Something Extra
I forgot to include John Cade's Homily from Sunday in yesterday's blog.
Pre Homily Download 06-01-25 Homily 1 – Ascension
I forgot to include John Cade's Homily from Sunday in yesterday's blog.
Pre Homily Download 06-01-25 Homily 1 – Ascension
Readings:
Isaiah 66, 18-21, I know their works and their thoughts. (This is the last chapter of the book of Isaiah.)
Psalm 117, Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
Hebrews 12, 5-7, 11-13, He scourges every son he acknowledges.
Luke 13, 22-30, Strive to enter through the narrow gate.
Leo and Genevieve say, "Welcome in, Everybody."
Isaiah 66 observations:
Author: Isaiah III. The book of Isaiah is one of my favorites. Some beautiful passages. Remember, 3 primary authors are responsible for the 66 chapters, and we are reading the very last. Isaiah 1 covers chapters 1-39. This book is one of the Big 3 O.T. prophets, along with Jeremiah and Ezekiel. This is because the works are the longest. There are 12 minor prophets.
Time: ca. 700, before the Assyrians annihilate the northern Jewish kingdom, called Israel, vs the southern kingdom called Judah, where Jerusalem is. 10 tribes were lost in this destruction, the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel.
Leo and his buddy, John, also say, "Come on in, Folks."
Remember, there were 12 tribes. Why? Because of the 12 sons of Jacob, who was one of the 3 great patriarchs or founders of the tribe, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob, who was also called Israel.
Message of Isaiah III: Mostly consolation after the catastrophe. What is the basic activity of a prophet? 1. criticism, 2. prediction of dire payment, 3. consolation.
Today’s message: this being the last chapter of the whole work, you might guess. Yes, consolation and future unity.
Buddy, our Candle Lighter of The Week, at work.
Psalm 117: The best line in the whole bunch of readings. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
Hebrews observation:
The best thing about today's selection: we have to read Hebrews only one more week. Awful reading today.
Genevieve says, "Like my new dance step?"
It is all Good News
You will never guess where I was this past Friday morning at 6:00. Yep, you know me too well. I was beginning spin class at the Jewish Community Center. I have a special story about something that happened at that class.
Normally we have 10 to 16 or so people for the classes. But Friday morning we had only about 7-8. Plus we had a substitute teacher or directress of the orchestra, a lady named Alesia, whose style I like, a bit more laid back.
Becky and Tom, good friends.
So, just as Alesia was instructing us to get started, I stepped away from my bike and made a sign to her that I would like to talk. So she gave me the welcome sign.
I stepped forward, turned a bit to include the class, and said that a very special person was celebrating her birthday that day, Haya. I went over to her and gave her a gift of a little package of cookies called BelVita.
Harper says, "Hi, Everybody."
Haya is an older woman, which makes her special to me. She is about 5‘1”, is a little hunchbacked, has a vertical scar on the back of her right shoulder, is very quiet and shy, speaks English with a foreign accent, and drives a gold Prius (as I say frequently, “Anybody who drives a gold Prius has got to be special).
We finish the class, sing Happy Birthday, start drying off, stretching, and preparing to leave. I feel a tap on my back. Haya. She thanks me for remembering her. Then she says, “This is the happiest day of my life.”
Grace and Richard, more good friends.
I cannot believe what I just heard. I am so touched. On the one hand, I am touched that such a small gesture can mean so much to her. On the other, does this say something about her life? Could she be a victim of the Holocaust? I discover that we are the same age, 76. What has she seen in life that I have never seen?
Why talk about her this morning? Two reasons. Because she is Good News. The Psalm says, “Go out and tell the Good News.” People are Good News. I want to know her story.
The Best Music, Shonda, Bethany (guess who is expecting?), and Ray.
Secondly, I want also to contextualize the negativity of Hebrews and Luke.
There was a strong belief in these times that God was definitely a conditional love God. Why did the Babylonian Captivity take place? The Israelites were bad. Jeremiah says it, the Isaiahs say it. And so it was written. In fact, God scourges those who are his special people.
Offertory with Mike & Judy, and Mary.
Pretty much this opinion of God has been discarded. But, remember Katrina? Happened because New Orleans was bad. So would you believe that God this past spring was punishing Garland, Blue Mound, and other Dallas suburbs when the hail and rain wrecked people’s houses? Is sickness a penance for a sinful, bad life?
Me? I believe and propose that people are The Good News, that you are The Good News.
Play station Number 1.
And you? A God who scourges and demands penance or a God who proclaims that people are The Good News?
