Readings:  Numbers 6, 22-27, The Lord Bless You and Keep You; Psalm 67, May God bless us in his new mercy; Galatians 4, 4-7, So you are no longer a slave; Luke, 2, 16-21, The Shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem.

The book of Numbers:

        1.  What: the 4^th book of the first 5 books of the Bible, the Pentateuch or Torah.

        2.  Date of composition: around 5 centuries before Christ, but was a compilation of years.

        3.  Theme: The people are "numbered" or counted at Mt. Sinai and preparations are made for resuming their march through the desert.  The Israelites begin the journey, but immediately they "murmur" & complain at the hardships along the way. They arrive at the borders of Canaan and send spies into the land, but on hearing the spies' report the Israelites refuse to take possession of Canaan and God condemns them to death in the wilderness until a new generation can grow up and carry out the task. The book ends with the new generation of Israelites in the plain of Moab ready for the crossing of the Jordan River.

        4.  Our selection: God tells Moses to have Aaron & his sons bless the people using this special blessing.

References: Good News Bible, Wikipedia

What Kind of a Shepherd am I? 

    Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to help serve the evening meal at The Bridge in downtown Dallas.  The Bridge is a marvelous facility.  Basically it is the homeless shelter for the greater Dallas area.  

    It has space for approximately 250 overnighters.  That was the number of people whom we served dinner for the Friday night I was there.  For breakfast & lunch up to 800 people are served.  

    Three things struck me. 

    First, the spirit of the people I was serving.  There are about twenty round tables with, say, 8 places.  I was serving water along with about 6 other guys.  These people were bundled up because it was cold outside.  Everyone I served was super grateful.  I joked and played with lots of the people, men & women.  They had an amazingly up-beat spirit.

    Secondly, I was struck by three folks, two women & one guy.  They presented themselves as more middle class.  They had a more refined way of speaking, they seemed peaceful.  Except the guy.  He was nice looking with black hair & slender.  But he was more to himself.  He was younger than the two women, probably in his 30’s while the women were maybe in their late 50’s or early 60’s.  They were not together, but at different tables.  The women were talking with people at their tables, but the guy was not.  

    What is their story?  What events brought them to The Bridge? 

    The three are still vivid in my memory.

    The third thing that struck me was how I got to The Bridge that Friday night.  I got there because the 16 year old girl who lives next door to Rosemary & me invited me. 

    I knew Sydney volunteered at The Bridge and I told her I would go as her adult whenever her dad or mom could not accompany her.  She invited me.  

    This was the last day of school before the Christmas break and I am sure lots of kids were out having fun.  Sydney might have done so later, but from 6:00 to 7:00 that night she spent time helping the homeless.  She was like one of those shepherds in Luke story. 

    What kind of a shepherd are you? 

     I am going to help you answer that at the end of our Mass.  Just you wait!

Picture 1:    Mass Begins

Picture 2:    Celeste & Nina

Picture 3:    Bethany, Shonda, & Ray   

Picture 4:    Ray & Jon

Picture 5:    Jan, John, Patricia, & Rich   

Picture 6:    John, Mary Jane, & Jan, all communion helpers.

 Enclosed is the link to City House.  Help an old geezer celebrate his 72nd birthday, January 26.  Volunteer to help take a census of the Plano homeless.  We aim at a couple of teams: Download Volunteers needed, City House 1-1-12

Readings: Jeremiah 317, 7-9; Psalm 126, The Lord has done Great Things for Us; we are filled with Joy; Hebrews 5, 1-6; Mark 10, 46-52.

Jeremiah.  One of the “great prophets”.  The book covers one of the most turbulent times for the Jewish people, a time we have been discussing with a number of our other prophets of recent weeks, namely “The Exile”.   Jeremiah witnessed the fall of a great empire, the Assyrian, and the rise of the Babylonian Empire!  His writings cover a period of about 40 years. 

The main issue he deals with is the People's turning away from Yahweh and towards worshiping idols.  Due to the nature of the period, the major political convulsions in the region, we find there were several prophets at this time.  Jeremiah stands out from this group in his ability to show God’s love for his people and the People’s duty to God through the covenant ties.

Our passage today is very interesting in that it shows God’s loving care of His people compared to that of a Father for his firstborn.

