Sunday Homily 5-3-09, 4th Easter

Readings: Isaiah 55, 1-3; Psalm 145, The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs; Romans 8, 35, 37-39; Matthew 14, 13-21.  Excellent readings this week.

4 Preliminary Observations:

 1.  Today, July 31.  The Jesuit Feast Day, St. Ignatius Loyola’s church feast, founder of Society of Jesus, Jesuits. I was a Jesuit for 4 years short of 50 years.  

        a.  Time of Ignatius: 1491-1556, vibrant Europe, Spain of Ferdinand & Isabella, expulsion of the Jews & the Moors from the Alhambra in Grenada in 1492, Michelangelo,  Da Vinci, death of Lorenzo the Magnificent of Florence in 1492, Copernicus, Galileo, & Martin Luther.  Luther is almost a contemporary of Ignatius.  He posted his 95 theses in 1517 & the revolution began.  Inquisition time: the monk Giordano Bruno burned at the stake for his ideas, 1600, Campo dei Fiori, Rome.  See his statue today.

        b.  Place of Ignatius: from Loyola Castle, Basque Province, Spain.  He was military, badly wounded in the legs at Pamplona, Navarre, where the bulls run.  He was converted while recuperating from leg operations.  At Manresa, Catalonia, Spain Ignatius came out with a vision.

        c.  Accomplishments of Ignatius: founded a little company which reached 36,000 in the 60’s.  He stressed military self discipline, obedience to authority, education, and spiritual growth especially with his Spiritual Exercises.

 2.  Isaiah 55: 3 beautiful invitations, come, come, come.  The very last chapter of Isaiah II trying to encourage the Israelites in the Babylonian period, ca. 550 B.C.

 3.  Psalm 145 & Romans 8.  That special line again, The Lord is gracious & merciful, does not get angry and is abounding in love.  

Paul is winding up Romans and is almost poetic, claiming that even cosmic events cannot separate us from God’s love.

 4.  Feeding the 10 thousand.  This story is repeated in all 4 gospel stories.  In fact, it is told 6 times.  Get ready.  To convey what I think is the main miracle of this story I have to tell a story from my time in East Africa. 

 Sources: St. Louis U. Liturgies, Reginald Fuller, Daniel Westberg, John Pilch, Larry Gillick, & Wikipedia

Touched into Trust & Sharing

     This story happened to me when I was living in East Africa in the 70’s & 80’s.  It exemplifies for me how this miracle could at least have been Jesus’ touching the people's hearts, so that they trusted one another and shared their hidden goods.

     It started in Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania.  One evening I boarded an overnight train from Dar to a town near Kilimanjaro, where we Jesuits had a small house which I used as a base.  

     For some crazy reason I had to buy a ticket at the last minute.  This gave me only a spot on the train, no bunk, no seat, just a spot.  

     We pulled out at sunset, always at 7:00 because it is close to the equator.  I was sitting on a suit case & expecting to stay there until we arrived at Kilimanjaro at 6:00 in the morning.  The train, of course, was packed.  People & kids everywhere, even an occasional chicken.  I felt right at home, though I knew I had a long night ahead of me.

     About 1:00 A.M. the train stops.  No word about what.  I never found out.  After an hour I get off and lie on the train bed.  If the train moved & I was asleep, I would hear it and hop on.  Though I did not sleep.  Mosquitoes for one thing. 

     The train sat there until 7:00 the following evening.  

     I cannot believe how dumb I was that night.  I was a veteran of Tanzania.  I knew how things broke down.  I had not taken any food or water with me.  

     Because I spoke the language with no problem, I could have asked the Tanzanians for food & water, but I did not want to drink the water, which was probably unpurified.  As the day passed, they ate & drank along the tracks in the shade of a few frangipani trees.  

     Finally I noticed another white couple, Germans.  I got water from them & was okay.  Eventually, they stayed at our house a couple of days and I climbed Kilimanjaro with them.  

     The people on that train, with the exception of one dumb white guy, they traveled with provisions.  They had food & water for emergencies. 

     I would propose that the 10 thousand people sitting around Jesus & his apostles, they were just like the Tanzanians.  They traveled with emergency provisions.  Like the Tanzanians, also, they did not trust the others whom they did not know and certainly did not share their provisions.  They were accustomed to shortages.  Hang on to what you got, because you don’t know when you will have nothing.    

     What happened with Jesus did not happen on the train.  Jesus took a piece of the bread and fish, and he passed it on.  The next person received it, took a bit, and then, thinking it would be fitting, put in a little of his or her own cache.  Eventually, when everyone has had the food pass them & they have contributed, 12 baskets are left over (a symbol likely connected with the 12 apostles).

