Sunday Homily, July 28, 2013, 17th Ordinary Time, C

Readings:   2 Chronicles 36, 14-23, Whoever among you who belongs to any part of his people, let him go up; Psalm 137, Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget You; John 3, 14-21, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “the light came into the world.”

 

Chronicles:

Author (s): Unknown

Date:  ca. 450-350 BCE, at least after The Babylonian Captivity.  You will see why. 

 

 

Subject:  a summary of the entire span of history to the time the people returned to Jerusalem, i.e., from Adam to the end of the Babylonian Captivity, 450 BCE.  Therefore, it begins with Adam & a genealogy up to King Saul and King David, through David's son Solomon & the building of the temple to the Babylonian Captivity with Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus the leader of the Persians who defeated Nebuchadnezzar (what a fabulous name, 5 syllables)  and allowed the Hebrews to return to Jerusalem.  Note that Babylon was near Baghdad in Iraq, while Persia was Iran.

Our selection: this is the very last chapter of ca. 60 chapters, including Chronicles 1 & 2.  A bit of a summary chapter, it says that Yahweh was so mad he got Nebuchadnezzar to defeat the Hebrews and cart them off to captivity in Babylon.  Then some 50 years later he gets Cyrus to defeat Nebuchadnezzar and free the Hebrews to return to Jerusalem, which they do. 

Sources: Catholic Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

 

 

The Nature of God

Anybody here know Bartholomew Granger?  Or who he is?  I’ll tell you.  He is from Beaumont and 41 years old.  Last Wednesday morning he was waiting outside the Beaumont courthouse where he was on trial for abusing a member of his family. 

At some point he reached into his pickup, pulled out his gun, and started shooting.  He killed a 79 year old lady just passing there.  He wounded three others including his daughter whom he also ran over with his pickup truck in an attempt to flee the scene.

 

 Anybody hear about the 22 kids from Belgium on a spring break ski trip to Switzerland?  Killed in a bus that simply ran into a bridge returning to Belgium.  22 kids plus some adults.

Which, taking into account our readings today, leads me to ask you two questions.

First question, does God get angry and punish bad people?  The Bible certainly seems to say so. 

• For example, Chronicles says today that the "anger of the Lord was so inflamed that there was no remedy."  As a result he had the Hebrews killed, burned out, and carried away as slaves in Babylon.  For a symbolic 70 years, which seems to suggest that the Hebrews had neglected to rest on the Sabbath, 7 being a special number.
• For example, Yahweh got so mad at his earlier creation that he sent the great flood, killing everybody except Noah, his wife, and the animals.  
• For example, in John this morning you find out that you will be condemned if you do not believe in the name of Jesus. 
• For example, it is held that Jesus had to come and die on a cross and he did so to take away the Father's anger at us for our ancestors' sins.  Thus, the gates of heaven, closed up to that time, would be reopened.  True?

 

 

 Were the kids on the bus bad?  Is Granger bad?  The little 79 year old lady?   What about Sargeant Robert Bales, who allegedly massacred a handful of women & children this week in Afghanistan.  Are they all such sinners that they must be punished like happened to the Hebrews in Jerusalem?

So, what do you think, what do you believe?  Does God get angry and punish bad people as we see repeatedly mentioned in the Bible?  What we are dealing with here is what you think the nature of God is.  Which leads me to my next question:

 

 

Second question, who are the bad people?  Or who are the good? 

Obviously the man who killed the old lady and injured three including his daughter whom he ran over is bad.  He deserves what?  Sargeant Robert Bales?   Be condemned?  Forever? 

From my experience as a priest and as as psychotherapist, I have discovered two things. 

First, that nobody is bad, and nobody is good.  Everybody is both bad & good.  But what about Granger?  Bales   Are they not bad?  John says, "He who does wicked things hates the light."  They must really hate the light.

