Sunday Homily, June 8, 2014, Pentecost

Wisdom 18: The night of the passover was known beforehand to our fathers,  that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith,  they might have courage.

Hebrews 11:  Brothers and sisters: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested.

Annette reading from the Book of Wisdom

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben  & Shonda

John reading from St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews

 

 

Remember these special people:

For all the people affected by the floods;  For the Ukraine and the Holy Land; For our new Pope, Leo XIV;  For John Stack;    For Adam, that the doctors may find a remedy for his seizures; For Meredith ;   For Tom  Quinn;   For Warren Wittek; For Becky and Tom Good; For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer ;  For Allen Stryker;   For Mike and Judy Carrell ; For Hue; For Jackie;   For Mary Hall's family and 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;    from Barbara, a little baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation,  the families of Annie and Michael and her neighbor, Marie and the family;    for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

Jackie sharing her thoughts on the readings

Outreach: $   160.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Mary gets a cookie for her anniversary

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

 

 

 

 

Ben gets a cookie just because

 

 

 

John Stack Ministries meets on Sunday for Mass at 9:30 at The ArtCentre of Plano,

902 E. 16th St, Plano, Texas.

 

 

JSM Mission-Faith Statement  

 Help create a Catholic Community that welcomes all God’s People, provides for & challenges spiritual & total growth.   Reaches out to help people who are disadvantaged & make the world we live in a better place to live.

Welcome in, Cody & Ben.  So good to see you.

Readings:  

 Deuteronomy 4, 1-2, 6-8,  Moses said to the people…  

Psalm 15,   The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

 James 1, 17-18, 21-22, 27, All good giving is from above.

Mark 7, 1-8, 14-15, 21-23,  You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.

Welcome in, daughter & dad, Michelle & Gilbert.   So good to see you, too.
                 

Homily:  Our gospel begins with Jesus being rather upset about the traditions of the elders and their legalism that disregards goodness, justice and compassion. Based on last Sunday’s story in the Dallas Morning News about abuse that still hasn’t been addressed by our hierarchy, our male leaders are not practicing love, or common sense.

Thanks, Tori, for being a super candle lighter.

The Church states a human tradition when it says a priest cannot be married, for this should not be so, for Peter was married in the Good News of Jesus Christ, and Paul’s Letter to Timothy is quite clear when it addresses the lifestyle of a bishop with these words:  A bishop is to be blameless; the husband of one wife.

Thanks, Georgie, for reading The Blessing of the Candles

Likewise, the Church states a human tradition when it says that women can not be ordained, but this too is not so, for St. Paul identifies Phoebe in his letter to the Romans, as a deaconess that he works with, and the inspired writers of the Mark and John gospel both identify a servant whose ministry is that of a deaconess.

The Best music, Shonda & Ben.

With what can I compare today in the Church to the hundreds of minor legalistic, human traditions held by the Jewish elders that caused Jesus to be upset?  Recently there is a law in the Church that the Easter Candle can’t be placed in front of or beside the altar unless it was 100 percent bee’s wax, and one of our most prominent cardinals has recently made a Church law that the most expensive and tasteful wine affordable should be used for the altar wine.

Team mates and Big Sister & Younger Brother, Georgie & Buddy.

Besides all of these human traditions, the theologians of the Church have added one of their own.   In the Mark gospel there are only two references to Mary as a mother.  In the first one she thought that Jesus was going out of his mind. His response to those who had surrounded him, was this, ‘Who is my mother, brother, and sister?’ Those who welcome and live my words.’

Mary is also referred to only twice in the John gospel, and again not by the name Mary, but only as mother. 

Mike homilizing on the readings.   Thanks for your ideas, Mike.

The Matthew and Luke gospels have what we call infancy narratives. In both, Mary gives birth to Jesus Christ.  So far, so good and wonderful.  However, in the John gospel we are taught that God is spirit, and from the very beginning [of everything] he, the Word, Jesus Christ, is spirit, in oneness with God the Father.  We know that Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ; but how can this be since he is spirit?’   The answer is this: the inspired writers have made Mary a metaphor in the Matthew, Luke and John gospels.   As the written expectation of the Law, Prophets, and Psalms for the coming of the Messiah, she gives birth to the written Good News of Jesus Christ, where he is present through the power of the Holy Spirit.

 Offertory Team, Becky, Grace, & Tom.

Welcome in, Everybody, as we celebrate the Second Sunday of Advent.

Readings:  

Baruch 5, 1-9, Jerusalem, put on the splendor of glory from God forever. 

Psalm 126,  The  Lord has done great things for us, we are filled with joy.

