Christ the King Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020

Readings:

 Exodus 16, 2-4, 12-15,   You had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine.

Psalm 78,    The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

Ephesians 4, 17-24,   You must no longer live as the Gentiles do.

John 6, 24-35 I am the bread of life. 

 

Georgie says, "Welcome in, Everybody.  Beware, The Old Geezer is back." 

 

Exodus observations:

What:

 Exodus is a fun book and a good read.  It comes after Genesis & it has three main sections.

 One – the struggle between stubborn old Pharoah vs Moses & Yahweh.  Pharoah loses.  You can imagine the Passover had a significant impact. 

Two – the time of wandering in the Sinai desert and the covenant, that is, the 10 Commandments

Three – the coming into the Promised Land. 

This all took around 40 years, and so we have stories in-between.  Today’s is one of these, showing Yahweh feeding his grumbling people.

 

Welcome Home, Celeste.  Celeste, who has played in our music section, has just come in from a year teaching in Hungary, and is departing to spend a year teaching in Albania.  Does the girl love adventure?  

 

When written:

Toward the end of the Babylonian Captivity, around 550 before Christ

Who wrote it:

Not Moses, but people who lived centuries after this mythical character.  How much of this is historical is a question.  The story greatly encouraged the Jewish people enslaved in Babylon.

 

 

And welcome home to you, Sabrina.  You did everything for us for years.   Sabrina is returning to the Illinois Institute of Technology for her junior & senior years.

 

 

Our selection:

An amusing account of the Jewish people grumbling against Moses.  They say they would prefer to be back in Egypt than in this infernal desert where they are wandering in the heat & sand.  We can sympathize with them in these days of 100’s.  They did not have a/c.   So Yahweh feeds them.  See how.

 

                             Hi, Morgan, Welcome to you, too.

 

Kilimanjaro Events and Ragbrai

This morning I would like to talk about Kilimanjaro events in our lives. Kilimanjaro events give life in ways similar to what John is talking about in the gospel, spirit life.  They are peak events. 

I choose the word Kilimanjaro because I had the privilege of climbing that mountain in Tanzania 5 times when I lived there.  Each was literally and figuratively a peak event. 

 

   Genevieve says, "I bet you I don't weigh 6 pounds anymore."

 

A week ago I had another Kilimanjaro event, the week long, 500 mile bike ride across Iowa from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River, with about 15 thousand others.  Iowa or Ragbrai was such a peak experience, full of spiritual life moments.  Let me talk about 3 of them.

One of my most favorite places to eat dinner in the evening and to get coffee and 4 bananas in the morning was a supermarket called Hy-Vee, the Iowa equivalent to Central Market or Whole Foods.  They had  carbo dinners for Ragbrai.

 

 

And Welcome to You, too, Mr. Peighton.  Delightful to have you with us.

 

When I would ride up to one of these markets, you would not believe what I would see.  Not just hundreds of bikes.  But hundreds of bikes with absolutely no locks or security.  Bikes everywhere, even inside the entrance ways.   The majority of these bikes would start at a $1000 and go up as high as $10,000.  Lots of beauties.

Trust, folks, this was trust.  I don’t think anybody was afraid of being robbed anywhere, all along the ride and in the villages and towns.    I found this atmosphere of trust so moving.

 

Mr. Peighton, obviously a quick learner, says, "Wake me up when that Old Geezer stops yakking.  Thank you."

 

 

Secondly, I was moved by the spirit of congeniality among everyone, for example.

I have a favorite concession where I would stop every afternoon on the road.  Concessions were all along the road, which was dedicated to us.  The concession I love and the only one I regularly stopp at is the Amish homemade pie and ice cream stop, always on the right shoulder of the road and always on the second half of the day’s journey.

 

This is way below Sabrina's talent level.  But in honor of all the years she did everything around here, today she gets to light the candles.

 

On Wednesday I rode up and asked for credit from Henry, the Amish kid who collected the $3 for pie and the $2 for ice cream.  I had forgotten my money that morning.  I knew the only place I needed $5 on the road was the Amish.

There was a line of people behind me waiting to pay Henry.  As he said yes, the lady behind me popped in and said, “Oh, I can pay for you.  No problem.”  I was most touched, but told her that I would probably never see her again, so I could not pay her back, while I would see Henry the next day.  And Henry chimes in, “Yes, he is here every day, so it is okay.”  The next day, Thursday, I chipped in about $10 as a token of gratitude. 

This lady touched me with her spirit.

