Sunday Homily, November 27, 2016, 1st Advent, A

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?

 

 

 

 

Readings: Revelation 7, 2-14; Psalm 24, Lord, this is The People that longs to see Your Face; 1 John 3, 1-3; Matthew 5, 1-12

All Saints: intro & a brief history

  

Intro: 3 feasts—

      

All Saints: (or All Hallowes) those who have achieved the beatific vision according to Catholic Church, based on miracles.

   All Souls: those who have not achieved the beatific vision and are considered paying for their sins in purgatory.

   Hallowe’en: the vigil of All Hallowes, a Celtic-Irish harvest, end of summer celebration. 

 

 

  

History in 2 parts: the Western Catholic Church & the Eastern Catholic Church

    

The West: 4 significant dates, 300, 600, 700, & 800

   

Year 300: during this century the early Christians, reeling from persecution, celebrated feast of All Martyrs.  This is really the foundation of the feast.

 

Year 600: a Pope Boniface dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to Mary & All Martyrs.  May 13 was the celebration because it was also an ancient pagan day of celebration.

 

Year 700:  a Pope Gregory set up in St. Peter’s Basilica a side chapel dedicated to All Saints.

  

Year 800: Dec. 25, Charlemagne is crowned Emperor by Pope on the red stone in St. Peter’s.  Charlemagne, an advocate of All Saints, established it on Nov. 1, coupling it with a Harvest Feast.

 

 

The East:

  

Year 900, the Byzantine Emperor Leo the Wise had a beloved, devout wife, Theophano.  She died & Leo built a church which he intended to dedicate to her.  The religious authorities said no, so he dedicated it to All Saints, assuming his wife to be among the saints.

   

Note:  later, three big events happen:

  a.  Crusade #4, on its way to fight the Muslims in the Holy Land, captures and wrecks Constantinople, ca. 1200.  J.P. II apologizes for this in 2004. 

  b.  Ottoman Turks or Muslims capture Constantinople, 1450 and rename it Istanbul.  It is Muslim to today.

  c.  Post 1540, Rome condemns Easter Catholic church as schismatic over theological disputes, i.e., the nature of Jesus.

 

Sources: Wikipedia, Practicing Catholic by James Carroll, Catholic Encyclopedia on line.

 

Special Poems for All Saints:

SMILE BECAUSE THEY LIVED (Jackie McGrath)

You can shed tears because he is gone

Or you can smile because he lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that he will come back,

Or you can open your eyes and see all that he has left.

Your heart can be empty, because you can’t see him

Or you can be full of the love that you have shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow

And live in yesterday,

Or you can be happy for tomorrow

Because of yesterday.

You can remember only that he has gone

Or you can cherish his memory and let it live on.

You can weep, and close your mind,

Be empty and turn back,

Or you can do what he would want –

Open your eyes, smile, love and go on.

DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL (Geri to read)

Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other
That we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes
We enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me,
Let my name be ever the household word that
It always was.

Let it be spoken without effort,
Without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of mind because I am
Out of sight? I am but waiting for you
For an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner .
All is well.

Today's Saint

Know any saints around here?  I told the story of Mother Teresa recently and propose that she is a saint.  Trouble is, I look at her and think her example is quite a bit out of my reach.  I have a story that may be more in reach.

This guy is 44 years old.  His name is Adam.  A year ago he was 70 pounds overweight.  He took medication for blood pressure, he took cholesterol meds, he even had to use a breathing machine to sleep sometimes.  He had tried to lose the weight a million times, he says, but never really put his whole spirit into the project. 

This is one aspect of being poor in spirit.  This is what it means to take up thy cross and follow The Man. 

His dad who died some years ago of heart disease had told him that if you believe in your project you can sell anything.  The guy says he did not believe in his product any more, the product being himself.  Even though he had a marvelous wife, Trayce, and two young kids, he could not move.

Then one day Adam had one of those moments.  He is a doctor and caught himself telling one of his patients that they should more carefully monitor their weight.  The patient responded, "You know, doctor, I'm not the only one who needs to lose weight."  In one way a body slam, in another a wake up call.  A beatific vision?

For Adam it was a wake up.  He realized suddenly that he had to turn his life around for his patients, for Trayce, for their kids, and for The Product, himself. 

He joined Weight Watchers.  He started walking 30 minutes a day.  Ounce by ounce the 70 pounds began to come off.  He joined a running class and found an Adam he had never known.  He even began to rise at 4:00 A.M. to join an early morning running group.

One evening while he was on line he came across information about The Marathon.  The one going on right this minute.  It said that if you collected money for a charity you could register for the marathon, 26 miles.  At that moment he decided he could collect the money and that he would run the marathon.  He was so pumped he ran in to tell Trayce. 

