Readings:
Ezekiel 33, 7-9, You duped me, Lord, and I let myself be duped.
Psalm 95, If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Romans, 13, 8-10, Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another.
Matthew 18, 15-20, Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I.
Sorry, no homily today.
Readings:
Isaiah 45, 1, 4-6, I have called you by your name.
Psalm 96, Give the Lord glory and honor.
Thessalonians 1, 1-5, Grace to you and peace.
Matthew 22, 15-21, Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?
Isaiah observations :
Who : Can you guess which Isaiah this is in chapter 45? 1, 2, or 3. A little more difficult than the last two Sundays. This is Isaiah 2, going from chapter 40 to 55.
Today’s selection: this is not Isaiah 2 at his best. I like the line, I have called you by your name. Otherwise, the passage is mildly comforting to the people who are living in Babylonian slavery, around 555 before Christ.
Cyrus: So, who is Cyrus?
Cyrus the Great of Persia, modern Iran, built the first great empire, which extended as far as Athens in Greece. He was a benevolent emperor of his people and the people he conquered, for instance, the Israelites.
Isaiah 2 is championing Cyrus because he hears of Cyrus coming and hopes Cyrus will defeat the Babylonians and set the Israelites free to return to Jerusalem. This is exactly what Cyrus does. Where is Babylon? Try 50 miles south of Baghdad on the Euphrates River. What is left? Rubble.
Thessalonians:
Resources: The New Interpreters Study Bible; St. Louis U. Liturgical @ Liturgical.slu.edu
The Best Line: the Alleluia verse, Shine like lights in the world. Guess what I would like to talk about.
Matthew observation:
Matthew lifts this story right out of Mark. The story a game that was popular among the intellectuals in Jesus time, like a game of verbal chess. The object was to confound your opponent so that choosing either one of two answers springs a trap.
Watch the smarmy language of the Pharisees and you can almost see them salivating at the impending kill.
The trap: do you think it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar or not? Jesus confounds them by choosing both. Jesus wins the game.
Why do Mark & Matthew use this story? To show how Jesus is superior and worthy of being followed and listened to.
Me, a Light in the World?
I want to talk about the alleluia verse, “Shine like lights in the world.” I apologize again for talking about this reading in a way I have talked before. It is just so perfect a fit. It comes to mind also because of the ebola focus these days.
After getting ordained at old St. Rita’s in June of 1971, I was sent to Miami to work as a chaplain in the big medical complex known as Jackson Memorial Hospital. It was like Parkland, Southwestern Medical, and Presbyterian.
The Jesuits of my southern province had a big parish right in the middle of downtown Miami, and part of the team worked the hospitals. I was a summer helper and loved it.
One day after I had been there about a week, a blond little girl of 10 or 11 was brought into the burn ward. Ever been in a burn ward, a children’s burn ward? Tough places. I spent a lot of time in these wards.
The girl, Anna, had been with her family on a sail boat. Somewhere along their trip the boat had passed under a bridge. Anna was standing on the edge of the boat with her back leaning against one of the guy wires.
As the boat went under the bridge, the mast touched an electrical line. The electricity went down the mast and the guy wire. Anna was electrocuted and burned. Fortunately, she was hurled into the cool water which helped to stop her burns.
However, her back and the insides of her thighs and legs were seriously burned. She would stay in Jackson for 2 to 3 months, even after I had to move on.
I got really close to Anna & her family. I visited her first & last every day and I was privileged to be allowed by the doctors to hold her hand when her bandages had to be changed. Her parents had to leave the room. You know that this is such a high tension time. It used to leave me shaken.
I talk about this because the alleluia verse tells us to be lights in the world. I think this is what it means. I was privileged to be with that little girl & her family in such a horrible experience. It is reciprocal: she was a light in my world.
The good news is that Anna finally did leave the hospital all healed up. I never had the opportunity again to see the family, but I corresponded for years with the mom. Somewhere during my time in Africa, the connection got broken. I know that maybe 15 years later her mom wrote me that Anna had married and had a little kid.
In whose world are you a light today?
Readings: Isaiah 11, 1-10; Psalm 72; Romans 15, 4-9; Matthew 3, 1-12
Isaiah: Once in a while in the course of our church calendar year we get a special selection. Isaiah’s vision is one of those specials. Read it and watch out for heart ache. I imagine one of our ancestors centuries ago dreaming and coming up with this vision. Later, another of our ancestors writes it down.
To emphasize how special it is, Emily will read the vision, after her mom Julie has read the introduction.
What is Your Dream?
In the late 60’s I spent four years in Toronto studying theology before I finally got ordained a priest in ’71. At the beginning of my second year a new class of about 35 Jesuit priest students came in and one of the new guys got the room next to mine on the third floor. He was unique: he was blind.