 

2 cupcakes here this morning.  Cathy generously is standing in for her son, Brian, who is celebrating 10 years married.  Mike and Judy are celebrating 51 years married.  And they are from Kiokuk, Iowa.

 

 

During the homily I added this little memory, which, in fact, made me forget the final point of the homily.  I remembered and shared it after communion.

In the context of congeniality I talked about what was a group of maybe 20 Air Force bikers.  They not only rode, but they stopped whenever they saw someone down with a flat or a slipped chain.  At one point I rode up and along side of them.  I mentioned 2 things.  I was jealous of their beautiful blue & white bike wear with the white wings on the back & shoulders.  

I also told them how touched I was at seeing them helping people along the road.  They were super appreciative and called me "Sir" a dozen times.  (Chebino, do you belong to the A.F. Bike Unit?) 

 

 

 

                           Watch out, Folks, Dawson is 18 years old.

 

The third Kilimanjaro event.  Friday here in Dallas, on a routine visit to my dermatologist, she asked me what was the biggest event, the most special.  As usual, I even got a bit choked up in telling her. 

It was just the joy, the exhilaration I experienced in riding, riding with so many congenial people, riding over beautiful green farm lands, passing through achingly beautiful little villages, and all at age 75. 

What more can a kid look forward to in the summer than to get up, ride his bike all day, and then camp out in his tent at night with friends? 

 

 

         Watch out, Cole, Emma, and Zoe, TI is hiring Whiz Kids.

 

What is you latest Kilimajaro event? 

What is your next one? 

I can tell you my next 2, the Hotter N’ Hell Hundred the last Saturday of August and taking about 10 close friends to Yosemite the first week of September.  Summer is so good.

You people in this community are a Kilimajaro Event.

So, your next Kilimanjaro event?

 

Brent, you are a Kilimajaro Event, and we are privileged to be able to support the work you do with Souls Harbor. 

Readings:    

Jeremiah  31, 7-9,   Shout with joy.

Psalm 126,   The Lord has done great things for us, we are filled with joy.

Hebrews 5, 1-6,   Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God.

Mark 10, 46-52,  Bartimaeus, a blind man, sat by the road begging. 

 

Jeremiah observations:

Who:  one of the Big 3 Prophets, 52 chapters, the “broken hearted prophet,” because he hated being so unpopular and having to condemn so much. 

Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe seems to be who put down the prophet’s message.   Jeremiah probably died in Egypt.

When: put together before & during the B.C., Babylonian Captivity, say 575 before Christ  (reminder, Babylon is near present day Bagdad, Iraq).

Remember, too,  that time before Christ is counting downward or backwards.

Interesting Side Note: (another reminder) can you guess when the Genesis story of creation in 7 days was composed?  Biblical research reveals that the creation story was put together during the Captivity, this same time, i.e. ca. 575.

Why?  The priests & prophets (e.g., Ezekiel) of the Jews in captivity determined that the people would not be assimilated into the local gene pool as their cousins in the northern kingdom had done when made to live with the Assyrians.  They decided they would establish customs & religious practices that would make the Jews so different they would not intermarry.  Three special laws were established: 1.  male circumcision; 2. dietary laws and laws about not touching menstruating women; and 3. the Sabbath.

The priests put together the 7 day creation story to suggest that Yahweh approved of their Sabbath law.  They had Yahweh rest on the 7th day to bolster their demand that all Jews take a day off every 7 days.  Before the Babylonian Captivity there was no legislated Sabbath and no myth of Yahweh creating the world in 7 days with the 7th being a day of rest.  So, now you know when the story was created & by whom, the priests, and why, to keep the Jews united vs the Babylonians.  It worked, even down to today.

Subject: the usual prophet message—condemn, pay, peace.

Today: Beautiful message of peace and consolation.  It is coming.

Sources: Bishop John Shelby Spong, The sins of Scripture; Wikipedia

Leo and Cole

 She Danced through Life

Rosemary & I had the privilege and the honor Thursday to attend the funeral of another noble woman & friend, like Joan, Colleen Romero. 

I calculate that Rosemary & I have known Colleen and her husband for ten years.  We certainly knew them for a couple of years before we got married in 05/05/05.   You will never guess how we met them.  Dancing.

 Somewhere along the line, a group of us noticed that Plano Parks provided a whole variety of adult classes, among them dancing.  So Rosemary & I, Gilberto & Bernadette, Beth & Rob , and some others, we all decided, “Let’s go learn to dance.”  And so we met Colleen and Fred.