Readings:
Genesis 12, 7-9; 3, 1-7, I will make of you a great nation
Psalm 33, Lord, let your merciful love be upon us, as we place our trust in you.
2 Timothy 1, 8-10, Bear your share of hardship for the gospel.
Matthew 17, 1-9, The Transfiguration.
Post Hurricane, Spring on Hilton Head Island.
On the Readings Genesis
Traditionally the first 5 books of the Jewish Scriptures (Christian Old Testament) were called the Torah and all five were attributed to Moses as their author. Modern Biblical scholars say definitely not.
In fact, Genesis and the other 4 books of the Torah (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) were most likely written in the 5th and 4th centuries before Christ, so during and after the Babylonian captivity (dated around 555 BC).
The Jewish people had been defeated, their temple destroyed, and they were in captivity in Babylon. They knew that the southern tribes of Israel, when they were defeated and taken captive, had basically disappeared, being absorbed by intermarriage with their captors.
To avoid a similar outcome, their oral tradition was written down to give the Jewish people a history and a strong identity. The emphasis was on a special covenant with God. This covenant included many laws and practices touching every aspect of their lives. They left no doubt as to what it meant to be an Israelite, a Jew.
Today’s Lenten readings have connected the words spoken to Abraham in Genesis “you are blessed”, with the words spoken in Matthew’s Transfiguration story “listen to him.”
A riot of colors, red, white, and pink, everywhere.
Homily:
To understand the context of the Transfiguration story we need to remember: Matthew wrote this Gospel for the early Jewish community, now Christian, living in Jerusalem. They would know well all the books of the law and the prophets, including the first, Genesis, and the last prophet, Malachi.
In today’s reading Matthew is referencing that last named prophet in the OT. (Read Malachi. 4:4-6)
So, in the last paragraph of the last book of the OT—and the early Jewish Christians Matthew was addressing knew it well—Malachi reminds the Jewish people of Moses, the greatest leader of them all, who took them out of slavery in Egypt, led them to the promised land and gave them the law spoken by God, also on a mountain top.
And Malachi says, “I’m sending Elijah the prophet to clear the way for the Big Day of God.”
So, as Matthew set the scene, here’s the picture: On a mountain top—where else?—that’s where in Scripture all important meetings with God happened—Moses appears representing the law and Elijah appears representing the prophets, and Jesus is transfigured before Moses and Elijah and right in front of the 3 disciples, his face and clothes shining as white as sun light.
That event, in Matthew’s story, is Malachi’s Big Day of God—the proclamation of Jesus as the new Moses, the new Elijah, the long-awaited Messiah. The disciples are told Jesus is the one to listen to now.
Hilton Head is 90% cleaned up. A long way from how it looked at Thanksgiving.
That’s our message too. (As it turned out there were actually four ‘Big Day of God’ events: Jesus’ Baptism, His Transfiguration, His Crucifixion/Resurrection, and His Ascension/ Pentecost.) An interesting difference in the Eastern and Western Christian churches: the Western Church was more influenced by the story of the Crucifixion/Resurrection. E.g., some Catholic saints displayed stigmata (e.g., Saint Francis, Padre Pio).
The Eastern Church was more influenced by the story of the Transfiguration; Eastern Orthodox saints never reported stigmata; they were often described as transfigured by the inner light of grace (e.g., Saints Seraphim and Silouan).
Remember how for several weeks Stack helped us reflect on the questions of who gives us light and to whom do we give light? Guess what? The Transfiguration story takes us right there again, showing Jesus all lit up, as something to see, as the one to listen to, the one to learn from.
How do we shine as people of the light? One challenge is living like Jesus: accepting life as it comes to us, with its joys and delights, its pain and grief.
Another is living like God of Psalm 103: being “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in kindness.”
Another is living like the people of this community do: Look around you: Name how these people shine for you? Name the ways they give light in your life. Look at yourself: how do you give light to others around you?
Another is being more like the little children: accepting ourselves–even our innocence, being bold, living in the present, chilling, receiving and sharing with such ease.
Can we do this? What do you say?
2 Kings 4, They shall eat and there shall be some left over.
Psalm 145, The hand of the Lord feeds us, he answers all our needs.
Ephesians 4, ..unity of spirit through the bond of peace.
John 6, Where can we buy enough food for them to eat.
Music Magic with Shonda & Ben
Thanks……
Music, Ben & Shonda
Readers, Patricia & Fred, & Buddy, our candle blesser
Gospel, John Cade
Homily, John Stack
Eucharistic Prayer A & B, John Stack & John Cade
The Magic Zoom makers, Richard, Hue, & Mike
Final Blessing, Rosemary
For hosting us at Legacy for all these years & will miss you enormously, Becky
Patricia reading 2 Kings.
