Readings:

Isaiah  55, 10-11,   My word shall not return to me void.

Psalm 65,   The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.

Romans 8, 18-23,  We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains.

Matthew  13, 1-23,  A sower went out to sow.

 

Isaiah, The Great One, observations—

Who:  One of the Big 3 prophets, the greatest in my estimation.  Jeremiah and Ezekiel are the other two.  Actually, the book includes the work of 3 prophets.   Our selection is the last chapter written by Isaiah 2.

Time:  Isaiah 2 was living during the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 555.  Isaiah 1 writes before the Captivity, maybe 150 years.  Isaiah 3 writes after the return to Jerusalem.

 

 

Subject today: better times will come.  I am expanding today’s passage, because it is so good.

Isaiah 2 has some of the most beautiful passages, many of which are seen as foretelling the coming of the Savior.  His readings are used all through the Advent & Christmas readings, as well as in Lent.  Handel uses Isaiah 2 in his marvelous work, The Messiah.

Both the Isaiah reading and Psalm 65 are beautiful.  

 

And My Seed Landed Where?

This morning I would like to talk about how Jesus is said to describe how the farmer’s seed is scattered on four different types of ground, the path, the rocks, the thorns, and the fertile.  Where did your seed fall?  Where did my seed fall?  I’m sure a lot of volunteers would be happy to let me know where my seed fell.

If you are a sinful gambler poker player you would look at this explanation and notice the bad odds, one out of four.  I would propose, however, that we all landed on fertile soil.  Let me offer some examples. 

I’ve shared this example once before, so you might remember it, but probably not. 

 

 

When I was a little kid about 5 years old, I was playing in the driveway of our house in University Park.  There were no fences and the drive went from the street, through the space between our house and the neighbor’s, and to the back up against the alley. 

The neighbor was Sam Berger, who owned a hat store in downtown Dallas.  He was Jewish and lived next to us all during the Holocaust.  I was oblivious to it all.  He & his wife had a big black lady who not only worked in the house, but lived in the back in an apartment attached to the garage, the servant quarters.  This black lady was not nice to me.

 

 

So this day as I am playing in the driveway, the lady steps out of the kitchen door & stands on the steps.  Without thinking, I say, “You are a big fat elephant.”

To the lady’s credit, she marches right across the drive and tells my mom.  My mom comes out of the house, drags me in, and spanks me.  Thinking back, I am impressed that my mom respected the lady.  The spanking, however, and her treatment of me confirmed my suspicions that my seed had fallen at least on the path or rocks, if not right on the thorns.   I definitely grew up with the belief that I was a bad kid. 

 

Despite the fact that you folks might agree with that assessment, I would propose that I was just a normal little boy doing silly things. 

This habit of doing silly, not bad things, can continue into adult years.  I know a guy who gets on his bike and rides off for an hour leaving the driver’s door of his car wide upon. 

I know a lady who last week let her Lincoln run out of gas in rush hour traffic.  Her husband, a bit nettled, brought gas, but then could not start the car.  It had to be towed.

 

 

I know a dear friend who drove into her garage with a canoe strapped to the top of her car. 

You do this stuff and you begin to believe the bad news, ‘I am a loser, I am bad, my seed obviously landed in the ditch.” 

And then there are the malicious acts.  You know where I come in on this.  Kids hurt and abused grow up to hurt and abuse.  They are not bad.  They are damaged. 

So, who landed on fertile soil?  All of us.  God don’t make bad seed.

So, what do you think about all this?

 

 

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

O God, we thank you for the fact that you have inspired men and women in all nations and in all cultures. We call you different names: some call you Allah; some call you Elohim; some call you Jehovah; some call you Brahma; some call you the Unmoved Mover. But we know that these are all names for one and the same God. Grant that we will follow you and become so committed to your way and your kingdom that we will be able to establish in our lives and in this world a brother and sisterhood, that we will be able to establish here a kingdom of understanding, where men and women will live together as brothers and sisters and respect the dignity and worth of every human being. In the name and spirit of Jesus. Amen.

 

Taken from The prayers of Martin Luther King Jr.  by John Dear appearing in the National Catholic Reporter, January 15, 2013

 

 

 

The Production Team.

