Sunday Homily, May 18, 08, Trinity Sunday

Readings: Acts 1, 15-26; Psalm 103, the Lord has set his Throne in Heaven; 1 John 4, 11-16; John 17, 11-19.

Acts: a review–

Author:  Luke, the author of The Acts & The Gospel

Date: ca. 50 years after the death of Jesus

Our Selection: Believe it or not, we are now back to chapter 1 after getting as far as chapters 9 & 10.  What is going on is this.  The chapter opens with an introduction and then a description of the Ascension, Jesus going up in the sky.  Apparently the event took place about a half mile outside Jerusalem on the Mt. of Olives. 

Afterward, all the community come together in the room they had been hiding in. About 120 are present and Peter gets up to speak.  We read Peter's words. 

John's letter: There is a great line in this selection.  See if you can spot it when you hear it.  I'll tell you after the reading, but a hint, it is the last line.

The World

Last Sunday evening I took Rosemary to the emergency room at Presbyterian on Walnut Hill.  Many of you may not know that for years she has endured a condition where her heart would spike up to ca. 180 and lock in there.  Normally when she felt a spike coming she would lie down and it would subside.  Occasionally it would take a longer, like an hour or two. 

Sunday, after the spike continued for 4-5 hours and she was feeling nauseous and lousy, I called our doctor who assured me the event was not life threatening, not a stroke or a heart attack, and that I should take her to the emergency room so they could arrest the spike. 

So I rush over to Presbyterian reassured that she was not in danger from the spike, but anxious about going to the hospital.  Flashing through my mind are stories about hospital mishaps, overworked nurses, scissors left inside incisions, mixed medications, and people going in with a hang nail and coming out with a staff infection that kills them. 

However, I was humbled and impressed with the efficiency, the care, and the cleanliness of what I encountered.  We arrived about 8:00 and I did not leave until shortly before midnight.  It actually took most of that time to bring the spike down and keep it down.  It would come down, then immediately spike.  The phenomenon is called SVT, supra ventricular tachycardia. 

When we walked into that emergency room, I only had to put Rosemary's name & date of birth on a piece of paper, and they whisked her into the care of numerous teams of nurses, a doctor, and eventually one of her heart specialist team.

Then a great thing happened on Tuesday morning when they did a procedure on her called an ablation, where by they run a little wire up from the groin, through a vein into the heart cavity, and zap the malfunction.  Rosemary came home and donated her heart medications to the CCAC.  She does not need them anymore.

The people in Presbyterian were terrific, amazingly professional, caring, and warm.

This has been on my mind a lot and I thought about the experience when I noticed the John reading about the world.  Did you notice that he uses the word world 9 times in a small paragraph, always in a negative context?  Like, the world is a bad place.

We have talked about this before and I would like to propose again that, while the world around us has a lot of pain & suffering, the world also has tremendous beauty.  And, moreover, you and I can increase that beauty, helping to minimize the suffering. 

As I've mentioned before, I pick up here the scent of the old philosophical principle of dualism.  That is, the whole world is divided into two opposites, hot & cold, dark & light, spirit & matter, and especially, good & bad.  Moreover, bad & good covers other doubles, for example, light is good, darkness bad.  And especially, matter is bad, spirit is good.  Consequently, the world full of material & stuff is seen as the enemy.

This extends to my person.  My material body vs my spirit, my thinking and feeling.  To free the latter I must discipline and control the body.  Taken to an extreme people get into hurting themselves, so as to free the inner spirit.  I did not have enough common sense as a young Jesuit to realize that some of the penitential practices we were encourage to do we just self abuse.

Where are we today?  Today we are encouraged to treasure our world and to improve it.  We see this all over the place.  I was at the CCAC, the Collin Co. Adult Clinic, Thursday and here are all these people providing medical care to the poorest people pro bono, no salary or stipend. Ken Cramer sent me a note, "When can we have another food drive?"  Great reminder.  We'll do it next week.

I saw recently where Groundwork Dallas had another Trinity clean up.  Hundreds showed up to remove trash and in particular a hill of dead tires illegally dumped in the forest.  I wished I could have been there, like the time Ron Kovatis got many of us down there.

I propose that our challenge is not to hate the world, but the treasure it and to make it even more beautiful. 

How are you beautifying our world?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-05-24.mp3

Picture 1:  Mass with Kevin & Sabrina

Picture 2:  Sabrina, who graduated Friday from 8th grade at St. Monica with a Presidential Award for excellence, reading her poem Download Bread_by_sab[1]

Picture 3:  John Doherty preparing to receive a blessing on his employment away from home

Picture 4:  Donut Shoppe with customers Kevin, Chloe, & Denni

 

Readings: 

 Amos 6, 1, 4-7,   Woe to the complacent.

Psalm 146,  Praise the Lord, my sould.

1 Timothy 6, 11-16,  Pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love.

Luke 16, 19-31,  The rich man and Lazarus.

 

 

Amos observations :  (from last week's Mass)

What :  One of the 12 minor prophets, only 9 chapters.

