Sunday Homily 8-15-10, Assumption

Readings: Hosea, 6, 3-6; Psalm 50; Romans 4, 18-25; Matthew 9,9-13; plus a good Alleluia verse, Luke 4, 18, about which I would like to speak.

Hosea: as with most of the prophets, Hosea is disturbed by the infidelity & behavior of the Hebrews.  He tells them how bad they are and warns them that their bad ways will have consequences.  Yahweh will punish them.  He lives about 700 years B.C. & worked the area of the north, called Israel or Galilee.

Me Bring Glad Tidings to the Poor?

Many of you, I am sure, have your favorite auto mechanic.  And if you don't, you probably wish you did.  Rosemary & I have an Italian Catholic family, the Lucidos, who run One Stop.  Trouble with it is that it is a little distance, near 35 & Royal. 

In Richardson there is another of these reliable mechanics.  I don't know the man, but he has a reputation of being reliable, dependable, reasonable with his prices, and a curmudgeon.  A grump, a no patience, no compliments, non-smiler. 

A family I know who has lived in Richardson forever has believed in this mechanic.  The family has raised three kids who are now grown up and at least into their 20's.  As is the case in so many families, one of the kids, the oldest boy, has had his troubles migrating from adolescence into adulthood.  In and out of school, not able to find what he wanted to do, hanging with friends who likewise could not find their way. 

In the past couple of years, this boy finally married, had some kids, and actually graduated from college.  I think this was his first year to teach in special ed.  It looked like the kid was really putting his life together and going somewhere.

In the spring the boy had car trouble and naturally he took his trouble to the family mechanic.  All went well and the car was fixed for a reasonable price. 

A few days later the father got a call from the curmudgeon mechanic.  What do you think he was calling to say? 

"I am calling," he said, "to compliment you on your son."  The mechanic who never gives compliments and who had known and followed the son through his growing pains, said the boy had turned out marvelously, courteous, friendly, saying "Yes, sir," & "No, sir," and was really a pleasure to be around. 

I think dad just about fainted dead on the phone.

I tell this story because it exemplifies one approach to "The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor."  A marvelous line.  For three reasons.

     We are all the poor and need to hear glad tidings.  We are less than we want to be, we hurt others, we fail in business and in sports, we fail as spouses, as parents, as priests.   Then along comes glad tidings: "I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.  Pretty good news for us sinners.

   The Lord sends Me to bring glad tidings, good news, compliments.  The Richardson curmudgeon mechanic brought happy tidings to a father who could have felt rather poverty stricken over the years as a parent.  This is one of the main motivations I work as a priest & therapist.

   The result of the glad tidings is greater inner peace–for the person who receives the gift and for the person who brings it.  Certainly the father felt greater peace and probably the mechanic felt a peace.

With whom do you share glad tidings & how?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-06-08.mp3

Exodus 24, 3-8, Moses came to the people.

Psalm 116, I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord

Hebrews 9, 11-15, He is mediator of a new covenant.

Mark 14, Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?

Snoopy

 

Thanks……

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers, Denni & Tom, & Buddy, our candle blesser

Gospel, Deacon Mike Carrell

Homily,  Mike Carrell

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,    Mike and Hue and David

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

Look at who is out and about!  Good work, Marilyn!

 

Readings for Trinity Sunday

Download 06-06-21 Readings Corpus Christi

 

 

 

Can we trust these ladies out!

 

Remember these special people:

For Alan Stryker;    For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   For Esparza's new great grandson baby, son of Monique & Frank with shingles;  For all the medical personnel struggling to treat the tsunami of sick people, in particular, locally, Cindy's staff at Presby, Dallas, and at Frisco Presby, the mother of Harper and Betsy, Kendle, working in labor & delivery, and for Hue & Linda's daughter, Doctor Rosemary Beavers;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, The Woodlands,   For Loretta's aunt Alicia;  For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody &  Leo & all of Shonda's dear family; For Ursuline Sr. Mary Troy, 

 

Happy 89th, Dearest Mabel!   And for Billy, too (playing golf!).

