Sunday Homily, October 22, 2017, 29th Ordinary Time
Says Our Dearest Emma, "Welcome in, Everybody."
Readings:
Isaiah 45, 1, 4-6, I am the Lord, there is no other.
Psalm 96, Give the Lord glory & honor.
Thessalonians 1, 1-5, We give thanks to God for all of you
Alleluia, Shine like lights in the world (Great line)
uMatthew 22, 15-21, Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?
Welcome in Denni, Charlotte, and Chloe, and Tom & Nora. So good to see you all.
Isaiah observations :
Who : Can you guess which Isaiah this is in chapter 45? 1, 2, or 3? A little more difficult than the last two Sundays. This is Isaiah 2, going from chapter 40 to 55.
Today’s selection: this is not Isaiah 2 at his best. I like the line, I have called you by your name. Otherwise, the passage is mildly comforting to the people who are living in Babylonian slavery, around 555 before Christ.
Welcome in to you, too, Dearest Zoe. Just you wait. We got something for you. I have not forgotten. Get ready,
Cyrus: So, who is Cyrus?
Cyrus the Great of Persia, modern Iran, built the first great empire, which extended as far as Athens in Greece. He was a benevolent emperor of his people and the people he conquered, for instance, the Israelites.
Isaiah 2 is championing Cyrus because he hears of Cyrus coming and hopes Cyrus will defeat the Babylonians and set the Israelites free to return to Jerusalem. This is exactly what Cyrus does. Where is Babylon? Try 50 miles south of Baghdad on the Euphrates River. What is left? Rubble.
Note: Watch out for the alleluia verse. A good one & I want to talk about it.
Hi, Diane, and welcome back. Want to learn how to dance? Diane is one of the best.
Shine like Lights in the World
This morning I would like to talk about the Alleluia verse, Shine like lights in the world. The final questions are obvious, Who is a light for me, and For whom am I a light in the world.
I have lots of people who answer the first question. You people, for instance. What I would like to talk about, however, is two ladies, two black ladies, one of whom has died some years ago.
Our Candle Lighter of the Week in action.
First, ever hear of Juanita Craft? In the ‘60’s & 70’s Juanita was the Dallas leader of the NAACP and a prominent activist. She lived in South Dallas west of Fair Park.
I was a Jesuit intern from ’65 to’68 at the high school. The summer of probably ’67 I was looking at doing something different. I talked with Juanita. The next thing I know I am the only white guy on a Greyhound bus full of NAACP young people and their chaperons. We were going to D.C. and then to the NAACP national convention in Atlantic City. Remember this was another tense interracial time. Sound familiar. Martin Luther King was assassinated in May, 1968. This was ’67.
The Best, Shonda, Ben, & David.
I learned two things from Juanita. First, she was tireless in advocating for her people. She used the media to help and she eventually was elected to the Dallas City Council. Believe it or not, she was one of the inspirations for me gathering crowds for those years of planting trees. Juanita was long dead by then and I had spent 10 years in East Africa. It was like I would ask myself, ‘What would Juanita do with this dream?’
Secondly, a small thing. Every time we got off that bus, Juanita would tell everybody to clean up every scrap of trash. I was a bus driver for Jesuit, mostly sports teams. I never thought of telling the kids to clean it up. After the example of that old lady, I did.
To round out that summer I even spent the rest of it living in her little house in South Dallas and being active in the NAACP.
The Balloon Girls at work, Zoe & Tori.
The second black lady is named Sondra. I see her once or twice a week when I go to our corner supermarket to buy bananas & milk & occasionally flowers. She is the early morning cashier, is probably mid-‘60’s and should be retired, She is very friendly and knows my name, Mr. John, and, get this, gets up ca. 2 A.M. to catch two or three buses from South Dallas to open up the store at 6:00.
These two women shine like lights in my world.
Who are the lights in your world?
For whom are you a light?
Offertory ready with Carrie & Paul, Aggie & Allen.