Sunday Homily, June 24, 2007, Nativity of John the Baptist

Who let that rabbit in here??  Happy Easter, Everybody.  Welcome.

Readings:

Acts of the Apostles  10, 34-43.   You know what has happened all over Judea

Psalm 118,  This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad.

1 Corinthians 5, 6-8,   A little yeast leavens all the dough.

 John 20,  1-9,    The Resurrection

Chloe with Nora and Charlotte and their buddy, all say, "Happy Easter, Folks, welcome in."

 Resurrection

I would like to talk about the Resurrection this morning.  I suspect that you, like me, consider this event a one time event from ancient history.

However, on the contrary, I want to suggest that resurrection events are multiple and present tense.  They take place daily or, at least, frequently in our lives.  A resurrection moment is a moment of great positive feeling, great consolation, a Kilimanjaro moment, and a time when I say ‘It is good to be alive.’

 Joanie  and the kids.

Let me give you 4-5 examples. 

First, there is a bike ride the last Saturday every August in and around Wichita Falls, yes, the famous Hotter ‘N Hell.  After you have ridden the 100 miles and just before the finish line in town, you pass over a bridge leading up and then down to the finish.  Many a time when I am on top of that bridge, I am in tears, tears of gratitude and positive feelings.   I can say to myself, ‘It is so good to be alive!’

The Gerwers, Casey & Rob, and the kids.

Secondly, another bike ride in July, for a week, 500 miles, crossing Iowa from west to east, from the Missouri to the Mississippi.    When I come down a hill and behold that enormous gorgeous river, I have a Kilimanjaro moment.  Tears again, gratitude, wonder. ‘It is good to be alive.”

Cody with Ben & Olivia.

Thirdly, Labor Day every September we put together a group of 5-12 people and we head out back packing.   I started doing this with the Jesuits back in “89 and we have seen numerous beautiful parks.  For me The Beauty is Yosemite and especially our particular route on the east side, a route I call Matterhorn Canyon.

There are 3 passes of 10 thousand feet.  Kilimanjaro moments each.  Equally positive are 2-3 special campsites.  ‘It is good to be alive in Yosemite.’

Harper with her daddy, Brian, and her granddaddy, Ted 

2 more.  Every Fall and Spring many of us in the community volunteer at the Love for Kids picnic at Circle K ranch in Flower Mound.  2 weeks ago I am standing at the entrance to the pavilion to welcome the kids, who are all handicapped.  They come with their marvelous parents.

At one point my attention was caught by a little blond girl about 2 years old seated in a pram.  She had her left hand over her eyes, her head was down on the little basket, and she was sobbing her eyes out.  She broke my heart.  I think she might have been scared by all the people. 

Our Great Candle Lighter, Cole, at work.

Bill Hammond has a story about a little boy about 3 who had a left prosthetic leg.  I noticed him coming in, for sure.  Bill says that later the boy & his family approached the horses for a sponsored ride.  The family told Bill they did know.  The boy did not even like to pet dogs. 

The little boy, however, was so excited once he got on the horse that the horse walkers toured the boy around not one time, but two. 

I think we have the Zurchin clan here, Tom  & Charlotte, Chloe & Nora with Denni, and Claire & Andrew.

What are your resurrection moments?  When was the last one?

Carol with Karen, John, & Richard.

 Readings:

Isaiah 43,16-21, In the desert I make a way.

Psalm 126,  The Lord has done great things for us, we are filled with joy. 

Philippians 3, 8-14,  For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things.

John 8, 1-11,  They brought a woman who had been caught in adultery

Think it is hard to get Leo to Mass on Sunday?

Emma, too.

 Isaiah Observations:

The scene: the Jewish people are captives in Babylon ca. 550 years before Christ.  Isaiah the great prophet had warned the people that their bad ways were going to lead to this. 

