Reminder for the Ascension of the Lord, May 21, 2023

Ezekiel 17: It shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar.  Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it, every winged thing in the shade of its boughs.

2 Corinthians 5: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,  so that each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.

Mark 4: It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.  But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”

 

Barbara Wittek heard from her friend whose grandson, Ford we have been praying for.  She asks for even more prayers for Ford.

 

Readings:                          

Proverbs  8,  22-31, When the Lord established the heavens I was there.

Psalm 8,  Lord, Our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth

Romans 5,1-5,    We have been justified by faith.

John 16, 12-15,  I have much more to tall you

 

John's Homily

The fruits or signs of the Spirit, what you see when a person lives in the Spirit of Jesus, are the behaviors that descrobe love, joy, peace, patience or tolerance, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness or self-control.

I have shared with you in the past my having sisters who no longer speak with one another and the pain this signifies.  Well, this whole past week I have experienced the signs of the Spirit.  Lambrini’s older brother George had never been to Dallas in the 22 years since Lambrini and I were married.

 On the occasion of his mother, Kalliopi’s, 90^th birthday, George agreed to come.  I already knew George as a man of love and joy and peace.  He lives with his wife, on their farm in Pelaponesia near a town called Crimidi.  In addition to love, joy and peace, George demonstrates amazing patience. 

 

 

Guess who lit candles today.

 

 

I’m able to practice patience in some aspects of life, but fall down, especially in the areas of mechanics and technology.  I lose patience with machines that I want to do something they won’t do.  E.g., my lawn mower ‘died’ last year at the beginning of mowing season.  I found someone who would cut my yard for a reasonable cost and didn’t buy a new machine.  This year I took it in and the shop guy said it wasn’t worth fixing, and he could sell me a new one for $300.  When George got here, he little by little found out what was wrong with it, and then fixed each problem, one by one. 

I was amazed.  George reminded me of what Scott Peck said in his classic book, The Road Less Traveled’.  He said that he, like many others, said “I can’t do this or that.”  Peck said what we mean is “I won’t spend the time learning how to do that.”  Anyone graced with normal intelligence can learn to do anything, if we exercise the patience required to learn how.

Then yesterday my family got together to welcome George to Dallas and to celebrate Kalliopi’s and Lambrini’s birthdays.  Lambrini’s sister-in-law Debbie, and her daughter Leah with her one year old son, flew in to be with George and the family.  Our two daughters and grandson Freddie also came.

 

Viking Sea docked at Stockholm, Sweden last night, a Spirit Event.

 

 

I experienced their love and peace and kindness with one another all day long.  Everyone showed their love for Leah’s 1-year old CJ, and Joey’s 5-year old Freddie—total acceptance and joy.  I saw Patience, which includes tolerance, in how the 5 carnivores and 3 vegetarians respected one another and showed great tolerance for our different life choices.  Faithfulness includes self-control, and I experienced this sign of the Spirit in their total lack of judgement in sharing personal stories with each other.  What a day of blessing.

I also experience this ‘Spirit event’ each week when we gather here to celebrate together.  Remember Stack talking about the ‘Christmas event’ and the ‘Easter or Resurrection event’.  At Pentecost time we celebrate the ‘Spirit event’.  Be on the watch for Spirit events; they are happening all the time.   

How do you experience ‘Spirit events’, in yourself and with others?

 

Sunset around 9:00 P.M. Saturday night, Stockholm.  The Ending. 

 

 Yes, we have just returned to Dallas, Ro & Jo

 

 

 

 

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!

 

Readings: Wisdom 18, 6-9; Psalm 33; Hebrews 11, 1-19; Luke 12, 32-48.

Wisdom: this book is one of the 12 special books only finally approved by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent in 1546.  Martin Luther, for instance, did not think the 12 books were genuine.  Whatever the case, the 12 books are in a special section of our bible after the Old Testament.

The book we are reading from today contains traditional Jewish and Greek ideas about life, basically saying that God rewards those faithful to him & punishes you know whom.

What are You Afraid of?

When I was about sixteen, I came home from the old Jesuit High School one afternoon probably in the spring.  Nobody was home, not even my sister as far as I can remember. My dad was at work. My mom was at one of her afternoon bridge clubs and had gone with one of her friends because her baby blue Pontiac was in the garage. 