The Way  (Tony O'Donovan)

The very last sentence in today’s Gospel is what I want us to focus on this morning!  “Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way”.  I want us to spend a little time on this “Way of Jesus”.  Remember two weeks ago we had the gospel story of the rich young man, who was quite anxious to do whatever to “inherit eternal life”.  Remember he had observed all the laws from his youth, but when Jesus challenged him to sell all and “follow me,”  he went away sad.  He was unable to follow Jesus.

I want to step back a bit and take a look at where we are in Mark’s Gospel.  Remember Mark wrote the first Gospel, it is the shortest of the Gospels.  If we look at how it is written we find that it neatly falls into two parts, the first beginning with the Baptism of Jesus at the Jordan by John, and ending with the famous confession of Peter to the question “Who do you say I am?”. 

The second part is the Journey to Jerusalem and the death of Jesus.  This “journey” begins with a miracle, the gradual healing of a blind man.  He declares that he can see shadows, and gradually his sight returns to him.  And then the one we have today, just as Jesus arrives in Jerusalem.  There is a strong suggestion that these “blind stories” are there as a comment on the apostles inability to see what Jesus was about.  Remember last weeks gospel had James and John asking Jesus if they could sit on his left right side in heaven!!

Now, back to the way of Jesus.  If we are familiar with the stories about Jesus from the Gospels, we will begin to discern very easily a pattern as to what was Jesus’ Way.  He went about trying to get people to understand what God wanted of us.  He summed up the commandments to two, “love God and love your neighbor.”  And he practiced that in his actions of healing the sick, and most especially showing that the society had become trapped by the rules.  He reached out to sinners, he dined with them and worst of all, in the eyes of the authorities, he forgave people their sins!!  This was Jesus’ Way.

We are here this morning because presumably we have accepted the invitation “come follow Me”.  How are we doing on the Way, on that journey we call life?  Human nature is interesting, particularly as I reflect on my own life.  I have had the best of intentions but the reality of my actions often fall way too short!  Thankfully I have a forgiving and loving God who is constantly inviting me to get back on “the Way,” and supporting me with the community I belong to, the Church and its sacraments. 

Picture 1:  Tony

Picture 2:  Our Man in the NY Marathon this Saturday, Tom Fleming receiving the blessing of The Community

Picture 3:  Sean & Cara with their parents, Ed & Christine

Picture 4:  Bill with Nancy & Helen

Readings:

Acts 5, 27-32 & 40-41,   We must obey God rather than men

Psalm 30,  I will praise you Lord, for you have rescued me.

Revelation  5, 11-14,  Blessing and honor, glory and might forever and ever.

John 21, 1-19,  Put your finger here and see my hands.

Mike sharing his ideas.

Homily by Mike

I have an app that makes me aware on my iPhone when there is an important news event. This happened some weeks ago when white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel.   After I looked at it, I turned my sound to off.

Georgie ready to serve.

What was going though my mind was, ‘How did the conclave decide so quickly.’  I was apprehensive, and didn’t want to know who had been chosen. 

When I did turn it back on later that day, I had a number of phone calls to return.  All but one came from friends who were not Catholic [however, who are one with us through the power of the Holy Spirit].  

Our Emma.

One thing each of them spoke about with joy was the name our new Pope had chosen, Francis.  The name had been immediately identified to the universal prayer of St. Francis, which seeks to have us become sowers of the good news.  It helps us to recognize that all of us are part of the papacy of Francis! Together we are one body; our name has become Francis, too. 

Leo on a roll.

For the last decade I have spent a great deal of time studying the structure spiritual writings: all of which have been composed with some type of structure.  

Look at the copy that I have made for you. The bold print is a mini summary of the Gospel, where we are to be sowers of the good news!  What is not in bold print in the first section are those who have not received or not allowed the seed to take root, to whom we seek to console, understand,  and love. Notice that we address God in both the bold and un-bold

Grace arriving.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. 

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon. 

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

What's it there? Buddy and Emma and Zoe search.

 Today’s gospel reading begins after the Lord has witnessed his Peter, a good man, being the buffoon: going fishing for gentiles in darkness, without casting out the net [composed of his good news] to the gentile side of the lake.   

Cupcakes of The Week, Michael, Jerry, Claire, Olivia, and Maureen and Fred.