Who: 
the book presents the thoughts and observations of Amos, who was a sheep herder
and a fig farmer.  He was born in the southern kingdom of Judah in a
little town south of Jerusalem, but he is condemning the people, especially the
rich, of the northern kingdom, Israel.

Time: 
Amos was active around 755 before Christ, but his words and message were
revised and edited down through the years, especially during the Babylonian
Captivity, around 555 before Christ.  He lives just before the Syrians
destroy the northern kingdom of Israel, around 700 before Christ.

Message: 
Prayer and sacrifice don’t make up for social injustice and oppression of the
poor by the rich. 

 Today: 
God will punish you rich and prosperous for your abuse of the poor.  Amos
may have seen the threat coming from the Syrians. 

Sources:  Good News Bible, New Interpreter’s Study
Bible, Wikipedia

 

 

Some of Francis’ points in his homily this morning:

1.  The first sin
   of the rich man is that he is blind.  He
   came and went every day and did not even see Lazarus at his doorstep.  Wealth can blind us, too.
2. The second sin of the rich man is that even in Hades
   he still thinks he is significant enough to tell Abraham to order Lazarus to
   warn his 5 brothers.  His self image is
   inflated and blinds him to this character flaw.  Entitlement?
3. The rich man is condemned not because of his wealth in
   itself, but that because of it he feels self righteous.  The trap of wealth, I am better than that one.
4. There may be a parallel in Luke’s mind between Lazarus
   and Jesus, which comes out in the talk between the rich man and Abraham.  Jesus was poor, died, and returned to
   life.  Were Lazarus to die and return to
   life, neither would he be believed, any more than Jesus was believed.
5. There is a play on words with Lazarus.  In ancient languages the name Lazarus could
   be equivalent to Abraham.  Therefore,
   Luke rubs it in: Lazarus may be a personification of Abraham himself, lying on the
   doorstep of the rich man who never sees him.

 The lesson: Who is the Lazarus, who is the poor
person at your own doorstep?

Source:   The Liberating Stories of Jesus, Francis Vanderwall

 

 

Readings:

Luke 19, 28-40, Jesus enters Jerusalem (for the procession)

Isaiah 50, 4-7, I gave my back to those who beat me (one of the Suffering Servant songs)

Psalm 22,  My God, My God, why have you abandoned me. 

Philippians 2, 6-11,  He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.

Luke 22, 14-23, 56  The Passion

Note: No homily this Sunday because of the volume of readings.

Video:  Entrance Procession for Palm Sunday.  Curtis consented to play the role of Jesus entering Jerusalem.  (2 minutes)

 

 

Mark 11, 1-10, Jesus enters Jerusalem

Isaiah 50, 4-7, I gave my back to those who beat me.

Psalm 22, My God, Why have you forsaken me.

Philippians 2, Christ did not not regard equality with God.  (Omit)

Mark 11, Passion

 

 

Happy Palm Sunday and Here's to New Life!

 

Thanks……

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers, John & Connie Doherty, John Schanot & Mary Jane, & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  see Readers in last line

Homily,  none today

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Mike  

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

 

Readings for Sunday, March 28, 2021

Download Readings for 3-28-2021 Palm Sunday

 

Regarding today's readings:  We will read

1.  Mark's description of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem;

2. Isaiah's description of one of the Suffering Servant pieces;

3.  Skip the Philippians reading;

4.  Mark's long description of The Passion. 

 

 

The Best Music, Shonda & Ben.

 

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 

 

 

Our Brain Center!

 

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 Beth's friends;   for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

Birthdays:   Barb Wittek

Anniversaries: 

 

Community Finances,   March 28, 2021

Expenses: $ 1,000.00

Outreach: $ 375.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Lord God who is endlessly patient

with our foolish and annoying frailties,

instill in us patience for our fellow humans. 

Help us to keep our temper cool,

our nerves calm,

and our disposition amiable.

Andrew N Greeley   A Book of Irish American Blessings and Prayers                

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome, Terra, from Iran

 

Readings:

Jeremiah 38, 4-6, 8-10,  They took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern.

Psalm 40,  Lord, come to my aid. 

Hebrews 12, 1-4,  Let us rid ourselves of every burden.

Luke 12, 49-53,  I have come to set the world on fire.

 

 

The Candle Lighting team in action.

 

Jeremiah Observations:

Author:  really Jeremiah or at least his scribe.

Date:  after the Babylonian Captivity again, say 555 years before Christ. Jeremiah sees the Babylonian catastrophe coming and says it is going to be how Yahweh punishes the people for their evil and unjust ways.

 

 

 

Blessed be The Lord, with David, Ben, Shonda, and Leo

 

Subject:  Jeremiah is the classic prophet.  He does the 3 things characteristic of a prophet.  He criticizes the behavior of the people.  He promises punishment from Yahweh.  He indicates that a better day will come.    Jeremiah lives to see the punishment, that is the Captivity.  Probably not the return from captivity.

Our selection:  Jeremiah pays the price of most real prophets.  The people are enraged, turn against him, and watch what happens.

 

 

Will somebody go sit with Sir charlie.

 

Why I love the J (as in Jewish Community Center vs Jesuit, an older love)

This morning I would like to talk about why I  love the J.  That is, as in the Jewish Community Center rather than my long time love, Jesuit.