Philippians 1, 4-6, 8-11,  I pray always with joy for all of you.

Luke 3,  1-6,  The word of God came to John.

Excellent reading, Dear Buddy, thanks.

Reflection on Luke

Author: The gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles make up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke-Acts.  According to an early Church tradition, the author was the Luke named as a companion of Paul in three of Paul’s letters, but Scripture scholars say there is a problem with this.

And thanks to you, Dearest Tori, for lighting our candles for the 2nd week of Advent while your brother reads The Blessing of the Candles.

Though the author of Luke-Acts admired Paul, his theology was significantly different from Paul’s; there are countless contradictions between Acts and Paul’s letters. Bottom line: we don’t know who author of Luke-Acts is.

3 Members of our Girls' Board, Emma, Zoe, and Tori.

When written: The most probable date is around 80-100 AD, and there is evidence that it was still being revised well into the 2nd century.  The author takes as sources the Gospel of Mark, written around 70 AD, the sayings collection called the Q source, and a collection of material called the L source (L for Luke).

Mike sharing his graces from the Love for Kids' Picnic.

Audience: Luke was written to be read aloud to a group of Jesus’ followers gathered in a house to share the Lord's supper. The author assumes an educated Greek-speaking audience, but attends mainly to specifically Christian concerns rather than to the Greco-Roman world at large.

What is this sitting down on the job?  It is called lumbar stenosis, which was improved by one stretch suggested by the physical therapist last Thursday.  And that was only the first appointment.  Lots of hope for future appointments twice a week for a while.

Today's Homily

I was disappointed that I could not volunteer at Love Kids picnic Saturday.  I always am struck by the presence of grace in all these kids and volunteers.  Since I could not share the graces with our community, I asked Bill Hammond to keep his eyes open and to share what graces he experienced. 

The second elevation.

Bill, in turn, invited Mike and David to share their experiences of the presence of grace.

So we really had a triple header homily, and it was most touching.  

Next Sunday Mike will have the homily, a really good one.  Welcome.

For sale: Donna Dinsmore's hand made jewelry.

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?  

Mary Ellen and Mary say, "Welcome in, Everybody."  Sadly for all of us, Thursday Mary Ellen moves back to CT.

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. 

Rob & Beth still celebrating their 40th.

Thessalonians:

• Time written: ca. 50 A.D.   Considered Paul's first letter, and, in fact, the earliest written document in the N.T.
• Place: Paul was writing in Corinth, Greece to the town in northern Greece, Thessalonica, at the northern corner of the Aegean Sea.  He had founded a community there.
• Purpose of writing: to comfort and encourage the new Christians of Thessalonica, most of whom were Gentiles.    He sent Timothy to see how things were going.   The report Timothy brought back was largely favorable—hence the warm tone of the opening thanksgiving, which forms the main part of today’s reading. But there were also a few problems in Thessalonica; we will meet them on the thirty-second and thirty-third Sundays.

And we begin.

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.

Leo and Cole solving world problems.

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.   

Offertory, Jerry & Shirley, Judy & Mike.

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.

Hey, who let that Witch in? You do that, Harper? Must be Halloween.

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. 

Don't mean to scare you, John, but you got a witch behind you.

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.  

Watch out, Harper, a witch is getting ready to touch you.

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? 

Rosemary sharing her blessing, welcome after such crazy stuff.

 Readings:

Genesis 2, 7-9, 3, 1-7,   The Lord planted a garden in Eden.

Psalm 62,  Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Romans  5,  12-19,  Through one man sin entered the world.

Matthew  4, 1-11,  Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Leo says, "Welcome, Everybody, it is great fun here."

 Romans observations :

What :  Paul writes this letter to the Roman community before he travels there.  It is one of the most dense and difficult books in the New Testament.  It is the longest letter.  I find about 8-10 lines in the whole letter that touch me.  Usually I dread seeing the letter as one of our readings.  Today is one of those days.

Date: around the year 55

Likewise, Patricia says, "Come in, Folks, it is delightful here."

Genesis observations:

What: a great marvelous book about the origins of us people.  It includes Creation, Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Noah & the flood, the tower of Babel, the Patriarchs of the Jewish tribe, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and finally Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob, and how Joseph ends up in Egypt, leading to the next book, The Exodus.

Note: the book is folk tale, myth, and fable.  It is not literal.

Date:  guess.  It seems to have been put together from at least 4 oral streams that were combined during the Babylonian Captivity, 555, before Christ. These stories were orally passed down, generation after generation for 900 years. 

Authors:  these people are shrouded ancient history.  Some stories reflect folk tales of other groups of people, like the creation stories of Babylon.