In this chapter 43 Yahweh reminds them of how much he has done for them in the past and lets them know that they are still his people.  Their lives will get better.   The writer is Isaiah 2.  There are at least 3.

The first 5 verses of this chapter are some of the best in the Bible, telling the people to not be afraid because he is with them. It goes— 

Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you.  I have called you by your name.  You are mine.  When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you…  When you pass through fire, you will not be burnt. 

Soul's Harbor truck which the community filled. Patrick shared his marvelous history of recovery with us, which is why we have no homily today. Patrick is going through drug recovery at Soul's Harbor, which we support.

Philippians

Philippi was the first church Paul set up on European soil.  He is in prison.  He is basically saying that for him nothing has any importance beyond his relationship with Jesus.

Guess who this is.

Cole with his dad, Chuck.

Video: Cupcakes of the Week, Ken, John, and Brooklyn (2, today; 30 sec.)

Our Dear Chloe says, "Happy Easter, Everybody."

Readings:

Acts 10,  34, 37-43  You know what has happened all over Judea.

Psalm 18,    This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.

1 Corinthians 5, 6-8,   A little yeast leavens all the dough.

 John  20, 11-18,  Mary Magdalene

Charlotte, too, Chloe's sister, says, "Welcome, Everybody, and Happy Easter."

Acts observations:

This book with 28 chapters basically tells the story of what happened to and in the Christian community after Jesus died.  

Keven, also, says, "Welcome in Folks."

Resurrection

Want to know what Resurrection looks like?  Let me give you a couple of pictures. 

As you heard me mention at the beginning of our celebration this morning, I went to the Circle R Ranch in Flower Mound Saturday morning for a picnic titled, For the Love of the Kids.  There are two of these picnics a year.  One takes place around Thanksgiving when busloads of kids come for a picnic with horse rides, hay rides, bounce houses, face painting, dancing on a stage, and visits from Superman, Batman, Santa, and others.  It is enormous, a couple of thousand kids.

Zoe lighting the Easter Candle with the help of her sister, Georgie.

In April the picnic is for handicapped kids.  They come with their families, maybe a hundred or more yesterday.  It is wheelchair friendly.  I have my favorite job.  I stand at the entrance, usually with Beth, and welcome everybody.  I am always touched by something special, some resurrection moment.

So here I am yesterday registering an hour before the kids arrive.  I walk into the big pavilion and unexpectedly the first resurrection moment hits me.  You will never guess what it is.  It is The Community.  I’ve already seen Kevin, Kerry, and Joe at the registration desk.  But when I enter the pavilion I see brown shirts of Bona Responds everywhere.  The first Resurrection moment.  I was so proud to be part of this community.

Just take a guess. Yep, our beloved Gerwer gang at 7, believe it or not.

Later, Beth, I, and another lady named Lindi are at the welcome lane into the pavilion.  Families are starting to come in, many pushing wheel chairs, but all with kids handicapped in some way.  Along comes a family with a little blond girl about 5 or 6.  I am saying hello and welcome to everyone.  The little girl comes right over to me and holds up her arms.  I gulp, pick her up, and hold her.  I did not want to ever let her go.  Another Resurrection moment.

A little later a Hispanic mother comes up pushing her son in a wheel chair.  We chat and I look closely at the boy, who is about 12 years old and very nice. What I see is that he has a white sweat shirt that says “Jesuit.” 

Some of The Community Team at the Circle R Ranch Love for the Kids picnic, Saturday.

 Well, of course, that starts a conversation, while I hold the boy’s left hand in my left hand.  I’m on his left.  He is tuned in but not speaking, just watching me sort of fondly.  Finally, I reach over with my right hand and caress his soft cheek.  He gives me the most beatific, gentle smile that I was almost in tears as we parted.  A third Resurrection moment. 

I left Circle R in a zone of greater peace, gratitude, humility, and awe. 

Your most recent Resurrection moment?

Who let that Wild Rabbit in here?

