Sunday Homily, August 4, 2013, 18th Ordinary Time C

 Readings:

Isaiah 43,16-21, In the desert I make a way.

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

Philippians 3, 8-14,  For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things.

John 8, 1-11,  They brought a woman who had been caught in adultery

Think it is hard to get Leo to Mass on Sunday?

Emma, too.

 Isaiah Observations:

The scene: the Jewish people are captives in Babylon ca. 550 years before Christ.  Isaiah the great prophet had warned the people that their bad ways were going to lead to this. 

In this chapter 43 Yahweh reminds them of how much he has done for them in the past and lets them know that they are still his people.  Their lives will get better.   The writer is Isaiah 2.  There are at least 3.

The first 5 verses of this chapter are some of the best in the Bible, telling the people to not be afraid because he is with them. It goes— 

Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you.  I have called you by your name.  You are mine.  When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you…  When you pass through fire, you will not be burnt. 

Soul's Harbor truck which the community filled. Patrick shared his marvelous history of recovery with us, which is why we have no homily today. Patrick is going through drug recovery at Soul's Harbor, which we support.

Philippians

Philippi was the first church Paul set up on European soil.  He is in prison.  He is basically saying that for him nothing has any importance beyond his relationship with Jesus.

Guess who this is.

Cole with his dad, Chuck.

Video: Cupcakes of the Week, Ken, John, and Brooklyn (2, today; 30 sec.)

"Welcome in" says Georgie.

Readings:  

 Deuteronomy 6, 2-6,  You shall love your God.

 Psalm 18,  I love you Lord, my strength

 Hebrews 7, 23-28,  The law appoints men subject to weakness to be priests.

 Mark 12, 28-34,   Which is the first of all the commandments?

Jan our special hostess at her welcome to communion table.

Deuteronomy observations:

1.  The work is the last of the 5 books of the Pentateuch, following Genesis,  Exodus, Leviticus, & Numbers.

2.  The work is organized as a series of addresses given by Moses to the people of Israel in the land of Moab, where they had stopped at the end of the long wilderness journey and were about to enter and occupy the land of the Canaanites.

3.  The theme of the book is that God has saved and blessed his chosen people, whom he loves.  They are to remember this, and love and obey him.

4. Joshua is commissioned as the next leader of the people, i.e., God's (Yahweh's) people 

Buddy reads our Blessing of The Candles.

Pittsburgh

Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, worked as a primary care physician, was deeply active with HIV victims especially when it started, infamous for his bow ties.

Cecil Rosenthal, 59, and his brother David, 54.  Cecil was outgoing & gregarious while David was more self contained.

Richard Gottfried, 65 neighborhood dentist, married with a Catholic wife.

While her brother reads The Blessing, Zoe lights our candles.

Irving Youger, 69, when you walked into the synagogue, Irving was the first person who would welcome you and help you find your seat.  He had been a little league coach and a real estate agent.

Daniel Stein, 71, and retired.

Joyce Fienberg, 75, a research specialist at the U. of Pittsburgh, petite with huge personality.

The Offertory Team, Marlene, Bill, & Cindy, all Ekes family.

Bernice Simon, 84, and her husband Sylvan, 86, considered the sweetest couple who, 62 years ago, wedded in this same synagogue.

Melvin Wax, 88, full of jokes, a passionate Pittsburgh Pirates fan, was always in a good mood.

Sez Leo, "Welcome in, Folks."

Rose Mallinger, 97, spry, vibrant, full of life, sharpest wit, with her family being everything in her life.

Judah Samet, 80, Hungarian, was in the parking lot, saw the shooter.  He survived the Nazi holocaust as a child of 6.

 Even with the massacre of Pittsburgh, we will give thanks this month.

Readings:

Nehemiah  8, 2-10,   Do not be sad and do not weep.

Psalm 19, Your words, Lord, are spirit and life.

 1 Corinthians 12, 12-30,  A body is one though it has many parts.

Luke 1, 1-4; 4, 14-21,   He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives.

  Victoria says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in.  We got a brunch today."

