Sunday Homily 7-3-11, 14th Ordinary Time

 

Readings:                          

Acts  2,  1-11,  There appeared to them tongues as of fire.

Psalm 104,  Lord, send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth.

Romans 8, 8-17,    You are in the spirit.

John 20, 19-23,  Peace be with you.

 

Homily by Mike

 

Well, I just finished reading Bishop John Shelby Spong’s new book titled Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy, which is a study of the Gospel of Matthew.  Bishop Spong is one of my prime mentors in understanding the Christian faith and the Christian Scriptures.  My main reason I picked a chapter of his book for us today is that it is on understanding the Sermon on the Mount in relation to Pentecost, which we are preparing to celebrate next Sunday.  Also, Bishop Spong’s book is on the Gospel of Matthew, and Matthew is our default reading source whom we read from most of this year (of Cycle C readings).  In his new book Bishop Spong teaches how Matthew composed his Gospel to match up with the festivals of the Jewish year, all celebrated in the synagogue.  In this chapter he shows us how Matthew matches the Jewish celebration of Pentecost or Shavuot with Jesus as the New Moses.  Moses was the most significant person in Jewish history.  The second major celebration of the Jewish liturgical year, after Passover, is Pentecost or Shavuot.

At Pentecost, or Shavuot, Matthew provides the liturgy readings that make it clear to the Jewish followers of Jesus that Jesus is the new Moses.  The Book of Exodus tells the story of how Moses went up Mount Sinai, received the law directly from God and announced it to the people.  In their acceptance of God’s law from Moses (The 10 Commandments) the Jewish people entered into a covenant with God.  Matthew, in his Gospel, has Jesus go up a mountain and then deliver to the people God’s new law—the Beatitudes.  In accepting this new law from Jesus, his followers enter into a new covenant with God.     

Remember, at that time most people were illiterate.  The Torah, the Books of Moses, were read at every Sabbath liturgy.  They read the entire 5 books of the Torah every year—compare that with our reading a mere fraction of the Bible once every 3 years. Shavuot or Pentecost was celebrated in a big way (it was huge!), with a 24-hour vigil, so they needed a lot of readings and songs to fill the vigil.  That’s where Psalm 119 came into play—the longest psalm of all with 176 verses (psalms were the synagogue’s hymnal).  This was the psalm sung at the celebration of Shavuot.  Psalm 119 is relentless in its praise of the beauty and wonder of God’s law and the covenant that sprang from accepting and keeping God’s law. The meaning of this covenant is what was renewed liturgically each year, and was what the 24-hour vigil was all about.   

Matthew combined Psalm 119 with the Sermon on the Mount to present Jesus as the new Moses.  Psalm 119 fits the Shavuot liturgy with stanzas for each of the 8 3-hour portions of the vigil.  Psalm 119’s first stanza has 8 verses and the first 2 begin with the word “blessed”.  The Sermon on the Mount also begins with 8 verses, each starting with the word “blessed”.  We call these the Beatitudes.  So Matthew used Psalm 119 as the basis on which to build the Sermon on the Mount. Next Matthew has Jesus give commentaries on each of the 8 beatitudes, 1 for each of the 8 3-hour portions of the vigil.  Matthew then has Jesus do a commentary on the 10 Commandments, going deeper into the heart of these original laws of God.

This whole Sermon on the Mount is a beautifully crafted interpretation of Jesus as the new Moses.  And it’s all organized around the psalm used at Shavuot, Pentecost.  This amazing take and understanding of Matthew’s writing of his Gospel knocks my socks off and I love it.

As we prepare for Pentecost, what is our commitment to the new law?  How do we renew our covenant with this understanding of Jesus as the new Moses?                                                                                                                                                              

 

Readings:

Acts 10,  25-26,  34-35, 44-48,  God shows no partiality.

Psalm 98,    The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

1 John 4, 7-10,   Let us love one another.

 John 15, 9-17, As the Father has loved me, so I love you.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy be complete.

