Sunday Homily June 9, 2013, 10th Ordinary Time C

Readings: Acts 12, 1-11; Psalm 34; 2 Timothy 4, 6-8, 17-18; John 21, 15-19.

Acts: this work is a continuation of Luke’s Gospel.  It’s purpose is to tell how Jesus’ early followers spread news of him.  Since this is the feast of Peter & Paul, the selection today focuses on a special event in Peter’s life.

Do you Love Me?  More than These?

 

 

Since those days I have come to appreciate how a word in a passage can make a lot of difference depending upon how it is translated into English.  We have a rather fun example in this morning’s selection from John.

Guess what the word is: love.  It is used a lot in today’s reading.  Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him, even more than the others.  Three times Peter responds that he loves him.  Looks simple.  In fact, obviously there must be a play here on the fact that Peter denied Jesus three times. 

Yet watch this. In Greek there are two words that may get translated into love.  Agapo and phileo.  The word agapo means I love you.  Phileo means something slightly different, I care for you or I like you a lot.  We have the same distinctions in English.  If your girl friend tells you, I love you, wow, the world goes off like a Roman Candle.  If she tells you, I like you & I care for you, yuk, disappointment, depression.  “I don’t want you to just like me.”  What a bummer.

Now for the passage.  Both words are used in the three sets questions.

Set one.  “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these other do?”  “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”   When Jesus says love, he uses agapo, meaning love.  Peter, however, uses phileo, meaning “I care for you.”  Interesting.

Set two.  “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  Guess what.  Yes, Jesus uses agapo & Peter uses phileo.  Same as set one.  But note the significant absence.  Nothing about “more than these others.”

Set three.  “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”  What do you think?  Same as before?  Nope.  This time Jesus backs off and uses phileo.  Peter, of course, sticks with phileo.

So what is going on here?  What is the point?  A couple of observations:

• First, the story is more nuanced, more a play on words than a simple do you love me back & forth.
• Secondly, the writer John may be trying to show how failure can lead to character growth. And that after the failure, acceptance still endures. Peter is exemplifying how failure can lead to less bombast & over self-confidence. Peter is less impulsive and bragadocious.

What can we take away from this story?

• First, that it is complicated to read the Bible as it is translated.
• Secondly, that even after a horrendous fall I can grow to be a better person.

Ever had a fall in your life?  How have you made yourself better because of it?

AUDIO:   http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-06-29.mp3

Readings:  Ecclesiastes 1, 2; 2, 21-23; Psalm 90, If Today You hear his Voice, Harden not your Hearts; Colossians, 3, 1-11; Luke 12, 13-21

 

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Intro to Readings

 

 

Our first reading is from the Book of Ecclesiastes, which makes up some of the Wisdom literature.   The book is concerned with the purpose and value of human life. While admitting the existence of a divine plan, it considers such a plan to be hidden from man, who seeks happiness without ever finding it here on earth. 

 

 

The authorship has been attributed to Solomon, but that was just to get the book some credence.  It was written long after Solomon, around 250-150 BCE.  One could easily conclude that the book is rather pessimistic, as in its opening which we read today, “vanity of vanities, all is vanity”, and it concludes in chapter 12 with the following:  “The last word, when all is heard: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all; because God will bring to judgment every work, with all its hidden qualities, whether good or bad.” 

 

 

This book is also the source of those well known lines from chapter 4:  “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.”

 

 

Our second reading is the last for some time from Paul’s Letter to the Colossians.

 

 

The Gospel continues with Jesus’ journey up to Jerusalem.  The opening verse, which is omitted from the start of today’s reading, is worth noting:  “Meanwhile, so many people were crowding together that they were trampling one another underfoot.”  Luke is introducing the sense that things are starting to get serious.  And the reality is that the topic today is a serious one.

 

 

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Homily

 

 

There are two topics, which I believe are related in today’s readings:

 

 

1.    Where is God in your priorities?

2.    What date is the anniversary of your death?

 

 

 

I believe that the topics are connected if you have faith.  Because you are all here, I feel I am somewhat preaching to the choir, but maybe the question is still valid.  How much of a priority is God in your life?

 

 

 

Let me start back with the second question, by telling a story about a job I used to have.  I worked in the pathology dept of a local hospital and one day there was an autopsy of a fairly young person.  What struck me that particular day was seeing the person’s clothes on the floor in the corner.  They had put them on themselves that morning, never thinking that someone else would be removing them later in the day!! 

