17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 28, 2024

Readings: Nehemiah 8, 2-10; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 12, 12-30; Luke 1, 1-21

Nehemiah – The book of Nehemiah takes place during the Babylonian captivity. Three main characters play roles, though the first two are not mentioned in today’s reading. Cyrus is the benevolent ruler of Babylon. Nehemiah is the Jew Cyrus puts in charge of restoring the city of Jerusalem and the temple. Ezra, the central character of today’s reading, is a priest & law scholar.

We arrive on the scene after Nehemiah has established Jerusalem. The people have assembled in the town center and asked Ezra to read to them the law that orders their new lives. We hear part of the reading, a part that emphasizes rejoicing.

1 Corinthinians – During the time of Paul the Greek city of Corinth was almost as significant as Athens. Paul had established a community there and in his letter he is offering his advice to the people.

Chapter 13 is Paul’s famous letter about love being kind & patient. Chapter 12, our reading today, offers an almost amusing analogy of the community to a body. We are parts of the body and consequently we are important, making our unique contributions.

Liberty to Captives and Sight to the Blind – It was 21 years ago that the Jesuit superior in Nairobi told me in a letter that I should go back to the States for good. I was shocked and downcast by the news. It took me some years to get over it.

This spring Rosemary, Mary Ellen, & I will return for my first visit. Something I had hoped I would do, but never knew for sure.

In my 10 years there, I did two basic things. First, I helped establish a spiritual center-retreat house on the edge of Nairobi, Kenya. We bought 39 acres with two houses on the edge of a stream across from the Nairobi game park. In fact one night coming in late, another Jesuit & I (Louie Lambert) saw a giraffe crossing our front lawn.

The second thing I did was to help create spiritual growth & human maturity seminars, which we gave to priests, nuns, and bishops in Tanzania, the country just south of Kenya. I coordinated a mobile team of 2-3 priests and a Dutch nun.

These seminars were residential and lasted 1, 2, or 4 weeks. They were marvelous events with all races and men & women. We even gave a number of the seminars in Uganda during the days of Idi Amin.

All during my time in Kenya & Tanzania, I used to reflect upon what I was doing over there. I did not want to be considered a missionary, because I saw the negative effects of the cultural imperialism that came with the missionaries. For instance, drums were forbidden at Masses some places because they were considered pagan.

What did motivate me was the line in today’s gospel, "I come to give sight to the blind and liberty to captives." This still motivates me. I take the line metaphorically, not literally. For instance, this is why I talk often about the fundamental option instead of mortal-venial sin. I know my spirituality has moved from blindness to better sight, from prison to greater liberty. Otherwise, I would not have had the courage to get married.

I suggest that we, too, are challenged to help others see better. We do it with little kids. We do it with senior citizens. What a gift to help a person see that they are good and not bad.

This is what Jesus says in the gospel that he is doing. It is what I hoped I was doing in Kenya & Tanzania. It is what we are all challenged to do today.

Name one person you can touch into better sight, greater liberty.

Download the homily as an mp3 file (8751.1K).

Special Thanks:
For reading, Alexandra & Mary Ellen
For the Altar Bread, Linda Fleming
For Serving, Carmen & Ashley
For the Altar & cake, Margie Dugan & David & Alexandra
For the Books & Communion Cups, Roy & Carol Strom, Beth  & Rob Robinson
For ushering & all sorts of jobs, Cliff Wright
For the music, Ray & Wendy & Hue

Revelation 7:  Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.

