Sunday Homily 8-22-10, 21st Ordinary Time

Readings: Deuteronomy 11, 18-32; Psalm 31, Lord, be my Rock of Safety; 2 Corinthians 5, 20-6, 2; Matthew 6, 1-6, 16-18. 

Deuteronomy, some observations:

 What:

1.  5^th book of the Bible, last book of the Torah.

2.  A farewell discourse by Moses after 40 years in the desert. He will not, but the Jewish people are about to enter what they called their promised land, a place occupied by the Canaanites, who will be killed and displaced by the Jews.

 
 

 

 Author: not Moses.  Rather, some teachers and political leaders of the people already in Jerusalem.

 Dates: Some material seems to come from before the Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel.  So about 750 years before Christ.  It seems to have other material and to have been stitched together as one piece after the Babylonian Captivity.  Therefore, around 550 before Christ.

 Subject: Yahweh has saved his special people and blessed them.  To continue this blessing, obey.  Otherwise, you know what.

 Today’s Subject: there is a blessing & a curse.  Obey the laws & be blessed; disobey & be cursed. 

 Sources: Good News Bible; The New Interpreter’s Study Bible; Wikipedia, St. Louis U. Liturgies.

  

Is My House Built on Sand?

 Because of Leo’s baptism I want to say just a word about Matthew’s main lesson. 

 Do you own a house in the Dallas area?  Is your house built on rock?  No!  It is built on black clay soil, about as solid as sand.

 Some years ago my mom & I had a couple of foundation companies give us an estimation on fixing our 1950 pier & beam foundation.  One company said they would not touch the place. 

 

 If I put a pen on a certain angle on my computer desk, it will roll right off.  The tile on the outer wall of my bathroom is squishing because the wall is sinking faster than the bathroom.

 I would suggest that we are all built on black clay soil or sand.  Sorry Matthew.  Specifically, we all fail, we have our obsessions & addictions, we have our fears.  We are still accepted!

 

 If this is not the point of God’s acceptance of us, I do not know what is. 

 This reminds me of Jimmy Johnson’s boast about the Cowboys, “They don’t just talk the talk; they walk the walk.”  This is cute macho talk when you win.  Were the Cowboys this past year just losers?  No, not really. 

 
 

 The positive side of the lesson is that we are challenged to be what we used to get drummed into us as young Jesuits, Renaissance Men (or Women).  In other words, I try to be fully alive, physically, intellectually, and psychologically/spiritually healthy & active.  A person of self discipline & moderation.

 Good old Lent arrives Wednesday.  Where is your foundation weak? 

 Picture 1:   Leo welcoming everyone to his baptism

 Picture 2:   Baptism, Teresa & John, Ray & Shonda, and Leo

 Picture 3:   The baptism

 Picture 4:    Old Geezers, Myron Hubble & Bill Poncik

 Picture 5:    Justin & Ashley with the grandparents, Jean & Cliff      

 

Readings:

Wisdom   2, 7-11,  I prayed and prudence was given to me.

Psalm 90,    Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy.

Hebrews  4, 12-13, The word of God is living and effective.

Mark 10, 17-30,  It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom.

 

"Hi, Everybody," says Genevieve, "Welcome to my baptism.  This is my mom, Mary, and my grandmom, Jill."

 

Wisdom:

Date of Composition: 100-200 BCE, which is why it is considered significant.  It provides a glimpse into the cultural & social milieu which prevailed just before & during the time of Christ.   We had Wisdom for our first reading 3 weeks ago.

Place of Composition: Alexandria, Egypt.

The Composer: a Jew who wrote educated Greek.

Unique Quality: Wisdom is one of a set of 12 (or 14) books written in Greek considered not part of the original 39 books of the Hebrew Bible, the O.T.  This blew up around 350 CE when St. Jerome, one of the Fathers of the Early Church, i.e., a church leader who influenced a lot of church dogma, said the books were not genuine.   He was opposed by St. Augustine.  It was the Council of Trent (ca. 1550), that declared the 12 books okay.  Another person doubting the validity of the books was Martin Luther. 

Rich, Ray's dad, and Jill and George, Mary's parents, with The Queen.

 

You probably won’t find these books in the Protestant Bibles.

Our Selection in Chapter 7: the book of Wisdom generally says that good guys get rewarded by God, bad guys don’t.  This selection personifies the virtue of wisdom, using the feminine pronoun she, and praises her as above all other values & pleasures.  I loved her even more than health or beauty, the composer declares.

