Readings: Acts 10 25-48; Psalm 98, The Lord has revealed to the Nations his Saving Power; 1 John 4, 7-10; John 15, 9-17

Acts:  Another review–

Author: Luke, who wrote both the Gospel and Acts

Date: ca. 40-50 years after the death of Jesus

Our selection: This same selection was read on Easter Sunday.  What is happening is this.  Last Sunday we began the second half of Acts, from chapter 9 to the end.  Last week's reading had to do with Paul returning to the community in Jerusalem after he had his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. 

This week we get into chapter 10 which focuses on two characters: Peter and a Gentile (non-Jew) captain in the Roman army named Cornelius.  Cornelius was supposed to be a good man and he has a voice call him, "Cornelius." "What is it, sir?" he answers.  The voice tells him to go a town called Joppa and talk with a man named Peter.  Cornelius sends two servants.

Meanwhile in Joppa Peter has that vision we talked about Easter Sunday: a sheet coming down from the sky with a multitude of animals.  Many of the animals are considered ritually impure by Jews.  Peter is told by a voice to eat from these animals, but Peter refuses.  While this is going on the two servants arrive and the voice tells Peter to go with them.  Peter arrives at Captain Cornelius' house and that is where we take up the story.

Luke is interested here not so much in history as in convincing his readers that the Gentiles as well as Jews are included in the new religion.

Source: Good News Bible

Psalms:

Dates: Put together at ca. 300 years BCE.

Author(s): The old belief that David composed all 150 Psalms is just myth.  The reality: many people and groups of people composed the psalms over centuries.

Purpose: songs of gratitude, sorrow, pain, and longing to be sung by the Jewish people, especially in the temple and later in the synagogue.  Special songs were composed for feast days like passover and the feast of lights, to name just two.

Source:Bishop (Episcopal) John Shelby Spong, Origins of the Bible XXV, published 5-2-09 in Mirabile Dictu

Requem for a Water Trailer: That Your Joy May be Complete

Friday morning I handed it over, Folks.  You remember the big red water tank I used to fill up at the back door here ever since we started coming here?  Friday I donated it to the Texas Tree Foundation, the group where I used to buy our trees wholesale. 

A number of events were taking place that made me aware it may be time for me to move on to another hobby.  PISD & RISD have both said they don't want any more trees because they get in the way of their big lawn mowers and it busts their budgets.  My truck is smoking badly.  And heading into 70 years I am aware I cannot lift and dig like I used to. 

I admit I experienced a sadness when I went to Jean Atwood's house Thursday night to pick up the trailer, Jean who has been so generous to store the trailer in her driveway for the last 4 years, ever since I departed Jesuit & we planted Plano Senior.  And likewise, Friday morning when I drove it over to the the tree farm.  I have spent hours working with that trailer and have kept alive thousands of little trees through terrific Dallas droughts. 

More than the sadness, though, I sense a joy probably like what is mentioned in John's Gospel, one of my favorite line in Scripture. 

I certainly was consoled when I delivered the trailer to the team at the TX Trees Foundation near TI.  They need the trailer to water trees in a downtown Dallas urban forest park this summer.

I, likewise, am delighted when I ride streets in north Dallas shaded with our trees.  I pass islands, say, on the east side of Love Field, along Lemon Avenue, and I can see in my mind Kovatis and Leals planting the islands or Rose Banzhaf shoveling mulch into containers behind Hillcrest High.  I can see Kim Quirk & her family planting trees in a park at Lovers Lane & Lemon.

I got some amusing memories which give me joy.  Plano Senior, 5:30 A.M., Sean Schleicher watering from the back of the truck in the dark, I'm driving.  I get us stuck in the mud of a shallow irrigation ditch just north of the baseball diamond which had over watered its field and the water had drained into the ditch.

Remember the beautiful day we planted 400 trees in 1 hour at Plano Senior?  We were scheduled to start about 12:00.  Ten minutes before 12:00 I'm in that big south east parking lot getting things ready.  Kovatis comes by and yells, "Where is everybody?  We got a lot of work to do!"   I look up 30 minutes later and people are everywhere.  30 more minutes and people are coming up asking where are more trees to plant.  Everything was planted and the picnic we planned for 3:00 began ca. 1:00. 

Remember the chili picnics prepared by my buddy Lamberty at Jesuit?  Remember way back when we took two Sundays to plant Marsh Lane from LBJ to Northwest Hwy and Frank Hart, my old coach from Christ the King, invited the whole planting party to his restaurant?

