Sunday Homily 1-31-10, 4th Ordinary Time

Readings:

1 Kings 3:5, 7-12,  Give your servant an understanding heart.  

Psalm 119,   Lord, I love your commands.

Romans 8,  28-30,  We know that all things work for good for those who love God…

Matthew 13, 44-52,  Kingdom Parables

 

Kevin and John ready to start Mass.

                                               

Homily:

 

We heard of Solomon’s call to be king of people of God

We heard in Paul’s Letter our call to be “conformed to the image of Jesus” 

And we heard in Matthew the parables about putting the treasure buried in a field and the pearl of great price ahead of everything else we could have.

                                                                                                             

The Offertory helpers, Bill, Paul and Carrie.

                                                        

Our word for today is asking how we hear our call and how do we answer our call?

I remember the answer I was given growing up (long long ago), hearing it in sermons and in weekend retreats at Grand Coteau, Louisiana. We were told that we are called to be holy and holiness was presented as perfection— You know the quote from Matthew: “Be you perfect as your heavenly father is perfect”. According to Matthew Fox, in his book Original Blessing, the quote from Matthew’s Gospel, “Be you perfect…”, does not refer to moral perfection and does not have here the later Greek meaning of being totally free of imperfection. The word ‘teleioi’, translated as “be you perfect”, actually meant “to be full-grown, to be complete or whole”.

                                                                                                                                    

Our musicians, Celeste, Shonda and Ben.

                                                                               

Remember also how we were given the lives of the saints, in which they were portrayed as achieving perfection and we were taught to imitate those perfect people. The lives of the saints inspired me, but there was no way I could live up to the idealized stories of their lives of perfection. Going to seminary at age 18 and to a monastery at age 22 was how I chased after the ideal of holiness as perfection.

Remember also how we were taught to make an examination of conscience, detailing everything we thought or did wrong–not about what we thought or did that was good or generous or loving or courageous or compassionate, not how we were becoming more full-grown or complete. The implication was that we were lacking and in sin almost all the time; that was scary folks. We were told we were imperfect, not holy, and I took that to mean I didn’t measure up, I wasn’t good enough. We were taught that there was a time, in the beginning when our original parents were in a paradise and were good/perfect, and connected to God. But that in Adam we sinned and were separated from God.  

                                                                                                                                                         

Georgie and Mom, Michelle.

 

What if we came to learn in the last 400 years, like Matthew Fox did, that there was never a state of perfection in our world, that creation in our universe has been going on for 20 billion years and that our universe has been expanding all that time, and is this moment expanding at unimaginable speed. It’s not really about being perfect.

In all creation beauty and imperfection go together. Every tree is beautiful, but if you get up close you will see that every tree is imperfect. The same is true of the human body. Every human body is beautiful, but every human body is imperfect. In creation, in nature, imperfection is not a sign of the absence of God. It’s a sign that the ongoing creation we are part of is no easy thing. We bear scars from the living process, and we can and must celebrate those scars, those imperfections.

                                                                                                                                                                        

Georgie's sister, Zoe.

 

My take on updating the idea of holiness includes thinking about how we accept imperfection, including our own, and about how we are growing, not to be perfect, but to be more complete, more whole, more caring for ourselves and others and more caring for mother nature and our place in the universe.

Yesterday I was visiting a friend who, when I said I was doing the Mass today, asked what my homily would be about and I said holiness. My friend said, I just finished watching a Ted Talk by Ann Lamont, a favorite author of mine. She said “Laughter is carbonated holiness.”

 

Question: How do you think of ‘holiness’ in our time?

 

Georgie's sister, Tori.

 

 

And Georgie's brother, Buddy. 

 

 

"Welcome in, Everybody," sez Our Dearest Tori, official hospitality team leader.

 

 

Welcome: Catholic Mass with coffee & juice, and pastries, some bought, some home-made.  

Time: 9:30; Celebrate with the Community & Stack

Place: Sigler Elementary, 1400 Janwood Drive, Plano, TX 75075

 

 

 

Yes, here we have our official disrupting team planning their activities for this morning.