Introduction  

 Our first reading is from Nehemiah, Ezra, a scribe and priest, reads and teaches from the written Torah in Jerusalem, brought back by those returning from the Babylon Exile. The Torah, of course, begins with the Book of Genesis and the creation story. 

Later the NT and then, Sufi Islam would make known that we are made in the image and likeness of God. A bond begins!  Our second reading from 1 Corinthians follows last Sunday’s teaching on the spiritual gifts.  Today’s reading describes how we are one in the Spirit as the body of Christ in the world.

Harper, too, says, "Hi, Folks, Come in."

Homily by Mike  

Remember the story about the tax collector and the Pharisee who went to the temple to pray.  The Pharisee praised himself and ended his prayer by saying, ‘I am glad that I’m not like the tax collector standing over there.  The tax collector however was beating his breast saying, ‘Have mercy on me a sinner.’   The Pharisee was self-righteous instead of being humble. He chose to look down upon others as if they were morally inferior.  He committed the sin of pride, the first of the deadly sins and he, too, like the tax collector, should have been seeking forgiveness.

Hi, Cathy, Welcome in to you, too.  Thanks for bringing Harper.

Don’t be surprised when Pope Francis formally asks the Jews to forgive us for being self-righteous toward them for so many centuries prior to World War II.  Unfortunately we had a part in the Holocaust for our prior teaching that the Jews could not be saved unless they became Christians. 

Sez Genevieve, "I want to sing, too."   Watch out, Folks, she can almost walk.

Francis has been calling us to recognize the bond that exists between Jews and Christians; it’s called the Spirit, blows were it wills, and is present within the inspired writings of both Jew and Christian.  Jesus was a Jew. Most of the NT was written by inspired Jews who believed that the Messiah had come.  Francis is encouraging us to visual this graphic relationship: within every Christian there is a Jew. 

Buddies, Leo & Genevieve.

Today’s gospel is about what happened when Jesus entered the Sabbath synagogue service.  The reading for that day, as you have heard, were the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me….’  The one who gave the reading would then give a teaching on why and to whom Isaiah had said these words.

The entrance, Here they come, Folks.

 For example, Isaiah could have been referring to the Jews to whom Ezra was reading and explaining the newly written Torah that had been brought back from Babylon after the exiles had been set free by Cyrus the Great.   Instead the inspired writers have Jesus fulfilling Isaiah’s words using them as an expectation for the coming of the Messiah.  In doing so, the structure of the Christian Liturgy of the Word would forever be identified: the words of Christ would fulfill the expectation of the reading from the Law and/or Prophets for the coming of the Messiah.  

Mike, sharing The Idea.

What Jesus said, of course, was, ‘This day these words are fulfilled in your hearing.’   Those in the synagogue who were receiving the good news, then, were the poor in spirit, the captive being set free, and the blind being given the opportunity to see. 

 Does it get any better?

So there is an intended spiritual harmony between OT and NT, between the Sabbath synagogue service and the Christian Liturgy of the Word, and between Jew and Christian.  Within every Christian there is a Jew.  Let us open our hearts to the words of our creed today that addresses all who seek to be led by the Spirit. 

 Buddies, Michelle & Georgie.

Genesis 18:  "Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time.  What if there are at least ten there?"  He replied, "For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy  it."

Colossians 2:  You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

Luke 11:  "And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Denni reading from Genesis
 

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben  & Shonda

Tom reading from St. Paul's Letter to the Colossians

The Kiss of Peace

Outreach: $   220.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Candice, Buddy, Claire and Ray

Rosemary's Blessing:

Readings: Ezekiel 37, 12-14; Psalm 130, With the Lord there is Mercy and Fullness of Redemption; Romans 8, 8-11; John 11, 1-45.