They were our teachers.  They were elegant, charming, and fun.  I danced with Colleen a number of times.  I would ask Fred how I was learning some special dance.  He would laugh.  Then Colleen would guide me to a point where I got it.

 This is the first thing I see when I remember Colleen.  She danced through life, charming, elegant, smiling, and having fun.  She and Fred were even running dance classes at St. Gabriel parish for adults who had Parkinson’s or coordination problems. 

A  second aspect to Colleen I saw recently.  It was a few weeks back when I got a notice that Colleen was not doing well and was in the hospital.   We had not seen her and Fred for months, maybe a year.  She had been struggling with various joint problems for some time, but this was supposed to be serious.

So, I called her straight up.  She answered.  She sounded groggy and stressed.  In fact, she was experiencing nausea.  So I made it quick, saying I loved her and sent her all my support.  She said this may be her time and that she was okay about it.

A few more days go by and I get another note saying that the word is this really is it.  This time we get in the car and go visit her at Medical City Plano. 

I walk in and find her looking and sounding great.  However, she says this is truly her time, that she wants no special treatment, and that she is totally ready.  She was in that acceptance stage we talk about in stages of dying, the stage of peace.  

Colleen was not like Mark’s Bartimaeus today.  She was not blind.  She could see.  She danced her way through life and when her time approached, she accepted it. 

Like I asked with Joan, how have you been blessed by people like Colleen?

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing

Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings.

Now, think.

What delight God gives to humankind

with all these things. . . .

All nature is at the disposal of humankind.

We are to work with it.

For without it we cannot survive.

 

Hildegard of Bingen  (1098-1179)

 

 

The Best Music Team

 

 

Thanks to the Team

Music, Shonda & Ben

Readers, Cathy & Kevin  & Buddy, the candle blesser

Eucharistic Prayer & Gospel, John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike & Ben & Becky & Richard & Tom

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

 

 

Who's that peeking around the corner?  Becky

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Jim Esparza, the son of Frank & Mary, who just passed last Saturday with sepsis;   For all the medical personnel struggling to treat the tsunami of sick people, in particular, locally, Cindy's staff at Presby, Dallas and at Frisco Presby, the mother of Harper and Betsy, Kendle, working in labor & delivery;   For Bill;   For Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;    For Sydney;  & For Sir Charlie;  Shonda's mom;   for Michelle;  For a friend, a neighbor, & a doctor, Karen, with brain cancer; For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free.;    For Hue;  For John O'Donnell;    For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa; For John Schanot's continued health;  For Anthony & Sabrina;    For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's mother in law, Kalliopi Piskiouli and Lambrini;  Virginia Mattingly

 

 

 

Mike, our technology magician.

 

From last Week:

Birthdays:  Shonda (last Week), Deacon Mike ordained '78, Bill Ekes, Alison DeGenova; this week, Bernadette,  

Anniversary:  The McClurgs, Diane & Kent, 48 years, & Diane's knee replacement this past week; Sandra  & Chuck, 59th 

 

 

Download MASS 20 0614 Reading 2 Corpus Christi

 

 

 

Richard & Tom

 

Corpus Christi

We celebrate today the Church feast of Corpus Christi.  Rosemary also reminded me that Friday the 12^th I was celebrating the anniversary of my ordination at St. Ritas.  You will never guess how many years it has been since that day.  Next year it will be 50 years, 1971.  Can you believe that, Folks?   It blows me away. 

For maybe 20-30 of the last years I have tried to point out that to understand the Eucharist and Corpus Christi, I have to know what a special feast is like because I have enjoyed them in my life.  For me the obvious is the Thanksgiving celebration.  Rosemary & I have treasured these Thanksgiving events because we always went to celebrate with Joe & her sister Clare at their house on Hilton Head.

 

 

 

Legacy continues to be a perfect venue.

 

This morning I have 4 unique celebrations that took place in conjunction with the famous tree planting hobby I got myself into.

First.  It was around 1990 when I went big.  We planted Marsh Lane from near Love field to LBJ on two consecutive Sundays in November.   

When we finished, my beloved  old grade school coach and Scout Master, Frank Hart, invited everyone to come to his restaurant just north of LBJ on Marsh Lane.  Everything was on Frank.  Wow, was I touched.

 

 

 

Second.  The next fall we must have planted Hillcrest or Preston.  Too far away from Frank’s restaurant.  Guess who came out and catered the whole gang.  Frank’s son , Frank Jr., who had the Greenville Avenue restaurant, Back Country bar-b-que.  Incredible as it may seem, I had Frank in one of my classes when I taught at Jesuit as an intern ’65-’68.  Frank jr. catered the team for a number of years.