     Jesus touched the hearts of the people and caused a miracle to take place.  They trusted one another and shared their provisions.  These miracles do take place today.  I saw them in the mountains of Colorado the past two weeks.  

     How are you sharing your provisions?  How do you show you trust your neighbor? 

 Picture 1:   Mass begins

 Picture 2:   New choir member, Hue

 Picture 3:   Sisters, Cindy (her birthday) & Marlene

 Picture 4:   Barb & Warren

 Picture 5:   Sienna offers to help Ray

 Picture 6:   Sienna ready to sing  

"Welcome in, Everybody," says our dear Michelle, The Great Mom.

Readings:

Isaiah 40, 1-5, 9-11,   Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God

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

2 Peter 3, 8-14,  One day with the Lord is like a thousand years.

Mark, 1, 1-,  He will prepare your way.

Christmas Eve Mass, 12/24/17 at 4:00.

Our Dearest Candle Lighter, Emma, at work bringing us light.

Observations on Isaiah

Who: number 2 Isaiah, my favorite and a bringer of peace and consolation.  This is despite the fact that Isaiah 2 is composing during the time of the Babylonian Captivity.

If you are familiar with Handel’s Messiah, you will recognize lines he took directly from this passage.  

Watch out for a line in the letter of Peter, where God is compared to a thief who will come unexpectedly and send you to a bad place.

Thanks for the help with the Offertory, Teresa & Tom, and Leo in the back.

The Day of the Lord will come like a thief

In the spirit of Advent I want to tell you three stories about how the thief came to me in the past week.  This is my kind of thief, one who brings peace and consolation.

The Best Music with Shonda, Ben, & David.
 

There is a person who lives in a suburb not far from our community gathering place here at Sigler Elementary.  In this neighborhood the Dallas Morning News is delivered every morning at 6:10.  The paper is thrown into the lawn from a passing car or pick-up (not like in my days as a paper boy when I walked and took pride in placing the paper right at the front door).  In the neighborhood the first person to fetch the paper walks around and delivers everyone’s paper to their doorstep.  Pretty cool.

This past Friday morning this person was ready to do the paper delivery, stepped out, and behold, his paper had already been delivered by a neighbor.  This is getting merit by intention, an old Catholic grade school teaching of the Ursuline nuns.  The person?  Our Mike Carroll, a thief who regularly brings peace and consolation to all.

Communion ready, Claire & Sandra, Geri & Mike & Patricia.

The name of second thief is unknown.  Andy Sokolowski, one of our stalwart backpackers, told me this.  He & his wife were in their RV looking for a special park in Arizona.  They cannot find it, are sitting at the edge of the road looking at their map, and up comes a black guy who asks if they are lost. 

Yes!  The guy explains how to get to the park, which involves about half a dozen turns on little roads.  A couple of miles down their road, they are lost again. 

The real thieves at the Love for Kids picnic bringing peace and consolation.

But, behind them comes the thief bringing peace and consolation.  He offers to personally lead them to the park.  The thief of peace and consolation has struck again.

The third even took place yesterday, yes, the Great Love for Kids picnic at the large ranch west of Flower Mound.  The picnic invites kids from DISD and other school districts.  The schools are mostly from low income neighborhoods.

Those thieves were everywhere.   This young teacher is lacing up the shoe of one of her little charges.

Saturday 30 plus buses delivered a thousand pumped kids to a whole swarm of activities.  I watched those kids come into the big rectangular pavilion.  They were so excited.   Immediately they were welcomed with music and special middle school kids who sang and invited the kids to dance.  One the stage was even a Downs Syndrome girl who could really dance.

Waiting for them were bags of pop corn, kool-ade, face painting and tatoos, horse back rides, and  lunch.  Plus more music and dancing.  Every kid got a new winter coat and they were not all alike.  When the kids got back on their buses, guess what they found. A package of goodies had been put on every seat in every bus.

Welcome, All You Kids.

Who made this all possible and did all the work?  A whole big gang of volunteers , among them a big bunch from our community.  They struck again, those thieves of peace and consolation.

To whom are you a thief bringing peace and consolation?

These kids looked like middle school level, but could they all sing and dance, and get everyone else dancing.

Readings:  Genesis 9, 8-15, I set my bow in the clouds; Psalm 25, Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant; 1 Peter 3, 18-22, That he might lead you to God; Mark 1, 12-15, He remained in the desert for 40 days. 

 Genesis:  First book of the Bible, starts with creation & ends with the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob (Israel).

Ryan lights the Lenten Candle

   Author: Not Moses as was thought for centuries before people began to study the work.  At least 3 sources: 

• a Y (or J) source for the group that addressed God as Yahweh;
• an E for the group who addressed God as Elohim (Like two historians calling NYC The Big Apple or New York City, or Denver by its name or Mile High City);
• and a P group that focused on the priestly class, activities, & customs.

 Time: compiled and put together from 950 to 500 BCE.

Today's Selection: the flood has just receded and Noah is receiving a promise (called covenant) from Yahweh that never again will people be wiped out by a flood.  Guess what the sign of the promise is.

Bethany

40 Days

Picture this.  It is night.  Moon & stars.  Sitting around a little campfire are 3 or 4 families, parents and a half dozen kids.  It is maybe 1000 years before Christ.  It  is perfectly quiet except for the howl of a few animals out in the complete darkness.

A little girl says to her parents, "Where did that moon come from?  The stars?  Where did we come from?"  The parents tell her about the stories they heard from their elders.

They say: Before people were here the earth was all desolate.  It was dark & cold & waters were raging.  God came along one day and decided to put some order into this mess.  So he got up the next morning and divided up the daylight and the dark.



Sacrament of the Sick

The next day he got up and created the dome of the sky.  The third day he created the earth and starts plants growing.  The day after that he sets up the sun, the moon, and the stars.  On the fifth day he puts together fish and birds and tell them to multiply.  The sixth day he really has to work hard: animals and especially man & woman.  By now he is tired, so he takes the seventh day off and enjoys his work.  This is the first account of creation in Genesis.

Now at another campfire many miles away a little boy is asking his family the same question.  He is told another story.  One day, say, Elohim is walking on a dirt path (like everyone did.  No pavement).  He leans down grabs a handful, wets it, and molds it into a new form, something with two legs, two arms, and a head.  A man. 

This man is given life and gets put into a marvelous garden with only one command.  Don't eat from that tree.  Time goes on and animals are created which the man names.  However, the man is lonely, so God takes a rib out of his side and molds it into another human  form.  This one, however, is female and becomes man's partner.  The man names her Eve, the mother of all.  This is the second creation story.



Emma with her mom, Beth

At this point in time all is copasetic.  One day, however, while Eve is strolling around the Garden of Eden, a snake begins to talk with her.  Eventually the snake convinces her to try the fruit of the tree.  Uh, oh.  Then she shares it with the Man, now called Adam.  Later, God comes strolling along in the evening and has to call out for Adam & Eve, who are hiding.  He knows what they have done.  They confess and he tells them they will be forever punished with difficult living.  So they get kicked out of Eden.

Adam & Eve have kids.  Cain first, Abel second.  One day both boys make an offering to God.  Unfortunately for some reason, Cain's offering is rejected by God.  He is hurt and gets mad because his brother is accepted.  He kills Abel.  Then he, too, gets punished by God. 

Time passes and apparently many more of Adam & Eve's kids turn out like Cain.  In fact, God becomes so mad, so disappointed in his new creature man, that he regrets what he has done and decides to wipe everyone off the face of the earth–except one guy, Noah.  At this time, Noah is 500 years old.  He builds a boat and it rains 40 days.  Which takes us up to today's reading, where the water has receded and God promises he will never kill everyone with a flood again, signing his name with a rainbow. 



Sienna with her favorite

I tell these mythological stories for the following reasons.

First, we seldom hear or read these marvels.

Secondly, though it is not in the Genesis reading we have, there is a foundation setting up the thread between this part of Genesis 9 and Mark and today: the 40 days.  Forty is a special number in the old times meaning a sufficient number.  It rained 40 days.  Jesus is in the desert 40 days.  And we are spending 40 days of Lent.

Thirdly, when Jesus came out of the desert he really throws himself into his message, which contains 4 points in Mark:

• The Time is now.
• The Kingdom is here.
• Repent.
• Believe the Good News

Buddy

Fourthly, for centuries up until Vatican 2, the 40 days of Lent focused on fasting and abstinence to imitate Jesus and to do penance for our bad ways.  It was supposed to be a cleansing before Holy Week and Easter and a test of character. 