 Sources: The Good News Bible, Got Bible Questions on line.

 

                         Genevieve's moment has arrived.

 

Mark, an observation

I do not want to talk about the Gospel this morning, but I would like to give you a head's up about one line, It being easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye than for the rich to enter the kingdom.

1.  I've been there and done what it says.   I am left with the belief that we don't have to be so hard on ourselves.  We are talking about infinite demand.  Balance that with infinite acceptance.

2.  Change the perspective.  Instead of the infinite demand focused on saving my soul for eternity, focus on the kingdom being present tense. Peace is the kingdom now.  Do we often push ourselves to achieve a goal in this life?  And with the goal do we experience peace?  I experienced peace in going to East Africa even though it tore my heart out to leave my mom and friends.

 

              "Robert, Ray, where have you seen God most recently?"

 

Don’t Judge that Book by the Cover

I did it again, Folks.  I judged the book by the cover.  In fact, I did not realize I was doing it.  The book, the German People living during the 3^rd Reich and the War.   

This is not saying that I had not met some marvelous Germans when I worked in Tanzania.  In fact, I even visited two German medical sisters in their homes on my various home visits.  One lived in Bonn, the former capital while Germany was divided.  The other lived in Cologne, which we visited this past trip on the Rhine. 

 

               "When I saw this perfect little girl this morning."

 

There was a series of insights into the German people on this journey, but in particular there was one Sunday afternoon in a little town called Speyer.  We had docked overnight, been toured around the town in the morning, and then the afternoon we were free.  Around 6:00 we would depart Speyer. 

Rosemary was pooped, so I told her I would just walk over to the plaza in front of the church and look around.  I had walked around for maybe an hour when I decided to simply sit on a park bench in the shade and watch the people.  It was a beautiful, contemplative afternoon for me.

 

                Today, even the gorilla gets a hug from Kevin.

 

In the park I was struck by the simple family enjoyment, parents with kids and people with dogs.  Europe is very dog friendly.  Rosemary & I saw three elderly ladies seated at an outdoor coffee shop, and the fourth seat, a little white poodle.  The dog was very well trained and polite.

The little town of Speyer was also neat and clean and people had red geraniums in almost every window sill.  I saw this in every German town and city.

 

It takes preparation, bread, wine, readers, and song books, and Jan coordinates is all.

 

On top of this, Germany is just drop dead beautiful, as Ron A. has told me repeatedly.  Green, hilly, forested, and dotted with these lovely towns. 

I have a bad habit of judging the book by the cover.  This is the first time I discovered that I have judged a whole people.  I had been shifting, I admit, because Rosemary has been feeding me these gripping novels about the conscientious German during the Reich. 

 

                                   Ray & Leo, dad & son.

 

 

How to survive if you disagreed with the program, when even a word overheard by a person could get you reported, visited in the night by the S.S., and then sent to a death camp.   There were a number of priests and Jesuits who encountered this.

 

                 Cupcake of the Week to Angela on her birthday.

 

I have come to see how I have been judging this book by its cover, the German people.

What is the book you are judging by its cover?

 

                        Not only does Jan coordinate everything.

 

Readings: Revelation 7, 2-14; Psalm 24, Lord, this is The People that longs to see Your Face; 1 John 3, 1-3; Matthew 5, 1-12

All Saints: intro & a brief history

  

Intro: 3 feasts—

      

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

   All Souls: those who have not achieved the beatific vision and are considered paying for their sins in purgatory.

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

 

 

  

History in 2 parts: the Western Catholic Church & the Eastern Catholic Church

    

The West: 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 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.

 

 

The East:

  

Year 900, the Byzantine Emperor Leo the Wise had a beloved, devout wife, Theophano.  She died & Leo built a church which he intended to dedicate to her.  The religious authorities said no, so he dedicated it to All Saints, assuming his wife to be among the saints.

   

Note:  later, three big events happen:

  a.  Crusade #4, on its way to fight the Muslims in the Holy Land, captures and wrecks Constantinople, ca. 1200.  J.P. II apologizes for this in 2004. 

  b.  Ottoman Turks or Muslims capture Constantinople, 1450 and rename it Istanbul.  It is Muslim to today.

  c.  Post 1540, Rome condemns Easter Catholic church as schismatic over theological disputes, i.e., the nature of Jesus.

