Sunday Homily, January 12, 2014, Baptism, Cycle A

Readings:

Exodus  22, 20-26,  You shall not molest or oppress an alien.

Psalm 18,   I love you Lord, My Strength

1 Thessalonians 1, 5-10,  You know what sort of people we were among you.

Matthew 22, 34-40,  The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

Zoe & Michelle say, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome."

Exodus observations–

What: One of the great books of the Bible, the second book of the O.T.  A good read.  The name  means 'departure' and refers to one of the most important events in Israel's history, the departure of the people of Israel from Egypt where they had become slaves after going there to escape drought in their own land.

Author: not Moses, but a bunch of people putting together the story most likely after the Babylonian Captivity, therefore around 555 before Christ.

Our selection:   comes from the "Book of the Covenant," that is, the law or commandments.

The materials in the book are akin to many legal codes of the ancient Near East, the most famous of which is the Code of Hammurabi, 20th Century before Christ.

Today's reading comes from a section of the code dealing with the laws of social conduct.  They inculcate a social ethic based upon compassion.  Abstract justice is not enough, especially for the underprivileged.  The lesson was obviously chosen to go with the summary of the Law that forms the gospel reading. 

Watch how Yahweh (that is, the person writing in Yahweh's name) says he is compassionate just after declaring he will kill certain types of people if they are not compassionate.

Cupcake of The Week to Zoe on her 6th birthday today.

Matthew observations–

What:  another example of the cultural game of "gotcha," a set up.  How this works you got to know the background…

Background:  The Pharasees identified 613 commandments in the Torah (first 5 books of the O.T.)  248 were positive ("thou shalt"), and 365 were negative ("thou shalt not").  How could anyone remember all of them?  Were some more important than others?  If you choose one, what about another??

See where we are going?   Our Gospel, "the Greatest Commandment?"  Matthew has the the Pharasees ask this question to put Jesus into a bind.  But again, Jesus slips their trap.  

Cupcake of The Week to Zaile & Billy on their anniversary.

Some teachers distinguished between "heavy" and "light" commandments.  The "Ten" are examples of the heavies.  An example of a light commandment is in Deut. 22, 6-7, which stipulates that a person who finds a bird's nest with a mother sitting on eggs or with young may take the young but must let the mother go.  The reason for observing all these commandments: "That it may go well with you, and that you may live long."  (Deut. 5, 16; 22, 7)

Resources: The New Interpreters Study Bible; St. Louis U. Liturgical @ Liturgical.slu.edu

Cupcake of The Week to Shirley for putting up with Jerry and Poncic.

Love Myself ?   I’m okay, you’re okay?

I hate it when I get these ideas.  I composed a homily yesterday evening and was all ready to go this morning when I woke up.  At 8:00 A.M., 30 minutes before Rosemary & I depart for Vines, I change my mind.  I want to talk about an event that took place Saturday evening. 

I want also to tie it with the great commandment.  I have said it maybe a hundred times, there are 3 commandments here, love God, love my neighbor as myself, and love myself.  Loving myself, from my own experience and my experience in psychology, is the most difficult and the foundation of the first two.  I don’t love myself, I don’t love anybody else.

A  little dictum that sums it up for me is, “I’m okay and you are okay.”  It does not have to get dramatic, just simple.

Cupcake to Greg to console him for getting stung on his right eyelid at the house project yesterday.

Here is what happened last evening and exemplifies some of this.

At about 6:30 I told Rosemary I was going to walk across the street to the Chase bank on the corner of Preston & Royal.  It was a gorgeous Saturday night and I thought, ‘I’ll just walk over to the bank and make a deposit of a check.’  We live maybe 300 yards from this corner.

So I walk to the bank, I make the deposit, and am ready to return, crossing back across Preston at the light.  But what do I see?  A man is lying on the cement on his right side, his right hand under his head, and he is asleep.  He is in the corner parking slot in the small Chase parking lot. 