Readings:
Download 07-25-21 R1 – PatJansky – 17h Ord (1)
Fred reading from Ephesians.
Homily by John Stack
Download Homily by John Stack 7-25-2021. 17th Ordinary Time
Today's Team.
Remember these special people:
For John & Karen Anderlick's unborn grandson; For Alan Stryker; For Candice Taht, friend of Mary Hall; For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ; For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine; For Esparza's new great grandson baby, son of Monique, & Frank with shingles; 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,
Who are these two beautiful girls? How you have grown, Zoe, and, Wow!, Michelle, how you have really trimmed down. Welcome home, Both of You!
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 daughters, Lisa & Lauren ; 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 baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; For Beth's friends & brother; for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.
Happy Anniversary to you & David, Donna. I wish I could be with David now beginning the first day of Ragbrai.
Birthdays: Dawson, Cindy Ekes
Anniversaries: Donna & David
Happy Birthday, Dawson.
Community Finances, July 25, 2021
Expenses: $960.00
Outreach: $405.00
Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.
Rosemary doing her blessing of the week.
Rosemary's Blessing:
Life is not a journey to the grave
With the intention of arriving safely
In a pretty and well preserved body,
But rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke,
Thoroughly used up,
Totally worn out,
And loudly proclaiming
—WOW—What a Ride!
Hunter S. Thompson
Mike, thanks tons for all you have done for our community. You helped us stay together for a year.
JSM Mission-Faith Statement
Help create a Catholic Community that welcomes all God’s People, provides for & challenges spiritual & total growth.
Reaches out to help people who are disadvantaged & make the world we live in a better place to live.
Readings:
Wisdom 1, 13-15; 2, 23-24, God formed people to be imperishable
Psalm 30, I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
2 Corinthians 8, 7-9, 13-15, As you excel in every respect, may you also excel in the gracious act.
Mark 5, 21-43, Who has touched my clothes?
Wisdom observations:
What: There are 39 official books in the Old Testament. In addition to them are 12 extra books. Wisdom comes from these 12 extra books.
Main message: God rewards those who are good.
Author: A Jewish man who lived in Alexandria, Egypt. He wrote in Greek.
Date: 50-100 years before Christ.
Our passage: observations on life & death. The devil & death are connected.
Sources: Good News Bible; New interpreter’s Study Bible, Catholic Encyclopedia on line.
Heal a Bleeding Woman? Are You Crazy!
There was an article early this week in The Dallas Morning News that was titled, Dallas-area Designers of Stylish Hijabs Bridge Culture Gap, empower Muslim Women. Along with the article were two or three pictures of women with beautiful faces. They were dressed from head to foot in, not black, but beautiful pastel colored hijabs and robes. Jewels and perhaps diamonds decorated the hems of the robes.
I had to laugh. This is the classic example of the camel’s nose under the tent. Next thing these Muslim women will not be wearing the hijab. We have to laugh, too, because that women look beautiful was certainly not the intention of the religious men who put these dress laws in place.
Sometimes you even see the real deal in Dallas, a woman all in black from head to toe with a black net covering her face. Some women wore this attire in Tanzania when I lived there.
I thought of this article with the pictures when I was putting together ideas about healing the two women.
Do you realize how radical this was, especially with the woman bleeding? Leviticus, the third book of the Bible, has a lot to say about women who bleed. For instance, a woman giving birth to a boy is ritually unclean for 7 days; a girl baby, 14 days (chapter12).
In Lev. 15 it says that during menstruation, women were ritually unclean, which meant they were considered socially dead, not allowed in the temple, not allowed in the community, could not touch anyone and no one was allowed to touch them or their clothes or they, too, were ritually unclean. So what does the lady in Mark do? What does Jesus do?
Do you realize today how historic and universal this bias was against women? Plato in The Republic says that Socrates asked, do you know of anything done by humans which is not done better by the male.
Hindus teach that a woman must immolate herself after her husband's death. Buddhists consider it bad karma to be reincarnated as a woman. Orthodox Jewish men are taught to pray, Blessed be God who has not created me a heathen, a slave, or a woman. The first book of our Bible, Genesis, blames a woman for the origin of evil in our world. Can you see the presence of men putting this story together?
More recently, in 1873 in Illinois a case was decided against a woman. She had passed the bar exam to be a lawyer, and the court would not grant her appeal to receive a law license. A judge said that the place of a woman was in the home and that women did not have the fortitude to deal with such issues as the law.