These memories give me great joy as do my trips around the streets, parks, and school campuses we have planted.  How many?  Who knows?  Take 20 years and conservatively say we averaged 200 trees a year.  That would be a minimum.  And most of them are all out there.

This is the joy I think John is talking about in his Gospel.  We got it.

What next?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-05-17.mp3

Picture 1:  Mass with Kevin & Noah

Picture 2:  Richardson Women's Club Gazebo Wedding of

Picture 3:  Dorothy & Jim butterly

Picture 4:  The red water trailer custom built by Al Tenbusch

Readings: Note that these readings are for Sunday rather than All Saints.  Much better readings.

Wisdom 11, 22-12, 2, You love all things that are.

Psalm 145,  I will praise your name forever, my king and my God.  Also, check out the marvelous second stanza, my favorite.  What a portrait of our God.

2 Thessalonians 1, 11-22  We always pray for you.  Good old Paul, two long sentences.

Luke 19, 1-10, The beloved Zacchaeus in his tree.

Celebrating All Our Saints.

Wisdom (of Solomon) observations:

Author: Not Solomon, but a compilation by numerous
people.

Date:  around 200 years before Christ.

Subject: Wise statements like

          "Righteous people are
protected by God and will never suffer torment." 3, 1

          "Is it good to have riches
in this life?  Nothing can make you
richer than wisdom."  8, 5

Today:  Nice reading, especially for All Saints.  Note the beautiful line, “You love all things
that are.” Line 24

The Celebration begins.

Psalm 145 observation:

Can you spot my favorite line?  Someone
has composed a beautiful portrait of God.

Sources, Good News Bible, The New Interpreter's Study Bible, Wikipedia.

Three of Ours, Bethany, Shonda, and Ray.

Saints?  Ever met One? 
Never met One?

I would like to talk today about saints. 
Ever met one?  Never, you
say.  I would say, on the contrary, I
have known many, and I know many.  Let me
spell out a bit what this saint person is or does from my perspective.

First I would suggest the saint is fully alive or trying to be fully
alive.

Secondly, I think this person shows me that Our God is what the Psalm writer
says.  Namely, using my translation, Our
God is gracious and merciful, never gets angry and is abounding in love.

Bernadette leading the Creed.

Zacchaeus exemplifies these two qualities.  He shows me this portrait of God and he is so
alive that he climbs a tree to compensate for his shortness.  A terrific model.

I have another.  This person came
into my life around fifth grade at Christ the King.  He was a young guy in his twenties, out of
the navy where he had been wounded. 
He was our all sports coach, scout master, teacher, and mentor.  

Cupcakes of The Week for Alison's John, Beth's Rob, and Patricia's 15th. Did John and Rob ever see those cupcakes?

His name was Frank and at least twice in his life he showed me God. 

The first time it happened started after I had entered the Boy Scouts
and we went off to camp Texoma. I don’t think Frank was there this year.  I immediately did not like this, was homesick,
and scared that some of the big guys, the eighth grade boys, who were going to
initiate me, it being my first time out.

So I pretended to be sick, cried a bit, and eventually got taken
home.  I remember coming home.  It was mid-summer and hot.  We had no a/c, of course.  I think my parents were embarrassed.  That event was one of the most humiliating
times in my life.

Harper with Cathy.

My dad & some of the other dads had gotten involved with the Scouts
at this time and, therefore, I stuck around. 
Summer came again, camp came, and I did not want to go.  But my dad had volunteered to do an
overnight.  Each night a dad stayed with
the troop. 

I did not want to go, but figured I had better go along with my
dad. 

I’ll never forget arriving in that campsite at twilight.  They used the old canvas, walled tents on
platforms.  Each tent had 4 cots.  When we arrived, we went straight to Frank’s
tent and he was seated on his cot.

When I  entered the tent rather queasy, Frank was so warm in his
greeting and so accepting that I immediately felt at ease and at home.  I think Frank’s support of me that night
helped me turn a big corner in my life.

Torri at The Play World.

Could this have significantly helped me to enter the Jesuits in ’58?  Despite the fact that I knew I would be
coming home for nothing, and despite the times I felt homesick, like especially
around Thanksgiving and Christmas, I never returned home.

The second time Frank showed me Our God was when we planted trees on Marsh
Lane from LBJ to Love Field, probably around 1993-4.  We had so many trees that we used two Sundays
in October-November. 

