Sundqay Homily 8-21-11, 21st Ordinary Time

Readings:  

 2 Kings, 4, 42-44, Give it to the people to eat.

Psalm 145, The hand of the Lord feeds us, he answers all our needs.

Ephesians 4, 1-6, I a prisoner for the Lord.

John 6, 1-15, They filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments.

The Team

Introduction to the readings: 

To set the stage for todays readings, the Jewish religious feasts were celebrated in conjunction with harvest festivals.  For example, the feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits occur over a period of eight days when the barley was in the fields waiting for its first sheaves to be offered in thanksgiving to God. 

The Offertory Team, Charlotte, Harry, & Geri

Seven weeks later the Jews celebrated Pentecost at the beginning of summer when the wheat in the fields was waiting for its sheaves to be offered in thanksgiving to God. The feast of Tabernacles was the last feast of three feasts celebrated in the fall when the dates, figs and olives were harvested.  The thanksgivings given to God for the harvests were from the heart!

Cole

Our first reading from 2^nd Kings is an event in the life of Elisha, the prophet. The prophets Elijah and Elisha did not write books; they proclaimed the one god of all, Yahweh. They chastised the Jewish Kings who called themselves Jews but worshipped idols. 

Leo

Elisha is the head of a brotherhood of 100 prophets who are sitting with him in this first Reading.  Our second reading is a letter from Paul to the Ephesians addressing all those who welcome and live the good news of Jesus Christ. They are, with Christ, one body.

Emmett with his mom & dad, Amanda & Ben

The Gospel of John: 6:1-15    

If you have a reference Bible and looked up our first reading in 2^nd Kings 4:42-44 you would find in the margin, John 6:1-15, our gospel reading. Recall that the good news of Jesus, the Messiah, fulfills the expectation of his coming given within the Law, Prophets and Psalms [hence our Liturgy of the Word].  A non-descript man brings twenty barley loaves and a few ears of corn as first fruits to Elisha the prophet, a man of God.

Mike

There was a famine in the land; the man is giving thanks to God through Elisha.  Elisha welcomes the gift and tells a servant to set it before his 100 pupils.  His servant says that he can’t, for it won’t be enough to feed them. Elisha replies that the gift is from god. They will be able to be filled and have some left over.  The 100 have heard this, and they accept in thanksgiving this man’s gifts and their teacher’s wisdom.  They will eat each bite slowly, with continuing thanks, saving enough for Elisha and his servant to eat also.

Jean with John, the July coffee team

In our gospel reading Jesus, too, receives a gift of first fruits—five barley loaves and two fish. We know that it’s a gift of first fruits for we are told that ‘Passover is near,’ the grain is still in the fields. Andrew is like the servant in the reading from 2^nd Kings, saying, ‘What good are these for so many?  I’ve told you before that the stories within each of the four gospels that seem to be about a multiplication of loaves or fish, aren’t what they seem to be.

The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony: Chris cuts the Ragbrai identification bracelet worn by riders. It gives the wearer discounts and free entrance to venues.

These parables anticipate what will happen much later, and they do happen. The loaves in these parables are symbols for the twelve apostles.  We are told here, that from the 5 loaves, 5000 are going to be fed; from five of the twelve to whom Jesus gives this mission, as Church, to feed the Jews with the good news. But, more importantly, there are 12 baskets filled with leftovers—indistinguishable from the anticipated twelve, who will have received the Holy Spirit! The church has grown by leaps and bounds.  It happens just this way in Luke Acts 3-4 after the twelve receive the Holy Spirit!  In thanksgiving we are called to recognize with one another, through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ present within and among us.   We are his body!

Early morning heading south amid glorious countryside. Ragbrai: Register's Annual Grat Bike Ride across Iowa, this year about 450 miles over 7 days with ca. 12,000 riders. A Norman Rockwall painting, a parade of color & spirit through quaint & beautiful Iowa towns filled with people overflowing with hospitality.

Readings:

Wisdom 2, 12, 17-20,  Let us condemn him to a shameful death.

 Psalm 54,    The Lord upholds my life.

James 3, 16-4, 3, Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder.  

Mark 9, 30-37, Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me.