The Fifth Sunday in Lent – Reflection on Readings

The first reading today from Isaiah comes from what scholars now refer to as Deutero-Isaiah, namely Isaiah part two, the time when the Israelites are in Exile in Babylon.  The mood is totally different from first Isaiah where the prophet is railing against the people living in Jerusalem for their wicked ways.  Jerusalem has been destroyed and the people are captives in Babylon.  Before the exile, Israel was relatively prosperous, overly self-confident and very material minded.  In second Isaiah, the prophet sees a people who must be consoled, not punished.  This is the tone of today’s first reading.  The prophet tells them basically to forget the past and look forward to the great things God will do for his people.

Just a few words about the second reading from the Letter to the Philippians.  Paul is writing from prison.  This letter is a very practical letter with advice on how the community needs to continue to stay focused on Christ.  There is personal news about various people the community would know of and some very specific words about those who continue to insist in circumcision for the gentiles who convert.  Again in today’s reading we have Paul also say “forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead” the same theme which we found in Isaiah, and will also see in the gospel when Jesus tells the woman “Go, and from now on do not sin any more”

The Fifth Sunday in Lent – Homily

Our gospel today is really not from St. John but most likely Luke.  For whatever reason this incident was dropped into the middle of the section of John’s Gospel dealing with Jesus in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.  This feast is one of three in the year when Jews were expected to go up to Jerusalem.  The interesting thing about the feast was that the people erected tent like structures and lived in them for the week of the festival.  This put all of the people on an equal footing, as rich and poor alike lived in very similar structures. 

The feast was a celebration of the harvest and usually occurred in September or October.  It would have been equivalent to our Thanksgiving.  What I find interesting is the following from the book of Leviticus “On the first day you shall gather foliage from majestic trees, branches of palms and boughs of myrtles and of valley poplars, and then for a week you shall make merry before the LORD, your God.” Since next Sunday we celebrate Palm Sunday. 

But back to today’s reading.  Remember a common theme running through the gospels is the attempt by the scribes and Pharisee’s to trap Jesus into either breaking the Roman Law or the Torah Law.  This is what is really behind today’s reading.  It has very little to do with the woman and her situation.  But of course, I want to focus on the woman. 

Did you ever get caught doing something you shouldn’t be doing?  I remember as a kid helping myself to some apples in a neighbor’s back garden.  I was caught just as I was getting back over the wall to escape.  I can still remember the fear and my reaction.  Now can we imagine how this woman must have felt?  Not only was she caught in a very embarrassing situation, now she is made to stand in the middle of this group of "holy men".  She is very aware of what fate awaits her; she is to be put to death. 

There has been much wondering about what Jesus was writing in the sand.  I think I know.  Nothing.  He was just doodling so that he didn’t have to look at the woman and add to her shame and embarrassment.  He didn’t want to add to it!

Coming as this reading does as part of our Lenten readings, and so close to Easter, I see in this reading a better understanding of what Easter is all about.  Just as the woman’s past is put behind her and she is set free, so too the Resurrection puts our past behind us and sets us free.  It is the ultimate “I love you” from God.  I remember the cover of a book by Dom Eugene Boylan from years ago, which had a picture of the crucified Christ on the cover; the title of the book was “This Tremendous Lover”.  This is Easter; this is what we are getting ready for.

Picture 1:  Mass beginning with Tony & Kevin

Picture 2:  Bill Hammond

Picture 3:  Penny Morrow

Picture 4:  Coffee Shoppe, Mary Ellen Charlie, Warren, and Tony

Readings:  

Deuteronomy 4, 32-34, 39-40, Ask from one end of the sky to the other, did anything so great ever happen?

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

Romans 8, 14-17, The Spirit bears witness to our spirit. 

Matthew 28, 16-20, Behold, I am with all days until the end of the ages.

Observations on the Readings:

1^st reading from Book of Deuteronomy (Chapter 4)

Deuteronomy is the 5^th  book of Bible and of Jewish Torah or Pentateuch. Though traditionally attributed entirely to Moses, modern scholars agree that it is a collection of Jewish traditions, later adapted to nationalistic reform and its final form coming after the Babylonian captivity in late 6^th century BC.

