Homilies

Sunday Homily 11-1-09, All Saints

ByRosemary November 1, 2009

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

Homilies | Music

Sunday Homily 2-21-10, Lent 1
ByRosemary February 21, 2010

Readings: Deuteronomy 26, 4-10; Psalm 91, Be with Me, Lord, when I am in trouble; Romans 10, 8-13; Luke 4, 1-13

Deuteronomy:

What: This work is the 5th and last book of the Pentateuch/Torah. The first 4 books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, & Numbers.

Deuteronomy has basically 3 speeches delivered by Moses before the people enter the promised land. He reviews all they have endured the past 40 years and how Yahweh has shown his care and power to save them.

Author: Not Moses. Moses may have spoken some of the ideas in the speeches, but others have put the work together. In fact, in chapter 34 the death of Moses is described. Someone other than Moses probably covered this episode.

Date: Ca. 700 years BCE.   In other words, about a century before the Babylonian Captivity and just after the destruction of the northern kingdom, Israel, by the Assyrians (ca. 720 BCE).

Our Selection, chapter 26: the end of the second speech. Moses is reminding the people of how Yahweh cared for them since the time they were slaves in Egypt and why they must honor him for this as their one and only god. Instead of being history, this presentation is more like a pep talk to people in trouble, like had been the case in Egypt.

Have a Happy Lent

In Eccliastes 3 it says, "there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens; a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to harvest, a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build."

If you are a New Orleans Saints fan, after decades of grief, your time to celebrate has come. And you have celebrated as only people in N.O. know how to celebrate. We have all just passed through the season of Christmas. We, too, have celebrated.

Today we enter another season, the season of Lent. How do we have a happy Lent? How do we make this a time to build and a time to be born, again?

When I was talking with Rosemary about this homily, she asked me if there was not a new way I could talk about this subject. I thought that, no, there really is not a new way for me to talk about this subject. Some of you have heard these ideas or something similar for maybe 20 years. Please forgive me if I repeat some of the same thinking.

My thinking always comes down to how do I, how do we have a happy Lent? How can it be positive and not a negative, depressing, and dreaded event? Two thoughts.

One. Despite what comes up in the liturgies and scriptures, we are not sinners on the road to hell or purgatory paying ransom for our endless sins.

Second. These 5 weeks can be Maslow time. Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, ca. 1940 said that, "What a man can be, he must be." After 4 stages of development, Maslow thought that healthy people arrive at a place of self-actualization.

I call this becoming a person fully alive. "A person fully alive is the Glory of God." This was said in ca. 200 by St. Irenaeus, a bishop of Lyon, France.  It is what we are about this season.

How do we fertilize and how do we prune so that we are more fully alive on April 4? Each person has their own recipe, their own path, and most of us know what our path is.

Want a quicky insight into yourself? What are you addicted to? What are you obsessed by?   There are the usual culprits, alcohol, fast food, TV, work, smoking, whatever. You can be brain dead and know this. However, we can equally use denial to avoid the obvious. We are aiming at becoming more fully alive people.

I, for my part, plan to give up all alcohol, take French baths to learn French better, not go out at night, in fact, not leave the house at all for 30 days, and I will give up salads, spinach, and greens veggies, and Wednesday I will get rid of this crabby hip that is slowing my life down. All this because the doctor orders it. I will truly enjoy April 4. A real Resurrection.

How are you going to have a happy Lent?

Sources: Wikipedia for Maslow & Irenaeus; Human Development, Philip Rice for Maslow

Picture 1: Mass with Tony and Kevin

Picture 2:  Altar helpers

Picture 3: Emily and her mom, Julie

Picture 4: Communion helpers

Read More Sunday Homily 2-21-10, Lent 1
Homilies

Sunday Homily 11-22-09, Christ the King
ByRosemary November 22, 2009

Readings: Daniel 7, 13-14; Psalm 93, The Lord is King, He is robed in Majesty; Revelation 1, 5-8; John 18, 33-27

History of the Christ the King Feast: date, author, reason it was declared

Date: Not during the early church, not during the time when Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Empire, not during the time of Luther & the Reformation, not during the time of Pius IX with the Italian Resorgiamento & his Infallibility statement (1870), but in 1925. Fairly Recently.

