who visit Rita once or twice a week to help her and especially to change her pressure sox, which she cannot do herself. 

Rosemary preparing her blessing.

This is living it out, loving one another.

Give me one way you love another.

Reference: Dallas Morning News, Sports section, Friday, April 26, 2013

Jeremiah 31, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.

Psalm 130, Create a clean heart in me, O Lord.

Hebrew 5, He became the source of salvation

John 12, Sir, we would like to see Jesus.

Thanks……

Music,  Ben 

Readers,  Jackie & Brent, & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Mike Carrell

Homily,  John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Richard & Mike  

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

Christine Dullenty's Memorial, Breckenridge Park, Saturday, 3-20-2021

Readings for Sunday, March 21, 2021

Download Reading 5th Lent 03-21-2021

Homily for Sunday by John Cade, March 21, 2021

Download Cade Homily 3-21-2021

Please Remember these special people:

For Carrie's ex, Larry with Corona;  For Alan Stryker;  For Joe Sullivan;    For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   For Esparza's new great grandson baby, son of Monique;  For all the medical personnel struggling to treat the tsunami of sick people, in particular, locally, Cindy's staff at Presby, Dallas, and at Frisco Presby, the mother of Harper and Betsy, Kendle, working in labor & delivery, and for Hue & Linda's daughter, Doctor Rosemary Beavers;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, The Woodlands,   For Loretta's aunt Alicia;  For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody &  Leo & all of Shonda's dear family; For Ursuline Sr. Mary Troy 

John Cade sharing his homily on Sounds of Silence.

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 daughter, Lisa;  For Anthony & Sabrina;    For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's mother in law, Kalliopi Piskiouli and Lambrini, plus John's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little 4 month old boy undergoing an operation; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

Our Brain Team, Richard, Hue, & Mike.

Birthdays:   John Cades' mother in law, Kaliope

Anniversaries: 

Community Finances,   March 21, 2021

Expenses: $900.00

Outreach: $250.00 

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Ben, The Music Man.

A note about our Easter Celebration.

We now welcome 20 people to our Easter celebration, all vaccinated and coming with mask.  Seating will be spread around the large cafeteria.  Please don't show up without signing up.  Let's see if this goes so well that we can increase the number the Sunday after Easter.

Concelebration.

Rosemary's Blessing:

Oh God who made me absolutely unique,

Help me to value more the Person You made Me to be.

And protect me from comparisons and envy and discouragement over what I am not.

Andrew Greeley,  Irish American Blessings  

Readings: Isaiah 58, 7-10; Psalm 112, The Just Man is a Light in Darkness to the Upright; 1 Corinthians 2, 1-5; Matthew 5, 13-16.

Intro to Readings

 Our gospel readings, beginning last Sunday and continuing for the next several Sundays are part of the great Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel.  This section of Matthew’s Gospel is the first and most well known of five major discourses, which are in this gospel.  Matthew had situated Jesus on a mountain; recall one of the themes of this gospel is to show how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament. 

 
Moses was on a mountain when he received the Ten Commandments from God, Moses was acting as intermediary.  Jesus is portrayed very differently – phrases from next Sunday’s gospel – “you have heard it said…. but I say to you” Jesus is no intermediary! 

 Just before this Sermon, we are told that Jesus went about the whole of Galilee preaching the Good News of the Kingdom.  Now this sermon spells out what that means.  For instance Jesus tells the disciples about their new relationship with God in that he refers to God some 17 times as “your Father”. 

The whole sermon, which covers three chapters in Matthew, can be divided into three sections, the first dealing with the Law, then a section on religious practice and the final section on material possessions and human relationships, ending with the famous golden rule.  In the middle section we find the instructions on prayer, with the teaching of the Our Father. 

 There is much to ponder on in these readings, and interestingly the contents give us a rare insight into what was probably very early Christian preaching as the Letter from James has much the same content and this is considered one of the earliest writings we have from the new community, written somewhere around the year 50!