The church fathers, as they are called, had their own bias. St. Jerome says that when a woman wishes to serve God more than the world, then she will cease to be a woman and will be called a man. You do not want to know what St. Augustine thinks about women. What about the way the Vatican made nuns dress and would still like to?
So why this historic and universal bias against women by men (& women)? One reason, from my research, blood. Another is the male nervousness & weakness around women, beginning in adolescence.
So here comes Jesus along. The woman touches him. He could have had her killed by the crowd. What was she doing in the crowd anyway? And what does he do? He calls her "Daughter," and heals her. This is shocking to the people. This is scandalous in the eyes of the Jewish authorities. He will die for it. However, despite the danger, Jesus moves from bias to inclusion & acceptance.
In Galatians (Chapter 3) it says there is no male or female. Just folks. We are being called to get rid of the bias. Women do not deserve to have men tell them how they must live, or be stoned.
How is your bias barometer? Any bias against women, men, a particular race, political party, a part of town, a school?
Sources: The Sins of Scripture, Bishop (Anglican) John Shelby Spong; Catholic Encyclopedia on line.
Readings: Isaiah 45, 1-6, Who is Cyrus?; Psalm 96, Give the Lord glory and honor; 1 Thessalonians 1, 1-5; Matthew 22, 15-21, Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.
Isaiah observations: This selection comes from what is considered Isaiah 2, the author of the Book of Consolations, written after the first 39 chapters and during the Babylonian captivity. Isaiah speaks from Yahweh's perspective and He is calling someone by name.
So, who is Cyrus? Cyrus the Great of Persia, modern Iran, built the first great empire, which extended as far as Athens in Greece. He was a benevolent emperor of his people and the people he conquered, for instance, the Israelites.
Isaiah 2 is championing Cyrus because he hears of Cyrus coming and hopes Cyrus will defeat the Babylonians and set the Israelites free to return to Jerusalem. This is exactly what Cyrus does. Where is Babylon? Try 50 miles south of Baghdad on the Euphrates River. What is left? Rubble.
Thessalonians:
Resources: The New Interpreters Study Bible; St. Louis U. Liturgical @ Liturgical.slu.edu
Matthew observation: Render to Caesar
Matthew lifts this story right out of Mark. The story is a game that was popular among the intellectuals in Jesus time, like a game of verbal chess. The object was to confound your opponent so that choosing either one of two answers springs a trap.
Watch the smarmy language of the Pharisees and you can almost see them salivating at the impending kill.
The trap: do you think it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar or not? Jesus confounds them by choosing both. Jesus wins the game.
Why do Mark & Matthew use this story? To show how Jesus is superior. He is worthy of being followed and listened to.
Me, a Light in the World?
I want to talk about the alleluia verse, “Shine like lights in the world.”
After getting ordained at old St. Rita’s in June of 1971, I was sent to Miami to work as a chaplain in the big medical complex known as Jackson Memorial. It was like Parkland and Southwestern Medical.
The Jesuits of my southern province had a big parish right in the middle of downtown Miami, and part of the team worked the hospitals. I was a summer helper and loved it.
One day after I had been there about a week, a little blond girl of 10 or 11 was brought into the burn ward. Ever been in a burn ward, a children’s burn ward? Tough places. I spent a lot of time in these wards.
The girl, Anna, had been with her family on a sail boat. Somewhere along their trip the boat had passed under a bridge. Anna was standing on the edge of the boat with her back leaning against one of the guy wires.
As the boat went under the bridge, the mast touched an electrical line. The electricity went down the mast and the guy wire. Anna was electrocuted and burned. Fortunately, she was hurled into the cool water which helped to stop her burns.
However, her back and the insides of her thighs and legs were seriously burned. She would stay in Jackson for 2 to 3 months, even after I had to move on.
I got really close to Anna & her family. I visited her first & last every day and I was privileged to be allowed by the doctors to hold her hand when her bandages had to be changed. Her parents had to leave the room. You know how this is such a high tension time. It used to leave me shaken.
I talk about this because the alleluia verse tells us to be lights in the world. I think this is what it means. I was privileged to be with that little girl & her family in such a horrible experience. It is reciprocal: she was a light in my world.
The good news is that Anna finally did leave the hospital all healed up. I never had the opportunity to see the family again, but I corresponded for years with the mom. Somewhere during my time in Africa, the connection got broken. I know that maybe 15 years later her mom wrote me that Anna had married and had a little kid.
In whose world are you a light today?
