1st Sunday of Advent, November 29, 2020

Readings: Isaiah 22, 19-23; Psalm 138, Lord, Your Love is eternal; do not forsake the Work of Your Hands; Romans 11, 33-36; Matthew 16, 13-20 

Intro to Readings 

 Our sources for our three readings again this week are Isaiah, Paul to the Romans and Matthew’s Gospel.  John last week talked a little about the Letter to the Romans and I would like to continue with that topic a little further.  This letter to the Romans is different than all of his other letters for several reasons.

 This is Paul’s attempt to tell the folks in Rome, who do not know him, who he is and what he has been preaching!  All of Paul’s other letters were written to communities he had started himself.  He has not yet been to Rome, but there are Christians there.  Paul has enemies who are preaching that he is corrupting the Good News, and so he needs to address that very clearly.  This he does by explaining his own understanding of Jesus.

 Paul is also at a cross-roads in his own life.  He is just completing his missionary work in Asia Minor and Greece.  He is about to head back to Jerusalem with “The Collection”, money he has raised from these communities to support the Jerusalem Church – an early Peters Pence collection!  He then plans to head west to Spain and start his mission word there.  He will need a base in Rome to support that work, and so he also wants to make a good impression there.

 Of course, Paul never does get to Spain!  He is arrested after his visit to Jerusalem and does end up in Rome, but in jail, where he is eventually killed by Nero.

 Homily

 “Who do men say I am?”  This question is one that all three of the Synoptic Gospel writers have.  It is an interesting question, but one which we can all too easily glide over and see it as only directed at Peter.  I would like to propose that it is a very important question and one that each one of us needs to answer today!  Who is Jesus for me, for you? 

 In trying to understand and answer the question it is worth stepping back and approaching it in the following way.  Today, when we are introduced to someone, it is fairly common in the conversation to ask “ and what do you do?”  We tend to try to understand who someone is by what they do.  Their activity or job, helps us get a bit of a handle on who they are.  In the same way when Jesus asks the disciples the question, they tend to fall back on describing who he is by naming people who have done similar things in the past!  We know that the answer “what I do” is not a satisfactory answer, but it seems to be a fairly common approach.  When someone says “oh so you are a salesman” my instinctive reaction is to say yes but I am more than that.  Stick around and get to know me.  Determining who I am by just what I do is very superficial.  So too when it comes to Jesus, what he did is only part of the answer. 

 It seems to me that in order to fully answer the question about Jesus we need to do more than just know what he did.  Yes that will help, but I believe that this getting to know business is a lifetime work.  And reflection is very much a part of that activity. 

 I think that once we get to know someone really well, we change!  Our knowledge of them changes us as a person.  Think about this.  Reflect on the people who are in your life who really mean something to you.  Are you a different person because of that relationship?  I would have to answer “yes” in my case. My life is different, my attitude is different.  Now to bring it back to Jesus, we can certainly say that Peter’s life was very different after Jesus said, “come follow me”.  We know that Paul’s life was totally different after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus.

 How do we develop and deepen our relationship with Jesus.  It really isn’t enough to just read the New Testament, and read about Jesus, that will just give us information!  We need to do that but then we need to start a dialog with Jesus, and we need to spend time listening to Him.  Not easy, but otherwise we will have a tough time answering the question.  Jesus will be merely an interesting person from long ago, and not someone who has a major say in our daily lives.

The question for each one of us is the same, “Who is Jesus for me?”

Picutre 1:    Justin with his grandmother, Jean

Picture 2:    Justin & Anthony

Picture 3:    Jon

Picture 4:    Shonda

Picture 5:    Emma

Rosemary' Blessing

Loving God, through the gift of our fathers,

you reveal your wisdom, love and care.

Continue to bless and guide these holy men

you have given to us in our lives.

Support them in their call

to lead holy lives of faithfulness, respect and integrity.

May their witness of faith and love

shine from them and on their children and families

giving hope and encouragement to all.

Bless them for all the ways they lift their children to achieve their dreams.

Bless them for their sacrifice, their forgiveness and their guidance.

Bless grandfathers, uncles, brothers, cousins, teachers and coaches

who have shown us love and support.

For those fathers who have lost a child or spouse,

give them your loving touch of healing

consoling them with your gentle care.

For those fathers who have gone before us,

bring them to your eternal banquet of joy and peace;

bring them the fullness of union with you

and communion with us as we remember their love for us. Amen.

Sister Jean Amore CSJ, Sacred Heart Academy, Hempstead,N.Y.  Adapted from Fr. John Thomas Lane, SSS

Part of

The Cheese Team, Becky & Tom

Thanks to the Team

Music, Shonda & Ben

Readers, Rob & Beth & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel, Deacon Mike

Eucharistic Prayer, John Cade

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

Final Blessing, Rosemary

The Music Team, Ben & Shonda

Please Remember these special people:

For Richard's dad who just passed;   For Carrie Bieda's brother, who also just passed the end of this week;  For Bill;  For Esparzas, Frank & Mary, who lost their son Jim to 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 Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;    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

Where is everybody??