The Homily

 I want to continue our discussion of the sacraments.  Today we will discuss very briefly the third of the three sacraments commonly referred to as the ‘Sacraments of Initiation’, the Eucharist.  This sacrament has many names, First Communion, Communion, the Eucharist and the Mass.  I think that the revised Rite of Christian Initiation has gone a long way towards helping clarify the confusion. 

 If you are familiar with the RCIA program, you will recall that in the period leading up to the Easter Vigil, when the candidates are admitted into the community fully, they are invited to attend just the first half of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word, and then they process out of the church.  I think the reason the words “First Communion” came about was because just as with our discussion of Confirmation, when originally a new candidate joined, they received all three sacraments at the same time.  It was again due to circumstances and time that each event became separated and became individual sacraments.

So much could be said about the mass that it could be a topic each Sunday at least for a year.  Today I want to cover just a few highpoints.  My intent is to help us remember why we are here each Sunday.

 The Mass as we know it began its life at the Last Supper.  But even before that Passover Meal, there was a whole history connected with the Jewish history and THE most important event, their salvation from slavery in Egypt.  So that last meal the Jews ate before their escape to freedom and the Promised Land is the backdrop for our Mass.  The earliest mention we have of that last meal Jesus took with his apostles comes to us from Paul in his letter to the Corinthian community. 1Cor 11, 23ff.  And this letter dates to around the year 56 or 57 CE.  Meals were important in the gospel stories about Jesus.  And one of his first appearances was to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, when they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread.  As the years passed and the early community gathered to remember Jesus, that Last Supper began to be called the Lord’s Supper.  And it was quickly seen in conjunction with His death and resurrection.  Pretty soon its parallel to the Exodus Event with its resultant freedom for those who were baptized and received into this community was vivid.  The sacrificial aspect became uppermost. 

That Jesus’ death and resurrection won for us a whole new freedom in our relationship with the Father.  In typical human fashion, attempts have been made to explain the words, “this is my body, this is my blood” and like everything else connected with God, it is a mystery, so I prefer to leave it to the realm of faith and accept it rather than try to understand it.  Suffice it to say that the Jesus we receive in communion is there, not as a result just of those words by the priest, but as a result of the whole community, with the priest at its head, because of the entire action of the mass. 

 There has been much debate about whether the mass is a sacrifice or a meal, with one side or the other coming to the fore at different times.  The reality is: sacrifice includes meal, the two are not separate. 

 Our coming here each Sunday is to participate as a community in that sacrifice.  We listen to God’s Word, we offer our gifts of bread and wine and then we pray the Eucharistic Prayer, the word Eucharist means thanksgiving.  We then believe that by eating the bread and drinking the wine we are receiving the risen Jesus into our lives.  This communion, this meeting brings us closer in our relationship with God and hopefully the effect spills over into our lives where we live and work and pray.

Picture 1:   Mass Begins

Picture 2:   Mass Beginning

Picture 3:   The Music Machine, Wendy & Shonda, Ray & Jon

Picture 4:   The Keszler Klan, Jan & Sir Charlie, their son, Chuck, & Chuck's wife, Ellen, & their older son, Andrew. 

"Welcome in, Everybody," sez Our Dearest Tori, official hospitality team leader.

Welcome: Catholic Mass with coffee & juice, and pastries, some bought, some home-made.  

Time: 9:30; Celebrate with the Community & Stack

Place: Sigler Elementary, 1400 Janwood Drive, Plano, TX 75075

Yes, here we have our official disrupting team planning their activities for this morning.

Readings:

Isaiah 63, 16-17, 64, 2-7,    Why do you let us wander, O Lord

Psalm 80,  Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

1 Corinthians 1, 3-9,    I will give thanks to my God always

Mark 13, 31-46,,  Be watchful!  Be alert!  You do not know when the time comes!

Thanks, Zoe, for being Our Official Candle Lighter of The Week.

