Readings:

Acts of the Apostles  6, 1-7, Select from among you 7 reputable men.

Psalm 33,  Lord, Let your mercy be upon us as we place our trust in you.

1 Peter 2, 4-9, You are a chosen race.

 John 14, 15-21,  If you love me you will keep my commandments.

"Hi, Everybody," says Zoe, "And Happy Mother's Day."
 

Mother's Day History:

1905-08: Anna Jarvis of West Virginia began this celebration for her mother, Ann, who cared for wounded Civil War soldiers of both sides.  She campaigned to make it a national day and in 

1914:  Woodrow Wilson made it national.

The spelling: always singular, according to Anna. 

Hallmark Cards: Anna hated them because she felt you know what.  

"From me, too," says Tori, "Happy Mother's Day."

It’s Mother’s Day !

In honor of it being Mother’s Day I want to tell two stories about my mom.  One story is about a compliment she gave me and the second is about a trip we made together.

The first story took place around ’89 or ’90.  I had already returned from East Africa and had already put in a year in a Hispanic church the Jesuits ran in downtown Houston.   I was now living at the high school community. 

Welcome home, Dawson, from first year at Ole Miss.

It was early afternoon.  We were on westbound LBJ heading toward what used to be called the Deadman Hospital at Webb Chapel.  The name has been changed.  Mom was going to the hospital to have some minor surgery, and would stay overnight.

As we drove along she reached out her left hand, patted me on the leg, and said, “I’m proud of you.” 

The bells are ringing, time to start.

I may be wrong, but I don’t remember my mom ever doing that before.  You got to remember that she had always been bummed about me joining the Jesuits and she had never spoken to a Jesuit for about 7 years after I had gone to East Africa. 

She thought I had been sent despite my insistence that I had simply accepted an invitation. 

Our Candle Lighter of The Week, Leo.

Offertory time with Warren, Barb, and Bill.

I was already probably 50 years old at the time mom complimented me.  I had been around a bit.  That compliment really touched me.

The second story took place on one of my home visits from East Africa.  Mom got her two sisters to join her and invited me to drive them around Ireland one Fall on my return to East Africa. 

Communion helpers, Mike, Geri, Claire, Beth, and Rob.

We met in London, which is a story for another homily.  We went to Dublin and leased a little red, two door car.  We drove counter clockwise through County Cavin, where they looked in graveyards for our ancestors, through Northern Ireland, and through the northwest until we arrived at Shannon Airport.

They were like three teen aged girls, laughing, and telling stories about their early day.  Thanks to the smallness of Ireland, we were able to make good progress even though we would usually not be ready to depart in the morning until 10:00 or 10:30.  By 11:30 they wanted to stop for tea.

Buddies, Zoe & Harper.

12:30 or 1:00 lunch.  3:30 for tea and pastries.  Finally, by 5:30 I had to start looking for a place to stay & eat.  And this was a process.  I had to check it out.  Then my mom checked it.  If she gave the okay, in everyone went to eat dinner and laugh themselves silly until 11:00 or 12:00 midnight.

It was one of the fun trips of my life and I was most touched that mom had invited me to be their driver.

Buddies, Mike & Rosemary.

The power of a mother to give life through a simple compliment. 

How has your mother given you life?

Readings:

Isaiah  49, 3, 5-6,  I will make you a light to the nations.

Psalm 40,  Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.

1 Corinthians 1,  1-3,  Grace to you and peace.

John  1, 29-34, I saw the spirit come down. Like a dove.

Cowboy Cole and his mom, Erin, say, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."

Isaiah reminders, again—

 Author: This is still Isaiah #2, the composer of chapters 40-55.  Isaiah is my favorite book and Isaiah 2 I love the most.  As John Cade pointed out a while back, Isaiah 2 is used by Handel in his work, The Messiah, another of my favorites.

 Date:  Ca. 555 before Christ.  The Jewish people of Jerusalem are in the Babylonian Captivity.

