Sez Harper, "Welcome in, Everybody, I still have some Girl Scout cookies"

Readings:

Isaiah 8, 23-9, 3,  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Psalm 27,  The Lord is my light and my salvation

! Corinthians, 1, 10-13,  That you be united…

Matthew 4, 12-23, Come after me and I will make you fishers of men (people).

"Welcome in, Everybody," say Hue & Linda.

Isaiah reminders, again—

 Author: This is Isaiah #1, the composer of chapters 1-39.  Even though Isaiah #1 lives before the Babylonian Captivity, he still sees that a great, bright day will come to the Jewish people, despite Babylon. 

Isaiah 2: Chapters 40-55;

Isaiah 3: Chapters 56-66

 Date:  Ca. 555 before Christ, the composition.  The Jewish people of Jerusalem are about to be defeated and carried off into slavery.

The famous Sisters' Candle Team in action.

 Subject:  A great day will come for you Jews.  A special leader will be born.  You will be a beacon to others, glorious, and a light to nations everywhere.  You might easily recognize parts of this reading.  From where?  The Nativity readings and Handel's Messiah, a favorite of mine. 

This is the last week we will have these Isaiah readings which I love.  I will miss them.  Until next Advent.

Today's team in action.

80 Years of Blessings

When Isaiah says that a people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, I hear him speaking to me.  There are dozens of ways I see this in my life, all blessings & gifts.  I’ll mention 5, at least 3 of which you have heard me mention previously.

Today's Offertory Team, Sandra, Susan, & Tom,

First, the fact that I joined the Jesuits when I was 18.  Granted I joined up because I thought I was such a bad kid that I was obviously headed to hell.  I got that idea from the monsieur who was pastor at Christ the King.  When he told the congregation that if your friends are going to hell, you will go too.    Obviously my best buddy, Pete was going to hell along with my other friends.  That fear fell away when I was a Jesuit and life turned out to be an adventure.

The minor elevation.

The second blessing was my decision to accept an invitation to work in East Africa.  There was loneliness, but it was an adventure.  How else could I have scaled Kilimanjaro 5-6 times?  How else would I have ridden my motorcycle back & forth across Tanzania.  I discovered that I had a gift for languages and became fluent in Swahili.

Today's Communion Team, Patricia & Denni, Geri & Mike & Grace.

The third blessing was and is my marriage with Rosemary.  Did you people know that she waited 15 years to get formally married?  When I asked her to get married I asked her to wait until I was 65 and would have Medicare.  As a Jesuit I had platinum coverage.  As soon as I would depart, nothing.  I knew guys who married, had an accident, and ended up with an enormous debt.  This cinco de mayo is our 15^th and it has been for me (at least.  I won’t speak for her!) an unimaginable & enchanted time.

Happy Birthday, Mike.

The fourth blessing is the tree hobby project.   That project started with maybe 5-6 trees planted on the Jesuit campus where I was living.   Then it got bigger & bigger.  A guy who owns a construction company gave me a 800 gallon water tank & a 4 wheel trailer.  The community of St. Marks gave me the money to buy a pickup.  Mike Doran gave me the truck for 15K.  The last big project we did was Plano Senior High.  We planted in an hour 400 trees one sunny October Sunday.  

Welcome home, My Dear Carrie, or should I say My Dear Doctor Carrie.   Proud of You.

The fifth but not the last of the blessings is our community here. Do you realize that along with our 15^th anniversary of marriage, I am celebrating 15 marvelous & humbling years participating in our community?

I am most grateful.

What are your five biggest blessings in life?

One cupcake to you, Monique, for being such a good mamma.

Readings:

Wisdom  12, 13, 16-19,   You judge with clemency.

Psalm 86,   Lord, you are good and forgiving.

Romans 8, 26-27,  The spirit comes to the aid of our weakness.

Matthew  13, 24-43,  A farmer sowed good seed in his field.

Our first reading (Wisdom 12) is from the Book of Wisdom, written about 100 years before Jesus. Though the author is unknown, he was a member of the Jewish community at Alexandria in Egypt and wrote in Greek. Solomon did not write this book as we used to think; the author sometimes speaks as Solomon, a common artifice authors used to emphasize the value of their writings.

