Readings: Genesis 2, 7-9, 3, 1-7; Psalm 51, Be Merciful, O Lord, for We have sinned; Romans 5, 12-19; Matthew 4, 1-11.

 

First Sunday in Lent 2011– Intro to Readings

 Our first reading today comes from the Book of Genesis chapters two and three, and gives the second account of the creation of the world.  This is actually the older of the two versions. 

 The first chapter creation story was written around the 5^th century BCE and today’s one came from around the 8^th century BCE.  The story in today’s reading is primarily about the temptation by the serpent and the eviction from the garden.  There are just a few points I would like to draw your attention to about these creation stories. 

 This material must be understood for what it is and is not.  It is not accurate scientific information about the beginning of the world.  It is myth.  Now myth, properly understood, is not simply just make believe, but a style of writing which has a clear purpose. Myths are a society’s founding poetic narrative that provides the basic understanding of a society and its reason for being.  There are very similar stories found in other even earlier cultures.

 

 It is from St. Paul that we get the idea that this action by Adam and Eve of disobeying God was what we have come to know as Original Sin.  There is nowhere in the rest of the Old Testament that we have any suggestion that the people viewed the event as being “Original Sin”.  This idea was later taken up by St. Augustine and got its own legs from there.

 If we pay close attention to the story, there are several things worth noting.  The relationship between God and man, at the outset is perfect!  Everything has been made for man’s enjoyment.  Enter the serpent, and the temptation is “to be like God”.  The relationship was broken by the decision, and from that moment the relationship changed.  Remember that immediately after eating they hide from God.  The humans made the gap between the two.

 Our second reading takes up the same event, Paul to the Romans and this is where that idea of Original Sin is developed and then, as I mentioned above, greatly developed by Augustine and others.

 

First Sunday in Lent 2011 – Homily

 Welcome to Lent, a time traditionally to ask, so what are you giving up for Lent.  And my usual answer was something like, candy or homework!  Today I am not sure that I am giving up anything, I am going to try to take up something instead.  The original meaning of lent is Spring, and spring is a time of new beginnings. 

 Lent is also the time when those preparing for baptism and entry into the Church through the RCIA program begin their final steps, by signing the Book of the Elect.  I am pretty sure that just as an athlete will train for a competitive event, so too the Church sees lent as a time for us to prepare for Easter. 

 

Given that I have previously said just this past Easter that if you can understand the Resurrection you are probably committing some kind of heresy, then for me the easiest way to get my head around the whole death/resurrection event is to see it as some kind of sign of God’s unbelievable love for each one of us – and leave it at that.

 The gospel today gives us some ideas for lent.  It is the story of Jesus spending 40 days in the desert prior to beginning His public ministry.  Remember so much of Matthew’s gospel points back to the Old Testament, and we will then recall the 40 years of wandering in the desert. At the end of the 40 days we are told he is faced with three temptations.  The three temptations are best summarized as follows:

 

1. Change the rocks into bread.  It is a temptation to take the easy way out, there is no one else around, no one will see, no one will know.  We too can be tempted in this way.
2. Jump from the Temple, the place where surely God is most present.  He will save you.  How often do we tempt God?  In our heads how often do we see, if God doesn’t want this to happen, then it won’t.
3. Promise of power, if only Jesus will worship the devil.  The danger of abuse of power, it is such a tempting thing to have power over others.

 My plan for this lent is to focus on these three temptations, and reflect on my own life in terms of each of the temptations.  Perhaps Lent should be a time of reflection on this journey we call life, a time for a thorough examination of conscience.  Remember when NASA was sending rockets to the moon, there was a phrase used “a mid course correction”.  Maybe by taking time during lent, taking a closer look at our own lives, maybe we too could use a mid course correction.

 

Picture 1:   We begin

Picture 2:   Leo

Picture 3:   Emma

Picture 4:   The Pastry Shoppe

Picture 5:   Curtis & Mabel with Cindy 

  

Readings: Proverbs 9, 1-6; Psalm 34, Taste & See the Goodness of the Lord; Ephesians 5, 15-20; John 6, 51-58

Proverbs:

What are they: a collection of moral & religious teachings in the form of pithy sayings.  For example: "Better to eat a dry crust of bread with peace of mind than to have a banquet in a house full of trouble" (17, 1); "Being cheerful always keeps you healthy" (17, 22).

Some a bit tough: "Don't hesitate to discipline a child.  A good beating won't kill him" (23, 12).