His name was Larry and he was also a cheese head and a Jesuit brother, meaning he was not going to be ordained a priest. Brothers are Jesuits who do all sorts of works, just not saying Mass.
Larry had spent a few years teaching at a Jesuit boarding high school in Prairie du Chien, WS. During his time there, a number of Jesuits & others had encouraged Larry to looking into moving from being a brother to getting on track to get ordained a priest. Trouble was, blind people did not get ordained.
When Larry arrived at our college in the fall of my second year, he had been given permission to try studying theology, the subject necessary for ordination. Consequently, he was studying on condition. You do okay, you continue. You don’t do well, you stay a brother. Guess what: he did fine and all of us made him a project. We wanted him to succeed.
After his first year, which was successful, the provincial in WS asked Rome if he could be ordained. Rome’s response, "No." After his second equally successful year, they asked Rome. "No, and don’t ask again. Blind people don’t get ordained." After his third year, his provincial asked again. "Yes," they said.
He was ecstatic. We were ecstatic.
The fall of his fourth year, this same second Sunday of Advent in the chapel of our college his class was getting ordained deacons, which is done before getting ordained priest in the spring. The reading of that Sunday was exactly the same Isaiah reading as this morning, the dream of peace reading. Larry was chosen to read the Isaiah dream passage–in braille.
That whole chapel was all in tears. It was one of the special moments of my life.
Larry is still working as a Jesuit priest in Omaha or Milwaukee. I even used to bring him down to help with retreats I ran at the retreat center I directed in Grand Coteau, LA. We have not been in touch in probably about ten years. I have to call him.
My friend Larry had a dream. Our ancestor Isaiah had a dream.
I would suggest that to be fully alive we have to have a dream. Dreams fill me with energy, enthusiasm, and life. Ideally my dream will also give life to others. Larry’s dream to get ordained gave life to all 100 plus of us Jesuits in that big house. Isaiah’s dream, while unrealistic, can still energize me into creating peace in some small human way.
What must it be like to not have a dream?
What is your dream?
AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-12-09.mp3
"Welcome in, Everybody," says Cody with Olivia and Ben.
Readings:
Job 7, 1-4, 6-7, Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?
Psalm 147, Praise the Lord who heals the broken hearted.
Corinthians 9, 16-19. 22-23, I have become all things to all.
Mark 1, 29-39, They brought to him all who were ill.
And, Welcome in to you, Judy. So nice to see you. You look beautiful.
Job 0bservations:
What: A comment on The Universe. No book in the OT or NT has less known about it. Called the most profound book of the OT. It deals with the problem of evil, personal justification, and why bad things happen to good people. Job himself could be historical, a literary creation, or a combination of the first two.
Author: Unknown.
Date: It is guessed to be before the time of Moses and Egypt, i.e., earlier than 1300 before Christ.
Structure: 3 poetic dialogues preceded by a prose introduction and ending with a prose conclusion, an epilogue judged to have been added sometime later by another person or group of persons.
Emma, your smile makes my day. Thanks to you and your little friend. By the way, your other little friend that you loaned us still rides in our car above the mirror.
Psalm 147 observations:
The message is beautifully optimistic. Is it naive? We all die. What about the Jews who entered Auschwitz? My JCC friend from Poland? 85 members of his family liquidated.
Want to go to communion? See Jan, she will fix you up.
The Story of Job
I would like to tell you this morning the story of Job.
Once upon a time there was a good man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He had 7 sons and 3 daughters, a sign that he was especially blessed. He not only had sons, but he had the special number of 7.
One day Yahweh was walking around heaven talking with his buddies when he ran into the devil. "What have you been doing?" he asked. "I have been walking around here and there," the devil responded.
"Have you noticed how good my man Job is?" "Yes,' says the devil, "but I bet he will curse you to your face if you stop protecting him and take away all his goodies." "It's a bet," says Yahweh, "Just don't hurt him."
Leo, our Candle Man of the Week, at work.
So a few days later while all of Job's 7 sons and 3 daughters where having a feast with their families, a storm blew up killed them all. A messenger runs to tell Job of the horrible news.
Another messenger had raced in and saying lightening has just killed all his sheep and the shepherds. Other messengers likewise run in saying Job's livestock have been rustled by robbers who killed all the farm hands.
Job is devastated, of course, but responds with the famous statement: "I was born with nothing, and I will die with nothing. The Lord gave, and now he has taken away. May his name be praised."
Jackie reading the Blessing of the Candles.
So Yahweh wins his bet. But, when Yahweh and the devil meet up to settle their bet, the devil raises the stakes by saying that he bets Job will curse Yahweh if the devil is allowed to hurt his body. Not death, just hurt. "Bet," says Yahweh.
The next day Job comes down with sores all over his body, like leprosy, and he has to go outside of town where the lepers go. He sits in the town dump. His wife now comes and his friends. They all grieve. They also encourage Job to see what he has done bad. Has he cursed Yahweh? Confess and repent. Job proclaims his innocence. But he is depressed and discouraged.
