Sunday Homily, December 15, 2019, 3rd Advent

Readings:

Deuteronomy  8, 2-3, 14-16,   He let you be afflicted with hunger, then fed you.

Psalm 147,   Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

1 Corinthians 10, 16-17,  We all partake of the one loaf.

John  6, 51-58,  Whoever eats this bread will live forever.

The Girls say, "Welcome, Everybody, Hats in honor of Cathy." Patricia, Carol, and Maureen.

Deuteronomy: The fifth & last book of the Torah.  The scene: Moses & the Hebrews are in the desert just outside the promised land, the land of the Canaanites, whom they are going to kick out and kill.  Moses is reviewing their journey from Egypt.

Date:  first put into some form around 750 before Christ, then put into a more final form, guess when, at the end of the Babylonian Captivity, around 555.

Jan with her hat of symbols, tree planting, peace, patriotism, friendship, and cupcakes.

Author: not Moses, even though the book is 3 sermons of Moses on the plains of Moab, just at the end of the period of wandering, and just before entering the land of the Caananites, or the Promised Land.  It is really tradition, stories of old times. 

Our Selection:  Moses is recounting the escape from Egypt and the years in the desert.  

The belief that Yahweh punishes, corrects us, and tests us with affliction is not common today as Moses suggests to the people.  You can still hear it from fundamentalist preachers.  Remember the huricane in New Orleans?  We will read more of the section to get the sense more clearly.

Geri and Marilyn say, "Hi, Folks, Come in."

My Guide through the Desert

We have just read about how Moses guided the Jewish people through the desert.  In honor of two of our most favorite people who are retiring from years in public education, this morning I would like to talk about people who guided us and me through the desert.

Two short stories, some of which you may have heard before.  It just seems to fit in here so well.

When I was in maybe 6^th grade, I joined the Boy Scouts at Christ the King around January, when I have my birthday.  Some of my classmate joined up in the spring.

Cathy and especially Harper accepting a special pastry for Cathy's retirement from public education.

First thing I know, along comes summer and we are heading to Texoma for a week of summer camp.  We get there, get our tents, and I overhear some of the 8^th grade guys planning to initiate me.  Why me?  Probably because I was bigger than some of my classmates. 

So suddenly I get sick.  I’m afraid.  I'm home sick.  I want out of there.  These guys were bigger than me and I did not feel safe, no way.  The scout master was a pretty passive guy I did not know well. 

Rick and Jackie accepting a special pastry for Rick's retirement from public education, Rick's 62nd birthday, Rick and Jackie's 39th anniversary, and for Jackie's marvelous recovery.

We had come in on Sunday.  By Monday night I am back home, and back home really feeling horrible about what I did.  I feel like a chicken, for sure.  I was embarrassed even in front of my parents.

The next summer comes along.  My dad, who had remained active along with me in the Scout troop, invited me to go with him back to Texoma.  He was going to spend the night as one of the adult overnight supports for the troop.  

With some trepidation, I decided to go.  We arrived at night and I still remember walking into the tent of my coach and teacher, Frank Hart.  He was sitting on his cot and there was a Coleman lantern buzzing.  He had always supported me.  Always encouraged me. 

Brian and especially two little mice accepting a Cupcake of the Week for Brian's 63rd.

His welcome that night was a turning point in my young life.  It probably prepared me for the day after high school, when I would walk away from the security of my family, join the Jesuits, and never return, even to Dallas for 7 years.

My second guide through the desert was one of the Jesuits at the old Jesuit High.  From as early as I can remember I detested clericalism and the piety stuff.  That was all I had seen until Jesuit.  Fr. Jules May was not clerical and not pious. 

He was our freshman football coach.  As coach he was out there in clothes as crummy as what we wore.  And as coach he got after us like a drill sergeant.  He cussed us.  He yelled at us.  He accepted us ultimately.  I remember my dad was somewhat shocked. I loved him. 

Buddy, the candle man, lighting up with the help of his mom, MIchelle.