Frank owned a restaurant just north of LBJ west off of Marsh.  When he heard about what we had done the
first Sunday, he invited all the planters to eat dinner at his restaurant after
the second planting. 

We did and those trees are still there. 
Moreover, for some years Frank’s oldest son, likewise, Frank, whom I
taught at Jesuit in the 60’s, and who owns Back Country Bar-b-que on Greenville
Ave., Frank Jr. catered a lunch for all the tree planters.

Frank Sr. is retired and living at Tremont, and he is one of my saints.  He is fully alive and he has shown me that Our
God is merciful and gracious, never gets angry, and is abounding in love.

Who are your saints?   For whom
are you a saint?  

Jessica in from The Home of the Red Sox.

 Readings:

Jeremiah 1, 4-5, 17-19,  Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.

Psalm 71,  I will sing of your salvation.

1 Corinthians 13, 4-13, Love is patient, love is kind.

Luke 4, 21-30, No prophet is accepted in his own native place.

For those who don’t have a decent Bible or a book of the readings, here are two links that I use,

The Bible at Your Fingertips (http://st-luke-church.org/bible-at-finger-tips.php) and USCCB, The New American Bible (http://www.usccb.org/).  

The difference?  The first is Protestant more or less, and the second is officially Catholic and has the 12 little books in between the O.T. & N.T., called Deuterocanonical or Apocrypha. 

Both are good translations.  

Buying a bible?  The Jerusalem Bible.

The Reads, Taylor, Teresa, and Doug.

 Jeremiah observations:

Who:  One of the Big 3 and my second favorite behind Isaiah, whom we will hear from next Sunday.  Why a favorite: because he shares his feelings with gusto. 

Time:  you can guess it, before and during the Babylonian Captivity.  Notice how much prophetic energy is concentrated around this one event?  Shows how big it was in Jewish history.  Keep 500 before Christ as the beacon date.  

What: you can guess this, too.  Criticism of behavior, warning of punishment from God, and eventually a better day.

What today: Jeremiah’s call by God to be his man, really Everyperson’s call to be God’s special.  This call theme carries through our next 2 readings, especially the next one, The Big One.

Georgie arriving with free hugs.

 1 Corinthians, 13 

Here it is: Paul’s famous treatise on what love is.   

I used to get 1 Corinthians 13 fatigue, I heard it so often at weddings.  Lately, however, I appreciate it more because I never cease to need to be reminded of what love involves.   

Karina with her little doggy, Pelusa

 The Greatest of these is love.

When I returned from East Africa in May of ’86, I decided to study Spanish because I wanted to stay in Texas.  Plus, I discovered I had a gift for languages in East Africa learning Swahili.  So I went to Cuernavaca, Mexico where I spent 2 five week periods. 

The second 5 week period I stayed in the small house of a lady named Maria Luisa.  She had a crippled daughter named Karina.  Maria Luisa had two Mexican girls renting a little space in her house.  One of these girls was one of our teachers at the language institute.  I stayed in a little hut in the back and I stayed there because I wanted to live with people who spoke only Spanish.

Karina at the grave of her mom, Maria Luisa, who died last year in a car accident after surviving 3 cases of cancer. The little fenced area contains also the parents of Maria Luisa. An old cemetary in Cuernavaca.

When I returned to the States after running the Mexico City Marathon in September of ‘86, I continued to keep in contact with mother & daughter. A year or so later they lost their little house and had to move into the garage which had been an attached part of the house. 

Year by year I used to visit them, usually around Christmas when Rosemary & I would take a break in Mexico.  I think what started me helping the two women was when Karina fell down at some point, broke the apparatus she wears on her withered left leg, and did not have the money to buy a new one. 

CC and Emma.

Each Christmas we would visit with hopefully enough money to help them get through the year.  With the help of numerous people at St. Mark’s and then our community from 2004, I gave them as much as $2400 a year,$200 per month.    This was especially true when Maria Luisa started coming down with what turned out to be 3 cases of cancer. 

Six year ago, as Karina reminded me, we brought an extra thousand to help them establish a small shop.  They did and we were able to back off the support.  However, there were times when Maria Luisa was hospitalized and dependent upon Karina.  These times the shop did not get opened and I would help them with maybe a thousand. 

Sisters, CC and Kayla arriving.

This past fall, after having survived 3 cases of cancer, Maria Luisa was killed in a car accident.  Karina was panicked.  In fact, she feared she was going to be kicked out of the garage.  I sent her $600 and she seemed to level out.

