27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 4, 2020

Here are the links for Sunday:

Here are the links for Sunday:

Readings:

Malachi  3, 19-20,  There will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.

 Psalm 98,  The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.

 2 Thessalonians 3, 7-12,  See what love the father has bestowed on us.

 Luke, 21, 5-19,   When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified.

Some Sundays the selection of readings are beautiful and touching. Some Sundays they are not.  Such are our readings today as we come to the end of the church readings for this year.

 

Who is this little girl in John's arms welcoming everybody?

 

Observations on Malachi:

What:  The very last book of the O.T.  A little book, only 4 short chapters.  

When:  After the return of the Israelites from the Babylonian Captivity, therefore, the 5th century before Christ, i.e., ca 499 and before.

Message: because of laxity and corruption Malachi is warning the people that they will get punished again.  Such is our reading today. 

 

 

Getting ready: you put your left arm in, Buddy, you put your right arm down, and you shake it all around.

 

 

Thanksgiving I

With the approach of Thanksgiving, my favorite feast of all, I would like to talk about what I am grateful for on two occasions, this Sunday and next Sunday. 

I want to talk today about what I am grateful for because it has been a rough, almost depressing week for me.  Tuesday night, of course, was where it began.  As the evening progressed I began to tell which way the wind was blowing. 

 

 

Got it, show time.

 

As you know, by 9:00 I was ready to go to bed, but I was also tempted to stay up.  Temptation.  So as not to get wound up, I told Rosemary I was going to be as normal and would check in the morning.  I went to bed consciously focusing on my blessings, and in the morning, despite the news, I continued.  This focus really helped me to maintain perspective and hope for the future. 

Want to know what the blessings were?  Here are the big four.

 

 

Our Candle Man of The week, Buddy.

 

First, I was grateful for the relationship Rosemary & I have.  Rosemary does not come to bed with me at 9:00, but she and Aviana are all snuggled in when I get up at 4:00.  The gift of their presence on a cold morning is almost enough to make me change my mind about getting up. 

The second blessing takes place when I get up.  After doing some pushups and crunches at home, I head to the Jewish Community Center where I join 10 – 20 others doing spin class and then I work out in the gym for 15 minutes.  In the winter I take a  shower.   I love the exercise and I love the congeniality.  I know a bunch of  people by name and even know a bunch of birthdays in my spin class.  Guess what I do on their birthdays. 

 

 

Congratulations to Cody and our dear Shonda (marriage).

 

Connected with the exercise at the J, I love the gift of White Rock Lake and my ability to be able to ride around it.  Thursday or Friday The Lake was flat as glass, just beautiful.   

Third blessing, you people, our community.  Every Sunday I head home with Rosemary and sometimes Aviana on a high.  The high continues through the afternoon when I am sorting through all the pictures for about 30 that I plug into the blog.

 

 

Hey, Leo, I am jealous of your glasses.

 

 Fourth blessing.  Thursday morning I was privileged to visit a guy’s mother who was just on the edge of moving to the other side.   She was in one of the retirement homes on Plano Parkway.  I went in.  She was lying on her back in bed.  Her eyes were open but she was oblivious.  Occasionally she had like muscle spasms where she would kind of ball up. 

I blessed her and then leaned down and caressed her cheek.  I put my left hand under her hair and talked quietly to her.  I heard the word mama once, so I started telling her her mama was coming for her.

 

 

The Best, Shonda & Ray

 

This went on for, say, 10-15 minutes.  I had worn my white alb to give her peace.  Then it happened.  She focused and looked right into my eye.  We looked consciously at each other maybe a foot apart.  I continued to reassure her.  Then she was gone again.

These are the daily blessings I focused on to maintain my normal inner peace.

 

 

Welcome Home, Norm, good to see you.

 

If you needed to, what did you do?

 

Welcome home, Kim and Dave, good having you in.

 

 

 

 

Says, Tori, "Welcome in, Everybody.

 

 

Readings:

Isaiah 60, 1-6,   Upon you the Lord shines

Psalm 72,  Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Ephesians 3, 2-3, 5-6,  You have heard of the stewardship.

Matthew, 2 , 1-12  The Epiphany (the Magi)

 

 

 

Shonda, Ben & David doing it.

 

 

Isaiah 60:  observations–

1.  Who:  Can you guess which Isaiah this is, 1, 2, or 3?  Yes, this is Isaiah III who seems to have lived after the Babylonian Captivity, that is, 555 Before Christ
2. Today’s passage: chapter 60 is addressed to Jerusalem as a symbol, which is in total  destruction.  Isaiah  is trying to lift the spirits of the people who are depressed at seeing the mess that is Jerusalem.   He is saying that your day is coming, Jerusalem, when you will return to being the most splendid city of all, and by extension, the tribe.