 

 

Secondly, I discovered that if I had grown up in the environment of many of these so called bad people and I had been forced to live in the horrible surroundings they saw daily, I probably would have done the same things.  I do not know how many times I have talked with people who have done similar things and discovered that they were horribly wounded people.  Inside they were deeply hurt.  Outside they vented their hurt through anger and, watch out, through violence.  

                                                                                                    

And look what we are finding out about Bales, on his 4th mission, 3 of them in Iraq.

 

 

As a balance to this negativity and tragedy, let me remind you that we likewise see beauty in people.  I saw it in Ermy, the check in lady at the Jewish Community Center who greeted us cheerily Friday morning at 5:45 when we came for a spin class.  And the 20 or so friendly class mates.  I saw it in the courage of Michael Morwood yesterday who shared with us his own faith and understanding of the nature of God & Jesus. 

So, reconsidering Granger & Bales & the kids from Belgium and all the Bible stories about God being angry and punishing people, what do you think about the nature of God?

 

 

Sources: The Center for Liturgy, St. Louis U.  Online Ministries, Creighton, U.  All on line.

 

 

Readings:

Isaiah  60, 1-6,  Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem.

Psalm 72,  Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Ephesians  3, 2-3, 5-6,  You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace.

Matthew 2, 1-12, Behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem.

 

 

 Isaiah observations & reminders:

Who.  This is Isaiah III, the third of three.  

Time.  The Jewish people have been released from slavery in Babylon and are back in a devasted Jerusalem.  Around 555 before Christ.

Message:  consolation and encouragement.   The splendor of Jerusalem will shine again.

 

 Two Wise Men from the East

We all have people who are our models.  This morning in celebrating the Epiphany, I would like to tell you about two wise men from the east who have been models for me. 

The first is Julius Neyerere who was the first president of Tanzania when the country became independent in 1961.  I admire him first of all because he was maybe the first president of an African country to voluntarily retire from the presidency, which he did in 1985, after almost 25 years.  He was president all during my time in Tanzania.

 

 

Equally admirable to me was that he went to Mass every morning.  Yes, he was a Catholic and a very approachable person.  He & his family lived in a simple house in Dar es Salaam, the capital and he was open to seeing anyone.  He was really interested in the welfare of his people.  The country was poor but peaceful while I lived there.

 

 

My second model from the east has been in the news this past month of December, because he just died at 95 years of age.  He was Nelson Mandela of South Africa.  He was and is a model for me because of at least 3 things.

First, he was in prison all during my ten years in East Africa.  In fact, he was in prison almost 30 years.  That knocks me out.  I remember the loneliness I felt in Tanzania at times and I was not even in prison.

 

 

During that time on three occasions he was offered conditional release.  He refused and demanded unconditional release.  Wow. 

But what really knocks me is that when he was released around 1990, he held no grudges and took no revenge.  On the contrary, he cooperated with some of the people who imprisoned him to govern the country with equality.

 

A famous move he made once was when he supported the white national rugby team in a major match with the team from another country.

A second move he made wins my admiration.  He was elected president of South Africa in 1994.  At the end of his term in 1999, as he had promised, he declined to run again, but retired.  Phenomenal.  Would that some other African countries could follow that example.

Thirdly, all of Nelson’s adult life he fought for democracy, equality, and education.

 

When he was on trial facing the death penalty or life, which he eventually received, he stated,

“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Who are your models and why?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Readings:  1 Kings 19-21; Psalm 16, You are my Inheritance, O Lord; Galatians 5, 1, 13-18; Luke 9 51-62.

 

Thirteenth Sunday Ordinary Time

 

Introduction to the Readings

 

 

Our three readings today come from the First Book of Kings, the Letter to the Galatians and Luke’s Gospel.  I suspect that the only reason for the selection of the first reading is because it contains a sentence which is very similar to one found in today’s gospel, namely a request to say good bye to my parents, similar to the gospel response to a calling namely “let me first say farewell to my parents”. 