 

Thanks to the Team

Music, Shonda & Ben

Readers, Rose & Patricia,  & Buddy, the candle blessing

Eucharistic Prayer & Gospel, John Cade

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

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

 

Almost time, 9:30

 

Readings:

Exodus, 34, 4-6, 8-9, The Lord, gracious and merciful, rich in kindness & fidelity. 

Daniel (Psalm) 3, Glory & Praise forever.

2 Corinthians  13, 11-13, The Grace of the Lord Jesus and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.

John 3, 16-18,  God so loved the world…

 

 

On air.

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Jim Esparza, the son of Frank & Mary, who just passed 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 Jim Esparza, the son of Frank & Mary;   For Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;   For Ryan, Rosemary's nephew, who had surgery; For Bill Hammond,    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

 

 

Becky & Tom.

 

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

Anniversary:  The McClurgs, Diane & Kent, 48 years, & Diane's knee replacement this week.

 

 

 

On air with Ben.

 

This  week's Readings:

 

Download MASS 20 0607 Trinity Readings

 

 

Homily by John Stack

Here it is, folks, that line again, the one that says The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry and abounding in love.  That summarizes for me who our God is.

I want to talk this morning about a black lady I knew when I was teaching at Jesuit '65-'68.  She was one of the first important black persons in my life who exemplified this description of God.  You ever heard of Juanita Craft?  A big lady with a big voice and a bigger heart.  She was elected to the Dallas City Council after I had departed Dallas.  She came to my '71 ordination in a police car at the old St. Rita.

Juanita taught me at least 3 lessons.   First she taught me how to take charge and get things done with grace.  This came about because she invited me to join her and about 25 young members of the Dallas NAACP on a greyhound type bus trip to the annual NAACP convention in Atlantic City.  I must admit that I gulped a time or two, then accepted her invitation.  I was the only white guy on that bus.  Juanita charged each of those kids to be the best  & clean that bus every time we got off that bus.

I was impressed as a fellow bus driver at Jesuit.  Never had I instructed my Jesuit kids on the bus to clean up.  I did that after.  Because of Juanita I realized I could organize a planting of 400 trees, put together a group of friends to visit Yosemite, and accept an invitation to work in East Africa.

Because Juanita was abounding in love, she taught me how to ask help from others.  Therefore I wrote to my Jesuit confreres at Georgetown and asked if they could shuttle two dozen black kids around D.C. for a day.  Not only did they supply about 5 cars and guides, they invited the whole bunch of us to dinner in the Jesuit dining room that evening.  The Jesuits were gracious and merciful

 

You will never guess what I did when I returned to Dallas from Atlantic City.   I accepted Juanita's invitation to move into her little house in South Dallas and help her with the NAACP youth group that summer.  I knew then, Black Lives Do Matter.

 

How do Black Lives matter to you?

 

Ben doing the Magic.

 

 

And a repeat:

Birthdays:  Shonda (last week), Bill Ekes, Alison, Deacon Mike ordained '78

Anniversaries:  McClurgs, 48 years & Diane has a knee replacement this week.

 

Communion for Mike.

 

Community Finances, June 7, 2020

Expenses: $825.00

Outreach:  $500.00  (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

This week we donated $1,500 to Soul's Harbor.

 

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Readings: Baruch 5, 1-9; Psalm 126, The Lord has done Great Things for Us; We are filled with Joy; Philippians 1, 4-11; Luke 3, 1-6

 

Baruch:

  

Author: probably not Baruch, who was Jeremiah's secretary.  More likely some anonymous person or persons a few centuries after Jeremiah. 

  

Date of composition: during the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 550, or during the Maccabees' revolt ca. 100 BCE.  More likely the latter.  If so, like Daniel, the little book intends to strengthen resistance of the Jews during the Macabeean Revolt, using the Babylonian time to encourage the people.

  

 

Our passage: a message of optimism, hope, peace, and a new day.  The passage reflects 2nd Isaiah's message (chapter 40), which is likewise quoted in Luke's gospel for today.  The famous 2nd Isaiah: Luke uses this source to build his nativity narrative.  See also the lyrics of Handel's Messiah.