Note the cosmic vision here: God punishes the evil and blesses the good. So, Job, what bad thing is God punishing?
So sorry, Brent, not even a cupcake for you this week.
(In East Africa I used to celebrate Mass for a small community of lepers
Finally, while not cursing Yahweh, he cries out his anguish saying (chapter 3):
"Oh, God, put a curse on the day I was born; put a curse on the night when I was conceived! Turn that day into darkness, God." (verses 2-4)
"I wish I had died in my mother's womb or died the moment I was born. Why did my mother hold me on her knees?" (verses 11-12)
"Why let men go on living in misery? Why give light to men in grief?" (verse 20)
"Everything I fear and dread comes true. I have no peace, no rest, and my troubles never end." (verses 25-26)
The Offertory Team, Nina & Kerry, Judy & Mike.
After some time in this situation, Yahweh comes along and speaks with him:
"Who are you to question my wisdom with your ignorant, empty words? Stand up now like a man and answer the questions I ask you. Were you there when I made the world?" (verses 2-3)
"Job, have you ever in all you life commanded a day to dawn?" (verse 12)
"Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea? Have you walked on the floor of the ocean? "(verse 16)
"Have you been to the place where the sun comes up or the place where the east wind blows?" (verse 24)
Communion Team ready to begin.
After hearing all the numerous ways Yahweh reminds him of how insignificant he is, Job apologizes to Yahweh and promises to be a good boy and not complain from now on.
In an epilogue, which is considered a late addition, Yahweh restores his wealth and gives him 7 more sons and 3 more beautiful daughters. He lives another 140 years a prosperous and happy man.
Ever feel like Job? How do you handle the feeling?
Lynda & Tom getting ready to run Hilton Head next week end and Jan is blessing them on their way. I am envious.
Readings: 1 Kings 19, 9-13; Psalm 85, Lord, let us see your Kindness, and grant us you Salavation; Romans 9, 1-5; Matthew 14, 22-33
Intro to Readings, Fr. Tony
Our first reading today is from the First Book of Kings. These two books were mainly written to describe the period right after the reign of King David. They cover Solomon, the division of the kingdom at his death into Northern and Southern kingdoms and subsequent kings until both kingdoms are overrun and the people are taken into captivity. But in the middle we have a whole section on prophets, primarily Elijah and Elisha.
Today’s reading is rather fascinating. The prophet Elijah is in a cave, he has been told that Yahweh is coming. Given the experiences when the king arrived, the expectation is for a big fanfare, at least a motorcade! But that is not what happens. Keep this in mind when we get to the homily. Let’s listen to the reading!
Homily
As you well know by now, each of the gospels were written for a particular audience and at a particular time in history. But as Christians we believe that God’s Word is just as pertinent for us today as it was for those early Christians they were originally written for. Today’s gospel is a perfect example of this. Remember the discussion we have had before about the synoptic gospels, namely that Mark wrote the first gospel, then Matthew and Luke both copied from Mark and added some other material. Each writer had a specific audience they were writing for and a specific purpose for their writing. The story of Jesus walking on the water and calming the sea, which we have just read, is also in Mark’s Gospel (Mk 6; 45-52) and in both gospels it comes right after the feeding of the multitude. Matthew adds a little bit to the story, namely Peter’s walking on the water. But there are other more significant differences. Throughout Mark’s gospel, the disciples are presented as being blind to who Jesus is. In fact this story in Mark’s gospel ends with the comment “they were utterly and completely dumbfounded, their minds were closed” (Mk 6: 52). In Matthew’s gospel the reaction is completely different. Matthew tells us “they bowed down before him and said, ‘truly you are the Son of God’”
I mention the two gospel accounts for a reason. In Mark’s gospel the disciples are blind to who Jesus is – their minds are closed. In Matthew, while they “have little faith”, remember Jesus said that to them in today’s reading, that little faith is enough for them to bow down and adore. I know that in my own life I sometimes feel like I have very little faith, I am grateful to be able to be here each week and have that little bit strengthened and confirmed, by your presence and by our celebration of the Eucharist. What I find most interesting is if we go to the end of Mark’s gospel. By the way, there are two endings, the first ending (Mk 16: 8) which was probably the original ending, it is Easter Sunday morning, we find the story of the women being told by the young man in a white robe that Jesus is not there, that he has gone before them to Galilee. They ran away, frightened “for they were afraid”. What a way for it to end. Their minds were closed, they could never see Jesus for who he really was, they don’t appear at this time to even have a “little faith” and they end up afraid. Matthew ends his gospel with the disciples on the mountain with Jesus at his ascension. (Matt 28: 16ff). Again they bow down and adore him, and Matthew uses the exact same word as he used for “adore” as when they were in the boat, and Jesus ends the gospel commenting on their “little faith” but that they should “know that I am with you always, even to the ends of time”. In other words the little bit of faith was enough.