Victoria and her dear little friend say, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in.

Wisdom observations:  

What:One of the 14-15 books of the deutero-canonical books of the bible.  Not OT nor NT, but in between and the subject of controversy over the centuries.  The “in between books.”  Were they really part of the bible or not?  How do you know?  Catholic church accepts the books.

Subject matter: the book makes use of traditional Jewish material, as well as ideas borrowed from Greek philosophy, in order to teach that God rewards those who are faithful to him.

        Emma, joining her pal Tori, also says, "Hi, Everybody."

Author: not Solomon, but a Jew living in Alexandria, Egypt who wrote and spoke excellent Greek.  The book is sometimes called “The Wisdom of Solomon.”

Date: ca. 100-200 before Christ.  How do we know these facts?  Because of text analysis.  For example, while the author wrote in Greek, he uses phrases and expressions that have a Hebrew flavor.  Also, he mentions rulers and places that reveal date and locale. 

Our Selection: what a wicked person thinks should be done with a good person–beat & kill.  This links up with the suffering servant poem from 2 Isaiah last week.  Jews think the good person getting beaten is the Jewish race/nation.  Christians think the person is Christ.

James:  presents a pretty negative image of people.  What would be a compassionate image? 

And of course, Genevieve, not wanting to be left behind, says, "Welcome, Folks.  It's fun here."

Says the child, “Numero uno or last??”

This morning I would like to talk about receiving the child. In particular, I would like to focus on the inner child, the child inside all of us, even in old geezers like myself.  

I also want to say a word about the notion of being  first or last.

To exemplify the points, a story.    I have used the story before.  It is too good to bury.   The story, the musical play Most Happy Fella.

                   Zoe, the beautiful candle lighter, at work.

The play is about a guy named Tony, middle aged Italian American, successful wine maker from Nappa Valley, and a bachelor.

He eats in a restaurant one evening in, say, Chicago.  He likes the waitress and leaves her a note with his tip, despite his shyness.   They begin a long distance correspondence and start to get close.  Both are looking for partners.

                       "Zoe, what is everybody laughing at?"

 They decide to exchange photos.  Tony, who has been taking a lot of risk because he is so shy, is afraid to show her his picture.  He thinks he is too old & too ugly.  So he sends her the photo of his handsome young farm foreman.  The foreman has already told Tony he is planning on moving on anyway.

So Tony and his girl decide to wed at the farm.  On the day of her arrival and the big wedding, Tony discovers that the foreman decided to hang around for the wedding & party.  Tony loses it.  He goes out, rolls his pickup, and almost kills himself. 

Leo and Kevin welcoming a new member to the community. How many elementary schools have a gorilla just outside of the cafeteria?

Meanwhile, girl arrives and thinks the nice foreman is the groom.  In fact, they get rather enamored of each other.  Then Tony is brought in on a stretcher.  Guess what happens then.  I’ll tell you at the end.

Let me make 2 observations about Tony. 

                            Two Greats, Shonda & Mike.

First, Tony might have had ambitions about being numero uno, but he really thought he was the last, a loser, ugly, and old.  His challenge: get away from thinking best or worst.  Both are traps.  Just accept Tony as okay.

Secondly, when Tony let himself leave the note for the waitress, he was letting his inner child out for a minute.  In his correspondence he was letting that child play.  The child wants to be loved and to play.  Trouble was, the child was not used to getting out and was afraid.   So he tries the picture trick.

                        "Don't shoot me, Leo, shoot that gorilla."

I can resemble Tony.  Thinking I am first, numero uno in anything, or last, both are traps.  I would propose it is irrelevant.  I am okay just as I am.

Like Tony I have an inner child.  Want to know what the child wants?  Just watch our kids here.  To be loved and to play.  I think this is what I am doing when I ride my bike across Iowa or in the Hotter N' Hell Hundred, and when I hike around  Yosemite.  These are great times for my inner spirit, that is, my inner child. 

                                                     The Team
   

So, two questions today:

First, where do you think of yourself, first, last, or just okay?

Secondly, how do you let your own inner child out to play? 

What happened to Tony?  He eventually became a most happily married fella.  

                                                        Secrets.

