28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 11, 2020

Jan, The Head of Traffic Control, on the job.

Readings:

1 Kings 19, 16 19-21, You shall anoint Elisha.

Psalm 16,  You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Galatians 5, 1, 13-18, For freedom Christ set us free.

Luke 9, 51-62, No one who sets his hand to the plow…

I say, Pere, remember that pretty red Studebaker….

Readings: Wisdom 7, 7-11; Psalm 90, Fill Us with your Love, O Lord, and We will Sing for Joy;  Hebrews 4, 12-13; Mark 10, 17-30

Wisdom:

Date of Composition: 100-200 BCE, which is why it is considered significant.  It provides a glimpse into the cultural & social milieu which prevailed just before & during the time of Christ..

Place of Composition: Alexandria, Egypt.

The Composer: a Jew who wrote educated Greek.

Unique Quality: Wisdom is one of a set of 12 (or 14) books written in Greek considered not part of the original 39 books of the Hebrew Bible, the O.T.  This blew up around 350 CE when St. Jerome, one of the Fathers of the Early Church, i.e., a church leader who influenced a lot of church dogma, said the books were not genuine.   He was opposed by St. Augustine.  It was the Council of Trent (ca. 1550), that declared the 12 books okay.  Another person doubting the validity of the books was Martin Luther. 

You will hear these books called Apocrypha and deuterocanonical vs protocanonical (meaning declared canonical or okay after rather than before).  A bit complicated. 

Our Selection in Chapter 7: the book of Wisdom generally says that good guys get rewarded by God, bad guys don’t.  This selection personifies the virtue of wisdom, using the feminine pronoun she, and praises her as above all other values & pleasures.  I loved her even more than health or beauty, the composer declares.

Sources: The Good News Bible, Got Bible Questions on line.

To LIVE

Just about a century ago, in 1910, a little baby was born who was named Agnes.  Born into a comfortable, middle class family, Agnes was the last of 5 children.  They lived in what is today called Macedonia, just north of Greece, a country that used to be part of Yugoslovia. 

Agnes was an ordinary little girl and at the age of 18 she decided to leave home and join the Sisters of Loretto of Dublin.  She went to Dublin for her formation, had to learn to speak the English in the Irish brogue, and actually never saw her mother again.  In those days it was customary that religious did not come home for visits. 

After her training of about 3 years, Agnes was sent to teach at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, India.  There she taught for a good 15 or more years.  She was considered a good, not exceptional teacher. 

While she worked in the school with the girls, who were mostly from the upper classes, Agnes looked out her windows.  There she saw another kind of child, a street child, dirty, undernourished, and neglected.  You can picture her watching these kids and reflecting upon what she was doing, which was good in itself.

At the age of 38 in 1948, Agnes decided to leave the Loretto Sisters and to go out into the streets.  Initially she did what she knew.  She taught the kids in the open air, using the dirt as a black board.  She had no funds, rented out a delapidated shack, and began to care for the sick people who were all around her.  She even went to school to learn nursing. 

Despite the fact that she started out with little idea of where she was going, it was like she had uncorked a cold drink or a bottle of champagne.  People in Calcutta heard about her, probably at least through St. Mary's High School, and aid & help began to pour forth.  People came to help her, food began to be donated. 

After two years of working the streets, Agnes decided she needed to organize a community, the Sisters of Charity.  The community focused on two things, personal spirituality and care for the most needy, the street people, the AIDS victims, the addicts, and the abandoned.  This little community has now grown enormously and has houses in Africa, where I knew them, Asia, Latin America, and Dallas, specifically South Dallas.  We used to take our food drives to them until the pastor of the parish said he did not want our food.  

In 1997, after winning numerous international prizes, including, coincidentally, the Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa died.   In 2003 John Paul II beatified her.  This means she is one step (i.e., one miracle) short of being declared a saint.

I talk about Mother Teresa because, despite some criticism she & eventually her sisters received, she tried to live what we are talking about today.  In order to live, give it up and serve the disadvantaged.  

Two thoughts.

1.  We have here more of what Mark has offered us the past 2-3 weeks, an ideal, a challenge, an infinite demand.  Check out Scott Burns' column in this morning's Dallas Morning News.

2.  Remember the infinite acceptance.  How can I give it up and serve the disadvantaged in my state?  Parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, almost all are already engaged in helping.  CCAC is our avenue to help the disadvantaged.  As well as food drives, blood drives.  This may only nibble away at the need, but enough nibbling can make a difference.

