Readings:

Sirach  15, 15-20,  Before man are life and death, good and evil.

Psalm 119,  Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 2,  6-10,  We speak a wisdom to those who are mature.

Matthew  5, 17-37, If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.

Batman Leo says, "Come on in, Everybody; I'll protect you from all the bad guys."

Observations: on Psalm 119, on Matthew 5, and, first, on Sirach—

What:  This is one of those 12 odd books in between the Old and the New Testament.

 Author: a Jewish teacher called Joshua.  The only identified author in the whole Old Testament.  He tells us who he is, that he is a teacher, lived in Jerusalem, and traveled a lot.  It seems he put his work together while running a school in Alexandria, Egypt.

 His grandson translated the Hebrew work into Greek.  This Hebrew text was lost for centuries until the 19^th century, when 2/3 of it was found in Cairo.  Then other portions were found in Qumran and Masada, as late as 1964.

Cowboy Cole on a mission.

 Date: composed around 175 years before Christ.  About 90 years before Christ the Jews put together their official bible, but excluded Sirach because they could not find the Hebrew version, only the Greek. 

 Christians accepted the book as part of their bible in the 2^nd century after Christ.  The Council of Trent (keep 1555 in mind as a date) officially accepted it, making it part of that extra 12 books called the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical.  Martin Luther rejected the book & so do many Protestant congregations today.

 Subject Matter: practical ethics, duties.  Beware of the either / or spirituality presented.

 Subject today: you may choose good or bad.  Beware of the either / or spirituality presented in the reading.    All is either good or bad.  No in between or both, which is more what we all are, both good and bad.  

It can be simplistic & Pelagian, that is, it is all up to you and you have all the strength needed to choose good.  Pelagians thought that you had to EARN your salvation.  Therefore, the more religious stuff you did, like the more Masses, the more pilgrimages to the church & shrines, the more novenas & rosaries,  the more merit you win for yourself.

Zoe and Leo waiting for those cupcakes.

Psalm 119: the longest of all the psalms.  A focus on observance of the laws, decrees, and statutes.

Matthew 5:  a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount. Note the figures of speech called “antitheses,” namely, “You have heard it said, but, I say to you.”  4 even 5 times.  Matthew is trying to establish the authority & authenticity of Jesus.

Sources: Good New Bible; New Interpreter's Bible., Wikipedia; Reginal Fuller, S.J., David Westberg, S.J., & Larry Gillick, S.J., St. Louis U. Liturgies, on line.

Cupcakes of The Week to John, Dick, Rosemary (17th), Nina, and subbing for Ray, guess whom?, Leo!

Tear It Out & Throw It Away, My Right Eye?  You Crazy?!

 I have mentioned a lot of this once before, but it bears repeating because it is so relevant. 

 When I was studying theology in Toronto years ago, an article came out in the local newspaper.  Some guy had read the passage saying that if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.  He did it, folks. 

 In this passage from Matthew there are five pieces of advice to the early Christians which taken literally can get a person all messed up.  Is there a positive as well as a negative to each? 

Offertory, the Ekes, Marlene, Cindy, Zaile, and Billy.

 One observation before I touch the five.  I have mentioned this so often that I hope you are not worn out.   Infinite demand and infinite acceptance.  Watch out here for a lot of infinite demand.  I’ll give a positive & a negative for each.

 Matthew’s five pieces of advice are 1. breaking the least commandment,  2. getting angry,  3. looking at a woman, 4. divorce, and  5. swearing.  Here goes.

Bethany, Shonda, and Ray.

1.  Matthew says that if you break the smallest commandment you will be the least in the kingdom.  Moreover, unless you are better than the Pharisees, you will not even get into the kingdom.  The positive here is that the bar is set high.  The negative is that all, all of us sinners will be kept out. It creates scruples and obsessive compulsive behavior.  

 2.  Secondly, if you get mad at me and call me a fool, you are going to Gehenna.  I love it.  The positive here is the call to anger management.  I am challenged to know that all feelings are okay and need to be controlled.  The negative is that it gives me the idea that anger is not allowed, so stuff it.  Trouble is, it does not stuff well.  Not like a sleeping bag or tent.  It pops up in unexpected places.

Cowboy Cole taking care of business.

3.  Looking at a woman with lust.  The positive here is teaching respect for all people.  This advice, written by men for men, was attempting to gain some respect for women who were looked upon as property.  I found this in Tanzania & Kenya.  Rosemary read me an article about some Muslim who cut off his wife’s ears and nose for reporting him for abuse.   The negative is that it teaches us that feelings are sinful.  In the old days, we thought we looked at a girl and we were going to hell.  This is doubly sad because I don’t think there is a hell anyway.