Readings: Isaiah 11, 1-10; Psalm 72; Romans 15, 4-9; Matthew 3, 1-12

Isaiah: Once in a while in the course of our church calendar year we get a special selection.  Isaiah’s vision is one of those specials.  Read it and watch out for heart ache.  I imagine one of our ancestors centuries ago dreaming and coming up with this vision.  Later, another of our ancestors writes it down. 

To emphasize how special it is, Emily will read the vision, after her mom Julie has read the introduction.

What is Your Dream?

In the late 60’s I spent four years in Toronto studying theology before I finally got ordained a priest in ’71.  At the beginning of my second year a new class of about 35 Jesuit priest students came in and one of the new guys got the room next to mine on the third floor.  He was unique: he was blind.

His name was Larry and he was also a cheese head and a Jesuit brother, meaning he was not going to be ordained a priest. Brothers are Jesuits who do all sorts of works, just not saying Mass.

Larry had spent a few years teaching at a Jesuit boarding high school in Prairie du Chien, WS.  During his time there, a number of Jesuits & others had encouraged Larry to looking into moving from being a brother to getting on track to get ordained a priest.  Trouble was, blind people did not get ordained. 

When Larry arrived at our college in the fall of my second year, he had been given permission to try studying theology, the subject necessary for ordination.  Consequently, he was studying on condition.  You do okay, you continue.  You don’t do well, you stay a brother.  Guess what: he did fine and all of us made him a project.  We wanted him to succeed.

After his first year, which was successful, the provincial in WS asked Rome if he could be ordained.  Rome’s response, "No."  After his second equally successful year, they asked Rome.  "No, and don’t ask again.  Blind people don’t get ordained."  After his third year, his provincial asked again.  "Yes," they said.

He was ecstatic.  We were ecstatic. 

The fall of his fourth year, this same second Sunday of Advent in the chapel of our college his class was getting ordained deacons, which is done before getting ordained priest in the spring.  The reading of that Sunday was exactly the same Isaiah reading as this morning, the dream of peace reading.  Larry was chosen to read the Isaiah dream passage–in braille.

That whole chapel was all in tears.  It was one of the special moments of my life.

Larry is still working as a Jesuit priest in Omaha or Milwaukee.  I even used to bring him down to help with retreats I ran at the retreat center I directed in Grand Coteau, LA.  We have not been in touch in probably about ten years.  I have to call him.

My friend Larry had a dream.  Our ancestor Isaiah had a dream. 

I would suggest that to be fully alive we have to have a dream.  Dreams fill me with energy, enthusiasm, and life.  Ideally my dream will also give life to others. Larry’s dream to get ordained gave life to all 100 plus of us Jesuits in that big house.  Isaiah’s dream, while unrealistic, can still energize me into creating peace in some small human way.

What must it be like to not have a dream? 

What is your dream?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-12-09.mp3

Readings: 2 Samuel 5, 1-3; Psalm 122, Let us go Rejoicing to the House of the Lord; Colossians 1, 12-20; Luke 23, 35-43. 

History of the Christ the King Feast: date, author, reason it was declared

Date: Not during the early church, not during the time when Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Empire, not during the time of Luther & the Reformation, not during the time of Pius IX with the Italian Resorgiamento & his Infallibility statement (1870), but in 1925.  Fairly Recently.

Author: Pius XI, pope 1922-39

Reason(s): at least 2 factors–The Times and Modernism/Secularism

1.  The Times:

a) End of WW I and build up to WW II   

b) Mussolini & Hitler: the same year Pius XI became pope, Mussolini became prime minister.  By 1925 he had become a dictator.  The feast was to counter the dictatorship.  "Christ is king, not you."

2.  Modernism & Secularism:

a) Modernism.  Despite being scholarly and pro-scientific methods, Pius XI was suspicious of biblical scholarship which questioned, for example, biblical inerrancy, the nature of bible miracles, the virgin birth, the resurrection, the atonement theory that God demanded his son suffer & die for a single sin by a human.

b) Secularism coming out of the Enlightenment said that all people were equal, people should have a say in government as in democracy, and backed the separation of church/state, like proposed by Jefferson.  The Catholic Church was against democracy.

 Sources: Living with Christ, Nov., 2009; Wikipedia

Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Woods

                        Robert Frost

A few weeks ago this past fall Rosemary and I received a special gift.  We were given two tickets to a Notre Dame home football game, a game against Pittsburg. 

This had special meaning for me because when I was 18 I was enrolled in Notre Dame for college.  I had even bought some winter clothes.  Until I changed my mind and joined the Jesuits, to my mother’s rather lengthy irritation. 

Never in the following 50 odd years of my life did I ever get to visit the campus where my life might have been totally different.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I want to give thanks for three things connected with this event.

First, I finally had the opportunity to reunite with one of my best old buddies from high school and even grade school, Pete Wacks.   He  has spent almost all of his adult life in Chicago working as an F.B.I agent.

 There is an amusing quality to this.  Here are two kids who seemed to get into trouble together and who spent some evenings in the University Park jail.  One ends up a Jesuit priest & the other works as an F.B.I. agent.

 After 50 years it was like we just picked up where we left off.  Rosemary & I spent the whole weekend with Pete & Margie.  We stayed at their house and they drove us to South Bend and joined us at the game.  One of his buddies even met us when we arrived at the campus and toured us around in a golf cart.  

 I am really grateful for this.

 Secondly, I was grateful for the opportunity to visit what I had heard was one of the beautiful campuses.  I got to meet touchdown Jesus, to witness a game in a fabled stadium, and to walk the campus.  The trees were just changing colors and it was a beautiful, warm fall afternoon.  It was fun and touching to walk around imagining how my life could have been different had I ended up there for 4 years.

 Thirdly, I was grateful that I had chosen the second road the summer of ’58.  It has been a good road.

As we look forward this week to Thanksgiving, I invite you to reminisce.  Look back.  Not often in life do we encounter two roads in a wood.  How grateful are you for the roads you have chosen?

Picture 1:   Curtis guarding our food drive

Picture 2:   Ryan & his mom, Michelle

Picture 3:   Connie & her family 

Picture 4:   Mark & Isabella & Donuts

Picture 5:   Wendy & Ray

Ash Wednesday Services at Marlene's house.  2017 Keystone, Plano 75075 at 7:00.

Who let this ex-Jesuit student in here?  We need a sergeant at arms.  Is this the real Jim Shropshire?

Readings:

Leviticus  19, 1-2, 17-18,  You shall love your neighbor as yourself

Psalm 103,  The Lord is kind and merciful.

1 Corinthians 3, 16-23,  Do you not know that you are the temple of the Lord.

Matthew 5, 18-48,   Love your enemies.

Welcome back home from Seattle, Gloria

February 23 homily

The structure of our Christian Sunday service, still today, has an intimate relationship with our brothers and sisters who attended their Jewish Sabbath Synagogue Service yesterday. After they sang songs, and gave praises to God, a teaching was given to them from the Law or Prophets that contained an expectation for the coming of the Messiah.

Deacon Mike sharing his thoughts on our readings.

In like manner, we sang and praised God with psalms, and we also received a teaching from the Law given by the Lord to Moses that ‘We are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.’ Recall the commentary present in the first reading. It informs us that we are not to judge, or take revenge, or hate, or hold a grudge, against a neighbor. 

Welcome, Annabella, to Dallas where your mother grew up.

A second reading was not present in the Liturgy of the Word of the Early Church. Sometime in the last century however, the Church began to include this additional reading to enhance the gospel teaching of the Sunday service. Today it prepares us to become temples of God’s Spirit, so that for we can welcome and live the wisdom of the words spoken by the Messiah in the written Good News of Jesus Christ.

Happy Mardi Gras Aggie & Allen.

Today’s first reading, “that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves,” is fulfilled by the inspired writers of the Matthew gospel with the teaching to us that instead, ‘We are to love our enemies and pray for those who seek to persecute us; That’s how we can become children of our Father in heaven!

Good Work, Tori.

So, how did Jesus of Nazareth live today’s gospel reading? He took upon himself to love others as he had been loved by the Lord; He kept the perfect law! In like manner he called out to the Father he loved as he was being crucified with the words, “Father, forgive them for they do not understand what they are doing!”