I take great encouragement from this. My sense is that most of the time I have a little faith. I do my best to believe, and it seems that it is enough to know that Jesus has promised to be with me always. The alternative, the blindness of Marks disciples is stark, one is left in fear!
Our presence here today has to be due to a little faith. Then know that you are not alone. Remember the promise, I am with you always, even to the ends of time!
Picture 1: Mass begins with Tony
Picture 2: Our Father
Picture 3: Communion
Picture 4: Leo
Picture 5: Ryan collecting the books after Mass with mom & dad behind, Jim & Michelle
Readings: Wisdom 7, 7-11; Psalm 90, Fill Us with your Love, O Lord, and We will Sing for Joy; Hebrews 4, 12-13; Mark 10, 17-30
Wisdom:
Date of Composition: 100-200 BCE, which is why it is considered significant. It provides a glimpse into the cultural & social milieu which prevailed just before & during the time of Christ..
Place of Composition:
The Composer: a Jew who wrote educated Greek.
Unique Quality: Wisdom is one of a set of 12 (or 14) books written in Greek considered not part of the original 39 books of the Hebrew Bible, the O.T. This blew up around 350 CE when
You will hear these books called Apocrypha and deuterocanonical vs protocanonical (meaning declared canonical or okay after rather than before). A bit complicated.
Our Selection in Chapter 7: the book of Wisdom generally says that good guys get rewarded by God, bad guys don’t. This selection personifies the virtue of wisdom, using the feminine pronoun she, and praises her as above all other values & pleasures. I loved her even more than health or beauty, the composer declares.
Sources: The Good News Bible, Got Bible Questions on line.
To LIVE
Just about a century ago, in 1910, a little baby was born who was named Agnes. Born into a comfortable, middle class family, Agnes was the last of 5 children. They lived in what is today called Macedonia, just north of Greece, a country that used to be part of Yugoslovia.
Agnes was an ordinary little girl and at the age of 18 she decided to leave home and join the Sisters of Loretto of Dublin. She went to Dublin for her formation, had to learn to speak the English in the Irish brogue, and actually never saw her mother again. In those days it was customary that religious did not come home for visits.
After her training of about 3 years, Agnes was sent to teach at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, India. There she taught for a good 15 or more years. She was considered a good, not exceptional teacher.
While she worked in the school with the girls, who were mostly from the upper classes, Agnes looked out her windows. There she saw another kind of child, a street child, dirty, undernourished, and neglected. You can picture her watching these kids and reflecting upon what she was doing, which was good in itself.
At the age of 38 in 1948, Agnes decided to leave the Loretto Sisters and to go out into the streets. Initially she did what she knew. She taught the kids in the open air, using the dirt as a black board. She had no funds, rented out a delapidated shack, and began to care for the sick people who were all around her. She even went to school to learn nursing.
Despite the fact that she started out with little idea of where she was going, it was like she had uncorked a cold drink or a bottle of champagne. People in Calcutta heard about her, probably at least through St. Mary's High School, and aid & help began to pour forth. People came to help her, food began to be donated.
After two years of working the streets, Agnes decided she needed to organize a community, the Sisters of Charity. The community focused on two things, personal spirituality and care for the most needy, the street people, the AIDS victims, the addicts, and the abandoned. This little community has now grown enormously and has houses in Africa, where I knew them, Asia, Latin America, and Dallas, specifically South Dallas. We used to take our food drives to them until the pastor of the parish said he did not want our food.
In 1997, after winning numerous international prizes, including, coincidentally, the Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa died. In 2003 John Paul II beatified her. This means she is one step (i.e., one miracle) short of being declared a saint.
I talk about Mother Teresa because, despite some criticism she & eventually her sisters received, she tried to live what we are talking about today. In order to live, give it up and serve the disadvantaged.
Two thoughts.
1. We have here more of what Mark has offered us the past 2-3 weeks, an ideal, a challenge, an infinite demand. Check out Scott Burns' column in this morning's Dallas Morning News.
2. Remember the infinite acceptance. How can I give it up and serve the disadvantaged in my state? Parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, almost all are already engaged in helping. CCAC is our avenue to help the disadvantaged. As well as food drives, blood drives. This may only nibble away at the need, but enough nibbling can make a difference.
How are you giving it up & serving the disadvantaged–to LIVE?
Sources: on-line biographies of Mother Teresa, The Good News Bible, Got Bible Questions?
Picture 1: Mass with Sabrina, Georgie, & Richard
Picture 2: Sabrina
Picture 3: Birthdays, Angela, Georgie, Richard, Lacee & her mom, Lisa
Picture 4: Communion, Hunter & Kailee
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
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
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