Our Lord had chosen a motley group of sinners, and had led them to forgiveness. Today he comes to Peter, whom he had chosen to lead the church, to reinforce within Peter his responsibility to feed his flock!  How? In the light of day in this celebration of Word and Sacred Meal.  The New Covenant meal fulfills not only all of the Jewish feasts; but their Sabbath Scripture study as well.

Olivia at 5 years old.

Recently I saw a film that made me think about Peter, our first pope. It was entitled, An Afternoon with Marguerite.   

It is about a man about 5o who meets Marguerite, 95, in a park. She is a holy, and very educated woman, never married, whose mission has been to serve those in need. She currently resides in an assisted living facility. 

Olivia with her sister, Emelia, her grandmom, Sandra, grandfather, Chuck, and her dad, Chris

 He is a large man. He had been severely abused as a child by his mother, whatever man was living with her, and by his teacher at school.  He never went back.  He had lived all these years essentially illiterate tending his garden and doing odd jobs.  He meets Marguerite. He reaches in his pocket and sows some seed to the 19 pigeons that he knows by name.  He is known by some as a good man, by others as a buffoon. 

Torri with her good granddad, Gil.

She sees the goodness within him and begins to sow words.  She always has a book with her, and asks if she can read to him aloud. A friendship has begun. She reads and asks him questions, day after day; and her words enlighten him. She leaves a book with him, later a dictionary.   

At first he is frustrated; later, for she is going blind, he reads to her.  Her nephew sensing that she has a very short time to live, stops paying her monthly rent and sends her to a public facility to spend the rest if her life.   

Harper with her grandmom, Cathy. Where's the hat?

[       ] searches for her, finds her, and steals her away from her dismal surroundings.  The film ends with him driving her to his home where he will take care of her.  

These are some of the words we hear coming forth from his heart as they drive away laughing, talking to one another and sharing a sandwich: ‘This is not a typical love affair; but love and tenderness are there. Named after a daisy she lives among the words surrounded by adjectives in green fields of verbs. 

Bethany , Shonda, and Ray with Leo around somewhere.

Not always are love stories just made of love, sometimes love is not named, but it is love all the same. Don’t die now; just wait, it’s not the hour, my little flower. Not always are love stories made of love; love is not named, but it is love all the same. 

Tape this prayer of St. Francis on your bathroom mirror at home.    Try to become aware of those who seek to be consoled, understood or loved…for it is giving that we receive; it is in pardoning….

Readings:  Proverbs 31, 10-31, When one finds a worthy wife…; Psalm 128, Blessed are those who fear the Lord; 1 Thessalonians 5, 1-6, You are not in darkness; Matthew 25, 14-30, The parable of the talents.

Proverbs:

Author: Not Solomon, the wise king, but, as usual, a compilation of sources.

Date of Composition: ca. 300 B.C.  It is recognized from the text that it is post exile, that is, after the Babylonian Exile, around 600 to 550 before Christ. 

Content: a collection of moral & religious teachings which  mostly deal with practical matters.   We have some of this folk wisdom, like the saying, 'early to bed, early to rise makes a person healthy, wealthy, and wise.   Let me give you six examples:

    1.  (Chapter 1, verse 7),  'Pay attention to what your father & mother tell you, my son.'

    2.  (13, 24),  'If you don't punish your son, you don't love him.'

    3.  (22, 15),  'Children naturally do silly things, but a good beating will teach them.'

    4.  (17, 22),  'Being cheerful keeps you healthy.'

    5.  (18, 6),  'When some fool starts an argument, he is asking for a beating.'

    6.  (25, 24), guys' favorite,  'Better to live on the roof than share the house with a nagging wife.'

Today's Selection: This chapter 31 is the last and most beautiful chapter.  A tribute to wives.  The editors of the lectionary have broken the piece up, but I have printed off the whole section.  Very nice. 

Notice anything especially obvious about the proverbs, even from the few I chose?  What do you think?  Written by men for men?

1Thessalonians

We have read this work for a bunch of Sundays.  You might remember one thing about it.  It is the first written document in the New Testament.

Sources: The New Interpreter's Study Bible, The Good News Bible.