 4.  Divorce is adultery.  The positive is that it reinforces the unity of marriage.  The negative is that people stay in abusive or addictive marriages long after it may even be safe.  Divorce is failure and we all fail sometimes even in tragic ways.  In order to escape using the word divorce the Catholic Church comes up with the more convoluted word Annulment.

The Team begins the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time.

 5.  Swearing.  The positive is that it involves politeness and respect for others.  Even if I am okay with my anger I do not swear at someone.  The negative is that it tightens us up.  We forget the therapeutic value of cussing, maybe a healthy & fun way of releasing anger.  The healthy Jesuits I lived with certainly partook of this therapy. 

 The overall danger in these pieces of advice is that we really get messed up, forgetting two things.  First they are presenting infinite demand.  Secondly, they make no mention of infinite acceptance.

 The poor guy in Toronto who blinded himself is an example of how we can mess ourselves up with goofy religion. 

 What do you think about these ideas?

Rosemary does her blessing.

Readings: 2 Samuel 12; Psalm 32; Galatians 2, 16-21; Luke 7, 36-8, 3

Happy Father’s Day & Confirmation Day

2 Samuel.  What has taken place before the reading today is that King David, the Great, has taken another man’s wife and then had the man killed in battle to eliminate him. The wife is the famous Bathsheba and her son is to be the great Solomon. Nathan is the prophet who will condemn David.

We Confirm Excellence

This morning I would like to direct my remarks to Erica & Susie because it is their special day. 

Every year to maintain my pschological therapist license in TX I have to attend 20 hours of continuing education. Last week I attended an all day seminar for six hours.

In the afternoon the presenter was talking about achieving internal peace and wholeness.  He said he could probably come up with 20 qualities of a person who is peaceful and whole. However, he wanted to share his top five. Think you can figure out what the 5 are, maybe one or two? 

I’ll tell you what they are and I want to add one of my own. I’ll give them alphabetically.  His 5 are curiosity & hope, gratitude & love, & zest.  I add humor. 

Confirmation:

Curiosity for you girls might come pretty easy right now in your lives. In fact, maybe your curiosity can get overwhelmed at times. You are in school. The day will come, however, when you will graduate. Then you can choose to read, to know different places by traveling there, to study different languages, to befriend people different from you. 

If you were not girls of hope you would not be here this morning. Your hope is that tomorrow will be an even better day than today, with more peace, fascinating people (which all are), and fun times.

You hear me talk always about focusing on my blessings. I do this to stimulte my gratitude to God, to People, to Rosemary.

When I focus on gratitude I find I can love more. Knowing you girls, you will love a lot of people and a lot of people will love you because of what neat people you are. Occasionally you will be challenged to love a person who makes your love a decision. I love the person despite the behavior.  Unconditional love: maybe does not exist except on rare occasions. It is, however, always a goal.

When you are grateful and loving, full of hope and curious, you will live your lives with zest.  You will love your lives and live to the fullest.  Life itself will be a gift.

Finally, I add humor.  Not only is it healthy to laugh.  It is esecially healthy to laugh at myself. How often do you girls laugh at events, people, yourselves?  Humor helps on those occasions when I fall flat on my face and make a fool of myself. 

You girls look around and you will see these qualities in your mom & dad, your friends, and lots of people here this morning. You girls have these qualities.  I know you & have seen them.  I confirm these qualities in you. The Community, the Catholic Church, and I, we are all proud of you.  Continue to be The Best.

Folks, back to you.  How are you going to confirm these girls in their excellence?

Audio: Click to download to an mp3 file

Readings: Deuteronomy 30, 10-14; Psalm 69; Colossians 1, 15-20; LUKE 10, 25-37, The Good Samaritan.

Deuteronomy: the scene is the desert outside the promised land.  Moses is talking to the people about all that has happened to them since he led them out of Israel and through the desert for many years.  Now, as they prepare to enter, and Moses is dying, he is simply exhorting them to love Yahweh and obey his laws.

Moses talks about a command, but never mentions exactly what it is.  Watch for the answer in today’s gospel.  The Great Command.

The Good Samaritan

I am going to do an explication of text today. 

Initially this parable looks like simply an encouragement to help others. Actually there is a second meaning, perhaps much more profound, especially for the Jews who are listening. It has to do with prejudice.

