Sunday Homily, May 3, 2015, 5th Easter, B

 Readings:  

 Isaiah  50, 4-9,  I gave my back to those who beat me.

  Psalm 116,  I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

 James 2, 14-18,   What good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Mark 8, 27-35,  Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself. 

 

Harper and…

Isaiah Observations: 

Date of Composition:

A picture of the time span:

        1. Solomon (he of Wisdom, the temple builder, 700 wives, & 300 mistresses–if he really existed) dies ca. 900-1000 before Christ.

         2. The Hebrew kingdom divides into 2 parts, the north, Israel (Galilee today), the south, Judah, around 900 before Christ.

        3.  Assyria destroys Israel and obliterates the 10 Hebrew tribes located there, ca. 700.

        4.  Babylon carries into captivity the Hebrews of Judah, the 2 remaining tribes, ca. 600.

Contemporary scholars conjecture that this work could have been composed over a period of 400 years, i.e., 700-300.  It obviously begins by predicting disasters, typical of prophets.  They happen, 2 of the biggest tragedies in Jewish history up to the Romans' destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (70 years after Christ) and the Holocaust, that is, the Assyrian destruction & the Babylonian Captivity.  4 big tragedies.

Author (s): obviously it was composed by numerous people.  Isaiah himself is considered behind chapters 1-39.  In fact, line 1 identifies Isaiah as the author of the ideas.

What is it about: 1^st, 2^nd, & 3^rd Isaiah

1^st Isaiah, Chapters 1-39: predict doom for the Hebrews because they have not been faithful to their one god.

2^nd Isaiah, Chapters 40-55:  this & the remaining chapters are called The Book of Consolation.  They try to assure the people who are now in exile that God will restore them to their former glory & peace.  In fact, in chapter 45 the composer even mentions the name of Cyrus, the king of the Persians who defeats Babylon & sends the Hebrews back to Jerusalem.  So the composer knew of Cyrus and a date can be narrowed down.

This 2^nd  Isaiah section presents 4 suffering servant songs, #3 being our selection today.  Jews see the servant to be the Hebrew people/nation.  Christians see the servant to be Christ.  Isaiah 2 is considered maybe the most influential O.T. book.  On Isaiah 2 Mark built much of his gospel, especially the story of the crucifixion.

Handel's Messiah uses 2nd Isaiah for its lyrics.

3^rd Isaiah, Chapter 56-66: more assurances of a return to peace & glory.

 

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself and take up his cross

I would like to say a few words this morning about denying myself and taking up my cross.

A story from our CO trip last week.

The day is the third of our trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.  The 7 of us have left a delightful campsite and are headed over a pass, Flat Top Pass, right on the Continental Divide, about 12 thousand feet high.  We are climbing one to two thousand feet. 

As we climb the weather is getting nastier & nastier, cloudy skies, wind, and cold.  We come across a series of what I describe as receding ridges.  I see a ridge up ahead.  I get to it only find another ridge 200 yards further up.  We must have had 15 of these.  

It begins to sleet and rain.  The group of us is stretched out over a few hundred yards.

Suddenly I look up and see somebody coming down the trail by himself.   Even from a distance I see he has on only running shorts and a light pack, not like ours.  He is jogging down this rough trail and has already crossed over the pass in the sleet, rain, and wind. 

I am astounded.   Rose Banzhaf says that his whole trip is about 30 miles.  She calls him The Mean Running Machine. 

I mention this event to make a distinction about denying myself and taking up my cross.  Unhealthy and healthy.  Observations.

 

Unhealthy.  In my early years as a Jesuit I think we had some unhealthy attitudes and behaviors influenced by this demand.  I am embarrassed to admit that, yes, we had little scourges that we were supposed to use on our backs and we had chains with little spikes we were supposed to wear on our thighs. 

Once we joined the Jesuit community we never expected to return home.  I did not return for 7 years.  I came back to teach for 3 years at Jesuit, not go home.  At the time I never thought anything about it.