 

 

 

We really don’t know when that anniversary date will be, which will be marked in other people’s calendars about us.  There are a couple of lines in the responsorial psalm worth paying attention to:

“Teach us to number our days aright

that we may gain wisdom of heart”

 

 

 

Because if we do know how to number our days properly, then that anniversary date won’t be a problem.  And this brings me to the first topic.  If we have God high up in our priorities, then our lives will be lived in a very different way.  One extreme example of someone for whom God was everything was Mother Theresa.  Meeting her was an experience I will never forget.  On the other extreme are folks who have loads of money.  They have many worries about how it is invested, what next to purchase, all in the pursuit of the ever-illusive “happiness”. 

 

 

If we live by the two great commandments, Love God and Love Neighbor, then I believe our lives will not suffer from the complaint in our first reading.  All will not be vanity!

 

 

 

Picture 1:   Rosemary's Blessing

 

Picture 2:   Nikki with her grandmom, Mary, at offertory

 

Picture 3:   Celeste

 

Picture 4:   Altar Helpers

 

 

 

Readings:  

Acts 2, 1-11, They were all in one place together;

Psalm 104, Lord, Send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth;

1 Corinthians 12, 3-7, 12-13, There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit. 

John 15, 26-27; 16, 12-15, I Have much more to tell you.

 

Notes on the readings, Mike Carrell

 At the end of Luke’s gospel, the apostles receive instructions from the Lord. First of all they were told that he fulfilled the expectation of the Law, Prophets and Psalms for the coming of the Messiah. 

Then they were told that as the Father had sent him to bring forgiveness to humankind, he was sending them.

Finally they were told to wait in Jerusalem for the Father’s gift of the Spirit.  In our reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples receive this gift, that Christ is alive to them through the power of the Spirit.

 In the letter to the Corinthians we are reminded that God has no favorites.  The Spirit is alive within the hearts of all who welcome the good news and put it into practice by their words and actions.

Pentecost Homily, Mike Carrell

 If you haven’t heard the story of the Master violin-maker, I share it with you now.  His violins when used by a skilled violinist produced tones so true that they resonated within the hearts of those who listened to them.  Violinists traveled from all over the country to his workshop in the mountains to seek the opportunity to purchase or play one of his violins. 

This master violin-maker had been taught by this father that the most important step in making a great violin was the choice, curing and aging of the very best wood available. This meant that the wood used to construct a violin was in a preparation process for years before the violin’s construction could begin.

 This master violin-maker wanted the process begun by his father to be followed after he had died, so he wrote it down and began instructing one of his skilled wood crafters everything his father had taught him.   One day in the dead of winter, he asked the one he was grooming to follow him to enter the forest with him for it was time to choose another tree for his wood cutter so that its wood could be to put into the process of curing and aging.

It was a cold day, with some snow swirling in from the north.  The master handed a compass to the younger man, and took a colored piece of rope from the wall of his office along with a ribbon to identify the tree.  The younger man walked with him until they reached a downward slope on the parcel of land that had been given to the master by his father.

It felt much colder now, and after placing the rope, that required a certain diameter tree to be chosen, around several trees, he choose one.  Now the trees along this slope were bent and rugged looking, not like the ones where the workshop was located. 

‘Why this tree,’ asked the younger man?  The master replied, ‘Look at the compass. You will see that these trees face due north. This tree has received for the last 100 years the brunt of the incoming north wind, snow and ice, and it has endured.  This wood is your friend: it is about to give its life to you. Its cross section will give witness to a life well lived for it has been pruned many times so the sound of your violins will be vibrant and true….  

Now, what is the meaning of the story? The wood that was chosen to make great violins is another metaphor of God’s plan of salvation for us.  Each of us is the young apprentice to whom the metaphor was explained, and the music played by the violinists, that resonates within our hearts, is the Spirit.   

 The teaching in which we find today’s gospel reading begins, ‘No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,’ and that we are Christ’s friends because he has made known to us everything that he has heard from the Father.