 

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.; For Meredith, cancer free & John Schanot;    For John O'Donnell & Jean;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa;  For Anthony & Sabrina;    For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's mother in law, Kalliopi Piskiouli and Lambrini, plus John's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little 4 month old baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; For Beth's friends & brother;   for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

A special welcome Diane!

 

Birthdays:   Brent, Bill Ekes, 65, Allison DeGenova, Mary Esparza

Anniversaries:     Mike Carrell's ordination, 1978

 

Community Finances,   June 6, 2021

Expenses: $650.00

Outreach: $

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Rosemary sharing her Blessing of the Week.

 

Rosemary's Blessing

Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars.
Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings.
Now, think.
What delight God gives to humankind
with all these things. . . .
All nature is at the disposal of humankind.
We are to work with it.

For without we cannot survive.

 

Hildegard of Bingen (September 16, 1098 – September 17, 1179)

 

 

Peace, Everybody!

 

 

 

From Jim & John, "Welcome in, Everybody." 

 

Readings:

Ecclesiastes, 1,2; 2, 21-23,  Pretty pessimistic.  Author having a bad day?

Psalm 90, If today you hear his voice, harden not you hearts.  

Colossians 3, 1-5, 9-11,  Think of what is above, not of what is on earth

Luke 12, 13-21,  There was a rich man

 

 

So good to have you back, Dee, especially looking so good.

 

The First reading from Ecclesiastes reminds us that when a person passes he or she can’t take any of their worldly things with them.

Our Second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Colossians reminds us that greed is idolatry; for it is a love of wealth; rather than a love of God.

 

Good Morning, Patricia!

 

Homily on the Gospel reading:

 

Here in Chapter 12 of Luke, a nondescript man comes to Jesus seeking a favorable decision regarding some inheritance that he is hoping to receive from his older brother. Jesus used this event to address the crowd with the wisdom to be on guard against all forms of greed.

 

 

 

Watch out for this crazy guy, Everybody.  I knew him way back when he was a nice little high school, kid.

 

Following Jesus’ advice the older brother has put their extended family in mind.  He will not allow himself or his younger brother to fail in their responsibility to put their extended family ahead of their desire for possessions.   The older brother had taken a course of action to enhance the harvest from their father’s land.

 

 

 

Three of the Candle Lighting Team, Zoe, Tori, & Georgie.

 

Now, there is nothing more in Luke’s chapter 12 about the relationship between the younger man and his older brother; however Luke has no intention of forgetting about them!  Each of the gospels form two complementary stories.   We will encounter the brothers again in a chapter 15! There, the younger son said to his father, “give me the share of the inheritance that would come to me.  The father divided the inheritance between them…and a few days later the younger brother took his inheritance with him to a foreign land where he squandered it on riotous living.

 

 

 

Mike homilizing on the Luke gospel.

 

Recall that when the prodigal son came home asking to be forgiven, the story did not end. Is there a story like this in your immediate family? Harden not your hearts.

 

 

 

Married life: carry your cross??

 

 

 

 

 

 

Readings:

Wisdom 12, 13, 16-19,   You judge with clemency

Psalm 86,   Lord, you are good and forgiving.

1 Corinthians 3, 6-8,  the one who plants and the one who waters each have one purpose.  

Matthew 13, 1-23,  Kingdom Parables

  

Homily by Mike

Recall the Responsorial response that we sang together last Sunday, ‘The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest."  Of course, the sower of the seed is the Lord who sows the Word of God.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit that seed becomes alive within our hearts.  So, we are likened to the fertile soil that receives the seed to be shared with others by word and example.

I commend you for doing just that, for we have gathered here today to be fertile soil with and for one another.  Led by the Spirit we have come to nourish one another with hymns, sacred psalms and prayer with a meal of fish and bread: The Liturgy of the Word and Eucharist.

