Sunday Homily 11-8-09, 32nd Ordinary Time

Readings: From the Midnight Mass, the best–Isaiah 9, 1-6; Psalm 96, Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord; Titus 2, 11-14; Luke 2, 1-14.

Isaiah: author, date, subject–

  Author: Isaiah is one of the three great OT prophets along with Jeremiah & Ezekiel.  This is partly because of the size of the work, 66 chapters, but even more so because Isaiah is so beautiful and influential in the Christian story. 

There are really three Isaiahs, chapters 1-39, 40-55, & 56-66.  How do we know?  Simple.  Different styles of writing, different vocabularies, different slants to the message.

  

Date: 1 Isaiah, our selection is put together ca. 700 BCE.  2  Isaiah, ca. 500 BCE; 3 Isaiah, ca. 400 BCE.

  

Subject: As always, there has been predictions of doom & destruction.  This passage, however, is the flip of this.  Listen for words like rejoicing, making merry, joy, peace, a God-hero Child is born.

Source: Bishop John Shelby Spong

Where is the God-Hero Child?

This past fall Gloria Eshelbrenner got married in Seattle.  She is Richard & Carol's daughter.  Rosemary & I got invited to perform the ceremony, beautifully located over water at a yacht club.

Rosemary & I went on the Monday before the wedding so that we could visit the city, which was the first time for both of us in Seattle.  A great city.  Just do not look at the weather forecast today and for the past 4 weeks.  

One morning we walked down hill into the center of town and went into a Starbucks, what else, just across the street from the Pike St. Market.  It was a marvelous old corner location with a high ceiling, mirrors on the walls, and wood paneling.  Must have once been a bar.

We got our lattes and went looking for a place to sit.  There were the usual tables & chairs and also groups of four leather easy chairs squared before wooden topped coffee tables.  All were more or less occupied. 

One square, fortunately had only one person, a late middle aged woman.  The woman wore bulky clothes without much color, a shawl over her shoulders, a stocking cap on her head, a coffee on the table in front of her, she was slouched and she was asleep.  I thought she must be a street person come in to take a nap & a coffee. 

There was no other place, so we decided we would give it a try, as long as she did not smell.  

We sat and began to enjoy the lattes when the woman, now on my left side, stirred and reached for her coffee.  I said something like, "Good Morning," and we began to talk.  

Turned out she was far from being a street person.  She was just getting off of work at an animal shelter, where she was the nighttime attendant.  We had not chatted for more that a few minutes when out from under her shawl and coat a little head emerged.  It was a little Chihuahua dog, very friendly and sleepy.  We spent probably a delightful half an hour talking with this Seattle lady and her little dog.  

I had done it again, folks, judged the book by the cover.  Whatever I thought she was in the beginning, she turned out to be a special blessing and gift to me & us. 

Where do you find these people blessings, these god-hero people?

Picture 1:  Christmas Eve, 2009

Picture 2:  Mass begins with Kevin helping

Picture 3:  The Nativity Drama

Picture 4:  The McGraths, Terry & Joy, Morgan & Tyler

Picture 5:  The Community Rectory in Snow, Christmas

 

 

 

 

  

Jeremiah 31, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.

Psalm 130, Create a clean heart in me, O Lord.

Hebrew 5, He became the source of salvation

John 12, Sir, we would like to see Jesus.

 

 

 

 

Thanks……

Music,  Ben 

Readers,  Jackie & Brent, & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Mike Carrell

Homily,  John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Richard & Mike  

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

Christine Dullenty's Memorial, Breckenridge Park, Saturday, 3-20-2021

 

 

Readings for Sunday, March 21, 2021

Download Reading 5th Lent 03-21-2021

 

Homily for Sunday by John Cade, March 21, 2021

Download Cade Homily 3-21-2021

 

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Carrie's ex, Larry with Corona;  For Alan Stryker;  For Joe Sullivan;    For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   For Esparza's new great grandson baby, son of Monique;  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 

 

John Cade sharing his homily on Sounds of Silence.

 

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 boy undergoing an operation; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

Our Brain Team, Richard, Hue, & Mike.