I remember one day we were playing Highland Park on our upper field right next to Oak Lawn across from Holy Trinity.  My best buddy played center for Highland Park and I played center for Jesuit.   At one point in the game we were punting out of our own end zone, a chain link fence between our field and Oak Lawn.  I centered that ball over the kicker’s head, over the fence, and onto Oak Lawn. 

I was so humiliated and was waiting for Jules May to descend upon me with both feet.  He did not. 

Marsha, one of those from the "crazy corner."

Jules May was one of the reasons I decided to join the Jesuits.

These two coaches and teachers were guides to me through the desert. Cathy & Rick have guided tons of young people through the desert. 

Who was your guide?

Whom are you guiding today?

Zoe, as always, the style setter.

Readings:

Isaiah, 2, 1-5,  They shall beat their swords into plow shares. (a beautiful readRing)

 Psalm 122,  Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

 Romans 13, 11-14,  Our salvation is nearer now.

 Matthew 24, 37-44,   Stay awake, for you do not know on  which day your Lord will come.

Thanks, John, for celebrating today.

 Second week of Advent, Thoughts by Mike

Energize your spiritual journey

We are all brothers and sisters, and our one goal is the kingdom of heaven, here and now.

We will always obtain the desire of our heart, so we must choose our desires wisely. 

Choose love, for it is in giving that we receive, ‘it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.’

‘Pay it forward.’  We teach by example.

Life is not about winning or loosing, its about compassion and justice.

Taking a step forward means that we have chosen to leave something behind. 

We are granted joy when we choose to leave pain behind. 

We enter truth when we choose to leave fear behind.

Peace comes when we choose to forgive.

Our Spirit enlightens us by chasing away our darkness, for they cannot coexist.  

Happy Anniversary, Frank & Mary.

The Kingdom of God is always at hand.  Be born again.

We are one body in Christ, when we are not seen or recognized when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and imprisoned.

Love does not build barriers; it tears them down.

Gratitude is the lens through which the Spirit calls us to journey.

‘Most opportunities are never convenient.  You don’t wait for them; they just occur.’

Deacon Mike

Hi, John and Mike from Hilton Head Island.

 Readings:  

 Proverbs, 9, 1-6, Wisdom had built her house

 Psalm 34, Taste & See the Goodnesss of the Lord (2^nd week)

 Ephesians, Giving thanks always and for everything

 John, 6, 51-58,  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

Bethany, Shonda, and Ray

Proverbs:

What are they: a collection of moral & religious teachings in the form of pithy sayings.  For example: "Better to eat a dry crust of bread with peace of mind than to have a banquet in a house full of trouble" (17, 1); "Being cheerful always keeps you healthy" (17, 22).

Some a bit tough: "Don't hesitate to discipline a child.  A good beating won't kill him" (23, 12).

Some amusing: "A nagging wife is like water going drip-drip-drip" (27, 15); "Better to live on the roof than to share the house with a nagging wife" (25, 24). 

Emma arriving

Author: Maybe Solomon is behind chapters 1-29.  Most likely a compilation.

Date: Ca. 300 BCE is considered a possibility with material coming from as far back as 900, during the time of Solomon.

Celeste arriving

Our Selection: Wisdom is personified and she is preparing a feast or banquet to which the simple people are invited.

Sources: Religious Information Service & Wikipedia

One year ago married, Katie Urbanczyk & Sean Baker

Taste & See the Goodness of the Lord, part 2

Our story this morning takes place some days ago at White Rock Lake.  It is early morning, sunrise.  Rosemary & I have been riding our bikes down the White Rock Creek Trail from Royal Lane. 

We cross Northwest Hwy. and begin circling the lake in a clockwise direction.  I get ahead of her & we plan on meeting at the far end of the lake, the south end, at a boat house for skinny boats used by college and high school crews. 

Our Habitat House, with siding

Somewhere along the path, Rosemary passes an elderly guy.  99% of the time both of us yell, “Passing on your left,” as we approach people.  This particular time Rosemary does not say anything.  Mistake.

