Readings:  

 Isaiah  50, 4-9,  I gave my back to those who beat me.

  Psalm 116,  I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

 James 2, 14-18,   What good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Mark 8, 27-35,  Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself. 

 

Harper and…

Isaiah Observations: 

Date of Composition:

A picture of the time span:

        1. Solomon (he of Wisdom, the temple builder, 700 wives, & 300 mistresses–if he really existed) dies ca. 900-1000 before Christ.

         2. The Hebrew kingdom divides into 2 parts, the north, Israel (Galilee today), the south, Judah, around 900 before Christ.

        3.  Assyria destroys Israel and obliterates the 10 Hebrew tribes located there, ca. 700.

        4.  Babylon carries into captivity the Hebrews of Judah, the 2 remaining tribes, ca. 600.

Contemporary scholars conjecture that this work could have been composed over a period of 400 years, i.e., 700-300.  It obviously begins by predicting disasters, typical of prophets.  They happen, 2 of the biggest tragedies in Jewish history up to the Romans' destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (70 years after Christ) and the Holocaust, that is, the Assyrian destruction & the Babylonian Captivity.  4 big tragedies.

Author (s): obviously it was composed by numerous people.  Isaiah himself is considered behind chapters 1-39.  In fact, line 1 identifies Isaiah as the author of the ideas.

What is it about: 1^st, 2^nd, & 3^rd Isaiah

1^st Isaiah, Chapters 1-39: predict doom for the Hebrews because they have not been faithful to their one god.

2^nd Isaiah, Chapters 40-55:  this & the remaining chapters are called The Book of Consolation.  They try to assure the people who are now in exile that God will restore them to their former glory & peace.  In fact, in chapter 45 the composer even mentions the name of Cyrus, the king of the Persians who defeats Babylon & sends the Hebrews back to Jerusalem.  So the composer knew of Cyrus and a date can be narrowed down.

This 2^nd  Isaiah section presents 4 suffering servant songs, #3 being our selection today.  Jews see the servant to be the Hebrew people/nation.  Christians see the servant to be Christ.  Isaiah 2 is considered maybe the most influential O.T. book.  On Isaiah 2 Mark built much of his gospel, especially the story of the crucifixion.

Handel's Messiah uses 2nd Isaiah for its lyrics.

3^rd Isaiah, Chapter 56-66: more assurances of a return to peace & glory.

 

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself and take up his cross

I would like to say a few words this morning about denying myself and taking up my cross.

A story from our CO trip last week.

The day is the third of our trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.  The 7 of us have left a delightful campsite and are headed over a pass, Flat Top Pass, right on the Continental Divide, about 12 thousand feet high.  We are climbing one to two thousand feet. 

As we climb the weather is getting nastier & nastier, cloudy skies, wind, and cold.  We come across a series of what I describe as receding ridges.  I see a ridge up ahead.  I get to it only find another ridge 200 yards further up.  We must have had 15 of these.  

It begins to sleet and rain.  The group of us is stretched out over a few hundred yards.

Suddenly I look up and see somebody coming down the trail by himself.   Even from a distance I see he has on only running shorts and a light pack, not like ours.  He is jogging down this rough trail and has already crossed over the pass in the sleet, rain, and wind. 

I am astounded.   Rose Banzhaf says that his whole trip is about 30 miles.  She calls him The Mean Running Machine. 

I mention this event to make a distinction about denying myself and taking up my cross.  Unhealthy and healthy.  Observations.

 

Unhealthy.  In my early years as a Jesuit I think we had some unhealthy attitudes and behaviors influenced by this demand.  I am embarrassed to admit that, yes, we had little scourges that we were supposed to use on our backs and we had chains with little spikes we were supposed to wear on our thighs. 

Once we joined the Jesuit community we never expected to return home.  I did not return for 7 years.  I came back to teach for 3 years at Jesuit, not go home.  At the time I never thought anything about it.