Subject:  A great day will come for you Jews in this slavery.  You will be a beacon to others, glorious, and a light to nations everywhere.

Charlotte says, "When do I get my Cupcake?"

A Light to the Nations?  Get Serious.

Here it is again, folks, that line that has motivated me for decades, “I will make you a light to the nations.”  Last week Isaiah 2 mentioned giving sight to the blind.  It is the same idea and motivator for me.

So, this week, while I am reflecting on the readings and my favorite line, Tuesday comes with the news that 75 people have been killed by bombs in Bagdad, Iraq.  Me, a light to the nations?  Get serious.

Sienna says, "You got my Cupcake?"

Next I hear & read news about 20 plus killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, including 2 Americans.  Both of these places ware special to us Americans.  A light to the nations?

On top of this, I am reflecting on an anniversary, a sad one.  This week is the one year anniversary of Kate Banzhaf who died in a car wreck near Colorado Springs.  The person driving Kate was drunk, and she survived.  This was only months after I had celebrated Kate’s wedding.  A light to the nations? 

And Brooklyn says, "Even though it's not my birthday, aren't I a good girl?"

If I let myself, I can get truly discouraged by focusing on all this and so much more.   Two things help me.

First, ever hear of the Christopher movement?  This was big probably in the 40’s when I was a little kid.  The slogan is, “Better to light one candle than curse the darkness.”  I have a vivid memory of being in the Cotton Bowl as a little boy with my dad.  It was a Christopher rally.  At one point all the lights were turned out and everyone lighted the candle they had been given.  I was very impressed by this metaphor.

Jean, Lily, and Bob Cardenas.

Secondly, I look around me at some of the many good things going on.

For instance, I read about Brian DiCarlo, a 23 year old Oregon State student who is walking through a parking lot when he finds an envelope.  He opens it and finds thousands of dollars, like 40 thousand. 

He does not even think twice.  He goes right to the police.  In fact, a 71 year old lady, Sharon Davis, had been on her way to pay on a new house and dropped the money accidentally.  He wanted no reward, but she gave him $300.  He may get much more from readers.  Someone will set up one of those contribution sites.

Emma says, "I'm here, Everybody."

Likewise, Bernadette & some others sent me news of Cardinal O’Malley of Boston, a Franciscan.  He is at an ecumenical service at a Methodist church.  On his way out a minister steps up and asks the Cardinal’s blessing. 

Picture & article on Cardinal O'Malley:   Download Cardinal O'Malley 1-23-14

Behind this man is another minister, a woman.  She asks for O’Malley’s blessing and when he does it, he looks right at her and asks for her blessing.  She gives it.  Incredible. 

Cupcakes of The Week to Sienna, Kevin, and Chloe.  

Finally, I don’t have to go farther than this community.  You people have and do bring light to the nations, nations like Soul’s Harbor, Habitat, a crippled lady almost homeless in Cuernavaca, Mexico,  families in our own community stressed out by emergencies, Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center, our local food bank, and numerous other nations. 

I am consoled to be part of you people.

Georgie suited up.

It is a challenge to stay away from the discouragement that comes from reading & hearing about the tragic stuff.  Instead of cursing that darkness, each of us can still light one candle.  A whole dark stadium can be illuminated.

Whose candle illuminates your life and with whom do you share your candle light?

Does it get better than this? Claire with Chloe and Charlotte.

Readings:                          

Acts  7,  55-60,  They threw Stephen out of the city, and began to stone him.

Psalm 97,  The Lord is king, the most high over all the earth

Revelation 22, 12-14, 16-17, 20,    I, John, heard a voice.

John 17, 20-26,  I pray that they all may be one.

Sorry no homily today.

Readings: Proverbs 8, 22-31; Psalm 8, O Lord, Our God, how Wonderful you Name in all the Earth; Romans 5, 1-5; John 16, 12-15.

Trinity Sunday – Intro to Readings.

Our readings today come from the Book of Proverbs, Paul’s Letter to the Romans and John’s Gospel.