Some amusing: "A nagging wife is like water going drip-drip-drip" (27, 15); "Better to live on the roof than to share the house with a nagging wife" (25, 24). 

 

 

Author: Maybe Solomon is behind chapters 1-29.  Most likely a compilation.  Judging by the examples can it be more obvious whether a male or female was the author and at whom the writers were talking.

Date: Ca. 300 BCE is considered a possibility with material coming from as far back as 900, during the time of Solomon.

Our Selection: Wisdom is personified and she is preparing a feast or banquet to which the simple people are invited.

Sources: Religious Information Service & Wikipedia

The Joy of a First Class Feast

Rather than take responsibility for my ideas today, I am going to blame my Jesuit training and my Jesuit buddies over the years. 

When I came back from my years in East Africa, I took up back packing and camping with a group of Jesuits who had been doing this for some years.  Every year six or eight guys from actually all over the country would choose a destination, gather, and set out for usually two one week back pack trips.  These guys were pretty good and I learned a lot just by tagging along.

However, in the beginning I had one reservation.  The custom was that every year we brought along enough of a certain brew, Jack Daniels, in fact, so that each person might enjoy a shot every evening before dinner.  I remember thinking to myself, 'In my limited experience in camping we never brought this extra weight.'  So why now? 

Well, I learned, I who can be somewhat obsessive about being hard on myself.  In the Jesuit life I had come to understand that while we all are expected to live simply and work hard, occasionally on, say, religious feasts, like the Assumption (which was just celebrated yesterday and which marks the anniversary of my entry into the Jesuits in 1958), I came to appreciate a custom called a first class feast. 

Normally we ate well.  In fact, I can claim that one factor in keeping me a Jesuit for the first years was the cuisine.  We lived in a house with over a hundred Jesuits.  We lived in southwest Louisiana, Grand Coteau, LA, in fact, and we had local guys who cooked cajun.  First time in my life I had 3 prepared hot meals per day.   Because of the rigorous life style I could eat with reckless abandon.  I remember no overweight classmates. 

So this was the norm.  But on special holidays we had first class feasts.  This meant at least that we could talk at meals and probably had ice cream, home made from milk from the large dairy herd on the campus.  We did not have alcohol, but we had tremendous meals. 

My camping trips with these guys carried on the first class feast tradition, even at the cost of lugging in a few extra ingredients.   The custom was that we had a Mass all together about 5:00, then a drink with a hunk of cheese, then soup, a main course, and a desert, like chocolate pudding.  It was terrific.  We had delightful evenings.

Guess what.  The trip we ten just took to Yosemite, my annual pilgrimage, followed the same recipe.  Instead of having Mass before the evening's first class feast, we had a Mass afterward around the campfire on the two occasions we laid over in one beautiful campsite for two nights. 

But at 5:00 the cantina opened and Rob graciously played the role of bartender.  Beth handled the cheese.  Then we had casseroles like chicken or salmon tetrazinni, plus deserts like blueberry cheese cake or apple cobbler.  All the meals had been prepared, dehydrated, and vacuum packed by Rose.  Ray was our main cook.  Mike handled the campfires.

I talk about these feasts because the gospel and the reading from Proverbs both talk about a feast.  Even Ephesians talks about drinking, but negatively, cautioning against drunkenness.  Three observations.

First, these feasts are joys to our lives.  Our ancestors since they came down out of the trees have sat around campfires like we did and they enjoyed their meals.  Harvest celebrations became custom.  These celebrations bring us joy & deeper relationships, happiness and greater inner peace.

Secondly, the best feasts often involve a lot of people.  Look at the covered dish brunches we have here.  Everyone contributes and we have a blast.  I will never forget the covered dish reception Rosemary & I had at our wedding.  In Yosemite everyone seemed to have something to do from Rose who put the food together, to Ray cooking, Mike making the campfire, and Rob & Beth handling the hors d'oeuvres.  Daniel cleaned the pots. 

Thirdly, the first class feast is the paradigm of our celebrations and Masses here on Sunday.   What is unique about it is we intentionally emphasize a spiritual component of the meal, inviting God to be part of our celebration.  Certainly all sorts of people pitch in the make the event special.  Hopefully we too walk out of here with joy & richer relationships, happinesss and greater inner peace.

This reminds me that we ought to have a back to school, beginning of fall Sunday brunch in September.

When was the last time you had this type of feast?  When the next?