From last Weeks:

Birthdays:  Shonda (last Week), Deacon Mike ordained '78, Bill Ekes, Alison DeGenova;  Bernadette, Ben's wife, Camile, Harper 9 

Anniversaries:  Sandra  & Chuck,  59th,  Barb & Warren 41st,  Rick Urbanczik, 45th & Rick, 68 

Download Readings Week 12

The Master Technician, Mike.

Deacon Mike's Homily

There was a rich merchant who had three sons.  The two older ones cared only for themselves. The younger son, however, cared little about the things of the world; instead he cared for his father’s workers with kindness and wisdom.  One spring day, the merchant told his three sons to meet him at the wharf; it was time for them to take over his business. The two older sons immediately ran ahead and began fighting with each other for the newest of his father’s three boats.  

The youngest son had prepared himself for this day. He knew the ones who worked well with one another; and the ones he trusted to help him read the weather, the maps, and the stories about other kingdoms. They were ready; and after bringing barrels of food on board they set sail.

One of their maps showed that they would come upon some small islands four weeks out on the direction they had chosen. When they encountered them they stopped at one whose sand looked to be pure white. Stopping there they realized that it wasn’t sand at all. It was salt.  Having extra bags that could be used for ballast they decided to take some of it home with them. A month or so later they came upon a fairly large kingdom; and they were greeted by its king.  He wished them well and fed them; but he told them that he wasn’t interested in trading for his father’s goods.

Undaunted, the younger son, after having eaten their food, paid a visit to the king’s kitchens, where he discreetly sprinkled salt, to the meat, onto the soup, over the tomatoes and into the bland custard. That night the king was amazed at the flavor of his food. Calling his chefs before him, he excitedly asked about the new technique they were using. The response was that the young man from the boat had sprinkled something called salt onto the king’s food.  The next afternoon, the merchant’s youngest son set sail for home with his crew filled with joy.  The ship was now laden with one bag of gold for every sack of salt he had left for the king.

With humility, kindness and love we too are to become the Christ by sharing the salt and light of the gospel, the treasure of the Church, to as many as we can.

The Mass continues

Community Finances, June 21, 2020

Expenses: $290.00

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

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

 Readings: Deuteronomy 8, 2-16; Psalm 147, Praise the Lord, Jerusalem; 1 Corinthians 10, 16-17; John 6, 51-58

 Intro to Readings 

Our first reading today is from the Book of Deuteronomy, last week it was from the Book of Exodus.  These books are part of what is known as the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament.  They are also referred to as the Torah, or the Five Books of Moses.  They are considered the most important books in Jewish tradition and are the most quoted in the New Testament.  The first four books describe the creation of the world right down to the time when the Israelites are paused at the Jordan River, before they cross over into the Promised Land.  Deuteronomy, the last of these books, is best described as three big sermons of Moses. Our reading today is from the second sermon and in it we have Moses reminding the people of all the great things that Yahweh did for them, by saving them from the Pharaoh, and leading them thru the desert, even though that last piece took 40 years!  They could have used a GPS!  The reading today has two short pieces to it and will sound repetitious.  The reason is that the book was compiled over hundreds of years and from many sources and in those days, consistency was not as important as making sure that tradition was included! 

Body and Blood of Christ – Homily

 Today our focus is really on what happened on Holy Thursday, at the Last Supper.  The church has chosen to have us focus on that event today, now that we are past all of the events of Easter.  What did happen at that Last Supper?  It was “the event” which seems somehow to have defined the early community after the death of Jesus.  For some reason, that meal, and really many of the meals with Jesus, took on significance beyond the normal meaning.  For people in that part of the world then, a meal was an expression of hospitality.  And we ourselves know that sometimes meals can take on a special significance, whether it is due to the circumstances of the meal, or who we're dining with. 

For the early community the events of that Last Supper took on huge significance.  We first hear about it in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, where we find the very familiar phrases, which we still hear today in our Eucharist.  “While they were at supper he took bread and broke it, gave it to them and said, take and eat, this is my body”.  That bread and that wine is what united and defined the early church, and it is still today how we are defined.  Nowhere is the cross the focus of the early community, it is the meal.

We know that food is nourishment for our bodies.  The food we eat, gives us energy to go out and do things.  In taking the bread and wine and giving it to us at the Last Supper, he changed the whole value of the food.  The community was to continue His presence in the world by seeing this bread and wine as Jesus.  And by eating and drinking this bread and wine, as Paul puts it, Jesus was in Paul and living thru Paul.  Like wise, by the action we go thru here each Sunday we are inviting Jesus into our lives and then going out and spreading the Good News.  The effects of Jesus in us, “it is no longer I but Christ who lives in me”, says Paul to the Corinthians.