 1 John and John 15, perfect, fitting readings for Mother's Day

 

 

Acts:  Another review–

Author: Luke, who wrote both the Gospel and Acts

Date: ca. 40-50 years after the death of Jesus

Our selection: This same selection was read on Easter Sunday.  What is happening is this.  Last Sunday we began the second half of Acts, from chapter 9 to the end.  Last week's reading had to do with Paul returning to the community in Jerusalem after he had his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. 

This week we get into chapter 10 which focuses on two characters: Peter and a Gentile (non-Jew) captain in the Roman army named Cornelius.  Cornelius was supposed to be a good man and he has a voice call him, "Cornelius." "What is it, sir?" he answers.  The voice tells him to go a town called Joppa and talk with a man named Peter.  Cornelius sends two servants.

 

 

Meanwhile in Joppa Peter has that vision we talked about Easter Sunday: a sheet coming down from the sky with a multitude of animals.  Many of the animals are considered ritually impure by Jews.  Peter is told by a voice to eat from these animals, but Peter refuses.  While this is going on the two servants arrive and the voice tells Peter to go with them.  Peter arrives at Captain Cornelius' house and that is where we take up the story.

Luke is interested here not so much in history as in convincing his readers that the Gentiles as well as Jews are included in the new religion.

Source: Good News Bible

 

 

Psalms:

Dates:Put together at ca. 300 years BCE.

Author(s): The old belief that David composed all 150 Psalms is just myth.  The reality: many people and groups of people composed the psalms over centuries.

Purpose: songs of gratitude, sorrow, pain, and longing to be sung by the Jewish people, especially in the temple and later in the synagogue.  Special songs were composed for feast days like passover and the feast of lights, to name just two.

Source:Bishop (Episcopal) John Shelby Spong, Origins of the Bible XXV, published 5-2-09 in Mirabile Dictu

 

 

A Mother’s Day Story

I would like to tell you a Mother’s Day story this morning.  This is a “hope you don’t have a kid like this” story.  And if you do, maybe it will give you a little hope. 

I admit that I have told this story at least once during the 15 or so years I was working at St. Mark’s.  I don’t think I have told the story here.  If you have already heard it, visit the coffee shop in the back with the kids.

 

 

 

The story took place many years ago.  It was a chilly, damp, gray day in probably November.  It was a Saturday.  Myself and maybe 5-6 of my buddies from Christ the King grade school took the city buses downtown to watch a movie.  At most we were 7^th grade, 11 or 12 years old.

There used to be 3-4 theaters downtown, the Majestic, the Palace, and others.  There was a bus line down Preston Road near my house in University Park and another on Airline, coming along the SMU campus, west side, the Hillcrest side.  We used both bus lines because some of the guys lived further east in University Park.

 

 

 

So we go to the movie.  We come out, and somewhere, probably at a dime store (remember those?), we buy water pistols.  Then we race around town and run in and out of the department stores, like Neiman’s, having water pistol fights.

Finally, about 4:30, we get on our buses, some on the Airline bus, myself and another guy on the Preston bus.

We get off at my corner, Stanford St., and walk the 2 blocks to my house.  In my back yard I had built a fort some years earlier.  It was on the west side of our house against the west side picket fence.  The fence was against a hedge about 7 feet tall, which ran along the driveway to the garage of our neighbors’ house, Mr. & Mrs. Barnes. 

 

 

 

My friend & I went in the fort and hung out.  At one point Mr. & Mrs. Barnes walked along their driveway and got into their car in the garage.  My friend & I climbed onto the roof of the fort. 

Mr. & Mrs. Barnes started backing their car, a white Cadillac, out the driveway.  She was dressed formally and he was in a tux, if I remember correctly.  Mr. Barnes’ head was slightly out the window of his car, looking back. 

 

 

 

You guessed it, folks.  As they passed by us, we leaned over and let loose with our water pistols. 

Suddenly I knew I was in deep doo doo.   Mr. Barnes backed past the hedge, stopped, got out, and walked over to our front door.  We ran around the opposite side of our house, went across the street, and hid in the bushes.  At that point, my buddy took off. 

After Mr. Barnes finished talking with my mom, he left, and I was ready to go back downtown and move into The Bridge, claiming I was homeless.  Trouble was, The Bridge had not yet been built.  I had to go home, which I finally did.