  

The Advent Wreath:

  

Date:

a.  Pre-christian Germans used wreaths at the darkest, coldest time of winter to signify resistance to the season and optimism that warmth and light would return.

b.  ca. 1500 German Lutherans emphasized the wreath and eventually it spread throughout Catholic & Protestant groups.

   

 

Symbolism: 

a.  green boughs indicate continuous life even in the winter. 

b.  the circle signifies both immortality and the past, present, and future focus of Advent.

c.  the lit candles symbolize the light & warmth coming in the person of Christ.

 

Purification: self purification before entering the temple
was common long before the time of Christ.  He did it.  Fasting & penance (hair shirts) were intended to purify me before I celebrated the birth of Jesus (the past), the presence of Jesus (the present), and the hope of being together with him (future).  This goes way back to the time of the earliest Christians in the first couple of centuries after Jesus' death.  For example, in Saragossa, Spain, 380 CE, a church council decreed 3 weeks of fasting & penance as self purification for the celebration of Christmas.

 

Our Fifth Anniversary Today, the Past, the Present, the Future

 

The year is 2004.  There were two special months that year, August and December. 

  

It was August when the first step took place.  I got suspended by the bishop because someone sent in an anonymous letter saying Stack wanted to get married.  This was amusing because I had been saying this for years.  What was different was that in 5/5/05 we were planning to do it.

    

So, rather than have the opportunity to say good bye to folks, I said, “Yes, okay.  I am out.”  And I moved out of Jesuit.

 

The second step.  The first Sunday of December, this Sunday five years ago, we went public with our celebrations.  I remember being rather anxious that Sunday and then utterly humbled and touched at seeing so many of you and so many others whom I had not see for four months, all come pouring into the cafetorium.  I was all choked, first seeing everyone, then trying to start the celebration after walking down that passageway that no longer exists.

 

 

 

This Mass came about because of the number of people who kept asking, “Where are you saying Sunday Masses and can we come?”  I had been using peoples’ living rooms and patios, but we had room for no more that about 25 people. 

Bernadette was especially influential in the process.  We even came close to using the club house at their subdivision, Spring Park.  It would have been beautiful and one third the cost (they wanted us to pay only $100 per Sunday).  Trouble was, 100 people was the maximum. 

 

When we decided to go public I had three hopes in mind.  One, that we would celebrate, all that we have and all that we are.  Secondly, that we would emphasize healthy spirituality on a basic Catholic/Christian foundation.  A spirituality of acceptance.  And thirdly, that we would be a helping community while not focusing on money, which is why I decided to do away with passing the hat at the collection time.  

  

People occasionally ask me, “Where are you going with this community?  What about the future?  Do you want to expand?”   Other than what we are doing, I have no idea about the future or where we are going.  I don’t have a need to expand.  I love our size which enables people to know one another.   

 

An extraordinary blessing of this 5^th anniversary year that affects our future is the

gift that Tony and Gayle bring.  I have asked at least a dozen married priests in the greater Dallas area to help us out and none of them felt comfortable doing so.  And then along comes Tony. 

   

Consequently, in the spirit of Advent we treasure the gifts of the past, we confidently leave the future in God’s hands, and we celebrate the gifts of the present.

 

How?

  

Picture 1:  Mass with Kevin helping

Picture 2:  Mass beginning

  

Picture 3:  Mass Helpers

 

Picture 4:  Cathy on her birthday, Mike & Geri

 

Picutre 5:  The Brunch, Marilyn, Marlene, Theresa, and Tom

   

Readings:

Jeremiah 33, 14-16, In those days Jerusalem shall dwell secure.

Psalm 25, To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

1 Thessalonians 3, 12- 4, 2, May the Lord make you increase and abound in love.

Luke 21, 25-28, 34-36, Be vigilant at all times.

 

Jeremiah observations:

Who:            One of the Big 3 prophets, 52, chapters.  Called the sorrowful prophet because he did not want to condemn his people.  He had to and as a result was beaten, put in stocks, thrown in a cistern, threatened with death, and imprisoned.  In fact, Nebuchadnezzar released him and admired him.  He also wrote Lamentation, Jeremiah grieving over the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the slavery of the people.