 

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

 

Special Poems for All Saints:

SMILE BECAUSE THEY LIVED (Jackie McGrath)

You can shed tears because he is gone

Or you can smile because he lived.

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

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

Your heart can be empty, because you can’t see him

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 he has gone

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

You can weep, and close your mind,

Be empty and turn back,

Or you can do what he would want –

Open your eyes, smile, love and go on.

DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL (Geri to read)

Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other
That we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes
We enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me,
Let my name be ever the household word that
It always was.

Let it be spoken without effort,
Without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of mind because I am
Out of sight? I am but waiting for you
For an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner .
All is well.

Today's Saint

Know any saints around here?  I told the story of Mother Teresa recently and propose that she is a saint.  Trouble is, I look at her and think her example is quite a bit out of my reach.  I have a story that may be more in reach.

This guy is 44 years old.  His name is Adam.  A year ago he was 70 pounds overweight.  He took medication for blood pressure, he took cholesterol meds, he even had to use a breathing machine to sleep sometimes.  He had tried to lose the weight a million times, he says, but never really put his whole spirit into the project. 

This is one aspect of being poor in spirit.  This is what it means to take up thy cross and follow The Man. 

His dad who died some years ago of heart disease had told him that if you believe in your project you can sell anything.  The guy says he did not believe in his product any more, the product being himself.  Even though he had a marvelous wife, Trayce, and two young kids, he could not move.

Then one day Adam had one of those moments.  He is a doctor and caught himself telling one of his patients that they should more carefully monitor their weight.  The patient responded, "You know, doctor, I'm not the only one who needs to lose weight."  In one way a body slam, in another a wake up call.  A beatific vision?

For Adam it was a wake up.  He realized suddenly that he had to turn his life around for his patients, for Trayce, for their kids, and for The Product, himself. 

He joined Weight Watchers.  He started walking 30 minutes a day.  Ounce by ounce the 70 pounds began to come off.  He joined a running class and found an Adam he had never known.  He even began to rise at 4:00 A.M. to join an early morning running group.

One evening while he was on line he came across information about The Marathon.  The one going on right this minute.  It said that if you collected money for a charity you could register for the marathon, 26 miles.  At that moment he decided he could collect the money and that he would run the marathon.  He was so pumped he ran in to tell Trayce. 

At this moment, this man, Dr. Adam Kaplan, has lost his 70 pounds, has renewed belief in The Product, and is with our own beloved Tom Fleming.  They are running the New York Marathon, all 26 miles. 

I found this Adam Kaplan story in The Dallas Morning News, Tuesday. 

Why is Dr. Kaplan for me a member of the All Saints Team?  And all of you?  Take a guess, take two guesses.

Source: The Dallas Morning News, Tuesday, Oct. 27, p. 12E, Healthy Living section

Picture 1:  All Saints Celebration with Wendy & Ben

Picture 2:  Chloe dancing to the music

Picture 3:  Birthday Man, Rob

Picture 4:  Our Father

Picture 5:  Birthday Man, John hugged by Sabrina, his daughter

Picture 6:  The Community

 

Readings: Zephaniah 2, 3-3, 12-13; Psalm 146, Blessed are the Poor in Spirit; the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs; 1 Corinthians 1, 26-31; Matthew 5, 1-12 

 

Zephaniah observations:

 The 3 chapters of the little book of Zephaniah were compose about 600 years before Christ.  Therefore, he is writing shortly before the Babylonian defeat of Jerusalem and the Captivity.  Because of the book’s shortness Zephaniah is considered one of the 12 minor prophets. 

His theme is the prophetic line:

            1. You people are bad.

            2.  You people will be punished by Yahweh.

            3.  You people, after being punished, will return to a happy place.

 

Today’s selection focuses more on how the humble of spirit will pasture their flocks with no one to disturb them. 

 The psalm & Matthew today both focus on how the poor in spirit will be happy, receiving the kingdom of heaven.

 I am struck that in the readings there is a quality of wishful thinking.  For example, in the psalm,  the lord sets captives free, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry, and raises up the bowed down. 

 I can see someone skeptically asking me, “Stack, are you crazy.  You believe this really happens?  Look at history.”  I would like to talk about this in the homily.

 

Poor in Spirit?  Get Real!

 You remember last Thanksgiving when about 35 of us went to help feed the homeless for LifeNet?  Well, while I was helping out, I liked to go around and chat up the people at different tables.

