7th Sunday of Easter, May 24, 2020, & Memorial Day Monday

Readings:  Isaiah 9, 1-6; Psalm 96; Titus 2, 11-14; Luke 2, 1-14 (Nativity Drama by the kids)

A Small Nativity, Missed

On the corner of Preston & Forest down in Dallas there is a restaurant that I go to occasionally, PeiWei.  It is on the same corner as Whole Foods.  One day last week I was standing outside the restaurant about 1:30 waiting for my sister to show up. 

While I was waiting I saw coming up Forest from the Central Expressway side a man probably about my age.  Coming very slowly.  His legs were crippled and he was dragging them along with the aid of aluminum crutches.  He was a white guy with gray hair, docker pants, a dark polo type shirt, and a navy blue sport coat.  Black shoes that had been shined.

I watched him for about five minutes as he labored up the slight incline of the street and then as he came up the ramp into the shopping center.  He was heading straight toward the corner sidewalk where I awaited my sister.

I was going to greet him, but before I could say anything he says to me, "So you like Chinese, eh."  I agreed, and then he asked if he could ask me some directions.  "Sure," I said.  He drops his crutches literally on the sidewalk and leaning over he pulls out of his pocket a card which he shows me and asks if I know where Dougherty's Pharmacy is. 

Sure I know where Doughtery's Pharmacy is.  Everyone who lives in that general area of Preston Hollow and beyond knows where Dougherty's is.  It is an independent pharmacy and a years old landmark in the neighborhood.  The man's business card has a hand drawn map on the back showing accurately where the pharmacy is.  I think, "This guy must be from out of town."

Because the trouble is, Dougherty's is not at the busy intersection of Preston & Forest, but at the equally busy intersection of Preston & Royal, one mile south down Preston Road.  Moreover, there are no sidewalks and the bumpy path is rather close to the speeding traffic.  I know about the lack of sidewalks because on Sabbath days I see Jewish families struggling along the paths on foot on their way to or from the temple.

So I tell the man where the pharmacy is and how to get there.  I also tell him that it is a rather daunting walk even for a person able to walk with ease.  He says it is no problem, leans over, picks up his aluminum crutches, hitches them to his his upper arms, and struggles down the sidewalk.  I say, "I would be happy to take you over to the pharmacy, but I am waiting for my sister."  He responds with, "No problem, the walk will be good for me."  "Walk,", I think, "He can maneuver only with great effort."  And off he goes down the sidewalk and eventually around the corner & out of sight while I continue to wait for a few more minutes.

Later I am kicking myself.  "I could have helped him," I think, "driving him the distance and coming back in 5 minutes."  I could have phoned my sister I would be 5 minutes late.  Instead, I just stood there like a dummy. 

I look back on this now as a small nativity moment.  And I missed it.  I want to be more alert and ready for the next one. 

This evening we celebrate the Big Nativity.  We are privileged to have this knowledge.  However, it is the little ones that slip by me.  These little ones sensitize me to the bigger one.

What little nativity has slipped by you recently or slips by you all the time?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-12-24.mp3

Picture 1:  Wendy, Shonda, Ray, & Celeste

Picture 2:  Nativity Drama with the Kids

Picture 3:  Angels and Shepherds

 

 

Readings:

Exodus  20, 1-17,  God delivered all these commandments.   Special reading for Rita's memorial,    Song of Songs, 2, 8-14

Psalm 19,    Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.

1 Corinthians  1, 22-25,   The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom.

 John  2,  13-25,   He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out.

 

 

Song of Songs, observation :  Special reading in honor of Rita

What :  A dialogue between a man and a woman who love and long for each other.   No reference to God or the law. 

When:  probably after the Babylonian Captivity, 555 before Christ. 

Our Subject: The girl is speaking to her lover.

 

 

 

Rita Dore

I would like to tell you a few stories about Rita, just to give you an idea of how neat and fun a person she was.

I don’t remember when or how I met Rita.  Toward the end of Msgr. Claude Smyth’s life she was just there as the house keeper.  More than anybody else, Rita took good care of Smyth, tending to him day and even night, helping him to move to the other side.

During this time, Matt Bagert was acting pastor and when Msgr. Smyth died Matt opened up the rectory a bit.  He even threw a birthday party once, to which I was invited, along with another young Jesuit, Gene Sessa.  Things went along smoothly this way for some months until…The Big Event happened.  Fr. Duffy Gardner arrived. 