When:  as a convenient date, use 600 before Christ.  Jeremiah knew how the Assyrians had destroyed the northern province of Israel and taken off the 10 tribes living there.  Jeremiah saw the badness of the Jews in Judah and he saw the Babylonians threatening.  He finally saw what he foretold, the Babylonian Captivity.

Subject: like all prophets, condemn behavior, foretell punishment, envision recovery and peace.  Jeremiah does it all.

Today:  parallelism.  This is the key.  It ties Jeremiah’s vision of release to Luke’s of redemption.  God saves his people from slavery; Gods saves us, his people, from slavery. 

Sources: Good News Bible, The New Interpreter's Study Bible, Wikipedia.

Georgie making her debut as an Altar helper, with Kevin

 Vigilance!

I want to talk today about the advice to be vigilant.  To lead into the topic I have another biking story.

This took place recently in, I think, the Greenville bike rally.  I was at a rest stop.  I usually stop every 10 miles and drink a lot of liquid so that I am ready to visit the portapotty at the next 10 mile stop.  The stop was not my first, maybe my 3^rd or 4^th. 

I had just eaten a banana and was talking with people around me.  I threw the banana peel at a trash can and missed.  So I went over, picked it up along with a few other things, and threw them into the can.

 A lady behind me says, “Hey, thanks, I really appreciate you picking up.”  She was one of the volunteers running the rest stop.  I thanked her in return and said I appreciated her mentioning it.  I talked with her a few more minutes, then rode on.

As I rode I reflected back on the event and how touched I had been by her simple thanks.  Which leads me to our subject, vigilance.

First, I want to say the real vigilance is not watching out that something bad is about to happen.  I am not about to be caught in a trap.  There is no cosmic assault.

Rather, especially at this time of year of Advent, I am looking for the small ways God taps me on the shoulder.  He/she is saying, “Thanks, you are okay, peace.” 

The flip of this is true, also.  I look for the ways I can touch someone, complimenting them, even just saying thanks. 

 

So, I would propose that vigilance during this waiting period for Christmas means being aware of all the many, many ways I am blessed & touched by God each day, just as we mention at the beginning of all our Masses. 

 The lady in Greenville probably has no idea she was God’s touch to me.  Moreover, she has no idea we are talking about her.  A simple blessing.

So, go be vigilant!

 

Readings: Isaiah 66, 18-21; Psalm 117; Hebrews 12, 5-13; Luke 13, 22-30

Isaiah: this book is written by probably three authors ca. 800 years before Christ and later.  The book covers the time before, during, and after the Babylonian captivity.  Our selection today comes from the part of the book written before the captivity.

The Good News Dream

I just returned last night from doing a wedding Friday afternoon for a couple who had a special dream. The boy is from Dallas and I have known him since he was little. The girl is from Scotland.Their dream was to marry at St. Columba’s monastery on the island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland. 

  St. Columba came over from Ireland about 560 and established the monastery which was a center of learning and religious enthusiasm all during the Dark Ages, when the learning and culture established by Rome came crashing down. In 810 Vikings raided the monastery and killed about 70 monks.The monastery finally came to an end during the Protestant Reformation and the time of Oliver Cromwell ca. 1650. Since the 1940’s it has been revived and is an ecumenical community today. It has been and is today a sort of mini-shrine. 

To realize their dream the couple knew it would cause difficulty to their families & friends. It is not easy to get there. I was blessed to have Katie Gray carry me all around. She is Bob & Jackie McGrath’s daughter and is living in Edinburg with her Scottish husband, Derrick. Even with Katie’s help, it took us a day to drive from Edinburg in the east all the way across the country to the west coast, where we put the car on a ferry to the island of Mull. On Mull we traveled another 40 miles on a, I kid you not, one lane road to another people only ferry to the little 3 mile by 1 & 1/2 mile island of Iona. Iona, folks, is not the Ritz Carlton. It is very simple with two small hotels & a number of bed & breakfast farm houses.The island is small and the little community is tiny. But hosptable.   

We celebrated the wedding out of doors in the middle of what used to be the Nunnery, an old Augustinian convent from the 13th century that has not been revived. After Thursday & Friday morning having drizzle and clouds down to the ocean, we had a window of 40 minutes when it brightened up.

