Readings: Acts 5, 12-16; Psalm118; Revelation 1, 9-10; John 20, 19-31

 

Second Sunday After Easter – Reflection on the Readings

 

  

Acts of the Apostles continues Luke’s Gospel by focusing on the spread of Christianity after the Resurrection.  The focus is first on the work of the Apostles and especially on the position of Peter, and then in the second half of the book, the focus is on the work of Paul. 

 

Today’s reading from Chapter 5 comes immediately after the apostles have been brought before the Sanhedrin (the powers that be in the Jewish community) and told to stop their preaching about Jesus.  This is clearly a focus on the question “who will be in charge of the twelve tribes of Israel?  It also echoes back to Abraham and his being placed in charge of the tribes of Israel. 

 

   

Remember, we are dealing with a group who have only the Old Testament to turn to in their attempts to make sense of all that they remember or heard about Jesus.  The power of God, working thru Peter is now much stronger than even when Jesus cured.  All people need for healing is to have Peter’s shadow pass over them.  There is no need for any physical contact!  Luke is here building up the importance of the “new leaders” of the people, the apostles.

 

  

 

Our second reading is from the Book of Revelations; a much-misunderstood work, which I wish had never been included in the New Testament!  The work is primarily written in an apocalyptic style and its main focus is on the Roman Empire and the battle which the early Christians had with that entity.  There is nothing about the 21^st century in this writing, nor about how the world itself would end!  The writer had no idea of a place called the USA nor the Soviet Union!  

 

Second Sunday After Easter – Homily

 

Poor Thomas!  Actually thank God for Thomas!  It is comforting to know that someone else had doubts about the resurrection.  One week after our high point of Easter Sunday we are immediately given this wonderful little incident.  What I like about it is that it allows space for a very natural doubt to exist side be side with the faith in the Resurrection. 

   

Back in 1968 a book was published called Introduction to Christianity by Joseph Ratzinger.  The book was a through examination of the Apostles Creed.  I remember being surprised when he talks fairly early on in the book about both the believer and unbeliever share, each in his own way, doubt and belief.  At the time it struck me as quite surprising.  Remember I was a naive seminarian in my early twenties and everything was rock solid!  Oh for those nice innocent days!!

  

I have since grown up to recognize the truth in Ratzinger’s book, and in my own life.  If we remember back to the church before Vatican II we seemed to live in a world of certainty.  We were told exactly how everything was, now it seems things are messy!  It is what happens when you look behind the curtain, as happened to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. 

   

Doubting seems to be an integral part of our lives.  We would very much like the comfort of absolute certainty, and we do have it in a few things, like death and taxes, but for all the other areas of our lives we move from one doubt to another, all the while trying to either buy insurance or insulate ourselves in some other way against the uncertainties of life.  And belief in God is one area where there is lots of room for doubt, since God is mystery. 

 

 

  

So what can we begin to compare or faith in God to in our experience?  It seems to me that it is like being in love.  You meet someone and fall in love.  But the other person is free to respond or not.  The minute you force their response it is no longer love.  And so our most intimate of relationships with other humans is based on a hope that the other will respond and continue to respond.  If I think of God along those lines there is one major difference, God is going to love me, in this relationship; God is the only one taking the risk. 

 

Picture 1:  Tony begins Mass

 

Picture 2:  The Offertory

 

Picture 3:  Jim, Bob, Jackie, & friend 

Readings:

Ezekiel, 18, 25-28, The Lord's way is not fair!

Psalm 25, Remember your mercies, O Lord.

Philippians  2, 1-11, Humbly regard others as more important than yourselves.

Matthew 21, 28-32, Which of the two sons did his father's will?

 

 

 

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben & Shonda (on Air Force duty)

Readers,   Connie & John Bresson & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Deacon Mike 

Homily,  John Cade 

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike, Ben & Hue, Richard 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

Download Readings Week 26

 

 

 

 

John Cade's Homily  (above, Remembering…)

 

Homily on Priesthood  First, a little bit of history of the Christian priesthood; and second, a little bit on blessings in my life.

The Apostle Peter, In Chapter 2 of his first letter, vs 4, wrote, “Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you serve as priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God”.  And he continued in vs 9, “You are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him.”  (As far as I know, among Christian churches today, it is the Morman church that asks all its members to exercise their priestly role.)