The setting. A Jewish lawyer is asking a question about his justification. Where does one draw the line in helping a person. Who is my neighbor? Some observations.

First, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notoriously dangerous and plagued with thieves. That this man was alone is significant.  People would travel in groups for safety. Was he an outcast?  Friendless?  Not too intelligent or innocent?

Second, the man was stripped. For the lawyer this would signify that the man was without identity, of no identifiable class. In other words, he might not be a lawyer or intellectual or even a Jew. He was Every Person.  A human being.

The priest & the Levite. The lawyer would know why they did not stop to help. The Law. They could have been on the way to the temple and they could not cause themselves to be ritually impure. In the temple they had to be pure, no contact with dirty people orthey could not offer their sacrifice. Obviously organized religion still follows this practice. 

Along comes a Samaritan. To the Jewish lawyer & the Jewish listeners Samaritans were considered demon possessed.  Samaritans intermarried with pagans, i.e., people who did not recognize Yahweh as the name of their God. They would defile the temple just by entering. In sum, they were vile and dirty, certainly not capable of performing an act of love.  

But, to the surprise of the lawyer & the audience, it is the Samaritan who performs the act of love.  He even risks his own life by rescuing the man. Jesus further twists the knife by showing how the Samaritan goes beyond the call by setting the man up in an inn and promising to cover all his expenses.

The composer of the parable goes further and plays with two elements used in the temple sacrifice: oil and water.  He employs these elements to clean (purify?) the victim.  The author knows what he is suggesting in using these items.

Jesus is responding to the lawyer’s question, "Who is my neighbor," by saying "Everybody."  No prejudice.

Who is the number one neighbor you are taking care of today?

Audio: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-07-15.mp3

Say Rosemary & Cathy, "Happy Kentucky Derby Weekend and welcome in."

Readings:

Acts of the Apostles  2, 14, 36-41  Let the whole house of Israel know.

Psalm 23,  The Lord is my shepherd.  (Beautiful, consoling)

1 Peter 2, 20-25, By his wounds have you been healed.

 John 10, 1-10,  Whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd. 

Welcome back to Dallas, Ann, and to our community.  You are one of our best all time friends.

The Three Best

Whenever I go on a trip like the one Rosemary & I just did with Viking on the Elbe River in Eastern Germany, I get questions.  Like, ‘What was the best thing?’  I would like to talk briefly about 3 best things that struck me, a Berlin chapel, a church door, and a concentration camp. 

This bell tower is all that is left of the old gothic Kaiser Wilhelm church in central Berlin.  It is preserved as a remembrance.

In the heart of Berlin there used to be a large gothic church called Kaiser Wilhelm Church.  It was bombed badly in the war and all that is left is a large, beat up bell tower.  Bullet wounds and bomb damage from bottom to what is left of the top.   The bell tower has been preserved as is to remind.

Interior of the Kaiser Wilhelm chapel .   The blue ambiance comes from bricks with glass circles tinted blue, very moving.

Next to the tower a chapel has been built, very plain, a grey box on the outside.  After looking at prewar pictures of the old church, just for the heck of it, I decide to go inside the rather plain chapel.  I am stunned by the simple beauty.  The curved front wall is made of cement blocks with round blue bottle like glass.   A gold, ascending, larger than life-sized Christ hangs right in the middle.   Simple wooden pews.  The blue and gold ambience was stunning. 

The half destroyed bell tower and the stunningly moving chapel symbolize for me the story of Berlin.

View of interior from right aisle.  The bell tower in union with this simple chapel symbolize the old and the new Berlin.

Second best experience.  Wittenberg and the church where Martin Luther posted 95 theses, exactly 5 centuries ago on October 31.

All my training about this event gave me a misconception.  Namely, that Luther was out to start a church revolution.   Nope.

Wittenburg, Church door where Martin Luther posted his 95 theses 500 year ago this year.  It was a university bulletin board.

The story goes like this.  Luther was a professor at the Wittenberg University.  The church door was a bulletin board.  Professors would post theses which the students were expected to debate the pros and cons of.   Everything was hand written in Latin.  Luther even titled his material as Disputation on the Power & Efficiency of Indulgences.  Disputation is the key word and implied debate of the pros and cons.  It was only later that year or the next that Rome got wind of them and a year later excommunicated Luther and the ideas went viral.

Wittenburg town center.

3 samples of theses:

#21.  Those indulgence preachers are in error who say that a man is absolved from every penalty and saved by papal indulgences.

27.  They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory.

32.  Those who believe they can be certain of their salvation because they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned, together with their teachers.