The Book of Proverbs is one we don’t often read from.  It forms part of what is known as the Wisdom Literature, along with the Book of Job, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus and the Book of Wisdom. 

Wisdom literature was very popular throughout the ancient East, particularly Egypt.  In fact, much of the contents of the Book of Proverbs is also found in other more ancient Egyptian writing.  Proverbs is interesting from the point of view that unlike the rest of the Old Testament, where the focus for a relationship with God came from the top, from God thru various covenants and laws, the writers of Proverbs find reason for a relationship with God from man’s own life. 

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”.  In this phrase, repeated a couple of times in Proverbs, the word fear is best understood as respect.  The emphasis throughout the book is on the need for recognition on man’s part for the importance of a proper relationship with God.  Much of the writing is very practical in nature.  The material is quite old, with the books being put together in their final form sometime after the exile, around the year 500 BCE.  Much of the book has traditionally been attributed to Solomon and he probably did contribute some of the sayings.

The Letter to the Romans contains the familiar phrase about justification by faith which caused the Church at the time of Luther to have such a difficult time, since Luther took the position that faith alone was all that was needed for salvation, based on this letter, and the Church was holding out for good works also.

Our Gospel from John comes from the long discussion which takes place within the context of the Last Supper.

Trinity Sunday Homily

I spent about 21 years working at IBM and one of the words which is ingrained into every IBMer from a very early stage is the word “Think”.  It was something which Mr. Tom Watson Sr. decided should be the catchword for the company, and which I suspect we would find tattooed on Bob McGrath’s chest.  

Well in matters of God, I feel we are better off with less thinking and more doing.  Today’s feast is a case in point, the feast of the Holy Trinity.  I know that I have said this both at Easter and again on the Feast of the Ascension, “the minute you have managed to understand God, be sure you are in heresy”!  Our God is too big for human contemplation, plus our God is a God of action.  A quick look at Jesus’ life will show that He was either doing or praying, but not thinking!

 

If we accept that the basic message and life of Jesus was about breaking down barriers between people, about freeing people from the unnecessary burdens of guilt, about loving people, then the question we need to be focusing on is “how am I doing?”  Is my life lived bringing joy and encouragement to those around me, not just the people I like but the ones I can’t stand too!  Do I live a life of forgiveness, or do I find myself collecting resentments?  Am I busy building people up, or busy tearing them down either through criticism or gossip?  Is my life lived honestly, or do I play games and pretend to be what I am not?  The questions could continue.  But this is the reason we come here each week to stand before one another and our God, to take the time to reflect on our lives and to resolve to improve them in the days or week ahead.

Picture 1:   The Celebrants

Picture 2:   Choir, Wendy, Shonda, Ray, & Celeste

Picture 3:   Offertory, Grace & Mary Ellen

Picture 4:   CCAC monthly $2000 contribution, Claire & Bobby

Readings: Isaiah 56, 6-7; Psalm 67, O God, let all the Nations praise You; Romans 11, 13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15, 21-28 

Isaiah:

    1.  Author:  This is Isaiah III, the one who writes after the Babylonian Captivity, therefore, probably in Jerusalem after 550 B.C., more or less.

    2.  Today’s message:  this selection is used to support the gospel, a message of inclusion of all peoples.  His house will be open to all. 

Romans: For months we have been using as our second reading Paul's letter to the Romans.  I have not mentioned it or even included in the homilies for two reasons:

1. It is not related to the other two readings. The Gospel & the first reading attempt to follow a theme. The second reading continues the same book week after week and if it relates it is accidental.  Romans will be with us another 4 Sundays into mid-September.
2. It is dense. I really don’t like it, except in a few sections.  7 letters are considered written by Paul who wrote this one probably around 55 A.D., while he was in Corinth, Greece, and in anticipation of a visit to Rome.  Some scholars consider it his masterpiece, but it is often difficult to understand.  