 

 

 

My mom?  She was so mad!   Actually, I think she spanked me with her hair brush.  It was probably a useless gesture, because I was a little big for it to do much harm.  Either way, I felt like a really bad kid.  During the next 6 years I was quite capable of equally dumb acts.  And you wonder why I thought I better get in the Jesuits 6 years later or I was going to hell? 

Shonda, Bethany, Beth, Michelle, Mary, Erin Pack, Erin McClurg, & Cathy and all you moms and grandmoms with young kids, I pray that you don’t have the same challenges my mom had.   Happy Mother’s Day.

 

 

 

Readings: Acts 15, 1-29; Psalm 67; Revelation 21, 10-23; John 14, 23-29

Mother’s Gift

Some years ago after I had returned to Dallas in the 80’s and my mother was still alive, she had to go to the hospital for some procedure. The hospital was the one on LBJ near Webb Chapel, called Deadman in those days.

She was going to stay for at least a night, so we packed up some of her stuff. It was afternoon. I was driving her west on LBJ and we were talking. Suddenly she patted me on my right thigh and said, "I’m proud of you."

Now at that time I am probably 47 or 48, but her little compliment moved me. It was especially touching because she had never wanted me to go off to the Jesuits and she had gotten so mad I went to Africa that she did not speak to any local Jesuit for some years.

I talk about this on Mothers’ Day because of two reasons.

First, it shows how at whatever age we are, our mother’s compliments and affirmations remain powerful. My mom’s simple compliment touched my spirit. I can still remember it as if it were yesterday.

Secondly, it shows how you mothers have the touch. You can ignite people’s spirits into new life with just a movement or a word. It may seem so simple that it is of little value. This event with my mom exemplifies just the contrary, how valuable it is.

Whom do you touch into new life?

Download the homily as an mp3 file.

Readings:

Joshua  5, 9-12, Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.

Psalm 34,  Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5, 17-21, Whoever is in Christ is a new creation.

Luke 15, 1-3, 11-32,   The Prodigal Son.

 

 

Welcome, Emma, it is so nice to have you back.

 

Mike’s Homily for March 6, 2016

Introduction   

The Jewish event of Passover set the stage for the Israelites to pass through the Red Sea.  In our First reading today they are celebrating the event of Passover to prepare themselves for the their journey through the River Jordan and into the Promised Land.  

The apostle Paul tells us in Second Corinthians that God has reconciled us to him through his Son, the Lamb of God, our Passover Mystery, to be a new creation in Christ.

 

           

Genevieve and her mom, Mary, say, "Welcome in, Everybody."

 

Homily   

To get a fuller understanding of today’s gospel, we should seek to understand it within the context of where it was placed in the Luke gospel.  When we do, we find that the tax collectors and sinners had been seeking Jesus’ wisdom and fellowship for he welcomed them with dignity and invited them to return home with sincere love.  

The self-righteous Pharisees and scribes saying, ‘He welcomes sinners and eats with them,’ were building walls to keep the sinners out while Jesus was inviting them in.

 

 

Really nice to see you, Leo.

 

The father in today’s reading followed Jesus example; the older brother was very much like the Pharisees and Scribes. The father’s heart was filled with compassion and tenderness, goodness and kindness for his younger son who had returned home. 

The older son had no intention of inviting his younger brother home; he had already judged and disowned him. So, the father teaches his older son about the fruit of compassion in today’s reading, ‘We had to celebrate with the meal of the fatted calf and rejoice, for your brother was lost and is found. He was spiritually dead; but now forgiven, alive again.’ 

 

 

 

He is back.  Buddy, our special helper. 

 

These words are how the father put into practice addressing the bitterness and anger that his older son had just expressed to him, ‘All these years I have slaved for you and yet you have never once given me so much as a kid to celebrate with my friends.’  

Instead of judging the self-righteous, Jesus addresses the Scribes and Pharisees with the wisdom of God, ‘There will be more rejoicing among the angels in heaven over one repentant sinner, than over ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.’

 

 

                               

Our Special Girls, Zoe, Victoria, and Emma.

 

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 1, 12-14 (post Ascension, Wednesday), Psalm 27  (good), I believe that I shall see the Good Things of the Lord in the Land of the Living;

also verse 4, One thing I ask of the Lord, to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple.  