Picture 1:  Mass with Stephen (birthday, 19), Kevin, & Sabrina

Picture 2:  Chloe & her granny, Denni

Picture 3:  Anniversary–Bernadette & Gil; Birthday–Marlene

 

Readings:

Genesis  18, 1-10,  Sara will then have a son.

Psalm 15, He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Colossians 1, 24-28,  It is He whom we proclaim.

Luke 10, 38-42,  “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?  Tell her to help me.”

 

 

Introduction  

As Abraham gives, showing hospitality to the strangers in our first reading from the Book of Genesis, Abraham receives. In like manner, Paul addresses the Colossians in our second reading to show mercy, kindness and pardon to others for they are Christ in the World.

 

Homily 

 When I would go on retreats with young people wanting to celebrate the Church’s sacrament of Confirmation they would receive a booklet with songs, prayers but also some blank pages.  I would say to them, ‘You will always receive the desire of your heart,’ and I would ask them what they thought this meant. 

It was not unusual to get a response like this, ‘The desire of my heart is to win the lottery; but since the odds of me doing that are slim to none, I do not believe that statement is true.’ ‘Before I give you an answer,’ I would say, ‘I want all of you to write down in your booklet what you would do if you actually won a lottery… say, a 100 million dollars.’

 They were to take their time and not share with others what they had written.  ‘What’s in your notebook is yours and yours alone today.’ When I perceived that they had all written enough, I would say, ‘What you have just written down is the desire of your heart!  Wanting to win a lottery is not a desire of your heart, rather it is a desire of the flesh. I hope that all of you shared your desire to show goodness and justice; tenderness and compassion to those less fortunate than yourselves.’

 To the degree we desire to give from our heart will be the degree to which we do give and receive.  Life-giving relationships are precious! To the degree that we are in relationship with one another, we are in relationship with God. Those who welcomed the stranger and visited the sick are those who inherited the kingdom of God.

 Often we informally invite others over to our home; other times we have a birthday or anniversary gathering.  We have family and friends over for Thanksgiving, Easter or Christmas. But sometimes we might find ourselves getting caught up in all the details, decorations, and preparations, so much so that sometimes, when we don’t even expect it, you might hear or even say, ‘I’m glad that’s over and I won’t have to do that for another year.’

 When that happens our priorities weren’t in the proper order.  We forgot listening to, affirming, enjoying, and making friends. It happened to Martha in our reading from Luke today.  Picture Jesus saying to her softly and in private, ‘Martha, Martha, you worry about many things, Mary has chosen the better portion and it shall not be taken from her.’

 It wasn’t that Mary hadn’t been helping her.  She had.  But when Jesus came through the door that day, Mary made him the priority of her life. It was time to begin a lasting and loving relationship.  
 

Martha’s priorities had been which tablecloth should she use, should we
eat at the table inside or outside, should I sweep the floor again, should I
put all of the food out at once. Would Jesus recognize that the vegetables were fresh? 

 These things had become more important to her than Jesus’ presence.  Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to his words that he wanted equally to share with Martha.  We have come to sit at table with God and each other. 

How have you been building relationships with one another since you entered here this morning.  Take a moment to welcome someone near you
that you didn’t acknowledge and embrace when you arrived.

 

 

 

Readings: 1 Samuel 3, 3-10 & 19, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening; Psalm 40, Here am I, Lord, I come to do Your Will; 1 Corinthians 6, 13-15 & 17-20, Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit; John 1, 35-42, We have found the Messiah.

 

1 Samuel: This is book one of two books.  The series is 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings; the characters being Samuel, the last of the Judge leaders of Israel-Judah; Saul, the first king; and King David. 

Authors:  Traditionally it was thought that 3 people wrote the book, Samuel, Gad, & Nathan.  Samuel, chapters 1-25; Gad was King David's historian, & Nathan was an editor.  Contemporary biblical experts think this unlikely & say that the works were put together at least 50 years after the time of the events.

Time:  The events take place ca. 1100-1000 BCE.  The compilation & recording of the events takes place ca. 950 BCE. 

Today's Selection: Yahweh is calling Samuel in a dream.  This ties in with the Gospel where three future apostles are called.  Samuel's parents were Elkanah & Hannah, and Hannah is famous because of a touching story about how she came to have Samuel.  She had been barren for years and even Elkanah's other wife ridiculed her.  One day the prophet Eli heard her crying and praying in the temple.  At first he accused her of being drunk.  Then when he talked with her, he promised that she would have a son. 

