13th Sunday, Ordinary Time, June 28, 2020

Acts 5:   Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them.

Revelation 1:I saw seven gold lampstands and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, wearing an ankle-length robe, with a gold sash around his chest.

John 20:   “My Lord and my God!”

 

 

Paul reading from the Acts of the Apostles

Music,   Ben & Shonda

 

Expenses: $   850.00

Outreach: $    520.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Denni gets a cookie for her birthday.

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Life is short …

Break the rules,

Forgive quickly,

Kiss slowly,

Love truly,

Laugh uncontrollably,

And never regret anything that made you smile.

Mark Twain

 

 

The Marriage Cat awaits Jud & Erica, Saturday evening, Georgetown, TX.

 

 

Readings:  (for Palm Sunday)

Entrance procession: Mark 11, 1-10,  Entry with palms

 Isaiah 50, 4-7, I gave my back to those who beat me.

Psalm 22,  My God, my God, why have you abandoned me.

 Philippians 2, 6-11,  He emptied himself.

Mark  14 & 15, The Passion

 

 

 

 

Jud with his long time admirer.

 

 

We had no homily nor Creed today because of the length of the service.

 

 

 

Erica with her dad, Don.

 

 

 

 

Jud & Erica composed their own vows and shared them with each other, very nice.

 

 

 

Jud & Erica are originally from Dallas.  They met in Seattle, where they both worked, Erica in nursing.  They now live & work in Honolulu.

Readings:  Jeremiah 20, 7-9; Psalm 63; Romans 12, 1-2; Matthew 16, 21-27

Jeremiah: One of the 3 great prophets, called the "broken hearted prophet,' because he had a heart rending life predicting punishment of death and destruction for the Hebrews for their sinful ways. 

He wrote from Jerusalem ca. 600 B.C. and his predictions came true when Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem in 588 B.C., defeated the Hebrews, and took them off to Babylon-Baghdad as prisoners.  Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke as a visual aid to his message.  He may have been ultimately killed by the Hebrews.

Deny Yourself, Take up Your Cross, and Follow Me

This simple little line from Matthew can be very tricky.  It can be approached healthily or in a less than healthy way.  I can witness to the latter in my own life.  I have already described how as a young Jesuit I was expected to do penance and deny myself in various ways, like the practice of using little whips to scourge our backs and little chains with points to wear around our thighs.  This was supposed to bring me closer to God.

I can laugh at this now, but I am humbled at how easily I can be programed.  When I read this line and others like it in the Bible and remember my experiences with such spirituality, I pick up the scent of an ancient philosophy that still influences a lot of religious activity which is not spiritually so sane.  The philosophy: dualism. 

The idea is simple.  Reality comes in pairs, hot & cold, rich & poor, order & chaos, and, in particular for this discussion, body & soul or flesh & spirit or mind & matter.  So far so good. 

The trouble enters with a judgment about the flesh & spirit.  Specifically, flesh is bad, spirit is superior.  Consequently, so that my spirit may reach an elevated plane of purity & perfection, and ultimately closer union with God, I attempt to control the flesh by disregarding the body's existence & appetites, ultimately aiming to live without it.  How about that!

There is a healthy, in fact, a rich approach to the line.  But first a couple of facts.  Dualism is identified as far back as 1000 years B.C. and came out of Zoroastrianism, a religion that worshiped one god and believed in an afterlife.  Did it come from Egypt as so much did at that time?  No, from  Persia, the area we call Iran today.  Zoroastrianism was widespread until Muhammad arrived on the scene around 650 and established Islam.  Through the ages lots of people picked up on dualism, for example, Plato, Augustine, Descartes.

I have two stories about people who healthily acted out self denial.

First, a girl I know who when she was 11 years old thought that she would like to join a swimming team here in Plano. She tried out, more than once, failing each time.  Undaunted, she practiced.  When she was 12 she not only got on the team, but she won the state championship in her age bracket. 

She continued to swim through grade school and into high school, practicing 2 hours early in the morning before class and two hours after school.  She even went to Providence College on a swim scholarship.  This girl, Megan, whom I love tremendously could have slept in two more hours every morning when she was in high school, she could have come home after school and watched TV.  It would have been easier.  This is healthy self denial and because of it she is a girl more alive, more whole, more fully alive with a vibrant spirit.  She is now the mother of Liam, who was our Baby Jesus in the Christmas drama, and the daughter of Rob & Beth.

Saturday we celebrated with a parade in Parker another girl like Megan, Nastia, home from the Olympics.

