Sunday Homily, June 17, 2007, 11th in Ordinary Time

Readings: Acts 2, 1-11; Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12, 3-13, John 20,19-23, Pentecost.

Mothers’ Day Notes:

• The idea originated, ca. 1870, with 3 women who had worked in hospitals during the Civil War. 
• Julia Ward Howe (Battle Hymn), Anna Maria Reeves Jarvis, & her daughter, Anna Jarvis wanted a Mothers’ Day of Peace because of the horrors they had seen in the military hospitals.
• Woodrow Wilson, 1914, established the national holiday.

Pentecost Notes:

• The word signifies 50, in this case, 50 days (or 7 weeks).
• O.T.: the Hebrews celebrated the 50th day after the Passover (Egypt, first born sons killed by angel, Jewish sons spared, to threaten Pharaoh into letting the Hebrews depart Egypt).  The celebration eventually focused on agriculture & thanksgiving for the first fruits of the spring, and finally Thanksgiving for the Torah.
• N.T.: Christians tied this occasion to the spiritual fruits of redemption, the Spirit, 50 days (or 7 Sundays/weeks) after the Resurrection.
• Question: a 1 time only event or repeatable (e.g., Pentecostals)?

Mothers’ Day

In Thursday’s USA Today there is an article by Paul Aronsohn about two women, his mother & his sister, Margot & Patti.

When Patti was ca. 25 years old she was diagnosed with a rare disease that eventually would take her life, a disease that resembles M.S., but which does not seem to have a name or be very common.  This happened in ’89, almost 20 years ago.

As the years have passed Patti slowly went down.  Originally active athletically & intellectually, she first had to walk with a cane.  Then she took up a walker, then moved into a wheel chair.  Finally, a few years ago, she became bed ridden.  To eat she has to use a feeding tube, into which something like Ensure is poured, yuk.

During the years her three sibling and friends have helped her.  But the person who has helped her the most was her mother who was herself about 50 when the diagnosis was given. 

Today Patti is about 45, totally bed bound, fed through a tube, can talk a bit, is conscious, and is awaiting the end.  Her mother, Margot, is mid-70’s, takes care of Patti full time in Florida where they moved because of the milder weather than New Jersey.  During the day Margot has help, but at night she sleeps beside Patti’s bed in case Patti needs anything.

What kind of love is this!!  Remember Jackie Ritter’s story about landing in Holland instead of Italy?

Whom do you love this much?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-05-11.mp3

Readings: 

2 Kings 5, 14-17,  Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times.

Psalm 98,  The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

2 Timothy 2, 8-13,  The word of God is not chained.

 Luke 17, 11-19  Where are the other 9?

Emma and Beth arriving.

2 Kings observations:

Time of the events: 900 B.C.

Time when written: 550 B.C., during the Babylonian captivity.

Subject of 1 Kings: This book continues the history of the kings
taking up with the death of King David and continuing through the story of
David & Bathsheba's son Solomon.  He builds the famous Temple of Solomon.  After his death the
nation divides into the northern & southern states, Israel in the north, Judah
in the south (including Jerusalem;
remember by the "J's").

Kevin arriving ready to work.

Subject of 2 Kings: This book continues the history of the decline
of the two states until Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeats the people. 

Subject of our chapter 5 (read it all, it is delightful): one of
the leaders of the Syrian-Babylonian army goes to visit the prophet of the day,
Elisha.  Naaman, the general, has leprosy.  Note the twist of the
story at the end.  Thanks is a theme of this selection and it sets the
stage for Luke's story about gratitude.  Three characters: Naaman, his little slave girl, and Elisha.

The Team, ready.

Gratitude

This morning I would like to talk about the theme coming from Luke’s
story and the neat little story about Naaman, the general with leprosy.  Specifically, gratitude. 

To put together a story, I looked back over the week for special gifts,
events I am grateful for.  I thought of
our ROMEO lunch Friday, of my 2 French sessions, and the fact that my nice skin
doctor, Sara Scott, gave me a pass. 

Freddie with his granddad, John.

Despite how grateful I am for these events, two others really stood out.

Friday night Rosemary and I were privileged to be part of a special
celebration.  It was the marriage of
Kristin Urbanczyk and her fiance’ Josh 
Eddings.  You all know that I take
delight in celebrating weddings and get to do quite a lot, especially now that
I am not officially Catholic.

Zoe.

As precious as all of them are, it is a unique jewel of an event when I
get to celebrate the wedding of a person whom I have known since
childhood.   Kristin I have known for maybe 18-20
years.  She used to throw water balloons at
me when she was a supposedly nice little girl.

Folks, it does not get better than last night for me. 

Torri and her granddad, Gil.

Thursday morning before this event took place, Rosemary and I went for one
of our early morning bike rides down to and around The Lake, our beloved White
Rock.  At one point we are riding south
on the path at the edge of the lake and along East Lather Drive.  We have just passed in front of the
Arboretum.

As we approach the bridge just before Garland Road, the tarmac path curves
left then right and is wet from earlier sprinklers.  I am about 30 years ahead of Rosemary.  I go up on the bridge and for some reason I
look back.