1 John 3:  Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.  Yet so we are.

Matthew 22: When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him, He began to teach them, saying: Blessed are the …

 

 

Claire reading from Revelations

 

Thanks…     

Music,    Shonda & Ben 

Readers,  Claire and Brent

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

   

John reading from the Gospel of Matthew

                                

 

Remember these special people:

For the family of Ron Senter;   For Meredith  whose cancer has come back;  For Tom Good;  For Tom  Quinn who had back surgery on November 21st; For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer ;  For Madeleine, Richard Eshelbrenner's granddaughter;  For Hue; For Jackie;  For John's sister, Kathey recovering from a fall;   For Tom Good;   For Mary Hall's friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition;   For Sir Charlie;  For Ron ;  For Teresa Quinn's niece, Maddie who has a brain tumor;

                                                                                                 

 

Jackie's sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughters, Lisa & Lauren;  For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation & the families of Annie and Michael ;    for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

John sharing his Homily

                                          

Birthdays:   

Anniversaries:  

 

 

     

 

 

Denni, Becky, Carrie and Ben commenting on the Homily
        

 

Community Finances:   

Expenses:  $ 4,320.00

Outreach:  $  160.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

The Kiss of Peace

       

1 Samuel 1:  Before the year was out, Hannah had conceived and given birth to a son. She named him Samuel, explaining, "I asked God for him."

1 John 3: What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it – we're called children of God!

Luke 2:  Every year Jesus' parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover.  When he was twelve years old, they went up as they always did for the Feast.

 

 

 

Another Reminder for the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, December 29, 2024

 

 

Welcome in Everybody, and welcome to Advent.

 

Readings:  

Jeremiah  33, 14-16, “The days are coming”, says the Lord, “when I will fulfill the promise I made.”

Psalm 25,  To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

1 Thesssalonians 3,12-4,2, May the Lord make you increase and abound in love.

Like 21,  25-28, 34-36, There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars.  

 

 

 

Welcome from today's Offertory Team, Michelle & Gil, Carol & Rich

 

 

One Day on a Walker   

For a New Appreciation of People, Try a Walker

This morning I would like to talk about how I came to see again how genuinely good ordinary people can be.  Want a quickie answer to that?  Try lumbar stenosis which leads to lower back pain which leads to life on a walker.

 

 

Another Day on the walker.

 

Two examples.

Just after the doctor put me on a walker I had an 8:00 A.M. appointment with my skin doctor.  It was freezing dark, cold, windy, and I had to park in one of those ground level parking areas, like about ½ a mile from the double glass entrance doors. 

As I hobbled up to the doors, a guy and a woman jumped ahead of me and held the doors open for me.  I was most touched.

 

 

Leo the Candle Man in Action.

 

The same thing happened when I departed the buildings.

Other similar events happened all the time we were in Hilton Head.   But a special one took place at an Alabama highway welcome facility just departing Georgia. 

We stopped in the visitor space to visit the facilities.  As I approached the one story building I noticed that the host of the facility this particular morning was a black guy about 60.  He saw me and was immediately heading toward the entrance doors.

 

 

Buddy reading the Blessing of The Advent Candle.

 

We arrived about the same moment and I reached out to pull outward the right hand door.  Trouble was, I was coming at it from the left.  I was awkwardly pulling the door with my right hand when the guy opened the door and stepped out to help me. 

Lucky me, because I was planning on using the door handle with my right hand to balance.  Suddenly the door was open, the handle out of reach, and I am falling over—right into the arms of the welcoming station.  Yes, he caught me and graciously got me righted.

 

 

Yes, Harper, you look really pretty with your new shorter hair.

 

Then, even at the restroom door, truckers were holding it so I could enter and depart.

I have been most touched, folks, and feel privileged.

Any of you seen these people around lately? 

And the question I would ask normally, I don’t ask now because it is irrelevant.  You do this kind of activity every day.

 

 

Could it be that Leo's most favorite time of our Sunday Mass is the Cupcake of the Week time.

 

 

 

 

 

"Welcome in, Everybody," say Emma & her mom, Beth.

 

Readings:  

 Deuteronomy 4, 32-34, 39-40,   The Lord is God in the heavens above.

Psalm 33,   Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

 Romans 8, 14-17,   Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  (??)

 Matthew 28, 16-20,   Go and make disciples of all nations.   

 

 

 

Who let this critter in?  Are there things living in that garden?