The second reading (Romans 8) continues Paul’s letter to the Christian community in Rome. This community was predominantly Gentile, though there were Jewish Christians there too. In this letter Paul is making a point that Christians were free of the Jewish law of Moses. Paul’s view was that Jesus and faith in Jesus was the only source of salvation and he was beginning to push Christian communities away from Judaism and toward a faith more compatible with Greco-Roman thinking.

The Gospel reading continues in Matthew (Matt 13). Most scholars date this Gospel as around the year 70, probably after the destruction of Jerusalem.  It points to a growing rift between the followers of Jesus and official Judaism. It is clearly anti-Pharisee and anti-scribe.  It quotes the holy books of Judaism a lot more than the other Gospels to show their promises were fulfilled in Jesus and that he is the Messiah. Matthew also writes about how Jesus was not accepted by most Jews but accepted by many Gentiles. It is clear that Matthew depended on Mark, written several years before. Matthew contains 600 of Mark’s 661 verses.

Homily 

I want to focus today on Jesus’ teaching that God is now and was always with us, and how we can see God. There’s that Bible verse in today’s Responsorial Psalm 86 vs.5 that says “You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness.” Stack has said it’s his favorite line in the Bible.  I decided to google this verse and found the same words in multiple places in the Bible.  Psalm 145: vs. 8-9 has exactly the same lines. And Psalm 103 vs. 8 has the same.  And it’s not just in the Psalms.  The Book of Exodus Ch. 34, verse 6 reads, “The Lord is a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness.” The Book of Joel Ch. 2, verse 13 has exactly the same line. And the Book of Jonah Ch. 4, verse 2 has the same.

The take-away from those verses that describe God as “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and rich in kindness,” could be that whenever we see those traits and those behaviors, we are seeing God.  Jesus’ said the kingdom of God is here, and is experienced when we share mercy and kindness with one another.

On July 4^th I joined a group of family and friends for the Fair Park fireworks display. At the end of the evening Leo & Freddie, seeing fireworks for the first time, said, “This was the coolest ever.”

Later I remembered some of what I saw and experienced about being gracious and showing kindness.

1. I got to Fair Park early and walked around, then sat on a bench eating a corn dog slathered with mustard. I saw a woman walking with 2 children and an infant in a stroller. The little one dropped a stuffed toy to the ground. Another woman saw it and, noticing the mother hadn’t seen it happen, called out to her and pointed to it.  They made eye contact and I saw them connect with a smile as the mother picked up the toy. This was a brief but gracious human contact.
2. At one point after our group got together at the lagoon, my nephew Merik, offered to take Leo and Freddie on a walk around the lagoon. He entertained them for 30 or 40 minutes, and his act of kindness allowed the other adults time to visit.
3. Gina, a close friend of my daughters Joey and Sam, came with her husband and 2 daughters, who are a little older than my grandsons. Gina thought about the 4 kids who would be there and brought snacks for all of them and also light sticks to make necklaces or bracelets or, like Freddie, just to wave around. The kids loved it and I took note of her thoughtful kindness.
4. Most of the group had gotten snow cones while walking around. So I decided to get in line for a snow cone for myself (I was told that there were sugar free ones) and for Gina’s daughter who had missed out on one. It was a really long line of more than 30 people. After a while I struck up a conversation with a woman in line. Later another woman, also in line, joined in the conversation. At one point the latter woman, who was sort of ahead of me and the first women (line not straight but uneven), offered that we both go ahead of her. Of course by this point we had all been in line a long time and had tired feet. That was another act of kindness and mercy.

 My question: when have you seen God lately?  And when do others see God in you?

Readings: Acts 5, 27-41; Psalm 30, I will Praise You, Lord, for You have Rescued Me; Revelations , 11-14; John 21, 1-14

Third Sunday of Easter – Introduction to the Readings

All of our readings during the Sundays after Easter until Pentecost Sunday come from the same three books, Acts of the Apostles, The Book of Revelation and John’s Gospel.  In today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles the apostles are again brought before the elders of the Jewish community and told to stop preaching.  What we skip over in our reading is an interesting section. 