 

 

When we entered through those open doors, we were greeted by; a stanza of psalm and the tuning of guitar; those being chosen to present the Scriptures; bite sized bread being made ready for the meal, along with grape juice that is a metaphor for the Holy Spirit being poured out for all; early pictures being taken for the blog; the altar being covered with table cloth and candles, sweet bread and coffee being placed on the back tables for fellowship after Mass; and hugs given to John and Ro and to those who have not taken seat yet.

 

 

The opening hymn announced the coming of the procession of those assigned to the Table, both young and old.  We sit to reflect on where we are and why.  John welcomes everyone, visitors by name first…which he has written on a small piece of paper, if necessary.  We become aware of the status of those who have or are about to have surgery; those who we will visit; or send a card; or bring dinner.

 

And we will join our hands and hearts as fertile soil to live the Lord’s prayer to bring about the kingdom of God here and now and grant one another with a sign of Christ’s peace in the unity to which we have been called.  Children are invited to the Table, visitors as well, all are invited for God has no favorites. ‘ We love each person here as Christ has and does love each of us.’  We are brothers and sisters. 

 

 

We are anointed with the sacred oil, for together, we are the fertile soil, who forgives others as God has forgiven us.   We smile, one and all, granting young and old happy birthday or anniversary with a simple small cut of cake.  Alleluia, Deacon Mike

 

 

 

 Readings: Deuteronomy 8, 2-16; Psalm 147, Praise the Lord, Jerusalem; 1 Corinthians 10, 16-17; John 6, 51-58

 

 Intro to Readings 

Our first reading today is from the Book of Deuteronomy, last week it was from the Book of Exodus.  These books are part of what is known as the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament.  They are also referred to as the Torah, or the Five Books of Moses.  They are considered the most important books in Jewish tradition and are the most quoted in the New Testament.  The first four books describe the creation of the world right down to the time when the Israelites are paused at the Jordan River, before they cross over into the Promised Land.  Deuteronomy, the last of these books, is best described as three big sermons of Moses. Our reading today is from the second sermon and in it we have Moses reminding the people of all the great things that Yahweh did for them, by saving them from the Pharaoh, and leading them thru the desert, even though that last piece took 40 years!  They could have used a GPS!  The reading today has two short pieces to it and will sound repetitious.  The reason is that the book was compiled over hundreds of years and from many sources and in those days, consistency was not as important as making sure that tradition was included! 

 

Body and Blood of Christ – Homily

 Today our focus is really on what happened on Holy Thursday, at the Last Supper.  The church has chosen to have us focus on that event today, now that we are past all of the events of Easter.  What did happen at that Last Supper?  It was “the event” which seems somehow to have defined the early community after the death of Jesus.  For some reason, that meal, and really many of the meals with Jesus, took on significance beyond the normal meaning.  For people in that part of the world then, a meal was an expression of hospitality.  And we ourselves know that sometimes meals can take on a special significance, whether it is due to the circumstances of the meal, or who we're dining with. 

 
 

For the early community the events of that Last Supper took on huge significance.  We first hear about it in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, where we find the very familiar phrases, which we still hear today in our Eucharist.  “While they were at supper he took bread and broke it, gave it to them and said, take and eat, this is my body”.  That bread and that wine is what united and defined the early church, and it is still today how we are defined.  Nowhere is the cross the focus of the early community, it is the meal.

We know that food is nourishment for our bodies.  The food we eat, gives us energy to go out and do things.  In taking the bread and wine and giving it to us at the Last Supper, he changed the whole value of the food.  The community was to continue His presence in the world by seeing this bread and wine as Jesus.  And by eating and drinking this bread and wine, as Paul puts it, Jesus was in Paul and living thru Paul.  Like wise, by the action we go thru here each Sunday we are inviting Jesus into our lives and then going out and spreading the Good News.  The effects of Jesus in us, “it is no longer I but Christ who lives in me”, says Paul to the Corinthians.