Readings: 2 Chronicles 36; Psalm 137; Ephesians 2, 4-10; John 3, 14-21

Chronicles:

Author (s): Unknown

Date:  ca. 450-350 BCE, at least after The Babylonian Captivity.  You will see why. 

Subject:  a summary of the entire span of history to the time the people returned to Jerusalem, i.e., from Adam to the end of the Babylonian Captivity, 450 BCE.  Therefore, it begins with Adam & a genealogy up to King Saul and King David, through David's son Solomon & the building of the temple to the Babylonian Captivity with Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus the leader of the Persians who defeated Nebuchadnezzar & the Chaldeans and allowed the Hebrews to return to Jerusalem.  Note that Babylon was near Baghdad in Iraq, while Persia was Iran.

Our selection: this is the very last chapter of ca. 60 chapters, including Chronicles 1 & 2.  A bit of a summary chapter, it says that Yahweh was so mad he got Nebuchadnezzar to defeat the Hebrews and cart them off to captivity in Babylon.  Then some 50 years later he gets Cyrus to defeat Nebuchadnezzar and free the Hebrews to return to Jerusalem, which they do. 

Sources: Wikipedia, Catholic Encyclopedia.

Two Questions

Last week I saw a story that struck me.  A couple in their mid forties were at home watching TV Tuesday about 9:00 in the evening.  The husband's brother was with them and the couple's 3 youngest kids were playing.  The family lives in Pleasant Grove, which is about 5:00 o'clock on the circular map of Dallas. 

Suddenly the door was forced open and a kid around 24 came banging in demanding money.  The brothers work construction, but they had no cash on them.  The wife, Carmen, emptied out all she had in her purse, $2. 

The kid was angry and demanded that they get the money they had hidden.  He had a pistol and slapped around Alfredo, the father.  He tied up the brothers and shoved them into the bathroom.  He then said he would kidnap Carmen or one of Alfredo's daughters if he did not hand over more money.

So Alfredo and Carlos, the younger brother, in order to defend Carmen and the kids, tried to break loose attack the kid.  They were both shot dead on the spot.

Meanwhile, one of the older children, a boy, snuck out a window and ran for help to a neighbor.  They called 911 and the police arrived while the shooting was still going on.  The kid ran out the door, saw a cop, fired at him, and ran around toward the back of the house where he encountered a second cop.  This cop shot the kid and now he is in the hospital in critical condition. 

Apparently the kid did not know the family and just chose them at random.  All for $2.

Which, taking into account our readings today, leads to two questions.

First, does God get angry and punish bad people?  The Bible certainly seems to think so. 

• For example, Chronicles says today that the "anger of the Lord was so inflamed that there was no remedy."  As a result he had the Hebrews killed, burned out, and carried away as slaves in Babylon.  For a symbolic 70 years, which seems to suggest that the Hebrews had neglected to rest on the sabbath.

• For example, Yahweh got so mad at his earlier creation that he sent the great flood, killing everybody except Noah, his wife, and the animals.  

• For example, in John this morning you find out that you will be condemned if you do not believe in the name of Jesus.  So you better be Christian or even better Catholic according to the messages I heard growing up, or you are condemned.  To what?

• For example, it is held that Jesus had to come and die on a cross as he did so as to take away the Father's anger at us for our ancestors' sins.  Thus, the gates of heaven, closed up to that time, would be reopened.  True? 

Was the family in Pleasant Grove watching TV Tuesday night bad?  Had they sinned so horribly that they must be punished like happened to the Hebrews in Jerusalem?

So, what do you think, what do you believe?  Does God get angry and punish bad people as we see repeatedly mentioned in the Bible?  Which leads me to my next question:

Second question, who are the bad people?  Or who are the good? 

Obviously the 24 year old kid who barged in on the family is bad.  He deserves what?  Be condemned?  Forever? 

From my experience as a priest and as as psychotherapist, I have discovered two things. 