Though I did not expect to get to visit Mexico again this year because of the rising cost of air fares, Rosemary & I decided I needed to check on the woman.  And so I went last Monday, coming home Friday.  Three points came up.

Zoe arrives.

1.  It was excellent that I went.  The visit calmed and encouraged Karina.  I gave her $700. 
2. She said she is afraid she cannot run the shop alone, is looking at selling out, closing, and taking up cleaning houses in her neighborhood.  There are some middle class homes in the area.
3. I asked her what can I help her with so that she can get her peace back.  Reluctantly, she said $2000 will help her clear all the bills from her mother and her own apparatus recently broke.  Then she won’t fear getting kicked out of her garage, which she says that she owns. 

Brother and Sister, James and Kara arrive.

For my part, I told her I would consult about the money.  I also suggested that now was the time in her life at 45 when she could put to use her considerable mental capabilities.  I suggested, too, that she broaden her contacts, especially with a couple of influential women I personally know in Cuernavaca who would empathize with her.

Why do this?  Why not work to alleviate the suffering of the thousands running from Syria or even poverty in Mexico?  Mostly I have never known how.  But I do know I can help a person here or there whom I care for.  I can show my love for one.  I don’t know how to do it for thousands.

“The greatest of these is love,” says Paul.  You people in this community are good at this.  But I will ask anyway, ‘To whom are you showing your love?’

Dembneys, Chris, Kate, and Susan arriving.

Folks, You are witnessing a Changing of The Team, Kevin's last formal day, Leo's first formal day.  

Readings:

Daniel 7, 9-10, 13-14,   His dominion is an everlasting dominion

Psalm 97,   The Lord is King, the Most High over all the earth.

2 Peter 1, 16-19,  This is my son with whom I am well pleased.

Matthew 17, 1-9,  The Transfiguration.

Even our Special Greeter, Genevieve, is back to honor her brother Leo.
 

Observations on Daniel

Who : a prophet foretelling better times.  Daniel is the hero, not the author, who is unknown.

Time: Babylonian captivity the scene, but put together ca. 160 before Christ during another persecution.

Subject: Dreams foretelling better times.

Today: A dream in which a great leader will come and rule with peace.

Can you find a brighter smile than that anywhere!  Peighton says, "Hi, Folks, Welcome.
 

Transfigurations Today

This morning I would like to talk about transfigurations today and propose that this phenomenon can be almost a daily experience.  Transfiguration moments create greater peace of heart, gratitude, and humility.

Guess where I saw this recently.  Yes, I had a whole week of transfigurations last week in Iowa riding my bike across that state along with 15 thousand other riders. 

Emma, you only get better each week as our Candle Lighter of The Week.

I have three example of how I was touched by the beauty of nature,  of people, and the beauty of trust. 

So, one morning about 6:30 I was pulling out of one of our first overnight towns, probably Spenser.  I was one of hundreds of bikers all heading into the coming sunrise.  The sky was crystal clear blue and there was ground fog.  On either side of us were green contoured corn fields and soy  beans.

After pedaling all week for ca. 500 miles, I find it overwhelming to come over a hill and look down suddenly on this marvelous, enormous  Mississippi.

At one point we were climbing a gentle rise and curving slightly to the left.  I could see a mile ahead and what I saw was the silhouettes of the riders in the fog against the brightness of the coming sunrise.   It was breath taking.  I was just so happy to be alive and where I was, riding my bike.  A transfiguration moment of beauty.  A moment of greater peace, gratitude, and humility.

Secondly, people.  Picture this.  It is time to eat dinner in about the 4^th or 5^th overnight town.  I choose to go to the Methodist church for scalloped potatoes, ham, a salad, and desert for $10, all you can eat. I was looking for lasagna, but could not find it.

We pass through beautiful rolling fields of corn & soy beans, gorgeous sun rises with early morning ground fog, even a national park with serious climbs & descents.   Arriving at this extraordinary, ancient river just takes my breath away.

So I walk in the side door, buy my ticket, and descend to the basement where they are serving and there are whole bunches of long tables, almost all full.  I find a seat in the middle of one of those tables, across from another older guy like me.  We get talking and the usual question comes out fairly quickly, “Where you from?’  Turns out he is from Iowa and very friendly.  At this point the people on both sides of us finish, leave, and they are replace by 4 guys & women on each side. 

The question gets asked and Michigan & out west all are represented.  One of the new guys even asks me how many Ragbrais I’ve ridden, the second most common question.  And, then, ‘How old are you.” 

