Readings:
Acts 5, 12-16, Many signs and wonders were done among the people.
Psalm 118, Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting
Revelation 1, 9-19, I was caught up in spirit on the Lord’s day.
John 20, 19-31, Thomas, “Unless I see the mark of the nails.
Harper says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."
Acts observations: I won’t bore you every Sunday for the next six with these same observations. I thought I would mention them because you may have missed them Easter Sunday with all that was going on. Periodically I will remind you of the basics.
Date: sometime before the year 70. Why? No mention of the destruction of Jerusalem, which took place the year 70, a Big Date in Jewish history.
Genevieve, too, says, "Hi, Folks, come in."
Who: The same person who wrote the Gospel of Luke. How do we know? Similarities of style, language (Greek), and theological themes.
Subject: The story of the expansion of the Jesus story in 3 areas, first, Jerusalem, then, Palestine or the Holy Land, and finally, into the Mediterranean and ultimately, Rome.
Today’s Subject: a description of the growth & expansion within the first area, Jerusalem.
Sources: Good News Bible, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, Wikipedia
Hi, Cathy, and welcome to you, too. Thanks for bringing Harper.
New Life Next Weekend
Next Sunday when you all come together here I will be getting together with my former Jesuit classmates in the beautiful college chapel at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. We guys spent the 5th, 6th, and 7th years of our training at Spring Hill.
It is class reunion time this weekend and about 8 of us gathered last year for the same event. This year the alumni board is making a big deal out of us and is inviting all the ex and present Jesuits who got degrees at Spring Hill to special recognition. There could be hundreds.
Leo, the Candle Lighter, at work on the Easter Candle.
When I was there we had about 150 guys residing in Assumption Hall, which has been since demolished and replace with smaller units of student housing.
I would like to make 4 observations on the uniqueness of this group of guys.
You never know what you will find out on April 1. The Juliets.
First, all joined up to be Jesuit priests despite the 10-14 years of training involved. Some entered out of college, others, like myself, entered out of high school. I got the full 14 years of training, which at the time was not too bad. It was broken up into 3 & 4 year goals.
Secondly, all these guys became well educated, whether in the Jesuits or after leaving. Lots of the guys taught in schools and universities. They were a pretty progressive group, interested in service, usually to the poor. All would have made good priests and good contributors to the numerous Jesuit high schools, universities, parishes, and retreat houses. In my early years there were 35,000 Jesuits just in the U.S.
Welcome, Nora, into our special Catholic Family.
Thirdly, in my class there is and has been a love of reuniting to see how everyone is doing. There is a comfort zone and guys are willing to share pretty important parts of their lives.
I remember a reunion maybe 3-4 years ago in New Orleans. One of my buddies, Bill, who had cared for his wife for some years before she died of cancer was there. I had not seen him or talked with him since she had died. I was sitting in the group where we were talking about where each of us was at.
Tom and Denni with their just baptized grandbaby.
Bill had not said anything. I remember debating within myself. But I am used to asking these questions. Finally I simply asked him would he be willing to share how it was to care for and lose his wife. We were all in tears.
In Wernersville, PA there is a large Jesuit retreat house & novitiate. Every summer a reunion of some 50 or more Jesuit & ex-Jesuit classmates gather for a weekend. I just found out about this from one of my classmates from the east. I plan to go some summer in the future.
These reunions are just among Jesuits. There is a large, more formal group called Corpus. These guys seem to be mostly ex-diocesan priests.
John Cade, any Carmelite groups?
Who are all these people, Nora? Why, that is you granddad, Tom, your sister, Charlotte, your grandmommy, Denni, your big sister, Chloe, your mommy, Claire, and your daddy, Andrew.
Final observation. Do you realize that within the next 30 years these groups will all disappear? We have here a unique sample of the population, ex-priests and ex-seminarians. They all wanted to be priests. They all wanted to be married. Because of Vatican II in the ‘60s, they decided remaining celibate was not healthy for them. Shortly the whole group will pass on.
A little slice of history for you today, folks.
Nora, you are beautiful and perfect. Welcome into our world.