Subject today: the second creation story, the one with the snake & apple tree.  It was from this story that Paul came up with the original sin notion, a notion that Augustine picked up and gave it legs.

Buddy, the pet dragon.

Matthew:  Even today's gospel is mythical. 

Sources: Good News Bible, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Wikipedia

Lent, Fully Alive

This first Sunday of Lent I want to talk about how to have a fully alive Lent in light of an event that took place this past Thursday in the lives of Rosemary and me.

Thursday morning about noon our postman, Doug, rang the doorbell.  Rosemary went.  Doug said that across the street and down one house the guy who lived there had not collected his mail in a few days and the garage had been open with the car inside all that same time. 

Tori says, "Whose picture is that?"

I had noticed the newspapers piling up near the curb and driveway, but this guy who was really reclusive occasionally let them pile up before he would pick them up.  I had also noticed the garage open a couple of days, but that, too, the guy did occasionally.  From our house I could not see his garage because of a bush. 

I had thought in the past years that this guy has no one that I can see.  He is totally alone.  He has never had a job, did not take great care of his house and property, but always drove a new Jaguar.  Just in the last year I mentioned to Rosemary that the guy actually waved at me from his car on occasion.

Cowboy Cole and Leo, it doesn't get better.

So I decided to call the neighborhood police who patrol our large neighborhood. 

Fifteen minutes later I see the police car.  Then I see the fire truck.  “This could be bad,” I mention to Rosemary.  “Go see what is going on.  I have a 1:30 luncheon with Kathey, my sister.” 

Sunday Ashes for Erin, Leo, Cowboy Cole, Mary, and others.

Before I can even get into the car and back it out of the drive, she returns to tell me the guy is dead. 

I am stunned.  I feel horrible.  How could I have lived for years across from a reclusive guy, not even know his name, and let him lie dead in his house for who knows how many days?  Moreover, Rosemary & I are the Tulip Lane coordinators for the neighborhood organization.   He is on Camellia, but he is just across from us, we being on the corner.

Cathy and John having too much fun.

This all happened the day after Ash Wednesday and I thought to myself, ‘Is this a Lenten invitation to me?’

I’m thinking it is.  I found out the guy was called Gary.  Even his next door neighbors did not know his name.  Our neighborhood coordinator knew it and gave me an emergency number to call, which I did.  We are now in touch with his brother and the brother’s wife, both of whom said they knew this dreaded day would come some day.  They, too, had not had contact with Gary in a bunch of years.

Cupcakes of The Week, John and Dee.

What this is saying to me is, in my life and in our community I will not leave any Garys to die alone, if I can help it. 

I even asked my sister if she would like me to phone her the nights of her days off from work.  She declined, saying she is in touch enough.

So, during this Lent, 2 challenges for me:

1. Who are the Garys in our community, my neighborhood, or in my life anywhere?  Keep in touch.
2. No Fear Lent. 

I figure you are not a Gary if you are here. 

Therefore, who are the Gary’s in your life? 

Buddy may be yawning, but the Pastry Shoppe is the Best according to Tori and Georgie.

Readings:

 Exodus 16, 2-4, 12-15,   You had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine.

Psalm 78,    The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

Ephesians 4, 17-24,   You must no longer live as the Gentiles do.

John 6, 24-35 I am the bread of life. 

Georgie says, "Welcome in, Everybody.  Beware, The Old Geezer is back." 

Exodus observations:

What:

 Exodus is a fun book and a good read.  It comes after Genesis & it has three main sections.

 One – the struggle between stubborn old Pharoah vs Moses & Yahweh.  Pharoah loses.  You can imagine the Passover had a significant impact. 

Two – the time of wandering in the Sinai desert and the covenant, that is, the 10 Commandments

Three – the coming into the Promised Land. 

This all took around 40 years, and so we have stories in-between.  Today’s is one of these, showing Yahweh feeding his grumbling people.

Welcome Home, Celeste.  Celeste, who has played in our music section, has just come in from a year teaching in Hungary, and is departing to spend a year teaching in Albania.  Does the girl love adventure?  

When written:

Toward the end of the Babylonian Captivity, around 550 before Christ

Who wrote it:

Not Moses, but people who lived centuries after this mythical character.  How much of this is historical is a question.  The story greatly encouraged the Jewish people enslaved in Babylon.

And welcome home to you, Sabrina.  You did everything for us for years.   Sabrina is returning to the Illinois Institute of Technology for her junior & senior years.

Our selection:

An amusing account of the Jewish people grumbling against Moses.  They say they would prefer to be back in Egypt than in this infernal desert where they are wandering in the heat & sand.  We can sympathize with them in these days of 100’s.  They did not have a/c.   So Yahweh feeds them.  See how.