 If we reflect that for the Jews, the first covenant with Yahweh was sealed with the Ten Commandments.  This new covenant was sealed by Christ’s death and resurrection, but symbolized in the meal.  By eating the bread and drinking the wine, Jesus enters into our lives.  The question now is “what effect that has on our lives”?  For the early Christians it caused others to say of them, “see how they love”.  There are consequences to what we do here; we need to see our participation in this meal, as in some way remaining with us as we go about our lives for the week ahead.  We say that the bread and wine are changed, what we can also say is that, by our participation, we too are changed. 

 But the effects of eating the bread and drinking the wine involve our active participation, Jesus is not going to take over our lives, we need to welcome Him into our lives.  This is not an invasion but an extension of hospitality.  As we share the bread and wine today, let us make sure that we are open to welcoming and living our lives as a people of God, allowing God to be present in His kingdom here on earth.

Picture 1:   Tony beginning Mass

Picture 2:   Offertory, Erin & Chuck

Pciture 3:   Cole, the son of Erin & Chuck, with his grandmom, Diane

Picture 4:   Shonda slipping away from weekend duty with Kent Messer and Jon Waldron

Picture 5:   Anniversaries Brunch

Readings:

Isaiah  45, 1, 4-6,  I have called you by your name.

Psalm 96,   Give the Lord glory and honor.

Thessalonians 1, 1-5,  Grace to you and peace.

Matthew 22, 15-21,  Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?  

Mary Ellen and Mary say, "Welcome in, Everybody."  Sadly for all of us, Thursday Mary Ellen moves back to CT.

Isaiah observations :

Who : Can you guess which Isaiah this is in chapter 45?  1, 2, or 3.  A little more difficult than the last two Sundays.  This is Isaiah 2, going from chapter 40 to 55.

Today’s selection:  this is not Isaiah 2 at his best.  I like the line, I have called you by your name.  Otherwise, the passage is mildly comforting to the people who are living in Babylonian slavery, around 555 before Christ.

Cyrus: 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. 

Rob & Beth still celebrating their 40th.

Thessalonians:

• Time written: ca. 50 A.D.   Considered Paul's first letter, and, in fact, the earliest written document in the N.T.
• Place: Paul was writing in Corinth, Greece to the town in northern Greece, Thessalonica, at the northern corner of the Aegean Sea.  He had founded a community there.
• Purpose of writing: to comfort and encourage the new Christians of Thessalonica, most of whom were Gentiles.    He sent Timothy to see how things were going.   The report Timothy brought back was largely favorable—hence the warm tone of the opening thanksgiving, which forms the main part of today’s reading. But there were also a few problems in Thessalonica; we will meet them on the thirty-second and thirty-third Sundays.

And we begin.

Resources: The New Interpreters Study Bible; St. Louis U. Liturgical @ Liturgical.slu.edu

The Best Line:  the Alleluia verse, Shine like lights in the world.  Guess what I would like to talk about.

Leo and Cole solving world problems.

Matthew observation:

Matthew lifts this story right out of Mark.  The story 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 and worthy of being followed and listened to.   

Offertory, Jerry & Shirley, Judy & Mike.

Me, a Light in the World? 

I want to talk about the alleluia verse, “Shine like lights in the world.”  I apologize again for talking about this reading in a way I have talked before. It is just so perfect a fit.  It comes to mind also because of the ebola focus these days.

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 Hospital.  It was like Parkland, Southwestern Medical, and Presbyterian. 

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.

Hey, who let that Witch in? You do that, Harper? Must be Halloween.

One day after I had been there about a week, a blond little 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. 

Don't mean to scare you, John, but you got a witch behind you.

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 that this is such a high tension time.  It used to leave me shaken.  

Watch out, Harper, a witch is getting ready to touch you.

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 again to see the family, 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? 

Rosemary sharing her blessing, welcome after such crazy stuff.

Jonah 3, 1-5, 10,  Jonah set out for the great city of Nineveh.  (An amusing story)

Psalm 25, Teach me your ways, O Lord..   

1 Corinthians 7,  29-31, The world in its present form is passing away.

Mark  1, 14-20, Come after me & I will make you fishers of men & women.

Staying at home?

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben 

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

Gospel,  John Cade

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 Zoom Team.

Readings for this Sunday

Download Reading 3rd Sunday 1-24 2021

Homily by John Stack

Download John Stack homily 1-24-2021

Please Remember these special people:

For Carrie's ex, Larry;  For Alan Stryker;  For Joe Sullivan;    For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine & Carol's dad who passed this week; For Sheila Schultz Alverez hospitalized with Corona;  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 Louis Schneider hospitalized with gall bladder problem (our rep. from Open Window)

Ben, Our Life Giver.