 

 If we reflect that for the Jews, the first covenant with Yahweh was sealed with the Ten Commandments.  This new covenant was sealed by Christ’s death and resurrection, but symbolized in the meal.  By eating the bread and drinking the wine, Jesus enters into our lives.  The question now is “what effect that has on our lives”?  For the early Christians it caused others to say of them, “see how they love”.  There are consequences to what we do here; we need to see our participation in this meal, as in some way remaining with us as we go about our lives for the week ahead.  We say that the bread and wine are changed, what we can also say is that, by our participation, we too are changed. 

 

 But the effects of eating the bread and drinking the wine involve our active participation, Jesus is not going to take over our lives, we need to welcome Him into our lives.  This is not an invasion but an extension of hospitality.  As we share the bread and wine today, let us make sure that we are open to welcoming and living our lives as a people of God, allowing God to be present in His kingdom here on earth.

Picture 1:   Tony beginning Mass

Picture 2:   Offertory, Erin & Chuck

Pciture 3:   Cole, the son of Erin & Chuck, with his grandmom, Diane

Picture 4:   Shonda slipping away from weekend duty with Kent Messer and Jon Waldron

Picture 5:   Anniversaries Brunch

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 10, 34-43; Psalm 118, This is the The Day the Lord has made, let us & Rejoice and be Glad; Corinthians 5, 6-8; John 20, 1-9. 

Acts observations—(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 the way they wished things were. 

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

 

Easter Life All Around Us

 I had an Easter Event happen to me recently.  The event took place on a bus.  Bus number 64.   An ordinary bus and not an ordinary bus.  It is a Parisian bus that runs from the Eiffel Tower on the west and what is called the left bank, through the historic center of Paris, for example the Louvre & Notre Dame, over the river Seine to the right bank, to a beautiful park near the former location of the Bastille on the east side. 

 I am on this bus at about 6:00 P.M., rush hour.    I have caught the bus going in the direction of the Eiffel Tower, where Rosemary, Mary Ellen & I have a small hotel.  I caught the bus just after it crossed the Seine.  The bus is pretty full and I am able to get into my favorite nook, a place I can stand next to the window on the left side, half way down the bus, across from the exit. 

 Three events occur on this bus that make it an Easter event for me. 

 First, we are moving in heavy traffic on a four lane street, one way street which will divide into two right & two left.  The bus is going right & is in the middle lane.  On the left side of the bus is a black Mercedes.  He is in the middle lane going left, but wants to go right like we are.  The bus is in the way.  The driver knows he is there & what he wants to do.

 What do you think he did?  To heighten the drama, the Mercedes has a German license plate.   Remember, France was defeated and occupied by Germans in WW II. 

 I am watching all this. 

 What the bus driver did was stop and let the German Mercedes go in front of him.  I was rather stunned.

 

 Next, secondly, a white woman in her 40’s gets on and works her way down the aisle which is full mostly of men & young people.  Ahead of me and on the opposite side of the bus are 4 seats facing the aisle, each with a man seated. 

 After a couple of moments the youngest, a guy about 19-22 gets up and offers the lady his seat.  He is self conscious.  He is Arab or North African.  The lady declines and he returns to his seat. 

 Again I am moved by the simple goodness of a person.

 

 So what do I do? This is the third thing.   I want to go over and hug this kid.  I’m thinking I should say something.  I start memorizing 2-3 sentences in French.  The bus is filling so that the aisle is packed between us.  I am beginning to have doubt.  These French speakers will think I am a stupid American trying to use French. 

 Suddenly I notice I have missed my stop.  I have to reach through the crowd.  I press the button.  I know I have a three block wait, so I plunge into the crowd, get to the kid, and tell him he did something good.  I am happy with him.  Everyone looks up and the kid smiles, sheepishly. 

 I jump off the bus.  I feel exultant. 

 

 There are Easter events & Easter people all around us, folks.  It is like our Great Easter Egg Hunt.  What is your Easter event?

 Picture 1:    Easter Mass Beginning      

 Picture 2:    One Family Offertory, Christine, her daughter, Megan, grandmother Diane, & Chris's sister D'Arcy

 Picture 3:    Kids' Korner

 Picture 4:    Believe it or not, the Quads

 Picture 5:    The Great Easter Egg Hunt