Hannah had promised Yahweh that she would dedicate to the temple her son, if she got one.  Consequently, our selection finds Samuel residing in the temple with Eli the prophet.  He would be about 12 years old.

Be aware that while these marvelous stories are mythological, the writer is attempting to convey to a simple people lessons about trust in Yahweh.

 

Eli Who?

     When I was a young pup of a Jesuit I got to know an old blind Jesuit who was living in the old priests’ infirmary at Grand Coteau.  I can still remember a tall, skinny Fr. McLaughlin doing pull ups on a bar in back of the big, four story building we lived in.

     I got to know him especially well the first Christmas I spent at Grand Coteau, my first away from home.  I had acquired a really good case of poison ivy and could not do much.  I had gotten the poison ivy one recreation day when we were out in the Achafalaya swamp.  I used some Spanish moss after a pit stop in the woods. 

     Fr. McLaughlin received tons of Christmas cards and being blind he needed someone to write for him.  That was my job, which I did mostly standing that Christmas.

     In the Jesuits we had a strong custom of having spiritual directors.  Fr. McLaughlin was my first.  He was a great raconteur of stories, but also a kind listener.  He helped me through my homesickness.

     I talk about Fr. Mac because he was an Eli figure for me.  Fr. Mac & the priest Eli were both spiritual directors.  I would like to talk about spiritual direction and directors.  Two observations.

     First, I highly recommend this old Jesuit custom.  Get a spiritual director. 

     I have one.  Most of you know him, David McKeon, a married priest from the Rochester, NY diocese, a spiritual man and a licensed psychotherapist. 

     I usually visit him every other month, usually just recounting to him the many blessings of life with Rosemary, the life of our community, and my insights.

     Spiritual directors come in professional and semi-professional sizes.  Some are counselors.  Characteristics include:

          1.  The person is a good listener

          2.  They are affirmative

          3.  Like Eli, they reflect back what they are hearing. 

          4.  They do not tell a person what to do.  No “You shoulds,” a really difficult thing for lots of adults to refrain from.  Actually, teachers are trained to do this—with students.

         Secondly, besides recommending that you get a spiritual director, I would suggest that you all are spiritual directors, the semi-professional size.  For years I was a spiritual director for nuns, priests, young Jesuits, and people from various areas of life. 

     Spiritual directors helped me all through the Jesuits and David McKeon still does.  I invite you to consider yourselves spiritual directors.  It happens at meals, coffees, at Tom Thumb, at receptions.  Follow the four characteristics I mentioned, listen, affirm, reflect back, and don’t tell adults what they should do. 

 Furthermore, I invite you to get a spiritual director or counselor. 

 Who is the Eli in your life?

Picture 1:    Georgie & Elizabeth

Picture 2:    Ashley, Jean & Cliff's granddaughter       

Picture 3:    The Kerns, Ben, Candy, Michael, & Mike

Picture 4:    Cole

Picture 5:    Buddy with his granddad, Gilberto

Picture 6:    Leo comfortable in Jean's arms

 

 

Happy 1st Easter, Dear Atlas, so nice to see  you.  Know that you have a terrific mommy.  Congratulations, Dearest Wendy

 

 

 

Readings:  (Easter Sunday)

 Acts of the Apostles 10, 34, 37-43 , Peter proceeded to speak

Psalm 118,  This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.

 1 Corinthians 5, 6-8,  A little yeast leavens all the dough.

John  20, 1-95,  Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning.

 

 

 

Congratulations, Brandon.  What a neat little boy you have.

 

 

Acts of the Apostles 

 

This work is basically the story of the development & growth of the Christian community after the death of Jesus up to Paul's arrival in Rome.

 

It is considered more idealistic than factual.

 

The author seems to be Luke, the same who wrote the Gospel.

 

 

 

Thanks, Dearest Emma, for being our Candle Lighter of The Week

 

 

A Random Act of Kindness

Mary Ellen has a friend named Diane.  They met in their book club probably many years ago.  Diane was a significant help with the move of Mary Ellen from her nice condo to Prestonwood Assisted Living.

A couple of weeks ago Diane and another friend of hers decided to go out for lunch.  They chose Napoli’s Italian, which I think is on Independence & McDermott.  Do our Juliettes not know this place already?  

 

 

 

 

Offertory.  Happy Easter Dearest Cameron, Trey, Brady, & Reid, and also to your crazy dad, my beloved friend.