                             Hi, Morgan, Welcome to you, too.

Kilimanjaro Events and Ragbrai

This morning I would like to talk about Kilimanjaro events in our lives. Kilimanjaro events give life in ways similar to what John is talking about in the gospel, spirit life.  They are peak events. 

I choose the word Kilimanjaro because I had the privilege of climbing that mountain in Tanzania 5 times when I lived there.  Each was literally and figuratively a peak event. 

   Genevieve says, "I bet you I don't weigh 6 pounds anymore."

A week ago I had another Kilimanjaro event, the week long, 500 mile bike ride across Iowa from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River, with about 15 thousand others.  Iowa or Ragbrai was such a peak experience, full of spiritual life moments.  Let me talk about 3 of them.

One of my most favorite places to eat dinner in the evening and to get coffee and 4 bananas in the morning was a supermarket called Hy-Vee, the Iowa equivalent to Central Market or Whole Foods.  They had  carbo dinners for Ragbrai.

And Welcome to You, too, Mr. Peighton.  Delightful to have you with us.

When I would ride up to one of these markets, you would not believe what I would see.  Not just hundreds of bikes.  But hundreds of bikes with absolutely no locks or security.  Bikes everywhere, even inside the entrance ways.   The majority of these bikes would start at a $1000 and go up as high as $10,000.  Lots of beauties.

Trust, folks, this was trust.  I don’t think anybody was afraid of being robbed anywhere, all along the ride and in the villages and towns.    I found this atmosphere of trust so moving.

Mr. Peighton, obviously a quick learner, says, "Wake me up when that Old Geezer stops yakking.  Thank you."

Secondly, I was moved by the spirit of congeniality among everyone, for example.

I have a favorite concession where I would stop every afternoon on the road.  Concessions were all along the road, which was dedicated to us.  The concession I love and the only one I regularly stopp at is the Amish homemade pie and ice cream stop, always on the right shoulder of the road and always on the second half of the day’s journey.

This is way below Sabrina's talent level.  But in honor of all the years she did everything around here, today she gets to light the candles.

On Wednesday I rode up and asked for credit from Henry, the Amish kid who collected the $3 for pie and the $2 for ice cream.  I had forgotten my money that morning.  I knew the only place I needed $5 on the road was the Amish.

There was a line of people behind me waiting to pay Henry.  As he said yes, the lady behind me popped in and said, “Oh, I can pay for you.  No problem.”  I was most touched, but told her that I would probably never see her again, so I could not pay her back, while I would see Henry the next day.  And Henry chimes in, “Yes, he is here every day, so it is okay.”  The next day, Thursday, I chipped in about $10 as a token of gratitude. 

This lady touched me with her spirit.

2 cupcakes here this morning.  Cathy generously is standing in for her son, Brian, who is celebrating 10 years married.  Mike and Judy are celebrating 51 years married.  And they are from Kiokuk, Iowa.

During the homily I added this little memory, which, in fact, made me forget the final point of the homily.  I remembered and shared it after communion.

In the context of congeniality I talked about what was a group of maybe 20 Air Force bikers.  They not only rode, but they stopped whenever they saw someone down with a flat or a slipped chain.  At one point I rode up and along side of them.  I mentioned 2 things.  I was jealous of their beautiful blue & white bike wear with the white wings on the back & shoulders.  

I also told them how touched I was at seeing them helping people along the road.  They were super appreciative and called me "Sir" a dozen times.  (Chebino, do you belong to the A.F. Bike Unit?) 

                           Watch out, Folks, Dawson is 18 years old.

The third Kilimanjaro event.  Friday here in Dallas, on a routine visit to my dermatologist, she asked me what was the biggest event, the most special.  As usual, I even got a bit choked up in telling her. 

It was just the joy, the exhilaration I experienced in riding, riding with so many congenial people, riding over beautiful green farm lands, passing through achingly beautiful little villages, and all at age 75. 

What more can a kid look forward to in the summer than to get up, ride his bike all day, and then camp out in his tent at night with friends? 

         Watch out, Cole, Emma, and Zoe, TI is hiring Whiz Kids.

What is you latest Kilimajaro event? 

What is your next one? 

I can tell you my next 2, the Hotter N’ Hell Hundred the last Saturday of August and taking about 10 close friends to Yosemite the first week of September.  Summer is so good.

You people in this community are a Kilimajaro Event.

So, your next Kilimanjaro event?

Brent, you are a Kilimajaro Event, and we are privileged to be able to support the work you do with Souls Harbor.