 

Birthdays:   John Cades' mother in law, Kaliope

Anniversaries: 

 

Community Finances,   March 21, 2021

Expenses: $900.00

Outreach: $250.00 

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

 

Ben, The Music Man.

 

A note about our Easter Celebration.

We now welcome 20 people to our Easter celebration, all vaccinated and coming with mask.  Seating will be spread around the large cafeteria.  Please don't show up without signing up.  Let's see if this goes so well that we can increase the number the Sunday after Easter.

 

 

Concelebration.

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Oh God who made me absolutely unique,

Help me to value more the Person You made Me to be.

And protect me from comparisons and envy and discouragement over what I am not.

 

Andrew Greeley,  Irish American Blessings  

Readings: 2 Kings 4, 42-44; Psalm 145, The Hand of the Lord feeds Us; He answers all Our Needs; Ephesians 4, 1-6; John 6, 1-15 

 

Kings: 4 observations–

Subject Matter: The Kings, naturally.  Especially Solomon after the death of his father, David.  But also treated:

    1.  The temple.  Solomon builds it.

    2.  The death of Solomon who held the nation together.

    3.  Division: Israel in the north breaks away from Judah in the south.

    4.  Israel destroyed completely by the Assyrians, ca. 720.

    5.  Fall of Jerusalem & destruction of the Temple; Nebuchadnezzar & the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 585 BCE.

    6.  Cyrus of Persia releases the Jews to return to Jerusalem after defeating the Babylonians (remember Babylon was near present day Bagdhad).

Date: from 900 – ca. 550 BCE, or from Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar & Cyrus

Authors: a compilation of many sources that was put together at the end of the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 550 BCE.

Our Selection: There are 2 significant prophets, Elijah & Elisha, his son.  In this piece, Elisha it telling a man with 20 loaves of bread to feed a crowd.  This is a lead into the Gospel of John about feeding the multitude. 

Sources: Encyclopedia of Judaism, Wikipedia

The Miracle of Sharing My Food

I hate to do this to you folks, but every time I read this story about 5 loaves and 2 fish feeding a crowd of 5,000 men (to say nothing of the women), I am reminded of my days in Tanzania, East Africa.  You who have heard these stories, please forgive me.  They just clarify so much.  Here we go.

I was on an overnight train.  I was traveling from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the capitol, to Moshi, a town near Kilimanjaro, where the Jesuits had a small one to three person house, which I used as a base when I was not traveling around Tanzania, Kenya, & Uganda giving seminars and retreats.

I had arrived in Dar es Salaam late for some reason and could not make an advance reservation for a first class cabin, which was the only way to go.  You shared a little compartment with another guy.  Because I was without reservation, I had to buy a coach ticket.  These trains are marvelous old antiques from the colonial age, but travel by coach is mayhem.  They are packed.  Don't dream of getting a seat.  Just be grateful that you can get inside.  Which I did, sitting on my one small suitcase, expecting to be awake all night listening to the kids, chickens, ducks, and snores of the few who had a seat and the ability to sleep through it all. 

You board this train for a 7:00 P.M. departure.  You expect to arrive Moshi around 5:00 A.M.   This particular night the train came to a halt at about 1:00 in the middle of nowhere.  Naturally, nobody knew why we stopped and for how long.  We stayed in that spot all the rest of the night and all the following day until about 6:00 P.M. 

Everyone on that train had food & water hidden away, except one gringo, who tried to sleep on the rocks on the edge of the roadbed, knowing he would hear the train move and could get up and get back in.

I was actually rescued from dying of thirst in the heat of the day by a young German couple in the first class compartments, the only other white folks on the whole train.  I was afraid to drink the water of the Tanzanians because they often did not purify it. 

I tell this story because the Tanzanian people on the train I suspect would be similar to the Jews listening to Jesus in that crowd of 5,000 men.  People like these do not go away from their base unprepared.  Not only do they carry food & water, they hide it so as to not have to share with someone too stupid to bring his own.  The women, especially, can hide in their robes lots of things.  Hoarding in the cultures we are talking about is no sign of inferiority.  It is survival. 