We have been empowered by the Spirit to live what Christ has taught us.  So, we are reminded at this feast of Pentecost and the 50^th anniversary of Vatican II to be servants of the least among us who yearn to do God’s will. Continue to extend to them peace and justice, for we have all been made in the same image, to share the same bread, to have the same Father and to be bound together by the same Spirit.

 

 

  

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.

Romans, 12, 1-2,  Do not conform youself to this age.

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

 

 

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.

 

 

            Sienna says, "Hi, Folks, Welcome in."

 

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.

 

 

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. 

 

 

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.

 

 

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 the Michael really well.  One afternoon when Michael was in 7^th grade at St. Monica, we were watering trees with the white truck and 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.  

 

 

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.

 

 

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. 

 

 

 

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, 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?   

 

  

 

Readings:

Isaiah 7, 10-14,  Ask for a sign from the Lord

 Psalm 24,  Let the Lord enter, he is king of glory

 Romans 1, 1-7,  Grace to you and peace

 Matthew 1, 18-24,   Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son.

 

 

Say Ray and Genevieve, "Welcome in, Everybody, to the 4th Sunday of Advent.  Next time, Christmas Eve, 4:00, in the gym."

 

Observations on Isaiah:

What: This is Isaiah 1.

When:  Isaiah 1 lived before the Babylonian Captivity and predicts the downfall of Jerusalem.

Our selection: Optimistic.  

 

Hi, Cody, Hi, Ben.

 

Finding The Presence

I would like to speak this morning on finding the presence.  What is this?  It is a feeling of consolation and peace of heart when something special happens.  Around the season of Christmas I tend to reach out for these events, many of which are repeats from former seasons of Christmas.  

 

 

Leo, our Candle Lighter of The Week.
 

 

I've had two of these moments this past week.

The first was our visit to the Meyerson to hear the Christmas presentation Friday night.  This event every year puts me in touch with the presence.

First, the concert hall itself is a visual feast, just beautifully decorated.  It takes my breath away almost every year when I walk in.  It was at its best this year.

 

 

Welcome home from college, Darbianne and Dana.

 

The concert itself is an auditory feast and presents so many of my favorite Christmas carols.  This year the conductor, Laurence Loh, was in rare form, teasing the audience, inviting participation, dancing on his podium, and just being congenial.

I was also surrounded by about 30 of my best friends.

So, I felt the presence in my friends, and the visual and auditory artistry.

 

 

"Yippee," says Victoria, "My mommy loves me."

 

Secondly, I had a wedding yesterday, Saturday, in Austin.  The presence was everywhere.  

First, the bride, Samantha, was the daughter of Charlie Fechtal, a student of mine at Jesuit when I was teaching there as an intern Jesuit priest in the latter half of the '60's.  Charlie and his wife, TJ, live in our neighborhood.  As I told him during the wedding, I love him as much now as I did then.  Even more tears of consolation during this wedding than usual.

 

 

Time to celebrate.

 

After the wedding I was talking with Charlie and a classmate, Mark Goedeke, another guy I have loved.  His wife Liz is with us and she reminds me that I had done their marriage also.  43 years ago!!   Talk about feeling the presence.  Very consoling and very humbling.

 

 

Dear old friend, Charlie Fechtel.

 

A footnote to this homily is that I took the special luxury bus from Dallas to Austin.  It has received rave notices from people like Beth & Rob.  It lived up to its reputation.  3 hour trip non stop, comfortable seat (19 only in a full sized bus), a stewardess who offer drinks and snacks on the house (or bus).  $99, heart of Dallas (Love Field) to heart of Austin (Congress & 2nd).

During this season of Advent, how are you finding the presence? 

 

 

 

Mark Goedeke and Charlie. 

Readings: Genesis 9, 8-16; Psalm 145, The Lord is near to all who call upon Him; 1 John 4, 7-16; John 15

Opening Prayer (Included will be some prayers composed by John because they are so good) 

Let us pray: O God, you are not far away, but with us wherever we are, calling us to live in unity and love, and accepting us as we are, with all our weaknesses. We acknowledge the blessings we experience each day. For the little ones who bring us joy in the present and hope for the future—Leo X 2, Freddie, (names of all the kids),    and for your presence always with us, we give thanks to you both now and forever and ever…   Amen. 

