Sunday Homily, January 28, 2018, 4th Ordinary Time B
"Welcome in, Everybody," say Cody with Sandra & Emma & Beth & Sophia.
Notice: if ever you notice that suddenly you are not receiving this blog, please reregister under www.johnstackministries.com. Two guys just told me on the same day that the blog suddenly stopped coming. This is the error of the carrier, Typepad, and it happens fairly regularly for some reason. So sorry.
Guess who is Sophia's favorite dad. I bet it is Ben.
Readings:
Deuteronomy 18, 15-20, Moses spoke to all the people.
Psalm 95, If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts
Corinthians 7, 32-35, I should like you to be free of anxieties.
A married man is anxious.
Mark 1, 21-28, Is not a man’s life on earth a drudgery?
A double team. While Emma performs her candle magic, Georgie reads the blessing of light.
Deuteronomy observations :
What : 5th book of the Bible, of the Pentateuch or Torah It is a series of addresses by Moses to the people in the desert after escaping from Egypt & Pharaoh.
Psalm 95 observations:
I would like to share some ideas about the part of the responsorial that says, If today you hear his voice.
The first stanza is the best of all the readings. Watch for it.
Welcome in Vanessa, Stella, and Coco.
1 Corinthians observations:
There was in ancient times a theory of asceticism that said that all pleasure was harmful to the inner spirit. This applied double for sexual experience. From personal experience I would reject this idea. Watch what Paul says about marriage vs celibacy.
There he is, Sophia's favorite daddy and, also, Leo's favorite mommy
Mark observations:
The story is about a man who had an unclean spirit in him, meaning he was possessed by a devil. Today people would say Jesus did an exorcism.
There is another explanation of all this that I subscribe to because of psychological study and personal experience.
Psychology says there is a condition called multiple personalities. The condition is the result of severe abuse, especially at a young age. It is a self defense maneuver, a disassociation from myself.
Yes, it helps to have helpers with the elevation, especially with a little Parkenson's.
I have worked with some of these poor people. They usually had more than one personality with different ages. With some of those I worked with there had been exorcism, which was not just useless, but harmful. The person thought they had a devil inside, which was false and horrible. For starters there is no devil.
Recovery involves acceptance and talk. Ultimately, the host person needs to close the door to the alternates because it knows it is safe. It takes time for healing.
Actually, Jesus exemplifies the process, though it normally takes much more time than one encounter. I would suggest that Jesus presented a peaceful and accepting persona, just what the man’s host personality craved.
Watch as Mark presents a story about multiple personality.
How could we do this without Georgie and Buddy!
Hearing the Voice of God in Unusual Places
I want to talk this morning about three places the voice of God was heard. Two are mine. Number three from a mystery guest who gives me permission to share the story.
The first event came up because I am thinking about the trip planned to Dickenson to help with the clean up. A few years back there was a tornado in OK City. The same team went, Professor Jim Maher & his students from St. Bonaventure.
Jim has my number unfortunately (not really), so I went up by myself.
It is almost brunch time, Buddy. It will be terrific!
One day we're cleaning up a mess at a rural town called Little Ax. We had our team and you will never guess at the other team. Muslim Emergency Aid. Remember? I talked about this after I returned. They were well equipped like the Baptist Men and great guys and girls.
At one point I was walking down a hill from taking a piece of an I beam to the pile on the dirt road. For pick up. One second I was up walking down that slope. The next I fell over something on the ground.
I was not injured in any way, landing on thick grass. People started coming to my help. Guess who was the first to come to me. Yep, one of the Muslim boys. I was most touched and humbled.
The voice of God in an unusual place.
Sez Rosemary, "Don't tell the old geezer that he is 78. He still thinks he is about 40."
The second was at DFW airport when Rosemary & I came back from the wedding a couple of weeks ago. We had landed and were departing the plane.
I stopped to put a book into my backpack, using a wheel chair as a table, stepped to the right, forgot about the little foot piece, and fell right over on the carpeted gangway.
Like with Joyce Scott, the lady I talked about Christmas Eve, all sorts of people came to my aid and helped me get up. No injury except to my price.
God spoke again in an unusual place.
Brent, It is an honor to be able to give you these two checks for Souls Harbor. The work you do there for 65 men in recovery is phenomenal.
Thirdly, the mystery guest. Rosemary.
One morning about 6:00 Rosemary walked up to the desk of one of the hotels within shuttle distance of DFW. We park at these hotels when we fly sometimes. It costs about $5 per day and the shuttle is free.
Without a word she starts in, “I would like a chit to park here. My husband is parking the car in the back.”
The clerek looks up and says cheerfully, “Good Morning.”
“Oh, I am sorry. Yes, Good Morning to you, too.”
The voice of God in an unusual place.
You, any unusual places?
Guess what is coming.