Sunday Homily for June 24, 2018, Birth of John the Baptist, B cycle

Readings:

Isaiah  66, 18-21,  I know their works and their thoughts.  (This is the last chapter of the book of Isaiah.)

Psalm 117,  Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

Hebrews 12, 5-7, 11-13,    He scourges every son he acknowledges.

Luke 13, 22-30,  Strive to enter through the narrow gate.

 

Leo and Genevieve say, "Welcome in, Everybody."

 

Isaiah 66 observations:

Author: Isaiah III.  The book of Isaiah is one of my favorites.  Some beautiful passages.  Remember, 3 primary authors are responsible for the 66 chapters, and we are reading the very last.  Isaiah 1 covers chapters 1-39.  This book is one of the Big 3 O.T. prophets, along with Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  This is because the works are the longest.  There are 12 minor prophets.

Time: ca. 700, before the Assyrians annihilate the northern Jewish kingdom, called Israel, vs the southern kingdom called Judah, where Jerusalem is.  10 tribes were lost in this destruction, the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel. 

 

 

 

Leo and his buddy, John, also say, "Come on in, Folks." 

 

 

Remember, there were 12 tribes.  Why?  Because of the 12 sons of Jacob, who was one of the 3 great patriarchs or founders of the tribe, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob, who was also called Israel. 

 Message of Isaiah III: Mostly consolation after the catastrophe.   What is the basic activity of a prophet?  1.  criticism, 2. prediction of dire payment, 3. consolation.

Today’s message: this being the last chapter of the whole work, you might guess.  Yes, consolation and future unity.

 

 

Buddy, our Candle Lighter of The Week, at work.


 

 

Psalm  117:  The best line in the whole bunch of readings.  Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

Hebrews observation:

 The best thing about today's selection: we have to read Hebrews only one more week.  Awful reading today.

 

 

Genevieve says, "Like my new dance step?" 

 

 

It is all Good News

You will never guess where I was this past Friday morning at 6:00.  Yep, you know me too well.   I was beginning spin class at the Jewish Community Center.  I have a special story about something that happened at that class.

Normally we have 10 to 16 or so people for the classes.  But Friday morning we had only about 7-8.  Plus we had a substitute teacher or directress of the orchestra, a lady named Alesia, whose style I like, a bit more laid back.

 

 

Becky and Tom, good friends. 

 

 

So, just as Alesia was instructing us to get started, I stepped away from my bike and made a sign to her that I would like to talk.  So she gave me the welcome sign. 

I stepped forward, turned a bit to include the class, and said that a very special person was celebrating her birthday that day, Haya.   I went over to her and gave her a gift of a little package of cookies called BelVita. 

 

 

Harper says, "Hi, Everybody." 

 

 

Haya is an older woman, which makes her special to me.  She is about 5‘1”, is a little hunchbacked, has a vertical scar on the back of her right shoulder, is very quiet and shy, speaks English with a foreign accent, and drives a gold Prius (as I say frequently, “Anybody who drives a gold Prius has got to be special). 

We finish the class, sing Happy Birthday, start drying off, stretching, and preparing to leave.  I feel a tap on my back.  Haya.  She thanks me for remembering her.  Then she says, “This is the happiest day of my life.”

 

 

Grace and Richard, more good friends. 

 

 

 I cannot believe what I just heard.  I am so touched.  On the one hand, I am touched that such a small gesture can mean so much to her.  On the other, does this say something about her life?  Could she be a victim of the Holocaust?  I discover that we are the same age, 76.  What has she seen in life that I have never seen? 

Why talk about her this morning?  Two reasons.   Because she is Good News.  The Psalm says, “Go out and tell the Good News.”  People are Good News.   I want to know her story.

 

 

 

The Best Music, Shonda, Bethany (guess who is expecting?), and Ray.

 

 

Secondly, I want also to contextualize the negativity of Hebrews and Luke. 

There was a strong belief in these times that God was definitely a conditional love God.  Why did the Babylonian Captivity take place?  The Israelites were bad.  Jeremiah says it, the Isaiahs say it.   And so it was written.  In fact, God scourges those who are his special people.

 

 

 

Offertory with Mike & Judy, and Mary.

 

Pretty much this opinion of God has been discarded.  But, remember Katrina?  Happened because New Orleans was bad.  So would you believe that God this past spring was punishing Garland, Blue Mound, and other Dallas suburbs when the hail and rain wrecked people’s houses?  Is sickness a penance for a sinful, bad life?

Me?  I believe and propose that people are The Good News, that you are The Good News.

 

 

 

Play station Number 1. 

 

 

And you?   A God who scourges and demands penance or a God who proclaims that people are The Good News?

 

Welcome in, Everybody, from Cindy & Dee.

Readings: 

Isaiah 62, 1-5,    The Lord delights in you (a good one)

Psalm 96,  Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.

1 Corinthians 12, 4-11,  There are different kinds of spiritual gifts. 

John 2, 1-11,  The wedding at Cana.

Also from Ken and the two crazies behind him, Cindy & Marlene,    Welcome in, Everybody.