The guy yells at her, “Why don’t you warn people when you are going by?” 

Rosemary responds, “Because you got those big ear phones on.”

To which he yells, “I can still hear.”

Monica the window framing expert

Sounded to me like a little road rage on the bike path.

I confess that I have been in that guy’s place.  I am usually passing people & saying, “On your left.”  I am so fast!

Occasionally some young guy in his designer, color coordinated outfit will zoom by me without a word.  This sometimes startles me despite my little rear view mirror on my helmet.  And I get annoyed.   So I say something like that man, or “Speak up.”

But every time I said something, I felt yucky.  Why?

Grace on clean up duty

Because I was no longer tasting the beauty of this jewel of a lake because I was emotionally hooked.

Also because I was no longer seeing the goodness of all the people walking, running, and riding around the lake with me.

Ultimately, I was not peaceful, which is one big reason why I am out there in the first place.

I talked about this with Rosemary and I decided I would not say anything anymore.  Let people be.  Surrender to the reality.  Accept.  And I have.  Mostly. 

The result. 

Catherine Adcock at Habitat with her brother…

I consciously taste and see the beauty of the lake each morning we ride.  In fact, so as to counter my obsessive approach to speed and to take time to smell the flowers along the way, Rosemary & I stop at the bridges on both the north & south ends of the lake and just contemplate for 2-3 minutes. 

I also appreciate the people, saying good morning to people I am passing.  Bit by bit, some of the people I see regularly respond, bikers, walkers, and even joggers.   

Finally, I feel peaceful. 

Bryan Adcock

Rosemary saw the same man again and this time warned him.  As she rode by he said, “Thanks for speaking.  You are one of about 5% of the bikers who warn people.”  Does not sound like he is more peaceful.

Do you have any road rage moments on your bike ride through the day that eliminate tasting & seeing the goodness?  What are you doing about it? 

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 6, 1-7; Psalm 33, Lord, let your Mercy be upon Us, as we place our Trust in You; 1 Peter 2, 4-9; John 14, 1-12 

Fourth Sunday in Easter Time – Intro to Readings.

 
 In both our first two readings today Peter is mentioned.  In Acts we hear him preaching and urging people to repent and be baptized. We are told that about 3,000 responded and were baptized!  Our second reading is written by Peter, his first Letter to the early Christian communities, in modern day Turkey.  So I thought that I would spend a few moments talking about Peter.  Incidentally, Peter could well be the “poster boy” for a married clergy!  He was the first person called by Jesus, and was married.  And against any claim that Jesus may not have realized that Peter was married, we are told that Jesus cured Peter’s mother-in-law (Matt 8:14), and St. Paul even mentions that the wife traveled around with Peter (1 Cor. 9:5). 

 We know that he was a fisherman when Jesus called him to discipleship, and Peter immediately left his nets and followed Jesus.  His story is interesting because Peter had a tough time of it.  Peter got into trouble lots of times.  When Jesus first prophesied about his death, Peter objected only to be strongly rebuked by Jesus (Matt 16:22, Mk 9:31) who said to him, “get behind me Satan”.  He tried his hand at walking on water, only to sink ignominiously (Matt 14: 28-31). And after witnessing the Transfiguration with James and John, his immediate reaction was to erect some tents, (Matt 17:1, Mk 9:2 and Lk 9:28) missing the whole point of the event!  At the agony in the garden, he couldn’t stay awake with Jesus, and had to be woken up three times (Matt 26:40, Mk 14:37).   And of course his biggest blunder was that even having been warned that he would do it (Matt 26: 33-35, Mk 14: 29-31, Lk 22:33ff and Jn 13:36-38) he denies Jesus three times (Matt 26:69ff, Mk 14:68ff, Lk 22:58ff and Jn 18:25ff). 