What Jesus did that was confounding is that he got these country folks to share their cache.  He takes some of the bread & fish and passes it on.  The person who receives it takes some, but feels uncomfortable only taking.  So the person puts a portion of his or her own in the basket.  What do they end up with?  Twelve wicker baskets of leftover food.

This interpretation of the 5 loaves & 2 fishes is as old as when I got ordained back in 1971, and before that.  I find it fascinating because we can go and do likewise.  You & I cannot multiply bread & fish, but we can share treasures.  We can share and we can invite others to feel secure enough to share. 

I finally arrived home to Moshi in the middle of the next night.  I even caught a thief with his hand in my right pocket at a little kiosk lit with a kerosene lamp.  The train had stopped at some tiny station and a lady was selling little pieces of rice bread or something.  I pulled that man's hand out of my pocket, grabbed him by the shirt, and threw him back.  If I had yelled "thief!", he might have been killed on the spot.  I knew the custom and the language, and he knew I knew.  He ran. 

I also got to know the German couple, even climbing Kilimanjaro with them one of my 5 times.  So, folks, sorry for repeating a favorite story of mine.  The question, too, is the same.

How am I overcoming my temptation to hoard & sharing my food?

Picture 1:  Mass with T.J.

Picture 2:  Bill Carey & Ron Kovatis

Picture 3:  Ron donating $2000 to CCAC with Claire & Ray, Jackie & Cathy

Picture 4:  Barb & her sister Evie from Germany

 

Readings:

Ezekiel 33, 7-9,  The wicked shall die for his guilt.

Psalm 95,  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Romans  13, 8-12,  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 18, 15-20,   Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, there am I

The Best, Shonda & Ben (plus Aviana's nose)

 

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Mike & Geri, & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Deacon Mike

Homily,  Deacon Mike 

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike, Ben & Hue

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

 

 

 

Download Readings Week 23

 

 

Homily for September 6, Deacon Mike 

Jesus has made us aware that when two or more of us get together on any decision at all on earth, we are to address it with communal prayer; asking our Father to guide us, with the power of the Holy Spirit. What would be an appropriate example?  We are the Church, called by this name: “Christ in the world.’ Together, its single women, and married women and men, have been called by the Holy Spirit to  ordination.  This is a “yes,” on earth and a “yes in heaven; Our action is this: pray to our Father for our hierarchy to recognize these authentic calls to ordination for men and women.

 

Today, Matthew’s Good News toward the end of this gospel
the Church of its responsibility to bring forgiveness even to the tax collector.  This forgiveness is a “yes,” on earth and a “yes,” in heaven, for early in this gospel Jesus had asked Matthew to follow him; which he immediately did; and he had been a tax collector.  Jesus then informed the religious leaders, that granting forgiveness was the reason that he had come into the world. 

 

 

Rosemary's mural from the old house, rescued by Mike the day we left the house.

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Alan Stryker;  For Becky's dad who just moved to the other side;  For Cindy recuperating at home;    For Esparzas, Frank & Mary,  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;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, Woodlands,  For Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;    For Sydney;  & For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody & Ben & all of Shonda's dear family;   for all the students and teachers and coaches returning to school.

 

The new house amid the trees.

 

For Jackie's mom;  For a friend, a neighbor, & a doctor, Karen, with brain cancer; For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free;    For Hue;  For John O'Donnell;   For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa; For John Schanot's continued health;  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.

 

Our Father.

 

Birthdays:     Aggie, Jean Wright

Anniversaries: 

David & Caroline, 35th

Dee & Mike, 63rd

Rob & Beth, 46th

Aggie & Alan 53rd

Mike & Geri, 45th

 

 

A cool neighborhood on a hot day.

 

Community Finances, September 6, 2020

Expenses: $ 700.00

Outreach   $   (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

 

 

Our new address,  7017 Helsem Way, Dallas 75230.   This enclave has TREES, unlike our poor, dear, tornado battered Preston Hollow neighborhood.  It is so special.

 

 

 

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:

1 Kings  19, 9-13,  There was a tiny whispering sound.

 Psalm 85,   Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

Romans 9, 1-5,  My kindred according to the flesh

Matthew  14, 22-33,  Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.