  Mary Ellen Munzell

As a way to honor Mary Ellen, I would like to tell you 4 stories that show why she was a special friend and  dear to me.

The first time that Mary Ellen came to my attention in a special way was the first time we gathered a group for a two week trip to Italy.  We had about 8 people.

And not to be outdone by the previous characters, Grace, too, says, "Welcome to our special Memorial for our dear Mary Ellen."  It was Grace who packed her up so she could move back home to Connecticut, where she stayed one winter and returned immediately back to Dallas.

Mary Ellen asked me if she could go over about 3-4 days early and be picked up in the area around Lake Guarda, Italy.  I was a little nervous, but thought okay.  Mary Ellen wanted to visit Trieste before meeting up with us.

Why Trieste?  Because her deceased husband, Chris, had been born there to a military family.  Mary Ellen wanted to leave some of his ashes, which she did.

The A Team.

Just in case you are not familiar with how Mary Ellen & Chris met, it was at the American Embassy in Buenos Aires where she was working as a secretary and Chris was a Marine guard.

It was when Chris died that Mary Ellen took on the goal of scattering his ashes on golf courses on which they had played, especially in southern CA, where they had resided for some years.   Which brought her to Trieste.

It takes a Grandmother!

I can still remember approaching Verona.  It was sunny & mild. Verona was quaint & colorful.  The plan was to meet Mary Ellen in front of the train station.  She had taken the train from Trieste to Verona. 

As we approached the small station on our right I saw ahead of us a traffic circle with a lot of flowers, and there was Mary Ellen.  I was so relieved and impressed with Mary Ellen and touched by her gesture.

Are our musicians crazy or what??

The second event caused me to love Mary Ellen’s adventurous spirit.  I took her and Rosemary to the best game parks in East Africa for a visit with the lions, elephants, and giraffes.  This had been my home for about ten years.  I had lots of connections.

We hired a driver & helper, rented a Land Rover, and headed to the mystical Ngorongoro Crater and the magnificent Serengetti.   We visited all the animals and, in fact, late one morning a lion walked up and plopped down in the shade of our Land Rover. 

It takes a Dad, too.  Cody, a great one, and Olivia, his daughter.

Picture this.  The Land Rover’s roof lifts up and locks into place so you may stand.  We were standing  while the lion took a morning siesta.   If we had leaned out, we could have touched that lion.  We didn’t.

I was especially touched by Mary Ellen on this trip.  The ride was rough, we tented, and one afternoon we drove though a scrub area with Tsetse Flies, which could keep up with the Land Rover.  We had to shoo them away for about 30 minutes.

Nothing better than meeting up again with good old friends, like Bob & Jackie McGrath and Joanne Languell.

The third story.   Mary Ellen had a small private swimming pool in her back yard, as many of you know.  What you may not have heard is that ME liked to skinny dip in her pool, until one afternoon she spied two young neighbor boys peeking over the roof line of her neighbor’s house.

Finally, as you had to know, ME was an avid supporter of U Conn’s women’s basket ball team.  She loved to watch them play and then she and her sisters would discuss the game. U Conn had a record of 111 victories the day before ME died.  The very next day, U Conn lost. 

And more good old friends, like Cathy, Jackie, Alice.

Thanks, Mary Ellen, for being a special person and a special friend

And still more good friends, Grace, Camille, and Diane..

Readings: Isaiah 60, 1-6; Psalm 72, Lord, Every Nation on Earth will Adore You; Ephesians 3, 2-6; Matthew 2, 1-12

 Isaiah 60: 3 observations–

1.  This is Isaiah III who seems to have lived around the time of the Babylonian Captivity, i.e., 575 BCE., not at the time of Isaiah I (chapters 1-39) who lived ca. 800.   (& Is. II, chapters 40-50)

2.  Our passage from chapter 60 is addressed to Jerusalem as a symbol, which is in total destruction.          

3.  Isaiah is saying that your day is coming, Jerusalem, when you will return to being the most splendid city of all.

Epiphany, The Coming of the Wise Men on January 6: 3 observations–

1.  The word means an enlightenment, a WOW moment.

2.  Celebrated since ca. 300 & Constantine on January 6, 12 days from the birth, the 12 Days of Christmas.  Note 12^th Night.

3.  Considered a second Christmas, to the Gentiles.

The Epiphany, a Cornucopia of Symbols: 2 observations–

Where to begin, folks.  There is so much symbolism in this liturgy, in Matthew, for sure, and in the combination of Matthew with Isaiah and Psalm 72.  I'll touch 2 symbols, each with 3 subdivisions..         

1.  The Wise Men have a double & triple significance because they are

a. Gentiles

b.  They come from the east, considered the source of wisdom in the world of that time.  Where does the sun rise?  Where do stars rise?  A new son has been born and like the sun in the east or a star he will bring new light. 

c.  They also symbolize every man’s search for meaning in life.    Remember Matthew speaks to two audiences, his fellow Israelites, whom he is chastising for not searching, and the Gentiles. 