In my years as a spiritual director especially for priests & nuns I found a lot of guilt for not being hard enough on myself.  I personally can still feel guilty if I take a 15 minute morning break or a day off.  Rosemary is good for me on this.  She calls me to relax.

Healthy.  Self discipline to achieve a goal.  The runner obviously has some kind of goal.  Look at high school sports and how strenuously so many kids drive themselves.  Look at education, the discipline to achieve a Ph.D., to be a doctor.  What about Alcoholics Anonymous or giving up smoking?  The reward: inner peace.

Finally, let me remind you of that gospel dynamic I mention so often, infinite demand plus infinite acceptance.

I would suggest that the runner I met at 12 thousand feet in sleet was denying himself and carrying his cross.  Hopefully he has a healthy goal. 

How do you deny yourself and take up your cross? 

 

 

 

Readings: Jeremiah 38, 4-10; Psalm 40; Hebrews 12, 1-4; Luke 12, 49-53

Jeremiah: this man is one of the big 3 O.T. prophets, along with Isaiah & Ezekiel.  He lives before the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century before Christ. He even predicts the event because he says the people are evil. In the later chapters he foretells the people’s return to Jerusalem.

We meet him just after he has basically told the people that if they want to save their lives, surrender to the Babylonians.  Otherwise they will die.  The officials of the people and the military are steamed. The reading is the result.  Jeremiah was not always happy nor treated well, which is the set up for the gospel.

Division or Peace? Maybe Both

Three times in my life I have caused this kind of division, despite the fact that it was not my intention.  You folks know the three times.  First was when I joined the Jesuits in ’58. Both my parents thought I was nuts, but especially my mom found it difficult. When I entered we guys did not return home for almost any reason.  Only like a funeral for a parent. Christmas, Thanksgiving, all were spent in the Jesuit community.  I never returned home until I had been gone 7 years. And then I came back to Dallas not to visit, but to teach at Jesuit. In those days we never thought about it. But my mom sure did not like it.

The second time my mom was upset was 18 years after I entered and 5 years after I got ordained. I went to East Africa in ’76 and stayed there 10 years, coming home only every three years.  My mom was so upset that she did not talk to the Dallas Jesuits for 5 or 6 years. She always thought one of my best friends who was an assistant provincial had sent me to Tanzania, even though I told her I was invited by the East Africa Jesuits to open a retreat house in Nairobi, Kenya, which I did. 

The third time I created division was, guess: 5/5/05, when I decided to marry. Actually, my mom would have been delighted by this move. Unfortunately she had moved to the other side. However, there were numerous people who disapproved and who still disapprove.

I don’t like this statement, "Do you think I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." How de we reconcile this with John’s gospel where Jesus says, "I have come to bring you peace," or even last week’s statement, "Do not be afraid any longer"?

A couple of observations.

First, perhaps Luke thought that the God he knows brings division. He is sharing his understanding and putting the words in Jesus’ mouth. I don’t necessarily have that image of God. 

Secondly, this shows how so often the Bible is just contradictory, a lot of positve vs negative.    

All three of these decisions on my part created division and pain, just like the story says. I don’t think God wanted this division, any more than God wants to hurt us. These decisions did, however, bring peace and maturity.  I certainly am a better person because I went through the Jesuit training and spirit.  My sojourn in East Africa was not just an adventure, but a stretching of all my talents. And marriage with Rosemary makes me a more whole priest and therapist, like I have said before.

What is your image, a God of division or of peace?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-08-19.mp3

Note; a white purse was found after Mass today. 

 

                   Harper says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."

 

Readings:

 1 Kings 19 4-8, Elijah prayed for death.  Plus Chapter 18, it is so good.

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

Ephesians 4, 30-5, 2,   All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you.

John 6, 41-51, I am the bread of life. 

 

                       Hi, Genevieve, Welcome in to You.

 

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.

 

                          Zoe says, "Wow, it is fun to be here."

 

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.  

 

Cole & Angela holding hands during the Our Father.  Cole says to his mom, "Mom, she needs me to hold her hand…She doesn't have anyone."  Wow, Cole, you are The Best.

 

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.   

We will read an expanded chapter 19, from 1-13.   