The Sanhedrin wants to put the apostles to death, but one of their members, a Pharisee called Gamaliel dissuades this action by reminding the group that there had been other ‘apparent prophets’ whose followers had dissipated after the prophet was put to death and he argues that either of two things will happen:  the apostles will disappear soon, since Jesus has been put to death, or Jesus was the real thing and they had better leave the apostles alone!! 

Then our reading today resumes just after the apostles are flogged instead of being put to death.

A few words about the Book of Revelations, since we will be reading from it for the next several Sundays.  The book was probably written about the year 95 to 100 CE, by John, though not the same John who wrote the Gospel.  It is addressed to the seven churches in Asia, namely the whole community at that time, and the churches are enduring harsh persecutions under the emperor Domitian.  The style is mainly apocalyptic, which is a highly stylized form of writing  which is not one we are accustomed to these days.

Third Sunday After Easter

My daughter Rosheen loves to read- it always amazed me how quickly she could get through a book.  A few years ago an old family friend was ill and Rosheen was visiting her and offered to read to her.  Later I remember her telling me how beautiful the language was in the book, something she had not appreciated until she had to read aloud.  Some books are so well written that the language is indeed a joy. 

Our gospel today is one of those books.  We cannot begin to appreciate how much thought has gone into each and every word in the gospel.  I am not sure how many of you said to yourselves as I was proclaiming today’s gospel and said the word “charcoal fire” now haven’t I heard that recently!!  In fact you did hear it on Good Friday when we proclaimed the “Passion”.  Let me remind you of the piece.   

“Now the slaves and guards were standing around a charcoal fire that they had made, because it was cold , and were warming themselves.  Peter was also standing there keeping warm.”   In today’s gospel we read that Jesus was preparing breakfast over a charcoal fire.  The two events are linked.  In the earlier event, Peter denies even knowing Jesus, three times.  In today’s gospel, Jesus helps Peter get past that denial.  “Peter, do you love me?” Three times Jesus asks Peter, sort of a parallel to the three times Peter had earlier denied Jesus.

This is another example of the point we discussed on Easter Sunday.  The fact that God always gives us second chances.  Think about what Peter had done.  Jesus had just been arrested, all of the disciples had scattered, Peter had not run away, but was in the courtyard where Jesus was being held.  Remember that earlier that evening Jesus had even foretold Peter that he was going to deny him three times. 

This denial was no spur of the moment thing.  He had been forewarned, and still he denies even knowing Jesus.  Pretty serious stuff – and still God gives Peter a chance to repent.  God wants Peter back and God wants each one of us back too.  Never let anything cause us to stay away, there is no sin too great.  Remember Peter.

Picture 1:  Mass Begins

Picture 2:  Altar Helpers

Picture 3:  Offertory

Picture 4:  John & Anthony

Readings: Genesis 9, 8-15; Psalm 25; 1 Peter 3, 18-22; Mark 1, 12-15

Genesis:  First book of the Bible, starts with creation, goes through Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Noah & the flood, the Tower of Babel, & ends with the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob (Israel).

Author: Not Moses as was thought for centuries before people began to study the work.  At least 3 sources: 

• a Y (or J) source for the group that addressed God as Yahweh;

• an E for the group who addressed God as Elohim (Like two historians calling NYC The Big Apple or New York City, or Denver by its name or Mile High City);

• and a P group that focused on the priestly class, activities, & customs.

Time: compiled and put together from 1000 to 500 BCE.

Today's Selection: the flood has just receded and Noah is receiving a promise (called covenant) from Yahweh that never again will people be wiped out by a flood.  Guess what the sign of the promise is.

40 Days

I want to talk about Genesis.  Picture this.  It is night.  Moon & stars.  Sitting around a little campfire are 3 or 4 families, parents and a half dozen kids.  It is Maybe 1000 years before Christ.  It  is perfectly quiet except for the howl of a few animals out in the complete darkness.

A little girl says to her parents, "Where did that moon come from?  The stars?  Where did we come from?"  The parents tell her about the stories they heard from their elders.

They say: Before people were here the earth was all desolate.  It was dark & cold & waters were raging.  God came along one day and decided to put some order into this mess.  So he got up the next morning and divided up the daylight and the dark.