2.  The 3 gifts. 

 a.  Gold is given because it signifies royalty. 

 b.  Frankincense, or incense, signifies divinity. 

 c.  Myrra signifies medicine.  Myrra is for the human.  It comes from a bush like tree that has a yellow, sticky sap on its bark.  The sap was good for skin infections and acne, asthma, colds, and flu, and even herpes.  It is found in Saudi Arabia & Somalia.

A post script.  People in Europe used to write an inscription over their doors, e.g. 20+C+M+B+10.  The numbers are our year.  The letters are Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.   Christians made it say, “Christ Bless our house or Maison the year listed.  

 Another post script.  In New Orleans Epiphany starts Carnival season, which leads up to Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  The parades will be starting, folks.

 Sources: Reginal Fuller, St. Louis U. Liturgy; Biblical & Theological Resources, the Voice Institute, on line; Wikipedia; and other sources.

The Epiphanies around Us

 Recently Rosemary & I went to the exposition of some paintings of about six or eight artists. Among the artists and the reason we were there was my childhood buddy Ed Lamberty, who gave the homily here a year or so ago on alcoholism & AA. 

 As we were wandering around we ran into another couple who are old friends.  We ask what brought them to this exposition.  They pointed across the room to a middle aged,  middle class, blondish woman who was standing by some of her works.

 Here is the story the wife told me.

 The couple we know are both academics on the university level.  Some years ago the wife had been teaching and came to know one of her students.  The student was a mother with a son about 8 years old.  At some point in time the father had abandoned them and left them with nothing.  They were living in the mother’s car. 

 My friend says to me that this shocked her and she thought this cannot continue.  She described the situation to her husband and two sons who were about 10 & 12.  Guess what they did.

 They invited the mother & son to live with them until they got on their feet.  The two sons moved into one bedroom and the mother & her son took the other.  Here they lived for almost a year until the husband found the woman a job. 

 The woman now is successful and is developing as an artist, selling her works for significant sums.  The son graduated from Jesuit, graduated from college, and now is married with a couple of his own kids. 

 Obvious from the fact that they were at the art exposition, my friends are still quite close with the mother & her son. 

 I would propose that this is what epiphany is, a pointing to a presence among us and in us.  The presence is acceptance and care for others.  It points to something beautiful.

 Who is an epiphany for you?

 For whom are you an epiphany?

 Picture 1:    Emma 

 Picture 2:    Diane on her birthday with Jenny & Melissa

 Picture 3:    The Dinsmore family, David & Donna & their kids, Dawson, Darbianna, & Dana

 Picture 4:    Emily & her mom, Julie at the Offertory  

I forgot to include John Cade's Homily from Sunday in yesterday's blog.  

Pre Homily  Download 06-01-25 Homily 1 – Ascension

Homily  Download 06-01-25 Homily 2 – Ascension

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

Readings: Ecclesiastes 1,2; 2, 21-23; Psalm 90; Colossians, 3, 1-11; Luke 12, 13-21

Eccllesiastes: this book contains the thoughts of the "philosopher," a man who reflected on how short and contradictory human life it.  He could not understand the ways of God.  Nevertheless, he advised people to work hard and to enjoy the gift of life as much and as long as they could.  In our selection you will see how he is pessimistic & depressing. 

I’ve chosen to expand the reading to give you a better view of his style.

The Gift: Celebrate it and Share it

Last Saturday evening our group of seven set up a campsite above the shore of the second of a group of three High Sierra lakes ten thousand feet high. The lakes are called the Rae Lakes.The next morning we planned to climb 12,000′ Glen Pass, which was standing straight up in front of us. The Rae Lakes are exactly at the line where trees cease to grow very well, so we were camping on somewhat open granite & shallow soil. 

Our menu that night was beef stroganoff and because we always had more than we needed, we invited three women at the neighboring campsite, a mother & daughter and another young woman.  The two younger women turned out to be teachers in the San Francisco area, teaching mostly underprivileged & handicapped children.  The girl traveling by herself had once even brought a group of 7th graders out to the wilderness. The three were eventually planning to climb Mt. Whitley and then exit. 

The next day Rose spent a lot of time climbing & talking with the girl who was hiking alone.  As a result, the two became good friends and discovered that they shared a number of the same dreams, to teach kids and to teach about nature.  The girl even recommended a neat little Italian restaraunt in Fresno, our town of arrival & departure. 

Our readings today all seem to indicate that life is futile and useless.  Why do anything?  Just eat dirt. 

Two observations on this.

First, life does not have to be looked at as useless.  It can be seen as a gift.

Secondly, the gift can be celebrated and shared with others. 

Let me work backwards.  I was impressed with those women because they were into sharing the gift.  The two young girls were teaching.  The mother came into the wilderness to share the gift with her daughter, even though the mother did not look like the backpacking type. 

We also saw numerous scout troops during our nine days.  Once we ran into a group of fourteen, about four adults and ten boys & girls about 15 or 16.  When we asked them who they were they said they were a camp.  We think they were taking a group of troubled teens on a wilderness trek.  This is sharing the gift. 

Before I share it, however, I think I got to celebrate the gift.  Which is exactly what we were doing in the High Sierras, and do every year.  Which is what we do here on Sundays.  We celebrate the gift of life. 

How do you celebrate the gift and share it?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-08-05.mp3