 

 

 

The Book of Kings selection describes the transfer of power from the prophet Elijah to the prophet Elisha.  Don’t be confused by the fact that in the reading Elisha slaughters the oxen and burns the plow.  This is to show that he is abandoning his old life for the new one. 

   

 

And maybe the second reading was selected because the word “yoke” would connect it to the first reading!  And of course the word plow shows up in the gospel, tying the three readings together!!   But we have been reading from this letter for the past several weeks. 

 

 

 

Remember Paul is trying to show that having Christ inside is all that is really needed, not observance of the Law of Moses.  In fact we will see a very powerful statement that the whole law is fulfilled by loving your neighbor as yourself.  

One clarification about the gospel reading; when the young man asks to be able to bury his father first, Jesus’ response seems harsh to our ears.  However, you need to understand that custom had it in those times that the eldest son would live on the land of his parents and was responsible to bury them when they died.  His father is not dead, the son simply wants to put off following Jesus until some unknown time in the future.

  

 

Homily

Reconciliation and Forgiveness

Last Saturday I had a chat with an aunt of mine in Dublin.  She is an Ursuline nun and will be 95 in September.  I asked her if she was following the World Cup and she said, “Oh yes, we keep hoping that England will be beaten”!! 

 

 

It is an attitude not unlike what Jesus came across in the gospel today.  To the Jews the Samaritans were the modern day English to the Irish!   There are several references to Samaritans in our gospel stories, the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan woman at the well and if we don’t understand the animosity that existed between the two groups we miss a whole lot about those incidents.  To talk about a ‘good Samaritan’ is like talking about a good Palestinian to an Israeli or a good English man to my Aunt! 

 

 

When apartheid was abolished in South Africa and Nelson Mandela was elected president, in order to try and create a single unified country he established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to try and put the past in the past.

 

 

The week before last, the Saville Report was issued in England and it was a 10 year study of a very sad day in Derry in the North of Ireland when 13 civil rights people who were marching in a parade back in January of 1972 were shot dead by British troops. 

 

 

The report finally laid to rest the claim by the army that they had only fired in self-defense, the report said the army had lied, the victims were all unarmed.  The new British Prime Minister, David Cameron, publicly apologized for the incident.  These were first steps in reconciliation over a terrible wrong.

 

 

The need for reconciliation doesn’t stop just with countries and nations.  Most of us know only too well the pain caused by separations within families or longtime friends.  I find it funny when you see little kids playing and they get in a row over something.  One will run home saying “I am never going to play with Jimmy again”.  Just as the parents are getting ready for a face off, they had better look around, because the kids will be back together as best friends. 

 

 

But by the time we are adults something seems to change.  Fear, blindness or pride seems to enter into the equation and keep us apart.  And then pretty soon we are finding all kinds of additional items to throw on the resentment heap to justify our position. 

 

 

We can’t afford to let this happen.  We need to reach for forgiveness, we need to remember the words of Jesus, “Peace be with you”  “Take the mote from your own eye before reaching for the splinter in your brothers eye”

 

 

Each one of us at least knows of situations where family members have become estranged from each other, or lifelong friends have parted ways over some perceived or real wrong done.  These are very sad situations, because we will never have the chance to recapture and live the time days, weeks or years lost.  In our gospel today we see a classic example. 

 

 

The Samaritans and Jews had parted ways during the exile.  In the eyes of the Jews they were not fully Jewish because they had intermarried with pagans and I’m sure the list is long.  After the Exile, when they returned to rebuild the Temple, the Samaritans did nothing but harass their efforts.  By the time we get to Jesus there is nothing but pure hatred between them.  When Jesus is passing thru a Samaritan village and is not welcomed, James and John want to call down fire on the place.  Jesus simply moves on.

 

 

Irreconcilable differences can be over come, but it takes both parties to want this. At least we must ask ourselves, have we done everything we could.  Then be at peace.

 

 

I am going to keep working on my aunt’s opinion of the English! 

