Sunday Homily, May 29, 2016, Corpus Christi

Acts 13:  Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.

Revelation 7:   Then one of the elders said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

John 10:   Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

 

 

Connie reading from the Acts of the Apostles

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben 

Outreach: $    75.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

A Mother's Day blessing for all the women

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Suggested Petitions for Mother’s Day

For our mothers, who have given us life and love, that we may show them reverence and love, and others who show us a mother’s love, we pray to the Lord.

For adoptive mothers and for the women who wish to give birth but experience challenges, that they know your care, we pray to the Lord.

For mothers who have lost a child through death, that their faith may give them hope, and their family and friends support and console them, we pray to the Lord.

For those who wish to serve as mothers, but are not able to do so, that they know your comfort, we pray to the Lord.

For mothers who have died, that God may bring them into the joy of his kingdom, we pray to the Lord.

Archdiocese of New Orleans

Readings:  Proverbs 31, 10-31, When one finds a worthy wife…; Psalm 128, Blessed are those who fear the Lord; 1 Thessalonians 5, 1-6, You are not in darkness; Matthew 25, 14-30, The parable of the talents.

Proverbs:

Author: Not Solomon, the wise king, but, as usual, a compilation of sources.

Date of Composition: ca. 300 B.C.  It is recognized from the text that it is post exile, that is, after the Babylonian Exile, around 600 to 550 before Christ. 

Content: a collection of moral & religious teachings which  mostly deal with practical matters.   We have some of this folk wisdom, like the saying, 'early to bed, early to rise makes a person healthy, wealthy, and wise.   Let me give you six examples:

    1.  (Chapter 1, verse 7),  'Pay attention to what your father & mother tell you, my son.'

    2.  (13, 24),  'If you don't punish your son, you don't love him.'

    3.  (22, 15),  'Children naturally do silly things, but a good beating will teach them.'

    4.  (17, 22),  'Being cheerful keeps you healthy.'

    5.  (18, 6),  'When some fool starts an argument, he is asking for a beating.'

    6.  (25, 24), guys' favorite,  'Better to live on the roof than share the house with a nagging wife.'

Today's Selection: This chapter 31 is the last and most beautiful chapter.  A tribute to wives.  The editors of the lectionary have broken the piece up, but I have printed off the whole section.  Very nice. 

Notice anything especially obvious about the proverbs, even from the few I chose?  What do you think?  Written by men for men?

1Thessalonians

We have read this work for a bunch of Sundays.  You might remember one thing about it.  It is the first written document in the New Testament.

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

 

 

The Parable of the Talents

I have to talk about something this morning.  I would call it a Thanksgiving event, an event that makes a difference.  Was yesterday not beautiful?  Even more beautiful was what about 20 members of our little community did at the house of Rita Dore. 

I am sorry the rest of you did not make it, but you can be proud of your community members, as I am. 

 We started about 8:00.  We had to scrape & paint three large walls and touch up the front wall, which Frank Reyes, a buddy of his, and I had painted in the summer.  There must have been twelve people scraping for two hours.  This is the painful part of a painting project.  By 10:30 we were rolling and painting vertical cracks.  By 12:30 we were 99% finished, and Jenny, Melissa, and Diane brought the pizza.  

Beth took off the handle & lock of the front door and painted it gloss white.  Jim McCabe & Ryan rigged up a block & tackle arrangement from a tree to each of the dead holly bushes and pulled them out one by one.  We even were able to buy and plant 8 Texas Sage bushes along the front of the house where the holly had been.  More drought tolerant.

Folks, later after everyone had left & I had finished cleaning up, Rita said she was overwhelmed with joy. 

I talk about this event because we are less than two weeks from Thanksgiving and because the event leads into the Parable of the Talents.  This is a crazy parable and commentaries by academics are not too helpful. One Jesuit at St. Louis U. mentioned, “Okay, what is the moral?”  I would like to touch upon 3 morals to the parable. 

The first moral.  Fr. John Foley, S.J. says the moral of the parable is obvious, ‘Make the most of what you got.  On the positive side, the moral can be a positive influence in my life.  On the negative side, it might influence me to take too many risks, like with drugs, like with motorcycles, like with money.  The first two servants are lucky they did not invest their talents with Bernie Madoff. 

