Sunday Homily, October 29, 2017, 30th Ordinary Time

Readings: Jeremiah 1, 4-19; Psalm 71; 1 Corinthians 12, 31 -13, 1-13; Luke 4, 21-30

Jeremiah – The Prophet Jeremiah lived before and during the great Babylonian captivity.  He loved the people, but warned them that they faced catastrophe for their unfaithful ways.

Today’s selection has Jeremiah talking at the beginning of his call by Yahweh to speak to the people.

1 Corinthians, 13 – Here it is: Paul’s famous treatise on what love is.

Love is Patient, Love is Kind

Last night I had the privilege to be part of one of those magic weddings.  There are magic and super magic weddings.  This was super magic. 

A while back I performed a wedding out of Dallas.  Because the couple was not too clerical and I had the opportunity to stay for the reception, which I can seldom do here in Dallas, I wore a black shirt with a silver tie.  Not a clerical shirt.

When I went into the sacristy before the wedding the woman who took care of arrangements was waiting for the priest.  When she saw me in a tie, it was like, “You are the priest!”

For the rest of the time I was in that church her approach to me was disdainful, like I was repellent.  I was getting judged for not having a collar on, like a good priest is supposed to have on.  I was not a terrorist, I was a fellow Catholic, a priest at that time in good standing.  I just did not have that little plastic tab on.  Love is patient. 

How sad we can be, even when we are in the midst of helping to perform a marvelous event like a wedding.  The wedding was magic, but I have felt sad for the woman.  Love is kind. 

She & I are called to the same kind of love in two ways.  We are called to be patient & kind with everyone we meet, even if the person is not a Catholic, or a Plano resident, or a criminal

We are also challenged to be patient and kind with ourselves when we fail.  This may even be harder to do sometimes than being patient and kind with someone else.

Last night’s wedding was blessed from beginning to end.  No one seemed critical of the ceremony or what we did.  Why can’t all of our life be similar?

With whom do you struggle to be patient & kind?  How patient and kind are you when you fail?

Download the mp3 of the homily here.

Readings: Acts 13, 14, 43-52; Psalm 100, We are His People, The Sheep of His Flock; Revelation 7, 9, 14-17; John 10, 27-30

Acts:  a brief resume of what Tony has already explained, using the structure of who, what, when, and today's reading.

Who wrote: Luke, who wrote the Gospel.  He was a Greek speaking Gentile convert to Judaism.  He writes for Gentile Christians.  Writes about Paul, but did not know him nor his letters.

When: Big question.  Before or after 2 momentous events–

70 C.E: the Jews rebel against Rome.  Rome smashes them and destroys the most precious temple.  End of priests, beginning of rabbis.

88 C.E.: the Jewish Christians who have been worshiping in the temple or synagogue for decades split off. 

What about: story of spread of Christianity after Christ's death.  History or not?  Big question.  Idealized history?

Today: Paul & Barnabas scolding the Jews and affirming the Gentiles.  Is Acts pro Gentile?  

Revelation: a strange book

Some of my old Jesuit confreres were convinced the author(s) of this book was on halucinagens, undergoing an LSD trip.  What do you think?

The Good Shepherd

Want to know what a good shepherd looks like?

There is a couple.  They are celebrating 25 years of marriage.  They met in college in Pennsylvania.  Good kids.  The girl, Donna had spent a summer overseas doing service work in Calcutta. 

Know who else started out in Calcutta?  Mother Teresa.

The guy, John had also been doing summer mission work with the Glenmary Home Missionaries. 

So they got married and planned to have a family.  They tried and waited.  The news: they could not have kids.  So, one thing led to another and they adopted.

They adopted Rosa, a baby from an orphanage in Mexico. 

Then they adopted Natalie, a baby from Guatemala.

Then David, a baby from a local foster care family.

Then they adopted a 12 year old.  Maria Elena came from the same Mexican orphanage as Rosa. 

They had been living in a house in Philadelphia.  They moved to a church basement.  Then to an empty convent. 

All the while they continued adopting kids.  Just could not say no.  Donna was home schooling the kids.  John was working as an independent contractor—until they reached 11 kids.  Then he quit his job.  He was needed too much at home.

With the number of adoptions rising they found a 7 acre farm in south east Pennsylvania.  Here they could attempt more self-sufficiency.  They also were granted status as a foundation and took the name of St. Joseph House.