In my years as a spiritual director especially for priests & nuns I found a lot of guilt for not being hard enough on myself.  I personally can still feel guilty if I take a 15 minute morning break or a day off.  Rosemary is good for me on this.  She calls me to relax.

Healthy.  Self discipline to achieve a goal.  The runner obviously has some kind of goal.  Look at high school sports and how strenuously so many kids drive themselves.  Look at education, the discipline to achieve a Ph.D., to be a doctor.  What about Alcoholics Anonymous or giving up smoking?  The reward: inner peace.

Finally, let me remind you of that gospel dynamic I mention so often, infinite demand plus infinite acceptance.

I would suggest that the runner I met at 12 thousand feet in sleet was denying himself and carrying his cross.  Hopefully he has a healthy goal. 

How do you deny yourself and take up your cross? 

 

 

 

Readings: Isaiah 60, 1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3, 2-6; Matthew 2, 1-12

Isaiah: We finished the year with the hopeful passages from the great book of Isaiah and we begin 2008 with another of the passages.  Remember these images were the dreams of people, probably men, who lived ca. 800 years B.C.

The Magi

I did it again, folks. 

Rosemary & I have a custom when we are in our little bed & breakfast at Oaxaca, Mexico or in other places.  In the evening we put a bottle of wine, some peanuts, and maybe some cheese on a table in the tropical little paradise of a patio the Valencia family have in their house.  A bottle of wine on a table with a couple of glasses seems to draw people and we have some great conversations.

When we arrived in Oaxaca this past Dec. 29, we followed our usual custom, set it all out and prepared to wait for people to come in from their day’s adventures.  I noticed that in a little alcove at the edge of the patio a lady in her mid 50’s was quietly sitting.  I walked over to her and invited her to have a glass of wine with us.  She declined. 

When I returned to the table I mentioned it to Rosemary and she said she had already invited her, but that she had declined to her also. 

Meanwhile, people drifted in and soon we had about half a dozen guests talking about their wanderings around Oaxaca, a beautiful little colonial town.  All the while we were at our  table the lady sat by herself in the alcove.  At one point her husband came up and sat with her, but never came over.  In fact, they did not even look at us. 

So I did it.  I said to Rosemary something like, "Those people seem rather unsociable and stand-offish."

And you know what happened.  The next day at breakfast we got to know them a little more.  They were from Vancouver, he French Canadian and she British.  They were shy, but proved to be quite warm and friendly once we got to know them.  In fact, they eventually became one of our favorite couples among a bunch of really interesting people.

On one occasion they even surprised and impressed all of us because on their own, even without Spanish, they took a country bus out to one of the mountain ranges that surround the valley in which Oaxaca is, so they could go hiking.  We were impressed because not only was it a pretty adventurous trip, and they did not strike me as athletic.  But also they persevered with their hike even though the day they chose happened to be one of the coldest days I have ever seen in Oaxaca.  When they got off the bus in the middle of nowhere, they said the wind was blowing fiercely and eventually they ran into rain and snow.  Fortunately, they had rain coats, but not a lot of warm clothing, because no one expects cold in Oaxaca.  When they actually joined us around the table that evening they were celebrated.  Ultimately, I think they did not drink.

I talk about this couple because they were for me something like the Magi.  We imagine them as kings, but in reality they would have more resembled anything but.  They are intended as symbols by Matthew, symbols of the non Jews, the ugly Gentiles, which is what we are.  In other words, surprise, surprise, Matthew wants to show that Jesus appeared even to these unsavory characters.

This Vancouver couple was not unsavory in any way.  Just because they did not eagerly accept my invitation to a glass of wine, I did it.  I judged them negatively.  Judging the book by the cover again. 

Who are the Magi in your life?  The people you judge?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-01-06.mp3

 Readings:

2 Chronicles 36, 14-16, 19-23 , He has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem.

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

Ephesians  2, 4-10,   God brought us to life with Christ.

 John  3,  14-21,   Jesus & Nicodemus.