Mary and Frank with a cupcake for Nikki & Cameron on their birthday.

I think, ‘Is he alive, does he need help?  He is in a bizarre spot, tons of Saturday evening traffic, out of sight tucked into the parking nook, and looking like a homeless person, old, gray pants and t-shirt.’  He also has a sunburn high water mark on his left arm, a sign he is outside a lot.

‘Should I go check on him?  What if he pulls a gun or knife and kills me?’  I feel like the Pharisee in the parable of the Good Samaritan.  So I call 911.  At least something.  The lady says the police will swing by right away.

I walk away a bit, not toward the corner, but toward the drug store so I can see him.   I’m curious.  I stop and wait.  I wait maybe 15-20 minutes, hoping to see the cops check on the guy.

Offertory, Sandra, Jerry, and Grace.

Finally I say to myself, ‘Stop being such a wimp.  Go check on him.  The cops are taking too much time.  I’ve worked with lots of guys like this.   He won’t hurt me.  I’m bigger and in better shape anyway.’

So I walk over to him, look down, and say, “How you doing, man?”  It wakes him and he looks at me with light blue eyes which are like out of focus.  He wonders where he is.  This young man is on something.  That is obvious. 

The first thing he says is, “Thanks for checking on me.”  Does that ever touch me.  We talk a bit and finally he asks me if I have a cigarette.  I said I don’t smoke, but I wished I had a cigarette, if that was all he wanted for a little pleasure. 

The Team.

I admit that if he wanted money for food, I would have walked him right over to McDonnell’s on the opposite corner.  I also admit that I did not want spend the evening carrying him down to The Bridge, if he asked me for a place to stay.  And I certainly knew Rosemary would toss me out if I brought him home.  He did neither.

So I asked him if he was okay and he said yes.  I walked away again toward Dougherty’s drug store.  I looked back one time and he was still just sitting there on the cement looking around and looking at the people driving up to use the ATM machine, which probably made them nervous.

Bethany and Ray.

The guy is in my spirit right now.  I wonder.  How did he get to where he is?  Where is he?  When did he get addicted?  Does he love himself, enough to love his neighbors?  Can he say, ‘I’m okay and you are okay.’

What do you need to do to say, ‘I’m okay and you are okay,’ if you can’t say it this morning?

Welcome Back, Mr. Luke, and thanks for bringing John & Karen, your super grandparents

Readings:

Sirach  3, 17-18, 20, 28-29, Conduct your affairs with humility.

Psalm 68,  God, in your goodness you have made a home for the poor.

Hebrews 12, 18-19, 22-24,  You have approached Mt. Zion

Luke 14, 1, 7-14,  When you hold a banquet, invite the poor

And likewise to you, Dear Dee, welcome back.

Homily:

A story that touched me a few weeks ago, following the mass shooting in El Paso, was the story of Antonio Basco. His companion of many years was killed in that attack. Neither of them having family in the area, he was feeling really alone in planning the funeral.

Antonio invited the anybody who could to join him at the visitation and remembrance, thinking maybe a few well-wishers in El Paso would join him. What happened?

Our super candle lighting team in action.

Thousands showed up—yes, thousands!—and some came from hundreds of miles away. People heard the story. In their mercy they saw the pain of Antonio’s personal tragedy: he was surviving the loss of his long-time companion.

Their hearts went out to him, and they showed up to be with him in his loss and grief. Many others, who heard of the story, also felt mercy for his suffering and were with him in Spirit, in their hearts.

Watch out, Luke, you will get put to work bringing up our gifts.

From today’s readings, Mount Sinai is where Moses received the law from God – the ten “thou shalt not’s” for a people with a short memory. Those words and warnings scared me as a young person hearing them in catechism class and the special preparation for First Communion and First Confession—the stakes went up for us kids with the pressure of the exaggerated importance of those really big events—1^st communion, 1^st confession. (We definitely didn’t get M & M’s for our penance in First Confession.)