The second person is Thomas McGowan, 50 years old.  You might have read about him in the paper a few weeks ago.  He was just released from prison after spending half of his life there for a crime he did not commit.  The Innocence Project obtained permission to run a DNA match & he was exonerated. 

I came to know more about him through an old friend and classmate of mine, Tony Levatino, who in his retirement works at the Holy Trinity Center, the outreach arm of Holy Trinity Parish, just like ours.  Tony got familiar with him because his sister works at Holy Trinity and happened to talk with her.  Turns out he could not find a job.  Tony had a connection with the Anatole Hotel and got him hired.

Besides being moved by what Tony was able to accomplish, I was also moved whenTony said Thomas was an excellent man, cheerful, without anger, not wanting to blame anyone.  He accepted his fate while hoping for exoneration.  He was peaceful.  Thomas was a man who denied himself and took up a cross.

These two people have both denied themselves.   Megan strove to achieve, Thomas accepted.

How & why do you deny yourself?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-08-31.mp3

Readings:

Isaiah 58, 7-10,   If you bestow your bread on the hungry, then light shall rise for you in the darkness.   

 Psalm 112,  The Just Person is a light in darkness to the upright.

 1 Corinthians 2, 1-5,   God chose the foolish of the world.

 Matthew 5, 13-16,    You are the light of the world.

 

 

 

Kristin and Everett say, "Welcome in, Everybody. "  And we say to you, Everett, "Welcome into our world."

 

Isaiah reminders, again—(I lied again, Folks.  I thought we were finished with Isaiah, my favorite, until next Advent.  Nope.  Not really sorry, though.  We have him again Feb. 26, last Sunday before Lent.)

 Author: This is Isaiah #3, the composer of chapters 56-66.  Isaiah #3 lives after the Israelites have returned to the ruined city of Jerusalem.  It is a very depressing experience after the exuberance of being allowed to depart from slavery in Babylon.  Like returning to your shattered home after a tornado, hurricane, or forest fire.

 

Hi, Leo, good to see you.

 

 Date:  Ca. 555 before Christ, the composition.  The Jewish people of Jerusalem are home again.

Subject:  A great day will come for you Jews.  You will be a bright light at dawn and your wound will be healed (of your defeat and slavery), if you take care of your neighbor, providing food, clothing, and shelter.  The corporal works of mercy.

 

 Welcome to our marvelous community, Michael Tuck.  It is so nice to have you and you are welcome any time Ray cannot make it.  Or even if he can.

 

Your Light must shine before Others

This is the fourth or fifth Sunday we have dealt with delightful readings that involve light, either receiving light or giving light.  Guess what.  I want to talk again about 3 people who are lights for me.

I have talked before about a guy whom I greatly admire, Jim Mahar, a professor of something like economics at St. Bonaventure University near Buffalo, NY.  This guy just continues to amaze and humble me. 

 

 

 

Hi, Harper.  Welcome to the Queen of Girl Scout Cookies.

 

I first met Jim through Bill Hammond.  He, I, and Bob McGrath,  all went down to Galveston to help with the clean up and repair of the city after the hurricane Ike in 2008.  It seems to me like yesterday and, yet, incredibly long ago.

There were 20-25 of us, mostly students probably on spring break.  We stayed in a very hospitable Protestant church.  The pastor himself was most friendly and accommodating.  The kids had bunk beds on the left & right of the church.  We old guys bedded down in a rectangular room with about 20 Baptist Men volunteers.  I could talk about those guys all day, they are so good.  The only problem that time: one guy in our dorm snored like a bear. 

 

 

Buddy, our Candle Man of The Week.  Thanks, Buddy.

 

These guys had an 18 wheeler trailer that they had rigged up with a number of showers.  The people in the church community fed us 3 meals a day. 

This was the first time I worked with Jim Maher.  I also went to Moore, OK, a suburb of OK City to help with a tornado that passed through.  And now just a week or so ago I get a facebook note from Jim, working with a bunch of St. Bonaventure kids in maybe the Bahamas.

 

 

Offertory, Cindy, Bill, and Marlene.

 

Jim is a bright light in my life.  In fact, his light is blinding.  I am exhausted just following him from one disaster to another.   He and some kids even came to help in Rowlett last year.  I did not get to help out, but Bill Hammond was there. 

Secondly, I have told you about another light of mine, Coach Frank Hart, mostly bed ridden in a home for elders.  I have been visiting Frank almost every Friday afternoon for some years. 

 

 Ready or not, here we go.

 

When I first started entering this house, I noticed the particular accent with which three black caretakers ladies spoke English.  I immediately recognized from where that accent comes, East Africa.  They were marvelous caretakers. 

So one afternoon, I took a minute to speak with one of the girls who bubbled over with personality.  I addressed her in Swahili, which I totally still remember.

 

 

Anybody know who these characters are??

 

Folks, I thought she was going to faint, drop her teeth, and go crazy.  She yelled to her 2 girl friends and we had a marvelous time.  They were from Kenya.  Very caring, very courageous girls.  Lights to me for their courage in making a better life for themselves and others, like Coach Frank. 

The third group: our kids.  They don’t have to do anything and I love them.  I am so delighted with their presence, which brings light to our celebrations.

 

 

The "Juliets," just us ladies into eating together."

 

I have always welcomed little kids at the Masses I celebrate, and for sure, at St. Marks.  I would normally invite them up around me during the Eucharistic prayer.  One time a little boy knocked over the standing candles and another time a little baby barfed on my shoulder while I was welcoming her for maybe the first time. 

 

 

Is this not a pretty tough group?!  Hi, Carol.  Love the hair.

 

Guess what, everybody was so timid and cowed they did not even stop me to let me know the baby had thrown up on my shoulder until after the Mass, when even I was beginning to wonder about where that smell was coming from.  These events both took place in the big church, not the 10:30 cafetorium.   That 10:30 crowd would have spoken up, probably laughing at me.

 

 

And another play station.

 

Again the questions:

Who gives you light?

To whom do you give light?

 

Readings: Acts 14, 21-27; Psalm 145, I will praise Your Name forever, My King and My God (1st stanza, my favorite: the Lord is Gracious and Merciful, Slow to Anger and of Great Kindness); Revelation 21, 1-5; John 13, 31-35.

 

Psalm 145:

The book of Psalms is the hymn book and prayer book of the Jewish Bible. 

Composed over centuries, before Christ's time and probably assembled after the Babylonian Captivity, i.e. ca. 550 BCE

Authors: many.  Not just King David

Psalm 145: this psalm has one of those lines that is a special gem, a glimpse for me into a reality that I find a mystery.  The nature of God.  Something I can only approach by analogy and projection. 

I read the Bible and encounter a god who is jealous, merciless, and demanding payback.  I don't buy this.  I do buy, however, the image presented by the first stanza.  I even change it a bit to say, The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry and is full of love.

Known Because we have Love for One Another

I would like to talk this morning about the Collin County Adult Clinic and how we all got involved with it.  You probably know that Julia Grenier was the founder of this clinic, but you may not know how she came to do it. 

I talked with her Thursday and got the story.  It started about 30 years ago, so in the early 80's, when she was hired by Elizabeth Seton Parish to be the parish nurse.  Julia just celebrated 50 years as a nurse.  This was a new position for a parish to have and Julia made it more unique in her special way. 

She ended up getting involved with PISD kids and with day laborers in the area.  At one point she was even working as a volunteer at the Day Laborer Center somewhere in Plano.

She told me that during this time she would meet with people who needed significant medical help.  She could handle the first aid cases, but she had to take the more serious into clinics and emergency rooms.  She said you could not get a patient looked at, say at PrimaCare, without a $100 up front payment. 

Julia paid these expenses out of the savings she and Al had put away.

 

The expenses mounted and so did the number of patients Julia was treating.  Enter St. Marks and Fr. Duffy.  There was an obvious need for a clinic.  Julia & Duffy worked out an agreement where St. Marks would let Julia use some space gratis and get help through Catholic Charities. 

They opened on a Thursday night in 2003.  Julia said 15 patients showed up the first night.  All the staff, doctors, nurses, support, all worked pro bono.  The second week twice that number showed up.  And then the word spead and the numbers soared, making it impossible to carry the load at St. Marks. 

Jerry Weis informed me that at this time Collin County set aside some money for health, did not really know what to do with it, and gave the clinic in 2004 about $50,000.  They banked it and banked another $25,000 the next year while they looked for a larger venue, which they found on Ave. K & Park.

A builder with Rotary named Jerry Huffman said he could put the space together for $275,000.  He finally did the job for $150,000 and the clinic opened in late 2005.  The patient load now on Thursday evenings was 70 to 90 every week. 

 

Meanwhile, Julia's health was deteriorating.  In 2008 she had to retire.  I remember thinking that this might be the end of the clinic.  Instead, the staff pulled together, hired a full time, paid director, John Ernst, and even expanded the service to Tuesday night.

Julia told me on the phone that she spends many week days in their home here in Plano, but weekends she & Al have a small horse farm in East Texas, which is why we don't see her on Sunday mornings.  She may make it for Mother's Day next week.

Jesus says in the Gospel this morning, "All will know you are my desciples, if you love one another.  I am amazed at how Julia took a small job and turned it into a large clinic because she saw people in need.  I am humbled at how Julia exemplifies loving others.

How do you show your love?

 

Picture 1:  Mass with Tony.

Picture 2:  Full service ministry at San Vino.

Picture 3:  David McKeon introducing the 9 couples renewing their marriage promises.

Picture 4:  Madge & Carl Smith renewing their marriage of 60 years, Carl with the tie he wore last on his wedding day

Picture 5:  Kim & Mike Burkhart (from Tuscon, formerly of St. Mark's) renewing their marriage of 25 years.

 

 

Welcome to our marvelous community, Clare & Joe, from Hilton Head.   Clare is Rosemary's sister (but not her twin sister).  

 

Readings:                          

Zechariah   12,  10-11, 13, 1, I pour out on the house of David a spirit of grace.

Psalm 63,  My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Galatians 3, 26-29,     Through faith you are all children of God

Luke 9, 18-24,  If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily.

 

 

Genevieve, too, not to be outdone in hospitality, says, "Hi, Joe & Clare.  Welcome.  And Welcome, Everybody."

 

Zecheria observations : 

Who:  
one of the 12 minor prophets.  Why?  Small work.  Only 14 little chapters.  Vs the Big 3, who have chapters numbering into the 60’s.  Zecharia is really the author of this work.

Time:  
post Babylonian Captivity, therefore, after 555 before Christ.  How do we know?  Reference is made to Darius, the king of the Persians.

Content:  
part 1 involves visions about the restoration of Jerusalem.  Part 2, our part, talks about future prosperity.  Maybe a slightly forgetable book.  I have not one line highlighted in my bible.

Sources: Good News Bible, Wikipedia

 

 

Kevin, also, says, "Welcome in, Joe & Clare, and Welcome, Everybody?

 

 

Deny Myself and Take up a Cross Daily

This morning I would like to talk about this notion of taking up my cross daily.   Every time I hear this it creeps me out.  It is so depressing and gloomy.  I have known people who have followed this scrupulously and they were not happy.  In fact, I could describe them as psychologically infirm.

I think there was some of this in my original decision to enter the Jesuits to be a priest in 1958.

 

 

 

Our Professional Candle Lighter of The Week, Brandon.

 

Certainly in those early years of Jesuit training, we practiced this.  We took up the cross daily.  We lived in silence most of the time, worked hard on the beautiful Jesuit farm at Grand Coteau, and we never went back to our original homes, even for Christmas or weddings.   A really regimented monastic life, up at 5:00, lights out at 10:00, every day, month after month, year after year.

Times have certainly changed since Vatican II and I have obviously changed.  I think there is a healthy way to understand taking up one's cross.  I have three positive comments.

 

 

 

Buddy, Is that a little mouse admiring you?

 

First, it can be a invitation or a challenge to  self-improvement.  I see a lot of this every morning I go to work out at the Jewish Community Center.  These people are healthy and not depressed.

Secondly, the self-improvement involves obvious things, like the big three:

          Healthy eating, that is, watch out for salt, sugar, and fat or butter, the major seducer ingredients of fast food places, like McDonald’s.

 

 

 

Hannah, who is that loving up on you?

 

          Exercise, that is, keep moving.  2 a days are coming for high school football players.  You want to see self discipline?  27 days from now I will join 15 thousand other wakos to ride across Iowa in a week, about 500 miles.  I’m exercising, getting in shape.  

I know a couple here who will remain nameless, who when the husband was discovered to have the beginning of Diabetes 2, he decided to eat healthy and exercise.  He did it, lost a good bit of extra weight, and controlled his diagnosis.   Following his example, his wife joined him and she, too, lost weight and got into shape.  

 

 

Folks, that seems to be Victoria who loves Hannah.

 

 

          Thirdly, taking breaks, days off, vacation periods.  A day off a week
or 3 once a month.   Contemplate and reflect during the breaks.  Contemplate what?  My blessings & gifts & joys.  Number one, number two, and on.

The final comment, the goal of all this discipline & self-improvement?     Be fully alive.  This is what it means to take up a cross in a healthy way. 

Where are you being invited by God to become more fully alive?

 

Sez Genevieve, "Is it not my turn to play that guitar?"