Fasting usually meant giving up meals.  Abstinence meant giving up a particular item, like Blue Bell or chocolate chip cookies.  I found one amusing note:Thomas Aquinas, one of the great doctors of the Catholic Church who lived ca. 1250, suggested that the faithful abstain from meat, eggs, and dairy.  Why?  Because they were aphrodisiacs and generated lust.  Food, alcohol, tobacco, and sex were all targets of the Church.

Today Mormons fast 1 day per month.  Muslims fast dawn to dusk the month of Ramadan which around mid- August to mid-September.  This fast often includes liquids. 

I suggest that for a positive Lent we might practice sensitivity and service.  This week we might fast.  What about a fast from guilt and stress?  What about fasting from my addiction?  For a week?  Food, alcohol, smoking, work?

How are you going to have a peaceful & happy Lent?



Zoe

Sources:

Dominican Website; Creighton U. Spiritual Seminar; St. Raymond Church, Dublin, CA.;  Wikipedia on Lent & Fasting;

Jan, The Head of Traffic Control, on the job.

Readings:

1 Kings 19, 16 19-21, You shall anoint Elisha.

Psalm 16,  You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Galatians 5, 1, 13-18, For freedom Christ set us free.

Luke 9, 51-62, No one who sets his hand to the plow…

I say, Pere, remember that pretty red Studebaker….

Readings:

Isaiah  25, 6-10,  On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines.  (One of my favorite all-time readings.)

Psalm 23,   I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Philippians 4, 1-14, 19-20,  I know how to live in humble circumstances.

Matthew 22, 1-14,  The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.  

 

Victoria the Witch says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."

Isaiah observations:

Who:  Any idea which Isaiah this is, 1, 2, or 3?   We had Isaiah 1 last week talking about the vineyard.  That was chapter 5.  Pretty easy to guess, Isaiah 1.  But, this is chapter 25.

It seems out of character for Isaiah 1, who criticizes the people.  More like Isaiah 2, which John Cade loves and which we will read this Advent. 

Remember Isaiah 1 is pre-Babylonian Captivity, around 555 before Christ.  This selection is a marvelous vision of peace and sensual satisfaction, one of my favorites.

Yep, it is still Isaiah 1, all the way to chapter 39.  Basically he is saying that a great day will come, after you people have paid for your sinful, selfish ways. 

Tori's big sister, Georgie, also says, "Welcome, Everybody."

Life as a Banquet

I apologize ahead of time for talking about these readings in ways I have done before.  Trouble is, some readings for me just have a special meaning.  They hit me in just a special way.  Here goes some observations you may recognize a little bit.

I had a Jesuit friend named Tom Barbarito who was in the class behind me.  Italian.  About 5 feet 5. Quite rotund in his early years.  No way athletic.  In fact would shudder at the prospect of exercise or physical work.  Intelligent and very amusing mostly at his own expense.  He was pastor of St. Rita for many years. 

And then there comes the girl with the Pink Ribbon, Zoe.

Our selection from Isaiah 1 about the banquet was his favorite reading of all time.  He loved to eat.  We used to have what were called first class feasts in the early years of my Jesuit life.  These were special meals on Christmas, Easter, and church holidays.  The meals were excellent Cajun cuisine put together by our cajun cooks from southwest LA, Opalousas & Lafayette.  And Tom was from New Orleans, as were many in the classes those days.  We got to talk in the refectory on the occasion of these meals, all 150 of us.

I can still picture Tom squaring off for one of these meals, his white cloth napkin tucked into the collar of his cassock European style, getting elbow room, and proclaiming that he was ready.  He used to declare that he could not wait for the heavenly banquet referred to here in Isaiah.  Today Tom is enjoying that banquet because he died maybe twenty years ago with a brain tumor.  And he died skinny, so he now may eat all his favorite foods without guilt. 

And then comes the girl with The Smile, Emma.

I think of Tom whenever this reading comes up.  Our readings today are so Tom Barbarito, eating, feasting, enjoying the wine running over.  Besides that, we got the king throwing a wedding banquet and getting mad because the invited did not come.  Then one guy gets kicked out for not having a wedding garment on.  What is going on?   Three observations.

First, remember for whom Matthew is writing.  He has an agenda when he composes parables for his work.  Initially he writes to warn the Jewish people about how they are losing it in not recognizing Jesus.  But equally he is addressing the Gentiles, letting them know that Jesus welcomes them also.

Watch out, James, you are surrounded by girls.

As in all parables, check out the symbolism of the gospel.  Obviously the king is God.  Who are the invited to the wedding feast?  The Jews.  Who are the good & bad street people? 