Isaiah observations and reminders–

Who: Guess which of the 3 composers put this section together.  A clue: chapter number.  Like, chapter 63.  A pretty high number, yes, Isaiah number 3. 

Where is he: if the author is number 3, he is back with the people in Jerusalem, a Jerusalem totally destroyed by the Babylonians. 

Today’s message: because he is back in Jerusalem, you would expect happiness.  On the contrary, he is bemoaning the state of affairs and is blaming himself and everybody’s sinfulness for the destruction.  But in the end he reminds Yahweh that they are his special people.  So…?

Georgie reads The Blessing Prayer of the Advent Candle while her sister Zoe does the lighting.

Be watchful!  Be alert!  You do not know when the time will come

I confess that every time I hear this line or ones like it, I have to speak about it.   I think I have spent the majority of my years as a Jesuit priest & psychotherapist trying to encourage no fear relationships with our God.   There were historical reasons why so much emphasis in the Bible is on fear and punishment.  

 For me it is not a relationship where God is eagerly looking for bad behavior so you can be thrown into the fires of hell, forever.  It is, rather an invitation to all the ways God is bending over backward to delight, to surprise, bring joy to all God's people.  I call them consolations moments.

Rosemary's shirt to me, similar to the shirt she designed and painted for her sister, Clare.

Here are 5  examples that happened to me while Rosemary & I spent Thanksgiving with her two sisters, the husbands, and the daughter of Joe & Clare, Beth, and Beth's partner, Sarah.  All in Joe & Clare's house in Hilton Head.  

First, the Thanksgiving meal, always a consolation moment.  A lot of my favorite items.  There were two special moments.  One was that Rosemary gave her sister, Clare a T- shirt with all 7 of her grand kids painted on the front and the word MomMom on the back.  It is similar to the T shirt Rosemary painted for me.

Talbird Live Oak tree, Hilton Head Island.  Check Thursday's blog for more pix.

Also, towards the end of the meal Joe asked everybody what was their blessing of the year.  Sound familiar.  It was a most touching consolation moment.  Mine?  You know well!  Rosemary.  As usual, I got too choked up to say her name.

Secondly, there is a rustic seafood restaurant on the edge of the marshes that every Thanksgiving Day serves all customers gratis.  A token of thanks.  When the hurricane messed up the restaurant pretty badly, the residents of Hilton Head pitched in and helped to rebuild the restaurant.    A consolation moment.

Want to stop for a little sunbathing?   Plenty of room.   This was my biking friend.    Rosemary even wants to take his picture.  "Smile now."

Thirdly, biking the marvelous wooded paths on the island.  The natural beauty is gorgeous.   Again, two consolation moments.  The first is the Talbird Oak.  Every day I rode, I would stop under the enormous drooping branches  of this centuries old Live Oak.  A consolation moment.

The other biking event had to do with an alligator.   There are lots of man made ponds on the island in the plantations.  And in those ponds are alligators who like to sun bathe on the shores.   I have a personal relationship with one of those alligators.  I see him or his parents every year.

No fun on this island at all!

There  is a tarmack path that  runs along the south west side of a pond with a fountain in the middle.  The path is not real close,  maybe 40 yards away.  The trouble is, the path winds back & forth along the pond's side.  It is my last day riding before departing.  A warm afternoon ideal for sun bathing.   So I decide I will stay on the road until I pass the popular place for my friend, then take a little spur path back to the main path that will put me about at the head of the pond.  

I get to the path and think I'll stop to see if the alligator is sunning in one of his usual spots.   No sign of my friend.   I put my foot on the pedal to begin riding, but take one last look around.  There, even closer, in front me, the alligator lying parallel to the path. 

Talking of food, our Advent Food Drive.

A consolation moment?  Absolutely!  For being watchful and alert enough to get moving and get out of there.

Finally, consolation moments knock me over here, with help coming from Emma and Leo, Buddy and Georgie, Zoe, Tori and Harper.

How are you watchful and alert enough to spot those consolation moments?