How are you giving it up & serving the disadvantaged–to LIVE?

Sources: on-line biographies of Mother Teresa, The Good News Bible, Got Bible Questions?

Picture 1:  Mass with Sabrina, Georgie, & Richard

Picture 2:  Sabrina

Picture 3:  Birthdays, Angela, Georgie, Richard, Lacee & her mom, Lisa

Picture 4:  Communion, Hunter & Kailee

Readings:  2 Samuel 7, 1-16; Psalm 89; Romans 16, 25-27; Luke 1, 26-38. 

2 Samuel:

Date compiled:  650-600 BCE, probably in Jerusalem.  David lived ca. 1000 BCE

2 Samuel is part of a 4 book assembly: 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings. 

Subject matter:      a)  Samuel as Judge

                              b)  Saul as King

                              c)  David as King

Sources:          a)  The court history of David written by Gad

                       b)  Samuel wrote chapters 1-24 of 1 Samuel

                       c)   Anti-monarchy source

                       d)  Pro-monarchy source 

                       e)  Redaction & editing by Nathan   

King David, Jesus' Ancestor   

 In the spirit of anticipating Christmas, I would like to tell you an Old Testament story this morning, a story about one of my most favorite O.T. characters, King David.  We Catholics do not have a tradition like Protestants do of hearing over & over the stories of the great ancestors of our religion and culture.  Today we can rectify this a bit.    

To get the scene you have to go back 1,000 years BCE.  David and two other great leaders are all living at the same time.  Samuel is the first of the three and he is the last ruler of Israel who is a judge.  Saul is the second person.  He follows Samuel as leader and is the first king of Israel.  

What is happening is that Saul is doing a bad job of being king.  If you know any psychology you will detect that he is bipolar or manic depressive.  He has big mood swings.  Yawheh has tired of him and has whispered to Samuel that Samuel needs to go find a new king.  Yehweh deconsecrates Saul as king.  He directs Samuel to go visit a man named Jesse with 8 sons in a special little town.  Name that town.  Bethlehem.  This is significant to N.T. writers like Luke and you will hear it mentioned in the Christmas readings. 

As each son is brought before Samuel Yahweh whispers in his ear, "No, not this one," even though Samuel thinks each one would make a good choice.  After the seventh son is rejected, Samuel prepares to leave, but asks Jesse if he has any other sons.  Jesse says that, as a matter of fact, he does have another son, his youngest, who is out in the fields tending the livestock.  When David comes before Samuel, Yahweh whispers, "This is The Man."  Samuel consecrates David then and there the future king of Israel.

With that David moves into King Saul's palace as a page and becomes a favorite to Saul.  David can interpret dreams and he can play a soothing guitar that calms Saul when he has some of his dark moods.  David pleases Saul so much that eventually David marries his daughter Micah.

Life goes on peacefully this way until one day the Philistines come to attack.  The Hebrews are terrified, in fact doubly terrified because of one giant guy who is killing everyone and challenging any & all Jews to come out and fight him.  Guess who this guy is.  The Famous Goliath.  Guess who volunteers to come out and fight.  David.

This part of the story we all know.  David dings Goliath with a stone from his sling shot, then whacks off his head with Goliath's own sword.  David becomes very popular with the people.  David becomes unpopular with Saul who begins to feel the poison seed of jealousy.  The jealousy expands so much that eventually Saul dedicates all his efforts to killing David.  David hides in the desert and ultimately Saul dies.

At this point David becomes the king and is successful in all he does.  At one point, in fact, after a successful military campaign against their enemies, David comes dancing joyfully into the city of Jerusalem leading the military parade.  From a nearby window his wife Micah is watching and as the Bible says, she is disgusted.  When David returns home and is greeted with the derision of Micah, he defends himself and declares that he will continue to dance his joy before the Lord.  Yahweh is not impressed with Micah' criticism and she never has any children.

Not all the time does David join his armies in the field.  On one occasion he is strolling on the roof of his house in the afternoon.  He looks over to a neighboring roof and discovers a woman bathing.  David is bitten.  He sends his servants to invite her to dinner at the king's palace.  A month or so later, guess what.  The lady sends word that she is pregnant.  Guess who this lady is.  The famous Bathsheba.