Author: Pius XI, pope 1922-39

Reason(s): at least 2 factors–The Times and Modernism/Secularism

1. The Times:

a) End of WW I and build up to WW II

b) Mussolini & Hitler: the same year Pius XI became pope, Mussolini became prime minister. By 1925 he had become a dictator. The feast was to counter the dictatorship.

2. Modernism & Secularism:

a) Modernism. Despite being scholarly and pro-scientific methods, Pius XI was suspicious of biblical scholarship which questioned, for example, biblical inerrancy, the nature of bible miracles, the virgin birth, the resurrection, the atonement theory that God demanded his son suffer & die for a single sin by a human.

b) Secularism coming out of the Enlightenment said that all people were equal, people should have a say in government as in democracy, and backed the separation of church/state, like proposed by Jefferson.

Sources: Living with Christ, Nov., 2009; Wikipedia

Requiem for a Chevy Pickup

When I first returned to Dallas after my time in East Africa, I determined that I would like to stay here and I would help to make Dallas a prettier place to live in by planting a few trees. I started the fall of 1987 by planting on the Jesuit campus 88 trees plus. The next year, with no more room on the campus, we went down Inwood Road and Willow. I watered the trees out of buckets in the back of a Chevy Celebrity sedan.

A year or so later I was using the school pick up. I remember it conking out on us the Sunday we planted Royal Lane. The red trailer was tearing up the transmission.

So I said to my Jesuit community brothers, "Hey, I am needing a new truck." And they said, "Sure. But you got to get the money yourself." "Thanks, guys." This was early in 94.

I'm thinking to myself, 'where can I get all this money?' I called Claude Smyth. The former pastor of St. Mark's, Monsignor Claude Smyth.

I ask him, since this is my community, may I contact some of the parish people whom I know? He says yes, but then gives me a long list of things I cannot do under any circumstances, like no appeal at Mass, no public announcements on Sundays, and so forth. "No problem," I say. Then I proceed to contact maybe a dozen families I think can help me personally or who can spread the word quietly that I need help.

The following Sunday, after saying the Mass in the main church at 9:00, I am walking the breezeway over to the cafetorium for the 10:30. I run into Marcia Kolar and some other women passing out pages saying John Stack needs help to buy a new truck. I walk into the cafetorium and there are plastic containers saying the same thing. A few minutes later, Jim Herman, the lector is announcing the message from the podium.

At that instance, guess who walked in. 'Walked in' is an understatement. 'Stormed in' is more like it. He was taking the pages out of people's hands, running back & forth. Anyway, after screaming at me for a while, I walk up the aisle and start the Mass.

The couple responsible for that event is here today. Fred & Maureen. I will always be grateful to you two. In fact, just before Christmas, that year, 1994, I went over to the old Doran Chev. and paid $15,000 for that white truck I've used all these years to drag the red trailer around watering hundreds of trees.

Today I hand over to Janette Monear and the TX Trees Foundation the keys to the truck & trailer, so the rig can continue to maintain baby trees around Dallas. The truck was given to me for that project and now that I am semi-retiring, I hand over the truck to Janette.

Picture 1: Tree people: Rosemary, The old Geezer, Gayle, Janette, Hugh, Sandra & Chuck

Picture 2: The transfer of the keys to the truck

Picture 3: Janette Monear of the TX Trees Foundation receiving the keys to the pickup and giving everyone a baby live oak tree

Picture 4: Julie reading (Emily's mom)

Read More Sunday Homily 11-22-09, Christ the King
Homilies

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 17, 2025
ByRosemary August 17, 2025September 4, 2025

Revelation 11: A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.