 

 

Deuteronomy observations:

What:  This work is the 5th and last book of the Pentateuch/Torah.  The first 4 books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, & Numbers.  Deuteronomy has basically 3 speeches delivered by Moses before the people enter the promised land.  He reviews all they have endured the past 40 years and how Yahweh has shown his care and power to save them.

Author: Moses may have spoken some of the ideas in the speeches, but others have put the work together.  In fact, in chapter 34 the death of Moses is described.  Someone other than Moses probably covered this episode.

 

 

 

 

Welcome Home, Sophia, so nice to see you.

 

 

Date: 700 years before Christ.

Our Selection: the end of the first speech.  Moses is reminding the people of how Yahweh cared for them and why they must honor him for this as their one and only god.

 

 

 

Kevin & Ben, the candle team of the week.

 

 

Best line in all the readings?  Blessed the people the lord has chosen to be his own.

That's us.  Therefore, NO FEAR!

 

 

 

In Memory of Frank Hart

Last Sunday evening I attended a Rosary at Christ the King for my old coach, Boy Scout Master, and friend, Frank Hart.  Monday morning we had a Mass.  In honor of Frank and the Trinity I want to relate 3 moving aspects of Frank’s celebration.

First, Christ the King, a place that witnessed my growing up.  I have not been in the Church in over 15 years, when I did weddings there as a Jesuit.  It felt like coming home a bit and two unique memories hit me.

 

 

 

 

The Offertory team, Bernadette & Gil, Ray & Claire.

 

Right off the bat, where the podium is is where a good friend of mine, Jimmy Gannon, broke my left leg at football practice.  I had never spoken from that podium until that Rosary.  Frank did it.

Next, my dad attended 7:00 A.M. Mass daily.  I knew his pew.   I returned to Dallas to teach at Jesuit after never getting home for 7 years.   3 other Jesuits on their way to Jesuit, El Paso, & myself drove all night.  I arrived at 7:00 and rather than going home I had the guys drop me at Christ the King.  He was there.

 

 

 

The main aisle, Christ the King, podium on the left.

 

The second aspect of the event that touched me was the large number of fellow kids like me who showed up, especially classmates of Frank, jr.   As Don Zimmerman, another classmate of Frank and pastor of Christ the King said, “It was like a reunion of ex-Jesuit students.”  A big one, too.   A tribute, also, to Frank.jr.

The third aspect to the whole celebration was remembering how Frank had touched me into new life and new self-confidence.   Hang on.  You might have heard me talk about this, but it is relevant to all of us.

 

 

 

The main altar, Christ the King.

 

It was the summer after my 6^th year at Christ the King and I signed up to go to a week at Boy Scout camp on Lake Texoma.

Before we even left town some 8th graders let me know that they were going to initiate me.   They scared the poo out of me and as soon as I arrived at Texoma I played sick and came home.

I was humiliated.  I was so ashamed. 

 

 

 

 

A young Frank Hart. 

 

A year goes by and Frank has been hired by Christ the King to coach and be Scout Master.  Texoma again.  “No thanks,” I say.  My dad is now an unofficial assistant to Frank and he tells me he is going up to spend one night at Texoma as a helper to Frank.  “Want to come?” 

I knew I was in a bad place.  So I said I would go and return with him.

 

 

 

Mickey & Frank.

 

I’ll never forget the night we arrived.  It was dark.  Frank was sitting on his cot in the two person, short walled, canvas, Army surplus tent, a Coleman lantern hanging from the ceiling.  Frank did not even get up, but he greeted me with such a sincerely warm and non-judgmental simplicity that I turned a corner in my growing up.  I stayed for the rest of the week.

 

 

 

 

Bill Deor's comic charicture of Frank, the disciplinarian at Christ the King.

 

Who has touched you?

 

 

 

 

Rest in Peace, Dearest Frank and Dearest Mickey.

 

 

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben 

 

  Expenses: $   680.00

  Outreach: $   285.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

The Kiss of Peace

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from falling hands we throw
The torch, Be yours to bear it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep tho’ poppies blow
In Flanders Field.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915
during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium