Sunday Homily, June 2, 2013, Eucharist C

 

Trouble on the back bench!

 

Readings:

Sirach 3, 2-6, 12-14,   My son, take care of your father when he is old

Psalm 128,  Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways  (fear the Lord?)

Colossians 3, 12-21, Put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness , and patience.

Matthew 1, 18-24,  This how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.

 

 

Meeting of the board.  

 

A second Christmas Homily

This morning I have another Christmas story.

For many years I have had a really good friend who is an Ursuline nun.   Just thinking about Sr. Mary gives me fond memories of celebrating the early morning community Mass in the sisters' quiet chapel in the residence.

 

 

Ben & David with David's daughter, Darbi Anna.

 

It also reminds me that I have a rare special relationship with the Ursulines.  I went to Christ the King grade school when the Ursulines staffed it.   I am educated by the Ursulines. 

Today there are no sisters living in the old convent with the beautiful little chapel.  Sr. Mary says she now lives along with 5 or 6 other Ursuline sisters at a retirement home that was popularly known at Tremont.  It is located on Harvest Hill Drive just across the Dallas Tollway from Jesuit and St. Rita's' Catholic Church.

 

 

The Girls' candle lighting team with Zoe, Tori, and big sister, Georgie.

 

I know it well because my mom lived there and died there.  She passed through all the 3 levels, individual apartment, partial care, and full care.  

There is sister who still works at Ursuline Academy, you guessed it, Sr. Mary.  Every morning she gets up, spends the day at her school office.  Then drives back to Tremont. 

 

 

 

Buddy reading the Blessing of the candles.  He has  not memorized the blessing on this the first day.

 

 

Last summer she decided it was time for her to give up driving and sell her little car.  A difficult decision.  She would use Huber.  

One morning around Labor Day she could not get Huber. So she decided to use the app. Lyft.   A guy came, picked her up at Tremont and took her to Ursuline.  During the trip she probably explained to the driver what she did at the school.  

 

 

The Whole Team.

 

She exits his car, asks how much, and is told "No Charge."  She explains that she will still need a ride home in the afternoon.  Plus, she will make the trip every weekday.  

"How much?"   "No Charge!"  

 

 

The offertory team with Bill, Tom, & Denni

 

The man, a Nigerian, has come every work day, September, through December, No Charge. 

Who is the Sr. Mary in your life? 

 

 

Communion Helpers, Lynda, Tom and Claire.

 

 

Readings:

 Ezekiel, 34, 11-12, 15-17, As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. 

 Psalm 23,   The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. (good one)

1 Corinthians 15, 20-26, 28,  Christ has been raised.

Matthew 25, 31-46,  He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

 

 

Ezekiel  observations and reminders:

I've mentioned how Ezekiel is one of the Big 3 Prophets, #3 after Isaiah & Jeremiah, 48 chapters vs 66 in Isaiah.  I also mentioned how he lived smack dab in the middle of one of the two or three biggest tragedies of the Jewish people, the Babylonian captivity, say 555 before Christ.  He was there.

In American history we can look back and identify special presidential leaders, Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt.  They came forward in crisis times. 

Ezekiel was this type of leader in Jewish history.  He saw what had happened to other Jews of the northern province of Israel (Jerusalem is in the southern province of Judah) after they had been carted off as slaves after a defeat by the Assyrians (Syria still).  They intermarried and simply disappeared in the DNA of the middle east.

Ezekiel is in Babylon and is determined that his community would not lose its identity.  He did three things to help maintain the spirit of the community: he emphasized  1. observance of the Sabbath, 2. kosher diet, and 3. male circumcision.

 

 

Eventually after ca. 50 years the community still was a cohesive unit and it returned to rebuild Jerusalem, at least the second or third generation.  The Jews are one of the few peoples to be defeated and scattered, and still return to their original homeland.  They remained there until the Romans defeated them in 70 C.E., returning when?  1948, after the Holocaust.

Today's reading comes to us from an Ezekiel captive in Babylon, and has Ezekiel promising the people a return, a brighter day after the captivity.  He uses the figure of speech, I will.  But I is Yahweh. 

Note on both Ezekiel, Psalm 23, and Matthew: There are two consoling readings this morning, Ezekiel and Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.  

At the very end of Ezekiel’s consoling passage and in Matthew there is talk of the sheep and goats.  Beware of taking this literally.  This is either/or spirituality.  Guess what: we are all goats.  I see heaven full of both sheep and goats.  And I can’t find any evidence of hell.

 

 

 Thanksgiving History: Everyone knows about the first Thanksgiving in 1602 with the Pilgrims and the Indians eating together, the Mayflower, and Plymouth Rock.  

When did our Thanksgiving begin?  Our ancestors have celebrated end of harvest feasts of gratitude for centuries.  Lincoln first focused on a national feast; FDR established the national holiday in 1941. 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving

This morning I would like to talk about Thanksgiving and in particular I would like to tell you about my top three blessings of the year.

Rosemary & I have a habit at the end of the year of writing down all our blessings and gifts of the year.  We usually begin tagging them at Thanksgiving.  And since she is in Princeton, NJ, for her niece’s wedding, I get to say things about her I would not admit if she were here. 

Looking back over the year I have a ton of blessings, but in particular I have three I would like to mention.

 

 

Guess what number One is.  Yep, Rosemary.  I know, and Rosemary reminds me frequently, yes, I married up.  But this marriage  with Rosemary is one of the 3 biggest blessings of my whole life.  10 years in East Africa and my Jesuit career are the other 2. 

You people should have told me how good it can be.  I know, for sure,  all of you gave Rosemary about a year before she had enough of the old geezer bachelor.  However, because of living in community my 40 odd years as a Jesuit I really never was a bachelor.  I loved living in a community with other guys, like in a fraternity.   But it does not come close to life with Rosemary.  And this May we celebrate 10 years. 

 

 

 

My third blessing of the year is my splendid summer filled with fun events.  It started, as usual, with our 5 Boro bike tour of NY with the McGinn family reunion.  The next big one was the bike ride across Iowa with Bill Hammond and about 15 thousand others.  This event is like 8 days of 4^th of July, all the little towns overflowing with spirit and hospitality.  I just try to slow the clock down and absorb it all.

Then comes the Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred bike ride the last Saturday of August, out of Wichita Falls.  This takes preparation and planning on how to survive.  Finishing that event produces such a spirit high in me.

 

 

 

Then in September came our 8 night back pack trip in Yosemite, my favorite National Park among all the ones I have seen.  This was as fun as ever, the campfires, the meals, the views, the quickie bath in the cold river or stream after a sweaty hike, and the exhilaration of climbing into my tent and and into my down sleeping bag on a near freezing night at about 10 thousand feet.

Finally there was the Viking River cruise on the Danube with Rosemary.  I love riding trains.  But, listening to the water swish by our cabin window beat the train by a mile.  And more beauty.

Can summer get better than this?

 

 

 

And the final blessing, number two, this marvelous community, you people.  When I departed to get married, I never expected to be doing this, especially 10 years later.  I thought it was over.  You people are a treasure in my life and I will continue to celebrate with you like this until I get called to the heavenly homestead.  You are so much fun and make my life so rich.  Thank you.

And your Blessings of The Year? 

 

 

 

 

Readings:

Revelation 7, 2-4, 9-14,  I, John, saw another angel.

Psalm 24,    Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.  

1 John  3, 1-3, See what love the Father has bestowed on us.   Instead of this reading, we will have a special poem for All Saints.

Matthew 5, 1-12,  Blessed are the poor in spirit. 

 

'Welcome in, Everybody,' say Victoria, Michelle, and Cathy.

 

Intro: 3 feasts—

                    All Saints: (or All Hallowes) those who have achieved the beatific vision according to the Catholic Church.  Plus, saints are canonized  based on miracles.

                    All Souls: those who have not achieved the beatific vision and are considered paying for their sins in purgatory.  Limbo has been abandoned by the Catholic Church and purgatory is in question.

                    Hallowe’en: the vigil of All Hallowes, a Celtic-Irish harvest, end of summer celebration. 

 

               A Happy Birthday Cupcake of The Week to Karen.

 

The Western Catholic Church:

 4 significant dates, 300, 600, 700, & 800

Year 300: during this century the early Christians, reeling from persecution, celebrated feast of All Martyrs.  This is really the foundation of the feast.

Year 600: a Pope Boniface dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to Mary & All Martyrs.  May 13 was the celebration because it was also an ancient pagan day of celebration.

Year 700:  a Pope Gregory set up in St. Peter’s Basilica a side chapel dedicated to All Saints.

Year 800: Dec. 25, Charlemagne is crowned Emperor by the Pope on the red stone in St. Peter’s.  Charlemagne, an advocate of All Saints, established it on Nov. 1, coupling it with a Harvest Feast.

Sources: Practicing Catholic by James Carroll, Catholic Encyclopedia on line, Wikipedia.

 

                              Happy Birthday to you, Rob.     

 

 The Second Reading:

SMILE BECAUSE THEY LIVED 

You can shed tears because your love is gone

Or you can smile because your love  lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that your love will come back,

Or you can open your eyes and see all that your love has left.

Your heart can be empty, because you can’t see your love

Or you can be full of the love that you have shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow

And live in yesterday,

Or you can be happy for tomorrow

Because of yesterday.

You can remember only that your love has gone

Or you can cherish the memory and let it live on.

You can weep, and close your mind,

Be empty and turn back,

Or you can do what your love would want –

Open your eyes, smile, love and go on.

 

For lighting the candles, Cole, A Cupcake of The Week.  Enjoy.

 

All of You, Saints

This morning I would like to talk about All Saints, and, in particular, some of our saints.  I have a group, an individual, and another group.  I would like to talk about all three.  These are the old geezer priest's observations.

First of all, the group.  This is the group Rosemary and I see every Monday evening at the Farmers Branch Senior Center.  Dance night.

 

            Our pet gorilla, dressed in holiday attire, also says,                             "Welcome, Folks."

 

Last Monday Rosemary & I discovered when we arrived that Halloween was being celebrated.  And talk about celebrating.  You would have been knocked out at the costumes some of these people put together.  I had not a clue who some of them were. 

One lady struck me.  Rosemary & I were dancing when I notice her coming in at the other end of the ballroom.  She was all dressed up and was pushing what I thought was a baby pram.  So maybe she has a doll or even a puppy in there.  But no, as we got closer I discovered that it was, in fact, a walker for her. 

 

                                                 Our Saints.

 

This really touched me.  She cannot dance, but she can dress up and join the party.  I last saw her talking to all sorts of people.

There are two other people who really touch me on dance night.  One lady, Janice, is blind, and has been blind for a dozen years, but can she dance!  I have danced with her a couple of times.  I always come in and tell her I want a Janice hug.  She knows me by my voice.

 

                                                     Our Saints.

 

The other person is a guy 96 years old.  He cannot dance, but he tries.  He flew heavy bombers during the Second W.W.  A line dance is scheduled every Monday evening at about the same time, 7:30, and I can see him lined up, getting behind the beat and even getting turned around.  But he always gets out there.

These folks, living life to the fullest, are saints for me.

 

                                                                     Our Saints.

 

Secondly, a good friend of mine, Jim Miller, whom many of you would recognize because he always joined us for Christmas Eve and Easter.   He loved the community.  Just could not get up for 9:30.

His wife, Jan, sent me a note Thursday night saying Jim wanted to see me and that he was not doing well.  We have a custom of sharing lunch every other month or so.  Because of that, I knew he was getting treatment for cancer.  He seemed pretty confident.

 

John, who is that masked person?  Are you not scared?

 

I did not get his wife’s message until late Thursday evening and waited to call her Friday after 8:00, thinking she would be up & active by then.  When I got her, she was in tears and said that Jim had just died.  He even told her he was disappointed I had not been contacted sooner so I could have visited him.

Jim, who was a proud graduate of the Naval Academy and a questioner, was a saint for me.   

                 Why, that's Leo.  Just in time to share your birthday                             cupcake, yes!  Happy Birthday.

 

Thirdly, I would say this group of people.  You people are saints to me.  After all, you put up with me every week, and even Rosemary.  The old geezer priest knows this stuff. 

So, how does it feel to be told you are a saint?

And who is your favorite saint?

 

                      The Best, Shonda, Bethany, & Ray.

Readings: 2 Kings 4, 42-44; Psalm 145, The Hand of the Lord feeds Us; He answers all Our Needs; Ephesians 4, 1-6; John 6, 1-15 

 

Kings: 4 observations–

Subject Matter: The Kings, naturally.  Especially Solomon after the death of his father, David.  But also treated:

    1.  The temple.  Solomon builds it.

    2.  The death of Solomon who held the nation together.

    3.  Division: Israel in the north breaks away from Judah in the south.

    4.  Israel destroyed completely by the Assyrians, ca. 720.

    5.  Fall of Jerusalem & destruction of the Temple; Nebuchadnezzar & the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 585 BCE.

    6.  Cyrus of Persia releases the Jews to return to Jerusalem after defeating the Babylonians (remember Babylon was near present day Bagdhad).

Date: from 900 – ca. 550 BCE, or from Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar & Cyrus

Authors: a compilation of many sources that was put together at the end of the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 550 BCE.

Our Selection: There are 2 significant prophets, Elijah & Elisha, his son.  In this piece, Elisha it telling a man with 20 loaves of bread to feed a crowd.  This is a lead into the Gospel of John about feeding the multitude. 

Sources: Encyclopedia of Judaism, Wikipedia

The Miracle of Sharing My Food

I hate to do this to you folks, but every time I read this story about 5 loaves and 2 fish feeding a crowd of 5,000 men (to say nothing of the women), I am reminded of my days in Tanzania, East Africa.  You who have heard these stories, please forgive me.  They just clarify so much.  Here we go.

I was on an overnight train.  I was traveling from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the capitol, to Moshi, a town near Kilimanjaro, where the Jesuits had a small one to three person house, which I used as a base when I was not traveling around Tanzania, Kenya, & Uganda giving seminars and retreats.

I had arrived in Dar es Salaam late for some reason and could not make an advance reservation for a first class cabin, which was the only way to go.  You shared a little compartment with another guy.  Because I was without reservation, I had to buy a coach ticket.  These trains are marvelous old antiques from the colonial age, but travel by coach is mayhem.  They are packed.  Don't dream of getting a seat.  Just be grateful that you can get inside.  Which I did, sitting on my one small suitcase, expecting to be awake all night listening to the kids, chickens, ducks, and snores of the few who had a seat and the ability to sleep through it all. 

You board this train for a 7:00 P.M. departure.  You expect to arrive Moshi around 5:00 A.M.   This particular night the train came to a halt at about 1:00 in the middle of nowhere.  Naturally, nobody knew why we stopped and for how long.  We stayed in that spot all the rest of the night and all the following day until about 6:00 P.M. 

Everyone on that train had food & water hidden away, except one gringo, who tried to sleep on the rocks on the edge of the roadbed, knowing he would hear the train move and could get up and get back in.

I was actually rescued from dying of thirst in the heat of the day by a young German couple in the first class compartments, the only other white folks on the whole train.  I was afraid to drink the water of the Tanzanians because they often did not purify it. 

I tell this story because the Tanzanian people on the train I suspect would be similar to the Jews listening to Jesus in that crowd of 5,000 men.  People like these do not go away from their base unprepared.  Not only do they carry food & water, they hide it so as to not have to share with someone too stupid to bring his own.  The women, especially, can hide in their robes lots of things.  Hoarding in the cultures we are talking about is no sign of inferiority.  It is survival. 

What Jesus did that was confounding is that he got these country folks to share their cache.  He takes some of the bread & fish and passes it on.  The person who receives it takes some, but feels uncomfortable only taking.  So the person puts a portion of his or her own in the basket.  What do they end up with?  Twelve wicker baskets of leftover food.

This interpretation of the 5 loaves & 2 fishes is as old as when I got ordained back in 1971, and before that.  I find it fascinating because we can go and do likewise.  You & I cannot multiply bread & fish, but we can share treasures.  We can share and we can invite others to feel secure enough to share. 

I finally arrived home to Moshi in the middle of the next night.  I even caught a thief with his hand in my right pocket at a little kiosk lit with a kerosene lamp.  The train had stopped at some tiny station and a lady was selling little pieces of rice bread or something.  I pulled that man's hand out of my pocket, grabbed him by the shirt, and threw him back.  If I had yelled "thief!", he might have been killed on the spot.  I knew the custom and the language, and he knew I knew.  He ran. 

I also got to know the German couple, even climbing Kilimanjaro with them one of my 5 times.  So, folks, sorry for repeating a favorite story of mine.  The question, too, is the same.

How am I overcoming my temptation to hoard & sharing my food?

Picture 1:  Mass with T.J.

Picture 2:  Bill Carey & Ron Kovatis

Picture 3:  Ron donating $2000 to CCAC with Claire & Ray, Jackie & Cathy

Picture 4:  Barb & her sister Evie from Germany

 

Say Cindy & Dee, "Welcome in, Everybody."

 

Readings: 

Acts of the Apostles, 5, 12-16,  Peter said, "we are witnesses of all."

Psalm 118,  Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love is everlasting.

Revelation 1, 9-11, 12-13, 17-19, I, John, found myself on the Island of Patmos

John 20, 19-31, Jesus appears to the apostles in the upper room.

 

 

And guess who is also saying, "Come in, Folks," Tori & Harper.

 

 

Homily by Deacon Mike

The Father makes known to us, “He sent his Son into the world, not to condemn it; but rather, to redeem it; to grant it salvation through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

 

So, Jesus, in like manner, said to his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, I send you into the world, not to condemn the world but to grant it salvation through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

 

 

 

Emma with her Magic Touch lighting our Easter Candles.