Today on the farm they have somewhere between 17 and 20 kids under their roof. 

How have they managed over these 25 years and 20 kids?  With the help of Catholic communities like ours right here. 

What kind of good shepherd are you?  Are we?

I found the story of John & Donna Kurtz in the March edition of The Anthony Messenger.   There is a picture of the whole bunch on the cover. http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Mar2010/Feature1.asp

Deuteronomy 30:  Moses said to the people: "If only you would heed the voice of the LORD, your God, and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this book of the law, … "            

Colossians 1:  Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Luke 10:Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?" He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy."  Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Mary Jane reading from Deuteronomy
 

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben & Shonda

John gets a cookie for his birthday

Outreach: $   50.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Connie gets a cookie to make her ear surgery sweeter

Rosemary's Blessing:

Lord Jesus Christ,

who are called the Prince of Peace,

who are yourself our peace and reconciliation,

who so often said, “Peace to you,”

grant us peace.

Make all men and women witnesses of

truth, justice, and brotherly love.

Banish from their hearts whatever might endanger peace.

Enlighten our rulers that they may guarantee

and defend the great gift of peace.

May all peoples of the earth become as brothers and sisters.

May longed-for peace blossom forth

and reign always over us all.

Amen.

Prayer for Peace– by St. John XXIII

Readings:

Nehemiah 8, 2-10,  Go, eat rich foods and drink sweet drinks.

Psalm 19,  Your words, Lord, are spirit and life.

1 Corinthians 12, 4-11, Now, the body is not a single part, but many.

John 2, 1-11, He has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor and liberty to captives.

Ready to begin.

 For those who don’t have a decent Bible or a book of the readings, here are two links that I use, The Bible at Your Fingertips (http://st-luke-church.org/bible-at-finger-tips.php) and USCCB, The New American Bible (http://www.usccb.org/).  

The difference?  The first is Protestant more or less, and the second is officially Catholic and has the 12 little books in between the O.T. & N.T., called Deuterocanonical or Apocrypha. 

Both are good translations.  

Cupcakes of The Week, Mike, John, Sir Charlie, Rick, and Michelle and Torri standing in for Randolph.

Nehemiah

 The book of Nehemiah takes place at the end of the Babylonian captivity.  Three main characters play roles, though the first two are not mentioned in today’s reading.  Cyrus is the benevolent ruler who defeated the Babylonians.  Then he gives the Jews permission to return to their homeland and Jerusalem.

 Nehemiah is the Jew Cyrus puts in charge of restoring the city of Jerusalem and the temple.  It was Cyrus who appointed Nehemiah the governor of the new Jerusalem.  Nehemiah was not a prophet, but a governor. 

 Ezra, the central character of today’s reading, is a priest & law scholar. 

We arrive on the scene after Nehemiah has established Jerusalem.  The people have assembled in the town center and asked Ezra to read to them the law that orders their new lives.  We hear part of the reading, a part that emphasizes rejoicing.

 This the only time in the 3 year church cycle of readings that we have a selection from Nehemiah.  Did he do something wrong? 

Meredith

1 Corinthinians 12

 During the time of Paul, the Greek city of Corinth was almost as significant as Athens.  Paul had established a community there and in his letter he is offering his advice to the people. 

 Chapter 13 is Paul’s famous letter about love being kind & patient.  Chapter 12, our reading today, offers an almost amusing analogy of the community to a body.  We are parts of the body and consequently we are important, making our unique contributions.  

 Sources: Good News Bible

Kate Banzhaf, age 26

Life isn’t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain

Rose Banzhaf and the family put a note on Kate’s bulletin that says, “Life isn’t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain.”  I would like to talk about this in relation to events I saw at Kate’s funeral.   While the events were tragic and tearful, on at least five occasions I saw dancing in the rain.  These are the occasions.

Emil talking about Kate.

At the viewing on the Wednesday afternoon before the Thursday funeral, I was standing at the door of the funeral home, opening the door, and welcoming the people arriving.

At one point, I see Emil and his two oldest children, two boys about 6 and 4.  He also has a little girl and another son on the way in March.  Emil was leading his boys up the aisle to visit Kate.  I followed them up, put my hand on Emil’s back, and heard something like the following.