The Communion Team, Connie, Denni, Brent, Mike, and Cheryl.

Rather than the ‘thou shalt not’s’ from Moses on Mount Sinai, it’s ‘Love one another as I have loved you,’ from Jesus. Jesus spoke Good News—that we were never separated from God by Adam’s sinfulness or our own.

God is always with us, all of us. We always have access to God’s Spirit, all of us. The Spirit of God is within us, and is present in all our relationships, all of us. In his words, and in how he lived his life, Jesus brought the Good News.

Mike & Mike, our local sportscasters?

How do you acknowledge God’s Spirit—within you, and in every connection you have with others?  How do you acknowledge the Good News of Jesus and live it?

Our reps to the local Open Window organization, a group hoping to update the Catholic Church, for example permitting women to be priests.

Readings:

Wisdom   18, 6-9,  The night of the Passover was known.

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

Hebrews 11, 1-2, 8-19,   Faith is the realization of what is hoped for.

Luke 12, 32-48,  You must be prepared for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

(Less than amiable readings this week.)

Say Genevieve and John, "Welcome in Everybody."

Observations on the book of Wisdom:

What:  Exploration of the meaning and value of wisdom.  The author is the first to express a hope for immortality, a Greek concept.

 Who:  A Greek Jew who wrote probably in Alexandria, Egypt.

An observation on Hebrews:  one of the most difficult books in the Bible.

Just watch how good I can walk.

Watch out for the Beauty

As you may imagine, I am not comfortable at all with the tenor of our readings this morning.   Do you really think our God is a mean master sneaking around looking to snatch us when we have messed up? 

No way.    Instead, I would suggest our God is a God of gifts.  We are challenged to be alert, yes,  & watch out for the beautiful gift of the moment.  And there are many each day. 

Let me exemplify with three stories from Iowa and the Ragbrai bike rally.

If there is a candle lighting Olympic category, sign up our man, Cole.
 

Firstly, on the third or fourth night of our week we pulled into a scenic hilly town called Centerville.  Our group of about 25 was invited by a couple to camp in their front and back yards. 

I arrived about 4:00 and immediately went out to get something to eat.  I returned and found the hosts, Terry and Kevin, had produced a huge spread in their driveway, hamburgers, brats, cookies, and two gallons of vanilla ice cream with, of course, chocolate sauce.  I could not believe my eyes.

Camping in the shady yard of a beautiful Victorian two story. 

I was most touched and thanked them over & over.  This hospitality was a norm and it never ceased to catch me unaware and to touch me.  Our God is a God of Gifts.

Secondly, the Air Force.  Every year I see Air Force men & women in these marvelous blue & white bike outfits with big, upright wings on their back.  I remember other years when we had 50 or 60.  This year there were ca. 115, according to one guy I asked.  

The Air Force, not only riding, all 120 plus of them, but helping anyone who came up with a flat, a dropped chain, or an accident.   They were everywhere and I told them I was really proud of them.  Sign up next year, Ryan, Chebino.

The men and women not only rode the 500 miles, they also stopped to help bikers who had a flat or who had dropped their chain.  And, of course, they patched bikers up who had scratches & bruises.  Likewise, they can phone in for an ambulance, of which I saw a bunch.  I would see them all along the road.  I am so proud of these Air Force people.  Our God is a God of Gifts.     

Likewise, David, himself stopped once and patched up a girl he saw fall down.

Oh, my gosh, where did I put my bike?   A typical scene in every town we entered.  

Thirdly, on the second day coming out of Shenandoah and heading toward Creston, going up a hill, I spot a three wheel bike with two people.  One person is a woman in, say, her thirties.   Next to her was an older man, slender with white hair.  She is pedaling.

On the back of the tricycle there was a hand written sign.  “My father is 81 years old and he has stage 4 cancer.  This is his first Ragbrai.”   Wow.  Talk about being moved. 

Does life get better than this?? 