 All of this would seem to disqualify Peter from any possible position within this little community, and yet he emerges as its head.  You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.(Matt 16:18)  What seems to be the lesson from all of this, no matter how much of a mess we make of things, God does not seem to mind!

 Fourth Sunday in Easter Time – Homily

 One of the major themes in John’s Gospel is to show that all of the major Jewish Feasts are transformed by Jesus.  This gospel reading comes on the day after the Feast of Tabernacles.  If you look closely at John’s Gospel, it can very easily be divided up into a number of different major Jewish Feasts.  There are Passover Feasts, one at the beginning of the Gospel, a second in the middle and of course the third at the end.  But in between these we have the Feast of Tabernacles and immediately after that the Feast of Dedication.  The Feast of Tabernacles is interesting because it lasts 8 days, and is the third most important feast for the Jews. The feast was celebrated in the fall.  There were many processions with candles.  For us Jesus is the Light.  Tents were erected, and the feast celebrated the harvest, and also the original dedication of the temple.  Water was brought from the Pool where the blind man from our reading on the fourth Sunday in Lent was cured.  We recently had a reading which comes right before today’s gospel reading and it was about the young man born blind, and which the Jews refused to believe that Jesus had cured him.  Remember they even called in his parents and asked them if their son had been blind.  So we have just been reading about blind people.  Then comes today’s reading, and it expands the meaning of the blindness to that of the Pharisees.  Because they certainly should have been able to recognize who Jesus was, but instead they are the blind ones. 

 Jesus uses the example of a shepherd and sheep recognizing him.   Shepherds are obviously what we are supposed to talk about today!  But how many of you have ever seen a shepherd?  Or know anyone who is a shepherd?  Or, better yet, any one here ever been a shepherd?  Ok. How about sheep, has everyone seen sheep, at least eaten mutton!

 I am afraid that we better talk about something else!  The gospel today is discussing getting in through a gate and that the Pharisees are going to have a tough time of it.  The good news is that we are already in!!  Yes, by our baptism we are already through that gate, we are already in the kingdom of God.  We need to focus on what is expected of one in the kingdom!  Remember last week’s gospel, the two disciples had decided to leave Jerusalem and head home, the whole Jesus movement was a bit of a failure.  A stranger, who explains the scripture to them, kind of like what John and I try to do each week here, joins them on their journey.  Then when they stop for the night, they invite the stranger to join them, and they recognize him when they sit down to a meal and break bread.  Which is what we do here too!  We break bread together, and in that action we need to be able to recognize each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.  Christ is present in each one of us!!  Like the two on the road, they do not recognize Jesus, we too can easily find it hard to recognize Jesus, but he is there, present in each one of us.

 I think we can forget about the sheep, and even forget about shepherds, it was all from a very different time and place.  Our focus needs to be on the fact that we are already thru that gate, and are in the kingdom of God.  Our focus needs to be on seeing Jesus in each other.  But remember, we are not going to be perfect, we will probably be more like Peter, the good news is that God doesn’t seem to mind.  All that matters is that we are trying.  After the resurrection, remember Peter had to pass only one test, “Peter, do you love me, feed my lambs, feed my sheep” How did those sheep get in again!!

Picture 1:   Beginning of Mass with Tony

Picture 2:   Offertory with Barb & Warren

Picture 3:   Leo with Jackie

Picture 4:   Emma

Picture 5:   Sienna with her daddy, Payton

Readings: Isaiah 43, 16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3, 8-14; John 8, 1-11.

Isaiah – The scene: the Jewish people are captives in Babylon ca. 550 years before Christ. Isaiah the great prophet had warned the people that their bad ways were going to lead to this.

In this chapter 43 Yahweh reminds them of how much he has done for them in the past and lets them know that they are still his people. Their lives will get better.

The first 5 verses of this chapter are some of the best in the Bible, telling the people to not be afraid because he is with them.

Philippians – Philippi was the first church Paul set up on European soil. He is in prison. He is basically saying that for him nothing has any importance beyond his relationship with Jesus.