 

 

INTRODUCTION to Gospel:

 When our gospel begins, Jesus is in dialog with Nicodemus, who is present three times in the John gospel. He is a Pharisee and teacher who wants to know what Jesus is teaching and doing. Today’s reading occurs at night for he is afraid that other Pharisees might think that he had become a disciple of Jesus.

 Later Nicodemus will remind the Pharisees who want to rid themselves of Jesus that the Law does not allow them to arrest Jesus without first knowing what he is saying and doing. 

After the crucifixion, Nicodemus, while it is still day, brings to Jesus’ disciples an unheard of amount of expensive spices so that Jesus’ body can be given a kingly burial.   Initial fear had turned into great love.

 

 

INTRODUCTION to 1^st and 2^nd Readings:

Salvation comes to us through Christ. Our witness of good works, our love, is how they will know we are Christians.

 

 

 

 

GOSPEL and HOMILY: 

A year or two ago I also gave a homily on this fourth Sunday of Lent; but then I chose the other gospel reading about the man who had been blind from birth.  I took you in that homily to the Feast of Tabernacles where Jesus had called out in the temple inviting anyone who was thirsty to come to him and drink from the fountain of living waters. 

It was in these waters that the man born blind had been baptized.  I also made you aware of the verse from the prophet Jeremiah, ‘Those who reject the Lord, the fountain of living waters, will in shame have their names written in the earth.’ 

 

 

 

The Pharisees sought to circumvent Nicodemus’ words to them about the Law, by trying to trap Jesus using the Law, by bringing to him a woman caught in the act of adultery.  ‘Moses said that this woman should be stoned. What do you say?’ 

They knew that Jesus would not allow them to stone her; he would seek to bring forgiveness to the woman.  They had him trapped; but Jesus bent down and began writing the names of these Pharisees and scribes on the ground to inform them that they were the ones in need of forgiveness.

 

 

 

When they kept after him to take a position he said, ‘The one of you, who is without sin, cast the first stone at her.’  One by one they left until there was no one left in front of him but the woman who recognizes his great love.

She made no excuse; she does not try to run away from what she has done, she submits herself to his words. He says to her, ‘woman, where are they, is there no one left to condemn you?’ 

 

 

 

He has addressed and treated her with goodness and justice, tenderness and compassion.  She replies, ‘No one.’  Since Jesus has already said in today’s gospel that he came not to condemn but to bring forgiveness to the world, he truly has forgiven her.  He says, ‘neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.’ 

The Greek word, translated as ‘go,’ means in Greek, ‘to journey along the way she has been invited to pursue.’  She has been invited by Jesus to follow him.  Jesus’ command to the woman, ‘do not sin again,’ recognizes, again, that she is forgiven, and is an ongoing request to remain contrite.

 

 

 

At the end of our Eucharistic Prayer we will join together in the Our Father before celebrating our Lenten Penitential service where we ask for forgiveness and grant forgiveness. It is appropriate for us at this time to take a moment to reflect on some habit we might have that is not life-giving or love-giving, and in a contrite way think about how we will replace it with something that is.

 

 

 

 

Acts 12:  Suddenly the angel of the Lord stood by him and a light shone in the cell.  He tapped Peter on the side and awakened him, saying, “Get up quickly.”

2 Timothy 4:  The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it.

Matthew 16: He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.

John Cade and John Stack ready to start Mass
 

 

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben & Shonda

The Kiss of Peace

 

Outreach: $   490.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Paula gets a cookie for her birthday

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Readings: Numbers 11, 25-29; Psalm 19, The Precepts of the Lord give Joy to the Heart; James 5, 1-6; Mark 9, 38-43.

The Book of Numbers

 

The fourth book of the Pentateuch.  It leaves us with the impression of a carefully structured and organized religious society moving through history under the sustaining and guiding hand of God.  It is a very complex collection of historical, legal and liturgical traditions spanning a period of about a thousand years!  