 

Readings:

Isaiah 63, 16-17, 64, 2-7,    Why do you let us wander, O Lord

Psalm 80,  Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

1 Corinthians 1, 3-9,    I will give thanks to my God always

Mark 13, 31-46,,  Be watchful!  Be alert!  You do not know when the time comes!

 

 

 

Thanks, Zoe, for being Our Official Candle Lighter of The Week.

 

Isaiah observations and reminders–

Who: Guess which of the 3 composers put this section together.  A clue: chapter number.  Like, chapter 63.  A pretty high number, yes, Isaiah number 3. 

Where is he: if the author is number 3, he is back with the people in Jerusalem, a Jerusalem totally destroyed by the Babylonians. 

Today’s message: because he is back in Jerusalem, you would expect happiness.  On the contrary, he is bemoaning the state of affairs and is blaming himself and everybody’s sinfulness for the destruction.  But in the end he reminds Yahweh that they are his special people.  So…?

 

 

 

Georgie reads The Blessing Prayer of the Advent Candle while her sister Zoe does the lighting.

 

Be watchful!  Be alert!  You do not know when the time will come

 

I confess that every time I hear this line or ones like it, I have to speak about it.   I think I have spent the majority of my years as a Jesuit priest & psychotherapist trying to encourage no fear relationships with our God.   There were historical reasons why so much emphasis in the Bible is on fear and punishment.  

 For me it is not a relationship where God is eagerly looking for bad behavior so you can be thrown into the fires of hell, forever.  It is, rather an invitation to all the ways God is bending over backward to delight, to surprise, bring joy to all God's people.  I call them consolations moments.

 

 

 

Rosemary's shirt to me, similar to the shirt she designed and painted for her sister, Clare.

 

Here are 5  examples that happened to me while Rosemary & I spent Thanksgiving with her two sisters, the husbands, and the daughter of Joe & Clare, Beth, and Beth's partner, Sarah.  All in Joe & Clare's house in Hilton Head.  

First, the Thanksgiving meal, always a consolation moment.  A lot of my favorite items.  There were two special moments.  One was that Rosemary gave her sister, Clare a T- shirt with all 7 of her grand kids painted on the front and the word MomMom on the back.  It is similar to the T shirt Rosemary painted for me.

 

 

 

 

Talbird Live Oak tree, Hilton Head Island.  Check Thursday's blog for more pix.

 

Also, towards the end of the meal Joe asked everybody what was their blessing of the year.  Sound familiar.  It was a most touching consolation moment.  Mine?  You know well!  Rosemary.  As usual, I got too choked up to say her name.

Secondly, there is a rustic seafood restaurant on the edge of the marshes that every Thanksgiving Day serves all customers gratis.  A token of thanks.  When the hurricane messed up the restaurant pretty badly, the residents of Hilton Head pitched in and helped to rebuild the restaurant.    A consolation moment.

 

 

 

Want to stop for a little sunbathing?   Plenty of room.   This was my biking friend.    Rosemary even wants to take his picture.  "Smile now."

 

Thirdly, biking the marvelous wooded paths on the island.  The natural beauty is gorgeous.   Again, two consolation moments.  The first is the Talbird Oak.  Every day I rode, I would stop under the enormous drooping branches  of this centuries old Live Oak.  A consolation moment.

 

The other biking event had to do with an alligator.   There are lots of man made ponds on the island in the plantations.  And in those ponds are alligators who like to sun bathe on the shores.   I have a personal relationship with one of those alligators.  I see him or his parents every year.

 

 

 

No fun on this island at all!

 

 

There  is a tarmack path that  runs along the south west side of a pond with a fountain in the middle.  The path is not real close,  maybe 40 yards away.  The trouble is, the path winds back & forth along the pond's side.  It is my last day riding before departing.  A warm afternoon ideal for sun bathing.   So I decide I will stay on the road until I pass the popular place for my friend, then take a little spur path back to the main path that will put me about at the head of the pond.  

 

I get to the path and think I'll stop to see if the alligator is sunning in one of his usual spots.   No sign of my friend.   I put my foot on the pedal to begin riding, but take one last look around.  There, even closer, in front me, the alligator lying parallel to the path. 