This past Thursday morning before 6:00, more of less, I was in the big gym at the J.  Monday, Wednesday, & Friday I am in another wing of the complex to beat myself up at spin class with about 20 others.  I love it.

 

 

 

 

Welcome back, Richard

 

Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday I work on ellipticals and punch a bag, all to maintain some control over the Parkinson’s.

This past Thursday I have just finished about 15 minutes on an elliptical as I see the next customer coming along, Rita.  I have known & loved Rita for a number of years.    She comes Tuesdays & Thursdays with the DART special bus.    She is an African American hug machine.   Despite me being a Catholic  and she a Jehovah Witness, she still hugs me and continues to pray and work for my conversion.

 

 

 

Welcome Home, Sandra, and sorry about the loss of your brother

 

While we are hugging on each other and I am helping Rita to get seated on the elliptical, along comes a very outgoing and friendly girl from our spin class, Lisa.  We all three get talking.  Lisa, who is somewhat new to spin class, but who knows everybody, she asks if I am still working (a compliment) and then what did I do.

 

 

Uh ho, Patricia is coming to sit with you, Sir Charlie.

                                                            

So what should I do?  Drop the bomb in this peaceful Jewish haven?  “Oh, I’m Catholic Jesuit priest excommunicated for getting married.”  I did it.   Lisa was so responsive and positive I was touched and humbled.  Rita already knew my background.  Then we had to split.

 

 

Leo miked up and right at home.

 

Reflecting later on the encounter, I was struck by what a precious event that was, a real God-like moment.  Here were 3 people, 2 women & one guy.  The woman who could have been our hostess was Lisa, who is Jewish.   The other woman, African American & a Jehovah Witness.  The guy, an excommunicated Catholic Jesuit.

 

 

 

Elevation time.

 

Meeting people like Rita and Lisa are why I love the J

Can we not meet and develop relationships with other people similar to Lisa & Rita?

 

 

Offertory Time with Tom & Denni & & Cheryl.

Readings:  Ecclesiastes 1, 2; 2, 21-23; Psalm 90, If Today You hear his Voice, Harden not your Hearts; Colossians, 3, 1-11; Luke 12, 13-21

 

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Intro to Readings

 

 

Our first reading is from the Book of Ecclesiastes, which makes up some of the Wisdom literature.   The book is concerned with the purpose and value of human life. While admitting the existence of a divine plan, it considers such a plan to be hidden from man, who seeks happiness without ever finding it here on earth. 

 

 

The authorship has been attributed to Solomon, but that was just to get the book some credence.  It was written long after Solomon, around 250-150 BCE.  One could easily conclude that the book is rather pessimistic, as in its opening which we read today, “vanity of vanities, all is vanity”, and it concludes in chapter 12 with the following:  “The last word, when all is heard: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all; because God will bring to judgment every work, with all its hidden qualities, whether good or bad.” 

 

 

This book is also the source of those well known lines from chapter 4:  “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.”

 

 

Our second reading is the last for some time from Paul’s Letter to the Colossians.

 

 

The Gospel continues with Jesus’ journey up to Jerusalem.  The opening verse, which is omitted from the start of today’s reading, is worth noting:  “Meanwhile, so many people were crowding together that they were trampling one another underfoot.”  Luke is introducing the sense that things are starting to get serious.  And the reality is that the topic today is a serious one.

 

 

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Homily

 

 

There are two topics, which I believe are related in today’s readings:

 

 

1.    Where is God in your priorities?

2.    What date is the anniversary of your death?

 

 

 

I believe that the topics are connected if you have faith.  Because you are all here, I feel I am somewhat preaching to the choir, but maybe the question is still valid.  How much of a priority is God in your life?

 

 

 

Let me start back with the second question, by telling a story about a job I used to have.  I worked in the pathology dept of a local hospital and one day there was an autopsy of a fairly young person.  What struck me that particular day was seeing the person’s clothes on the floor in the corner.  They had put them on themselves that morning, never thinking that someone else would be removing them later in the day!! 

 

 

 

We really don’t know when that anniversary date will be, which will be marked in other people’s calendars about us.  There are a couple of lines in the responsorial psalm worth paying attention to:

“Teach us to number our days aright

that we may gain wisdom of heart”

 

 

 

Because if we do know how to number our days properly, then that anniversary date won’t be a problem.  And this brings me to the first topic.  If we have God high up in our priorities, then our lives will be lived in a very different way.  One extreme example of someone for whom God was everything was Mother Theresa.  Meeting her was an experience I will never forget.  On the other extreme are folks who have loads of money.  They have many worries about how it is invested, what next to purchase, all in the pursuit of the ever-illusive “happiness”. 

 

 

If we live by the two great commandments, Love God and Love Neighbor, then I believe our lives will not suffer from the complaint in our first reading.  All will not be vanity!

 

 

 

Picture 1:   Rosemary's Blessing

 

Picture 2:   Nikki with her grandmom, Mary, at offertory

 

Picture 3:   Celeste

 

Picture 4:   Altar Helpers