First, that nobody is totally bad, and nobody is totally good.  But what about that kid?  He is bad!  John says, "He who does wicked things hates the light."  That boy must really hate the light.

Secondly, if I had grown up in the environment of many of these kids and been forced to live in the horrible surroundings they saw daily, I probably would have done the same things.  I do not know how many times I have talked with people who have done similar things and discovered that they were horribly wounded people.  Inside they were deeply hurt.  Outside they vented their hurt through anger and, watch out, through violence.   

As a balance to this negativity and tragedy, let me remind you that we likewise see beauty in people.  Remember the 50 St. Bonaventure students who dedicated their spring break to hurricane relief work in Galveston.  Remember the heroic work of the Collin Co. Adult Clinic.  I even saw it on the DART train Thursday when I went downtown to have lunch with Rosemary.  Three times I saw a guy get up and offer his seat to a woman nearby.  I was moved.

So, reconsidering our Pleasant Grove family and all the Bible stories about God being angry and punishing people, what do you think?

Sources: The Center for Liturgy, St. Louis U.  Online Ministries, Creighton, U.  All on line.

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-03-22.mp3

Picture 1:   Mass with Hue on the sound, Wendy, Ray, & Celeste

Picture 2:   Birthdays–Angelo (Blair's boy friend), Bob McGrath (80!), Christine, & T.J.

Picture 3:   Ryan, Jackie & Bob McGrath, Tom, Morgan, & Tyler McGrath

Picture 4:  Tom & Daniel Fleming & Louie Federico

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 6, 1-7; Psalm 33, Lord, let your Mercy be upon Us, as we place our Trust in You; 1 Peter 2, 4-9; John 14, 1-12 

Fourth Sunday in Easter Time – Intro to Readings.

 
 In both our first two readings today Peter is mentioned.  In Acts we hear him preaching and urging people to repent and be baptized. We are told that about 3,000 responded and were baptized!  Our second reading is written by Peter, his first Letter to the early Christian communities, in modern day Turkey.  So I thought that I would spend a few moments talking about Peter.  Incidentally, Peter could well be the “poster boy” for a married clergy!  He was the first person called by Jesus, and was married.  And against any claim that Jesus may not have realized that Peter was married, we are told that Jesus cured Peter’s mother-in-law (Matt 8:14), and St. Paul even mentions that the wife traveled around with Peter (1 Cor. 9:5). 

 We know that he was a fisherman when Jesus called him to discipleship, and Peter immediately left his nets and followed Jesus.  His story is interesting because Peter had a tough time of it.  Peter got into trouble lots of times.  When Jesus first prophesied about his death, Peter objected only to be strongly rebuked by Jesus (Matt 16:22, Mk 9:31) who said to him, “get behind me Satan”.  He tried his hand at walking on water, only to sink ignominiously (Matt 14: 28-31). And after witnessing the Transfiguration with James and John, his immediate reaction was to erect some tents, (Matt 17:1, Mk 9:2 and Lk 9:28) missing the whole point of the event!  At the agony in the garden, he couldn’t stay awake with Jesus, and had to be woken up three times (Matt 26:40, Mk 14:37).   And of course his biggest blunder was that even having been warned that he would do it (Matt 26: 33-35, Mk 14: 29-31, Lk 22:33ff and Jn 13:36-38) he denies Jesus three times (Matt 26:69ff, Mk 14:68ff, Lk 22:58ff and Jn 18:25ff). 

 All of this would seem to disqualify Peter from any possible position within this little community, and yet he emerges as its head.  You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.(Matt 16:18)  What seems to be the lesson from all of this, no matter how much of a mess we make of things, God does not seem to mind!