        Saint Jerome, around 380 CE, gave his view of the Christian priesthood, derived no doubt from the traditions and practices of the early church. He wrote, “The priestly dignity is the personal possession of the Christian; it does not belong to the Christian because of membership in a church which has a hierarchical priesthood.  Rather, the layman’s priesthood, as all priesthood, is a sharing in the priesthood of Christ.” 

He continued, “It’s the reality of the Christian’s priesthood which distinguishes members of the ‘royal priesthood’ from the rest of humankind.  No distinction between one member of Christ’s priestly body and another, can be compared to the distinction between those baptized and confirmed and those not—there is a basic unity that underlies the threefold character of baptism, confirmation and priestly orders.”  It is clear that Saint Jerome placed the origin of priesthood in Christian baptism.  

But jump about 800 years ahead and you are into Medieval Scholasticism, in universities all over Europe.  Scholasticism was a ‘philosophy of learning’ with emphasis on reasoning to extend knowledge.  You take a topic and dispute it in the form of a question, with counter proposals and opposing arguments.  It began as an attempt to harmonize Christian theology with philosophical antiquity such as with the Greek philosopher, Aristotle.  One thing scholasticism was not based on was early Christian tradition and practice. 

Saint Thomas Aquinas became scholasticism’s most famous member.  One of the founders of scholasticism, Alexander of Hales (in England), obscured participation in the priesthood of Christ by the baptized/confirmed Christian.  For him priesthood no longer has its origin in Baptism, but in the separate sacrament of Orders.  His thinking and conclusion was approved in the Council of Trent, in 1550, and stands today.  

In our time, most of us who lived as adults during the papacy of John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council, had high hopes for a more collegial understanding of how leadership could be structured and lived out in the church.  Many of us today support a return to greater opportunity for service by all baptized & confirmed Catholics.  Opportunities clearly were there in the early church.  Don’t tell me we can’t figure out how to make it happen now.  Isn’t it time already, for greater inclusion and equality of opportunity in the church?  I can hear RBG, that extraordinary Jewish woman and Supreme Court justice, giving us, her own – Amen.

Secondly, a little bit on my personal history of blessings.  I experienced the call, in my mid-teens, to greater closeness with God—of course, to ‘save my soul from hell’. After two semesters in college, I entered the seminary, and eight years later was ordained a priest on Sept 30, 1961.  I felt then and feel now the blessing of that day.  I loved living and working as a priest, ‘saying’ Mass, doing homilies, being invited into others’ lives through counseling, visiting the sick, teaching in high school, and leading retreats.  

Six or seven years later, when I was in the psychology program at Loyola Chicago, I began to experience a deep loneliness…and also disillusionment with the American hierarchy’s negative reaction to calls for reform by Pope John XXIII and the Vatican Council.  Some of you will remember the great number of priests who left in the late 60’s and early 70’s.  I was one of them.  Having a psychology degree was a blessing, as I could continue one of the things I loved as a priest—counseling with people having a difficult emotional time.  I married and helped raise four kids, including two as stepfather.  Some of the big blessings:  my relationship with a marriage partner (twice), being part of a family with kids (and now grandkids), relationships with friends, mentors and colleagues.  My marriage relationship with Lambrini is amazing; we are a couple now for 28 years and counting.  Also, even with diabetes and cardio-vascular disease, I am blessed with overall health. It’s a huge blessing to be able to enjoy the Autuum time of life. 

An unexpected blessing came 15 years ago when you, this community, welcomed me back as a Catholic priest. Simply being part of this loving community, seeing the way you live your lives, is a blessing that keeps on giving.  Why?  Because every Sunday, and often between Sundays, you help me ‘see’ the blessings in my life, and you help me live with gratitude. 

My question:  How do you see yourselves as a ‘royal priesthood’, sharing in the priesthood of Christ?  How do you live with acceptance and love for others, and also see your daily blessings?   

                              

 

The Zoom Wizards at work.