Three.  The next year or so my classmate, Ed Lamberty, brewed up in the Jesuit resident community kitchen a whole bunch of chili.  Venison chili.   Yes, Venison chili.  Word got out and the kids did not want to eat it.  Eat bambi?  Poor Ed.  He was both a hunter and an excellent cook.   I think he quit hunting.

 

 

Remembering….

 

Four.  Remember the big tree planting we did at Plano Senior High one October?  Always October.  400 trees starting at 12:00 noon with a covered dish party at 3:00 in a room on the east side of the school, or maybe in the junior high. We were still celebrating Sundays at Vines High School.

By 1:30 or 2:00 all 400 trees had been planted.  And everyone went to eat.    I can still remember dearest Maureen Macchio coming in at 3:00 with her special meat balls.

How do you celebrate the Eucharist?

 

 

Says Aviana, "Hey, Everybody, we have a new home.  As soon as the truly pleasant couple moves out, we move in.  Isn't that right, Grace?

 

 

 

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.

 

 

Readings:

Acts 1, 12-14,   All these devoted themselves to prayer, together with some women.

Psalm 27,  I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.  (good verse for homily)

1 Peter  4, 13-16,  If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you.

John  17, 1-11,  I pray for them.

 

 

Reminders on Acts:

What : The second half of Luke’s work, the first part being his gospel.  Acts starts after the Resurrection.  We will read Acts all through May and read the last selection June 1, then June 7, Pentecost.  The work focuses on the spread of the early church with special attention given to Peter and Paul and their conflicts over who was to be a Christian, and Jewish laws, like circumcision.  The conversion of Paul is described.  

Who: Luke, an educated and civilized Jew who wrote in Greek.

Date:  around the year 65, or about 30 years after Jesus’ death.

Our Selection: Activities in the community after the Ascension.

Watch for two words in Psalm 27, gaze and contemplate, see the response above.

 

 

 Gaze and Contemplate

I want to talk about two words that come from Psalm 27, gaze and contemplate.

This past week a great black lady died at 86, Maya Angelou  I wish I had known her better.  I memorized one of her poems once, but did not look her up. 

One aspect of her life stuns me.  She went silent for 5 years, from the age 7 to 12, more or less.  Why?  She had been abused by her mother’s boy friend, she told her brother, and a day or so later the boy friend was discovered beaten to death.  Maya was sure her words had caused his death and she was mortified into silence.

 

 It was her mother telling her that she was a special person that eventually convinced Maya to begin talking again.  Yes, I wish I had known her.

I was fortunate, however, to know my own Maya, a black lady named Juanita Craft, who lived in south Dallas, near Fair Park, and was a leader in the NAACP in the ‘50’s & ‘60s.  I got to know her really well because of three events.

 

 

One, the summer of ’66 or ’67 I was looking for something special to do.  I was in the middle of a three year delightful internship teaching at Jesuit as part of my 13 year formation program to be a priest, a Jesuit priest. 

Somehow, I got to meet Juanita and next thing I know I am the only whitey on a Greyhound bus to the National NAACP annual convention in Atlantic City with stopovers in D.C. 

 

 

I was probably too dumb to know I was in some danger on the trip.  We had a large number of teenaged kids.  If the bus was headed toward Birmingham or Selma in those days, I may have taken a pass. 

One of the highlights of the trip was how the Jesuit community of Georgetown went all out in their hospitality to our group, even having us all into the community dining room for dinner and providing a bunch of cars and drivers to tour everyone around the city.

 

 

Secondly, when I returned from the trip, I moved into Juanita’s little two bedroom, white frame house in South Dallas, and stayed for the rest of the summer.  I worked with her at her NAACP meetings, understudied her ways, and helped with kids in the neighborhood.  She called me her “white boy.”  I was ca. 26.

My poor mom was mortified by all this.  One evening when they had invited a number of their friends in for dinner, and I was asked to help out, she asked me if I would not tell people what I was doing and where I was living.  A few days later she asked me to forgive her.   I had to laugh.  My dad did not seem to be bothered.