Rich with his birthday Cupcake.

What I see scares me to death. 
Rosemary is sitting on the path, her bike down, and people are running
to her side.  I turn around and race  back. 
She has slid out on the wet tarmac. 
She has hit the back of her head on the path but not broken her
helmet.  She says she is okay and will
walk on to the boat house over near the dam. 
I race back to the car, return, and tell her I really would like for her
to call our M.D. right there in the car.

Later he checks her out and says nothing is wrong.  Just bruises and sore ribs. 

Folks, I am so grateful and cannot give thanks enough.

Celeste with her birthday Cupcake.

 A few observations.

First.  The temptation is to think I am one of the
nine who did not return to thank Jesus. Yes probably & No, also.   I would suggest
again: we are both.  Lots of times we forget to thank.  Lots of times
we thank. 

Second.  There could be symbolism in the nine and
one.  Perhaps I am nine tenths ungrateful and one tenth grateful.  Is this a pretty normal proportion? A lot of times, however, I am not so much ungrateful
as just insensitive, totally unaware.  Perhaps the lepers who did not
return just figured they were lucky and went on their way.  The other guy
realized he had been given a gift by that stranger and wanted to respond.

Jesus tells him his faith has saved him.  I would
suggest that his gratitude transformed him.

Kristin and Josh with their honeymoon Cupcake.

Third.  How is it possible to rearrange the
percentages?  Practice.  Practice make perfect. Rosemary & I have a favorite little practice that we do
every night.  I've mentioned it before. We ask each other what were the blessings
of the day.  I recommend this. I even recommend it for sitting alone,
while savoring the first coffee in the morning, driving or riding the DART to
work & back, getting ready to go to school.  Simple question: what
were my blessings today, yesterday, or this week?

You may start now: what were your three biggest blessings
this week?

Connie and John coming ready to video and shoot pix.

Rosemary's Blessing:

O God, we thank you for the fact that you have inspired men and women in all nations and in all cultures. We call you different names: some call you Allah; some call you Elohim; some call you Jehovah; some call you Brahma; some call you the Unmoved Mover. But we know that these are all names for one and the same God. Grant that we will follow you and become so committed to your way and your kingdom that we will be able to establish in our lives and in this world a brother and sisterhood, that we will be able to establish here a kingdom of understanding, where men and women will live together as brothers and sisters and respect the dignity and worth of every human being. In the name and spirit of Jesus. Amen.

Taken from The prayers of Martin Luther King Jr.  by John Dear appearing in the National Catholic Reporter, January 15, 2013

The Production Team.

Thanks to the Team

Music, Shonda & Ben

Readers, Rose & Patricia,  & Buddy, the candle blessing

Eucharistic Prayer & Gospel, John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike & Ben & Becky & Richard & Tom

Final Blessing, Rosemary

Almost time, 9:30

Readings:

Exodus, 34, 4-6, 8-9, The Lord, gracious and merciful, rich in kindness & fidelity. 

Daniel (Psalm) 3, Glory & Praise forever.

2 Corinthians  13, 11-13, The Grace of the Lord Jesus and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.

John 3, 16-18,  God so loved the world…

On air.

Please Remember these special people:

For Jim Esparza, the son of Frank & Mary, who just passed Saturday with sepsis;   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;   For Jim Esparza, the son of Frank & Mary;   For Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;   For Ryan, Rosemary's nephew, who had surgery; For Bill Hammond,    For Sydney;  & For Sir Charlie;  Shonda's mom;   for Michelle;  For a friend, a neighbor, & a doctor, Karen, with brain cancer; For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free.;    For Hue;  For John O'Donnell;    For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa; For John Schanot's continued health;  For Anthony & Sabrina;    For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's mother in law, Kalliopi Piskiouli and Lambrini;  Virginia Mattingly

Becky & Tom.

Birthdays:  Shonda (last Week), Deacon Mike ordained '78, Bill Ekes, Alison DeGenova 

Anniversary:  The McClurgs, Diane & Kent, 48 years, & Diane's knee replacement this week.

On air with Ben.

This  week's Readings:

Download MASS 20 0607 Trinity Readings

Homily by John Stack

Here it is, folks, that line again, the one that says The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry and abounding in love.  That summarizes for me who our God is.

I want to talk this morning about a black lady I knew when I was teaching at Jesuit '65-'68.  She was one of the first important black persons in my life who exemplified this description of God.  You ever heard of Juanita Craft?  A big lady with a big voice and a bigger heart.  She was elected to the Dallas City Council after I had departed Dallas.  She came to my '71 ordination in a police car at the old St. Rita.

Juanita taught me at least 3 lessons.   First she taught me how to take charge and get things done with grace.  This came about because she invited me to join her and about 25 young members of the Dallas NAACP on a greyhound type bus trip to the annual NAACP convention in Atlantic City.  I must admit that I gulped a time or two, then accepted her invitation.  I was the only white guy on that bus.  Juanita charged each of those kids to be the best  & clean that bus every time we got off that bus.

