Sir Charlie, you are supposed to be welcoming everybody.  Looks like you are scaring everyone away, like me.

 

Readings: 

Isaiah 60, 1-6, Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem. (good one)

Psalm 72, Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.  

Ephesians 3, 2-3, 5-6,  The Gentiles are co-heir, members of the same body.  

Matthew 2, 1-12, The Epiphany or opening to the Gentiles.

 

 

John ready in case I forget.

 

An Epiphany Day

This morning I would like to talk about an Epiphany Day, meaning a special day or a wonder day or event or even a person.  December 28 was an epiphany day for me.  Anybody guess why?  Yes, the date of my back surgery, an event I was totally looking forward to.

 

 

Emma sharing her candle lighting gift with the rest of us.

 

The operation was scheduled for 10:00.  We had to be there at 8:00.  Rosemary & I were there at 7:30.  Somewhere around 8:15 they checked me in and gave me the special operation gown.  I was invited to get on my own special stretcher with 4 wheels. One guy wheeled me around and into a 14 cubicle pre-op room.   Along the way we picked up Rosemary and a good old friend.

 

 

Buddy reading our Blessing of the Christmas Candles.

 

I did not know it at the time, but I was going to spend 4 hours waiting in that room.   My doctor got delayed was all I was told.  Rosemary had to leave.  I got to know the names of the pre-op room staff, Matt and Deborah. 

 

 

Cody, tell Ben that he cannot go to  sleep until I start talking.

 

I teased some of the pre-op patients.  Like one lady was begging to have a coffee.  I welcomed back some from surgery.  I had to ask to use the restroom.  I napped.  All these 4 hours my buddy stayed with me.  He read the newspaper when I dozed.

 

 

To join this exalted team, it is required that you are named John and that your are old enough to forget your age.

 

Finally about 2:00 I was wheeled into the operating room, cold as usual.  An hour or so later I was awake, Rosemary was there, and my good friend was there. 

Looking back, the day was an Epiphany Day and the operation an epiphany event.  You know what was another epiphany event?   My good friend.  He came and stayed about six hours, from the time I was supposed to have the operation, through the delay, and up to and past the operation time.  The pre-op room staff even told the poor guy we looked like brothers.

 

 

Bill and his special mom, Mabel.

 

Know who that special friend is?  Mike Carrell, an Epiphany Event.   Thanks, Mike.

 

 

 

Hi, Tom & Joe & Marsha

 

 

 

 

The Best Teammates

 

 

 

 

Elevation Time

 

 

 

The Healing Touch with John.

 

 

 

Mike, an Epiphany Friend

 

 

 

 

Readings: Nehemiah 3, 2-10; Psalm 19, Your Words, Lord are Spirit and Life; 1 Corinthians 12, 12-30; Luke 1, 1-4, 4, 14-21

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Reading Reflections

Our readings today focus primarily on Readings.  Our first Reading from Nehemiah gives us a complete change from the Old Testament reading we have been hearing from for many weeks, namely the time of Exile.  For Nehemiah is writing from a time after the Exile.  The “Remnant”, as the people who had been scattered were referred to, had come back to Jerusalem.  This writing is part of a greater collection of writing composed of 1 and 2 Chronicles and Ezra, whom we hear about in our selection today.  This is the only Sunday in the three-year cycle of readings when we hear from Nehemiah, makes you wonder what he did wrong!

 

   

The last four books of the Hebrew canon are Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles.  In our first reading today, we will hear about Ezra, so it is worth commenting about both Nehemiah and Ezra as they are both the two men most responsible for the reorganization of Jewish life after the Exile.  There are good reasons for believing that originally the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah formed the last part of a single literary work that began with 1 and 2 Chronicles. Some authors even regard Ezra himself as having been the anonymous Chronicler. c. 400 B.C. as the time of composition of this work.

   

Nehemiah was the man of action who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and introduced necessary administrative reforms. Ezra in turn was the great religious reformer who succeeded in establishing the Torah as the constitution of the returned community.

 

The second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians continues where we left off last week, addressing issues within the community in Corinth.  I have chosen to use the optional shorter version and avoid most of the anatomy lesson.