 

Intro to the Readings:

I chose the readings for today’s Mass, so they aren’t in the Missals for today’s date. Ray will tell you what page the Responsorial Psalm and Gospel acclamation are on. The first 2 readings will be read by my daughters, Joey and Sam. I put in the blog some information on the readings’ authors, the time and why the readings were written. Also go to Wikipedia.

The story of Noah is found in Chapters 6-9 of Genesis, the first book of the Torah, the Torah being the first 5 books of the Jewish Bible. Genesis was put together during the 5^th century BC. The story of Noah combined 2 sources of the story from the 10^th and 7^th centuries BC. That explains the differences in the details of the stories.

The Gospel of John, the 3 Letters of John and the Book of Revelation were traditionally attributed to the Apostle John.  According to recent scholarship, John was not the author of either and further, the Gospel, the letters and Revelation may have 3 separate authors. The First Letter of John was written in Ephesus between 100-110 CE. It seems to be written to counter ideas that Jesus was a Spirit only, not human with a body, and against a Gnostic, Cerinthus, who denied the humanity of Jesus. 

The first reading is from the story of Noah. It’s about the covenant God made with Noah and his offspring. This covenant is a promise of God’s presence and acceptance, symbolized in the story by a rainbow.

On Labor Day weekend I visited 2 of my sisters in Louisiana. One evening my sister Didi and I were driving from Jennings to Lake Arthur to eat at a lovely restaurant sitting right over the lake. There was just a slight mist or sprinkle falling when, off to the side, we saw the beginnings of a rainbow. Gradually the colors got brighter and brighter and became the most strikingly beautiful rainbow I have ever seen; a complete arch of color. We slowed down to take in its beauty. I had already chosen the readings for today; seeing that rainbow took my breath away.

The second reading is from John’s first letter. Both it and the Gospel reading speak words of challenge we are given from prophets throughout human history, even in our own time and, in this case, from Jesus who over and over challenged us to live in unity and love.

Now the first reading…..

 

FIRST READING  The Book of Genesis, Chapter 9(Verses 8-9, 12-16)

Psalm: 145: 8-9, 17-18 (Page 52 in Today’s Missal) Refrain: “The Lord is near to all who call upon him.”

SECOND READING  First Letter of John, Chap. 4  (Verses 7-8, 12-16)

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!  – John 13: 34 (Page 51 in Today’s Missal)

 

A Reading from the Gospel of John, Chapter 15.   

“I tell you this so that you can share my joy, and that your happiness may be complete. This is my commandment: that you love each other as I have loved you. You are my friends if you do what I tell you to do. This I command: love one another.”

      HOMILY:

For years this community has heard Stack saying that God is infinite demand, challenging us to live in all our relationships with love and forgiveness; and, on the other hand, that God is infinite acceptance, always receiving us just the way we are. -Please hold that thought-

Today we are remembering my ordination on Sept. 30,1961. Many centuries ago priestly ordination was made one of the 7 sacraments, and has traditionally been conferred selectively, and by the hierarchy. What evolved historically was the separating of ‘priests’ and people as if our basic callings were different. (Just look at us–we wear the clothing of 2000 years ago, back when you would have been wearing the same outfit.)  My take on the priestly role is this: whoever gets up each day and embraces the possibility of living in forgiveness and love, and of accepting oneself as one is and others as they are—these all share the priestly role in the community. Jesus didn’t draw lines of distinction among his friends. His words were the same for all.

 

Of course, as a community grows, there is an advantage in having structure, with distinct roles that help the community function well, like the role of organizational management or spiritual leadership. Jesus, however, was clear with his friends and with everyone he met: the demand to love is the same for all, and acceptance by God is the same for all. Even those 12 friends who were with Jesus all the time often didn’t get it, and were confused by his message to just love one another and accept everyone as they are. Their experience with the religious community of their time, the Jewish synagogue with the priestly caste, didn’t prepare them for such revolutionary thinking about what a community can be.

Much much later (fast-forward to our era) only about a year after my ordination, Pope John 23^rd called and inspired the Second Vatican Council. That Council opened the windows of the universal Christian community to fresh and new possibilities. Today, St. Vine’s is one example of a community living in those new possibilities. For me, this is completing a circle.