I was impressed as a fellow bus driver at Jesuit.  Never had I instructed my Jesuit kids on the bus to clean up.  I did that after.  Because of Juanita I realized I could organize a planting of 400 trees, put together a group of friends to visit Yosemite, and accept an invitation to work in East Africa.

Because Juanita was abounding in love, she taught me how to ask help from others.  Therefore I wrote to my Jesuit confreres at Georgetown and asked if they could shuttle two dozen black kids around D.C. for a day.  Not only did they supply about 5 cars and guides, they invited the whole bunch of us to dinner in the Jesuit dining room that evening.  The Jesuits were gracious and merciful

You will never guess what I did when I returned to Dallas from Atlantic City.   I accepted Juanita's invitation to move into her little house in South Dallas and help her with the NAACP youth group that summer.  I knew then, Black Lives Do Matter.

How do Black Lives matter to you?

Ben doing the Magic.

And a repeat:

Birthdays:  Shonda (last week), Bill Ekes, Alison, Deacon Mike ordained '78

Anniversaries:  McClurgs, 48 years & Diane has a knee replacement this week.

Communion for Mike.

Community Finances, June 7, 2020

Expenses: $825.00

Outreach:  $500.00  (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

This week we donated $1,500 to Soul's Harbor.

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

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

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Reflections on the Readings

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

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

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

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

Readings:

Acts 3,  13-15, 17-19,  God raised him from the dead.

Psalm 4,    Lord, let you face shine on us.

1 John 2, 1-5,   He is expiation for our sins.

 Luke  24, 35-48,  Peace be with you.

Some of the members of the class reunion who graduated from Spring Hill College, Mobile 1965 at the end of their 7th year of training.

The Readings:  Stack has introduced you to the author of Luke and Acts being the same person or compiler. They were probably written between 70 and 85 AD so a couple of generations after Jesus.  We don’t know the author of John’s Gospel and letters, but they were written at least another generation later. 

Homily 3^rd Sunday of Easter 04/19/15, John Cade

I’ve been looking for a chance to share with you an editorial in the Dallas Morning News from New Year’s Eve.  The topic is gratitude. So that’s where I’m at, and that’s what I want to share with you.

In Stack’s blog this Thursday he quotes from Winnie the Pooh. Pooh asks, “What day is it?”  “It’s today,” answers Piglet.  And Pooh responds, “My favorite day.”

Avenue of the Oaks, Spring Hill College.

The New Year’s Eve editorial refers to a multi-year research project at the University of California, titled “Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude.” This research turned up many benefits that grow out of gratitude, such as: a stronger immune system; fewer illnesses and aches and pains; better sleep; greater resilience; reduced anxiety and depression; and more joy, optimism and happiness.  The editorial also speaks to how we develop gratitude.  I made copies; there should be enough for each family unit to take one and there may be extras.

The last two weeks Stack talked about Easter events in our lives, events that give new life, fuller life, and joy of spirit.  Gratitude naturally flows from Easter events and from all the blessings we can count every day.  I do not believe there is anyone on this planet who has not experienced an Easter event.   We know that noticing an Easter event, and accepting its offer of new life and joy, can be difficult. I’ve caught myself not noticing such events or not being fully grateful for these blessings and gifts.  

Recently my daughter Joey came by with my grandson, Leo (age 6).  A couple of years ago Joey took a part time job and had been experiencing a desire to go beyond what it offered her in income, and especially in satisfaction.  Without making a formal job search, she was contacted by a company in Austin wanting her to head up a planned expansion to Dallas.

  They eventually offered her a percentage of the company if she took the job.  Another company in Richardson also found her and offered her a position.  When she approached her current employer and told him she had offers and was planning to take one of them, he begged her to stay and go full time. 

Avenue of the Oaks facing Stewart Field.

Joey’s Easter event, her experience of new life, was the realization that her fears about job security were unfounded and she could choose from among the three positions.  This meant more security as a mom and more confidence and satisfaction as an employee. 

Leo, while still in the developmental stage that includes magical thinking, is developing his sense of competence.  He loves playing all kinds of games and he makes them competitive.  In the short time they were at our house, Leo initiated several games with me: first, racing cars on the floor, then Black Jack which helps him learn to count, then Shoots and Ladders, then Parcheesi. 

It was a delight to see his face light up over his competence at these games.  He clearly was experiencing new life and joy in experiencing his competence, and his gratitude and joy showed all over his face. 

One of my Easter events was in 2008 when I was in hospital for heart surgery.  Lambrini and I had hired a construction team to convert an area of our home into an office for my therapy practice.  At one point the guys were not doing the work properly.

An architect friend, hearing about this problem and knowing I was in hospital, simply went over to our home and took charge of the project, telling them what to do over.  When Lambrini told me what he had done, I was so moved by this I was crying with her. 

A nurse must have seen me crying, since they started an anti-depressant and I had the most horrible nightmares I had ever had.  I asked them to please stop this treatment, that I was not depressed, I was emotional and crying because of my immense gratitude. 

Something we now know is that we can train our brains in the habit of noticing and accepting Easter events and in having gratitude.

Pooh said “today …is… my favorite day.” 

My question is how are you practicing the habit of noticing Easter events and the joy of gratitude?