The next day he got up and created the dome of the sky.  The third day he created the earth and starts plants growing.  The day after that he sets up the sun, the moon, and the stars.  On the fifth day he puts together fish and birds and tell them to multiply.  The sixth day he really has to work hard: animals and especially man & woman.  By now he is tired, so he takes the seventh day off and enjoys his work.  This is the first account of creation in Genesis.

Now at another campfire many miles away a little boy is asking his family the same question.  He is told another story.  One day, say, Elohim is walking on a dirt path (like everyone did.  No pavement).  He leans down grabs a handful, wets it, and molds it into a new form, something with two legs, two arms, and a head.  A man. 

This man is given life and gets put into a marvelous garden with only one command.  Don't eat from that tree.  Time goes on and animals are created which the man names.  However, the man is lonely, so God takes a rib out of his side and molds it into another human  form.  This one, however, is female and becomes man's partner.  The man names her Eve, the mother of all.  This is the second creation story.

At this point in time all is copasetic.  One day, however, while Eve is strolling around the Garden of Eden, a snake begins to talk with her.  Eventually the snake convinces her to try the fruit of the tree.  Uh, oh.  Then she shares it with the Man, now called Adam.  Later, God comes strolling along in the evening and has to call out for Adam & Eve, who are hiding.  He knows what they have done.  They confess and he tells them they will be forever punished with difficult living.  So they get kicked out of Eden.

Adam & Eve have kids.  Cain first, Abel second.  One day both boys make an offering to God.  Unfortunately for some reason, Cain's offering is rejected by God.  He is hurt and gets mad because his brother is accepted.  He kills Abel.  Then he, too, gets punished by God. 

Time passes and apparently many more of Adam & Eve's kids turn out like Cain.  In fact, God becomes so mad, so disappointed in his new creature man, that he regrets what he has done and decides to wipe everyone off the face of the earth–except one guy, Noah.  At this time, Noah is 500 years old.  He builds a boat and it rains 40 days.  Which takes us up to today's reading, where the water has receded and God promises he will never kill everyone with a flood again, signing his name with a rainbow. 

I tell these mythological stories for four reasons.

First, we seldom hear or read these marvels.

Secondly, though it is not in the Genesis reading we have, there is a thread between this part of Genesis 9 and Mark and today: the 40 days.  Forty is a special number in the old times meaning a sufficient number.  It rained 40 days.  Jesus is in the desert 40 days.  And we are spending 40 days of Lent.

Thirdly, when Jesus came out of the desert he really throws himself into his message, which contains 4 points in Mark:

• The Time is now.

• The Kingdom is here.

• Repent.

• Believe the Good News

Fourthly, for centuries up until Vatican 2, the 40 days of Lent focused on fasting and abstinence to imitate Jesus and to do penance for our bad ways.  It was supposed to be a cleansing before Holy Week and Easter and a test of character. 

Fasting usually meant giving up meals.  Abstinence meant giving up a particular item, like Blue Bell or chocolate chip cookies.  I found one amusing note:Thomas Aquinas, one of the great doctors of the Catholic Church who lived ca. 1250, suggested that the faithful abstain from meat, eggs, and dairy.  Why?  Because they were aphrodisiacs and generated lust.  Food, alcohol, tobacco, and sex were all targets of the Church.

Today Mormons fast 1 day per month.  Muslims fast dawn to dusk the month of Ramadan which is August 22-September 20 this year.  This fast often includes liquids. 

Last week I suggested for a positive Lent we might practice sensitivity and service.  This week we might fast, since this has been the hot topic.  Maybe a fast from guilt and stress.

How is Lent going for you?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-03-01.mp3

Sources:  Wikipedia on Lent & Fasting; Dominican Website; Creighton U. Spiritual Seminar; St. Raymond Church, Dublin, CA.

Picture 1:  Mass with Reed (3 weeks new)

Picture 2:  Reed with his momma Nikki & granny Jackie

Picture 3: Stacie McKinley, Reed with Jackie & Nikki, Ryan (Nikki's brother & Jackie's son); Rosemary, & Margie Duggan

Picture 4:  Mass with Noah helping

January 25, 2015, 3rd Ordinary Time B

Readings:

Jonah  3, 1-10,  The word of the Lord came to Jonah, saying…..