This was only part of the story.  A guy had ridden past this dad & daughter, had dropped his bike up the hill, run back down, and was pushing the three wheeler up the hill.   Further up the hill I saw another guy had dropped his bike on the shoulder, and he, too, was running down to help push. 

Our God is a God of Gifts.

And you were hoping to get through this town in how many minutes?  And you still have not reached the town square.

Because of many of these & many other similar moments, when I finally arrived at the marvelous, mighty Mississippi, I just had tears streaming down my cheeks. 

Our God is a God of Gifts.

What are yours today?

Our God is a God of the Gift of cuddly grandmothers for lovely girls like Zoe.

Readings:

Zechariah  12, 10-11,  I will pour out a spirit of grace and petition.

Psalm 63,  My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Galatians 3, 26-29,  You are all one in Christ.

Luke 9, 18-24, If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself.

Georgie arriving ready.

 Zecheria observations : 

Who:  
one of the 12 minor prophets.  Why?  Small work.  Only 14 little chapters.  Vs the Big 3, who have chapters numbering into the 60’s.  Zecharia is really the author of this work.

Time:  
post Babylonian Captivity, therefore, after 555 before Christ.  How do we know?  Reference is made to Darius, the king of the Persians.

Content:  
part 1 involves visions about the restoration of Jerusalem.  Part 2, our part, talks about future prosperity.  Maybe a slightly forgetable book.  I have not one line highlighted in my bible.

Sources: Good News Bible, Wikipedia

Buddy is also ready, with his mom, Michelle.

Deny Myself and Take up a Cross Daily

Ever since I can remember hearing this item I have felt discomfort and
rejection.   I think there was some of this in my original decision to enter the Jesuits to be a priest in 1958.

Our Celeste.

Certainly in those early years of Jesuit training, we practiced this.  We lived in silence most of the time, worked hard on the beautiful Jesuit farm at Grand Coteau, and we never went back to our original homes.   A really regimented monastic life, up at 5:00, lights out at 10:00, every day, month after month, year after year.

Miguel, who helps us tremendously every Sunday.

 Times have certainly changed and I have obviously changed.  Three comments about the idea of taking up a cross daily.

First, it is a metaphor, a metaphor for self discipline.

Dick Taylor, our local Habitat director, giving us a status report. Imagine, 78 houses built.

Secondly, the self discipline involves obvious things, let's say, three:

          Healthy eating, that is, watch out for salt, sugar, and fat or butter, the major seducer ingredients of fast food places, like McDonald’s.

This was stage 3 our our house, after the foundation and the studs.

          Exercise, that is, keep moving.  2 a days are coming for high
school football players.  You want to see self discipline?  27 days from now I will join 15 thousand other wakos to ride across Iowa in a week, about 500 miles.  I’m exercising, getting in shape. 

          Next, take breaks, days off, vacation periods.  A day off a week
or 3 once a month, as I do.   Contemplate and reflect during the
breaks.  What?  My blessings & gifts & joys.  Number one, number two, and on.

During stage 3 we wrapped the house.

Thirdly, the goal?  Follow God’s invitation to be fully alive.

Where are you being invited by God to become more fully alive?

Friday morning the house is ready for siding, windows and doors already installed.

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

Readings:

Jeremiah  20, 7-9,    You duped me, Lord, and I let myself be duped

Psalm 63,   My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Roman s 12, 1-2,  Do not conform yourselves to this age.

Matthew 16, 21-27,  Whoever wishes to come after me, must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  

And Harper, too, says, "Come in, Folks.  Take this chair."

Jeremiah observations–

What:  I think Jeremiah is my second favorite O.T. prophet, behind Isaiah, mostly because he makes whining and complaining into an art form.  I need to take lessons from him.  Not that he did not have enough to complain about.   Jeremiah is one of the Big 3 with Isaiah and Ezekiel.  He is called the ‘broken hearted prophet.’  Here is why.