 

 

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Homily

 

It would seem that the topic for today is “Reading the Scriptures”.  In our first reading we hear of Ezra reading to the people for hours and hours, think how lucky you all are today with these short reading we have!!  In the Gospel, Luke we have the very first verses from Luke’s gospel and then a jump to chapter 4 and a very detailed account of Jesus in his local synagogue in Nazareth.  What strikes me as interesting is the detail, almost like stage directions, which Luke gives us of Jesus getting up to read.

   

And here in Plano today, we too have listened as we do each week to the Scripture being read to us!  There are not too many human activities, which have remained in place for about 2300 years.  So we must ask the question – what is it about the Scriptures, which makes it survive for so long?

 

If we start to look at the Bible, we realize that it is the story of a peoples understanding of their relationship with their God, and how that relationship played out over several hundreds of years.  With a sense of their uniqueness, they try to answer the most fundamental questions about human life, how did it begin, what is our place in the world.  To answer these questions they told stories.  Unfortunately up until quite recently we tended to view the stories as historically accurate, and there are some folks who still view them as accurate!!

   

 

As Catholics we have a very long tradition of NOT reading the bible, it was viewed as too dangerous!  Remember, it was reading and interpreting the Bible was what caused the Reformation.  Today, I know of folk who use the Bible to determine their whole code of relationships. “Wives submit to your husbands” came from a society of about two thousand years ago, and yet, in spite of our more liberated view of humans, there are folk who happily live this way.

In 1943, Pope Pius XII published an encyclical “Divino Afflante Spiritu” on Bible Studies.  This was really the first time that the Church was officially encouraging Catholics to read the Scriptures again.

   

So what about us here today?  Each Sunday, we gather and get short readings and hopefully some background to those reading so that we may understand the context. But you are probably the most educated Catholics ever to sit and listen to the Scriptures.  Remember, when Pius XII was submitting his encyclical, less than 70 years ago, most people could barely read, and had not even completed high school.  So their thinking was done for them by the Church.  Today, we are invited to read and reflect on the Scriptures ourselves.  There is much available by way of help.  Even if we use the online edition of the New American Bible, http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.shtml there are helpful introductions and not too many footnotes. 

   

 

If we accept that the Scriptures are inspired by the Spirit, then careful reading and reflection can help us to deepen our relationship with God and allow us to better our relationships with one another. 

The Vatican II council issued a document on the Scriptures called “The Constitution on Divine Revelation” and urges us to “learn by frequent reading of the divine scriptures the “excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:8) and that prayer should accompany the reading of sacred scripture, so that God and man may talk together; for “we speak to him when we pray; we hear him when we read the divine sayings”. #25.

   

So what is to be our take-away for today?  “Be careful how you read the scriptures” Take the time to understand who wrote it, why it was written, whom it was written for and what was the culture.  Remember, spin-doctors are nothing new.

 

Sources:  New American Bible, http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.shtml

  

 

Picture 1:  Mass begins with Tony

 

Picture 2:  Lilly with her Grand daddy, Buddy

 

Picture 3:  The Donut Shoppe, Ron & Chloe & C.C.

 

Picture 4:  Sacrament of the Sick, Curtis, Barb, & Tony

 

 

 

 

 

Sophia says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."

 

 

Readings:

Jeremiah  20, 7-9,    You duped me, Lord, and I let myself be duped

Psalm 63,   My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Roman s 12, 1-2,  Do not conform yourselves to this age.

Matthew 16, 21-27,  Whoever wishes to come after me, must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  

 

 

 

And Harper, too, says, "Come in, Folks.  Take this chair."

 

Jeremiah observations–

What:  I think Jeremiah is my second favorite O.T. prophet, behind Isaiah, mostly because he makes whining and complaining into an art form.  I need to take lessons from him.  Not that he did not have enough to complain about.   Jeremiah is one of the Big 3 with Isaiah and Ezekiel.  He is called the ‘broken hearted prophet.’  Here is why.

Time:  Jeremiah lived and prophesied in Jerusalem around 600 before Christ.  Why is this important?  It is some 50 years before the Babylonian Captivity.  Jeremiah had a heart rending life predicting punishment of death and destruction for the Hebrews for their sinful, selfish ways.  Jeremiah predicted disaster, and disaster came in the person of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon-Bagdad.

Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke as a visual aid to his message.  He may have been ultimately killed by the Hebrews.

Today:  Jeremiah is in top form.

 

 

 

The Best Music, even though they are slacking off, Wendy & Ben.

 

Deny Yourself, Take up Your Cross, and Follow Me

I want to talk this morning, folks, about the line in Matthew, Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.  I confess right off, I hate this line.  Can you imagine a loving God creating people to deny themselves and take up a life of suffering? 

Matthew’s line can be very tricky.  It can be approached healthily or in a rather sick way.  I can witness to the latter in my own life.  I have already described how as a young Jesuit I was expected to do penance and deny myself in various ways, like the practice of using little whips to scourge our backs and little chains with points to wear around our thighs.  This was supposed to bring me closer to God.

 

 

Two Very Special People, Wendy & Brandon 

 

 

I can laugh at this now, but I am humbled at how easily I can be snookered.  When I read this line and others like it in the Bible and remember my experiences, I now see the presence of an ancient philosophy that still influences a lot of religious activity today.  The philosophy: dualism. 

The idea is simple.  Reality comes in pairs, hot & cold, dark & light, order & chaos, and, in particular for this discussion, body & soul or flesh & spirit.  So far so good. 

 

 

 

Our Candle Lighter of The Week, Sophia (Ben's daughter).

 

The trouble enters with a judgment about the flesh & spirit.  Specifically, flesh is bad, spirit is good, superior.  Consequently, so that my spirit may reach an elevated plane of purity & perfection, and ultimately closer union with God, I attempt to subdue my flesh by disregarding the body's needs, ultimately aiming to live without it.  Do not give in to pleasure.  How about that!

A couple of facts.  Dualism is identified as far back as 1000 years B.C. and came out of Zoroastrianism, a religion that worshiped one god and believed in an afterlife.  Did it come from Egypt as so much did at that time?  No, from Persia, the area we call Iran today.  Zoroastrianism was widespread until Muhammad arrived on the scene around 650 and established Islam.  Through the ages lots of people picked up on dualism, for example, Plato, Augustine, Descartes, and the early Christians, like Matthew.

However, there is a healthy approach to the line.  A story to exemplify the healthy.

 

 

 

 

Welcome back Vivi, Quera, & Mikala, Teresa and Tom's grandkids.

 

 

Way back when I was living at Jesuit and working as a psychotherapist, a single, divorced mother came with her son, Michael, one day and basically said, “help!”  She had a really active boy about 3^rd grade.  He and his neighbor buddy, a black kid, used to race around our neighborhood and the high school on their bikes.  Great kids.

The years passed and I got to know Michael really well.  One afternoon when Michael was in 7^th grade at St. Monica, we were watering trees with the white truck and the old red water trailer.  I don’t remember who was driving us along the medians, but at one point I can remember to this day, he said to me that if he did not make the entrance exam at Jesuit, his life was no good.  

 

 

 

Let me not ask what these 3 are up to.

 

I did not say anything at the moment.  But later I told him that thinking was baloney.  I said Jesuit did not want kids who said their lives were no good.  If he made it, Jesuit would be a better place.  If he did not, another school would be a better place because they had a tremendous gift in their school. 

He did not get in. 

So Michael went to Bishop Dunne.  He played sports, worked hard to make good grades, and kept in contact with a neat guy who was the admissions director at Jesuit.

He got in as a sophomore.  He did excellently.

 

 

 

The Offertory with Louis & Sandra, John & Mary Jane

 

Next Michael wanted to go to A&M and join the corps.  He did not get in.  He does not test well.  So he went to Tech and joined the Air Force ROTC.  After 4 years there he invited me to the ceremony where he was to get his lieutenant bars.  

The ceremony was in a big auditorium.  Michael was the last.  On the stage with him were his mom and his girl friend, Lydia.  At one point in his personal ceremony Michael turns to the whole auditorium, asks their patience for a moment, turns back to Lydia, drops on a knee, and asks her to marry him. 

Talk about blowing the roof off of the auditorium.  Everybody went crazy.  She said yes. 

 

 

 

It does not get better than this, Vivi, Quera, and Mikala.