 

Two Sundays ago the Church welcomed and empowered with the Holy Spirit tens of thousands of the Elect from all over the world to become a part of the Body of Christ; not to condemn the world; but to redeem it, to join with us to bring forgiveness to the world.

 

So, we ask you, the Church, to redeem itself. You have hurt yourself and us; for we are part of you, and we suffer, but we know that we must forgive you.

 

 

The Blessing of the Easter Candles read by Buddy who knows it almost totally by heart.

 

 

So, we forgive you for allowing predators to abuse our children.

We want to assist you, so we ask that you do the following: Pray over your plan of action.  Have you sought to realize that your plan must address predators who will seek to continue the abuse?  You must address who you choose to send to your parishes. Your plan must replace them with ordained married men, and women who seek to be deacons, priests and bishops.

 

 

 

Our Great Offertory Team, Cathy, Sandra, and Judy.

 

The Apostle Paul placed no walls or barriers between those who have received and are living the gift of the Holy Spirit; we are Jew or Gentile, slave or free man, male or female.  GOD HAS NO FAVORITES!  We are one body in Christ.

 

Welcome Home, Grace, from your visit to Amsterdam, the home of your ancestors.

Readings:

Acts 4,  34, 32-35  The community of believers was of one heart and mind.

Psalm 118,    Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.

1 John 5, 1-6,   Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God.

 John  20, 19-31,  Thomas.

 

 

Acts reminders:

Author: Luke, the same who wrote the gospel.  He was an educated, urbane Jew.

Date: the years 75-80 

Subject: This is a travel log, detailing the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome and the Mediterranean in between.

Today: we have a passage pretty universally admittedly idealistic.  All is perfect and harmonious.   We view a community which is a commune, a utopian vision of life and the foundation of communism.

 

 

 

 

Do Not be Unbelieving, But Believe 

This week Rosemary and I will head south to Mobile, Alabama, where two events are taking place.  First, we plan another reunion of my old ’58 class Jesuits will get together.  Secondly, 50 years ago we graduated from Spring Hill College and there is a homecoming event staged by the college.

Of course, all this has me reflecting fondly on our years together.  Three memories.

 

First, there was a neat spirit among the 25 or so guys I entered with.  Most of these guys were amazingly normal, intellectually gifted, and some were amazing athletes. 

Secondly, as a group we lived a rigorous monastic life.  Silence, formal prayer times, work, study, and three recreation afternoons, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.  We wore a black cassock & cincture or we wore long sleeved shirts and long pants, even to play touch football & baseball in 100 degree heat & Gulf Coast humidity.  We took only three showers a week, a left over reflection of the old Catholic phobia about nakedness. 

 

 

There is a story funny today about the odor or sanctity.  This was how you could tell a fake Jew from a true Catholic during the time of Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain, say 1492.  Catholics did not bathe, Jews did bathe once a week.  Guess what the odor of sanctity was.

The third thing I remember is our life at Spring Hill College.  For me it was a marvelous release from a cloistered life to life on a campus with guys and girls, not that we were allowed to, as it was termed, fraternize with the college kids.

 

 

I graduated 50 years ago with a degree in secondary ed, maybe grooming myself for administration in one of our 6 regional high schools.  I also spent the three years studying Catholic philosophy in Latin.  It was totally boring to me.  We had the adversaries and we had to learn how to out argue them.  We took our finals in Latin.

 

 

It was during these three years that a lot of my classmates began to question the whole process.  It was Vatican II time, the murder of John Kennedy and Martin Luther King.  At this time I never questioned.  I just went along.  I admired the guys, but was content.  I survived because I played a lot of touch football and I took care of a fleet of boats & motors we used at a villa across Mobile Bay.  I could go there every weekend and for two marvelous weeks in the summer.  We also had three hot, excellent meals a day.

 

The overall training made me grow up quickly.  I look back now, however, am somewhat embarrassed, and ask myself how could I believe in some of those practices.  And I know.  It was believe, believe in the process, in the company, in those who have gone through this before me, and look at them, how successful they are.

Doubting Thomas, the subject of our Gospel today, is a hero of mine.  I think I would like to have been more like him in those early years.  Which would have been impossible at the time, I know. I believed.   Paradoxically, I think the training itself ultimately gave me the self-confidence and intellectual curiosity to enable me to have doubts & questions.  Want to know when I started questioning?  East Africa.

 

The danger with the "do not be unbelieving, but believe" statement is that it is a "do not think" statement.  I become a sheep following the footsteps of whoever is in front of me with a feeling of security.  Doubts can be scary, questions confusing.  Without them I am less than fully human. 

Like with Thomas, what are your doubts & questions.  What do you do about them and how do you feel about them?