Time:  Jeremiah lived and prophesied in Jerusalem around 600 before Christ.  Why is this important?  It is some 50 years before the Babylonian Captivity.  Jeremiah had a heart rending life predicting punishment of death and destruction for the Hebrews for their sinful, selfish ways.  Jeremiah predicted disaster, and disaster came in the person of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon-Bagdad.

Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke as a visual aid to his message.  He may have been ultimately killed by the Hebrews.

Today:  Jeremiah is in top form.

The Best Music, even though they are slacking off, Wendy & Ben.

Deny Yourself, Take up Your Cross, and Follow Me

I want to talk this morning, folks, about the line in Matthew, Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.  I confess right off, I hate this line.  Can you imagine a loving God creating people to deny themselves and take up a life of suffering? 

Matthew’s line can be very tricky.  It can be approached healthily or in a rather sick way.  I can witness to the latter in my own life.  I have already described how as a young Jesuit I was expected to do penance and deny myself in various ways, like the practice of using little whips to scourge our backs and little chains with points to wear around our thighs.  This was supposed to bring me closer to God.

Two Very Special People, Wendy & Brandon 

I can laugh at this now, but I am humbled at how easily I can be snookered.  When I read this line and others like it in the Bible and remember my experiences, I now see the presence of an ancient philosophy that still influences a lot of religious activity today.  The philosophy: dualism. 

The idea is simple.  Reality comes in pairs, hot & cold, dark & light, order & chaos, and, in particular for this discussion, body & soul or flesh & spirit.  So far so good. 

Our Candle Lighter of The Week, Sophia (Ben's daughter).

The trouble enters with a judgment about the flesh & spirit.  Specifically, flesh is bad, spirit is good, superior.  Consequently, so that my spirit may reach an elevated plane of purity & perfection, and ultimately closer union with God, I attempt to subdue my flesh by disregarding the body's needs, ultimately aiming to live without it.  Do not give in to pleasure.  How about that!

A couple of facts.  Dualism is identified as far back as 1000 years B.C. and came out of Zoroastrianism, a religion that worshiped one god and believed in an afterlife.  Did it come from Egypt as so much did at that time?  No, from Persia, the area we call Iran today.  Zoroastrianism was widespread until Muhammad arrived on the scene around 650 and established Islam.  Through the ages lots of people picked up on dualism, for example, Plato, Augustine, Descartes, and the early Christians, like Matthew.

However, there is a healthy approach to the line.  A story to exemplify the healthy.

Welcome back Vivi, Quera, & Mikala, Teresa and Tom's grandkids.

Way back when I was living at Jesuit and working as a psychotherapist, a single, divorced mother came with her son, Michael, one day and basically said, “help!”  She had a really active boy about 3^rd grade.  He and his neighbor buddy, a black kid, used to race around our neighborhood and the high school on their bikes.  Great kids.

The years passed and I got to know Michael really well.  One afternoon when Michael was in 7^th grade at St. Monica, we were watering trees with the white truck and the old red water trailer.  I don’t remember who was driving us along the medians, but at one point I can remember to this day, he said to me that if he did not make the entrance exam at Jesuit, his life was no good.  

Let me not ask what these 3 are up to.

I did not say anything at the moment.  But later I told him that thinking was baloney.  I said Jesuit did not want kids who said their lives were no good.  If he made it, Jesuit would be a better place.  If he did not, another school would be a better place because they had a tremendous gift in their school. 

He did not get in. 

So Michael went to Bishop Dunne.  He played sports, worked hard to make good grades, and kept in contact with a neat guy who was the admissions director at Jesuit.

He got in as a sophomore.  He did excellently.

The Offertory with Louis & Sandra, John & Mary Jane

Next Michael wanted to go to A&M and join the corps.  He did not get in.  He does not test well.  So he went to Tech and joined the Air Force ROTC.  After 4 years there he invited me to the ceremony where he was to get his lieutenant bars.  