 

Now, Michael has long finished his flight training, part of which took place right up at the scene of the Hotter N’ Hell, Wichita Falls.  He has been stationed all over the world, like Aviano, Italy, where we got the name of our dog, Aviana, after a visit there.   He has a little boy and a girl, a beautiful wife in Lydia, and a platinum career as a jet pilot.  

Michael has denied himself a lot of quite legitimate pleasures to achieve some healthy goals.  Even now he continues to keep himself in good physical and intellectual shape.  

So, how do you deny yourself and take up a cross? 

 

 

Best buddies, Sophia and Emma.
 

 

Readings:

Wisdom   2, 7-11,  I prayed and prudence was given to me.

Psalm 90,    Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy.

Hebrews  4, 12-13, The word of God is living and effective.

Mark 10, 17-30,  It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom.

 

"Hi, Everybody," says Genevieve, "Welcome to my baptism.  This is my mom, Mary, and my grandmom, Jill."

 

Wisdom:

Date of Composition: 100-200 BCE, which is why it is considered significant.  It provides a glimpse into the cultural & social milieu which prevailed just before & during the time of Christ.   We had Wisdom for our first reading 3 weeks ago.

Place of Composition: Alexandria, Egypt.

The Composer: a Jew who wrote educated Greek.

Unique Quality: Wisdom is one of a set of 12 (or 14) books written in Greek considered not part of the original 39 books of the Hebrew Bible, the O.T.  This blew up around 350 CE when St. Jerome, one of the Fathers of the Early Church, i.e., a church leader who influenced a lot of church dogma, said the books were not genuine.   He was opposed by St. Augustine.  It was the Council of Trent (ca. 1550), that declared the 12 books okay.  Another person doubting the validity of the books was Martin Luther. 

Rich, Ray's dad, and Jill and George, Mary's parents, with The Queen.

 

You probably won’t find these books in the Protestant Bibles.

Our Selection in Chapter 7: the book of Wisdom generally says that good guys get rewarded by God, bad guys don’t.  This selection personifies the virtue of wisdom, using the feminine pronoun she, and praises her as above all other values & pleasures.  I loved her even more than health or beauty, the composer declares.

 Sources: The Good News Bible, Got Bible Questions on line.

 

                         Genevieve's moment has arrived.

 

Mark, an observation

I do not want to talk about the Gospel this morning, but I would like to give you a head's up about one line, It being easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye than for the rich to enter the kingdom.

1.  I've been there and done what it says.   I am left with the belief that we don't have to be so hard on ourselves.  We are talking about infinite demand.  Balance that with infinite acceptance.

2.  Change the perspective.  Instead of the infinite demand focused on saving my soul for eternity, focus on the kingdom being present tense. Peace is the kingdom now.  Do we often push ourselves to achieve a goal in this life?  And with the goal do we experience peace?  I experienced peace in going to East Africa even though it tore my heart out to leave my mom and friends.

 

              "Robert, Ray, where have you seen God most recently?"

 

Don’t Judge that Book by the Cover

I did it again, Folks.  I judged the book by the cover.  In fact, I did not realize I was doing it.  The book, the German People living during the 3^rd Reich and the War.   

This is not saying that I had not met some marvelous Germans when I worked in Tanzania.  In fact, I even visited two German medical sisters in their homes on my various home visits.  One lived in Bonn, the former capital while Germany was divided.  The other lived in Cologne, which we visited this past trip on the Rhine. 

 

               "When I saw this perfect little girl this morning."

 

There was a series of insights into the German people on this journey, but in particular there was one Sunday afternoon in a little town called Speyer.  We had docked overnight, been toured around the town in the morning, and then the afternoon we were free.  Around 6:00 we would depart Speyer. 

Rosemary was pooped, so I told her I would just walk over to the plaza in front of the church and look around.  I had walked around for maybe an hour when I decided to simply sit on a park bench in the shade and watch the people.  It was a beautiful, contemplative afternoon for me.

 

                Today, even the gorilla gets a hug from Kevin.

 

In the park I was struck by the simple family enjoyment, parents with kids and people with dogs.  Europe is very dog friendly.  Rosemary & I saw three elderly ladies seated at an outdoor coffee shop, and the fourth seat, a little white poodle.  The dog was very well trained and polite.

The little town of Speyer was also neat and clean and people had red geraniums in almost every window sill.  I saw this in every German town and city.

