Sunday Homily, June 21, 2015, 12th Ordinary Time & Fathers’ Day, B

 

 

"Welcome in, Everybody," say Alison.  She will take your order for communion.

 

Readings:

2 Kings 4, 8-11, 14-16,   This time next year you will have a baby son.

 Psalm 89,   Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Romans 6,  3-4, 8-11,  You, too must think of yourselves as living for God.

Matthew 10, 37-42, Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

 

 

 

Rocco, too, says, "Hi, Everybody."

 

July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence signed.

50^th anniversary, July 4, 1826: two signers of the Declaration died, the only 2 to serve as presidents,  and mutual friends, Thomas Jefferson & John Adams (excellent source, David McCullough’s John Adams).

 

 

 

She's back, Folks, and better than ever.  Welcome home, Wendy!

 

 

Happy July 4

It is July 4 time and I would like to talk this morning about why I am happy to be an American.  I was sharing my ideas with Rosemary, an advantage to being a married priest (or maybe not), and she said, “Can’t you find reasons a little more dramatic, a little more universal?”  So, my reasons are just my own homey variety. 

I do claim a certain unique perspective because of living in East Africa for 10 years.  I admit there were a few occasions when I was grateful I had the American embassy as a refuge in case I got into some trouble.  I can certainly remember looking at the American flag flying over the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya and being grateful and thinking, ‘Yes, that’s my country.”

 

 

 

Wow, I forget how good and beautiful you are, Wendy.  

 

So, here are 3 reasons why I am delighted to be an American this summer.   Natural beauty and people beauty with two parts.

First, the natural beauty.  There certainly are beautiful places in East Africa, for instance.  Like Kilimanjaro, which I climbed 5 times & the Serengeti game park.  Likewise, in Italy, the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre, even Rome. 

 

 

Welcome, Tim, so good to have you with us.

 

In the States we have the Rockies of CO, Grand Canyon, the beaches, like Hilton Head.  For me, there is nothing better than Yosemite.   But, you say, I live in Dallas.  Beware there is natural beauty here, too.  Try White Rock Lake, try the White Rock Creek trail.  Rosemary & I  ride this trail weekly and I wonder lately, ‘Am I truly in Dallas,’ it is so wild and wooded.   It has been especially beautiful the past couple of months because of the frequent rain.

 

 

I do believe trouble is brewing in that corner again.  Just look at her face.

 

 

In Plano what about the Oak Point Park.  Is this really Dallas?  I just discovered Oak Point last year when the Collin Classic bike tour began there.  

I love the natural beauty we have in America.

 

 

 

Healing and life for Sandra.

 

Then there is the people beauty.   Don’t laugh.  I propose the trustworthiness of people. 

Want to see an amazing phenomenon?   Park yourself on a corner of one of the small towns we will pass through in three weeks on the bike rally through Iowa.  You will see maybe more than a thousand bikes hitched to parking cables and lying on the ground, not one with a lock. 

I park in front of a grocery store, put my helmet on the handle bar, walk in, get what I want, maybe an all you can eat meal for $10 (like lasagna), and return to my unlocked bike. 

I love our ride through Iowa every July.  Only about 12 – 15 thousand riders.  Of all sorts.

 

 

 

Welcome home healing and life for Grace.

 

Want to see another phenomenon?  The hospitality of people.  Join me to ride the Hotter ‘n Hell Hundred the end of August.   There are 10 rest stops, like every 10 miles.  Each stop is loaded with bushels of volunteers overflowing with hospitality. 

I have my two favorites, 30 and 75.  At the 30 mile there is a group of elderly ladies (maybe many younger than I) who personally bake dozens of 6 varieties of cookies.  They positively blow me away and every year I tell them they are my favorite stop of all. 

 

 

 

Would someone please go and sit with Sir Charlie.  

 

 

I will meet new rest stops this August because last year after the 100 miles when I was dead tired, Rosemary got me to agree to ride the 50 miles with her and have a dinner together on the way home.  This spring I tried to renegotiate this deal with Rosemary, and she said, "Too bad, Cowboy, you agreed and you are stuck."

 

 

Offertory with Mike & Jean & Judy & John.

 

What are you proud about this year?

Happy July 4.

 

Readings:   Exodus 20, 1-17, God delivered all these commandments; Psalm 19, Lord, You have the words of everlasting life; 1 Corinthians 1, 22-25, The weakness of God is stronger than human strength; John 2, 13-25, He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple.

 

Exodus: 2nd book of the Bible & of the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible.

Date of Composition: put together ca 450-400 BCE, though elements come from 1000 BCE at least.