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Alan Stryker;  For John Doherty with back pain; For Becky's dad who has moved to the other side;  For Cindy recuperating at home;    For David Dismore's bad shoulder from a biking accident; For Esparzas, Frank & Mary,  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 Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, Woodlands,  For Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;    For Sydney;  & For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody & Ben & all of Shonda's dear family;   for all the students and teachers and coaches returning to school, for Geri's sister with heart & circulation problems, David Dinsmore in a bike crash.

 

Ben bringing his Vitality to our music, alone today because Shonda has Air Force duty.

 

For Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For a friend & 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, plus John's daughter, Joey, with cancer,  For the students, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

Mike working on elevating our Zoom quality.

 

Birthdays:  Judy Carrell (today), Leo (10), Tori & Buddy, (10) 

Anniversaries: John Cade, 49 years ordained, Fred & Patricia,10th; Erin McClurg & Greg, 3rd; Claire Z & Andrew,9th, Ron & Nancy Kovatis, 48th.

 

 

                                                

                 

Community Finances, September 27, 2020

Expenses: $450.00  

Outreach   $100.00    (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Rivers do not drink their own water;

trees do not eat their own fruit;

the sun does not shine on itself

and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves.

Living for others is a rule of nature.

We are born to help each other.

No matter how difficult it is.

Life is good when you are happy

but much better when others are happy because of you.

Let us remember that pain is a sign that we are alive,

problems are a sign that we are strong and

prayer is a sign that we are not alone.

If we can acknowledge these truths and

condition our hearts and minds, our lives will be more meaningful,

different and

worthwhile.

 

Pope Francis

 

 

Just in case you missed our new address, 7017 Helsem Way  75230.   (notice the same Zip Code as Tulip Lane?)

 

Readings:

Exodus, 17, 8-13,  Joshua mowed down Amelak and his people.  

 Psalm 121,  Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

2 Timothy  3, 14-4, 2,  Remain faithful to what you learned.

 Luke 18, 1–8,   The poor widow who pestered the judge.

 

 

Harper says, "Welcome, Everybody."  And what could I be seeing on your cheeks, Harper?  

 

Exodus  observations:

What: A very readable story about the Israelites departing their slavery in Egypt.  Moses is their reluctant leader and his struggle in getting old Pharoah to allow the people to depart is classic.   The story, mostly fable, continues through the people's journey through the Sinai Desert for 40 years and their entrance into the Caananite land, a land promised to them by Yahweh. 

 When put together:  Two collections were recorded as early as the time of Solomon, about 1000 ears before Christ.  Other collections were added and the definitive & final form took place around the Babylonian Captivity, i.e., 555 before Christ.  

Our Selection: The people are in the desert.  They get attacked by the Amelekites.  How Moses saves the day is amusing.  The finale is not so amusing, but typical for the time.

Sources:  The New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Bible. 

 

 

Victoria, too, says, "Hi, Folks, Come in."

 

 

What We Ask For

A few years ago I had three elderly people from the subdivision of Northwood Hills contact me about planting trees in their neighborhood.  Two were a couple and there was a third guy, all probably about my age right now.  I really did not want to do this project because they were north of LBJ and I thought it was too far to drag the water trailer full of water from Jesuit, where I was living then.

 

 

Welcome in to you, My Dearest Vivian.  So nice to see you.  Thanks to your special mommy.

 

 

So I put them off.  Maybe even for a year.  Eventually, however, because of their persistence I went to see their project, which consisted of Fretz Park, Hillcrest from LBJ to Beltline, Beltline from Preston to Coit, and a neighborhood elementary school, about 350 plus trees.

Despite not being eager to tackle the distance, two things pulled down my resistance.  First, they were willing to kick in a good portion of the cost of the trees.  Secondly, they were so gracious and eager to improve their own neighborhood.  I could not tell them no after all they were willing to put out, and all their pleading. 

 

Genevieve says, "Where now is that Vivian?  She has disappeared."

 

You know the rest.  We planted one of our bigger projects and the trees are thriving.   I was especially touched because they gave me a recognition of gratitude at one of their large community meetings.

When I hear Luke's story about the widow & the judge I always think about Northwood Hills.  With gratitude. 