 Fourth Sunday in Easter Time – Homily

 One of the major themes in John’s Gospel is to show that all of the major Jewish Feasts are transformed by Jesus.  This gospel reading comes on the day after the Feast of Tabernacles.  If you look closely at John’s Gospel, it can very easily be divided up into a number of different major Jewish Feasts.  There are Passover Feasts, one at the beginning of the Gospel, a second in the middle and of course the third at the end.  But in between these we have the Feast of Tabernacles and immediately after that the Feast of Dedication.  The Feast of Tabernacles is interesting because it lasts 8 days, and is the third most important feast for the Jews. The feast was celebrated in the fall.  There were many processions with candles.  For us Jesus is the Light.  Tents were erected, and the feast celebrated the harvest, and also the original dedication of the temple.  Water was brought from the Pool where the blind man from our reading on the fourth Sunday in Lent was cured.  We recently had a reading which comes right before today’s gospel reading and it was about the young man born blind, and which the Jews refused to believe that Jesus had cured him.  Remember they even called in his parents and asked them if their son had been blind.  So we have just been reading about blind people.  Then comes today’s reading, and it expands the meaning of the blindness to that of the Pharisees.  Because they certainly should have been able to recognize who Jesus was, but instead they are the blind ones. 

 Jesus uses the example of a shepherd and sheep recognizing him.   Shepherds are obviously what we are supposed to talk about today!  But how many of you have ever seen a shepherd?  Or know anyone who is a shepherd?  Or, better yet, any one here ever been a shepherd?  Ok. How about sheep, has everyone seen sheep, at least eaten mutton!

 I am afraid that we better talk about something else!  The gospel today is discussing getting in through a gate and that the Pharisees are going to have a tough time of it.  The good news is that we are already in!!  Yes, by our baptism we are already through that gate, we are already in the kingdom of God.  We need to focus on what is expected of one in the kingdom!  Remember last week’s gospel, the two disciples had decided to leave Jerusalem and head home, the whole Jesus movement was a bit of a failure.  A stranger, who explains the scripture to them, kind of like what John and I try to do each week here, joins them on their journey.  Then when they stop for the night, they invite the stranger to join them, and they recognize him when they sit down to a meal and break bread.  Which is what we do here too!  We break bread together, and in that action we need to be able to recognize each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.  Christ is present in each one of us!!  Like the two on the road, they do not recognize Jesus, we too can easily find it hard to recognize Jesus, but he is there, present in each one of us.

 I think we can forget about the sheep, and even forget about shepherds, it was all from a very different time and place.  Our focus needs to be on the fact that we are already thru that gate, and are in the kingdom of God.  Our focus needs to be on seeing Jesus in each other.  But remember, we are not going to be perfect, we will probably be more like Peter, the good news is that God doesn’t seem to mind.  All that matters is that we are trying.  After the resurrection, remember Peter had to pass only one test, “Peter, do you love me, feed my lambs, feed my sheep” How did those sheep get in again!!

Picture 1:   Beginning of Mass with Tony

Picture 2:   Offertory with Barb & Warren

Picture 3:   Leo with Jackie

Picture 4:   Emma

Picture 5:   Sienna with her daddy, Payton

Readings:   Terrific readings today–

Isaiah   55, 1-3,  Come, drink wine and milk.

 Psalm 145,   The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.  Also, That Line, The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love, Stanza 2.

Romans 8, 35, 37-39,  What will separate us from the love of  God?

Matthew  14, 13-21,  The feeding of the multitude.

Says Emma, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome."

Observations on the readings:

 1.  Isaiah 55: 3 beautiful invitations, come, come, come, come–4 times.  This is the very last chapter of Isaiah 2 trying to encourage the Israelites in the Babylonian period, ca. 550 B.C.

 2.  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.

CC, too, says, "Come on in, Folks, it's fun."

 3.  Feeding the 10 thousand.  This story is repeated in all 4 gospel stories.  In fact, it is told 6 times.

I have suggested for years that the real miracle here is that Jesus created enough trust and conviviality in the group that they shared the food that they would have most probably carried with them when they set out to listen to this man.  They knew there were no fast food places along the road. 