The Parable of the Talents

I have to talk about something this morning.  I would call it a Thanksgiving event, an event that makes a difference.  Was yesterday not beautiful?  Even more beautiful was what about 20 members of our little community did at the house of Rita Dore. 

I am sorry the rest of you did not make it, but you can be proud of your community members, as I am. 

 We started about 8:00.  We had to scrape & paint three large walls and touch up the front wall, which Frank Reyes, a buddy of his, and I had painted in the summer.  There must have been twelve people scraping for two hours.  This is the painful part of a painting project.  By 10:30 we were rolling and painting vertical cracks.  By 12:30 we were 99% finished, and Jenny, Melissa, and Diane brought the pizza.  

Beth took off the handle & lock of the front door and painted it gloss white.  Jim McCabe & Ryan rigged up a block & tackle arrangement from a tree to each of the dead holly bushes and pulled them out one by one.  We even were able to buy and plant 8 Texas Sage bushes along the front of the house where the holly had been.  More drought tolerant.

Folks, later after everyone had left & I had finished cleaning up, Rita said she was overwhelmed with joy. 

I talk about this event because we are less than two weeks from Thanksgiving and because the event leads into the Parable of the Talents.  This is a crazy parable and commentaries by academics are not too helpful. One Jesuit at St. Louis U. mentioned, “Okay, what is the moral?”  I would like to touch upon 3 morals to the parable. 

The first moral.  Fr. John Foley, S.J. says the moral of the parable is obvious, ‘Make the most of what you got.  On the positive side, the moral can be a positive influence in my life.  On the negative side, it might influence me to take too many risks, like with drugs, like with motorcycles, like with money.  The first two servants are lucky they did not invest their talents with Bernie Madoff. 

The second moral.  You fear, you lose.  Observation: it is okay to be afraid.  It is a normal feeling.  It may lead to prudence, which is what the third servant may be praised for.  Or it may lead to paralysis if I let it run loose.  

The third moral.  Watch out for that mean God.  The property owner is obviously a symbol for God or Christ.  What about Matthew?  Could he have been criticizing the religious authorities, who were afraid of anything new, in this case, Jesus & his message? 

Ultimately, I would propose that the symbol for God is over drawn.  It goes contrary to where we are today with our image of God, namely, my favorite line,”He is gracious and merciful; he never gets angry and is abounding in love.” 

Renovating Rita’s house was a Thanksgiving event where a lot of talents were put to good use.  How are you sensitizing yourself and preparing for Thanksgiving? 

Sources: Fr. John Foley, S.J., St. Louis U. Liturgies.

Picture 1:    Mass Begins

Picture 2:    Chloe

Picture 3:    Cole

Picture 4:    Ryan helping scrape Rita's house with his dad, Jim

Picture 5:    Rob & Mike on Rita's house

Picture 6:    Bill Hammond replacing the dead hollies with Texas Sage, which are more drought resistant   

Hooray, The Team is back from vacation!

Readings:  

 Genesis 3, 9-15,   The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree.

 Psalm 130,   With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption

 2 Corinthians 4, 13-5, 1,  We have a building from God

 Mark 3, 20-35,   Who are my mother and my brothers? 

Tori says, "Welcome back, Everybody."   And we say to you, Tori, "Welcome home from your vacation.   It is more fun when you are here."

Homily:  When Jesus Christ ascended to heaven in glory, we were not left as orphans.  The Father, through his Son, bestowed upon us his very Spirit to enable us to be Christ in the world.  Each of us has a different spiritual gift, and a different story.  But each of us has been graced, to grace others, for the glory of God.

While CC lights the candles, Georgie reads the Blessing of The Summer Candles.
 

When John and Ro, and Judy and I ate lunch or dinner with others on our cruise, we came to the table with an expectation to listen to a feast of interesting stories.  And, we were not disappointed.  In reflection, I think that the four of us were gracious and good listeners, treating each story teller with compassion.

Some evenings, and most lunches, one or more of us sat at a table with a couple that we hadn’t met before.  One lunch I sat across from two ladies who shared with me their story on how, why, and they met.  A softer voice came from the African American woman.  Both had become flight attendents for the same airline and had traveled the skys together for a couple of decades through good times and bad, those years when inappropriate language had been directed toward her best friend.  Both married years later; but every year they would find a time, such as this cruise, to be with one another.   Grace at work for the glory of God.