With confusion also, because I have difficulty with the main point of the story.  Namely, that God will answer persistent prayer, without even being slow about it, as Luke says.  Do you believe that God answers our prayers, and even more swiftly if we are persistent as the widow?  My mom thought that a nine day novena with special prayers got her every request, though my memory tells me otherwise.

 

 

Entrance of Lauren Lucas and her dad, Jim.  Friday night wedding at Ana Villa in The Colony.  

 

I need to make a distinction and an observation to make sense of this for me.  I have talked with numerous people about this discomfort I have.   The distinction is between a macro-managing God and a micro-managing God.

The macro-managing God I can handle.  This god is behind the big stuff, the sky, creation, the stars, life, the balance of the universe.  I see this god as like a person bowling.  He gets the ball going and it travels on its own.

 

 

The Unity Candle, Lauren & Dylan.

 

The micro-managing god, however, is responsible for my sickness.  He makes good things happen & bad things.  He can change each.  If I pester this god enough he will find my lost wedding ring or car keys.  He will cure the sick, make me rich, fix the lottery so I win it, and so forth.  This god I don't see in my experience.

Then why do I pray for people?  Like at our prayers of the faithful.  This is the observation. I pray first because I think, I hope, our God hears and is personal.  Secondly, I pray because I imagine that my spirit sends forth some kind of emotional energy to that God that says, "Please take special care of this person I love."  When we do this as a group, the emotional energy has a little more punch. 

 

 

Exit and beginning of a New Life for Lauren and Dylan Mosley.  

 

I also pray for people because it sensitizes me to the suffering & difficulty other people are experiencing.

So where does this leave us?  Don't pray for people?  Don't pray persistently like the little widow or the people from Northwood Hills?  No. It may mean I lower my expectations. Maybe it helps to make the distinction about the macro vs micro-managing god.  I still remember people in prayer. 

Ultimately, what is your belief about praying for special intentions?

 

Is there anything you cannot do, Leo?  This is terrific.  Move over, Ray & Mary.  

 

2 Chronicles, In those day all the princes & people added infidelity to infidelity.

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

1 Ephesians, 2,  We are his handiwork.  

John 3, God so loved the world that he gave his only son.

 

 

It is coming….

 

Thanks……

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers, Denni & Tom, & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Mike Carrell

Homily,  John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Richard & Mike  

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

The Three Sisters, Clare, Patty, & Rosemary

 

 

Sunday Readings:

Download Reading 4th Lent 03-14-2021 YrB Lent4

 

John's Homily

Download John Stack Homily 2-14-2021

 

 

 

 

The McGinn Clan, Joseph, Patty, Rosemary, Clare, & Bobby (missing only Peter, deceased).

 

 

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 

 

A Special Gift at the end of the tunnel: John Cade

 

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 Rollie with Corona; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

The Brain Team, Mike, Richard, & Hugh.

 

Birthdays:   John O'Donnell, Ken Cramer

Anniversaries: Fred Martinez & Martha, 12th

 

 

Clare & Joe with Rosemary at Hilton Head.

 

Community Finances,   March 14, 2021

Expenses: $ 710.00

Outreach: $ 150.00  

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

A note about our Easter Celebration.

We would like to welcome about 20 people, vaccinated and with mask.  Seating will be spread out around the large cafeteria.  Let me reserve you to keep count.

 

 

Rosemary with our Unique Special Gift

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

God,

Bless anyone who has asked me to pray for them

and anyone that I have promised to pray for.

Bless anyone that I cannot get along with

And anyone that cannot get along with me.

Bless the person who has hurt me deeply

and anyone that I have hurt.

Bless the person that I cannot forgive

and anyone that cannot forgive me.

Grant me the grace to live as a person of peace today

and to treat all I meet today with dignity

Unknown

 

Readings: Ezekiel 33, 7-9; Psalm 95, If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts; Romans 13, 8-10; Matthew 18, 15-20. 

23^rd  Sunday – Intro to Readings , Fr. Tony

 I would like to say a few words, not about the three readings today, but about the part of the Mass they occupy, the Liturgy of the Word.

 As I have mentioned previously, each of the sacraments has a pattern, Scripture Readings followed by an Action.  It is reminiscent of the creation story, God said and something happened.  Let there be light, and there was light!  And so in our Mass, we have a Liturgy of the Word, when we listen to God speaking to us through the Sacred Scriptures and then our response to that word is the Liturgy of the Eucharist, when we offer our gifts of bread and wine in Thanksgiving.