The second moral.  You fear, you lose.  Observation: it is okay to be afraid.  It is a normal feeling.  It may lead to prudence, which is what the third servant may be praised for.  Or it may lead to paralysis if I let it run loose.  

The third moral.  Watch out for that mean God.  The property owner is obviously a symbol for God or Christ.  What about Matthew?  Could he have been criticizing the religious authorities, who were afraid of anything new, in this case, Jesus & his message? 

Ultimately, I would propose that the symbol for God is over drawn.  It goes contrary to where we are today with our image of God, namely, my favorite line,”He is gracious and merciful; he never gets angry and is abounding in love.” 

Renovating Rita’s house was a Thanksgiving event where a lot of talents were put to good use.  How are you sensitizing yourself and preparing for Thanksgiving? 

Sources: Fr. John Foley, S.J., St. Louis U. Liturgies.

Picture 1:    Mass Begins

Picture 2:    Chloe

Picture 3:    Cole

Picture 4:    Ryan helping scrape Rita's house with his dad, Jim

Picture 5:    Rob & Mike on Rita's house

Picture 6:    Bill Hammond replacing the dead hollies with Texas Sage, which are more drought resistant   

 

 

 

 

Readings:

 Joshua 24, 1-2, 15-18, Far be it from us to forsake the Lord.

Psalm 34,    Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Ephesians 5, 21-32,   Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.

John 6, 60-69, There are some of you who do not believe.

 

 

"Good Morning, Dear Vivian, and welcome to your community that loves you."  Vivian makes her debut.

 

Joshua:

Who is Joshua and what is this booklet about:  Joshua was Moses' assistant, his lieutenant when the the Israelites wandered in the desert.  The booklet is the story of the Israelite invasion of Canaan under Joshua's leadership. 

Author: somewhat amusingly, the fundamentalists say that Joshua wrote most of the booklet.  More scientific scholars say the work is a compilation of a number of sources.

 

Genevieve says, "Welcome, Everybody, Nice to be seeing you all.

 

Date of composition: again fundamentalists state that the booklet was composed 1400-1370, i.e., while Joshua lived.  Scholars of a broader vision suggest that even if a Joshua existed the work was put together 800-700 BCE. 

The work combines a number of traditions about battles & destruction of cities to create a nationalistic narrative that justifies the Israelites' taking another peoples' land for their own.

Ethical Question: genocide.  This is a bloody book.  Yahweh commands that the Israelites exterminate every breathing thing, including women & children & livestock. 

 

Sienna, too, says, "Hi, Folks, it is fun to be back and see you."

 

The battle of Jericho is characteristic.  For 6 days the Israelites marched around the city, blowing horns and menacing the people.  On day 7 they marched around 7 times and the walls came tumbling down, as in the spiritual.  Then every person except one woman & her family were slaughtered.  Lots of debate and rationalization over these events.

Our Selection: The last chapter of the booklet.  Joshua, who is dying, calls the people together at a place called Sechem and puts it to them.  Stick with Yahweh who has done all these things for you (which are mentioned in the text but are long & tedious) or choose another path of your own.

Sources: Good News Bible, Got Questions.org, Wikipedia

 

 

Brooklyn says, "This is super, I'm not the youngest around here anymore.  Where are those two little girls?"

 

Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord

Sounds good to me, Folks.   However, when I bring this up to Rosemary, what do I get?  “Want to start sleeping in the back yard dog kennel tonight?  Even my mom was not impressed with this little statement of Paul.  Just ask my poor dad. 

And guess what: I married my mom.  So much for the joy of being a married priest.

 

"Anybody planning a race over here?"  "No thank you.  We would rather sleep while that old geezer goes on talking."

 

Some years ago while I was waiting in a line to ride the roller coaster at 6 Flags I overheard a husband telling his wife to obey him because of this passage, he was the head of the house and the Bible says it.  I almost dropped my teeth. 

The family, mom, dad, and two young girls were trying to decide something.  Finally, even the wife says to the girls that they have to obey the man.  He is the head.

So, how do we handle this, especially when we are repelled by the idea?

 

Teamwork.  Vivian's mommy, Bethany taking care of Genevieve.  Does it get any more beautiful?

 

Perspective!   Traditionally there are three types of family relationships.  This is fairly simple.