 

 

Thirdly, I learned how a simple person can make a difference.  As head of the Dallas NAACP, she helped integrate UNT, UT Law School, the State Fair, as well as other places like restaurants, theaters, and public buses.  I saw how she got the city to focus on the roads in her neighborhood and how she loved the kids.  She had none of her own and, in fact, I don’t think she ever married.  Juanita was elected to two terms on the Dallas City Council in the ‘80’s.   There is a Dallas park and a rec center named for her. She came to my ordination in '71 at St. Rita's in a squad car.  Impressed all the neighborhood kids.

How she affected me? 

She got me to gaze around and contemplate the neighborhood, see what needed to be done, and do it.  This eventually led me to the tree project.  The interest in tree planting came from Boy Scouts; the mental foundation came from Juanita.

Secondly, Juanita’s jovial personality got me to gaze at and contemplate the beauty and the loveliness of the Lord in people and nature, as Psalm 27 says it. 

 

 

I learned how to pray in public from Juanita and those people.  I was usually in clerics and they called on me often for a prayer, something I was not used to.  I think I wore clerics then and on that bus to avoid being killed.  Likewise in East Africa, especially when crossing the borders, like between Tanzania and Uganda.  Otherwise, no clerics.

Today we are called to gaze and contemplate the beauty around us, White Rock Lake, Tom Woodward Park (which I have yet to see), our kids here, our community, Romeos (Maybe not!), and our families.  Jesuit spirituality got me started on this.  Juanita Craft helped me put it into action.

Who is the Juanita Craft in your life who helps you to gaze and contemplate? 

For whom are you the Juanita Craft?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Readings: Acts 6, 1-7; Psalm 33; 1 Peter 2, 4-9; John 14, 1-12.

Acts:  This is another example of stories from the early Christian Community.  On this occasion, the community is selecting from the community seven people, men, who will help free up the priests to do preaching.  The seven chosen are like deacons.

A Chosen Race, a Royal Priesthood

Two things happened to me in Italy that came to mind when I saw this line in Peter’s letter about being a chosen race and a royal priesthood.

First, in Rome on our last evening before departing this past Friday.  It was about 6:30.  All four of us were planning to celebrate sunset at 7:45 and the end of our trip with a glass of wine on the rooftop of our 4-5 story, 500 year old palace & convent.  A great vista point for the city.

Rosemary & I had taken a stroll and were coming home crossing the little plaza next to our convent, when a young Italian boy about 17 came up to me and in Italian asked me where the Pantheon was.  This delighted me for two reasons.

First, he must have thought I was more of a local, not an American tourist.  Ever since my time in East Africa I have always tried to blend in, not stand out as from elsewhere.  That was hard in Tanzania. Secondly, because of the first, he spoke to me in Italian. I both knew what he asked, and I knew how to respond and guide him to the Pantheon, which I half walked him to because it was fairly near.  For a last nighter, this was a gift.

The other event took place on a high point in Florence a week earlier.  Again Rosemary & I had taken a stroll in the early evening while others rested & before going out together.  I was exploring and had climbed a hill to see if I could spot a good place to see the sunset over Florence.  I had heard about this place from one of the sisters at the Florence convent we were staying in.  There were a series of steps in a switch back pattern leading up to a secondary basilica, called St. Miniato.  The steps were quite a climb, with the basilica steps going straight up.

At one point Rosemary is wandering around & I am sitting at the very top, my legs hanging over the marble balustrade.  I am looking over Florence & watching a rain storm approach from the west when I see a little man stooped with osteoporosis start to climb the steps way below me.  He has a dark overcoat on and he uses an umbrella as a cane.  He leans on the balustrade on his left.  Slowly & steadily he climbs until he reaches the top, turns right, and starts to pass near me. 

As he approaches I say in Italian, "Congratulations on climbing the steps."  I reach over and shake his sweaty little hand.  Bent over, he looks up and says, "What?"  I repeat and he asks me who I am.  After I tell him he says, "Are you Italian?"  I am complimented, but say, "No, I’m not Italian.  I am American."  "Oh, bahh," he exclaims and goes on his way.  I am slightly deflated. 

As Peter says in his letter, we are all chosen, we are all a royal priesthood.  Royal does not grab me, but priesthood does.  Sometimes we feel more chosen, more priestly, sometimes we feel more rejected and certainly not royal. 

The 17 year old boy chose me out of all the people in that plaza and asked for help.  In the priest context, I was able to help & guide him.  This experience is common to all of us.  I chose to compliment the little man in a priest context, but he rejected me.  Another common experience to all of us.  Because we are all chosen by God, we are all called to priesthood.  The challenge is to continue to congratulate, help, & guide the next person.

How are you doing this?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-04-20.mp3