 

Last Sunday we heard a bit about the celebration in Detroit of the 50^th anniversary of Vatican 2.  One of the major changes, which came out of the council, was a reemphasis on the Scriptures.  Recall that prior to this time, Catholics were pretty much discouraged from reading the Bible.  Its purpose in most catholic homes was as a place to record baptisms, first communions etc.  Remember that before Vatican 2 you could miss the entire liturgy of the Word and still be on time for mass!!  Of course they were read in Latin, so it didn’t really matter anyway, you had no idea what was being read unless you had your own missal and were diligently following in it. 

 The reason Vatican 2 was able to move so quickly with the refocus on the Scriptures was because of a new encouragement  on Catholic scripture scholarship, which was started by Leo XIII and continued, by Pope Pius X, XI and the XII when he issued his encyclical in 1943 on Biblical Studies. 

 

 It may be helpful for us to understand how a Jewish person would hear God’s word – not as a message to be analyzed but as listening to God speaking directly to them.  Here is what Isaiah had to say about it

 “Yet just as from the heavens, the rain and snow come down And do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, Giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats.  So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what pleases me, achieving the end for which I sent it.”  (Is 55: 10-11)

So, when we celebrate the Liturgy of the Word, and hear God’s Word proclaimed, we need to remember that it is God speaking directly to us. 

 

 Homily

 Today’s gospel reading from St. Matthew would appear at first glance to be a simple lesson on conflict resolution.  But I think there is much more to this reading.  If we step back a little and take a broader view of the reading in its setting in the gospel we will see that it follows a very short but powerful account of the good shepherd leaving the 99 sheep to go and find the lost sheep.  Then following our reading, which you will hear next Sunday is the story about the importance of forgiveness, not just 7 times as Peter suggests but 70 times 7!!  So I think this little reading today isn’t as simple as it first appears.  Plus I believe that the Church wants us to consider all of our readings today, I see them all connected, for a change!

 

The first reading from Ezekiel puts forth an interesting concept.  If the prophet, or in this case us, have heard God’s Word, and do nothing about it, in other words if we don’t try to reach out with God’s Word, then we are responsible for those around us!!  In other words, we can’t keep it to ourselves!  Paul, in the second reading tells us what that message is: “love one another”.  I feel that the Responsorial Psalm repeats this message with its response “if today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”.  It is so easy at times to simply say “forget it” I am done trying, I am done with whatever, they have gone too far.  And yet we must remember, 70 times 7.

 So, this stuff isn’t easy!  But back to today’s gospel, and the closing lines, “where two or three are gathered”.  That’s us!  Our liturgy of the Word has been us, listening to God speaking to us.  We are two or three gathered, listening to God and now we will respond with our gifts of bread and wine.  And I believe that we can also ask for God’s help in living lives of love and forgiveness.  Remember again Matthew’s comment “anything for which you pray shall be granted”!  

 

Picture 1:    Tony beginning

Picture 2:    Kevin with his parents, Connie & John

Picture 3:    Communion helpers, Nancy, Jan, Patricia, & Sandra

Picture 4:    Ryan

Picture 5:    Leo with Alison

 

Readings: Acts of the Apostles  2, 1-11; Psalm 104, Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the Face of the Earth; 1 Corinthians 12, 3-13; John 20, 19-23

 

Intro to the readings

 I would just like to draw your attention to the reading we have today from Acts of the Apostles.  Luke is very clever in the way the scene is described and unless we are aware, much of what he is doing can easily be missed.  We will be told that there were “pious Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem”.  Even though this Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, was one of the three major Jewish pilgrimage feasts when the Jews would have traveled to Jerusalem, these Jews that Luke mentions are actually “living” in Jerusalem, not just visiting.  And he goes on to list what is most likely all of the places that the Jews would have been scattered to over the many invasions they have experienced, in other words this is the “Diaspora” the scattered Jews. 