I saw this in East Africa.  People did not leave home without provisions stashed away.

I saw this trust and conviviality along the way in Iowa a week ago and would like to talk about it during the homily.

Amish Country. Just one of the gloriously beautiful Amish farms we saw along the Iowa roads.

It is not the destination, Folks.  It is the journey.

For over 40 years I have talked about how I see this story of the feeding of the multitude.  That the real miracle is that Jesus enabled these country people to trust each other enough to share their hidden stashes.  I really saw this in East Africa.

In light of my recent experience in Iowa, I would like to take a different slant this time.  In particular, I would suggest these folks were on a journey in their life, stopped to hear this man, and were greatly touched.  They were reminded that God is gracious and merciful, never gets angry, and is abounding in love. 

Buddy and Tori ready for anything.

Three little vignettes from Iowa.

Probably on the third day of Ragbrai (Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride across Iowa), I am riding along and see a sign for Iowa Conservation Assoc.  I stop because I know these people give out great bananas. There are probably 100 people at the concession and more than 100 across the highway at another concession. 

I am eating a banana when suddenly on my side I hear somebody playing Taps.  I think it is a pretty girl I have seen other years playing a trumpet.  Instead it is a guy.  His buddy has an American flag.  Both of them could be my age. 

Georgie ready to share her beautiful warmth with everybody.

At one point he starts playing the National Anthem.  The response was profound and electric.  Everybody stopped dead.  We all faced the man and the flag.  I was moved actually to tears, even remembering my years in East Africa when I was consoled just to see the flag blowing in front of the local American Embassy. 

After he finished and everybody returned to what they were doing, I crossed to the area where the two guys were and in a choking voice I told him how much I appreciated what he did.  He hardly even spoke a word.  Just gave me a hug.   A beautiful slice of Americana at a concession on the side of a road in Iowa.

Thanks to God every day for Wendy.

Later that same day, I am riding along again when I hear from the edge of the road at a concession, pop, pop, pop.  It is the sound of the Amish pie & ice cream concession. Yippee.  I had been looking for them.  We are in beautiful Amish country, especially during the last two days. 

The concession is on the right side of the highway and I am on the left.  It was too dangerous to stop with so many bikers, so I missed them that third day.  However, the last four days I stopped every day.  I even got to know their names and they would say when they saw me, “Here he is again.”  Their rhubarb-strawberry pie, their blueberry pie, and their churned on the spot vanilla ice cream were from another planet. Another experience of consoling Americana on the edge of the road.

Cupcakes of The Week for Harper's parents' 9th anniversary, Dawson, Cindy for herself and for her dad , Curtis at 85, and Linda and Hue.

Finally, there was the Marines’ chin-up bar.  We had pass through towns and overnight towns.  In the overnight town there was always a big expo with vendors of all types, lots of food, and the Marines’ chin-up bar.

I would see a cheering crowd and an amazing number of people who would step up and do pull-ups.  I saw a young maybe Philippino do 34 pull-ups.   Everybody was cheering him on, counting each pull-up. 

Offertory, Donna, Carol, David, Dawson, and Dana.

For me the most touching was a young girl, maybe 7 years old, shy and maybe Hispanic with olive skin and pretty black hair in a pony tail.  I don’t think she and her family were bikers, maybe residents.   I watched that little girl do 14 pull-ups.  I went over and told her what a marvel she was and that I could hardly do 1 pull-up.  Another touching slice of Americana right there in a little town in northern Iowa. 

As much as I was moved by the hospitality of the people who hosted us in the overnight towns, I was even more appreciative of the slices of Americana I witnessed all along the ride.  I was constantly being shown that the Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry, and is abounding in love.

An ecstatic two cupcake Cindy, one for her birthday last week and one for Curtis, her dad, at 85.

It is not just the destination, Folks.  It is the ride.

How is your ride?