Emil invites Kate's 3rd grade class to sit around Kate.

“My sons, we have here the body of Kate.  Her spirit is not here because it is with God in his house.  Kate is happy in God’s house.  Without doubt she misses the opportunity to play with you two.  She is also delighted that someday your spirits and all those of the family will be with her.  She says you may touch her, if you would like.  Her body is cool, because her spirit is now at God’s house.  Thanks for coming to visit me.  I love you.”  A jewel of an event.

The kids were beautiful.

All of us can fear death, even from our childhood.  Emil was normalizing death for his sons and letting them know they don’t have to fear it.

Also at the viewing, I witnessed George not only sharing his own tears, but consoling his older son, Simon, who was grieving intensely for his aunt Kate.  Instead of telling Simon to shut up and be a man, George encouraged Simon and embraced him.  Another jewel of an event.

George saying he will dance if they will smile at him. They did and he did. Emil holds Charlotte, his youngest of 3 for the moment.

The next day at the funeral all four of the Banzhaf siblings spoke together.  Pete shared beautifully at the start when Emil could not begin because of his tears.

When Emil began he invited all the 3^rd grade kids in Kate’s class to come up and sit on the floor around Kate.  Then he read the St. Francis Prayer that starts out, “Make me a channel of your peace.”  Another jewel of an event.  Will those kids not remember that moment forever!

George holds Simon.

Then George talked and picked up on a habit Kate had of dancing for her kids when a kid had a good answer or did something that delighted her.  Even the kids were invited to dance occasionally.  Guess what George did through his tears.  Yep, you guessed it.

In honor of Kate's memory of dancing for her kids, Kim invites the whole crowd to stand and dance for 30 seconds. Emil is caught in the act.

He invited all the teachers from Kate’s school to stand up.  About 30 were there.  The kids were still sitting around Kate.  George says to them, if you smile at me, I’ll dance for you.  They did and he did.  Another jewel.

Pete with Emil, the oldest and youngest sons.

Then, to top it off, Kim.  After a delightful sharing of her feelings and life with Kate, her twin sister, guess what.   Yep, Kim says, “In honor of Kate, who was really not a great dancer but had great passion in her dancing, Everybody stand up and let’s dance for 30 seconds.”  And they did. 

How do you dance in the rain?

Rose and Wally with Charlotte.

Readings: 

Isaiah 11, 1-10, The wolf shall be a guest of the lamb.  A beautiful dream of peace by someone who lived centuries ago and dreamed.

Psalm 72,  Justice shall flourish in his time and fullness of peace forever.

Romans 15, 4-9,  Welcome one another.

Matthew  3, 1-12, I am baptizing you with water.

Apologies, Everyone. Because of the dangerously icy roads and sidewalks, we canceled our Sunday Celebration. 

Rita Dore's house on Brentwood in Plano.

Next Sunday, December 15:

1.    Bring items from this Sunday for Samaritan Inn, e.g., toilet paper and paper products. and many more listed on our Advent handout.

2.    Bring items for the Dallas Rape Crisis Center, e.g., womens' needs and office supplies, and more listed on the Advent handout.

3.    We will celebrate our Advent Penitential Rite after the Our Father.

4.    We will celebrate our 9th Anniversary & Christmas Brunch.

That is ice on the ground, not just snow.

Readings:

Genesis  18,  20-32,  The story of Sodom & Gomorrah.

Psalm 138,  Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

Colossians 2, 12-14,     He has forgiven us all our transgressions.

Luke 11, 1-13,  Ask and you will receive.

 

Kevin, John, and Buddy

Book of Genesis, Ch 18 

— Probably written during the Babylonian captivity (6^th century BCE) to help solidify Jewish people in their identity as the people of God. 

Letter of Paul to church in Colossae: Ch 2 

— Colossae was a small community in Asia Minor, east of Ephesus.  This letter is written during Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome. 

Gospel of Luke: Ch 11

It’s in the letter to the Colossians that we learn Luke was a physician, the only mention of that fact.  Luke was probably Greek and the only non-Jewish writer in the New Testament, and accounts for almost a third of the New Testament (with Gospel and then Acts). This Gospel probably written between 80-100 AD, 3 or more generations after Jesus.  It was still being edited after 100 AD.   