Hungry for the salad/dessert bar at Hy-Vee grocery & food court?  Leave your bike, your helmet, and your gloves, all unlocked.   Don't forget where you leave your bike.  Return in an hour, all will be awaiting you.  Incidentally, poor Hy-Vee was completely overwhelmed with the tidal wave of bikers who came through their doors.  Even bikers pitched in to help bus tables (like yours truly).

That causes a ruckus.   Lots of congratulations and compliments. 

This was a people transfiguration.  I came out of there not only with a good meal, but also a sense of greater peace, hope in the goodness of people, and humility. 

Thirdly, a trust transfiguration.  I  have two favorite vendors in Iowa, a grocery store called Hy-Vee and a 7-11 type convenience store called Casey’s.  Casey’s has the best & cheapest coffee in the morning.  They are in every village.

A small piece of advice especially to first trippers, Do not ever forget where you have parked your bike.  

Let's say you find your bike.  Next question, Can you extricate it from the tangle of other bikes.  They are usually hitched to cables running the  length of the main street of each little village.

Hy-Vee has great, all you can eat salad bars for $9.  Trouble is, Hy-Vee is only in the larger villages.  We had 2, Spenser & Orange City.  You want to get something at one of these places?  Just ride up, find a place to park your bike, go in, spend 15 minutes or 60, come out, and your bike & helmet await you.   Nothing is stolen.

A trust transfiguration.

Still ready to join the music team, Genevieve?   Or ready to help Leo?
 

The Old Pro and The Rookie, Two Winners.  

A bonus transfiguration.    As a Jesuit I was challenged by the goal of the Renaissance man.  The man is well rounded, intellectually, spiritually, and physically.  I found one.

Intellectually the guy is not only a chemical engineer.  He is a car mechanic.   He plays the piano.  He is into model trains & camping.  Spiritually he is solid.  Physically he is a dynamo biker.  All of this & more I discovered about our own David Dinsmore.

Where do you find your transfiguration moments?   The last one?

A Renaissance Man, David Dinsmore.

Readings: 2 Samuel 12, 7-13; Psalm 32, Lord, Forgive the Wrong I have done: Galatians 2, 16, 19-21; Luke 7, 36-8, 3.

Sunday Homily 6-13-10, 11^th Ordinary Time

Preliminary observations:

The First reading today is from the Second Book of Samuel and it is about King David.  The Jewish people had reached a time in their history when they wanted to be just like their neighbors, who all had kings!! 

The prophets viewed it as not a good thing but basically we find Yahweh saying “let them have their king”, and so Saul is the first king and he is followed by David.  David is one of those huge figures in the Old Testament, and even gets mentioned frequently in the New Testament since Jesus was from the house of David. 

King David was a very interesting character, very human and very much loved by Yahweh.  The time frame for this is about the year 1000 BCE.  Before we listen to today’s reading I need to set it up.  The Book of Samuel, if it were being reviewed today by those who do those things would get an “Adult Only” rating.  I don’t want you to let your kids read this book, it is full of sinning and murder and other bad stuff!!

One day David is out walking around on the roof of his palace and he sees Bathseba bathing.  He takes a fancy to her, but she is already married.  No problem if you are the king.  He simply has her husband Uriah sent to the front lines of a battle where he is killed.  Getting a woman to be your wife this way is not good, even if you are the king, and God gets a little upset!!  Now just before our passage today we have the following piece in the Book of Samuel and I want to read it to you.

“The LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he came to him, he said: "Judge this case for me! In a certain town there were two men, one rich, the other poor.  The rich man had flocks and herds in great numbers.  But the poor man had nothing at all except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He nourished her, and she grew up with him and his children. She shared the little food he had and drank from his cup and slept in his bosom. She was like a daughter to him. 

Now, the rich man received a visitor, but he would not take from his own flocks and herds to prepare a meal for the wayfarer who had come to him. Instead he took the poor man's ewe lamb and made a meal of it for his visitor."

David grew very angry with that man and said to Nathan: "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this merits death!  He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold because he has done this and has had no pity." 

Then Nathan said to David: "You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'I anointed you king of Israel. I rescued you from the hand of Saul.  I gave you your lord's house and your lord's wives for your own. I gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were not enough, I could count up for you still more.  Why have you spurned the LORD and done evil in his sight? You have cut down Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you took his wife as your own, and him you killed with the sword of the Ammonites.  Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.'”