 

 It has dawned on me that to really understand a lot of the subtleties in the New Testament it would help to be Jewish!  Today is Pentecost Sunday.  The word pente means fifty.  And so we are counting backwards and I always thought it was back to the resurrection, but in Luke’s mind it was counting back to the Feast of Passover.  Passover for the Jew was “the moment” when Yahweh freed his people from slavery in Egypt.  For the Christian, it is Jesus’ death and resurrection, laid right on top of this feast of Passover.  Now for the counting bit, and the Jews did in fact count the days from the Passover to the next most important event, described in the Book of Exodus chapter 19 v 16ff, namely the time Moses receives the Torah, the Ten Commandments!  How was that event described, we are told of the sound of thunder and God descending in the form of fire, this was the Old Covenant between God and His People.  Now it is quite common in the bible to have the sound of thunder or wind used when God appears, but nowhere else do both this sound and fire appear together except at Mount Sinai and today in the room with the disciples!

 Speaking about Moses, for Luke, Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise.  When Jesus is baptized and receives the Holy Spirit, Luke immediately gives us this long genealogy of Jesus and Luke takes it all the way back not just to Abraham, but to Adam!  Now we look in the other direction and Luke has Jews from every nation present for the gift of the Spirit.

 

Pentecost Sunday – Homily

 If today’s gospel sounds familiar, it should, because it is a shorter version of our gospel reading from the Second Sunday of Easter.  It is a similar description of the gift of the Holy Spirit, which we also have in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles.  Today we celebrate the birthday of the Church.  It is the day the church officially recognizes the coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles from today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles. 

 The Holy Spirit is third person in the Trinity.  That is about as much as can be said without wandering into heresy of some sort!  But what we can do is talk about the effects of the Holy Spirit.  We see in today’s readings that it totally transformed the disciples from fear to faith!  But if we look around other places we find the Spirit descending on Jesus at his baptism and then He begins his public ministry.  The big discussion in John’s gospel was that until Jesus left the Holy Spirit could not come.

 

 If we think about Luke’s description from our first reading, he takes only four verses to describe the descent of the Holy Spirit, very brief. He is mostly interested in describing the results brought about in the disciples by that event.  And I think it makes sense for us to do the same.  We have been promised the Holy Spirit, we receive the Holy Spirit and so the question is – so what now, what happens, how are we different?

 There was an interesting little event described in the Old Testament Book of Numbers chapter 20.  The folks have been wandering in the desert for a few months, and they have arrived at a place where there is no water.  God tells Moses to take a branch and strike a rock.  Unfortunately Moses kind of thought it was up to him, and so when he hit the rock the first time, nothing happens, so he hits it again.  He got in trouble, because it seems he was thinking that the miracle was going to happen by his efforts.  For me this is a powerful lesson about God and each one of us.  Remember, the gift of relationship with God is a freely given gift, and our response is really and truly free.  We have many great stories from the Old Testament of how many times the people strayed from their covenant with God, and each time when they got into trouble they came crawling back.  They are not too different from us. We can too easily forget that God is in charge.  When we do that, forget who is in charge, we get into all kinds of trouble and fear.  Then we start to worry about stuff that we have no control over.  I believe that is where the disciples were in our readings today, in fear, forgetting that Jesus had told them he would be with them.

 Sometimes when I look at the church today, I see the same thing happening.  The church authorities seem to have forgotten about the presence of the Spirit and instead try to keep the folk in line with rules and threats.  The problem is that threats only work with little kids and only for a short while.  Adults will ignore threats. 

 

I believe that the Spirit is very much present in each one of us.  But He can only be present when we acknowledge that He is in charge.  When we try to run things, then the messes happen!  We tend to forget that Jesus did tell us he would be with us.  And when we do forget, it seems that then we are in charge.  It was when Paul became helpless by blindness that he was able to listen.  And we know how effective he became once he allowed the spirit to work in and thru him.  This weekend, as we celebrate the birthday of the church, we might we ask ourselves, who is in charge!

Picture 1:   Mass Begins

Picture 2:   The Team

Picture 3:   Communion Volunteers, Joanne, Jackie, Mike, Nancy, Jan, Don, John, & Patricia

Picture 4:   Communion with Nancy & Tony, Richard & Bernadette

Picture 5:   The Kites, Doug & Julie & Emily on their 25th Anniversary