Sunday Homily, March 10, 2019, 1st Lent

Readings: Isaiah 35, 1-6, 10 (again beautiful); Psalm 146; James 5, 7-10; Matthew 11, 2-11

Isaiah: Again today’s selection from this marvelous book put together some 8 hundred years before Christ presents a dream and a vision of a day of peace and happiness.  To emphasize the beauty we will split the reading again, the first part read by Margarita; the second by her daughter Ashley.

How to Give Sight, Give Life

In Utah there is a ranch which specializes in equine therapy for young people.  Equine therapy uses horses to help people & kids find themselves and level out. 

A family who are really good friends of mine visited the ranch some years ago to check out if it might be a good place for one of their children to get settled in life.  One afternoon some staff people took them down to the barn to look at the horses.  Now the wife in her childhood had done some riding and was pretty confident around horses, which the staff apparently picked up.

Consequently, one of the women staff members offered her a bridle and asked her if she thought she could bridle a wild mustang they had just brought in.  "Sure," she said, and off she went to bridle the mustang.  Three staff members climbed up and sat on the fence to watch her.  Inside she was saying to herself that she would be firm and brave, remembering that she had once broken her arm with a horse. 

Using all her skill, determination, and bravery she tried and tried to bridle that mustang, for probably over an hour.  It was even beginning to get dark.  But she was determined she would prove she could do it all by herself.  Finally, with darkness setting in she took the bridle, handed it back to the staff, and feeling defeated said she could think of no other way to bridle that mustang.

The staff asked, "Are you sure you have tried every possibility?"  "Yes," she replied, "Everything. "I think there may be still another possibility," the staff said.  "What?" my friend asked.  "You could have asked for help."

Isaiah says this morning that some day the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf be cleared.  That evening in that coral in Utah, my friend saw and heard in a new way.

There are two pieces to this dynamic.  One, am I aware that I am blind and deaf, and need the help of community?  We are all blind and deaf.  Secondly, am I aware that I have to help others see and hear better?  Or I am less a person? 

One of the hardest things for me to do is to ask for help.  It is partly pride, but also good Jesuit training.  I’ve been trained to think and act independently.  I can almost learn Spanish or Italian without asking for help.  However, ever try to learn to work a computer without asking for help?  I have had to ask Rosemary a million times how to do things.  Humbling.  And eye opening.

The staff members sitting on that fence were helping my friend to see and hear.  It is even their profession, a privilege and a call really.  Teachers are helping others to see, parents do it.   Like I mentioned the first Sunday of Advent, flight attendants do it with their hospitality, like happened to Rosemary & me coming out of Hilton Head. 

A paradox in all this is that when I help another to see or hear better, I receive the same gift.

My friends never did work with the ranch in Utah, and their child grew up and leveled out.

How are you helping the person next to you to see & hear better?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-12-16.mp3

 

Welcome in, Sydney & Hugh, you are early enough to find seats.

 

 

Readings: 

Isaiah 6, 1- 2,  3-8,   Whom shall I send? Here I am, send me..

Psalm 138,  In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.  (Good one)

1 Corinthians 15, 1-11,    I am the least of all the apostles

Luke 5,  1-11,  Today this passage is fulfilled in your hearing.

 

 

"Welcome in," says Ben, "we are ready to warm You up."

 

Observations:   Isaiah (I) 

This is The Great One.  The Prophet.  My favorite.  In general, this work has three parts put together by three different people.  It is time dependent: before, during, and after the, you guessed it, the Babylonian Captivity.  Keep 555 before Christ in mind as an easy date.  You can guess that this is Isaiah I, being chapter 6 (of 66 chapters)

Last week we heard the story of the prophet Jeremiah’s call by Yahweh.  This week we have Isaiah’s call. 

 

 

 

Cindy, too, says, "Welcome in, Everybody.  It is warmer in here than out there in that cold rain."

 

Psalm 138

Want to hear something beautiful?  Listen to today’s psalm.  Another of my favorites. Thanks, thanks, and more thanks.

1 Corinthians 15

In last week’s Corinthians’ reading Paul described his vision of love.  Today he continues talking to the people of his church in Corinth, focusing on how he was called by God.

So, today we have a theme of call & gratitude.  Even the gospel has a sub-theme of call.  Pretty neat.

 

 

Jim & John solving all our problems in life.