At this moment, this man, Dr. Adam Kaplan, has lost his 70 pounds, has renewed belief in The Product, and is with our own beloved Tom Fleming.  They are running the New York Marathon, all 26 miles. 

I found this Adam Kaplan story in The Dallas Morning News, Tuesday. 

Why is Dr. Kaplan for me a member of the All Saints Team?  And all of you?  Take a guess, take two guesses.

Source: The Dallas Morning News, Tuesday, Oct. 27, p. 12E, Healthy Living section

Picture 1:  All Saints Celebration with Wendy & Ben

Picture 2:  Chloe dancing to the music

Picture 3:  Birthday Man, Rob

Picture 4:  Our Father

Picture 5:  Birthday Man, John hugged by Sabrina, his daughter

Picture 6:  The Community

 

Readings: Acts 7, 55-60; Psalm 97; Revelation 22, 12-20; John 17, 20-26.

"That They May All be One

Last Wednesday I took the Dart train downtown.  I got on the 12:44 at Forest Lane and exited 22 minutes later at Akard & Pacific.  I love to ride this train.  I sit in the first seat of the first car so I can watch the road ahead through the conductor’s cubicle.  On this Wednesday I was going to have lunch at Miguel’s Cantina and spend an hour talking Spanish with a good friend of mine.

After lunch and a great hour of Spanish conversation I caught 2:14 north bound, Parker Road train for Forest Lane & home.  We passed through the underground station of City Place and then arrived at Lover’s Lane.  At this station I watch the conductor come out of his cubicle and lock the door.  I am thinking, Is he taking a coffee break?

What he does, however, is go to the exit door, flip down a metal ramp, and extend part of it out of the train onto the raised platform.  Immediately in comes a young girl in a well used electric wheel chair.  She wheels over to the space right in front of me, spins diagonally, and parks. The conductor picks up the metal plank, unlocks the cubicle, settles himself inside, and off we fly.

The ambience in that train car does a 180 degree turn from casual indiference to awe struck reverence.  The girl was about 15, cute with an auburn pony tail, nice features with light freckles, and a trim upper body with a purple T shirt.  She was talking on the phone.  I never determined what the trouble was with her legs, or if she had any.  All I know is that she had the confidence in manuvering that wheel chair that came only from a lot of practice.

At Walnut Hill the conductor emerged from his cubicle again, did the arrangement with the door, and the girl wheeled out, saying a sweet, "Thank you," as she passed the conductor.  When the conductor came back in, the man across the aisle from me said to him, "Makes you grateful for what you got."  The conductor agreed. 

That young girl did two things in that Dart car just by getting on in her grateful and courageous way.  We were all more grateful for what we have.  Secondly, for a while we were one.  There was a felt difference in each of us, black, white, brown, young, and old. 

Jesus says he wants "That they may all be one."  Wow, do we blow this one!

Nevertheless, despite the past, today we are again called to help others: 1. appreciate, and 2. unite.  Granted, to enable others, I got to be in myself appreciative and united.  A subject for future homilies. 

This young, pony tailed girl touched us all just by her simple presence. 

How do you touch others into appreciation and unity?

Download the homily as an mp3 file.

Readings:  Jonah 3, 1-10, Forty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed; Psalm 25, Teach me your ways, O Lord; 1 Corinthians 7, 29-31, The time is running out; Mark 1, 14-20, I will make you fishers of people.

Jonah: This little book of 4 chapters is a gem and tells a delightful short story.   It is so good I would like to read it all, but will read chapter 1 and all of chapter 3. 

Background: Jonah has been asked by Yahweh to go to Nineveh in Assyria to tell the people & leaders that they are evil and will be punished shortly by Yahweh.  Trouble is, Nineveh is the enemy, like me going to Houston or Philadelphia. 

So he runs away, catches a boat headed for Spain, is blamed by the sailors for causing a big storm on the sea, and is dumped overboard.  The whale swallows him and for three days Jonah is constrained to reflect on what he is doing.  When, after 3 days, the whale dumps him on shore, Jonah is more willing to listen.  We arrive at this point and I will have all of chapter 3 read.

Author: For centuries, while people took this story as factual, Jonah was considered author of his own story.  Once it was seen as a fable or allegory, the story probably has some unknown ancient as the author.

Date of composition: no one really knows, but educated guesses put it ca. 800 BCE.

Note: the story of Jonah and the story of Jesus' interaction with his future apostles are both about The Call. 

 

A Call Story

    Because the Jonah story and the story about Jesus relating to his future apostles all talk about The Call, I have a short contemporary story.

