Readings: Note that these readings are for Sunday rather than All Saints. Much better readings.
Wisdom 11, 22-12, 2, You love all things that are.
Psalm 145, I will praise your name forever, my king and my God. Also, check out the marvelous second stanza, my favorite. What a portrait of our God.
2 Thessalonians 1, 11-22 We always pray for you. Good old Paul, two long sentences.
Luke 19, 1-10, The beloved Zacchaeus in his tree.
Celebrating All Our Saints.
Wisdom (of Solomon) observations:
Author: Not Solomon, but a compilation by numerous
people.
Date: around 200 years before Christ.
Subject: Wise statements like
"Righteous people are
protected by God and will never suffer torment." 3, 1
"Is it good to have riches
in this life? Nothing can make you
richer than wisdom." 8, 5
Today: Nice reading, especially for All Saints. Note the beautiful line, “You love all things
that are.” Line 24
The Celebration begins.
Psalm 145 observation:
Can you spot my favorite line? Someone
has composed a beautiful portrait of God.
Sources, Good News Bible, The New Interpreter's Study Bible, Wikipedia.
Three of Ours, Bethany, Shonda, and Ray.
Saints? Ever met One?
Never met One?
I would like to talk today about saints.
Ever met one? Never, you
say. I would say, on the contrary, I
have known many, and I know many. Let me
spell out a bit what this saint person is or does from my perspective.
First I would suggest the saint is fully alive or trying to be fully
alive.
Secondly, I think this person shows me that Our God is what the Psalm writer
says. Namely, using my translation, Our
God is gracious and merciful, never gets angry and is abounding in love.
Bernadette leading the Creed.
Zacchaeus exemplifies these two qualities. He shows me this portrait of God and he is so
alive that he climbs a tree to compensate for his shortness. A terrific model.
I have another. This person came
into my life around fifth grade at Christ the King. He was a young guy in his twenties, out of
the navy where he had been wounded.
He was our all sports coach, scout master, teacher, and mentor.
Cupcakes of The Week for Alison's John, Beth's Rob, and Patricia's 15th. Did John and Rob ever see those cupcakes?
His name was Frank and at least twice in his life he showed me God.
The first time it happened started after I had entered the Boy Scouts
and we went off to camp Texoma. I don’t think Frank was there this year. I immediately did not like this, was homesick,
and scared that some of the big guys, the eighth grade boys, who were going to
initiate me, it being my first time out.
So I pretended to be sick, cried a bit, and eventually got taken
home. I remember coming home. It was mid-summer and hot. We had no a/c, of course. I think my parents were embarrassed. That event was one of the most humiliating
times in my life.
Harper with Cathy.
My dad & some of the other dads had gotten involved with the Scouts
at this time and, therefore, I stuck around.
Summer came again, camp came, and I did not want to go. But my dad had volunteered to do an
overnight. Each night a dad stayed with
the troop.
I did not want to go, but figured I had better go along with my
dad.
I’ll never forget arriving in that campsite at twilight. They used the old canvas, walled tents on
platforms. Each tent had 4 cots. When we arrived, we went straight to Frank’s
tent and he was seated on his cot.
When I entered the tent rather queasy, Frank was so warm in his
greeting and so accepting that I immediately felt at ease and at home. I think Frank’s support of me that night
helped me turn a big corner in my life.
Torri at The Play World.
Could this have significantly helped me to enter the Jesuits in ’58? Despite the fact that I knew I would be
coming home for nothing, and despite the times I felt homesick, like especially
around Thanksgiving and Christmas, I never returned home.
The second time Frank showed me Our God was when we planted trees on Marsh
Lane from LBJ to Love Field, probably around 1993-4. We had so many trees that we used two Sundays
in October-November.
Frank owned a restaurant just north of LBJ west off of Marsh. When he heard about what we had done the
first Sunday, he invited all the planters to eat dinner at his restaurant after
the second planting.
We did and those trees are still there.
Moreover, for some years Frank’s oldest son, likewise, Frank, whom I
taught at Jesuit in the 60’s, and who owns Back Country Bar-b-que on Greenville
Ave., Frank Jr. catered a lunch for all the tree planters.
Frank Sr. is retired and living at Tremont, and he is one of my saints. He is fully alive and he has shown me that Our
God is merciful and gracious, never gets angry, and is abounding in love.
Who are your saints? For whom
are you a saint?
Jessica in from The Home of the Red Sox.