After hanging around a bit and getting bored, I decided I was going to go visit a friend and use my mom’s car. Mom, however, did not like me using her car, so I could not find her keys. Now in those days all of us kids knew how to run a car without keys. It was called hot wiring a car. You used tin foil on the back of the key slot under the dash. 

So I hot wired my mom’s big Pontiac, pulled out of the driveway onto Stanford, and turned toward Preston Road. Arriving at the corner the car stalls. For five minutes I am working on the key slot to start the car, all to no avail, when a car coming north on Preston turns into Stanford. A lady is driving.  I know that lady and sitting next to her, my mom.

The master had returned and the servant was unprepared. In fact, the servant was caught red handed.

I never got that car started and, in fact, had to pay my hard earned paper route money to get it towed and fixed. I had shorted out some wires. I don’t remember my mom ever saying anything, but I was humiliated. 

I remembered this incident when I read about the master & the servant. I have some observations about these readings.

First, I don’t see our God as a thief who is trying to catch us off guard. He is not a strict master who is looking to catch us red handed and beat us. 

Secondly, I don’t see us as servants. In fact, in John’s gospel Jesus says he does not call us servants, but friends. In today’s psalm it says, "Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.  We are his chosen.  So is everyone.

To see this parable in a positive light, I would go back to last week when we talked about life being a gift.  When it says that the Lord will come at an hour we do not expect, I propose that the gift comes at moments and in packages we do not expect.  Appreciation is the goal and the process. It involves being sensitive and reflective.

One of the best lines in the whole gospel today is the very first line where Jesus says, "Do not be afraid any longer." This means I do not have to be afraid of God, afraid of death, afraid of getting caught red handed, or afraid of missing the gifts of the moment. 

I’ll always remember how stupid I felt when my mom came around that corner and saw me in her car, broken down. She did not tear into me, and neither do we have a god who is a thief or master who will beat us. 

So what are you afraid of?

   

Acts of the Apostles 6:  The word of God continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly, …

1 Peter 2:  You are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises" of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

John 14:  " … Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father."

                  

 

Mary reading from the Acts of the Apostles

                                        

                                                                 

Thanks…     

Music,    Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Mary & John

Gospel,   John Cade

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

                                                                              

   

John reading from the first Letter of Peter

 

 

 

Readings:  Download 05-07-23 Readings – 5th Easter

Homily:   

                        

Celeste gets a cookie for visiting us from Thailand

 

Remember these special people:

For Cindy Cramer's family;  For the family of Ron Senter;   For Meredith  whose cancer has come back;  For Jan;  For Tom  Quinn who had back surgery on November 21st;  For Sandra who has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma;   For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer ;  For Madeleine, Richard Eshelbrenner's granddaughter;  For Hue; For Jackie;  For John's sister, Kathey recovering from a fall;   For Tom Good;  For a young man, 19 struggling with a brain tumor and cancer;     For Mary Hall's friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition;   For Sir Charlie & Jan; 

                                                                                                   

       

 

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughters, Lisa & Lauren;  For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation & friends, Annie, a mom of 3 kids and Michael ;    for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

The Kiss of Peace

 

                                          

Birthdays:  Patricia Jansky, Barbara Senter

Anniversaries:  

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $  1,005.00

Outreach: $  460.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

       

Readings: Isaiah 62, 1-5; Psalm 96, Proclaim His Marvelous Deeds to All the Nations; 1 Corinthians 12, 4-11; John 2, 1-11, Wedding at Cana

Mass with Tony

Notes on Readings for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Our First Reading is from Isaiah, chapter 62.  The book of the Prophet Isaiah is quite long, 66 chapters and in reality falls into two separate books.  The first section up to and including chapter 39 was written starting around 740 BCE.  Up to this time, Judah, the southern kingdom had enjoyed great prosperity.  The northern kingdom had fallen to the Assyrians, but the southern kingdom, including Jerusalem was fine.  Isaiah starts to write because the southern kingdom has subjected itself to the Assyrians and accepted their gods.

  

 

Second Isaiah was written many years later.  The situation is totally different because the kingdom has been conquered by the Babylonians, Jerusalem and the Temple have been destroyed and the people carried off into exile.  Our reading today is towards the very end of the book and the author is trying to offer encouragement to the people about the New Jerusalem.  He is trying to build up their faith in God that everything will be all right.  The reading is really a kind of liturgical song.

  

The Second Reading is from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, and the issue he deals with is a whole lot of arguing within the community about the different gifts of the Spirit, and which is the best!!  Just like little kids!!  The verses, which come just before our reading, should really have been included, and I have decided to have them read as part of the reading, as they give full meaning to the reading.