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For both Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free;    For John O'Donnell & Jean & their daughter, Molly;   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; from Barbara, a little 4 month old boy undergoing an operation & for Rollie with Corona; for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

Also, remembering the family of Geri Moran's friend, Elsa Billman, who passed this past week.

Remembering….Kevin, Georgie, & Buddy (and Sir Charlie!)

Birthdays:  Kevin, David Ekes, Sir Charlie, Miguel, Mary Hall

Anniversary:  

Community Finances, January 24, 2021

Expenses: $300.00  

Outreach   $50.00   (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Mike, the Initiator of this Enterprise.

Rosemary's Blessing:

I was regretting the past

And fearing the future.

Suddenly my Lord was speaking

“My name is I AM.”

He paused.  I waited

He continued,

“When you live in the past

With its mistakes and regrets,

It is hard.  I am not there.

My name is not I WAS.

“When you live in the future,

With its problems and fears,

It is hard.  I am not there.

My name is not I WILL BE.

“When you live in this moment,

It is not hard. I am here.

My name is I AM.”

I Am by Helen Mallicoat

Readings: Zephaniah 2, 3-3, 12-13; Psalm 146, Blessed are the Poor in Spirit; the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs; 1 Corinthians 1, 26-31; Matthew 5, 1-12 

Zephaniah observations:

 The 3 chapters of the little book of Zephaniah were compose about 600 years before Christ.  Therefore, he is writing shortly before the Babylonian defeat of Jerusalem and the Captivity.  Because of the book’s shortness Zephaniah is considered one of the 12 minor prophets. 

His theme is the prophetic line:

            1. You people are bad.

            2.  You people will be punished by Yahweh.

            3.  You people, after being punished, will return to a happy place.

Today’s selection focuses more on how the humble of spirit will pasture their flocks with no one to disturb them. 

 The psalm & Matthew today both focus on how the poor in spirit will be happy, receiving the kingdom of heaven.

 I am struck that in the readings there is a quality of wishful thinking.  For example, in the psalm,  the lord sets captives free, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry, and raises up the bowed down. 

 I can see someone skeptically asking me, “Stack, are you crazy.  You believe this really happens?  Look at history.”  I would like to talk about this in the homily.

Poor in Spirit?  Get Real!

 You remember last Thanksgiving when about 35 of us went to help feed the homeless for LifeNet?  Well, while I was helping out, I liked to go around and chat up the people at different tables.

 At one table during the second or third seating over by the windows opposite the side door I ran into 3 elderly white, nicely dressed little ladies.  Folks, they absolutely reminded me of my mother, who would have been mortified to have been eating there. 

The ladies were quite friendly, obviously educated, and lived in Richardson.  Were they homeless?  Were they without money, social security, family?  I only knew that they would not have been there had not LifeNet vetted them as being authentically in need. 

 My heart went out to these ladies and I mention them this morning as a lead into the notion that blessed are the poor in spirit, the kingdom of heaven is theirs.  This statement strikes me as really precarious.

 I would propose that there is a healthy and an unhealthy poverty of spirit.  The poverty of these 3 ladies is unhealthy, spirit killing, depressing.  Unemployment, homelessness, all kill the spirit.

 The same is true of Larry Sims, the 60 year old black man exonerated Friday of a crime for which he has spent 25 years in jail.  DNA proof.  Can you imagine being put in jail for 25 years of your life for something you did not do?  I think I would be mad, bitter.  The amazing reality is that these men are all accepting, forgiving, and grateful.  They humble & amaze me. 

 The same was true of the 3 little ladies.

 Mr. Sims is number 35 exonerated in Dallas according to my buddy & old classmate Tony Levatino who helps these men adjust to their new life through Holy Trinity Parish down on Oak Lawn.

 This unhealthy poverty of spirit has been so common down through our history as humans.  Suffering has characterized so many lives.  Slavery, holocausts, genocides, wars.

 I have spent my life attempting to raise up people in this poverty.  We are doing it in this community. 

 What then is healthy poverty of spirit?  From my perspective it is two things: acceptance and gratitude.  This brings about peace of spirit.

 I am astounded, but Mr. Sims and the 3 ladies seemed to have acceptance and gratitude.  I do know others who were dying of depression or discouragement.

 Can a person work through the unhealthy poverty of spirit to the peace of acceptance & gratitude?  Apparently so. 

 On a scale of 1-10, where is your poverty of spirit, your acceptance and gratitude?

Picture 1:   Mass with Kevin helping

Picture 2:   Emma walking

Picture 3:   Georgie & her sister Zoe

Picture 4:   Zoe with her dad, Randolph & grandmom, Bernadette

Picture 5:   Michelle, the mother of Georgie & Zoe, with Torri & Buddy, the twins, and Gilberto, Michelle's dad