 

 

 

Three little vignettes.

First, when Duffy settled into the rectory, the place went from being totally closed up to being wide open.  He was platinum level hospitality.  With Duffy welcoming everyone was the house keeper in the kitchen, Rita.  They made a marvelous one-two team. 

After doing the 9:00 Mass in the church and the 10:30 Mass in the cafetorium, I started going over to the rectory.  I was usually worn out.  I would go upstairs, take a 20 minute nap in an empty bedroom, then come down and join Duffy at the dining room table where he held forth.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Rita had been cooking.  In particular she made chocolate chip cookies the size of dinner plates and homemade vanilla ice cream.  Guess what I ate for lunch.  Wow, did I love Rita.

At the same time that she worked as housekeeper, Rita took on the training of the little kids for first communion.  Two or three times a year I joined Duffy and a handful of other priests to do her kids' first confessions.  My penance to each kid, 2 Hershey kisses.  Think my line was long?

 

 

 

Two years in a row at this time Duffy hosted the whole gang of kids for first communion on a Saturday.  Both years, Duffy at the homily would ask the kids questions and he would give out a dollar or two for correct answers.  The big final question both years worth $5 was, ‘Who is the holiest priest in St. Marks?’  Hands would go up.  Both years Duffy called on a timid little girl whom I happened to know.   Both years the little girls said, “Fr. Stack.” 

Well, as you can imagine, this brought down the house.  Duffy would put on a display of incredulity.  I don’t know if the first little girl got the $5 or not, but the second year I was there and I jumped up from the stage, ran down, and gave the girl $5 of my own.

 

 

 

Rita loved all this, the penances, which some parents did not think was so good, and the questions from Duffy.

At the same time, Rita volunteered one day to help me with all the weddings, acting as wedding coordinator.  She had made wedding dresses in Birmingham or somewhere in her earlier, married life.  Consequently, we had great fun meeting with the kids, usually over dinner at Jason’s or El Fenix, and celebrating the weddings.

 

 

 

One wedding among all of them really stands out.  Two musicians, evening wedding, the big church, big crowd.  After exchanging vows, we had the couple light the unity candle, standing behind the candle and facing the people. 

Just before they lighted the candle, the mothers lit their candles, and then walked up the main aisle lighting a taper at each aisle before returning their candles to the unity candle.  Meanwhile the tapers in the hands of all the people were getting lighted.  Then we turned off the lights in the church. At the same time the couple had two singers, a guy and a girl, sing The Prayer that Bocelli and Celine Dion made famous.  It was stupendous.  Even remembering sends chills down my back. 

 

 

 

An amusing footnote to the wedding took place.  A woman, who wanted to hire out as a wedding coordinator, asked if she could sit in.  “Sure, of course,” we said.  After the wedding a staff member asked the lady what she thought of the wedding.   “I just saw a wedding from hell,” she responded. 

As a result of that, every time Rita and I would depart the rectory to perform a wedding in the church, Duffy would ask if we were doing another wedding from hell.  It became our handle and provided lots of laughs. 

Thanks, Rita, you have been a fun and tremendous friend.  Rest well.  

 

 

Readings: Zechariah 9, 9-10; Psalm 145 (second stanza, a favorite); Romans 8, 9-11; Matthew 11, 25-30

Zechariah:  Zechariah is the 11th of the 12 Minor Prophets and lived just when the Hebrews were released from the 70 year long Babylonian Captivity, ca 535-520 B.C.  In Jerusalem he encouraged the people to rebuild the temple.

He was a favorite of the N.T. writers because he is rich in messiah predictions.  Today we have one of those visions. 

Psalm 145, 8-9: Terrific line: “The Lord is gracious & merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.”

Independence

Last Sunday, June 29th, there was a column in the Points section of the Dallas Morning News.  The writer, Peter Lovenheim of Brighton, NY, described how he became aware that he did not know any of his neighbors.  With all the tools at his disposal to keep in touch instantly with people, even around the world, he was detached & out of touch with his own little neighborhood.

Peter decided to do something about it.  He actually began to invite himself to spend the night at his neighbors and write about their lives and his experiences with them.  Naturally, he was turned down often, but he did find some people willing to take him in and even discovered one woman with cancer needing help she could not get other than through her neighbors. 

