Readings: Acts 15, 1-2, 22-29; Psalm 67, O God, let all the Nations praise You; Revelation 21, 10-23; John 14, 23-29.

Acts:  a quick summary of the facts–

Author: Luke, a "doctor," a Gentile who converted to Judaism and then became a follower of Jesus.

Date: Maybe before, but more likely after the two big dates–

70 C.E.  failure of the Jewish revolt against Rome & destruction of the temple.

88 C.E.  the Jews who were followers of Jesus leave the synagogue and go on alone.

Material: story of the early Christian communities, not totally historical.

Mother's Day: a brief history–

1.  Greece & Rome: Cybele was the mother of all gods

2.  in the U.S.

a.  Julia Ward Howe: during Civil War, ca. 1870,  as a counter to the tragedy

b.  Anna Jarvis: 1912, pushed for 2nd Sunday of May, Mother's Day, with emphasis on the apostrophe, i.e., a single mother of a family, not all mothers.  Ended up regretting the day because of commercializaiton in the 40's before she died.  Hated Hallmark Cards' canned messages instead of personal notes.

c.  President Woodrow Wilson: 1912, made it a national holiday.

Sources: Legacy Project & Wikipedia

A Mother's Day Story

A year or so after I returned from East Africa, so around '88 or '89, my mom had to go into the hospital for some minor treatment.  She was living at home and I was living at Jesuit, though I went to visit her every day. 

On this particular day I was driving her west on LBJ from Preston to go to what was called at that time, Deadman Medical Center.  It is on LBJ between Marsh Lane & Webb Chapel.

As we ride along she reaches over with her left hand, pats me on the right leg, and says, "I'm proud of you."

Wow!  That blew me away.  I was really touched inside.  Here I am just back from about 10 years in East Africa.  I've been a Jesuit by then 30 years, more or less.  And my mom's affirmation still meant so much. 

Two events happened in that car.  One, my mother used words to affirm me.  Secondly, she touched me in a tender, affirming way.  The result: inner peace, just what is mentioned in today's gospel, the gift, ultmate gift.

If you are like I was when I grew up, I did not have enough positive stroking and certainly I lacked touch. 

You mothers, daughters, married, singles, all of you.  You got the gift.  You can bring peace with two simple acts, a word and a touch.

With whom and how many times a day do you share your gift?   

Picture 1:  3 of the 8 men who all gathered to bless the foreheads of all the female members of the community as our entrance rite, Tony Bob, & Richard 

Picture 2:  Fred blessing Rosemary's forehead with blessed ointment

Picture 3:  Jeff Morrow & Bob McGrath blessing the foreheads of the female members of the community in their section

Picture 4:  Cole receiving his first communion with his mom, Gail

Picture 5:  Shelby receiving her first communion from her mom, Debbie

Readings: Deuteronomy, 26, 4-10; Psalm 91; Romans 10, 8-13; Luke 4, 1-13

Deuteronomy – The scene: The Israelites have escaped from Egypt and have been wandering in the desert for years. They are just about to enter The Land. They are assembled. Moses is addressing them and reminding them of all Yahweh has done for them over the years of wandering.

In our chapter he is telling them that when they have settled in their new land, where he will not accompany them, they must take a basket full of a portion of their first harvest, present it to the rabbi, and offer it as a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Romans – Paul writes to the Romans that all people, Gentiles as well as Jews, are invited to be part of the Christ event.

Lent!

I know I have mentioned this once a year or so ago, but I saw it again and it is so fitting to our Lenten time of year. Please bear with me.

The last time I was with Rosemary’s sister & brother in law in Hilton Head I was working out on a stationary bike in the little club gym. I look up and coming into the gym is a little old man leaning on a cane. He is hobbling along and bending a bit. I think the man is one step this side of a wheel chair.

I watch as he enters, stows his cane in the corner, pulls a gym towel around his neck, heads for an elliptical trainer, gets on, and begins to work out. I am stunned with the vigor he puts into the trainer. I finish with my half hour bike ride and depart with him still pumping away.

The man is one symbol of what Lent can be. It is like spring training that baseball and football teams are engaged in right now. For me this Lent is not a time of gloom, doom, penance, and a focus on sin. It is new life, becoming more fully alive, spring cleaning, getting into better shape. Becoming a more peaceful human.