1 Corinthians 15: Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Luke 1: When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

John Cade's Homily: Download 08-17-25 Homily -The Assumption

Linda reading from the Book of Revelation

Thanks…

Music, Ben & Shonda

Readers, Linda & Hue

Homily, John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Hue & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

Hue reading from St. Paul's Letter to the Corinthians

Remember these special people:

For all the people affected by the floods; For the Ukraine and the Holy Land; For our new Pope, Leo XIV; For John Stack; For Adam, that the doctors may find a remedy for his seizures; For Meredith ; For Tom Quinn; For Warren Wittek; For Becky and Tom Good; For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer ; For Allen Stryker; For Mike and Judy Carrell ; For Hue; For Jackie; For Mary Hall's family and friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition; For Sir Charlie; For Ron ; For Teresa Quinn's niece, Maddie who has a brain tumor;

Jackie's sister, & friend, Lynn; For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.; For Jean & Cliff Wright; from Barbara, a little baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation, the families of Annie and Michael and her neighbor, Marie and the family; for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

The Kiss of Peace

Birthdays: Janice Elmore 8/20

Anniversaries: Bernadette & Gilberto Delgado 8/19

Expenses: $ 240.00

Outreach: $ 30.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Janice gets a cookie for her birthday

Rosemary's Blessing:

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty;

To find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you lived.

This is to have succeeded.

Success – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Michelle accepts the cookie for her parents' anniversary

John Stack Ministries meets on Sunday for Mass at 9:30 at The ArtCentre of Plano,

902 E. 16th St, Plano, Texas.

JSM Mission-Faith Statement

Help create a Catholic Community that welcomes all God’s People, provides for & challenges spiritual & total growth. Reaches out to help people who are disadvantaged & make the world we live in a better place to live.

Read More The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 17, 2025
Homilies

Sunday Homily 2-7-10, 5th Ordinary Time
ByRosemary February 7, 2010

Readings: Isaiah 6, 1-8; Psalm 138, In the Sight of the Angels I will Sing Your Praises, Lord; 1 Corinthians 15,1-11; Luke 5, 1-11.

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Reflections on the Readings

A brief few words about our first reading from Chapter 6 of Isaiah. This reading could in fact easily begin the book of Isaiah. It gives us the call of Isaiah. King Uzziah has died after reigning for over 40 years, 40 years of great security and prosperity.



We are told of a vision, which the prophet sees of God, and notice the threefold repeating of the word Holy. Only God is holy, all holiness. The prophet proclaims that he is doomed because mere humans cannot look at God.

In our second reading, from Paul, he reminds us that he too saw the Risen Lord, and his response, like Peter’s in our gospel reading, it is the same, unworthiness.



The readings all show up the same response from humans when faced with God. And in each case God is able to reach thru the response and draw the person into a relationship of discipleship.

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Homily



What happens when we come face to face with God? In each of our three readings today this is what we hear about. For Isaiah it is a vision of God who is Holy, holy holy! And Isaiah’s reaction is similar to Peter’s and later to Paul’s, one of unworthiness in the face of God’s goodness. But God is able to reach thru that tendency to turn away and invite all three into a relationship of discipleship.

Our presence here today also comes from some kind of encounter with God, maybe not as Isaiah’s vision of God surrounded with angels, or Peter’s encounter thru the miraculous catch of fish, or Paul’s vision of Light, but in some way God has reached into our lives, whether thru the action of our parents having us baptized, or thru an encounter with someone as an adult, which caused us to want to be here, we each got up this morning and among all of the options available to us, we chose to be here!



And as we celebrate our Liturgy together we too will acknowledge our own unworthiness, several times. We start with our penitential rite, in the Our Father we ask God to forgive us, in the Lamb of God we sing “Have mercy on us” and before communion we say “I am not worthy”. But God has managed to reach thru to us, which is why we are here.

But now the question we need to start answering is “what does it mean to be a disciple?” God enters my life, so what?



Let’s take a simple example. When two people become friends, their lives are different as a result, and depending on the kind of friendship, so too the effect on their lives. When Gayle and I met, I was single and living in an apartment in Carrollton, and she was single and living in her home in Highland Village. When we decided to be married, we both left the comfort of our previous lives and set off for California. This had a big impact not just on our lives but also on the lives of our kids!! I am sure each one of you can tell stories of how your lives were changed as a result of different relationships you entered into.