Mike sharing his (pleasant) memories of the 12 day trip the four of  us (he & Judy, Rosemary & I) made in and around Bordeaux, France.

One evening we introduced ourselves to a man and woman traveling together who revealed that they had been good friends since grade school, but were not married. He had never married; her husband had passed a few years before.  Recently they had sought out one another and decided to take this cruise together. You couldn’t help but feel very happy for them.

There was a woman who we invited to join us for dinner three evenings in a row.   Her husband began the trip sick and he would not leave their room until he felt well.  We daily cheered her up and on the fourth day she sat with us with her smiling husband who thanked us for watching over her.

Welcome back, John, and congratulations on finally getting your arm operated upon after the bike accident.   Is that a tazer or a weapon sticking out with the two straws?   Rumor has it there is gin & tonic in there, like pain med.

One evening the four of us sat at a table with a young man and his mother.  She was probably the happiest woman in the cruise.  She had been asked by her son to spend a week with him on this cruise. She was so happy seeing and listening to him tell stories, some about her. Tears were often in her eyes as she smiled and quietly spoke to us.   I was struck with the question, ‘Why hadn’t I taken the opportunity to take my mother, just the two of us, on a trip?’

It has been tough doing the elevations without you kids to help me out. 

Readings:

 2 Kings 4, 42-44,  “They not only ate, but had leftovers.”  

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

Ephesians 4, 1-6,   “Pour yourselves out in acts of love; and be quick to mend fences.”

Alleluia – “A great prophet has risen in our midst.”

John 6:1-15 (also in Matt 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17) – “Jesus took the bread, and having given thanks, gave it to them.”

                   Genevieve says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome."

Introduction to the readings:

The Jewish people wanted to have a king like other nations had.  Wasn’t God’s idea; the people kept demanding a king; he let them have a king.  The idea was that the kings, starting with Solomon, would represent the sovereignty of God by being good kings. 

For 500 years there were 40 or so kings, and of course they were mostly rather pitiful, a few were pretty good.  Today’s reading is from the second book of kings, so during the time when kings ruled the Jewish people, starting with Saul about 1000 years before Jesus, and ending about 500 years later with the Babylonian captivity (555). 

       Leo & Shonda, too, say, "Good Morning, Folks, Welcome."

 There were prophets and holy men before there were kings.  They are the ones who kept tabs on the kings and represented God’s take on issues. 

Today’s reading introduces Elisha, a holy man respected by Joram, king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.  This little story of Elisha feeding a crowd of 100 with 20 loaves of bread was chosen to connect with the story of the multiplication of loaves in the today’s Gospel story. And the letter to the Ephesians teaches what sharing in the meal should signify and bring about in one’s behavior.

Emma, too, says that she and her buddy welcome everyone.

HOMILY:

We have heard many times the reading about the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish.  This is the only miracle story repeated in all four Gospels. 

How appropriate that feeding those needing food was the best miracle story known; it could be told today with equal impact.  I forget the stats, but it’s millions of people, including children, who are hungry every day and without food (who knows the number or percent). 

                  Harper says she thinks it is fun being here.

Also in each of these four repetitions of the story, there is a formula or ritual stated: “Jesus raised his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to his disciples.”

So first, the story is a story about Jesus performing a miracle, which is how writers in those days made someone ‘famously big’ or a ‘god to be reckoned with’. 

Secondly, this story was well known, since all four Gospel writers or compilers used it. 

And thirdly, one line in the story became part of the shared meal starting with early Christians all the way down to today. 

            Victoria having just too much fun with her mom.

The reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, liturgically, seems to teach what flows from sharing in this ritual meal.  And his answer is unity, recognizing that we are called to be one body, united in love.  Paul describes our call from God as pouring yourself out for each other in acts of love, accepting other’s differences and being quick to forgive.

 Three questions to mull over: 

In your family (at home, here, friends group) how do you see acts of love being shared, and differences accepted?  

How quick are you to mend fences and forgive one another? 

Do you make the connection between sharing bread here at Mass, and experiencing connection and oneness with others in your everyday life?

Genevieve, who has learned already from previous Sundays how to turn it off, says, "Wake me up when the fun begins."