Psalm 25,    Teach me your ways, O Lord.

1 Corinthians 7, 29-31,   Let those having wives act as not having them.

Mark 1, 14-20,   Come after me and I will make you fishers of people.

"Hi, Folks," says Charlotte, "Welcome."

Jonah: This little book of 4 chapters is a gem and tells a delightful short story.   It is so good I would like to read it all, but will read only chapter 1 and most of chapter 3. 

Background: Jonah has been asked by Yahweh to go to Nineveh in Assyria to tell the people & leaders that they are evil and will be punished shortly by Yahweh.  Trouble is, Nineveh is the enemy, like me going to Houston or Philadelphia. 

So he runs away, catches a boat headed for Spain, is blamed by the sailors for causing a big storm on the sea, and is dumped overboard.  The whale swallows him and for three days Jonah is constrained to reflect on what he is doing.  When, after 3 days, the whale dumps him on shore, Jonah is more willing to listen.  We arrive at this point and I will have most of chapter 3 read.

Chloe, too, with her sister, says, "Welcome, Everybody.

Author: For centuries, while people took this story as factual, Jonah was considered author of his own story.  Once it was seen as a fable or allegory, it is accepted that the story probably has some unknown ancient as the author.

Date of composition: no one really knows, but educated guesses put it ca. 800 before Christ.

Note: the story of Jonah and the story of Jesus' interaction with his future apostles are both about The Call.   1 Corinthians is really bad.  Just like last week.  Who in Rome chooses these readings?

And Emma, too, "Hi, Everybody."

Reminiscing at 75

This morning I would like to reminisce on the theme of call at 75.  I propose that calls can be blessings or gifts.  For example. 

I see three big calls in my 75 years.  The first came when I was in high school at the old Jesuit on Oak Lawn.  I felt drawn to be a Jesuit & a priest. 

Kevin arriving ready to cover anything, Georgie, his partner, participating in a swim meet.

I admit there was a lot of scare in this decision, scare that I was going to hell because of my sinful ways and the guys I hung around with.  I remember clearly one of the sermons commonly used with us guys.  You go out with your girl friend, you neck a little bit, you head home, you are hit by a train, and killed instantly.  You go straight to hell. 

I remember the pastor at Christ the King telling the people that where you go will depend upon the people you hang out with.  Good people, you go to heaven.  Bad people, you know where.  I looked around and thought to myself, ‘I know where I’m going.’  I look around now and see some of my best friends, one a lawyer, another a banker, and my friend in Chicago, FBI.  On second thought, I still don’t know where we all might be going.

Leo and Brandon, buddies.

Trouble is, now I don’t think there is a hell thanks to my Jesuit training. I grew up in the Jesuits.  We simply had to.  I used to look at some of my classmates in the military and thought they were lucky.  We entered the Jesuits in those days and never went home for anything, weddings, special events, maybe funerals of parents.

With all this, my decision to follow this inner call to be a Jesuit was an enormous blessing.

Cupcake of The Week to Doug for entering a new decade.

It led me to a second momentous blessing in my life, my years in East Africa, especially Tanzania.  I really had to learn how to adapt.  I learned Swahili and in the process discovered I have a gift for languages.

A high moment for me during maybe my 8th year came one afternoon when I went to a market in a big shed at my base near Kilimanjaro.  I had an old Tanzanian who was a buddy.  He sold fruits and veggies.  I always chatted with him when I was in town.  One day after we had chatted, a little old lady asked him, while I was to the side picking fruit, was I one of them, their people. 

Cupcake, really a power bar of the week to Sir Charlie in another decade.

I used Swahili so good she thought I was an ndugu, which means something like a brother, something I would never had used for myself.  The old guy told me and I was floored.

Then I was somewhat unpleasantly invited to go back to the States, which led to the third most incredible call and blessing, Rosemary and marriage.

Emma and Cole signing a birthday card.