Author(s):  Moses, no.  At least 3 sources, maybe 4, e.g., the Yahweh (J) source, the Elohim (E) source, the Priestly (P) source, and even the Deuteronomy Source.

 Subject:  The 10 Commandments–observations:

 Our Subject today: 10 Commandments–Observations

 

1. Academics see 3 maybe 4 versions of the 10 commandments, Exodus 34 (the oldest), Exodus 20 (our selection), Deuteronomy 5 (the last)
2. The versions come from the sources composing at different times, for example these 4

• The Yahweh Source, 10th Century BCE, therefore, Exodus 34    
• The Elohim Source, 9th Century BCE, therefore Exodus 20
•  The Deuteronomy Source, 7th Century BCE, therefore Deuteronomy 5    
• The Priestly Source, edited all the sources in 6th Century BCE (450-400 BCE, at the end of the Babylonian Captivity).  The 7 Day Creation Story comes from this source at this time.

Source:  Bishop (Episcopal) John Shelby Spong (Excellent Biblical Scholar)

 

 

How to keep the Inner Peace

Some months ago Rosemary & I were flying back to Dallas from Toronto on the first Friday morning in October.  Canadians that morning were beginning the long weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving.  Everyone was taking off. 

Rosemary & I had gone to celebrate the event with Kay Reddick & her family the week just before Canadian Thanksgiving. 

Our plane was scheduled for sometime around 9:00, so we arrived very early, like 6:30.  We walked into the huge single room terminal and noticed a long line.  No problem, we had everything prepared.  We checked in and asked where we entered security, a one stop area like in Atlanta, everyone going through the same big security post.  The girl said the line was for security. 



 Wow!  Gulp!  This line must have been more than 100 yards long, running from one end of the terminal to the other with numerous double backs.

Initially I thought the line was just volume.  Nope. Turns out security is staging a labor slow down.  We are in that line over 5 hours, folks.  Naturally, we missed our plane.  Everyone missed their plane.  In fact, I thought we might not even get out that day.  Clearing security was only half the problem.  Once inside everyone was mobbing the service desks to change their ticketing. 

One thing about the day that really struck me positively was that I never saw anyone lose it or have a hissy fit.  On the contrary, people were friendly, joking, lying on the floor while waiting.  There were Canadians in that line near us who were missing their flights to Hawaii.  We talked to them in the waiting line and we talked to them inside where they had booked a flight to San Francisco that afternoon. 

 If I had been in Lagos, Nigeria, I would expect that I would have witnessed a riot.  Not in Toronto that morning.  I’ve seen check-in riots for a lot less. 

 I mention this event because it comes to mind when I see the story of Jesus getting all steamed up at the vendors in the temple.   I have to laugh.  Lucky he never flew.  Our experience and his probably had some common elements, like chaos and crowds.  

What is he so hyped up about?  Was he having a bad mood day?  Can he have bad moods?   If you look at these scenes with detachment, you might want to laugh.

On the other hand, Jesus might have had some significant reasons, like:

    1.  he was angry because the vendors were supposed to remain in the outer courtyard and they were inching into the inner sanctum, the holy place.  The law.

    2.  he was angry because he was watching the vendors cheat.  Injustice.  Maybe his mom had been cheated by one of these guys some years ago and he still was angry about that.

    3.  he was angry because he saw the obsession of some of these people with money.  He was seeing the Bernie Madoffs, the Stanfords, and the Ken Lays of his day.

 But, note that

 

1. it was customary for animals to be sold at the temple.  These animals were destined to be bought by people, taken to the priestly cast inside the temple, and given as a sacrifice.  These people were heavy into sacrifice.  The idea: I sacrifice something to God, I get something from God.  Maybe it was gratitude for already getting something. 

  2.  it was customary that the temple was a center for all sorts of trade.  People went there for sacrifice, giving thanks, and socializing.  The market naturally set up near, in, and around the temple.  The markets I saw in Tanzania when I lived there were probably similar and were fascinating events. 

So why was Jesus so angry?  Maybe he was caught off guard.  He expected better.  That was what amazed me about the Toronto airport.  Everyone was caught off guard.  Everyone expected better.  Yet, no one got so mad they lost it. 

There is a little trick that helps with this craziness.  I would call it expectation adjustment.  The idea comes not from my head, but from a man named Albert Ellis (American Psychologist, developed RET, Rational-Emotive Therapy, d. 2007, 93). 

 The idea is that I have an expectation about how a person should behave & how things should be.  If the expectation is frustrated, then I can go off.  What do you think is the dynamic behind road rage? 