David decides that he can't let it be known that he is the father.  He sends for Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, who is one of his best soldiers.  He invites him for dinner, gets him drunk, then tells him to go home and sleep well.  Uriah, however, is a man loyal to his comrades and decides that he will not go into his house to sleep when his fellows are sleeping in the fields.

So the next morning David sends him back to the field with a note to the commander.  The note instructs the commander to put Uriah in the front of the fight and when they are all engaged to pull everybody back but Uriah.  Uriah gets killed. 

Shortly after this David is visited by a local prophet who has received a message from Yahweh.  Nathan tells David a story about a rich man who took a poor man's sole beloved sheep and slaughters it.  Nathan asks David what should happen to that rich man and David says he should be severely punished.  Nathan says, "You are that rich man."  So David acknowledges his failure and does penance. 

Meanwhile Bathsheba has a son.  The Great Solomon.  He who built the Jerusalem temple which the Jewish people are still lamenting since its destruction by the Romans.

You will see Luke make a big deal out of the lineage of Jesus, that he is of the house & family of David.  Solomon, the son of David & Bathsheba is his great, great grandfather.

There are so many lessons in this story.  I have just two observations.

1.  Jesus comes out of a lineage with a unique event.

2.  God forgives even some big sinners.  We can take consolation from this & know that we are accepted.

What about David do you like the best? 

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-12-21.mp3

Picture 1:  Our Father

Picture 2:  Maggie McGrath & Tom (dad)

Picture 3:  Cliff Wright

Readings:

Joshua  5, 9-12, Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.

Psalm 34,  Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5, 17-21, Whoever is in Christ is a new creation.

Luke 15, 1-3, 11-32,   The Prodigal Son.

Welcome, Emma, it is so nice to have you back.

Mike’s Homily for March 6, 2016

Introduction   

The Jewish event of Passover set the stage for the Israelites to pass through the Red Sea.  In our First reading today they are celebrating the event of Passover to prepare themselves for the their journey through the River Jordan and into the Promised Land.  

The apostle Paul tells us in Second Corinthians that God has reconciled us to him through his Son, the Lamb of God, our Passover Mystery, to be a new creation in Christ.

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

Homily   

To get a fuller understanding of today’s gospel, we should seek to understand it within the context of where it was placed in the Luke gospel.  When we do, we find that the tax collectors and sinners had been seeking Jesus’ wisdom and fellowship for he welcomed them with dignity and invited them to return home with sincere love.  

The self-righteous Pharisees and scribes saying, ‘He welcomes sinners and eats with them,’ were building walls to keep the sinners out while Jesus was inviting them in.

Really nice to see you, Leo.

The father in today’s reading followed Jesus example; the older brother was very much like the Pharisees and Scribes. The father’s heart was filled with compassion and tenderness, goodness and kindness for his younger son who had returned home. 

The older son had no intention of inviting his younger brother home; he had already judged and disowned him. So, the father teaches his older son about the fruit of compassion in today’s reading, ‘We had to celebrate with the meal of the fatted calf and rejoice, for your brother was lost and is found. He was spiritually dead; but now forgiven, alive again.’ 

He is back.  Buddy, our special helper. 

These words are how the father put into practice addressing the bitterness and anger that his older son had just expressed to him, ‘All these years I have slaved for you and yet you have never once given me so much as a kid to celebrate with my friends.’  

Instead of judging the self-righteous, Jesus addresses the Scribes and Pharisees with the wisdom of God, ‘There will be more rejoicing among the angels in heaven over one repentant sinner, than over ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.’

Our Special Girls, Zoe, Victoria, and Emma.

Readings:

Ecclesiastes 1, 2; 21-23,  All things are vanity.

Psalm 90,  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Colossians 3, 1-5, 9-11  Seek what is above.

Luke 12, 13-21, You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you.

Ecclesiastes Observations: 

Author:  unknown.   A belief was that it was Solomon

Date: 
 250-150 years before Christ.

Subject: 
the work is a putting together of a lot of folk sayings and life
observations which represent wisdom sometimes, sometimes not.  For instance, today’s selection. 

Today: 
pretty pessimistic.  It says that
everything is vanity. 

Beginning with photos to come.

Colossians
observations:  We are done with this work for now,
fortunately.

Best line of
the Day: check the Psalm, the 4^th stanza, “Fill us at daybreak with
your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.”  This has been my experience the past week in
Iowa.  More in the homily.