Isaiah 3 should get a commission from the Jerusalem chamber of commerce.  

 

 

 

 

One of our Best Helpers, Leo.

 

 

The Epiphany, a Cornucopia of Symbols:

2 observations & 2 postscripts–

Where to begin, folks.  There is so much symbolism in this liturgy, in Matthew, for sure, and in the combination of Matthew with Isaiah and Psalm 72.  I'll touch 2 points, each with 3 subdivisions.. 

1. The Wise Men

1. The Wise Men have a double & triple significance because they are Gentiles
2. They come from the east, considered the source of wisdom in the world of that time.  Where does the sun rise?  Where do stars rise?  A new son has been born and like the sun in the east or a star, he will bring new light. 
3. They are searchers & symbolize every person’s search for meaning in life.    Remember Matthew speaks to two audiences, his fellow Israelites, whom he is chastising for not searching, and the Gentiles. 

 

 

Emma, our Candle Lighter of the Week, in action.

 

 

2. The 3 gifts. 

1. Gold is given because it signifies royalty. 
2. Frankincense, or incense, signifies divinity. 
3. Myrra signifies medicine.  Myrra is for human health.  It comes from a bush like tree that has a yellow, sticky sap on its bark.  The sap was good for skin infections and acne, asthma, colds, and flu, and even herpes.  It is found in Saudi Arabia & Somalia.

 

 

Suit up time.

 

 

 A post script.  People in Europe used to write an inscription over their doors, e.g. 20+C+M+B+18.  The numbers are our year.  The letters are Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.   Christians made it say, “Christ Bless our house or Maison the year listed.

Another post script.  In New Orleans Epiphany starts Carnival season, which leads up to Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  The parades are starting, folks.  Let's go.

 Sources: Reginal Fuller, St. Louis U. Liturgy; Biblical & Theological Resources, the Voice Institute, on line; Wikipedia; and other sources.

 

 

 

 

Suit up time continues.
 

 

 

An Epiphany Event

I would like to define epiphany as a giving & receiving of good news.  To exemplify this I have a story about a Christmas dinner I hosted one Christmas afternoon in the Jesuit house I used as a base in Tanzania.  I had been in East Africa at this time for about 7 or 8 years.  Because Christmas had often been lonely & sort of a downer, I decided this year to throw a dinner.

Since there were no turkeys available where I lived, I had to travel a day up north to Nairobi, Kenya.  I got a frozen turkey, returned and had to explain to the customs on both sides of the border.  Since, as a white guy who spoke Swahili pretty fluently, they passed me through probably thinking I was a bit crazy, like most wazungu, dizzy white guys in Swahili.

 

 

 

 

The Team, all suited up.

 

 

Next step.  Invite the neighbors on both sides of our house.  So I went to the father on the east side and invited him to come to my office.  He was a police chief, a very important person to have as a friend.

So, I said to him, “Mohammad, I want to invite you & the family to a special dinner on what we Christians call Christmas day.  On one condition: you get drunk, you may not come.”  “Oh, yes, yes, asante sana, (thanks, thanks),” he responded.

 

 

 

 

Offertory with Ray & Claire (whose mom just died today in New Orleans), Barb & Ron.

 

 

Christmas Eve I celebrate a late night Mass at the Capuchin sisters complex about 900’ up the south slope of Kilimajaro.  I almost live here because the sisters have a guest house with about 15 rooms.  I run 10 to 30 day seminars and retreats at their guest house.

Christmas day I travel the 2 hours down from the mountain.  It is summer time.  I pull into our dirt driveway and park under the canopy.  Behind me pulls in an old battered Land Rover.  Two guys get out and stagger toward me all buddy, buddy.  Yep, one of them is Mohammed. 

 

 

 

 

Welcome back Georgie.  So nice to see you again.

 

 

I am so disappointed and tell him, “Mohammed, you cannot come, Bwana.  We had a deal.”  This could have been a tough moment for me if he refused.  But, no, he apologized and the two guys drove off in their old Land Rover. 

I was a  little anxious about him coming anyway, but at 4:00 everybody started coming.  I expected maybe 10, but along with his wife and their two delightful little girls, extended family members showed up, a very common East Africa custom.

 

 

 

 

The minor elevation.

 

 

All this took place on our roof, from which you could see Kilimanjaro.  We had a partial Arab style house with a flat roof with cinder block railing.

The Epiphany is a giving & receiving good news.  The roof top dinner we had was a giving & receiving good news.

What are your epiphanies?

 

 

 

 

Guess what is coming!