Our Second Reading is Paul to the Galatians, and Paul is very upset.  Remember first that Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles.  Initially in the early community the thinking had been that when someone who was a Gentile became a Christian all they had to do was be baptized, then the requirement to become a Jew was added, namely circumcision. 

Paul had come to the opinion, based on his revelation of the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, that baptism was all that was needed.  There was a whole lot of friction between Paul and the Church in Jerusalem who felt that Sabbath Observance, Dietary Laws and Circumcision were required.  In today’s reading we hear a phrase from Paul, “justified by works of the Law” that meant obeying the Torah law.  For Paul, having Christ in him was all that was needed, namely having a relationship with Christ.

Eleventh Sunday – Homily

The message today is primarily about forgiveness, but I want to begin before forgiveness with a session on sin, which I am an expert on!!  Because the practice of frequent confession seems to have disappeared there is a danger that we could lull ourselves into thinking that sin too has gone away, and I’m afraid that this would be a big mistake on our part.  Lets start with what sin is. 

Any action, which damages our relationship, either with God or another person, is sinful.  Now that kind of statement is pretty sterile on its own, so lets try to put some flesh on it.  Imagine you have someone in your life who loves you very very much.  Now you have done something, which hurts them, accidentally or not, it doesn’t ever matter.  Imagine how you would feel. 

The problem with our sins is that I’m afraid we don’t realize how much we are loved by God, for some reason it just doesn’t really sink in enough, because if it did, then sin would devastate us.  It seems to me that woman in our Gospel was very aware of what her sins were doing.  For some unexplained reason, maybe listening to Jesus speak somewhere, and it hit her.  We clearly see her response. 

David has a clear vision of his sin.  Paul is taking the position that if Christ is living in us, than we are alright, we are forgiven, and we don’t need to be doing extra things.  The hard piece for us to understand is that God’s love for us is so great that we are forgiven, even before we ask for forgiveness.  That doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences for sin.  We know there are.  David’s son died because of his father’s sin, the woman in the gospel story was an outcast in her society. 

The lesson for me in today’s liturgy of the word is how closely am I aware of my sins, and the need to change sinful behavior?  Just because I am forgiven thru God’s love doesn’t mean I can just continue to sin.  If I truly love someone, would I want to continue hurting them just because they readily forgave me?

Picture 1:  Mass Begins, welcome!

Picture 2:  Communion, Tony, Richard Baack & Richard Froebe

Picture 3:  Communion, Tom Fleming & Teresa Read

Picture 4:  Fred & Maureen

John shares his Homily.

Readings:  

 2 Kings 4:42-44,  They shall eat and there shall be some left over.

 Psalm 145,   The hand of the Lord feeds us;he answers all our needs.

 Ephesians 4: 1-6, One body and one Spirit.

John 6: 1-15,  The miracle of the loaves and fishes.

The Consecration. 

Homily:

From the prominence of the miracle stories of feeding multitudes with so little, and the importance given to the Passover meal by the Jewish followers of Jesus, it’s no surprise that they didn’t take long after he died to make a remembrance of his last Passover meal the centerpiece of their gatherings.

By 325 A.D., with Constantine as Emperor of the Roman Empire, the Eucharistic meal was recognized as a central part of Christian practice.  Earlier, about 150 A.D., Justin Martyr, an early Christian apologist, wrote to explain Christianity to the Greek world, how the followers of Jesus had the practice of celebrating a remembrance of the Lord’s Supper when they gathered.

The Offertory with Hugh, Sydney and Mary.

Earlier still is the Acts, written between 80 and 90 A.D. In Ch. 2, is the statement, “They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful.”

Perhaps the earliest written mention of the Eucharistic meal is in First Corinthians, Ch. 11. Scripture scholars agree that the letters of Paul were written around 50 A.D., about 20 years after Jesus’ death. Paul alludes to irreverent behavior at “the Lord’s Supper.” He was criticizing the followers of Jesus in Corinth about turning the meal into “a family squabble”, instead of coming to the “Lord’s Table” with reverence and courtesy.”

The Kiss of Peace.

The Lord’s Supper, the Mass, as it evolved, has had different understandings. Is the Mass primarily a ‘sacrifice’ being remembered and somehow offered again for a people cut off from God? Or is the Mass primarily a shared ritual meal of remembrance, celebrating a people’s thankfulness for Jesus’ Good News that we are already connected with God and always have been?           

What do you think?

Shonda and Ben.