In the center of the monastery is an elevated square piece of land that is grass covered with flowering bushes on all four sides. We used the corner of the square for the wedding. John, the groom, and all the men wore kilts.They looked terrific. I wore the white alb & a stole. A ferry load of tourists arrived during the ceremony and they went ape over the event. We should have charged a pound a person for pictures. They took tons.

The psalm today talks about taking the Good News to all the world. On that little island of Iona John & Zarah realized a dream and shared the Good News of their love with the whole world.

What is your Good News Dream?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-08-26.mp3

Readings: Genesis 15, 5-18; Psalm 27, The Lord is My Light and My Salvation; Philippians 3, 17-4,1; Luke 9, 28-36
 

Introduction to the Readings

Our three readings today are each very interesting in themselves.  Our first reading, from the book of Genesis is from Chapter 15.  We hear about Abram and one of many times we are told about the descendants of Abram.  Genesis is very interesting reading from Chapter 12 on for several chapters. We hear about the call of Abram, his leaving his homeland with all is possessions including his wife and nephew Lot, their time in Egypt and then the split with Lot, and their dividing up the land.  Then we read about the rescue of Lot and all of the people by Abram.  As a reward, Abram is offered whatever he wants by the kings and he basically says that he wants nothing.  Then we have our reading today, where again we have this promise by God to Abram of many descendants.  One item of interest is towards the end of today’s reading we are told that a “trance fell on Abram”, basically he fell asleep.  In our gospel, the disciples also fall asleep, before a strange vision. 

The second reading is from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians.  This is a very short letter, only four chapters, and something we might consider reading in its entirety during the coming week.  http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/philippians/intro.htm

More about the Gospel later in the homily.

 

   

 

Second Sunday of Lent – Homily

“This is my chosen one, listen to Him” The last time Luke’s Gospel records words from God the Father is right after Jesus’ Baptism, when we hear “You are my Son, the Beloved, my favor rests on you”. 

This gospel passage we have just heard is very interesting.  I want to look back for a moment to last week’s gospel reading about the temptation account.  If you had all been good Jews very familiar with the Old Testament, when I read that account and said that Jesus was lead into the desert for 40 days you would all have immediately thought about Moses spending 40 days up the mountain (Ex 34:26) before receiving the Ten Commandments, the sign of the covenant between God and his people, and also remembered Elijah’s 40 days in the desert (1Kings 19:8) after his great confrontation with the false prophets, and of course (Deut 8:2) the forty years of wandering in the desert after the escape from Egypt.

Today’s reading, often referred to as the Transfiguration, has much to tell us.  Once again we are going up a mountain.  It seems to be where many important things happen in the God relationship.  Whenever Jesus goes off to a quiet place to pray, most of the time it seems to be up a mountain.  This time he takes Peter, James and John, and just as later in the garden of Gethsemane, they promptly fall asleep!  I take this as a source of encouragement, to keep trying.  And to follow with the link you all made with last Sundays 40 days reference, Jesus meets up with the two great prophets of the Old Testament, Moses of the Law and Elijah, THE PROPHET.  Luke wants us initially to view Jesus as Prophet. 

In a section of Luke’s Gospel just before today’s reading Jesus has just told his disciples about his being rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes and being put to death and rising after three days.  In this transfiguration account, that is exactly what Jesus is talking about with Moses and Elijah!  Of course the apostles are mostly asleep during this conversation, and when they wake up, again we have poor Peter putting his foot in it by wanting to erect three tents.  There are a couple of problems with Peter’s suggestion.  The idea that God can be captured and put in a certain place, like a tent, or even a church!  And secondly, that Jesus is far greater than any prophet, which is why the voice comes out of the cloud and tells them the important thing is “to listen”. 

If we carefully read the gospels to try and get a sense of what Jesus was saying, he really didn’t say too much, he mostly did.  And I think that if we listen carefully to the Gospel the message we must come away with as followers of Jesus is not a set of beliefs or creeds but the command to action, to love one another.  To take care of the poor and the sick, to feed the hungry and to clothe the naked, to visit those in prison.  Because “as often as you did it to these you did it to me”. 

At least that is what I hear when I listen, what do you hear?