Second observation, we are invited.   There is a banquet out there, a feast on a mountain top, a feast of rich food and choice wine.  Tex Mex & Blue Bell?  We are invited, despite the fact that we are the street people.  In fact, I would propose that we are all street people, bad and good, Gentile and Jew.  The parable may be creating a false distinction.  The idea eventually says only those who believe in Jesus Christ are saved.  Only Catholics can go to heaven.  Not quite.  This was a common Catholic belief from my childhood in the 40’s & 50’s.

Nikki at 14 with her grandparents, Mary and Frank.

The third observation is that the banquet on the mountain top and the marriage feast are taking place today.  I can be tempted to think the feast takes place in the next life.  In fact, I think a lot of poor people and slaves were fed this nonsense so they would not try to fight back against oppression. 

This may be where the poor guy without the wedding garment fits in.  He gets treated pretty harshly, especially so after the king invites all the street people in, both good and bad.  To attempt an understanding, I think we go back to the symbolism which is the currency of parables.  What could he symbolize?  Perhaps the wedding garment symbolizes gratitude.  Maybe he was not grateful, but was critical and cynical, thinking he was entitled to all this, the attitude that seem to be so prevalent in our contemporary culture.  Consequently, the man was thrown out.  In reality the ingratitude never allows him in.  We can be the man without the wedding garment.

Cupcake of The Week to Richard on his birthday. The question: who gets it?

My friend Tom Barberito I am sure is enjoying his wedding banquet in the next life.  We are invited to enjoy this life's banquet with gratitude.

What is your banquet today?

Want to see a contemporary feast: (copy the link into your browser)

http://www.coolestone.com/media/10482/This-Is-What-Happens-When-Pranksters-/

Connie & Cathy. Don't forget you two troublemakers the cupcake is for Harper, who is sick at home. Can we trust them?

 Soul's Harbor Silent Auction, October 21, 2014, special notice:

  Download Doc1

Grace reading from the Great Prophet, Isaiah.

Readings:

Isaiah 9, 1-6,    The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shown.  (Wow!  Beautiful)

Psalm, 96,  Today is born our savior, Christ the Lord.

Reading 2: The Road Less Taken

Luke 2, 1-14,   The Nativity story.   (Lovely)

John reading The Road not Taken, one of The Greats.

Frost, Robert: The Road Not Taken  ( Reading #2)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

        And sorry I could not travel both   

And be one traveler.       Long I stood

         and looked down one as far as I could,

         to where it bent in the undergrowth,

Then took the other, as just as fair,       

         And having perhaps the better claim,

         Because it was grassy and wanted wear.

         Though as for that the passing there

         Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay

         In leaves no step had trodden black.

         Oh, I kept the first for another day!

         But knowing how way leads onto way,

         I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

         Somewhere ages and ages hence:

         Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–

         I took the one less traveled by,

         And that has made all the difference.

Claire reading the Nativity Narrative from Luke.

Homily, 12/24/18

Since November when this crazy lumbar stenosis smacked  me, I have had more doctor appointments than ever in my life, including  getting my two nice titanium hips.

On one occasion I was going to Presby’s office building 4, on the south east corner of Walnut Hill & Greenville.  This was my second visit to this building.  Parking is all on the ground level, with the 5 or 6 story building over the parking. 

The Nativity story with Leo as Joseph and Zoe as Mary.

This morning Rosemary drove me over, dropped me fairly near the big glass doors, two sets of them.  It is freezing, darkish, and windy like being in a wind tunnel.

As I approach the first set of doors, though still 30 yards away, this tall,  strong looking black lady in a security uniform comes running from the inside, opens one of the doors wide and says cheerily, Good Morning and Welcome In.

Who dat??  That is the Baby Jesus, otherwise known as Betsy!

I laugh despite being in a world of pain from the pinched nerve.  I thank her.  And as I pass in front of her at the door, I tell her, “I am finding it hard to have people opening doors for me.  I ain’t used to this.”

So I go upstairs, check with my doctor, and return to the lobby in maybe an hour.  I sit on a marble ledge, call Rosemary, and wait.

Sez Luke, "Hey, I'm an Angel!

Suddenly coming in through the doors from the outside, my black security lady appears.  I wave at her and she walks toward me.  She says, “You remember what you said to me that it is hard to let others hold the door for you.  Well, I look at you and I know you.  I know that you have opened a lot of doors for other people to walk through.   For me it is an honor to be able to pay it back just a little and hold the door for you.”

Does it get better than this ??!!

I was stunned, I was touched, I was in tears.

Are people not good!

Have a wonderful Christmas.

The Best Team!