It is written as if from the mouth of Moses, who was considered the greatest of the prophets, for the authority his name gave the book. See last verses of final chapter 34. The most famous verses are Ch 6:4-5: “Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, our God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

3^rd  reading from the Gospel of Matthew (Chapter 28)

This book is the second  gospel chronologically, and was written with the Jewish people in mind, to show  a direct connection between the Jewish Law and the Prophets and the teachings
of Jesus.

Homily

This  year we are celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the opening of the
Second Vatican Council in 1962. I recommend the article in the blog by Giovanni Franzone, a former Italian Benedictine Abbot. As an Abbot, he attended the Second Vatican Council as one of the ‘Fathers’ of the council. He is now 86, and his article gives a fresh “I was there” perspective. I want to talk a little today about Vatican II, which has been called the most significant event in the life of the Catholic Church in modern times.

 Pope  John XXIII became Pope following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. Less than a year later, John 23^rd announced that he would call an ecumenical council. You may remember his story of how he had a dream one night in which the church was coming together in a council to renew itself. He awoke thinking what a great idea that was and thinking “I must tell the pope about it.” And then he realized, “Wait a minute, I am the Pope.”

Some of The Jesuit Class of '58, reunion, New Orleans. 2 still active as S.J. priests, one in NY, one in Peru.

So he called the council to  bring together representatives of the church all over the world, including many great minds of the time, and including representatives of other Christian faiths and non-Christian faiths. The two main purposes were “aggiornamento”, a bringing-up-to-date of the Church, and a striving for Christian unity. In answer to someone’s question about the purpose of the council, Pope John once said:
‘to let some fresh air into the Church”. 

I didn’t just honor and give respect to Pope John 23^rd; I loved him—for who he was as a man, and what he did for the church’s world
community. And we also shared the same birth day of November 25^th.

Vatican II continued for a couple more years and eventually

Trinity Sunday Mass at Bob Baxter's house in New Orleans. Cathy Lichliter reading with her husband, Bill, on the left.

documents were approved by the council. Perhaps the five most significant were: The Constitution on the Church, The Decree on Ecumenism, The Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops, The Declaration on Religious Liberty, and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Contemporary World. I will say just a little about the first three, and I hope we can look at more of them, and in more detail, during this 50^th anniversary year.

In the Constitution on the Church, the significant updating was, as
Mike said last week, a new (yet old) vision of the church primarily as the
‘People of God’, equal through Baptism, rather than primarily as a hierarchical and clerical structure. 

Gab Session after Mass. A uniquely moving class reunion of 20 plus men who spent many of their early years as Jesuit classmates. Now meeting with their wives.

The Decree on Ecumenism reached out to people of all
faiths and erased the old belief that you had to be Catholic to ‘be saved’—to be with God. Remember we read a lot from some Acts of some Apostles during the Easter Season.

In Chap.10 of Acts Peter said: ‘I can see now that God is no respecter of persons, but that in every nation anyone who reverences him and
does what is right, is acceptable to him.’ In other words, every human being who reaches moral adulthood chooses between what his conscience judges to be right and what his conscience judges to be wrong. If a person makes the basic choice for right as he knows it, he is in fact choosing God.

The Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops included the notion of ‘collegiality’ among bishops with the Pope, that bishops are not just advisors to the Pope, but co-deciders with him and the People of God. The Decree encouraged the formation of regional councils and, all the way down to the parish community level, councils were to be formed to allow participation in decision making by the community from the ground level up. How many of you ever served on a parish community council?

Sunday brunch after Mass

We have good reason to remember the aggiornamento begun by Pope John 23^rd. I remember following the sessions of the council closely with enthusiasm and optimism. My 50^th was last year, so I was ordained the year before the council opened. Stack was just a few years from ordination and no doubt also following it equally closely. Pope John died in 1963 less than a year after he opened the council, and was followed by Pope Paul VI. The article by Abbot Franzone in the blog provides a lot more information about Vatican II and about the role of Paul VI during and after the Council. 

Vatican II is the most significant event in the life of the Catholic Church in modern times. My question today is: how much do we know about it? and how are we living out its updated teachings and its spirit?