 

Picture 1:   Mass begins

 

Picture 2:   Communion

 

Picture 3:   Chloe

 

Picture 4:   Zoe    

 

Readings: Sirach 3, 17-29; Psalm 68; Hebrews 12, 18-24; Luke 14, 1-14

Sirach: this book was written after Jesus died.  It is basically a compilation of traditional Jewish wisdom material.  Our reading focuses on being humble and wise.

Humility a Side Effect?

A good friend of mine told me recently about a trip he made to Central Market. It was a week day, so the store was not so crowded. He went to the deli counter and there about a half a dozen people waiting.  Normally, when it is more crowded, customers take a number and wait to get the number called to get served. 

Because of the small number of customers this afternoon, people were not taking numbers. My friend said that often in a case like this people might try to jump ahead or get the sales person’s attention before it went to another customer. However, on this occasion people actually told the sales person, "No. It is not my turn. He is ahead of me." And everyone was doing this. No jumping the line. Waiting with patience and courtesy.

In Luke today he talks about taking the first place.  In fact, it is suggested that you take the second or last place so that you may be called up to the front of the line.  Some observations about this.

First, when I was going through the 2 year Jesuit novitiate emphasis was put on being humble.  Folks, I never felt comfortable with this.  Today I would rather focus on healthy humility being self acceptance.  Humility is really a side effect of self acceptance.  Self acceptance says, "Who cares whether I am first or last."

Second, I would even propose that if I have to be last or first, that need could be a symptom of something else, like a low self image or a sense of inferiority.  Maybe religious scruples or a religion addiction.

Thirdly, I would suggest that if I am choosinjg the last place or acting humbly so I will win esteem, whoa.  As the (famous?) poet David Budbill says,

I want to famous so I can be humble about being famous.                                                              What good is this humility when I am stuck in this obscurity?

Fourth, about inviting the guests to dinner. Rosemary says that the reason I get invited to so many dinners is because I fulfill all the requirements: poor, crippled, lame, and blind. 

Not to beat the acceptance idea to death, but I think a possible healthy approach is through acceptance of others as well as myself.  Ultimately, it is irrelevant whether you or I are rich or poor.  We are all rich and poor.  If I only focus on the materially rich or white or being from Plano Senior High or whatever, then maybe I got a problem and this may be the leading symptom.  Remember low self image?

Those folks in Central Market seem to have had some level of humility or acceptance. 

So, how are you doing accepting, yourself & others?

Megan, our September bread baker:

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Take this profile to find out your possible length of life: http://www.poodwaddle.com/realage.swf                                                                                           I will let you know my results next Sunday. 

Readings:  Wisdom 6, 12-16, Resplendent and unfading is wisdom; Psalm 63, My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord My God; 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18, Console one another; Matthew 25, 1-13, The 10 virgins at the wedding. 

  

    The first reading (Wisdom 6:12-16) informs us that when we lovingly yearn for and seek God’s wisdom we will not be disappointed. This reading is an expectation for the good news of Jesus Christ that we will receive today.

 

(prior to reading the gospel)

Picture the following plausible scenario: A father and mother determined two years earlier that their first son was in need of a wife, and they have been following closely the daughters that have come of age in their extended family when they gather in Jerusalem for the feasts each year.  Together they have chosen one.  The father sends a warm message to the girl’s father, who he knows relatively well, and asks the price he has in mind for his daughter.  They agree on one and set a date for the betrothal. 

    The father and his son arrive and are greeted warmly by her father. In front of the young couple, who have probably never had a conversation with each other, the fathers play their game of coming to the previously agree price—ten cows and a barrel of good wine, some of which the two fathers are now drinking. 

    Once the contract is signed they hand the groom a cup of wine taken specifically from the bottom of the wine the fathers have been drinking. It contains the particles that have settled…from the bitter skin of the grape.  The groom takes a drink from the top of the cup and hands the cup to the young woman. She has practiced what she now does. She downs the rest of the cup as a sign that she agrees to be his wife in good times and in bitter times. 