    The girl’s name is Susan.  Blond hair, green eyes, vivacious, a cheer leader at Skyline and at S.M.U.  In fact, she was the head cheerleader at S.M.U.  She was fun to be around and full of zest for life.  

    While Susan presented herself so positively at school, At this point in her life three horrible events had taken place.   

    First, the summer Susan was 10 she and her mother were at the lake on the 4^th of July.  They were on the boat dock when a man came up and whispered in her mother’s ear that their 18 year old son had just committed suicide back at their home.  Susan watched as her mother was carried off the pier.   

    The suicide drove her parents to drink and eventually divorce.  Susan was left to care take the house and her drunk mother while she finished grade school and high school.  This was the second horrible event. 

    When Susan graduated with honors from high school, no one was there to clap for her or support her.  She went home, raged at her mother, and told her she wished she were dead.   The next morning Susan found her mother dead.  Her mother was 49 when she drank herself to death.  This was the third tragedy.  She was just entering S.M.U.

    Some years later one more tragedy struck her.  Her older sister Kathy, upon whom she depended, died of cancer at the same age as their mom, 49, on the same holiday as her mom, Memorial Day. 

    This final event did it.  Despite having kids and a career as a special ed coordinator, Susan entered the world of drug addiction.  Within about a year CPS had taken her kids away and Susan went to prison.  

    In about a year Susan came out of the belly of the prison and two things happened.  First, she heard The Call.  Secondly, and interconnected with The Call she watched two parents react to the tragic death of their child.  The parents inspired her and she answered The Call to come back to life.  Today Susan gives talks about her life to strengthen others.

  

    If you are like me, you think that The Call is to do something usually significant.  Maybe it is, but it can be simply an invitation to come back to life or to be more fully alive.  

    Today the Mass is all about Call.  What is yours today?

  

Resource, Dallas Morning News, 1-21-12, Kristie Smith, Viewpoints section, Educator Fell far but found God.

Picture 1:    Offertory, Mary Ellen & Grace

Picture 2:    Brooklyn with Joanie & Erin

Picture 3:    Ray & Claire celebrating 41 years

Picture 4:    Tom, Bill, & Ron

Picture 5:    Someone has come to visit, no fear!

Picture 6:    It's Sienna!

Readings:

1 Kings  17, 17-24,  The life breath returned to the body of the child.

Psalm 30,  I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Galatians 1, 11-19,  The gospel preached by me is not of human origin.

Luke 9, 11-17,  Young man, I tell you, arise.

 

 Observations on the readings: 

 

1 Kings 17:17-24

The young man’s mother recognizes that the word of the Lord
truly comes from Elijah’s mouth.  He
breaths forth life into her son in this parable.

Second reading: Galatians 1:11-19

Our Gospel is the proclamation of good news, where good news, is a noun. Paul is preaching good news that came to him
through a revelation of Jesus Christ, where preaching
good news is a verb.  The Gospel
hadn’t been written, yet.

Gospel:  Luke 7:11-17

 

Paul uses the word ‘flesh’ at least 100 times in his
letters, once in our short reading from Galatians. 

 I want
you to understand a verse from John’s gospel. 
‘What is born of flesh is flesh; what is born of Spirit is spirit.  To be born only of flesh means that when a
decision needs to be made that person relies only on his mind…and the mind
seeks to have the flesh satisfied. 

 

Everything
God created is good; the flesh is good. For example; if you work hard all
morning your stomach lets your mind know that your body wants some food.  So, if you are home, you use your mind and go
to the refrigerator to find something to eat. 
Your mind will seek to satisfy the flesh when you open that door.  Anything is fair game. 

 

But, what is born of Spirit is spirit, where
the Spirit has a [capital S].  The Spirit
enhances the flesh!  Instead of a desire
to satisfy your flesh your desire is to put your spouse first, even if he or
she is not there. What is born of Spirit is spirit. 

 

 

A great way to hone in on Spirit-living
begins with, ‘in everything give thanks.’ 
If you go to the refrigerator only to find it empty, give thanks. Your
desire to satisfy just the flesh will begin to fade away.  Pick up the list of things on the counter
that you and your spouse make to replenish the empty refrigerator.  Give thanks when the parking place is further
away from the store than you had hoped. The exercise will be good. 

 

Someone left a cart in a good parking place.
Give thanks that someone will find it a good place as soon as you push it
toward the store doors. 

Number 2. Affirm
your spouse for the great things that he or she put on the grocery list.   Affirm the stocker who has just filled up
the shelf, ‘looks great.’ 

 

3, Be a good
listener at home, and enjoy looking into your spouse’s eyes and touching his or
her shoulder or hand. 