The Best Music Team!   A three-some or a four-some?

 Readings:

 Isaiah 61, 1-2, 10-11,  He has sent me to bring glad tiding to the poor,  (excellent, though not in Handel’s Messiah)

  Psalm – Luke 1,    My soul rejoices in my God.

 1 Thessalonians 5, 16-24,  Rejoice always.

 Mark 1, 1-8,   I am the voice of one crying out in the desert

Emma says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in and meet my best friends.

Isaiah observations– 

Who:   This is Isaiah 3.  Isaiah  1 goes to Chap. 39, Isaiah 2 goes 40-55.  From 40 on we have what is called the Book of Comfort.  Our selection today is all about comfort.  The writer is consoling the Hebrews after returning from Babylon to a destroyed Jerusalem  around 555 before Christ.

The first marvelous couple of verses are repeated more or less in Isaiah 42, i.e.,  Isaiah 2.  Also, Luke puts these words into Jesus mouth in chapter 4 of his gospel.

Buddy, Our Candleman.

Advent Wreaths: This little liturgical practice came to the Catholic liturgy, believe it or not, from the German Lutherans in the 1500's, the time of Martin Luther.  It was more than just decoration.  The circle symbolized eternity.  The greens Christian life in a dead time of the year.  The candles represent each of the 4 weeks of Advent, each candle symbolizing the greater light brought by Christ.  Their color purple symbolized penance and purification for the Coming.  The Rose  candle says, 'We are almost there!

Who is that pretty girl in pink and purple? Why, that is Zoe.

Our Friend, Curtis Ekes

For the Second Sunday in a row, Folks, I come before you with unfortunate news.  Another of our best buddies, a good friend, and great supporter, Curtis Ekes, moved to the other side last Sunday evening at Presbyterian, Dallas. 

I had the honor to be with him just an hour before he died.  He had moved that day from San Remo Rehab Center to Presbyterian because of trouble breathing and maybe pneumonia.  Because of the move, Rosemary and I had missed our usual Sunday visit with him.  From the hospital Sunday evening Marlene called to let us know he may not make it through the night.  I was stunned. 

Megan, Bill's daughter, sharing her amuzing memories of Curtis, alias, Big Daddy.

As a look back I can claim I received three things from Curtis, an example of how to be gracious, an example of how to be grateful, and an example of how to treasure people, in particular family.

Long before Curtis could not come to Vines and even before he would come in with his walker, I would meet him at the door as he came in.  Always it was, “Good Morning, John.”  He was delighted to chat and ask about myself.   I was touched by how gracious a gentleman he was.

Jeremy, son of Bobby and Debby, sharing his takes on some of Megan's tales of Big Daddy.

As far as gratefulness, every time Rosemary and I would visit him at home, it was, “Thanks for coming.”  This would be repeated frequently.  If he could have, he would have said it in the hospital.

In fact, the example of graciousness and gratitude came equally from Curtis and from Mabel.  You two were twins, Mabel, and I was touched so often and learned a lot.

Carly, daughter of David and Lori, being the youngest, gets to set the record straight about Big Daddy.

The third gift I received was simple appreciation of people and, especially of family.  There is an awareness in the Ekes family that family is built upon having fun together.  The custom you folks have of getting everyone together for a Sunday meal at Curtis’ and Mabel’s house is as good as it gets.  Marlene and Cindy put it together these days.  If Rosemary and I were not so busy on Sundays, we would come begging to your door at the time you are serving.

Thanks, Curtis, for the beautiful example you have given me of graciousness, gratitude, and people appreciation, especially of family.  Thanks for Mabel, Bobby, Billy, David, Marlene, and Cindy, and all the family. 

Curtis moves to his final spot, escorted by all his sons and grandsons.

Here is a response I hear from Curtis, a Hoppe Indian poem about the soul’s transition:

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there,
I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight
On the ripened grain.
I am the gentle Autumn's rain.