The Assumption

Often I mention that a line from the readings is one of my favorites, or a certain passage, maybe from Isaiah, is a favorite.  Today I cannot say the Matthew passage is a favorite.  In fact, I do not like the way Jesus insults the Canaanite woman.  A dog!  No way!

For maybe two days I thought about talking about this, but I could not find what I was looking for.  Like, was this Matthew, not Jesus, speaking?  And why?  I searched all my resources.  I even phoned my ace in a jamb, my friend, fellow ex-Jesuit, and excellent scripture scholar, Francis Vanderwall.  He admitted he had not a clue. 

So, I am going to cop out.  I want to talk on a much more favorite topic, the Assumption. 

Tomorrow the Catholic Church celebrates one of the big feast days, the Assumption of Mary into heaven.  The meaning: Mary, after she finished her time on earth, was taken bodily into heaven.  I would like to make 4 observations.

1.  The history of the belief.  The idea that Mary was taken up bodily into heaven got going by at least the 5th century.  People thought that she was rewarded for her role in redemption by this action on God's part. 

2.  The history of the declaration.  Really fascinating.  In November, 1950, Pius XII declared this event to be a dogma of the Catholic Church, that is, you have to believe it if you are a Catholic.   It was the first and only doctrine declared under papal infallibility, a doctrine proclaimed by Pius IX in 1870.

The story behind both of these dates is quite revealing.  1870 is the date of Italian unification.  Up to this time there was no united peninsula, no Italy like today.  There were at least three big parts: north, south, and right in the middle the Papal States. 

The people wanted those states to be part of the whole.  Pius IX was adamantly against ceding an inch of papal property.  When the people won the property deal, Pius withdrew into the Vatican, declared himself a prisoner of the Vatican, appealed to France who did not help him, and finally declared that what he said as pope on faith & morals was infallible, despite the advice of the majority of his consulters.  Sort of  'And I'll show you!' action.

In 1950 the Second World War was finished and the world was stunned into shock by the revelation of the Holocaust.  Pius XII himself was downcast by the Holocaust.  Moreover, he was getting heat because he did not stand up more strenuously to Hitler.  He had been Vatican ambassador to Germany during the build up of the Third Reich, so he knew the atmosphere well.  On top of that, there was evidence that at least one senior Vatican official was complicit in sending Jews to the death camps. 

Pius XII might have experienced some shame.  In the face of the brutality of the Holocaust, Pius decided to make a dramatic statement to show the sacredness of the human person, body included, by declaring the assumption of Mary's body into heaven a dogma.  

3.  The basis in Scripture for the doctrine.  There is none.  What is taking place here, is that Pius is articulating what has been considered a belief for centuries.  People have believed this for, say, 10-15 centuries.  Therefore, it took place.  There is a weakness here, of course.  What can be asserted a fact without evidence, can be discarded without evidence. 

4.  The Assumption in my life.  53 years ago tomorrow I walked into the Jesuit novitiate in Grand Coteau, LA.  30 of us entered more or less together.  Two of my classmates are still Jesuits. 

On that day 50 years ago my life took a 180 degree turn from being a typical  bratty teen- ager to a monk.  From days spent with friends, cars, and radios, I entered a world of silence, meditation, physical work, and study.  Feast days were eagerly anticipated and the Assumption was one of the big ones.  The date is still big with Jesuits and it brings back fond memories.  It comes at a convenient time at the end of the summer and before the school year. 

I still celebrate August 15, not at all with the same belief pattern that I had when I entered the Jesuits August 15, 1958, 18 years old just out of high school.   I celebrate because of a fondness for Mary and a fondness for my years as a Jesuit.

The Assumption is celebrated tomorrow.  What do you think about it?  What do you believe?

Picture 1:    Celebration

Picture 2:   Communion

Picture 3:   Cliff

Picture 4:   Emma

Picture 5:   Leo

Picture 6:   Wedding of Victoria Looney (an old friend since her childhood) & David Cline

Picture 7:   Wedding at the gazeebo, Plano City Park