 

Cole's grandmother, Diane, one of the numerous                             positive influences in Cole's life.

 

Kind, Compassionate, and Forgiving

I would like to talk about what Ephesians brings up, being kind, compassionate, and forgiving.  It happened to me.

Folks, I unexpectedly had another one of those special weeks.  Not on the Kilimanjaro level of my Ragbrai week, but still special.

I don’t know if you saw in the news that this past week the Jewish Community Center was hosting the Maccabi games.  There are two or three places where these games take place every summer for Jewish kids from, say, 12 to 16.  Kids come from all over the world.  Some games are even scheduled in Europe and Israel. 

 

Linda and Hue at 40 years today.  Give that marvelous couple a cupcake!

 

Dallas hosts the games every 5 or so years and it is big.  9 venues are involved where the events take place.  Kids came from Australia and Israel, to name only two that I saw, plus from cities all over the States.  26 programs were involved with over a thousand kids playing soccer, basketball, volleyball, and even ping pong, to name just some . 

How did I get mixed up in the show?  You know I do spin classes at the Jewish Community Center every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at 6:00.  Two of the women in the class whom I like a lot are part of the organizing team.  They were looking for volunteers among even non-Jewish people, not to host the kids, but to volunteer.  So I volunteered. 

 

 

Would you trust this man to give Carrie her birthday                       cupcake?   Mr. Paul  has been known… 

 

The first thing I noticed when I came on board was that, despite the fact that there was a tsunami of kids at the J, which was ground zero, that same spirit of trust was there that I noticed in Iowa.  Backpacks were lying around all over, inside a lot, but outside everywhere.  I was again moved by this trust atmosphere.

Secondly, I noticed the security.  My car had to be tagged, I had to be tagged, photo ID at all times.  Guess why.  Remember the Munich games?  These kids are potentially a target.  About that, I am sad.  These kids were beautiful and charming.  And there are people who would be happy to kill them.  I am reminded of the Holocaust and I always have a hard time getting my mind around that. 

 

 

A Cupcake for you on your Birthday, Marlene.

 

 

My role in the event?  I was involved Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, mostly in being a score keeper and line judge in girls’ volley ball and in being a timer in swimming.  I was at the Sportsplex on Alpha Road behind the old Valley View center.  This was where I met kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.

I met it because I messed up the score at least 5 games out of the 10 or so I scored and even flubbed being a line judge.  At least three times the volleyball games had to be stopped so the score could be made right.  For me it was not so simple because the scoring is different today.   Plus I would get emotional and cheer a spike or some wicked serve and forget to flip the score. 

 

 

The Team.  No white alb this morning.  The alb got left at the wedding venue the night before.

 

 

And you think being a line judge is simple.  No way.  It goes against all my Jesuit training and psychological formation.  My training was don’t judge the book by the cover, no black or white, no right or wrong.  So I had to think about what I saw.  On the one had, this shot could be in.  On the other, maybe it was out.

One time I even judged a ball out, which favored the team I was closer to.  The main line judge, however, over ruled me and then the girls on the team said to him, “But he said it was out!” 

Despite all my dufus mistakes, all these people were kind, compassionate, and forgiving. 

 

The Offertory Team  John & Connie, Marsha & Joe.

 

 

Moreover, I even fell in love with the Dallas girls’ volleyball team.  I had watched them so much.  Trouble was, they lost the final.  I could not stay to watch after they had lost the first 2 out of 5 to L.A.. 

The week was special for me.  What was special this week for you?

 

 Says Genevieve, "Wake me up, please when that old                         geezer stops talking."

 

Readings:  Sirach 27, 30-28, 7; Psalm 103, The Lord is Kind and Merciful, Slow to Anger, and Rich in Compassion (terrific line!); Romans 14, 7-9; Matthew 18, 21-35

 

Sirach: 3 observations

          1. Time: about 200-175 B.C. 

          2,  Author:  a Jewish scribe, called “The Philosopher,” wrote in Hebrew.

          3.  Subject: with its injustices and sufferings, life is useless.  He can’t understand the ways of God and says so.  Thus, his work is negative and depressing.  However, he advises people to work, and to enjoy the gifts of God as much and as long as possible.  