1 Peter 4, 13-16; John 17, 1-11

 

Acts:

Observations & a final review—(Author, Date, Place, Subject)

 Author: This is Luke, the physician, the companion of Paul, the Gentile writing for Gentile Christians, and the same Luke who wrote the Gospel of Luke.

 Date: Around 65 years after Christ.  Probably just before the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (70 C.E., a big date in Jewish history), or Luke would have probably mentioned it. 

Place: probably Ephesus, today a ruin on the west coast of Turkey south of Constantinople.  Once this town was a major Christian center.

 Subject: the material works like in concentric, expanding circles, beginning in Jerusalem and ending in Rome after touching Judea, Syria, Ephesus, & Europe.  It treats activities in the early Christian community, some of which may describe they way they wished things were.

Today's selection in chapter 1 takes place just after the Ascension of Jesus, which was officially celebrated this past Thursday.   

 Sources: Good News Bible, New Interpreter’s Study Bible, St. Louis U. Jesuits’ Liturgical web

 

That I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord

 It may have been a year ago when I talked about Rosemary having a breakdown on her bike riding around White Rock Lake.  To refresh your memory, she had ridden around about half of the lake.  She is down at the south end near the dam.  Her chain fell off and she did not know how to fix it. 

 So she starts walking it in.  She may have phoned me, but I did not answer because I was riding.  People go by.  She walks.  Finally a guy asks if she needs help.  She says yes, he stops, and he puts her chain back on.  Simple.  But significant.

 I was so touched by this guy’s action, that I had decided that I would always ask people if they need help when I see them stuck beside the road.  I talked about it here and somebody special in our community actually assisted a woman whose car had broken down.

 This stopping can be hard, folks, especially for us obsessive compulsive bike riders.  I got to maintain my 16 or 17 or 18 miles per hour average.  Or I have to finish up and run home.  Whatever, for the past year I have pretty faithfully checked with people as I pass, often hoping they don’t need help.  And they did not.

 
 

Until this past Wednesday morning about 7:00.  We had already gone around the lake and were heading north on the White Rock Trail, which runs from the Lake all the way up to Valley View and Hillcrest.  I was passing just north of the Greenville Avenue bridge, going behind a building on Royal Lane, when I come around a bend and see a guy working on his bike in the grass. 

 I yell out, “Need any help?”  And he responds, “You got any air?”

Yes, I did have my emergency air pump and I knew how to work it.  So I stopped. 

 He had repaired a front flat tire with a new tube, but had no air pump.  So we pumped it up.  I took off the pump.   The tire went back down.  Whoa, bad news.  I think he pinched his tube when he put it and the tire back on the rim of the wheel.  The tubes are so skinny & fragile. 

 So I had to leave him.  He said he could call his wife and she would pick him up.  His car was at Valley View & Hillcrest.

 Folks, even though my efforts did not get the guy going again, I was so happy I had had enough resolution to stop.

 I talk about this because of the line in Psalm 27, which says, “One thing I ask of the Lord, to dwell in his house all the days of my life, to gaze on the loveliness of the Lord, and to contemplate his temple.

 
 

Two comments:

          1.  To be aware that we are dwelling in the house of the Lord, we are challenged to do what is mentioned in the last line, contemplate.  We are invited to be contemplative people, that is, to reflect, to stop and look, to appreciate.  I think this is what I was doing when I appreciated what the guy did for Rosemary.

 Contemplation focuses on the loveliness of people as well as the loveliness of the lake, the mountain, the flower. 

          2.  Secondly, when I was a Jesuit we were educated to be contemplatives in action, that is, appreciating the loveliness of the Lord and helping others to do likewise.  Comptemplation of my blessings leads to gratitude.  Gratitude leads to sharing.

 We are invited to appreciate the beauty of the lake and the bike ride, and to help others do the same.  It may mean simply stopping to fix a chain or pump up an inner tube.  

 

 When was the last time you contemplated the beauty of the Lord?  And helped someone do likewise? 