 

 

  

Homily for Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

 

Today is the only Sunday in Ordinary time this year when our Gospel comes from St John.  For the rest of the year we will be reading Luke.  We will run into John’s Gospel again in Lent.  The gospel reading today is about Jesus’ First Miracle, and this is probably why we have this reading, as we are pretty much at the start of the New Year.  Last Sunday we had the Baptism of Jesus, and since John is the only Gospel with this event, hence we have John today!

A few words first about the Gospel itself.  Written between the years 90 and 100 CE.  It is very different for the other three Gospels, namely Matt, Mk and Luke.  They are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels because of their similarities.  But John is very different.  Remember this is the gospel the starts out with “In the beginning was the Word”, by the way, remember that is also the way the book of Genesis begins, “In the beginning…this is no accident.  In Genesis we have the story of the creation taking seven days.  If you read Johns Gospel, you will find that we are in fact on the seventh day if one is counting days in Johns Gospel!  Our reading today properly begins with the words “on the third day”.  That in itself sounds familiar.  It is intended to.

I would like to point out a couple of things about John’s gospel.  Written at the end of the first century.  The temple had been destroyed, and this Christian community had been expelled from the synagogue.  There was fierce animosity between the Jewish community and the Christian community.

    

John never identifies the mother of Jesus as Mary, only as his mother.  We meet her twice in the whole gospel, the first time in today’s reading and the other time is at the foot of the cross when he says to her to take care of the beloved disciple John.

   

But lets look at today’s gospel.  A wedding, Jesus shows up with his mother and his disciples.  The narrative is carefully crafted.  There is an exchange between Jesus and his mother.  “They have no wine, what’s it to me.”  Then between the mother and the servants, “do whatever he tells you”, then between Jesus and the servants, “go fill the jars” and finally between the head steward and the bridegroom, who doesn’t have anything to say!  And again remember Jesus is later referred to as the Bridegroom!

   

By the way, that is a whole lot of wine!!  Somewhere between 120 and 140 gallons!! To the person familiar with the Old Testament, that would remind them of paradise!  An abundance of wine.  The water jars were normally used as part of the ritual purification process, which later we know that Jesus basically ignored completely.  But the piece I would like to draw attention to is brief exchange between Jesus and his mother.  It is one of those strange exchanges.  They should have whacked him properly for his answer when they found him in the temple at 12 and because they didn’t this is what you get!!

  

How are we to understand the whole thing?  Woman, my hour has not yet come!  Remember the next time we meet his mother was when his hour had come!  In spite of the harshness of the rebuke, Mary’s faith is demonstrated by the fact that she knows that anything asked in Jesus’ Name will be granted and so she simply tells the servants “Do whatever He tells you”.  That is the model of faith.

  

Faith is one of those words where I think for many of us there may be a bit of confusion.  At times faith and a belief system are often interchanged, but they are very different.  A belief system is all the things that have been put together by the Church as facts about our faith, but faith itself is quite simple.  It is an acknowledgement that there is a God who, in human terms, loves me and wants me to share that love with others!  As humans, we tend to complicate things, but it really is that simple.  Jesus told us to Love God and Love our Neighbor.  That was it.  With that in mind, we can go back and look at Mary’s actions in the story today.  First of all, she was sensitive to the embarrassment, which the married couple were about to be in, and secondly she had complete confidence that whatever she asked her Son, he would answer.  She didn’t get caught up in how he answered her, which would have been a distraction.  She simply told with servants to do whatever he told them to do. 

 

 

Now this is Mary we are holding up, as a model.  We will spend our lifetime trying to live with that kind of complete trust in God.  This is the woman who years earlier had said, “Be it done unto me”. 

We have gathered here today because of our own faith.  To have it nourished, to listen to God’s Word, and to share in this Meal.  We have the opportunity to live that faith each day, with our family, our neighbors, the folks we work with or are at school with us.  This week, lets remember Mary’s very simple “faith-filled” response, “Do whatever he tells you”  An answer she could give with complete confidence because she knew she was loved!

 

 

Picture 1:  Mass beginning with Tony & Kevin

Picture 2:  Tony blessing Geri's shawls

Picture 3:  The Bentleys, Holden, Cole, Hope, & Hunter

Picture 4:  Celebrating their 39th anniversary, Ray & Claire; celebrating her 15th birthday, Alexandra with her dad, David