1 Kings observations:  

What:

There are really 2 books, 1 Kings & 2 Kings.  Or originally, it was all one work.

Even though 1 Kings focuses mostly on King Solomon & his accomplishments, the latter half of the work shows how at Solomon's death the kingdom split into two hostile & petty states, Israel in the north & Judah in the south around Jerusalem.  2 Kings ends with the Babylonian Captivity.

As I have pointed out concerning prophets, Elijah condemns the behavior, especially of the rulers, and promises punishment. 

When & Who:  The two books were put together by numerous people and the latest putting together took place, you guessed it, around the Babylonian Captivity, around 555 before Christ.

 Today’s selection: The prophet Elijah is running scared to get away from Jezebel.  She is out to kill him for his killing her fake priests.  We catch up with him in the desert.  

I love this little story.  See if you can figure out why.

 

 

A Tiny Whispering Sound

We are having a run on delightful scripture passages these days.  The passage I love today is the scene where Elijah stands outside a cave and he sees wind, earthquake, and fire.  No God visit.  Then he hears a tiny whispering sound.  The God visit.  I would suggest we have these god visits daily, and we are often deaf or blind to the visit. 

To exemplify, our story of the week.

It is Wednesday.  Guess where.  Yes, Iowa.  The 4^th day of our ride from the Missouri River to the Mississippi.  We have only 40 miles to go from Forest City to Mason City, the city on which Meredith Wilson based his musical, Music Man.  We have only two pass through cities, Verona and Clear Lake.

 

 

So, I am thinking, ‘How can I extend this day.’  I want to savor the joys of the ride as long as possible.  Two or three miles out of Forest City I decide that at least I will stop at a coffee stand for a good cup of coffee.  Take my time, enjoy it, and watch the hundreds of people passing by.  This is the day after I was so moved by the man playing the National Anthem.

I see a sign for coffee in a hundred yards, pass by the stand, and pull over to the shoulder of the road, careful to get out of the way. 

The coffee shop is simply a four poster tent perched on the slope of the shoulder just a bit above the bottom of the irrigation ditch and dangerously close to the road for me. Very low tech.  A kid about 17 is serving coffee, muffins, bananas, watermelon, water, and who knows what else. 

 

 

 

He has a line of about a dozen people and is a bit frazzled trying to take money, cut watermelon, and prepare coffee, all of which is coming out of the back of his van which was perched sideways on the shoulder.  This is not Starbucks. 

However,  as people order coffee, he asks them to form a line on the other side of the stand.  I even regretted later that I did not help him, but at the time I thought I would be there all day long.  As it is, we are all trying to keep to the very edge of the road to avoid getting hit by one of the hundreds of bikers swishing by.

 

 

Finally, the lady ahead of me gets to the kid, asks for what she wants, and discovers that she is $2 short.  I say, “Hey, I got $2,” and I give it to her despite her protests.  “Loan it to the next guy,” I say. 

Later that morning, say about 11:00, I pull into this gorgeous green, tree shaded, people filled park in a town called Clear Lake, on the northern edge of a lake by the same name.  For an hour we had ridden along the shore of this lake until I see the park.

I put my bike against a tree and settle on a park bench in the sun (it was so mild) in front of a band stand.  People are all over the place, hundreds, lounging in the sun, eating, chatting.  Between the park where I am and the lake the bikers are passing through.  I am facing the lake.

 

 

I hang out there probably an hour.  I watch a group of guys ride up, bring out their electric guitars using batteries, and play for us.  I even get interviewed by a young girl from the De Moines Register.  These are my wind and earthquake.  I can see God's presence in both.  

And then it happens, the tiny whispering sound, a God visit.

From behind me a lady comes around, hands me $2, says, “Thanks,” and then vanishes back into the crowd leaving me speechless except for a quick, “Sure.”  It was the same lady from the coffee stand.

 

 

I admit that the Iowa days were full of God moments for me.  This lady, however, was especially touching, a tiny whispering sound.   I never saw her again and she probably identified me in the crowd because of the Aviana beany baby on my helmet and the Mardi Gras beads I wear around my neck.  Moreover, Hammond says I look like a bum in my choice of attire.

When was your last God moment, your tiny whispering sound?