 

Mike and Carol

Homily on 17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 24, 2016

Each week of the year the Church selects readings from Scripture to teach us about God, to feed us with words that give life and comfort and challenge, and that remind us that we are one with God and one with each other. 

Today we learn again about God as merciful, as generous, as giving of the Spirit. 

These teachings about God’s goodness and mercy and generosity were tested for my family a couple of weeks ago when our friend Alex Folz died suddenly in his sleep at age 48.  Alex’ wife Leslie, her grown children Sarah, Mary, Liz and Peter, Alex’ parents Libby and Gene, his 3 sisters, Ali, Amy and Annie, Lambrini and her Mom, Kalliopi, and myself, and so many friends, work mates and acquaintances have been in shock and grief over his passing so suddenly from our lives. 

 

Celeste back from Albania for a couple of weeks

Lambrini met Alex as a co-worker at the Louisiana Department of Revenue 19 years ago.  Lambrini and Alex hit it off and became ‘best buddies’.  Before long Lambrini and me and Kalliopi were treating Alex as part of our family.  For years, several days a week, he would join us for meals.  He helped Kalliopi with her garden, plowing and digging.  He worked at learning enough Greek to be able to communicate with Kalliopi, which she loved about him.  Alex watched over our house and cared for our dog, Coco, whenever we were away.  Coco loved Alex and ran to greet him whenever she saw his car drive up.  We shared tools and vehicles and did all the things good friends and family do with each other.  Alex was a big OU Sooners fan.  He and I watched football games together and he and Mama and I would go eat meat together.

A few years ago he travelled with us on one of our trips to Greece.  Lambrini has always missed her 2 brothers, George in Greece, and John in Massachusetts who died over 10 years ago.  And Alex became her ‘best buddy’.  It was a rare day they didn’t speak, in person or by phone. 

Alex was very close to his parents and sisters.  He spoke with his parents every day and to his sisters frequently.  He loved his nephews and nieces and talked about them all the time.  Alex had friendships he maintained from his college years at OU in Norman, especially his good friend Shawn.  He had tennis buddies who met weekly to play together.  He joined a singles’ group, and that’s where he met Leslie.  In talking about their families, Alex and Leslie discovered that when they were little, their families had lived close to each other in the same area of Indiana, and some even knew each other.  Leslie’s grown kids showed had real caring for Alex, and were so happy that their mom had found love in her life again.  Alex and Leslie married last July at the Catholic Cathedral downtown.  What a happy day that was. 

Alex and Leslie were on a trip for Alex’ annual visit with his family for the 4^th of July weekend, and then they drove on to Chicago for a few days’ relaxation before Leslie’s daughter’s graduation from grad school that Saturday.  On Thursday Alex did not awaken and I got the call from Leslie.  Lambrini flew up to represent our family at his funeral in Indiana.  

We are taught and know that God is merciful, and generous and gives us the Spirit of life.  And we are tested when bad things happen to good people.  As the shock of Alex’ passing has gradually become a little softer, we have begun to see who Alex was to us; how he too was merciful and generous and giving of the Spirit to those around him; how his life made our lives better and more full; and much more fun—we laughed loud a lot with Alex.  As we grieve over this loss, we have realized that Alex was a presence of God in our lives.  Remember John Stack’s question to the parents and Godparents whenever he performs a Baptism: when is the last time you saw God?  Alex showed God’s Spirit over and over in a way that stays with me and gives me joy.  It has also been amazing to see his parents, in their grief, show such concern and caring for all of us feeling the loss of Alex.  And Leslie, dealing with her lost dreams and their lost plans for the future; and yet reaching out to give care and love for others who share the pain of loss.  It really helps that we are all in this together and that Alex’ life has left a lasting mark on all who were connected with him. 

We know from the Book of Job that there is no perfect answer for such losses.  For Lambrini and her mom and me it’s been other people who care and just connect with us that has made a difference.  So many family and friends have reached out to us just to be connected at this time.  I want you to know that I have definitely experienced and appreciated your support.  You listened; you didn’t try to define my grief or give it a meaning or take it away; you have showed me you are present to me and you are with me.  You are a part of the mercy and generosity and Spirit of God in my life.  Thank you for that.

My question today is:  How do you find comfort and the Spirit when you are tested?  And how are you part of that comfort and Spirit for others?