Want to fix it?  Adjust my expectation, change it.  Or look at it positively.  It is another way of accepting.  A trucker is in left lane.  So what.  Someone is in such a rush they are right on my rear bumper.  I have to wait so long in security that I miss my plane.  Expectations?  Yes.  Hey, it could be worse.  Rosemary & I made it out, after all.  Jesus seems to have done some expectation adjustment, because in his condemnation by the Pharisees at the end of his life he does not fight back.  The result: my inner peace.



 

How do I react when I see someone going through the express check out with 18 items?   Or leaving the shopping cart in a parking place?  How do I react to road craziness? 

How do you respond to frustrated expectations?

 Sources:  Center for Liturgy, St. Louis U.; Alfred Ellis

 

 

 

Yes, John, that red '55 Studebaker is still for sale.   I make you a good deal.  Better grab it before Rob grabs it for Beth.

 

Readings: 

Sirach 27, 4-7,   Tribulation is the test of the just.  

Psalm 92,  Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.  (The Beauty of Today, Stanza 1)

1 Corinthians 15, 54-58,    Where, O Death, is your sting?

Luke 6,  39-45, A good person produces good.

 

 

Spousal abuse!   No way!  You know the truth, Mike, you were there.

 

Sirach Observations

Who : an educated scribe living and writing in Jerusalem ca. 180 before Christ.  His work was translated from the original Hebrew into Greek by Ben Sira’s grandson in 132.

The Work: The chief loves of Ben Sira’s life were The law and the Temple rituals.  Consequently, his work falls into the Wisdom genre of writings. 

Lots of maxims, for example on fear, 

The fear of the Lord is glory & pride,                                                             

The fear of the Lord gladdens the heart,                                                       

For those who fear the Lord , all will end well.  (p. 809, New Jerusalem Bible)

 

 

Two great Jesuit alumni, Bob & Mike Bulger.   Only missing Ray.

 

Some amusing maxims:                                                                                     

Do not compliment a person, 11/2,                                                                   

Be careful about the kind of person you bring home, 11/29,                           

A father who loves his son will whip him often, 30/1,                                   

A woman has to take any man as a husband, but a man must choose his wife carefully, 36/21

Others focus on patience, uprightness, humility, and duties toward parents.  It is a large book with 51 chapters.

 

 

Jan takes care of everybody who walks in the door.

 

Sunday Homily, 3-3-19, 5 Ways to have a Happy Lent

If there is anything that every year makes me want to say ‘yuk,’ it is the beginning of Lent with its focus on sin.  Guess where we are, Folks, Ash Wednesday this week.  Instead of it being a downer focused on how bad I am and how I need to do penance, I would like to propose 5 ways to have a Happy Lent.

 

 

"Patricia, would you not like to take him home with you?"  sez Jan.

 

First, attitude.   You are not a sinner going to hell.  There is no hell, as I continually repeat.  Why do I say this: data free analysis to prove its reality.  Moreover, we have a God about whom Psalm 92 talks,

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praise, to proclaim your kindness at dawn and your faithfulness throughout the night.

 

 

Emma, How come you look so pretty this morning?

 

Secondly, unclutter your environment.  Becky suggested this.  Have a box or bag.  Every week or every day put something into the bag, a shirt, a book, an old decoration.  Maybe Becky can use some of the stuff.

I must admit that I just put into the box headed for Half Price Books all my French books.  That was hard.  My memory is not as strong and I just don’t see me using the language enough.  I’ve  loved  languages.

 

 

 

Here they come, the offertory team, Lynda & Tom, Geri & Mike.

 

Thirdly, a good deed day.  Say ‘Good Morning’ to a stranger at Starbucks or at Central Market.  Call somebody whom you have not talked with in a while and say you are just calling to see how they are.  Take somebody to Romeos or Juliette’s.  Help out here at Legacy.  

Fourth.  Sorry, Folks.  Work out.  Exercise 4, 5 days a week.  Walk through the neighborhood.  Make it fun.   Enough of that. 
Try it, you will like it.

 

 

Mabel & her admirers, 

Fifth.  My favorite.  Gratitude.  Like Psalm 92 says,  It is good to give thanks.  Before you go to bed what is your blessing of the day?  Want to bet there is always something.

So, how are you going to have a Happy Lent?

 

 

Team Legacy Charter.  The Best.

1 Kings, Elijah went a day's journey into the desert.

Psalm 34, Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Ephesians 4, Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another.

John 6, I am the bread of life.

 

 

Connie reading from Kings.