 

Sunday Homily

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with all my heart

We have been blessed the past few weeks because of so many good readings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and now Psalm 138, one of my favorites.   I can still remember when and where it was that I became aware of its beauty.   I was in Nairobi making a private retreat near an arboretum.  My subject today, therefore, is another of my favorite activities,  giving thanks.

 

 

Jan, our official greeter as everyone comes in, readies the home made communion bread and the grape juice.

 

About two weeks ago I got an Email from a young woman who wanted me to perform her wedding in October here in Dallas.  I have backed off of doing weddings almost every weekend.  Just too exhausting & I don’t have the old energy.

I do not remember this girl, but she wrote something that really hooked me.  She said that she used to attend St. Marks Cafetorium Masses and loved my homilies.  Naturally,  of course, I accepted her invitation, and was grateful that here is one person who has with me fond memories of some good times.

 

 

"Where is that crazy mike button?"

 

The second reason I gave thanks this week tied in with this girl who is called Kathleen.   Remember the monster kid who came to our Mass last Sunday?  Noah and his mom.  The kid whom I knew when he was just a little guy who helped me  as an Altar server in the cafetorium.  Within a couple of weeks I have remembered with gratitude the good times I had at St. Marks.

The thirst reason why I am giving thanks to the Lord with all my heart today is because  of the spinal surgeon who took away all my pain with his operation.   Thursday, exactly six weeks since the operation, he gave me a complete and total discharge.

 

 

Emma, you are so good, I think you could light those candles in your sleep.

 

I may ride my bike & return to the 6 A.M. spin classes at the Jewish Community Center.  I don’t even have to have a physical therapist.  According to him I am old enough and experienced enough to manage my continuing rehab.

 

 

Buddy, you have a gift for reading and you are developing a terrific stage presence.

 

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with all my heart.  

For what are you giving thanks this morning?

 

 

I give thanks, Sir Charlie, that you have not pulled a fast one on me in the last 5 minutes, or so I think, maybe, I hope.

Readings: Jeremiah 20, 7-9; Psalm 63, My soul is thirsting for You, O Lord, My God; Romans 12, 1-2; Matthew 16, 21-27

 

Jeremiah:

Some short observations–

    1.  One of the Big 3, Isaiah, Ezekiel, & Jeremiah, big because of the size of the work.

   
 

     2.  Follows the classic prophet profile: denounce the behavior of people, threaten God's vengeance, and finally, consolation for the reformed.

     3.  Who are prophetic people today?  Perhaps our 3 guest speakers.

 

Please catch today's homily recorded in the video. 

 
 
Picture 1:    Beginning of Mass with account of Hotter 'N Hell Hundred (as in miles & temp), a bike tour out of Wichita Falls

Picture 2:    Cole with his grandmother, Diane.

Picture 3:    Leo & Sophia, Ben's daughter

Picture 4:    Delgados back in their corner finally.                                
  

 

Readings:

Jeremiah  20, 7-9,  You duped me, Lord, and I let myself be duped.

 Psalm 63,   My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord, my God.

Romans, 12, 1-2,  Do not conform youself to this age.

Matthew 16, 21-27,  Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

 

 

Jeremiah observations–

What:  I think Jeremiah is my second favorite O.T. prophet, behind Isaiah, mostly because he makes whining and complaining into an art form.  I need to take lessons from him.  Not that he did not have enough to complain about.   Jeremiah is one of the Big 3 with Isaiah and Ezekiel.  He is called the ‘broken hearted prophet.’  Here is why.

Time:  Jeremiah lived and prophesied in Jerusalem around 600 before Christ.  Why is this important?  It is some 50 years before the Babylonian Captivity.  Jeremiah had a heart rending life predicting punishment of death and destruction for the Hebrews for their sinful, selfish ways.  Jeremiah predicted disaster, and disaster came in the person of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon-Bagdad.

Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke as a visual aid to his message.  He may have been ultimately killed by the Hebrews.

Today:  Jeremiah is in top form.

 

 

            Sienna says, "Hi, Folks, Welcome in."

 

Deny Yourself, Take up Your Cross, and Follow Me

I want to talk this morning, folks, about the line in Matthew, Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.  I confess right off, I hate this line.  Can you imagine a loving God creating people to deny themselves and take up a life of suffering? 

Matthew’s line can be very tricky.  It can be approached healthily or in a rather sick way.  I can witness to the latter in my own life.  I have already described how as a young Jesuit I was expected to do penance and deny myself in various ways, like the practice of using little whips to scourge our backs and little chains with points to wear around our thighs.  This was supposed to bring me closer to God.