An outline would identify three broad divisions of the book: The sojourn at Sinai, chapter 1-10 covers the last 19 days the Israelites spent at Sinai. 

 

The second section deals with the journey from Sinai to Moab, chapter 10-22 and covers a span of about 38 years.  The third section, chapters 22-36, covers events in Moab over a period of 5 months.  Today's reading is from the beginning of the

second section, when the people are just starting out on their journey.  Moses is getting concerned with the responsibility of all of the people, so God shares the spirit, which is on Moses among 70 elders, even two who were not part of the group gathered around the Tent.

The Letter of Saint James

 

This is the final Sunday for the second reading to come from Letter of St. James, which we have listened to for the past five weeks.  In the reading today the mood is very stark!  “Your wealth has rotted away”.  The audience for this letter is the communities outside of Jerusalem.

Again remember the letter is a collection of moral observations and instructions, and in today’s reading James’ does not have much that is positive to say about the rich.  The bigger context is to encourage the Christians who are suffering at the hands of the powerful.  James reminds his audience that Jesus is coming again very soon!  Immediately following today’s reading he says “Be patient brothers until the Lord’s coming”.

Notes on the Gospel 

 

9:42 "it is better for him rather if the millstone of a donkey had been set around his neck and he had been thrown into the sea." The force of the two verbs indicate it would have been better that the person died before causing the scandal.

 

9:43 "It is better (that) you go into (eternal) life deformed . . . " Compare this statement with Leviticus 21:17-24, where only the undeformed could lead worship. Only the physically intact high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, the place the populace believed Yahweh definitely dwelt. In addition, self-inflicted wounds were forbidden in the Torah.

 

Now Mark stated the self-deformed could enter the kingdom. Ignore, for a moment, the fact that Mark used this extreme language symbolically. The weight of the statement was simple. Not only the sinners (the "deformed") could enter the Kingdom, the righteous (those with "two hands") could suffer eternal punishment! In addition, sometimes needed to "deform themselves" (i.e., leave the community of the "righteous" for the community of "sinners") to be saved

               

"unquenchable" in Greek is "asbeston," the root word for "asbestos."

                    

9:43, 45, 47 "Gehenna" The valley of Hinnom, south and west of ancient Jerusalem. This valley became infamous as the "high place" for idol worship among Judah's monarchs (including an oven for human sacrifice). Because of it reputation, "Gehenna" became metaphor for eternal damnation in the time of Jesus.

                                  

9:44, 46 "where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" Both verses are the same. Most scholars do not believe these verses are part of the original text, so they are deleted from most modern translations.

               

9:48 "where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." Unlike 9:44 and 9:46, this verse is original. This verse was an adaptation of Isaiah 66:24

                          

Homily for Sunday September 27^th 

 

If ever there was a gospel passage which begs for the topic of the Pedophile Disaster it is today’s, but I am not going there!!  Instead I thought about getting some hacksaws and pliers and making them available for use here today!!  If you eye causes sin – pluck it out.  Chop off your hand or your leg!!!! What is this all about? 

           

For me, this is a classic example of why it is not too smart to take the bible literally!  No, God does not want us to be inflicting severe bodily harm to ourselves.  So what is going on in this reading?

        

The three readings today are a brilliant example of why we have readings at mass.  The Word of God is speaking to us thru the readings each Sunday.  Here is what I am hearing from today’s readings.

            

In the OT reading from Numbers, we are at the beginning of the journey, the people have just been given the Covenant with God…. But already they are starting to have a really bad attitude about the whole thing, and poor Moses is feeling overwhelmed.  I guess life does get to be overwhelming at times.  Too many things too little time.  In the reading, God helps Moses first by sharing the spirit with others, can I share whatever it is that overwhelms me with others… a problem shared is a problem halved.  Then God in the very next sentence after our reading has quail blown in from the sea to feed the people.  When I am open to allowing God to help me, he invariably does. 

            

The Second reading from James reminds me to keep things in perspective.  Not to get too attached to material things.  The real riches are for me found within family, within community.