Picture 1:   Beginning, with Leo in Jackie McGrath's arms, Shonda & Ray

 Picture 2:   Offertory, Tom & Lynda

 Picture 3:   Leo joining the music team

 Picture 4:   Tom & Theresa Quinn with their daughter, Colleen & her kids, Quinn and Shannon

 Picture 5:   Alison is back!  With her husband John and Cliff

         

 

 

 

 

Welcome in, Everybody, from Cindy & Dee.

 

Readings: 

Isaiah 62, 1-5,    The Lord delights in you (a good one)

Psalm 96,  Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.

1 Corinthians 12, 4-11,  There are different kinds of spiritual gifts. 

John 2, 1-11,  The wedding at Cana.

 

 

 

Also from Ken and the two crazies behind him, Cindy & Marlene,    Welcome in, Everybody.

 

  Mary Ellen Munzell

As a way to honor Mary Ellen, I would like to tell you 4 stories that show why she was a special friend and  dear to me.

The first time that Mary Ellen came to my attention in a special way was the first time we gathered a group for a two week trip to Italy.  We had about 8 people.

 

 

And not to be outdone by the previous characters, Grace, too, says, "Welcome to our special Memorial for our dear Mary Ellen."  It was Grace who packed her up so she could move back home to Connecticut, where she stayed one winter and returned immediately back to Dallas.

 

Mary Ellen asked me if she could go over about 3-4 days early and be picked up in the area around Lake Guarda, Italy.  I was a little nervous, but thought okay.  Mary Ellen wanted to visit Trieste before meeting up with us.

Why Trieste?  Because her deceased husband, Chris, had been born there to a military family.  Mary Ellen wanted to leave some of his ashes, which she did.

 

 

The A Team.

 

Just in case you are not familiar with how Mary Ellen & Chris met, it was at the American Embassy in Buenos Aires where she was working as a secretary and Chris was a Marine guard.

It was when Chris died that Mary Ellen took on the goal of scattering his ashes on golf courses on which they had played, especially in southern CA, where they had resided for some years.   Which brought her to Trieste.

 

 

It takes a Grandmother!

 

I can still remember approaching Verona.  It was sunny & mild. Verona was quaint & colorful.  The plan was to meet Mary Ellen in front of the train station.  She had taken the train from Trieste to Verona. 

As we approached the small station on our right I saw ahead of us a traffic circle with a lot of flowers, and there was Mary Ellen.  I was so relieved and impressed with Mary Ellen and touched by her gesture.

 

 

 

Are our musicians crazy or what??

 

The second event caused me to love Mary Ellen’s adventurous spirit.  I took her and Rosemary to the best game parks in East Africa for a visit with the lions, elephants, and giraffes.  This had been my home for about ten years.  I had lots of connections.

We hired a driver & helper, rented a Land Rover, and headed to the mystical Ngorongoro Crater and the magnificent Serengetti.   We visited all the animals and, in fact, late one morning a lion walked up and plopped down in the shade of our Land Rover. 

 

 

It takes a Dad, too.  Cody, a great one, and Olivia, his daughter.

 

Picture this.  The Land Rover’s roof lifts up and locks into place so you may stand.  We were standing  while the lion took a morning siesta.   If we had leaned out, we could have touched that lion.  We didn’t.

 

I was especially touched by Mary Ellen on this trip.  The ride was rough, we tented, and one afternoon we drove though a scrub area with Tsetse Flies, which could keep up with the Land Rover.  We had to shoo them away for about 30 minutes.

 

 

Nothing better than meeting up again with good old friends, like Bob & Jackie McGrath and Joanne Languell.

 

The third story.   Mary Ellen had a small private swimming pool in her back yard, as many of you know.  What you may not have heard is that ME liked to skinny dip in her pool, until one afternoon she spied two young neighbor boys peeking over the roof line of her neighbor’s house.

Finally, as you had to know, ME was an avid supporter of U Conn’s women’s basket ball team.  She loved to watch them play and then she and her sisters would discuss the game. U Conn had a record of 111 victories the day before ME died.  The very next day, U Conn lost. 

 

 

And more good old friends, like Cathy, Jackie, Alice.

 

Thanks, Mary Ellen, for being a special person and a special friend

 

 

And still more good friends, Grace, Camille, and Diane..