Here are ten things you can do for spring training:

1. Exercise more. Take a walk every day, even a couple of times a week.
2. Eat more healthily. Beware of hidden ingredients, e.g., high fructose corn syrup.
3. Mediate every work day morning for 15 minutes, maybe 5 minutes, giving thanks for your blessing of yesterday & today.
4. Say thanks 5 times a day, once a day, especially to family members.
5. Give one compliment a day, especially to a family member.
6. One time a week phone someone or make a luncheon engagement.
7. Read a book. A novel, a book I have recommended.
8. Fun! Be more creative in doing fun things.
9. Give yourself to something that helps others, like Colin Co. Adult Clinic or the Great Trinity Forest Clean up.
10. Get into recovery for your addiction: alcohol, drugs, food, work, smoking, porn. We are all addicted.

You cannot do all of these recommendations. Choose one. Choose something not here.

Look ahead six week to the Sunday we gather for Easter, April 9. How will you have had a great spring training Lent?

Download the homily as an mp3 file.

Yes, John, that red '55 Studebaker is still for sale.   I make you a good deal.  Better grab it before Rob grabs it for Beth.

Readings: 

Sirach 27, 4-7,   Tribulation is the test of the just.  

Psalm 92,  Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.  (The Beauty of Today, Stanza 1)

1 Corinthians 15, 54-58,    Where, O Death, is your sting?

Luke 6,  39-45, A good person produces good.

Spousal abuse!   No way!  You know the truth, Mike, you were there.

Sirach Observations

Who : an educated scribe living and writing in Jerusalem ca. 180 before Christ.  His work was translated from the original Hebrew into Greek by Ben Sira’s grandson in 132.

The Work: The chief loves of Ben Sira’s life were The law and the Temple rituals.  Consequently, his work falls into the Wisdom genre of writings. 

Lots of maxims, for example on fear, 

The fear of the Lord is glory & pride,                                                             

The fear of the Lord gladdens the heart,                                                       

For those who fear the Lord , all will end well.  (p. 809, New Jerusalem Bible)

Two great Jesuit alumni, Bob & Mike Bulger.   Only missing Ray.

Some amusing maxims:                                                                                     

Do not compliment a person, 11/2,                                                                   

Be careful about the kind of person you bring home, 11/29,                           

A father who loves his son will whip him often, 30/1,                                   

A woman has to take any man as a husband, but a man must choose his wife carefully, 36/21

Others focus on patience, uprightness, humility, and duties toward parents.  It is a large book with 51 chapters.

Jan takes care of everybody who walks in the door.

Sunday Homily, 3-3-19, 5 Ways to have a Happy Lent

If there is anything that every year makes me want to say ‘yuk,’ it is the beginning of Lent with its focus on sin.  Guess where we are, Folks, Ash Wednesday this week.  Instead of it being a downer focused on how bad I am and how I need to do penance, I would like to propose 5 ways to have a Happy Lent.

"Patricia, would you not like to take him home with you?"  sez Jan.

First, attitude.   You are not a sinner going to hell.  There is no hell, as I continually repeat.  Why do I say this: data free analysis to prove its reality.  Moreover, we have a God about whom Psalm 92 talks,

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praise, to proclaim your kindness at dawn and your faithfulness throughout the night.

Emma, How come you look so pretty this morning?

Secondly, unclutter your environment.  Becky suggested this.  Have a box or bag.  Every week or every day put something into the bag, a shirt, a book, an old decoration.  Maybe Becky can use some of the stuff.

I must admit that I just put into the box headed for Half Price Books all my French books.  That was hard.  My memory is not as strong and I just don’t see me using the language enough.  I’ve  loved  languages.

Here they come, the offertory team, Lynda & Tom, Geri & Mike.

Thirdly, a good deed day.  Say ‘Good Morning’ to a stranger at Starbucks or at Central Market.  Call somebody whom you have not talked with in a while and say you are just calling to see how they are.  Take somebody to Romeos or Juliette’s.  Help out here at Legacy.  

Fourth.  Sorry, Folks.  Work out.  Exercise 4, 5 days a week.  Walk through the neighborhood.  Make it fun.   Enough of that. 
Try it, you will like it.

Mabel & her admirers, 

Fifth.  My favorite.  Gratitude.  Like Psalm 92 says,  It is good to give thanks.  Before you go to bed what is your blessing of the day?  Want to bet there is always something.