So too with our relationship with God. What is the change? What does God want in a relationship? For Isaiah, it was to be a prophet to the people of Judah, for Peter it was to become a “fisher of men” and for Paul, it was to tell the whole world, or as much of it as he could get to in those days, about God.

Our instructions are equally clear, Love God and love one another. How am I doing in that area?



In every relationship, one thing that has to happen is that we have to get to know each other. Anna in the musical “The King and I” sings that lovely song “getting to know you”, and we too need to continue to ‘get to know God’. We do so thru our presence here, by listening to his Word. In any relationship, we will also go out for a meal. And thru sharing food, we get to know each other better.



And so we are here today celebrating a Memorial Meal with God. We are reminded during the Eucharistic Prayer to “Do this in Memory of me”. It is another way of our staying in touch with God. As a people, we have heard the Church Bell, and responded by coming together as a People, to Listen to God’s Word and to “remember Jesus’ Last Meal with His disciples.



What does all this mean for us today We are called to be a people of Hope, of Love and Forgiveness, a kind of light of Joy to the World.

In the words of St Francis:

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;
and 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

Picture 1: Mass beginning with Tony & Kevin

Picture 2: Sean

Picture 3: Gilbert with Georgie & Zoe in his lap

Picture 4: Jo with Hunter, Audrey, and Dillon

Read More Sunday Homily 2-7-10, 5th Ordinary Time
Homilies

Sunday Homily, January 28, 2007 – 4th Sunday, Ordinary Time
ByRosemary January 29, 2007

Readings: Jeremiah 1, 4-19; Psalm 71; 1 Corinthians 12, 31 -13, 1-13; Luke 4, 21-30

Jeremiah – The Prophet Jeremiah lived before and during the great Babylonian captivity. He loved the people, but warned them that they faced catastrophe for their unfaithful ways.

Today’s selection has Jeremiah talking at the beginning of his call by Yahweh to speak to the people.

1 Corinthians, 13 – Here it is: Paul’s famous treatise on what love is.

Love is Patient, Love is Kind

Last night I had the privilege to be part of one of those magic weddings. There are magic and super magic weddings. This was super magic.

A while back I performed a wedding out of Dallas. Because the couple was not too clerical and I had the opportunity to stay for the reception, which I can seldom do here in Dallas, I wore a black shirt with a silver tie. Not a clerical shirt.

When I went into the sacristy before the wedding the woman who took care of arrangements was waiting for the priest. When she saw me in a tie, it was like, “You are the priest!”

For the rest of the time I was in that church her approach to me was disdainful, like I was repellent. I was getting judged for not having a collar on, like a good priest is supposed to have on. I was not a terrorist, I was a fellow Catholic, a priest at that time in good standing. I just did not have that little plastic tab on. Love is patient.

How sad we can be, even when we are in the midst of helping to perform a marvelous event like a wedding. The wedding was magic, but I have felt sad for the woman. Love is kind.

She & I are called to the same kind of love in two ways. We are called to be patient & kind with everyone we meet, even if the person is not a Catholic, or a Plano resident, or a criminal

We are also challenged to be patient and kind with ourselves when we fail. This may even be harder to do sometimes than being patient and kind with someone else.

Last night’s wedding was blessed from beginning to end. No one seemed critical of the ceremony or what we did. Why can’t all of our life be similar?

With whom do you struggle to be patient & kind? How patient and kind are you when you fail?

Download the mp3 of the homily here.

Read More Sunday Homily, January 28, 2007 – 4th Sunday, Ordinary Time
Homilies

Sunday Homily,June 5, 2016, 10th Sunday Ordinary Time C
ByRosemary June 5, 2016

Readings:

1 Kings   17, 17-24, See, your son is alive.

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

Galatians 1, 11-19, The gospel preached by me is not of human origin.

Luke 7, 11-17, The dead man sat up and began to speak.