Picture 1: Mass Begins
Picture 2: Bethany
Picture 3: Miguel
Picture 4: Delgado Corner with Fred
Picture 5: Justin
Picture 6: Emma
Readings: Exodus 24, 3-8; Psalm 116, I will take the cup of Salvation, and call on the Name of the Lord; Hebrews 9, 11-15; Mark 14, 12-26
Exodus: 8 points on the readings, including Exodus–(2 on Exodus, 4 on points from the other readings, 2 more on Exodus
1. This is the 2nd book of the Torah/Pentateuch, the first section of the Old Testament. Deuteronomy, which we visited last week, is the 5th & last book.
2. Story: This is a fabulous and edifying fable that tells how the Israelites got out of slavery in Egypt with the leadership of Moses.
3. Passover: the night the angel passed over the first born male children of the Jews because they had smeared lamb blood on their door posts. But the angel killed all the Egyptian first born sons to make Pharaoh let the people go. Remember, this is not history, rather like a fable, like Aesop's Fables. The Last Supper was a Passover meal.
4. Covenant vs Contract: in a contract two parties agree to do something. If one fails, the contract is often null. In a covenant two people agree, and even if one party fails, the other party honors the covenant. The Covenant between Yahweh & the People: the people will honor Yahweh as their only god; Yahweh will protect and care for them as his chosen, and bring them into a new land.
5. Sacrifice & holocaust: ancient tribal belief that I must offer to my god (s) things precious to me to appease the god's anger or win his favor, for example, animals, prisoners, and the most beautiful girl in the community. Jesus was seen as this sacrifice to appease the god, and also as the high priest who usually performed the sacrifice. Thus the emphasis on blood & death.
6. 12 tribes: the 12 sons of the patriarch Jacob (or Israel; the 3 patiarchs were Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob-Israel).
7. Author & Date of Exodus: not Moses. Rather a compilation of material from different centuries, that was mostly put together after the Babylonian Captivity, e.g., ca. 550 BCE.
8. Our Selection from Exodus: the people have been wandering in the desert and are now being given laws and customs they must observe. The Covenant is being sealed.
The Special Meal
As usual, last Thursday & Friday I am preparing thoughts and ideas for our homily today. I tell Rosemary that I want to talk about the theme of special meals in connection with Eucharist and that I am going to take a big risk and put it together after the Collin County Classic Bike Rally. Why? Because I am anticipating that the meal they serve to the riders after the ride will be special, a meal from heaven.
After the race yesterday, however, I totally was not hungry. My stomach is not sick, just tight from so much exercise. In fact, if I want anything it is half of a cold watermellon. I even pass up some tremendous food at the Eshelbrenners where they were celebrating Gloria's visit from Seattle. She is getting married this Labor Day and guess who is doing it.
So I head home and tell Rosemary please get the watermellon ready. She opens it and, ugh, it is over ripe. So I go to Tom Thumb and finally about 3:30 I have the first bite of watermellon. Folks, it was watermellon from heaven. I did not have a big feast, but I had a special meal of watermellon & a salad.
What is your special meal? Your favorite? Your favorite restaurant? Favorite meal of the year? Thanksgiving? I talk about this because special meals are the form on which the Eucharist was originally built. I see 3 characteristics about a special meal that are common with good Eucharistic celebration.
First, camaraderie and conviviality. I expected that we would have a bunch of our people at the McKinney North High School dining room for lunch. It would have been an electric ambiance with everyone just finished the run. It did not turn out that way. Thanksgiving can have this characteristic. Our Vines celebrations have it.
Second, quality food and drink and often special food. Thanksgiving we have turkey, birthdays have ice cream & cake with candles, weddings have special cakes. In Tanzania a goat was roasted over a spit to celebrate a wedding. It lasted all day long. Which brings up time. Special meals take an hour or more when it is really working. We at Vines spend an hour, maybe a little more. We have good wine and good bread, home made bread.
Thirdly, rituals. At Thanksgiving we often say a prayer of thanks. At weddings, cake cuttings. At special events, blessings can be mentioned. At Vines we have our rituals, the sign of peace, the music, the readings and great homilies. Next week we have a special blessing for the old dads.
I would propose that special meals are the foundation for Eucharistic celebration.
What meals are special to you? How do you initiate them?
AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-06-14.mp3
Picture 1: Cole Ryan Webster welcoming the community with Kevin & T.J.
Picture 2: Cole's baptism with his mom Erin & dad Chuck, Lisa & Brandon
Picture 3: Lynda with Kayla
Picture 4: Peyton & Madison with their mommy Ashley