So, how are you going to have a Happy Lent?

Team Legacy Charter.  The Best.

Readings:

Isaiah 50, 4-9, I gave my back to those who beat me.

Psalm 116,    I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living.

James 2, 1-5, 14-18,  What good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Mark 8, 27-35, Take up your cross.

Genevieve and her mom, Mary, say, "Welcome in, Everybody."

Isaiah:  observations

What is it about: 1^st, 2^nd, & 3^rd Isaiah?

1^st Isaiah, Chapters 1-39: predict doom for the Hebrews because they have not been faithful to their one god.  

2^nd Isaiah, Chapters 40-55:  this & the remaining chapters are called The Book of Consolation.  They try to assure the people who are now in exile that God will restore them to their former glory & peace.  In fact, in chapter 45 the composer even mentions the name of Cyrus, the king of the Persians who defeats Babylon & sends the Hebrews back to Jerusalem.  So the composer knew of Cyrus and a date can be narrowed down.

           Sienna, too, and her dolly, welcome everybody.

This 2^nd  Isaiah section presents 4 suffering servant songs, #3 being our selection today.  Jews see the servant to be the Hebrew people/nation.  Christians see the servant to be Christ. 

Isaiah 2 is considered maybe the most influential O.T. book.  On Isaiah 2 Mark built much of his gospel, especially the story of the crucifixion.

Handel's Messiah uses 2nd Isaiah for its lyrics.

3^rd Isaiah, Chapter 56-66: more assurances of a return to peace & glory.

Victoria would like everyone to know that she and her pet frog are also happy to see everybody.

 Mark: observation

I do not like the line in Mark where he says we have to take up our cross.  I have seen the negative result of this.  Which is not to imply that we do not have to struggle to reach goals, like, say, 175 lbs.  

                           Happiness is Victoria and her frog.

The 3 Beauties

This morning I would like to talk with you about 3 beauties I encountered the past ten days in Yosemite. 

The first beauty has to do with the spectacular scenery we walk through, up, and down.  We are ranging from, say, 7 thousand feet up to and beyond tree line, which is 10 thousand feet.  The Lodgepole Pines, the grassy meadows, the streams, the vistas from three 10 thousand foot passes, all take my breath away. 

                 Zoe says, "How about this Sigler, pretty nice."

This beauty is what brings me back time and again to the mountains, and especially to the Matterhorn Canyon trail that I discovered with the Jesuits maybe 20 years ago.

The second beauty is the memories I have of camping in the same places six, eight, or ten times in my life.  At two places I was actually moved to tears. 

      Emma and Sienna are experts at nurturing little critters.

At the foot of Matterhorn Canyon there is a gorgeous campsite.  You cross a shallow stream and on the left of the trail there is a pretty grove of trees and a grassy meadow in front of the grove. 

I probably camped here 3-4 times, until we realized we wanted to get higher up the Canyon so we had less climbing to cross over Burrow Pass.  I walked through the campsite with Mike and I could remember where I had put my tent one below freezing night.  I could remember our fire ring and a tussle the group had once over one guy eating all the group’s peanut butter.

                    "Harper, it does not get prettier than this."

I remembered a night the first time I camped there with a Jesuit friend who taught at Berkeley.  We had eaten dinner and were sitting around a campfire when a female deer came up behind me and put her head on my right shoulder.  I was stunned, but not scared.  Don Gelpi, my friend, had watched it all without saying a word.  Don Gelpi is now dead and I missed him there.

Another campsite, my most favorite of all my campsites in the world, Piute Creek, just after coming over the Burrow Pass.  It has the required creek.  But it is spacious and off the trail enough so that people cannot even see the spot.  It is grassy and shady.

                   Brandon and Leo at serious attention.

I camped in the same place where 6 years ago Tom & Lynda Fleming put up their tent, with Daniel’s tent just in front.  I remembered all sorts of people there, Poncik, Gene Cooley, Larry Pigeon, Beth & Rob, Ryan Malphurs, Paul Fulce, and Ron Kovatis, as well as the Jesuits.    I could see Fulce and Kovatis smoking cigars in a natural pool in the stream.  These memories touch me to tears. 

                 Music at Sigler Elementary, beautiful as ever.