 

 

 

Talking of food, our Advent Food Drive.

 

A consolation moment?  Absolutely!  For being watchful and alert enough to get moving and get out of there.

 

Finally, consolation moments knock me over here, with help coming from Emma and Leo, Buddy and Georgie, Zoe, Tori and Harper.

 

How are you watchful and alert enough to spot those consolation moments?

 

 

 

The Best Music Team!   A three-some or a four-some?

Isaiah 66:  Lo, I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river,  and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent.   As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms,  and fondled in her lap;  as a mother comforts her child,  so will I comfort you;

Galatians 6:  May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Luke 10: Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God is at hand for you.'

Connie reading from Isaiah
 

 

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben & Shonda

John sharing his homily

 

Outreach: $   130.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Carrie reading the Blessing

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

 

Bona Responds at work.

 

 

Readings:

 2 Chronicles 36, 14-16, 19-23, Cyrus, king of Persia, builds a temple in Jerusalem.

Psalm 137, Let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget you.

Ephesians 2, 4-10,  God raised us up.

John  3,  14-21, Jesus and Nicodemus converse

 

 

 

Some of The Team.

 

 

Today's Homily, Shared

 

On February 23 a group of 10-15 of our community went to Dickinson, TX to help people cleaning up from Hurricane & flood Harvey.  Our group met up with about 50 students, faculty, and alumni from St. Bonaventure U., near Buffalo.   Professor Jim Mahar regularly leads these groups to crisis areas mostly in our country.  He titles the group Bona Responds.

 

Today the community has invited the members of our group to share with us what touched their hearts during their stay in Dickinson.  Our group includes John & Connie Bresson, David Dinsmore, Bill Hammond who coordinates us with Bona Responds, and Mike Moran.

 

 

 

 Bona does ceilings.

 

 

John started by saying how emotional and humbling it was to work along these college kids who were giving up their Spring Break to clean up trash, to tear down dry wall, to wade through filthy flood water left in houses, to crawl back out of holes when the rotten flooring in a house or trailer home collapsed.  

 

Connie described working in the black mold trailer home of an elderly lady who could hardly do anything.  They cleared out moldy dry wall, insulation, and even flooring.  

 

 

 

 

Clean up.

 

There was one house that had 10 family members and relatives during the flood which brought in 4 feet of water inside the house/trailer.  A tree fell on the house.  Everyone, including a 94 year old grandmother and a dog had to climb to the attic for 10 hours to escape the flood water.  

 

They were finally rescued when they hailed a passing boat, everybody, including the dog.  Except one beloved family treasure, a Cockatiel bird.   They were broken hearted.  They finally were able to return a week later.  And what did they find, the pet Cockatiel, his cage half way filled with water, but alive and still loving everyone.

 

 

 

Some of our Community who made the trip to Dickinson. 

 

 

The family was blessed in that they had friends and family out of state who came to the rescue, cleaning, gutting, repairing, and even repainting.  Our group helped with some of the final steps, removing old insulation and installing new.

 

There was a trailer park, a complete disaster.  The first lady our people went to work for was named Theresa, very feeble with MS.  Her shower was broken so our people fixed it.  Theresa took her first shower in 6 months.Theresa was so grateful to the group that she gave the only gift she had other than love.  Theresa handed to each person a hand made artificial flower, gifts more touching than any kind of monetary gift.

 

 

 

Mike shares some of his memories and blessings.

 

 

Another elderly lady was living with her 5 dogs in a trailer home that was in like a bowl, a bowl with 3 feet of water.  Our people were able to pump out the water, which housed various water creatures like crawdads.  In the middle of the process three volunteers crashed through the lady's mobile home floor, uninjured fortunately.  Our team gutted the ceiling, walls, and floor.  Finally plywood was put back on the lady's floor.

 

Mike described how he was touched and impressed with Jim Mahar's practice of delegation and inclusion.  Some of the students had never held a hammer or done any of this kind of work.   They were still valuable.  Every morning and every evening all would gather.  In the evening the stories came pouring out in response to Jim's question, What touched you today?

 

What has touched you today?