Get ready: in connection with our commemoration today the selection is powerful.

  
 

In Memoriam, 9-11 

At 7:30 that morning I was celebrating Mass in the Jesuit community chapel.  Rosemary was there.  Mary Ellen was there.  Sheila Madigan was there.  Plus a dozen others.

It was 8:00 when we finished and Fr. Jack Deeves who had been watching TV in the Jesuit community room across the hall before his first class, said a plane had hit one of the towers.  Being from NY, Rosemary was immediately interested and she and Mary Ellen joined Jack and they saw the second plane.

Remember where you were at this same moment?

 
 

So how has your spirit handled this event over the past 10 years?   What is a healthy response? 

Sorry to tell you this, but it is in the readings today, forgive, forgive, & forgive 77 times.   

3 Considerations: forgive big things, forgive little things, and the process.

    First, I have not had a lot of big bad things happen in my life.  Certainly, 9-11 is the biggest, and that did not touch me personally.  Are these readings serious about forgiving these guys?  Forgiving Osama bin Laden?  Yes and yes. 

The forgiveness is not for these guys.  It is for myself, for my own health, for my own inner peace.  Otherwise, I remain an angry person and I act out this anger like Mark Stroman who walked into the gas station on Buckner Blvd. Sept. 21. 

 He asked Rais Bhuiyan of Bangladesh where he came from.  Then he pulled up his double barrel shot gun and shot him in the face.  He also killed 2 other people. 

Is this not a metaphor?

 

    Secondly, little things.  They happen every day to us.  Road ragers, like the guy that Sunday morning in his Mercedes who got so impatient with my driving onto north bound Central that he floored it by us and waved sweet hand signals at us.  Sunday morning on our way to Vines.

If I am carrying a load of anger, it will leak out.  It will especially touch people closest to me.  I will overreact.  It has to be dealt with or I remain its victim.

    Thirdly, the process.  What do I do?  You’ve heard me describe this before.  Two things. 

          First, I talk about it with people whom I trust or with a therapist.  I got to talk about it.  Look for the feeling under the anger.  Often it is hurt.  Maybe hatred as in this event.  I could also be hurt by my friend or my parents or coach.   Forgiveness probably won't come here.

 

        Secondly, I got to stop talking about the hurt and put it out of my mind.  When I got kicked out of East Africa, I came home hurt.  I talked about it for a good while until I realized that talking about it was getting me worked up & I was far from forgiving.  I had to stop talking and put it out of my mind.  A few years later I realized I could talk about it without the toxicity and the anger.   I have forgiven and am at peace.

Today we remember and honor the people lost & hurt in 9-11.  Rais Bhuiyan obviously came to a peaceful place with the man who shot him in the face and took his right eye. 

We have his and many others' examples.  Moreover, we are told that we have a God who is gracious & merciful, never gets angry and is abounding in love.

 

On a scale of 1 to 5 where is your anger and where is your peace of spirit with the events of 9-11?

Reference on Rais Bhuiyan: neighborsgo.com, 9-9-11, Dallas Morning News, special weekly on Richardson, North Dallas, & Lake Highlands, p. 16.

Picture 1:    Mass Begins

Picture 2:    Offertory with Christine & her daughter, Megan, Grandmom Diane, & Betty

Picture 3:    Sienna & her sister,

Picture 4:    Sienna & her sister, 

Picture 5:    Brooklyn with Brian & Payton & Erin   

Picture 6:    The Gang, Mike & John & Geri

Readings:

Acts 8, 5-8, 14-17   There was great joy in that city.

Psalm 66,  Let all the earth cry out to God with joy. 

1 Peter  3, 15-18,  It is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

John  14, 15-21,  Do not let your hearts be troubled.

 

 

Reminders on Acts:

What : The second half of Luke’s work, the first part being his gospel.  Acts starts after the Resurrection.  We will read Acts all through May and read the last selection June 1, then June 7, Pentecost.  The work focuses on the spread of the early church with special attention given to Peter and Paul and their conflicts over who was to be a Christian, and Jewish laws, like circumcision.  The conversion of Paul is described. 