The third beauty: the people I was with.  You may find it hard to see beauty in people like Ray and Mike, but Beth was there.  The beauty was the consideration each person showed for others.  Ray was always up first in the morning ca. 6:00.  He would fire up our little camp stove and heat water for coffee and oat meal.  Many a morning I got up, got my cup, my Starbuck’s instant coffee, and my MooMoo milks, and had my first cup of coffee of the day.  Ray also called the time for happy hour and cooked the evening meal prepared ahead of time by Rose Banzhaf.

            Genevieve, "Is that old geezer finished talking yet?"

As an aside, we ate exceptionally well.  Rose fixes casseroles and cobblers, freeze dries them, puts them in sealed packages, and we break out one set each evening.  Plus, I must confess, we have a half pound of cheese, maybe a piece of dark chocolate, and a pint of Jack Daniels. 

Mike & Andy, because they both have nimble feet, often helped me across slippery streams.  No way do I want to fall and mess up one of my special hips. 

             "Emma, please tell me that you too are not sleeping                             when I talk."

Three priceless beauties, nature, memories, and companions. 

Your priceless beauties?  

Readings: Acts 5, 12-16; Psalm118; Revelation 1, 9-10; John 20, 19-31

Second Sunday After Easter – Reflection on the Readings

Acts of the Apostles continues Luke’s Gospel by focusing on the spread of Christianity after the Resurrection.  The focus is first on the work of the Apostles and especially on the position of Peter, and then in the second half of the book, the focus is on the work of Paul. 

Today’s reading from Chapter 5 comes immediately after the apostles have been brought before the Sanhedrin (the powers that be in the Jewish community) and told to stop their preaching about Jesus.  This is clearly a focus on the question “who will be in charge of the twelve tribes of Israel?  It also echoes back to Abraham and his being placed in charge of the tribes of Israel. 

Remember, we are dealing with a group who have only the Old Testament to turn to in their attempts to make sense of all that they remember or heard about Jesus.  The power of God, working thru Peter is now much stronger than even when Jesus cured.  All people need for healing is to have Peter’s shadow pass over them.  There is no need for any physical contact!  Luke is here building up the importance of the “new leaders” of the people, the apostles.

Our second reading is from the Book of Revelations; a much-misunderstood work, which I wish had never been included in the New Testament!  The work is primarily written in an apocalyptic style and its main focus is on the Roman Empire and the battle which the early Christians had with that entity.  There is nothing about the 21^st century in this writing, nor about how the world itself would end!  The writer had no idea of a place called the USA nor the Soviet Union!  

Second Sunday After Easter – Homily

Poor Thomas!  Actually thank God for Thomas!  It is comforting to know that someone else had doubts about the resurrection.  One week after our high point of Easter Sunday we are immediately given this wonderful little incident.  What I like about it is that it allows space for a very natural doubt to exist side be side with the faith in the Resurrection. 

Back in 1968 a book was published called Introduction to Christianity by Joseph Ratzinger.  The book was a through examination of the Apostles Creed.  I remember being surprised when he talks fairly early on in the book about both the believer and unbeliever share, each in his own way, doubt and belief.  At the time it struck me as quite surprising.  Remember I was a naive seminarian in my early twenties and everything was rock solid!  Oh for those nice innocent days!!

I have since grown up to recognize the truth in Ratzinger’s book, and in my own life.  If we remember back to the church before Vatican II we seemed to live in a world of certainty.  We were told exactly how everything was, now it seems things are messy!  It is what happens when you look behind the curtain, as happened to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. 

Doubting seems to be an integral part of our lives.  We would very much like the comfort of absolute certainty, and we do have it in a few things, like death and taxes, but for all the other areas of our lives we move from one doubt to another, all the while trying to either buy insurance or insulate ourselves in some other way against the uncertainties of life.  And belief in God is one area where there is lots of room for doubt, since God is mystery. 

So what can we begin to compare or faith in God to in our experience?  It seems to me that it is like being in love.  You meet someone and fall in love.  But the other person is free to respond or not.  The minute you force their response it is no longer love.  And so our most intimate of relationships with other humans is based on a hope that the other will respond and continue to respond.  If I think of God along those lines there is one major difference, God is going to love me, in this relationship; God is the only one taking the risk. 

Picture 1:  Tony begins Mass

Picture 2:  The Offertory

Picture 3:  Jim, Bob, Jackie, & friend