 

Thanks……

Music,    Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Connie, John, & Buddy, our candle blesser 

Gospel,     John Cade

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,     Richard, Hue, & Mike

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy for all these years & will miss you enormously, Becky

 

 

John reading from Corinthians.

 

Readings:

Download Readings 19th Ordinary Time 8-8-21

 

Homily by John Stack

Download Homily by Stack 8-8-2021

 

 

The team.

 

Kings:  a review–

Subject: The kings of Israel.  The Big 3 kings were Saul, David, & his son Solomon.  The 2 Books of kings follows the 2 Books of Samuel, which describe the lives of the the kings up to the death of the Great King David, my favorite.  1 & 2 Kings takes up the life of Solomon, David's son, his building of the temple, his death, and the fate of the kingdom following his death, that is, it divides and is conquered. 

Time Period:  from ca. 900 – 555 before Christ, or from Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar & Cyrus.

 Authors: a compilation of many sources that was put together at the end of the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 555 before Christ. 

Our Selection: focus is on one man, the prophet Elijah.  The kingdom has already been split.  Our story takes place in the northern state, Israel.  Time of severe drought.  The king is Ahab; his queen, the famous Jezebel.  The prophet Elijah has scolded them for turning to false gods to end the drought.  

  There has been a contest in chapter 18: Elijah vs the 450 prophets of Baal, ultimately to see which side would be more effective in bringing rain.  2 bulls were slaughtered.  Naturally, Elijah wins when Yahweh answers his prayer, sends down fire, and consumes the bull Elijah has slaughtered.  When he wins, he slaughters the 450 prophets of Baal.   

We enter at a point where Jezebel is furious with Elijah for killing her favorite prophets and aims to kill Elijah.  He is going to run away all depressed.   

 

 

Peace, Everybody.

 

Remember these special people:

For John & Karen Anderlick's unborn grandson;  For Alan Stryker;   For Candice Taht, friend of Mary Hall;   For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   For Esparza's new great grandson baby, son of Monique, & Frank with shingles;  For all the medical personnel struggling to treat the tsunami of sick people, in particular, locally, Cindy's staff at Presby, Dallas, and at Frisco Presby, the mother of Harper and Betsy, Kendle, working in labor & delivery, and for Hue & Linda's daughter, Doctor Rosemary Beavers;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, The Woodlands,   For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody &  Leo & all of Shonda's dear family; For Ursuline Sr. Mary Troy,   for John Simari

 

Peace for you, Marsha.

 

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.; For Meredith, cancer free & John Schanot;    For John O'Donnell & Jean;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughters, Lisa & Lauren  ;  For Anthony & Sabrina;    For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's mother in law, Kalliopi Piskiouli and Lambrini, plus John's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little 10 month old baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; For Beth's friends & brother;   for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

Birthdays: Linda Beavers & Rose Banzhaf & Carrie Bieda.

Anniversaries:  Souls Harbor (1956),

Hugh & Linda, 46, 

Mike & Judy, 57

Mary Hall & Dave

 

Community Finances,   August 8, 2021

Expenses: $1615.00

Outreach: $325

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Rosemary & her Blessing of the Week.

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Come, O Dancing God,

Spirit of Life and Love,

of Beauty and Diversity,

stir up my soul,

bathe me in your light,

and unleash my own spirit

that I may dance with you

and be light for those around me

and reflect your love to all that I meet this week.

 

Edited and adapted from a blessing by Fr. Andrew M. Greeley

 

 

Richard with communion for Cathy.

 

 

 

Readings: Acts 10, 34-43; Psalm 118; Colossians 3, 1-4; John 20, 1-9.

An Easter Story (Kids Only?)

There is a little girl named Meredith. She had a dog named Amy who after a good life died when Meredith was 4. Meredith loved Amy and wanted to write a note to God to make sure He knew she had arrived.

Her mother, being a good mom, wrote down what Meredith wanted to say, put the letter in an envelope along with 2 pictures so God could identify Amy, and sealed it with Meredith’s return address. Two stamps were applied because the letter had a long way to go. It was addressed: God, Heaven.

A week or so later on a Saturday afternoon, Meredith returned home with her mom. On the porch was package wrapped in gold paper addressed to Meredith. Return address: God, Heaven.

Meredith ran to her room and opened the package. Inside was a small book, When Your Pet Dies, Meredith’s letter and pictures, and on pink paper a handwritten note.

Dearest Meredith,

I am sure you will be happy to know that Amy arrived here safe, sound, and happy. Your pictures were especially helpful and I recognized her immediately. She is now with me all the time.

You might also be happy to know that she is no longer sick and stiff. Rather her spirit is so frisky and playful that I cannot keep up with her.

Since as spirits we do not have bodies and therefore don’t have pockets, I am returning your helpful pictures and beautiful letter. They may provide good memories some day.

Thank you for such a thoughtful letter. I hope the book helps. Thanks also to your wonderful mom for helping you with the letter. Did you know I chose her especially for you.

One of my angels is helping me with this letter. As God I enjoy hanging around heaven and wherever there is love. I bless you and love you more every day.

Signed, God & one of his special helpers (who wrote this letter when God told her the words to write).

What is Your Easter Story?

Download the homily as an mp3 file.

Readings: Daniel 7, 13-14; Psalm 93, The Lord is King, He is robed in Majesty; Revelation 1, 5-8; John 18, 33-27

History of the Christ the King Feast: date, author, reason it was declared

Date: Not during the early church, not during the time when Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Empire, not during the time of Luther & the Reformation, not during the time of Pius IX with the Italian Resorgiamento & his Infallibility statement (1870), but in 1925.  Fairly Recently.

Author: Pius XI, pope 1922-39

Reason(s): at least 2 factors–The Times and Modernism/Secularism

1.  The Times:

a) End of WW I and build up to WW II   

b) Mussolini & Hitler: the same year Pius XI became pope, Mussolini became prime minister.  By 1925 he had become a dictator.  The feast was to counter the dictatorship.

2.  Modernism & Secularism:

a) Modernism.  Despite being scholarly and pro-scientific methods, Pius XI was suspicious of biblical scholarship which questioned, for example, biblical inerrancy, the nature of bible miracles, the virgin birth, the resurrection, the atonement theory that God demanded his son suffer & die for a single sin by a human.

b) Secularism coming out of the Enlightenment said that all people were equal, people should have a say in government as in democracy, and backed the separation of church/state, like proposed by Jefferson. 

Sources: Living with Christ, Nov., 2009; Wikipedia

Requiem for a Chevy Pickup

When I first returned to Dallas after my time in East Africa, I determined that I would like to stay here and I would help to make Dallas a prettier place to live in by planting a few trees.  I started the fall of 1987 by planting on the Jesuit campus 88 trees plus.  The next year, with no more room on the campus, we went down Inwood Road and Willow.  I watered the trees out of buckets in the back of a Chevy Celebrity sedan.

A year or so later I was using the school pick up.  I remember it conking out on us the Sunday we planted Royal Lane.  The red trailer was tearing up the transmission. 

So I said to my Jesuit community brothers, "Hey, I am needing a new truck."  And they said, "Sure.  But you got to get the money yourself."  "Thanks, guys."  This was early in 94.

I'm thinking to myself, 'where can I get all this money?'  I called Claude Smyth.  The former pastor of St. Mark's, Monsignor Claude Smyth.

I ask him, since this is my community, may I contact some of the parish people whom I know?  He says yes, but then gives me a long list of things I cannot do under any circumstances, like no appeal at Mass, no public announcements on Sundays, and so forth.  "No problem," I say.  Then I proceed to contact maybe a dozen families I think can help me personally or who can spread the word quietly that I need help. 

The following Sunday, after saying the Mass in the main church at 9:00, I am walking the breezeway over to the cafetorium for the 10:30.  I run into Marcia Kolar and some other women passing out pages saying John Stack needs help to buy a new truck.  I walk into the cafetorium and there are plastic containers saying the same thing.  A few minutes later, Jim Herman, the lector is announcing the message from the podium.

At that instance, guess who walked in.  'Walked in' is an understatement.  'Stormed in' is more like it.  He was taking the pages out of people's hands, running back & forth.  Anyway, after screaming at me for a while, I walk up the aisle and start the Mass. 

The couple responsible for that event is here today.  Fred & Maureen.  I will always be grateful to you two.  In fact, just before Christmas, that year, 1994, I went over to the old Doran Chev. and paid $15,000 for that white truck I've used all these years to drag the red trailer around watering hundreds of trees.

Today I hand over to Janette Monear and the TX Trees Foundation the keys to the truck & trailer, so the rig can continue to maintain baby trees around Dallas.  The truck was given to me for that project and now that I am semi-retiring, I hand over the truck to Janette. 

Picture 1:  Tree people: Rosemary, The old Geezer, Gayle, Janette, Hugh, Sandra & Chuck

Picture 2:  The transfer of the keys to the truck

Picture 3:  Janette Monear of the TX Trees Foundation receiving the keys to the pickup and giving everyone a baby live oak tree

Picture 4:  Julie reading (Emily's mom)