The ceremony was in a big auditorium.  Michael was the last.  On the stage with him were his mom and his girl friend, Lydia.  At one point in his personal ceremony Michael turns to the whole auditorium, asks their patience for a moment, turns back to Lydia, drops on a knee, and asks her to marry him. 

Talk about blowing the roof off of the auditorium.  Everybody went crazy.  She said yes. 

It does not get better than this, Vivi, Quera, and Mikala.

Now, Michael has long finished his flight training, part of which took place right up at the scene of the Hotter N’ Hell, Wichita Falls.  He has been stationed all over the world, like Aviano, Italy, where we got the name of our dog, Aviana, after a visit there.   He has a little boy and a girl, a beautiful wife in Lydia, and a platinum career as a jet pilot.  

Michael has denied himself a lot of quite legitimate pleasures to achieve some healthy goals.  Even now he continues to keep himself in good physical and intellectual shape.  

So, how do you deny yourself and take up a cross? 

Best buddies, Sophia and Emma.
 

Theme Today: Why do bad things happen to good people.

                 Says our beautiful Zoe, "Welcome in, Everybody."

Readings:

 Job  38,  1, 8-11,  Who shut within doors the sea.

Psalm 107,    Give thanks to the Lord, his love is ever lasting

2 Corinthians 5, 14-17,   He died for us all.

 Mark  4, 35-41, A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat. 

                        Kevin, too, "Happy Fathers' Day."

Job observations:

The Story: Job is a good man, pious, married, affluent, 7 boys, 3 girls, obeys the Lord & his laws.  Satan makes a bet with Yahweh: you take away Job's goodies, he will curse you.  "Deal," says Yahweh.

Shortly after that, one day servants come to tell Job: 1. rustlers have taken his cattle & killed his servants; 2. lightning has killed his sheep & shepherds; 3. more rustlers took his camels & killed their caretakers; 4.  a storm has killed his 10 kids.  Job does not curse.  In fact, he make the famous statement: "Naked I entered the world, naked I leave.  The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord."

And, of course, our beautiful Genevieve, looking right at you (the camera on the second deck),  also says, "Happy Fathers' Day and Happy first day of summer."

Satan then proposes another bet with Yahweh: let me afflict him bodily, he will curse you.  "Deal," says Yahweh.  Job is struck with leprosy and is expelled to the trash heap outside the town.    Job does not curse Yahweh, but he does say, "God, put a curse on the day I was born."

Then Job's wife and three friends all attack him, basically telling him to just die, because he is obviously a bad man.  Job says, "No, I've done nothing wrong."   Job finally complains to God and get a rather critical response.

Another beautiful Quinn, Shannon, says, "Hi, Folks, nice to be here."

Eventually he is rewarded by Yahweh, lives 140 more years and has 7 more sons and 3 daughters, plus more wealth.  

How many questions do you have?  How does a person's badness or goodness effect the bad things in his life?  Bad things don't happen to good folks?  The main proposition of Job:  Why do bad things happen to good people?   How about Yahweh making bets with Satan?  What about a Satan?

                         Hue, our great sound man.

Author: not Moses.  A compilation of sources. 

Structure: a central poetic section with prose entry and exit.  The happy ending was also added.  Again, a parable, a fable, a myth, not history.

               Emma ready for another morning at The Toy World

Date:  the present form was probably put together after the famous Babylonian Exile, i.e., ca. 550 BCE.

Our Selection: after Job finally complains, Yahweh responds rather critically, saying, "Who do you think you are," and, "Do you forget who I am?"   

Sources: Fr. William Most on line, Good News Bible, Wikipedia       

 
The Community Blessing for all the men, with Genevieve and Georgie's special help.

Why do bad things happen to good people

Homily: A Fathers' Day Gift.  

The Job story is our lesson for today.  Rosemary would have divorced me if I taken off on another long homily.  You people luck out today.

                                    The Men, group B.