 

Exodus 16:  "I've listened to the complaints of the Israelites. Now tell them: 'At dusk you will eat meat and at dawn you'll eat your fill of bread; and you'll realize that I am God, your God.'"

Ephesians 4:  And then take on an entirely new way of life – a God-fashioned life,  a life renewed from the inside . . .

John 6:  They jumped at that: "Master, give us this bread, now and forever!"   Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever.

 

 

Readings: 1 Kings 3, 5-12; Psalm 119; Romans 8, 28-30; Matthew 13, 44-52 (beautiful section)

1 Kings:

• Author & date of composition: a compiler who seems to have lived ca. 550, during the Babylonian captivity.
• Subject Matter: King Solomon, David’s son. 1 Kings was once considered part 3 of a 4 part series, 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings, all of which was called the Book of the Kingdom because the books all talk about the kings of the Hebrews after the rule of the judges.
• Sources of the Compiler: many, but in particular The Court History of David and The Acts of Solomon.
• Time Span of Kings: 450 years, from 9th century to 5th century B.C., King Solomon & the Temple to Nebuchadnezzar & the Babylonian Captivity, one of the great Hebrew catastrophes along with the Holocaust.
• Today’s selection shows Solomon is so wise, as he is given a choice by Yahweh.

A Man Who was a Treasure: Tom Collerain

Last Sunday, you may remember, we had a touching Mass and a fun brunch.  And seated right up there behind Ken & Cindy, Kim & Lance was Tom Collerain for the first time in about a month.  Rosemary & I had missed him, wondered how he was doing, and called him the week before.  He said he and Alice had just returned from a cruise on the Rhine, which was why we had not seen him, and that he was looking forward to Sunday and seeing everyone again.  As usual, Tom was there with his warm, marvelous smile.

That evening he had dinner at 6:00 with Alice, was cleaning up, and went out with the garbage.  Alice wondered what was taking him so long.  She went out and found him lying in the flower bed.  He had gone to the other side. 

Again this Sunday we hear more humble metaphors of what the kingdom is like, like a fishing net, like a pearl, like a treasure.  Folks, Tom Collerain was a treasure.  For at least three reasons.

First, because he was fully alive.  He received the gift or treasure of life and fully experienced it.  On the Myers-Briggs personality indicator, he probably was a judging or type A personality.  He lived with order, working out every day at 9:00, eating at 12:00 & 6:00, nap at 1:00, and probably on time for everything.  That was his gift. 

He also celebrated life, for example traveling with Alice after his retirement.  In fact, they had just returned from the Rhine.  To celebrate even more, he had the joker in him.  For example, he could have given me the one about the couple who were 60 years old and celebrating their 40th anniversary.  They were in a nice restaurant.  Suddenly a little fairy appears on their table and says that because they were such a good & loving couple, they could each have one wish.  Like Solomon.

The wife, with the wisdom of Solomon when she had a choice, asked that she and her darling husband be given a cruise trip around the world.  The fairy said yes, and, poof, two cruise tickets appeared on the table. 

When the fairy asked the husband, he said that he had a wish which was not intended to hurt his wife, but he would like a new wife 30 years younger.  The fairy & the wife look and each other, roll their eyes, the fairy says, “Okay,” and, poof, the husband becomes 90 years old. 

Secondly, Tom was a treasure because he was, as Alice describes him, a gentle man.  He was a gentle man because he was at peace, at peace with his numerous friends, so many of which showed their appreciation of him Wednesday at his funeral service.  He was at peace with his terrific family, with himself, and with his God.  He was likewise at peace with animals, so many of which he welcomed under his roof.  His favorite golden retriever, Rowdy, even reflected his peace.  When a litter of abandoned baby kittens from the neighborhood were brought in, it was Rowdy who would pick the little kittens up in his mouth and carry them around. 

Thirdly, Tom was a treasure because he considered himself a roof keeper.  He took care, he watched over.  In fact, once he retired he developed a talent for cooking he had put on the shelf when he was working.  It is amusing to note that Tom gave Alice one of her first cooking lessons.

Before they got married and were living in Houston, Tom brought Alice a gift of fresh corn on the cob.  She put it away.  A while later Tom returned, saw the corn, and suggested that she cook it up.  “I don’t know how,” she responded.  Tom taught her how to boil corn on the cob. 

It also seemed so symbolic to me that Tom’s last act was taking the garbage out.  How symbolic of how he spent time making his world a better place in which to live. 

I can see Tom this morning walking beside his favorite dog Rowdy, like he did so many times.  Rowdy is introducing him to all the new neighbors, for whom the gentle man Tom will act as a roof keeper. 

We have only so much time, folks.   How are you appreciating the treasure?

AUDIO:   http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-07-27.mp3