    1.  Matriarchal: the woman/wife is the head of the family.  Culturally this has been established occasionally and in some places.

    2.  Patriarchal: the husband is the head. 

    3.  Equality: both are partners, husband and wife. 

 

         Brandon, the Ace Candle Lighter with his mom, Mary.

 

Paul's place:  guess which paradigm Paul comes from?  Paul lives in a culture which considered women & children little more than domestic animals.  In Tanzania I found the same paradigm among the ordinary people.  This paradigm has been followed more probably  because men are physically stronger and don’t hesitate to maintain control with physical violence.

Even though today Paul can sound wako & chauvanistic, what he says about husbands loving their wives as they love their own bodies, this was pretty radical.

 

           Cupcake of The Week Time: Payton and The Girls.

 

Today: all three of the paradigms are valid.  Among most educated people, however, equality between husband & wife, men & women is the more healthy.    Besides, as we know, women just won’t let us guys get away with it. 

Certainly with education for both men and women, there is equality.  And just this week, two women passed the Army Ranger training program. 

 

"Zoe, You look even prettier without those teeth."

 

So, again, beware of taking the Bible literally.  Check our blog from last Thursday to find some other interesting biblical statements.   Like beating your kids.

What paradigm do you prefer???

 

 

 

          And keeping us all together, Mary, Bethany, and Ray.

 

 

The Marriage Cat awaits Jud & Erica, Saturday evening, Georgetown, TX.

 

 

Readings:  (for Palm Sunday)

Entrance procession: Mark 11, 1-10,  Entry with palms

 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,  He emptied himself.

Mark  14 & 15, The Passion

 

 

 

 

Jud with his long time admirer.

 

 

We had no homily nor Creed today because of the length of the service.

 

 

 

Erica with her dad, Don.

 

 

 

 

Jud & Erica composed their own vows and shared them with each other, very nice.

 

 

 

Jud & Erica are originally from Dallas.  They met in Seattle, where they both worked, Erica in nursing.  They now live & work in Honolulu.

Readings: Jeremiah 17, 5-8; Psalm 1; 1 Corinthians 15, 12-20; Luke 6, 17-26.

Jeremiah – Picture this: all the students & faculty are assembled.  You go before them and tell them that they are all lazy, selfish, egotistical, and fat.  Change or you will fail in life. They boo you.  The principal, too, gets up and says the same.  You and the principal love these people.

After school you pass through the parking lot & the kids curse you, trash you, throw rocks at your car, and spit on you.  Same with the principal.  The atmosphere in the school and attitude of the students goes down. 

This is where we find Jeremiah and Yahweh.  They have warned the people and the people have rebelled.  Both Jeremiah and Yahweh are downhearted.  What we read is Yahweh’s response while he is in this depressed mood, in the eyes of the writer.

Corinthians – Paul continues to address the people of Corinth, this time about the resurrection.

Trust No One?

When I first came home from East Africa, I spent the winter at the Jesuit church in downtown Houston until I could get a program in Dallas.  One early evening after visiting my mom here in Dallas, I was returning to Houston.  I had my airline ticket and went to Love Field.  I stood in that Houston line, got to the counter, gave the attendant my ticket, and she says to me, “You are at the wrong airport.” 

Talk about feeling like a fool.  I had an A.A. ticket instead of Southwest.  To compound my feelings, when the girl asked if I would like to buy a ticket, I realized I had about $20 in change, no more.  No credit or debit card yet.  I was just back from Africa.  Plus, now I was alone, because my mom had gone back home.  No cell phone naturally. 

Despite the desire I had to crawl in a hole and disappear, I figured I had to do something dramatic quickly.  So I turned around, faced the long line of afternoon commuters, addressed everyone, and asked if someone could loan me the fare, which was only about $35 those days. 

Guess what happened.  Yes, a lady from Victoria stepped up and loaned me the money.  What would I have done if everyone had just ignored me?   Wow, it scares me to imagine it.  She was very cordial and I sent her the money later from Houston. 

“Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings.”  Remember what I said about Yahweh being depressed and hurt by his people’s behavior.  The writer of Jeremiah is imagining what Yahweh’s response would have been.  The writer might have just been hurt by his best friend. 