St. Mary's Church, Wittenberg.  This is not the Luther church which was more of a college chapel. 

I spent three years, ’62-’65, studying philosophy at Spring Hill College in Mobile.  There were a hundred plus Jesuits engaged in this process.  We debated theses and we debated in Latin.  I took all my philosophy exams in Latin, written and mostly oral.   We had the church position and we had the adversaries.  We were expected to be able to verbally ace those adversaries.  Luther was probably one of our adversaries. 

A small number of the survivors of Ravensbruck. 

This was so déjà vu for me.  I could feel exactly what was going on, no revolt, just debate.  Somebody copied those theses, got them to Rome, and some priest, bishop, or pope over reacted, excommunicated Luther, and a revolt took place among the people.  Could this be taking place today?

Revensbruck compound & barracks.  100,000 plus women were concentrated here.

Thirdly, Ravensbruck concentration camp for women.  For years I have read about the camps, in particular Ravensbruck.  This camp was set up for women and it was this camp where medical experiments were performed on the women. 

Ravensbrook compound.  The camp is 60 miles north of Berlin.

We drove straight north out of Berlin about two hours on a beautiful day.  When I walked onto the compound I felt I was walking on hallowed, sacred ground. The barracks have all been removed, but the official buildings are still there, the infirmary, the clothes sewing hall, and the men & women officers’ houses.  I stood on the morning assembly ground and could see it all. 

As human beings we are capable of such horror and such beauty. 

Ravensbruck today.  The barracks have been removed, but the outlines are still present.  On the left are the work building and the infamous infirmary.  The picture is taken from the assembly area.

Readings: Isaiah 60, 1-6; Psalm 72, Lord, Every Nation on Earth will adore You; Ephesians 3, 2-6; Matthew 2, 1-12.

Isaiah 60: author, date, subject

Author: 3 Isaiah (responsible for chapters 55-66)

Date: ca. 400, after the Babylonian Captivity, ended ca. 550

Subject: lines such as, Rise up in splendor, the glory of the Lord shines, people from the east will come with gold & frankincense.

source: John Shelby Spong

The Great Debate: Myth vs Fact

I have just had an epiphany event in my life.  I was visited by an old friend, a wise friend, maybe a wise guy friend.  He says, "Stack, you are a fraud."  You folks have known this all along.  He says that the homily I gave before Christmas on the Partridge in a Pear Tree was not true.  Sorry to have to tell you this.  The history was wako, did not happen.  As you can imagine, I was quite deflated, but figured he was right because he is more of a researcher than I. 

So, folks, the old geezer fraud fesses up this morning.  I confess that I did not do any research on the subject.  Somebody sent it to me a few years ago, and I did not even save the name of the sender. 

So, using my friend's research and my own, I discovered that maybe the symbols were connected to the old Christmas carol ca. 1990.  Apparently nobody knows.  It was pointed out that these symbols did not need to be secret because of persecution.  The Elizabethan protestants shared most of the same symbols.  No secret needed.  Plus the carol may have come from France.  So, everyone, erase that homily and the history I gave you.  I blew that one. 

It struck me in the midst of this, could we be witnessing the creation of a myth?  100 years from now how many people will believe the version that I presented?  Could this be an example of what took place in the bible?  You have certainly heard that biblical scholars have determined that the nativity stories are the result of literary liberties taken by Luke & Matthew, not factual history.  I can give you two simple examples.

First, Bethlehem.  It is thought that Jesus was really born in Nazareth.  But Luke & Matthew, the only writers dealing with the nativity, wanted to connect Jesus with King David.  David was born in Bethlehem.  It is pointed out that it is a long way from Nazareth to Bethlehem, it was winter, and Mary was pregnant.  A woman researcher commented, "Only a man would imagine such a journey possible for a pregnant woman."

Why were people going to Bethlehem?  To be counted in a census of all the descendents of David.  David lived a 1000 years earlier, had many wives and mistresses.  His offspring would have numbered in at least the thousands.  No wonder there was no room.  And imagine how skitzy Herod would be with these thousands of potentially hostile subjects just a few miles from Jerusalem.

Why did the writers use such literary liberties?  They want to show that Jesus was special, he was the figure 1 Isaiah predicted, the God-hero, the wonder worker, the Prince of Peace.  They had heard so much about the adult Jesus that they wanted to make his birth a God-hero event.  So, connect him with the Great King David.