 At one table during the second or third seating over by the windows opposite the side door I ran into 3 elderly white, nicely dressed little ladies.  Folks, they absolutely reminded me of my mother, who would have been mortified to have been eating there. 

 

The ladies were quite friendly, obviously educated, and lived in Richardson.  Were they homeless?  Were they without money, social security, family?  I only knew that they would not have been there had not LifeNet vetted them as being authentically in need. 

 My heart went out to these ladies and I mention them this morning as a lead into the notion that blessed are the poor in spirit, the kingdom of heaven is theirs.  This statement strikes me as really precarious.

 I would propose that there is a healthy and an unhealthy poverty of spirit.  The poverty of these 3 ladies is unhealthy, spirit killing, depressing.  Unemployment, homelessness, all kill the spirit.

 The same is true of Larry Sims, the 60 year old black man exonerated Friday of a crime for which he has spent 25 years in jail.  DNA proof.  Can you imagine being put in jail for 25 years of your life for something you did not do?  I think I would be mad, bitter.  The amazing reality is that these men are all accepting, forgiving, and grateful.  They humble & amaze me. 

 The same was true of the 3 little ladies.

 

 Mr. Sims is number 35 exonerated in Dallas according to my buddy & old classmate Tony Levatino who helps these men adjust to their new life through Holy Trinity Parish down on Oak Lawn.

 This unhealthy poverty of spirit has been so common down through our history as humans.  Suffering has characterized so many lives.  Slavery, holocausts, genocides, wars.

 I have spent my life attempting to raise up people in this poverty.  We are doing it in this community. 

 What then is healthy poverty of spirit?  From my perspective it is two things: acceptance and gratitude.  This brings about peace of spirit.

 I am astounded, but Mr. Sims and the 3 ladies seemed to have acceptance and gratitude.  I do know others who were dying of depression or discouragement.

 

 Can a person work through the unhealthy poverty of spirit to the peace of acceptance & gratitude?  Apparently so. 

 On a scale of 1-10, where is your poverty of spirit, your acceptance and gratitude?

Picture 1:   Mass with Kevin helping

Picture 2:   Emma walking

Picture 3:   Georgie & her sister Zoe

Picture 4:   Zoe with her dad, Randolph & grandmom, Bernadette

Picture 5:   Michelle, the mother of Georgie & Zoe, with Torri & Buddy, the twins, and Gilberto, Michelle's dad

 

  

 

 

Welcome to the beautiful colors of Advent & Fall in Dallas.

 

Readings:

Isaiah, 11, 1-10,  On that day the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb. (a beautiful reading)

 Psalm 72,  Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever.

 Romans 15, 4-9,  Welcome one another as Christ welcomed you.

 Matthew, 3, 1-12,   John the Baptist appeared preaching in the desert.

 

Welcome, Everybody.

 

Observations on the Isaiah and the Matthew selections.

These two reading today have a sort of ying & yang quality to them.  Isaiah is looking for peace while Matthew talks about John the Baptist, who does not specialize in peace.  

You will find the selection from Isaiah (this is Isaiah 1) to be a beautiful dream about peace.  He even looks at the animal kingdom for peace.  Watch how Isaiah enters into this theme when he talks about the wolf.

And what was John's message?  You better behave and repent or you are going to get it.

So how do you you reconcile the reading from Matthew with a
God who loves unconditionally? 

 

Happy Engagement, Carrie & Paul.

 

In place of our usual homily today we have invited one of the men from Souls Harbor so share his journey of recovery.  

 

Ha!  I caught you, Beth.  Swiping pastries before the kids and I can get there.  Sure, you think I believe that you brought those.

Readings:

Isaiah 50, 4-9, I gave my back to those who beat me.

Psalm 116,    I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living.

James 2, 1-5, 14-18,  What good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Mark 8, 27-35, Take up your cross.

 

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

 

Isaiah:  observations

What is it about: 1^st, 2^nd, & 3^rd Isaiah?

1^st Isaiah, Chapters 1-39: predict doom for the Hebrews because they have not been faithful to their one god.  

2^nd Isaiah, Chapters 40-55:  this & the remaining chapters are called The Book of Consolation.  They try to assure the people who are now in exile that God will restore them to their former glory & peace.  In fact, in chapter 45 the composer even mentions the name of Cyrus, the king of the Persians who defeats Babylon & sends the Hebrews back to Jerusalem.  So the composer knew of Cyrus and a date can be narrowed down.

 

           Sienna, too, and her dolly, welcome everybody.