  Looking back I returned to the States with a loneliness that I picked up in Tanzania and a much different perspective on marriage that I also picked up from the people, the priests, and even the bishops and a particular cardinal.  Tanzanians deep inside think not getting married is contrary to the laws of the universe.  I came home with this and I now could not be a happier person.

Finally, a side effect call and gift: you people, our community, the gift and the fun I receive from you every week.

Calls can be marvelous gifts and blessings.  I have had three and a half marvelous ones. 

And you?

Peace is Emma with Aviana.

Readings:

Isaiah  60, 1-6, Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem,  Your light has come.

Psalm 72,  Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Ephesians  3, 2-6, The Gentiles are coheirs.

Matthew 2, 1-12, Magi from the east arrived.

Georgie flying solo for the first time

 Isaiah, a review 

Here is another of those passages which make me love Isaiah so much.  I have mentioned this before.  He is my favorite.  

Today we have Isaiah III talking again to the Jews who have returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian Captivity, about 550 years before Christ.  It helps to picture the mood of these people.  Are you a Sooner Fan?  How did you feel at about midnight Friday night?  Multiply this by 10 and you have how the Jewish people felt after 50 years of slavery and  their town destroyed like New Orleans or parts of NY & NJ. 

When he says Jerusalem or Zion, he is talking to these beaten down people.  Later centuries church leaders began to make these words have two meanings.  Jerusalem, then, applies to us.

Sources: Good News Bible, The New Interpreter’s Bible

Cupcake of The Week to Jan on her birthday

 An Epiphany

I would like to talk this morning about the Epiphany in our every day lives or on special events.  I define an epiphany as a new awareness, a new understanding, greater appreciation.

I did something Friday morning that I had never done before in my life and about which I have been curious.  I did a route for Meals on Wheels. 

Cupcake of The Week to Bobby for his birthday

This came about because next door to us lives an 18 year old girl who is a senior at Greenhill and getting ready to attend Colgate next fall.  The girl, Sydney, texted me the other day inviting me to join her on her community service program.  It is helpful for her to have an adult or companion on her runs, her parents were busy, and we have done these things before.

A great granddad playing with Leo and Zoe

We picked up our food at the V.N.A., the Visiting Nurses Assoc. head office on Mockingbird near the entrance to Love Field.  This was eye opening enough for another homily.  We had 17 people listed on a page and they all resided in a high rise apartment building just east of Central going toward Fair Park.  The building has 13 floors with about 15 apartments per floor.

The Play Table with Beth and Emma, Torri, Buddy, and Michelle

Three observations:

1.  These people are not wealthy and they were mostly black.  What they are is so grateful and so friendly.  In the lobby, the corridors, and in the elevators, greetings, chats, cordiality, and grateful comments like, “What you are doing is really good.”  And this even from folks who were not getting meals, but just observing.  I felt such consolation being around these people.
2. My neighbor and friend Sydney.  I tell her, “Sydney, you are ruining my life again,” as she drives me over to pick up the meals at the Visiting Nurses’ Office. 

Harper after visiting the pastry shoppe

First, she showed me long distance bike riding.  She & some other girls rode down the west coast from like Seattle to San Francisco a few years ago.  The idea was planted and when Dembney last winter mentioned Ragbrai and Iowa, even though I told him he was crazy at the time, look what happened to me last July.

Sydney next got me to serve meals at the Bridge.  That led Rosemary and me to the Austin St. Shelter, and then to Soul’s Harbor with Brent, where we are really plugged in, even as a community.

Zoe at the pastry shoppe

And now what: Meals on Wheels, a marvelous phenomenon.  This girl has been an epiphany for me.

     3.    Third observation: this extraordinary service program for high school kids.   When I taught English & Latin & history at Jesuit in the mid-60’s, there was no service program.  I come back to the States in 1990, and most private secondary schools all have the program.

Offertory, Geri and two Mikes

  Sydney told me the Greenhill program sets 24 hours a year.  I noticed Jesuit has 100 hours for seniors. 

The programs are terrific, not just for the high school kids, but also for old geezers like me who get invited along as adult companions and have such marvelous experiences.

Preparing for communion

Friday was an epiphany experience for me.  It led to something unexpected and beautiful.

What is your recent epiphany?

For whom are you an epiphany?