My desire to be a priest grew in my late teen years, but a pivotal point in my religious development happened after I finished theology studies. We were asked to attend a period of pastoral formation prior to ordination, which I did at a Benedictine monastery outside Kansas City in the summer of ‘61. Though I had had serious questions and ‘funny feelings’ about the traditional theology we got in the seminary, it was that summer that I was exposed to the knowledge and experience of several great minds from North America and Europe and Africa. That experience, along with Vatican II, changed the way I thought and lived as a priest for the next ten years. Those experiences also made it really difficult for me to live and function in the face of immense resistance to the new possibilities opened up by Vatican II. In 1971, I chose to be part of the exodus of priests leaving at that time.

 

So for me, it’s a real joy to be part of a community such as this. I am grateful for your openness, your caring for one another, and your acceptance of those who are other than you. I am grateful that you are not afraid of stepping outside the box and of stepping into new possibilities. Do you see now why I think of this community as completing a circle in my life?

Thank you for remembering with me that special day in 1961.

The question I leave with you today is: how do you respond to the demand to give forgiveness, love and acceptance in this community, in your own family, and with your own self?

 

Further Prayers:

 As we prepare the table with the bread, wine and grape juice, and sing the Offertory Song, I will go around with the sacrament of the sick which you are welcome to receive, whether your ailment or pain is big or small, physical or emotional, acute or chronic. Just stand near an aisle or give a sign and I’ll get to you.

PREFACE TO EUCHARISTIC PRAYER:

The Lord be with you. And with your spirit.

Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give Him thanks and praise.

O God, we have no word or name in any language to express fully who or what you are. We call you Father or Mother or Brother or Spirit or Lord. We make believe and speak as if you are like us, just bigger and better.  One thing we know: You are not distant from us; you are not hidden. You are experienced in all the workings of the known and the not yet known universe. Most of all You are known in and through others who touch us in some way as we journey together in time. And so, we raise our voices together and praise you with the words we long ago learned to use, as we sing:

HOLY HOLY HOLY LORD

 

EUCHARISTIC PRAYER:

In a special way we give thanks and praise for the one named Jesus, who proclaimed clearly and repeatedly that you are not far away, but here with us. He taught us to know you as present, as holding us in being, as nurturing and strengthening us in the midst of life’s difficulties and pain, as challenging us to grow in spirit and in truth, and as always accepting us just the way we are. 

As a sign and celebration of our sisterhood and brotherhood with him and with each other, Jesus, on the night before he died, gathered his friends together and shared with them the Passover meal. While they were at table, he took some bread, gave thanks, broke it, and passed it among them saying: “Take this, all of you, and eat. This is my body given up for you.” Then he took the cup and, giving thanks, gave it to them saying, “Take this, all of you, and drink from it. This is the cup of my blood, poured out for you. This is a new and everlasting covenant. Do this in memory of me.”

And so we repeat this remembrance today, and we recall Jesus and how he showed us a way to live gratefully with and for others. We remember the hope he taught so well, the hope of an always new, fresh and full life, a life we can live regardless of our situation or the circumstances of our lives.

As a community of family and friends, we proclaim this mystery of the fullness of life, as we sing:

Christ has died,

Christ is risen,

Christ will come again.

 May all of us who share in this meal be brought together in peace and unity by the Spirit that moves in us all.  We remember that we are united with the worldwide community, and that we are called to live with respect, acceptance and love for all, especially those nearest to us.

May we grow in this love, together with our spiritual leaders, with Benedict our Pope, Kevin our Bishop, with our community gathered here, with our families and friends, and with all who journey with us in time.

We recall those who have gone before us and yet remain with us in our hearts and minds. We remember our grandparents, our parents, our sisters and brothers, our children, our close friends and neighbors. We remember all our ancestors some of whose names were given to us at our baptism, such as Joseph and Mary and Peter and Kalliopi and Leo and Joanna and Daniel and Lambrini and Freddie and Hannah and John and Carol and Antony and Samantha and George and Catrina and Michael and Kathryn and Morris and Jane, and all those whose names we carry in our time.

We acknowledge them, and we remember them with love, respect and acceptance.  

Wth confidence we place before You all the yearnings of our hearts and minds, as we proclaim that it is…

Through him, with him and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, Forever and ever.

Picture 1:     The celebration begins   

Picture 2:     Leo

Picture 3:     Payton

Picture 4:     Chloe

Picture 5:     Sienna & Brooklyn with daddy, Payton

Picture 6:     Freddie

Picture 7:     John & family