Welcome, Vivian. It is so nice to see you. You are gorgeous.

1 Kings observations:

What : 1 Kings is the third book in a 4 book semi-historical history of the early tribe of Israelites. The books, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings. The story goes from Samuel, the last of the judges, to Saul, the first of the kings, to King David (with Goliath, Jonathan, Mikah and dancing, Bathsheba & Solomon).

The two books of Kings focus on Solomon and his building of the temple and, finally, the split into two states, Israel in the north, Juda in the south with Jerusalem. Ultimately, the story tells the defeat of the state of Israel by Syria and the disappearance of those northern 10 tribes.

Harper, too, says, "Welcome, Vivian, and welcome, Everybody."

When composed: during the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 555 before Christ. Why at this time? Same reason why so much was composed at this time, to explain why the Captivity, to keep the tribal identity, and to provide hope for a brighter future.

Who composed: Tradition said Jeremiah the prophet, but contemporary studies show at least 3 writers.

Today's selection: the prophet Elijah raises the dead son of a widow.

Sources: New Jerusalem Bible, Wikipedia

And sez Victoria, "Hi, Everybody, it is nice to be back."

Giving Life

This morning we have two stories of people giving life. First, Elijah brings back to life the son of a poor widow. Similarly, Jesus brings back to life the son of another poor widow. Of course, we all think, ‘Well, that does not apply to me. I cannot bring people back to life.’

Two observations.

She is back, Folks. Welcome home, Cathy, from Turkey.

First, it was common currency for the people to give to their leaders, whether religious or political leaders, the power to give people life. You were not much of a leader if you could not bring people back from the dead.

Secondly, I would propose that, despite what you are thinking, you and I all have the gift to bring people back to life. One example.

The Team with special help from Buddy.

Fr. Duffy. I never had the opportunity to memorialize Duffy or attend his memorial because Rosemary & I were out of town. Here is how Duffy gave life to me and to the people of St. Marks.

Before Duffy arrived at St. Marks I had worked for some years saying the 9:00 A.M. Mass in Spanish in the cafetorium or the English Mass in the church and, of course, the 10:30 cafetorium Mass. Only once in those years did I ever enter the rectory. That was because the bishop came to dinner one evening.

College is out. Welcome home Dana and Dawson. Your mom is happy.

When Duffy settled in, guess what. The rectory was wide open. Welcome, everybody. I remember when I would finish the two Masses I was exhausted. I would cross the patio and head to the rectory. I would go upstairs to take a 20 minute nap in an empty guest bedroom.

Then I would come down to the kitchen where Rita had made chocolate chip cookies big as dinner plates and homemade vanilla ice cream. Yes, you know it. Wow! I had a cookie and ice cream seated at the big dining room table where Duffy held court. This continued even after he had his medical problems and did not say Masses. He welcomed everybody. It was like a train station in there.

The Best Music, Shonda, Bethany, David, and, of course, Vivian.

Before he got sick he totally turned on the people of St. Marks. He welcomed. He, also, had an amazing gift for the comic and camaraderie.

Remember the first communion Masses we used to have on Saturdays? Remember the two special ones?

Offertory, Mary & Frank, Grace and Cheryl.

Duffy used to ask the kids who was Jesus’ mom, and his dad. You got the answer, you got a dollar. Then, who is the holiest priest in St. Marks for five dollars?   Who was it? Duffy, of course. No way. Duffy calls a little girl. She whispers, “Fr. Stack! This, of course, brought down the house and Duffy, of course, put on a dance.

This happened two years in a row. The second year I was concelebrating. When another little girl said Fr. Stack and Duffy started dancing around, I came down from the altar platform and gave the girl $5.

"Oh, No," sez John, "I forgot to pick up the coffee."

Life at St. Marks with Duffy was so much fun, full of life, and always, “welcome, everybody!” Duffy gave me life. Duffy gave us life. Duffy gave the people life.

Who has given you life? Who gives you life?

To whom do you give life and how?

Read More Sunday Homily,June 5, 2016, 10th Sunday Ordinary Time C

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