            

The Gospel passage from Mark for me says that what we here in this community are doing is the right thing!!  “Whoever is not against us, is for us”.  If ever there was an example of not seeing eye to eye with the established religion, it was Jesus.  It was ultimately what set him up for crucifixion.  The established religious were too threatened by what he was saying and doing.

           

 

But back to what I said at the beginning, what are we to make of the chopping of limbs etc.?  It is a classical example of why it is important to fully understand the context of the scriptures.  Today’s readings ask me to take stock of my priorities.                      

          

Let's take a few moments of quiet to begin that process.

                 

You may be the only Bible someone reads, will they be able to find God?

 

Picture 1:  Tony celebrating with Kevin helping

 

Picture 2:  Altar helpers

 

Picture 3:  Mike Miller presents CCAC with $2000, Cathy, Ray, & Claire accepting

 

Picture 4:  The Froebes, Richard, Morgan, Alexandra (O.U. junior), & Monica

Readings:

 Isaiah 35, 4-7, The eyes of the blind will be opened.

Psalm 146,    Praise the Lord, my soul.

James 2, 1-5, 21-22, 27,  Show no partiality

Mark 7, 31-37, Jesus heals the deaf & mute man.

 

 

  

Homily:

 

Last Sunday Stack reminded us about how Moses told the people of Israel that they would have their own land promised by Yahweh.  And how after Moses’ death Joshua and others wiped out the Cannanite tribes who resided there, and just moved in. 

 

 

The theme today is that of healing.  During the week I was touched by two visuals of a lack of healing for people.  The first was the visual of a dead child lying on a beach in Turkey, whose family were trying to get from Syria to safety in Europe.  His family was one of thousands escaping from war torn Syria, escaping death by the King’s military, or by the rebel fighters, or by ISIS jihadists.  Newspeople often refer to them as ‘immigrants’–-yet their country is in civil war and there is hardly a safe place for anyone on any side.  They are refugees.  They leave everything behind.  They cross the Mediterranean in rubberized boats or rafts.  Many don’t even make it to the first stop in Turkey.  These thousands of refugees are leaving their homes, leaving their land, in search of a safe place for their families, for their children. 

 

 

The second visual that struck me this week was from a series of articles in the National Catholic Reporter on the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ and its impact on people over centuries.  The ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ is found in papal bulls beginning in 1436; that’s almost 600 years ago.  One example is a papal bull from 1493, after Columbus’ ‘discovery’ of the Americas.  This papal bull gave Ferdinand and Isabella “full and free power, authority and jurisdiction of every kind” over almost all of the Americas, except for part of modern-day Brazil and a few islands.  Some say this was the beginning of international law as each succeeding papal bull would quote or reference those that came before.  When, in the late 1400’s discoverers were finding lands far away from Christian Europe, they found these lands occupied with non-Christian peoples, tribes and civilizations.  The papal bulls gave Christian discoverers full power and authority over all non-Christian peoples in these lands.  This meant the land could be claimed by the Christian discoverer (like for Spain or for France, etc.) and the non-Christian people could be enslaved, made to become Christian, even killed if they resisted.

 

 

Fast forward to 1823.  This Doctrine of Discovery was legitimized in a ruling by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall.  His ruling maintained that Native Americans had the right to ‘occupy’ land, but not have full ownership, and that tribes were dependent on the federal government.

 

 

So the two visuals that touched me this week were the thousands of refugees fleeing Syria, especially the little boy lying dead on the beach; and the millions of peoples in the Americas, Africa, the Pacific islands, etc., dispossessed of their lands, culture and religion, to a large extent due to a series of papal bulls and the Doctrine of Discovery. 

 

 

What would healing look like for the people of Syria fleeing war and devastation?  What would healing look like for the offspring of the indigenous peoples of North and South America? of Africa? of  the pacific islands?   

 

 

And how do I individually, or as a member of this Christian community, promote healing in my own world?