 

It takes preparation, bread, wine, readers, and song books, and Jan coordinates is all.

 

On top of this, Germany is just drop dead beautiful, as Ron A. has told me repeatedly.  Green, hilly, forested, and dotted with these lovely towns. 

I have a bad habit of judging the book by the cover.  This is the first time I discovered that I have judged a whole people.  I had been shifting, I admit, because Rosemary has been feeding me these gripping novels about the conscientious German during the Reich. 

 

                                   Ray & Leo, dad & son.

 

 

How to survive if you disagreed with the program, when even a word overheard by a person could get you reported, visited in the night by the S.S., and then sent to a death camp.   There were a number of priests and Jesuits who encountered this.

 

                 Cupcake of the Week to Angela on her birthday.

 

I have come to see how I have been judging this book by its cover, the German people.

What is the book you are judging by its cover?

 

                        Not only does Jan coordinate everything.

 

Readings:

Acts of the Apostles  2, 1-11,  Arrival of the Holy Spirit

Psalm 104,   Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth

1 Corinthians 12, 3-7, 12-13, different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.

 John 20, 19-23,   Peace be with you; receive the Holy Spirit. 

 

 

 

Welcome back home from Arkansas, CC  I really miss you when you are not here.

 

Pentecost

This morning I want to talk about the feast of Pentecost.   I propose that a Pentecost event takes place often in our lives.  It is a light bulb happening.  I see more clearly.  I have more energy.   There are light bulb events and light bulb people.  For example.

I know a lady who graduated from high school some years ago.  She was 18 and decided she would go to college.  She signed up, went to her accounting class, and got a D.  “That decided me,” she told me, “college was not for me.”

So she met her husband, got married, and had three kids.  Much more fun.

 

 

Says Olivia, "Welcome, Everybody."  Olivia, do you realize what a megawatt smile you have?  It brightens my day.

 

Fast forward about 30 years.  Her kids have grown up and they have graduated from college.  One is continuing studies to become a doctor.

It is Christmas.  They are all sitting around the table.  Somebody asks, “Is there anything in your life that you regret not doing?”  Various answers come in. 

My friend says, “I regret not getting my college degree many years ago.”  “Well, why don’t you go and get it?,” everybody says. 

 

 

Emma, you make my day.  Welcome back after a bunch of weeks missing you.

 

So she decides to take the entrance exams at CCCC (Collin County Community College).  See how it goes.  She takes two exams, math and reading.  She barely flunks the math, which is her long term weakness.  Remember the D in accounting. 

The reading exam?  She flat out fails the reading exam, also.  The college admissions office tells her they cannot admit her. 

 

 

Yeah, Ben is back everybody.  What a treat to have you and Sophia back, Ben.
 

 

What a blow!  Is that the end of it?  In fact, no!  She decides to appeal to take the reading test again. 

End of story, end of college career?  Nope, she aces the reading exam and is allowed to enter the college. 

 

 

What a scene.  The Girls' play station with Harper, Tori, and Zoe, with Olivia watching over the whole scene.

 

She proceeds to pass two years at CCCC during which time she takes a, you guessed it, an accounting course.  Fortunately, she has a husband who understands these arcane concepts.  Like, he says, “ You see this dollar?  That is an asset.”  And so on.  With his help she gets even a good grade in the class. 

After the two years at CCCC, it is time for another big step.  By the way, all during this time she is working full time.

 

 

Offertory with Carol Ann & Doug, Caroline & David.
 

 

The next big step is Texas A & M at Commerce.  Do you realize how far it is to Commerce.  Also during this time she is not taking a light load, like 9 hours.  Oh, no, once she even takes 18 hours.  This is a monster load for a full time student. 

After two years of A & M she is finally ready to graduate.  She even wins an award, not a cum laude, not even a magna cum laude, but a summa cum laude.  With the Highest Honor.  Latin.

 

 

My little buddy Seth is helping me to celebrate the wedding of his mom & dad, Monique and Zack, last Friday evening at The Rectory.
 

 

Karen Anderlick, thanks for being my inspiration and our Pentecost Person.

Who is your Pentecost Person?

 

 

 

Karen Anderlick, Summa cum Laude.

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