 

 

 

Dona reporting on the Community's continued generosity in raising over $200 to help furnish the volunteer barrack with a large coffee maker and a 4 slice toaster (something important missing on the last visit).

 

 

 

 

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

 

Readings: 

Deuteronomy 26, 4-10,   He brought us out of Egypt.  

Psalm 91,  Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.

Romans 10, 8-13,    No one who believes in him will be put to shame.

Luke 4,  1-23,  Jesus in the desert for forty days.

 

 

Likewise from Jackie, "Come on in, Folks, & welcome to Day- light Savings Time."

 

 

Sunday Homily, Mike Carrell, 3-10-19

 Lent is preparation for Easter, so the words spoken over those who desire ashes are more appropriately the choice given by the Church from the Mark gospel, ‘The time is fulfilled; the Kingdom of God is at hand; Repent and Believe in the Good News.’  

 

 

 

Welcome, Ana-Patricia & Alicia, from the old 10:30 cafetorium Mass at St. Marks.

 

Last Sunday, led by our musicians, we responded together from the Psalm 92, ‘It is good to give thanks to the Lord.’ That psalm reminds us to begin and end each day saying, ‘Thank you Lord for being with us, here and now.  Thank you Lord for the seed that you have sown into our hearts along with a the desire bear good fruit. Let us be led by your Spirit to be Love in this world.

 

 

And while we are at it today, welcome to more 10:30 cafetorium Mass goers, Cathy, her daughter, Katy, and Katy's marvelous fiance' Enza from Uganda, no less.  But he does not speak Swahili!

 

 

Here and now, in every moment of the day, we are the body of Christ in the world.  Our mindset should constantly be that we are meant to be Love, in everything we say and do.  So,‘In everything give thanks for that is God’s will for us in Christ, Jesus.’ 

 

Not to long ago, I was in a waiting room while Judy was being seen by a doctor. There were a hand full of children’s books among the magazines on a table there. They usually have a good intended meaning, so, I took the liberty of choosing Aunt Grace and her nephew about to give birth to a garden. I smiled, and said to myself, ‘With a name like ‘Aunt Grace,’ this is got to be good.

 

 

Hi, David, Hi, Caroline.

 

Before they took a step into what would be their garden, they started with a prayer. Then they began to remove the weeds, cans, bottles, sticks and rocks. When that was done, they broke open the soil and used a wheelbarrow to cover it with an abundance of new mulch, to provide the garden with good soil.

 

 

The Most Reliable Jan making sure everyone can go to communion.

 

 

This sounds a lot like Lent doesn’t it; with each of us refreshing our garden, and why John has a Sunday each year when we grant God’s loving forgiveness to each other.  Lent is a time to be more aware of the people we meet everyday.  With goodness and kindness, we can smile more; say thank you more; and you are welcome, more.

 

 

The Bona Responds Team on site in Wilmington, NC, to help people with recovery from the Hurricane Michael last Fall.

 

 

We can do lots of little things like letting the car and its occupant get in front of us without honking at them. Let’s be aware of the mother with small children. We can help her put her groceries in her car, and to push her cart back for them. Let’s have a neighbor or two, or three over for coffee.  Practice makes perfect.

 

 

From our community, Connie & John Bresson, David Dinsmore, and, of course, Bill Hammond.   From St. Bonaventure University, the man behind all the recovery work so many in our community have volunteered for over the years, Jim Mahar.

 

So, what was it that Aunt Grace and her nephew sowed in their garden? Of all things, Potatoes. She taught her nephew how cut up potatoes that were covered with eyes into pieces, so that the eye of each piece could and would be placed in an upright position within the good soil, looking up to the heavens with faith that this would bring forth a bountiful harvest, that they could share with their neighbors.

 

Our journey through Lent has just begun. Who might you invite to journey with you?

 

 

  What a Team!

Readings:                          

Acts  7,  55-60,  They threw Stephen out of the city, and began to stone him.

Psalm 97,  The Lord is king, the most high over all the earth

Revelation 22, 12-14, 16-17, 20,    I, John, heard a voice.

John 17, 20-26,  I pray that they all may be one.

 

Sorry no homily today.