 

This 2^nd  Isaiah section presents 4 suffering servant songs, #3 being our selection today.  Jews see the servant to be the Hebrew people/nation.  Christians see the servant to be Christ. 

Isaiah 2 is considered maybe the most influential O.T. book.  On Isaiah 2 Mark built much of his gospel, especially the story of the crucifixion.

Handel's Messiah uses 2nd Isaiah for its lyrics.

3^rd Isaiah, Chapter 56-66: more assurances of a return to peace & glory.

 

Victoria would like everyone to know that she and her pet frog are also happy to see everybody.

 

 Mark: observation

I do not like the line in Mark where he says we have to take up our cross.  I have seen the negative result of this.  Which is not to imply that we do not have to struggle to reach goals, like, say, 175 lbs.  

 

 

                           Happiness is Victoria and her frog.

 

The 3 Beauties

This morning I would like to talk with you about 3 beauties I encountered the past ten days in Yosemite. 

The first beauty has to do with the spectacular scenery we walk through, up, and down.  We are ranging from, say, 7 thousand feet up to and beyond tree line, which is 10 thousand feet.  The Lodgepole Pines, the grassy meadows, the streams, the vistas from three 10 thousand foot passes, all take my breath away. 

 

                 Zoe says, "How about this Sigler, pretty nice."

 

This beauty is what brings me back time and again to the mountains, and especially to the Matterhorn Canyon trail that I discovered with the Jesuits maybe 20 years ago.

The second beauty is the memories I have of camping in the same places six, eight, or ten times in my life.  At two places I was actually moved to tears. 

 

      Emma and Sienna are experts at nurturing little critters.

 

At the foot of Matterhorn Canyon there is a gorgeous campsite.  You cross a shallow stream and on the left of the trail there is a pretty grove of trees and a grassy meadow in front of the grove. 

I probably camped here 3-4 times, until we realized we wanted to get higher up the Canyon so we had less climbing to cross over Burrow Pass.  I walked through the campsite with Mike and I could remember where I had put my tent one below freezing night.  I could remember our fire ring and a tussle the group had once over one guy eating all the group’s peanut butter.

 

                    "Harper, it does not get prettier than this."

 

I remembered a night the first time I camped there with a Jesuit friend who taught at Berkeley.  We had eaten dinner and were sitting around a campfire when a female deer came up behind me and put her head on my right shoulder.  I was stunned, but not scared.  Don Gelpi, my friend, had watched it all without saying a word.  Don Gelpi is now dead and I missed him there.

Another campsite, my most favorite of all my campsites in the world, Piute Creek, just after coming over the Burrow Pass.  It has the required creek.  But it is spacious and off the trail enough so that people cannot even see the spot.  It is grassy and shady.

 

                   Brandon and Leo at serious attention.

 

I camped in the same place where 6 years ago Tom & Lynda Fleming put up their tent, with Daniel’s tent just in front.  I remembered all sorts of people there, Poncik, Gene Cooley, Larry Pigeon, Beth & Rob, Ryan Malphurs, Paul Fulce, and Ron Kovatis, as well as the Jesuits.    I could see Fulce and Kovatis smoking cigars in a natural pool in the stream.  These memories touch me to tears. 

 

 

 

                 Music at Sigler Elementary, beautiful as ever.

 

The third beauty: the people I was with.  You may find it hard to see beauty in people like Ray and Mike, but Beth was there.  The beauty was the consideration each person showed for others.  Ray was always up first in the morning ca. 6:00.  He would fire up our little camp stove and heat water for coffee and oat meal.  Many a morning I got up, got my cup, my Starbuck’s instant coffee, and my MooMoo milks, and had my first cup of coffee of the day.  Ray also called the time for happy hour and cooked the evening meal prepared ahead of time by Rose Banzhaf.

 

            Genevieve, "Is that old geezer finished talking yet?"

 

As an aside, we ate exceptionally well.  Rose fixes casseroles and cobblers, freeze dries them, puts them in sealed packages, and we break out one set each evening.  Plus, I must confess, we have a half pound of cheese, maybe a piece of dark chocolate, and a pint of Jack Daniels. 

Mike & Andy, because they both have nimble feet, often helped me across slippery streams.  No way do I want to fall and mess up one of my special hips. 

 

 

             "Emma, please tell me that you too are not sleeping                             when I talk."

 

Three priceless beauties, nature, memories, and companions. 

Your priceless beauties?