 

 

Who: Luke, an educated and civilized Jew who wrote in Greek.

Date:  around the year 65, or about 30 years after Jesus’ death.

Our Selection: More growing pains in the early community.

Watch 2 readings today, the lovely Psalm 66, and the conditional love in John's gospel.  I would like to talk about unconditional love.

 

 

Could the Love be Unconditional ?

I would like to talk about conditional vs. unconditional love this morning.

It seems I hear a lot about unconditional love for kids, for animals, and for other people.  I like that.  I would like to be able to love unconditionally, at least, once in a while. 

Ever think about how the New Testament presents unconditional love?  In fact, I think the New Testament presents a conditional love.  The whole story of our redemption is based on conditional love.

 

 

What does conditional love sound like?  When Rosemary tells me I will love you if you bring me coffee in bed.  Or I will stay with you another year if you mow the grass.  Look at the word John puts in Jesus mouth this morning, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."

I would propose that God’s love and acceptance of us is unconditional.  I can see this love in people and I think people reflect the nature of God.   Let me illustrate the point with a little story.

 

 

As you know, Rosemary & I head to New York every first weekend in May for the 5 Bike Tour and for a big family reunion at her nephew Brian’s house in Essex Fells, NJ.  After all this is finished Sunday evening, Rosemary & I stay Monday to visit The City and to have dinner with one of her girl friends and classmates from her days at the College of New Rochelle.  Her girl friend is Juanita and her husband is Charlie, fun people.

Believe it or not, they are members of a community very similar to ours.  Anthony Padovano is the priest who coordinates the community.  It was this couple who mentioned they know you folks by name because they read our blogs.   Juanita rattled off the names of the kids, Zoe & Emma, Leo & Cowboy Cole, and others. 

 

 

So we are having dinner this Monday night.  At least they are and I am having a glass of wine.  I don’t eat after 4:00 and, therefore, don’t have to take meds for acid reflux. 

We were talking about blessings and good things in our lives, when Juanita says that about 4 months ago she had one of those special experiences.

They are getting ready for the beginning of their Sunday Mass when a new couple comes in and sits next to Juanita.   The celebrant welcomes the new couple and says that the man is Jack Egan, formerly a priest of their archdiocese.

 

 

Juanita is immediately curious.  Her mother used to work at the local Catholic Charities and she remembered hearing her mother talk about this Jack Egan. 

As soon as their Mass is over she immediately asks the man if he ever worked at the local Catholic Charities.  He says, “Certainly.”  She says, “Do you remember my mother, Jo Torres.  She worked there many years.  And I remember that she liked you and mentioned your name often.  ”

 

 

“Yes, absolutely, I loved her.  In fact, I remember frequently coming into her office while she was working on a case study, tears just streaming down her cheeks.”

Juanita is quite touched and says that she never knew that about her mother. 

Jack Egan says, “What a special moment.  I did not know your mom liked me so much and you did not know how touched she was by the people.”

 

 

An illustration of unconditional love.  And this from human beings.   They receive the gift from The Source. 

What is your image of Our God’s  love for you and acceptance of you?  Conditional or unconditional.  How do you know?

 

Source: Thanks, Juanita, for letting me share your story with our community.

 

 

 

 

Readings:  Wisdom 18, 6-9; Psalm 33, Blessed the People the Lord has chosen to be his own; Hebrews 11, 1 & 2, 8-19; Luke 12, 32-48. 

Wisdom of Solomon Explanation:

Author or composer: not Solomon, but a Jew living in Alexandria, Egypt who spoke and wrote excellent Greek.

Date: ca. 100-200 BCE.  How do we know these facts?  Because of text analysis.  For example, while the author wrote in Greek, he uses phrases and expressions that have a Hebrew flavor.  Also, he mentions rulers and places that reveal date and locale like Alexandria (Egypt). 

Subject matter: the book makes use of traditional Jewish material, as well as ideas borrowed from Greek philosophy, in order to teach that God rewards those who are faithful to him.