    The groom now returns to prepare a place for her.  Meanwhile the girl’s bridesmaids prepare her to be ready for his coming.  When they hear the cry that he is coming, they go out to meet him with the bride and her belongings and are led to his father’s house. 

 

(the gospel reading from Matthew 25:1-3)

Chapter 25 is formed from three parables.  This is the first. Their purpose is to give meaning to a teaching that ends Chapter 24 where Christ is teaching that his servants that he has put over other servants have the responsibility to remain wise (righteous) by always being alert to his words.  Each of the three parables gives a different facet of what this means. Since we are told again in this parable that Christ is the bridegroom. We are the bride, for which he paid a great price. His servants have the responsibility to prepare us for Christ’s coming by word and example.

    The dilemma of this parable is that only the wise have taken oil for their lamps.  The wisdom of the parable is that only those who are prepared for Christ’s coming have entered the wedding banquet.  Very briefly, why does the Lord say that he does not know the foolish (unrighteous) bridesmaids who have arrived to the wedding banquet after the door was closed?  In the third parable we are told that the Lord has divided humanity into two groups, the lambs and the goats, the foolish and the wise, those who have lived Christ’s words and those who haven’t. 

    The lambs (those who hear his words and follow them) are the wise who are prepared for his coming. He says to them, ‘I was hungry and thirsty, and you gave me food and drink. I was alone, sick and in prison and you came to visit me.’ And the wise will say, ‘When did we see you hungry and thirsty and fed you, or alone, sick and in prison and visited you.’ The Lord said to them, ‘Whenever you did this to the least among you, you did it to me.’       

    Of course he says to the foolish, ‘Whenever you did not care for the least among you, you did not care for me.’ (Symbolically: ‘You don’t know me, so how can I know you?’) The oil possessed by the wise symbolizes the presence of the Spirit that enlightens the wise, ‘to love one another as Christ loves them.’

 

So today, appropriately, we will be anointing the child of Erin and Payton twice during the baptism ritual with the oils of the Church praying that the Spirit always abides with her.  And I now invite them to bring this child forward with Godparents and other family to stand before the community with their request.

 

            Mike:

 

Erin and Payton, what name have you given to this Child?  (Brooklyn)

 

What do you ask this community for Brooklyn?  (To have her baptized)

 

You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility to bring her up by word and example to live the perfect commandment, ‘To love one another as Christ loves us.’ Therefore, will you accept the responsibility to be one of the wise bridesmaids in today’s gospel reading.  (Yes)

 

Likewise, (Godparents) __________ and __________, will you by word and example give witness to your faith in Christ?  (Yes)

 

Brooklyn, the Christian community welcomes you with great joy.  In its name I claim you for Christ our Lord by the sign of the cross. (+)  I now trace this cross on Brooklyn’s forehead and invite the parents and Godparents to do the same.

 

John:

Brooklyn, we anoint you with the oil of salvation in the name of Christ our Savior, may he strengthen you with his power, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. (+ with oil on the bare chest)

(+ bless the water) We ask you Father, with your Son, to send the Holy Spirit upon this water.  As you are buried with Christ in the death of baptism, rise also with him to newness of life.  We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(address the community) Let us stand and join with the parents and Godparents in the profession of faith of the Apostles Creed on page 81 of the missal.)

Erin and Payton, is it your will that Brooklyn be baptized in the faith of the Church which we have professed with you?  (yes)

(baptize the child) Brooklyn, I baptize you….

            (Lead the community in applause)

Mike:  Have parents and Godparents return to their seats

 

After the Great Amen

Mike:   I want to invite the parents to bring the newly baptized Brooklyn before us before we say the Lord’s prayer together.

Brooklyn, you are now anointed with the chrism of salvation (+ crown of the head) to be priest, prophet and king.

(have a Godparent place the garment over her) You have clothed yourself in Christ. See in this white garment the sign of your Christian dignity.  With family, Godparents, and friends bring that dignity unstained to everlasting life.

(have a God parent light the candle from the candle lit on the altar) Brooklyn, receive the light of Christ.  Parents and Godparents, this candle is entrusted to you to keep burning brightly. See to it by word and example that she walks always as a child of the light.

 

John:   Invite them to join hands and join with the community in the Lord’s Prayer.

 Mike:   Send them back to their seats during the Sign of Peace

Picture 1:    Leo with his momma, Shonda, Bethany, & Ben

Picture 2:    Mike offering the homily

Picture 3:    Brooklyn

Picture 4:    Baptism of Brooklyn

Picture 5:    Baptism with Mike

Picture 6:    Sienna with Brian

 

Readings:

Isaiah 49, 1-2, 14-15,   Even should your mother forget you, I will never forget you.

Psalm 62,  Rest in God alone, my soul.

1 Corinthians 4,  1-5,  Do not make any judgment.

Matthew  6, 24-34,  Why are you anxious?

 

 

 

Isaiah observations and reminders—

Who, This is 2^nd Isaiah.

When, This is during the Captivity in Babylon, ca. 555 before Christ. 

Subject, The writer, the prophet, is trying to lift the spirits of his fellow slaves.  He gives them exquisite news, using God’s words, “I will never forget you.”  A short but touching cameo of consolation and hope. 

 

 

Matthew observations–

Who,  unknown really.  A bishop about 100 years later indicated that the apostle Matthew was the author, though no reference is made in the gospel.

When, around 80-90, meaning around 50 years after Christ's death.

Subject, I can hear you laughing when we read this.  The message is, 'Why worry?'  Good enough.  However, the message has an unreality about it.  Like it says to imitate the birds.  They don't worry, they don't stockpile, but God feeds them.   Imitate the birds.  

 

 

 

I will never forget you

I have another story for you this morning.  Ever hear of a guy named Kenny Thompson?  I saw an article on him recently. 

Thompson is an elementary school teacher and tutor in Houston.  One day he picks up news about some elementary kids in Salt Lake City.  Seems like 40 kids who were on subsidized lunches were dumped because their parents did not pay enough, even though it was only about a dollar a day. 

So the kids, instead of getting the standard lunch, usually hot, they got a plain cheese sandwich. 

 

 

Kenny Thompson wonders if kids in his school have the same problem.  Turns out they do, about 60 of them. 

So he pays out about $500 so every one of the 60 kids is covered.  He says the kids are there to learn how to spell, not worry about where they will get something to eat.   Plus, they cannot learn anything if they are hungry.

He also discovers that some of the 60 kids even skip the cheese sandwich because they are too embarrassed to be singled out.   Moreover, this meal was for some kids their only good meal of the day.

 

 

 

What Thompson does gets picked up by a local TV morning news.  Immediately, the phone is swamped with callers wanting to help the kids who cannot afford the subsidized lunch. 

Thompson finally establishes an online funding source, Feed the Future.

I thought of Kenny Thompson when I read 2^nd Isaiah’s little message, “Can a mother forget her child?  Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”

 

 

 

I would propose that we have here another one of those infinite demands.  I know, it is truly infinite acceptance.  However, how hard it is to accept.  Really, you will never forget me?   Come on.

Lent begins Wednesday.  I confess it is the Church season I am the least delighted by.  Bad memories and experiences.  What if the goal this Lent was to simply have a “No Fear” Lent, using Isaiah’s line that our God will never forget me?

 

 

Matthew seconds this idea.  His comparisons may strike us as a bit naïve.  We are not birds of the air or flowers of the fields.  We do need to concern ourselves about what we will eat and drink. 

But the basic message affirms that infinite demand which is to accept our acceptance, no ultimate fear.  This to me is the basic, fundamental belief of Christianity.  It has been polluted over the centuries with fear & punishment messages. 

I imagine Kenny Thompson took away some of the fear these kids had in their hearts.  Maybe they will someday have a no fear life.

Wow, can you really do it?   Have a no fear Lent?