Judging

Our recent trip to East Africa was divided into two parts. The first half we spent in Tanzania visiting some of the world’s most marvelous game parks, like Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater.

The second half we spent time at place called Elsamere on the southern shore of a lake called Naivasha in the bottom of the Great Rift Valley. The place is somewhat famous because it was here that Joy & George Adamson made their home and where they raised a baby lioness named Elsa. Joy & George eventually let Elsa return to the wild, but while together they were the subject of the famous film Born Free, the story of Elsa.

The place is delightful, accepting at most 16 guests with three cottages spread out from the main house which is used as a dining room. It is here at Elsamere where we could not leave our cottage at night because hippos are grazing, one night right outside our window.

When we arrived, there were already 8 visitors, all Brits, 6 women in a group and a couple. Since they had already been eating meals together for a couple of days, we ended up seated at the second table with one of the Kenyan assistant managers.

As time went on, despite our efforts to get to know the Brits, nothing developed and I began to feel the ladies were ignoring us Americans. A couple of the ladies I had greeted seemed pretty disinterested in chatting. We had a good time with the couple. However, I was, as they say, put off by these women.

I know what it was that put me off. They never initiated a greeting and in the evening before dinner when we arrived with our guard from the cottage, they were all seated around the fire place. No welcome. In fact, they seemed totally involved in their own conversations.

Until the last night. Thirty minutes before dinner, snacks were served and we all made a big circle in front of the fireplace. All were departing the next morning. We three were split up around the circle.

Now they talked with us, especially a couple of them who had hilarious personalities. It was in this circle that we heard the story of the calendar (the women all belonged to the same organization that put out the famous calendar that was the subject of the movie "Calendar Girls"). We spent the time in hysterics.

The next morning I told them that my only disappointment at Elsamere was not having the opportunity to get to know them better.

I came close to judging and condemning these 6 Brit women, of judging the book by the cover.

Who is the Brit that you are condemning?

Download the homily for March 25, 2007 as an mp3 file.

Take it away, Ben.  We are ready!

Readings: 

Nehemiah 8, 2-4, 5-6, 8-10   The story of Ezra, the priest

Psalm 19,  Your words, Lord, are spirit and life.

1 Corinthians 12, 12-30,  As the body is one.

Luke 1, 1-4,  4, 14-21,  Today this passage is fulfilled in your hearing.

Emma doing her Candle Magic with John's help.

Homily from Mike

Think about the last vacation you were on.  Did it meet your expectations; good weather, good food, good company.  Sometimes our expectations are not met, unless we’ve taught ourselves to go with the flow and look toward the bright side by giving thanks no matter what we encounter.

Buddy reading the Blessing of the Candles with Mike's help.

In our gospel today, the Jews at the Sabbath synagogue service were in expectation to hear what Jesus had to say, for Jesus had chosen the reading.  Not only that, it was said that he spoke with authority, and this was Jesus’ home ground; it was where he grew up.

Mike homilizing.

What Jesus gave them was what the Messiah would do when he came to his people, Israel. When you heard it, did you recognize that it was filled with promises, beginning with the most important: where he promised to bring to the lowly, those in dire need, the Good News of Jesus Christ. After reading it, he sat down; and he held them in expectation.

What a team.

When he stood up he said, “This day, this Scripture, is fulfilled in your midst.” They didn’t realize it but they had just begun to receive the Good News. They were the ones to whom Jesus had come. All of promises, given by the prophets, were directed to them: they were the blind, the poor in spirit, the ones who were in captivity, they were the downtrodden,

The Great Offertory Team, Karen, Tom, & Denni.

This Scripture is being fulfilled in our midst too, for we are the ones called to make those promises come true.  We are the ones who daily are led by the Spirit to welcome and live the Good News in the world. With every act of kindness, each of us, using our unique spiritual gifts, bind ourselves together as one body; His body, which we are about to break and share with one another in our Liturgy of Eucharist.   

Can it get better than this, Luke with his mommy, Julie.