Last of all always
forgive your spouse; it is in giving that you receive.  Remember, forgiveness is the message of the
good news of Jesus Christ.  Recall for a
moment our communal services in Lent and Advent.  You listen, you look into each other’s eyes,
you ask to be forgiven, you forgive others; you embrace; you affirm; you give
thanks. 

 

In today’s gospel, a young man
is seeking forgiveness. The assembly ritually carries him.  He’s not heavy; he’s their brother. The
assembly mourns along with his mother for all of times that they have not shown
love.  They are professing their faith with
him.

 

In this parable Jesus is there to grant forgiveness to this young
man.  He will rise to be set free, unbound from whatever had enslaved him.  In faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit
we can say those words to someone; and we have during Lent and Advent.             

Is there someone you know who needs
to be forgiven.   Give thanks that you
have the time to heal yourself and them this week. 

 

 

 

Readings:  2 Special Readings plus Psalm 145 (from Aug. 3) &  John 15, 9.  The readings:

                 Download remembrance_readings_1102.doc

Celebrating All Souls

I want to dedicate our Mass & homily this morning to two little twin girls, Samantha & Zoe.They were  born Tuesday in Plano Presbyterian to Michelle & Randolf Brown.  Michelle is the daughter of Bernadette & Gilberto Delgado.  Michelle was with us last Sunday or at most two Sundays ago.  Zoe was born healthy & happy.  Samantha died at birth.

I visited Zoe & Samantha Tuesday evening.  I baptized, blessed, & prayed for Samantha who was being held by her dad while Zoe nursed.  Both little girls were beautiful and I had a hard time registering that Samantha had moved on already to the next world.  She is one of our most recent souls whom we honor today, All Souls Day. 

Let me give you a bit of history and the thinking behind this All Souls' Day.  Five observations: the theology, purgatory-limbo, a legend, pre-Christian practices, and today.

 

1.  The Theology.  All Souls' Day is part of a package with All Saints.  The idea is: on All Saints' Day we honor all those who are enjoying the beatific vision, that is, heaven, the saints.  On All Souls' Day we honor those who have died but have not reached heaven because they have penance to do. 

We are talking mortal & venial sin here.  If the person died with mortal sin, they are you know where. Those with venial sins have to go through purification and purging, which brings us to All Souls' Day and purgatory.

2.  Purgatory & Limbo.  People ended up in purgatory to purify themselves with suffering, before being allowed into heaven.  Limbo was for whom?  It was for people, especially children, who died without being baptized.  They remained there how long?  Forever.  Can you imagine Samantha there or even in the old purgatory?

At least the Catholic Church this year or last acknowledged that the limbo idea was bogus.  Rome has said it does not exist and never did.  Though many consider purgatory to be in the same class, it still exists in the minds of some.    Indulgences are for the souls in purgatory or the living.  It speeds up the process for those in purgatory.  There are partial & total indulgences.  We can win them for these souls and get them out or we can win them for ourselves. 

For instance, on the last feast of Peter & Paul Rome offered an indulgence if you visited a church named after one or both of these two, and you recited a prescribed menu of prayers.  All Souls' Day used to be aimed at winning lots of indulgences for the souls in purgatory.

3.  The legend.   It happened around 1000 A.D. that a monk, St. Idolo, from the French monastery of Cluny was shipwrecked on a desolate island as he returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, i.e., Israel.  On the island he met a poor hermit.  The hermit told him that among the rocks was a crevice from which came the anguished voices of the many suffering in purgatory.  Likewise, listening carefully you could hear the devils cursing that living people were speeding up the sufferings of these souls by praying and doing penance for them. 

Some time after this, i.e., 1000 A.D., the Cluny Monastery established an All Souls' Day.  Ca. 1300 Rome followed suit.  

4.  Pre-Christian times.  There is evidence that at least in Mexico numerous tribes had a day or period when the departed ancestors were honored.  The purpose was to honor them, remember their example, and to communicate with them.  In Europe food & drink was put out over night.  Today in Mexico & in Hispanic families here in the States the Day of the Dead is still celebrated.  This custom has been celebrated for 3,000 years.

5.  Today.  Limbo has been discarded by Rome and many scholars consider purgatory a dinosaur idea from antiquity.  All these ideas are man made, not God made.  Consequently, today All Souls' Day celebrates Samantha, my mom & dad, Rosemary's mom & dad, and all our loved ones pictured on the stage.  All Saints' Day still focuses on the canonized.  

Who among these people has touched your heart the most? 

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-11-02.mp3

Picture 1: All Souls' Mass & Sabrina

Picture 2: All Souls' Mass & Choir

Picture 3: Hunter & Audry