Joanie and Payton arriving.

Fill us at daybreak with
your kindness

Fill me
at daybreak with your kindness, that I may shout for joy and gladness. 
This was Iowa, folks. 

If you
don’t know what this is all about it is this. 
Sunday, July 21^st, Chris and I set out on our bikes with an
estimated crowd at times of 35,000 riders. 
We departed the west side if Iowa at the Missouri River and finished at
the east side and the Mississippi River 7 days later, Saturday. 

CC and her buddy.

The
whole experience really touched my spirit, but let me single out three special
events, hospitality, trust, and beauty.

First, hospitalty.  Most of
the nights on the ride my team, Spokes of Hope, a cancer support team from
Indianapolis, found homes at which we could set up tents in the yard.  This was a little more private.

Kayla following CC.

One
family in Oskaloosa, the next to the last night, knocked me out.  They had a nice big 5-9 acre lot with two
houses for the family.  They hosted about
80 people, Spokes of Hope and Livestrong, Lance Armstrong’s former cancer
program. 

And Mr. Leo looking cool on a hot morning.

When we
arrived they had spread out on their deck chips and dip and drinks.  At 5:00 they themselves served us all an
enormous dinner.  The next morning they
sent us on our way with a great breakfast. 
All gratis, no charge.   Hospitality.

Gracie ready for anything with her backpack.

In Des
Moines a widow of about 6 months invited our 14 member team into her nice
house.  She is a doctor and teaches at
the local medical school.

She,
also, fixed us all a big dinner and a big breakfast.  She sent us on our way with a few dozen
chocolate chip cookies and brownies.  The
Indianapolis folks are probably still eating those cookies.   All
gratis, no charge.  Hospitality.

Emma looking beautiful, as always.

Next, trust.  Never did I fear my bike would be
stolen.  In the small towns where it was
impossible to ride because of the mass of people, bikes were dropped
everywhere.  In fact, the problem was
remembering, “Wow, where is my bike?”

Curtis at 84 who lost his Cupcake of The Week to Emma temporarily.

One
afternoon I rode up to a Tom Thumb type grocery store that had an $8 all you
can eat pasta & dessert sale.  This
was in the last overnight town on the road, Fairfield.  I remember hesitating at first.  My bike. 
Lots of people around.  Plus lots
of bikes.  I left my bike with my helmet & gloves hanging from the handlebar.  An hour
later it was right there along with all the other bikes & bikers.  The trust, everywhere.

Kevin, The Reliable, suiting up.

Finally,
the beauty.   Don’t believe the idea that Iowa is flat.  It is not mountainous, okay.  It is hilly. 
This trip had lots of hills and lots of scenic vistas, plus beautiful little towns.  Once
I must confess at the end of a day 110 miles long I had to walk a hill, my
thigh muscles saying they just might like to cramp.   I learned prudence from Rosemary.

Judy arrives to hear news about….

There
were a number of occasions when the hospitality, the trust, and the beauty, to
not even mention my gratitude at being able to do this, just touched me to
tears as I rode peacefully along.  Which
made me say to myself, “Watch out, man, you can’t see and you will crash.”

Keokuk, Iowa and Judy's house, facing the Mississippi on Grand Avenue.

This is
the psalm line exemplified, “Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we
may shout for joy and gladness all our days.”

How is
it for you?

Keokuk, Iowa, the home of Mike on Grand facing the Mississippi, also. What a coincidence! Same town, same street, facing the same river. Should not these houses be considered historical monuments?

Acts 13:  Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.

Revelation 7:   Then one of the elders said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

John 10:   Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Connie reading from the Acts of the Apostles

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben 

Outreach: $    75.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

A Mother's Day blessing for all the women

Rosemary's Blessing:

Suggested Petitions for Mother’s Day

For our mothers, who have given us life and love, that we may show them reverence and love, and others who show us a mother’s love, we pray to the Lord.

For adoptive mothers and for the women who wish to give birth but experience challenges, that they know your care, we pray to the Lord.

For mothers who have lost a child through death, that their faith may give them hope, and their family and friends support and console them, we pray to the Lord.

For those who wish to serve as mothers, but are not able to do so, that they know your comfort, we pray to the Lord.

For mothers who have died, that God may bring them into the joy of his kingdom, we pray to the Lord.

Archdiocese of New Orleans