Finally, secondly, there is one small but significant mistranslation.  In Isaiah 7, 14, it is said, "A young woman will have a child."  Matthew, most likely intentionally to craft his point, mistranslates the word young woman as virgin, and says 'a virgin will become pregnant' (1, 23).  And so it has come down. 

There are three ways to respond to these studies.  One is to say, "No problem, God can do all that stuff.  He's all powerful."   The trouble with this is that the evidence is becoming overwhelming.  Like still saying the earth is flat.

Or I can simply toss out the whole and stay home.

A middle ground could be to recognize that literary liberties have been used.  And still celebrate the event.  The event, the Prince of Peace gives me peace and gives me a longing to share the peace. 

I goofed up by not researching the Partridge in a Pear Tree.  Sorry about that.  What we may be seeing here is a myth process similar to the biblical stories.  Myth or fact?  How can I be an educated, intelligent Christian?

What do you think about all this?  What do you feel about it?

Sources: John Shelby Spong; Harvey Cox, Future of Faith; Catholic Encyclopedia on line; Snopes

Picture 1:  Epiphany Celebration begins

Picture 2:  Mass with Kevin helping

Picture 3:  35th Anniversary, Carol & Richard 

Picture 4:  Chloe dances (see video)

Welcome in, Everybody.

Readings:

Ezekiel 37, 12-14.   I will open your graves

 Psalm 130,  With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

Romans  8-11,   Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

 John 11, 1-45,    Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.

Can it get any better than this, Shonda & Bethany, Ray & David?

Ezekiel 37, observations:  (Author, When, Message)

          Author: Ezekiel, for real.  He is unique because he was not only one of the Big 3 Prophets (along with Isaiah & Jeremiah), but he was also a priest working in the temple. 

          When: before & during the Babylonian Captivity, therefore around 555 before Christ.  His audience was the people. 

 Candle lighting, a family affair with Tori and Zoe, and big sister, Georgie, helping out. 

Message: Like the classic prophet, he condemns, warns, and consoles.  We pick up on the consolation end.  I want to read the first verses which lead up to our selection, because it is the fun dry bones story, about which we have the Spiritual.  It is a shame the richer story is not included.  This is metaphor.  The dry bones can stand for the people in captivity; they can stand for me.  Get out of that tomb!

 Sources: New Interpreter’s Study Bible, Good News Bible, St. Louis U. with Reginald Fuller, Daniel Westberg, Larry Gillick, Jesuits. 

And if you cannot get it the first time, for sure, a little tongue influence will do it.

Romans observation:

One line says a lot, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 

This line was composed by a man who was totally convinced that our body is bad and needs to be beaten into subservience.  Subservience achieves spiritual maturity and superiority.  This writer was influenced by a couple of philosophical theories of the time, Manichaeism and Gnosticism. 

The same thinking is still around.  We certainly practiced it as young Jesuits.  For me it does not work.

Hey, Mommy, how about let's fly.

Lazarus and the metaphor of life

This morning I would like to use the Lazarus story to show how life can be a gift we receive and also give.  It is probably well known to you that at the time of Jesus the people attributed to leaders, like Julius Caesar, the ability to heal and raise the dead.

I would propose  that  we, too, are called to at least metaphorically receive life and to give life to others.  I would propose, too, that this is all around us, taking place frequently.  4  examples.

Offertory team forming up, Allen & Aggie, Tom & Denni.

Take Bill Hammond.  Bill gives me new life in at least 2 ways.  First, twice a year he invites me to volunteer at the Love for Kids picnic at Circle R Ranch.  I come away from that picnic humbled and inspired by the kids and by the numerous volunteers.  New life.

After the picnic this Saturday I have a big wedding.  Talk about a life giving event.

 Communion cups at the ready.

Bill also gave me new life a dozen years ago when he invited me to join him at the Hotter N’ Hell bike ride of a hundred miles.  Here I am now more than a dozen years later still riding.  And while I may be dead tired at the end, I am overflowing with life. 

I mentioned that I get life from helping at weddings.  A week ago Renee Reddick gave me new life when she asked me to fly to Toronto to handle the funeral for her ex-husband.  As usual when  I receive these invitations, I balked, made excuses, and tried to get out of it.  Rosemary told me that I would hate myself if I failed to go.  So I called Renee back and told her I would get there the next day.  I was totally touched with life by coordinating that funeral Mass.

Blessing, Everybody.

Finally, guess who called me to new life about 13 years ago.  Yep, Carol and Bernadette, when they invited me to consider sharing Masses with our community.  Talk about a rich life. 

What gives you new life and to whom do you give life?