Candle Lighting time with the experts, Tori & Zoe & Buddy.

Readings:   Acts 10, 34, 37-43, This man God raised; Psalm 118, This day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad; 1 Corinthians 5, 6-8, A little yeast leavens all the dough; John 20, 1-9, Mary of Magdal came to the tomb early.

Leo lighting the Easter Candle with his mom, Shonda

Acts: 

Author: Most likely Luke, who wrote the Gospel with his name and who followed and copied some of Mark's material. 

Date: ca. 70-100 A.D., therefore ca. 40 years after the death of Jesus. 

Subject: the ministry of Paul & the 12 Apostles after the death of Jesus.

        Chapters 1-8 deal with the Resurrection, Ascension, & Pentecost (Holy Spirit)

        Chapters 8- 28 deal with Paul's conversion & ministry.

The DeGenovas, Alison, Sabrina, & John

Today's selection: Two visions/dreams have just occurred:

        1. Cornelius, a captain in the Roman army and a Gentile, has a vision in which he is instructed to go to a town called Joppa and talk with a man named Peter.

        2.  Peter has a vision in which a sheet held by its 4 corners comes down and is full of all kinds of animals.  A voice says, "Eat."  Peter refuses because of the law of ritual impurity, i.e., some animals are ritually impure and it is prohibited to eat them.  But the voice insists.  At this point three of Cornelius' people arrive and invite him to come to Cornelius' house.  This vision symbolizes that even Gentiles who are ritually impure are invited to the new Christian community.

Becky & Lily

Our selection takes up just after Peter arrives at Cornelius' house, finds a group of Cornelius' friends, is invited to speak to them, and he begins.  The following is what he says to the group of Gentiles gathered in Cornelius' house.

Meaning of the Word Easter: the origin of the use of Easter seems lost in history.  Probably not from Latin, which uses pasqua.  Probably not coming from a German goddess of spring, which some have suggested.  May have emerged from early Celtic converts (British Isles), who wanted to use their own words for Christian feasts, rather than Latin words.

The Quads are growing!

The Resurection Today

Last Satuday there was a picnic.  This was not your ordinary picnic.  It took place in Flower Mound on the west side of town, the Circle R Ranch.  It went from about 10:30 to 2:30 on one of our recent beautiful days.

The picnic was for kids handicapped in some way. 

Love for the Kids Picnic

There was another picnic before Christmas, this one for underprivileged kids.  3,000 younger kids poured in and ran all over the place for about 5 hours. 

This past picnic the kids were not running around.  Many of them came in wheel chairs or prams.  They were often physically misshapen.  They frequently could not speak.  But they could smile and they did.

I volunteered to work at the photo area.  This was really well run by two black guys with their camera, lap top, and printer, as well as another guy who arranged the families, and two girls who provided decoration.  The families could choose their decorations or get ups from 4 themes represented in pictures, like Easter, cowboy, fireman, and so forth.   They hardly needed me for crowd control like the December picnic I worked. 

Love for the Kids Picnic, Photo Shop

What I did mostly was watch and touch, and be touched.  I was close to tears with so many of these kids and with their families.  I shared this with some of the team and they, too, said they were likewise moved.  I wanted to hug the kids and hug the parents.

Because I was not greatly needed I moved to the welcome post.  Here I was touched again.  People were trickling in, so I began talking with a lady who was also welcoming kids and families.  It was her first time to volunteer.  Eventually she talked about her son, about 40 years old and slightly handicapped.   He had been shot a month or so ago at the downtown Dart train stop. 

Emmit Cronin, 2 weeks old

I did not know what to say.  She was in tears and I too, especially because of her attitude.  She was grateful.  She was thankful for the long life her impaired son had had. 

I talk about these simple events because for me they are Easter events, Resurrection events.  The characteristics of this type of an event: more life, more peace, and gratitude. 

The kids were not so unusual.  The talk with the lady, Terry, was pretty routine in the beginning.  Similar things happen all the time.  I went to touch these people.  But I was touched.   I came away with more life, more peace, and so much more gratitude for so much. 

The Cronins, Amanda, Ben, & Emmit, an Easter Event

What is the Easter event in your life today?