 

 

So they have their lunch, chat, and finally ask the waiter for their bill.   Instead of giving them their bill, the waiter says that another lady who had been eating in the restaurant had paid for them and left. 

Another Random Act of Kindness.

And You?  Performed any Random Acts of Kindness lately?

 

 

 

 

Special thanks to our Special Easter Team, Georgie and Buddy, along with John and Mike.

 

 

Happy Easter

(P.S.  Incidentally, Rosemary suggested to me that maybe we ought to have lunch once in a while at this Napoli’s.)

 

 

 

 

I think this must be Christmas or Easter.  So many old & dear friends.

 

 

 

Watch out, My Dear Leo.  A big rabbit is just about ready to snatch you.

Readings: Acts 1, 1-11; Psalm 47, God Mounts his Throne to Shouts of Joy, a Blare of Trumpets for the Lord; Ephesians 1, 17-23; Luke 24, 46-53.  

Ascension  of the Lord – Intro to the Readings

Today, we have a whole lot of Luke and a reading from Paul, or someone who knew him very well!

 

 

Our first reading is from the beginning of Acts and because of the feast, we leave aside John’s Gospel today and hear about the ascension from the very end of Luke’s Gospel.

 

 

 

The Gospel of Luke ends as it began (Luke 1:9), in the Jerusalem temple.

Luke brings his story about the time of Jesus to a close with the report of the ascension. He will also begin the story of the time of the church with a recounting of the ascension. In the gospel, Luke recounts the ascension of Jesus on Easter Sunday night, thereby closely associating it with the resurrection. In Acts 1:3, 9-11; 13:31 he historicizes the ascension by speaking of a forty-day period between the resurrection and the ascension. The Western text omits some phrases in Luke 24:51, 52,  perhaps to avoid any chronological conflict with Acts 1 about the time of the ascension.

 

 

Homily for the Feast of the Ascension

 

 

Faith is one of those items, which, try as we might, we will never be fully able to explain.  But I think there is a clue to this challenge in our second reading today.  There is a little phrase in there about the eyes of the heart.   I have never heard of the phrase “eyes of the heart” before, but the more I thought about them the more it started to make sense to me.

 

 

For most of my life beginning with my first catechism my faith seems to involve learning stuff:  information, ten commandments, seven sacraments, seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, twelve apostles names, mortals sins and venial sins.  The list goes on and on.  As humans, today, we are almost obsessed with information, data.  I don’t think that people at the time of Christ were quite so obsessive as this.  Here is why:

 

In our first reading today from the opening chapter of Acts, Luke tells us that Jesus ascended to heaven forty days after the resurrection.  Yet in the gospel reading, also by Luke, if we pay close attention to the last chapter of that Gospel, Jesus ascended to heaven the same day as the resurrection!  Both readings are from the same writer.  Both readings coming from close to each other in their respective books, the last chapter of the gospel and the opening chapter of the Book of Acts, and yet this contradiction did not seem to matter to Luke or his audience. 

 

The only conclusion is that the detail, the facts themselves were not that important.  The event was looked at thru the eyes of the heart.  As I said on Easter Sunday, the fact of the Resurrection cannot be proven; neither can the fact of the Ascension.  They can only be seen thru the eyes of faith, thru the “eyes of the heart”

 

This week I was watching a new TV program “Into the Universe” from Steven Hawkins, the world's most famous living scientist which is all about the origins of the universe.  Even as intelligent a person as Hawkins cannot find God in our universe, and I believe the reason is quite simple. 

 

 

He is not looking with the eyes of the heart; he is looking through the eyes of a scientist who looks for hard data.  Our God is outside all of that.  Our God is in a totally different world.  His is the world of caring, the world of loving, of taking care of the poor, the sick and the lonely.  Our God has one simple rule, love one another. 

 

This kind of stuff is only visible thru the eyes of the heart.  And so today, as we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, we can only celebrate it emotionally, not intellectually, because the notion of someone rising from the dead and going up where-ever doesn’t make any sense from a scientifically observable point of view, but is easy to accept in the context of a God who loves you and me unconditionally.

 

Picture 1:  Fr. Tony Begins

 

Picture 2:  Fr. Tony & Buddies, Marianne, George, & Ron

 

Picture 3:  Coffee time, Curtis, Warren, Ken & Cindy, Teresa & Tom, & Mabel

 

Picture 4:  Old Geezers, Tony, Jerry, David, & Stack

 

Picture 5:  Backpacking talk, Lynda, Bill, Daniel, & Claire