When you awaken in the morning hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there.
I did not die.

Big Daddy, the hunter and fisherman, at home in his nature.

Readings:

Numbers  21, 4-9,  Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert.

 Psalm 78,   Do not forget the works of the Lord.

Philippians 2, 6-11,  God greatly exalted him.

John 3, 13-17,  Nicodemus.

Kevin says, "Welcome in, Everybody.."

The Introduction is a brief summary of today’s readings

Before you hear the first reading from the Book of Numbers, I want you to realize that this is part of a parable.  The people were complaining against God and Moses in the desert because of lack of water and food; and because of this complaining we are told that God has punished them with poisonous serpents. ‘Moses, ask God to take away the serpents!’ 

Moses replies that the Lord wants them to make a bronze replica of the serpent and put it on the top of a pole.  If someone has been bitten and looks upon it [has faith in my words and quits complaining] they will live. 

When we look upon the cross that has been lifted up [which means exalted] we no longer think of it in terms of punishment; but rather one of triumph. It has become a sign of our Faith.

Mike sharing his thoughts on our readings.

Homily

To continue the theme of the past few weeks, I suggest to you that the Scripture verse, ‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light,’ encompasses, ‘Take up your cross and follow me.’  

John spoke to us two weeks ago about a mother who asked for his advice about one of her children, an overly active boy. Learning didn’t come easily for the boy.  The boy had his own, unique, cross to carry.  John didn’t carry the boy’s cross for him. Instead, he encouraged the boy to welcome his cross, to derive strength from it.

Who is that crawling around on the floor? Why, that's Cathy. What next?

Sometimes we encounter someone with a cross that would seem to be too heavy and too burdensome to be carried…and yet that person’s faith is so strong that they can say ‘thank you’ to it.  When that happens it should also bring us to our knees to say, Alleluia.

No matter what our cross, we are to give thanksgiving, and it will be given back pressed down and over flowing.

My dad never talked to my older brother or to me about college.  We had always worked in the summer, and each of us had saved some money.  We knew that when we left home we could be self sufficient.  After getting our class schedules my older brother got a job at a bar in Iowa City working a few hours every night to pay for his food during college. 

What next? Harper.

The yoke was easy, the burden light.  I followed the example he had given me a couple of years later, however the food that I ate was better and more plentiful. All through college I worked lunch and dinner at a sorority house a few blocks from the campus with three other guys. One of them was Tony Lazos—I realized after college that he had become my best friend. 

I lost touch with Tony after college. He did a couple of tours in Vietnam and afterwards he started a couple of small companies. When he found out that I was working in Dallas he called to visit on his way through.  Time passed and we lost touch with him again.  About a year ago Judy found a story about him on the internet that was three years old. 

Cupcakes of The week to Mike & Geri, Mary Jane, Rob & Beth, and Tom & Lynda, plus others.

He had eaten some tainted chicken and had caught a disease that left him a quadriplegic and on a respirator.   I tried to reach from the email location Judy had found; but three year had past and I received no reply from my emails. Four weeks ago I received an email the subject of which was Chi Omega Waiter.  It was from Tony.  He is still a quadriplegic; but he’s off the respirator.

 This is his testimony, ‘Faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ is my foundation, my strength.’ He had built his foundation on rock.  Some friends of his in California had gotten him a voice activated computer, and he had found me in Dallas a second time.  We have been conversing with one another by email 3 or 4 times a week this past month.  

Others, like Holly.

Sometimes I send him a photo; other times we share a remembrance. Tony remembers washing dishes this way, ‘Since we had to run across campus to make it to the Chi O house for the noon mean, we made darn sure that washing dishes was fun.’ 

I’d like to send him another picture this week, and I need your help. I’ve brought with me some cards to spell out, ‘We love you, Tony Lazos!’  And I was hoping that before we sing our final song this morning that you will join with me to hold up the letters that spell out this message to him.  Please, someone remember to take a picture and send it to my email address.

And others, like Dana.