Trouble is, the person who trusts not one single person, that person is poverty stricken, truly poor.  You hear occasionally of people whose attitude toward others is that everyone is out to get you.  Pretty pessimistic.  Probably a sentiment resulting from hurts earlier in life.   

Today with our gift of the New Testament, we might modify this.  I would suggest that we arrive at the Kingdom today by trusting in God and by trusting people.  We enter the Kingdom more easily with a community, like we enjoy here. 

If I did not trust people, I would not have asked the crowd for air fare.  If the lady from Victoria did not trust, I would not have received a gift.  As it was, we both arrived in the Kingdom—Houston Hobby.

When was the last time you were blessed by trusting?

Click here to download the homily as an mp3 file.

Readings: 

2 Maccabees 7, 1-2, 9-14, 7 brothers with their mother were arrested.

Psalm 17,  Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full

2 Thessalonians 2, 16-3, 5,  The Lord is faithful.

Luke  20, 27-38, There were 7 brothers.

 

 

2 Maccabees Observatons :

What :  another reading  from one of those unique dozen extra books.  A history of the Maccabee family.   This is the only time in the 3 year cycle
this book is used.  Perhaps it is only
used to support in some way Luke’s gospel about the wife of the 7
brothers. 

Date :  around 200 before Christ.

Subject: In order to
emphasize how God appreciates faithfulness, the author describes in vivid
detail the torture and murder of 7 brothers who refused to eat pork.  I wanted to read the whole story, but it is
too brutal for public reading.  Check it
out for yourselves.  

 

 

 What to Die for

I want to talk this
morning about an event that took place 24 years ago, November 16, 1989.  This Friday is the date.  I was back in the States about 2 years at
this time. 

The event I’m talking
about happened in the early morning of November 16, on a Jesuit university
campus, called Universidad Centroamericana, UCA for short.  This is a Jesuit university just like many others
you know of, U. of San Francisco, St. Louis U. Fordham, Georgetown, Marquette,
and the Loyolas.  This university is in
San Salvador, El Salvador. 

There were 6 Jesuits
home that night, plus a housekeeper and her daughter in a rear apartment.  All was quiet.

Suddenly about 12:00
there was a great commotion at the door of the residence, lots of yelling and
banging.  The, Jesuits, thinking the door
was going to be bashed in,   opened the door and in burst about 40 soldiers
in camouflage and heavily armed. 

Continuing to yell,
the soldiers went room to room, busting down doors, smashing windows, storming
around, and ultimately dragging the 6 Jesuits out into their interior
patio.  Even the housekeep and her daughter
were dragged into the patio.   Can you
imagine the fear?

 

For an hour the
storming around and the noise continued. 
Then, a bit after 1:00, witnesses outside said shots began.  Each of the 6 Jesuits and the two women had
to lie on the ground on their stomachs. 
One by one they were shot in the back of the head and left.

9
years before this, on March 24, 1980, a similar event had happened in the same
country, El Salvador.  Archbishop Oscar Romero was shot by a single
assassin in the middle of his Mass in a chapel at a hospital in San Salvador.

 

The
same year three American nuns and a lay woman volunteer were all killed on
their way to the airport one evening.

I talk about this this
morning because, first, it still moves me and the anniversary is coming this
Friday.   Secondly, I talk about it
in reference to the 7 brothers who died rather than eat pork. 

 

Question:
what would you die for? 

Two
observations.

 

First,
what these Jesuits died for is something really worth dying for.  I can imagine all of us doing this, dying for
people dear to us.  The people dear to the
Jesuits were the poor of El Salvador, especially those abused by the military
dictatorship. 

Secondly,
while the 7 brothers showed heroic courage along with their mother, that they
were going through this because they thought God told them they should not eat
pork is just sad.  The don’t eat pork law
did not come from God, but from Jewish elders and priests. 

At
the time it may have been a health instruction. 
But religious people set this instruction up, not God.   Watch
out.  Religious leaders lay lots of loads
on people and say that God demands this. 
 Remember the prohibition to eat
meat on Friday?  You could go to hell for
this.

I
would propose that we all die, that is, give our life for something or
someone.   Teachers give their lives for
their students.  That is what the Jesuits
did.  Parents give their lives for their
kids.  Coaches, like my friend Frank,
give their lives for their kids. 

 

For
whom or what do you give your life?