 

 

I can laugh at this now, but I am humbled at how easily I can be snookered.  When I read this line and others like it in the Bible and remember my experiences, I now see the presence of an ancient philosophy that still influences a lot of religious activity today.  The philosophy: dualism. 

The idea is simple.  Reality comes in pairs, hot & cold, dark & light, order & chaos, and, in particular for this discussion, body & soul or flesh & spirit.  So far so good. 

 

 

The trouble enters with a judgment about the flesh & spirit.  Specifically, flesh is bad, spirit is good, superior.  Consequently, so that my spirit may reach an elevated plane of purity & perfection, and ultimately closer union with God, I attempt to subdue my flesh by disregarding the body's needs, ultimately aiming to live without it.  Do not give in to pleasure.  How about that!

A couple of facts.  Dualism is identified as far back as 1000 years B.C. and came out of Zoroastrianism, a religion that worshiped one god and believed in an afterlife.  Did it come from Egypt as so much did at that time?  No, from Persia, the area we call Iran today.  Zoroastrianism was widespread until Muhammad arrived on the scene around 650 and established Islam.  Through the ages lots of people picked up on dualism, for example, Plato, Augustine, Descartes, and the early Christians, like Matthew.

However, there is a healthy approach to the line.  A story to exemplify the healthy.

 

 

Way back when I was living at Jesuit and working as a psychotherapist, a single, divorced mother came with her son, Michael, one day and basically said, “help!”  She had a really active boy about 3^rd grade.  He and his neighbor buddy, a black kid, used to race around our neighborhood and the high school on their bikes.  Great kids.

The years passed and I got to know the Michael really well.  One afternoon when Michael was in 7^th grade at St. Monica, we were watering trees with the white truck and old red water trailer.  I don’t remember who was driving us along the medians, but at one point I can remember to this day, he said to me that if he did not make the entrance exam at Jesuit, his life was no good.  

 

 

I did not say anything at the moment.  But later I told him that thinking was baloney.  I said Jesuit did not want kids who said their lives were no good.  If he made it, Jesuit would be a better place.  If he did not, another school would be a better place because they had a tremendous gift in their school. 

He did not get in. 

So Michael went to Bishop Dunne.  He played sports, worked hard to make good grades, and kept in contact with a neat guy who was the admissions director at Jesuit.

He got in as a sophomore.  He did excellently.

 

 

Next Michael wanted to go to A&M and join the corps.  He did not get in.  He does not test well.  So he went to Tech and joined the Air Force ROTC.  After 4 years there he invited me to the ceremony where he was to get his lieutenant bars.  

The ceremony was in a big auditorium.  Michael was the last.  On the stage with him were his mom and his girl friend, Lydia.  At one point in his personal ceremony Michael turns to the whole auditorium, asks their patience for a moment, turns back to Lydia, drops on a knee, and asks her to marry him. 

Talk about blowing the roof off of the auditorium.  Everybody went crazy.  She said yes. 

 

 

 

Now, Michael has long finished his flight training, part of which took place right up at the scene of the Hotter N’ Hell, Wichita Falls.  He has been stationed all over the world, like Aviano, Italy, where we got the name of our dog, Aviana, after a visit there.   He has a little boy, a beautiful wife in Lydia, and a platinum career as a jet pilot.  

Michael has denied himself a lot of quite legitimate pleasures to achieve some healthy goals.  Even now he continues to keep himself in good physical and intellectual shape.  

So, how do you deny yourself and take up a cross?   

 

  

 

 

 Readings:

Genesis  14, 18-20,  Blessed be Abraham.

Psalm 110,  You are a priest forever  in the line of Melchizedek.

1 Corinthians 11, 23-26,  Do this in remembrance of me.

Luke 9, 11-17,  Give them some food yourselves.

 

 

Genesis:  for observations, please check the Sunday Homily for Pentecost, May 19.

 

 

Today we had the pleasure of hearing the personal story of Reggie, a resident at Soul's Harbor.

Reggie went to OU on a football scholarship, left OU, and hit the bottom with drugs, even to eating from dumpsters and sleeping in port-o-potties in the winter.  He said that he cannot go around Olive Garden resaurants today because he used to survive on the food in their dumpsters.

With Soul's Harbor he has gotten his life back and become Brent's right hand man at the residence.