 

Special Note: Wisdom is one of the 12-15 books of the deutero-canonical books of the bible.  Not OT nor NT, but in between and the subject of controversy over the centuries.  Were they really part of the bible or not?  How do you know?  Catholic church accepts the books, since the Council of Trent in ca. 1550.

 

Today’s selection, chapter 18, the next to last chapter: rather quirky and opaque.  Why the editors choose these tiny, disconnected paragraphs, who knows.  Basically, the author is gloating over the fact that the Egyptian first born babies were all slaughtered by Yahweh when Pharoah would not let the Jewish people leave, the Passover.  I will read his vision, vv.14-19 of the same chapter.

 

Sources: Good News Bible, Wikipedia.

 

Do not be Afraid Any Longer

 

 

Your man Tony O’Donovan and I have established a delightful practice of having either lunch or coffee every week. This past week we had a coffee scheduled for the Starbucks near me at the corner of Preston & Royal.

 

 

 

When I arrived about 9:30, Tony was already seated at a table on the sidewalk.  So I went inside to get two coffees.  There was a line of 8-10 people.  No problem, it always goes quickly.

 

 

In front of me was a guy about my height, but, let’s say a little portly without much apparent muscle tone.  The line is moving forward and the kids behind the coffee machines are calling to the people waiting in line.

 

 

At one point a kid calls out to the guy in front of me, but the guy  is looking to my right away from the kid calling him.  So I touch him on his left shoulder and say, “The kid is calling you.”

 

 

He turns around to me and he says in this intense voice, “Don’t you touch me.  Don’t you ever touch me!” 

 

 

 

Thump.  I am stunned.  I have nothing to say.  I just stand there and I guess I shake my head.  He pays for whatever he wanted and then goes to the end of the counter to pick it up. 

 

 

Then, he returns to me still in line and says the same thing again, this time adding something like, “You don’t ever touch a person in public!” 

 

 

Well, folks, I almost unloaded on him.  I was ready to knock him down and stomp on him.  I could handle the first time he spoke.  But when he returned to lecture me,  I nearly lost it.  I do not know what held me back.  Even now as I retell the event I feel my stomach muscles clenching up. 

 

 

I go outside and narrate my adventure to Tony.  He says that I’m lucky I did not start a commotion that would bring the police.  He would have disowned me.  I was double lucky, too, because my next door neighbor lady was there, a girl I really love for all she did for me when I was home bound. 

 

 

So what are the lessons from this event in connection with our readings? 

 

First, I would suggest that you do not have coffee with Irish married priests.  Very bad karma. 

 

 

However, I see two other lessons, one negative, the other positive. 

 

 

First lesson, as it said in the very beginning of the Gospel, ‘Don’t be afraid any longer.’  I would suggest this means, don’t be afraid of people, future events, or God .

 

 

As you continue in the Gospel, it seems to me Luke denies the very statement he makes in the beginning.  God is presented as a demanding master & we are servants who better be vigilant or we will get caught and sent straight to hell.

 

 

Everyone has their personal view of what our God is like.  I can only say that for me God is at least benevolent, not a master who beats people if they behave in some negative way, like Mark is saying.  Moreover, I do not see us as servants, but rather friends and caretakers.

 

 

Second lesson.  The Gospel talks a lot about vigilance.  Watch out or you are going to get whacked.  No way.  I suggest, as I have done before, the vigilance is for the beauty, the beauty of life, the beauty of nature, the beauty of people.

 

 

So how handle the Starbuck wakos? 

 

 

First, I am not afraid any longer. 

Second, I am vigilant, I focus on the beauty. 

 

 

What is your number 1 beautiful gift?

 

 

Picture 1:     Ray & Shonda at their baby shower for Leo

 

Picture 2: Some of the McGraths, Lauren & her grandmother, Jackie, Tom, Jackie's son, Maggie, Tom's daughter, and Alex, Lauren's brother

 

Picture 3:    Patricia & Dee 

 

Picture 4:    Nancy's home from Avalon

 

Picture 5:   Nikki & her granddad, Frank