It was his first experience of spending the night with an elderly guy, Lou, that turned out to be the article in the paper.  He called it, Why I Woke up in my Neighbor’s Spare Bedroom.  He even describes how he & his neighbors discovered, then helped the elderly lady dealing with cancer. 

I remember when my mom lived in the house in which Rosemary & I now live, how once a year or so there would be a block party and everyone came to have a picnic under the oak trees in someone’s yard or drive.  I also remember that in the neighborhood in which I grew up in University Park we did not have block parties.  However, we did know all the neighbors, or let’s say they all knew Johnny Stack & were wary of him.

I talk about this today for two reasons. 

• First, we have just celebrated Independence Day. We revisited our national roots Friday and have come away proud of what our ancestors did to establish an independent country. As a child I wanted to grow up to be equally independent. Independence equals maturity. Dependence equals immaturity and is something I dread and hate.
• Secondly, as good and noble as independence is, taken to an extreme, independence involves not necessarily maturity, but rather isolation and loneliness. Lovenheim called his original neighborhood situation detachment. I would also call it independence, the opposite of that old dreaded dependence.

I suggest there is a healthy middle ground: interdependence.  The old cliche’ No Man is an Island is only partly true these days.  There are numerous often elderly people living on islands of abandonment in our neighborhoods.  To avoid the either/or trap and focus on interdependence, I suggest two things:

• Pro-activity. I  take the initiative. I  look around. I  pick out my neighbor or neighbors whom I don’t know at all or don’t know well.  I make a move. I  take steps to build a small community.
• Spend time. It takes time to build. It takes time to visit someone or call them or talk with them when I see them. Granted, time is often one of our most precious commodities.  The relationships are worth it.

This is what I see us doing here at San Vino, building community, taking time.  I think one reason why a number of mega-churches have so many people is that the administration sets up multiple small communities, teen-agers, young adults, golden agers, unmarrieds, divorced, etc.  People feel like they belong.  This is why I love to have our seasonal brunches. 

My hope is that no one in our community feels alone on an island.  We know one another and care for each other.

Who is the unknown neighbor in your life?

AUDIO:   http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-07-06.mp3

 

 

Readings: Revelation 7, 2-14; Psalm 24, Lord, this is The People that longs to see Your Face; 1 John 3, 1-3; Matthew 5, 1-12

All Saints: intro & a brief history

  

Intro: 3 feasts—

      

All Saints: (or All Hallowes) those who have achieved the beatific vision according to Catholic Church, based on miracles.

   All Souls: those who have not achieved the beatific vision and are considered paying for their sins in purgatory.

   Hallowe’en: the vigil of All Hallowes, a Celtic-Irish harvest, end of summer celebration. 

 

 

  

History in 2 parts: the Western Catholic Church & the Eastern Catholic Church

    

The West: 4 significant dates, 300, 600, 700, & 800

   

Year 300: during this century the early Christians, reeling from persecution, celebrated feast of All Martyrs.  This is really the foundation of the feast.

 

Year 600: a Pope Boniface dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to Mary & All Martyrs.  May 13 was the celebration because it was also an ancient pagan day of celebration.

 

Year 700:  a Pope Gregory set up in St. Peter’s Basilica a side chapel dedicated to All Saints.

  

Year 800: Dec. 25, Charlemagne is crowned Emperor by Pope on the red stone in St. Peter’s.  Charlemagne, an advocate of All Saints, established it on Nov. 1, coupling it with a Harvest Feast.

 

 

The East:

  

Year 900, the Byzantine Emperor Leo the Wise had a beloved, devout wife, Theophano.  She died & Leo built a church which he intended to dedicate to her.  The religious authorities said no, so he dedicated it to All Saints, assuming his wife to be among the saints.

   

Note:  later, three big events happen:

  a.  Crusade #4, on its way to fight the Muslims in the Holy Land, captures and wrecks Constantinople, ca. 1200.  J.P. II apologizes for this in 2004. 

  b.  Ottoman Turks or Muslims capture Constantinople, 1450 and rename it Istanbul.  It is Muslim to today.

  c.  Post 1540, Rome condemns Easter Catholic church as schismatic over theological disputes, i.e., the nature of Jesus.

 

Sources: Wikipedia, Practicing Catholic by James Carroll, Catholic Encyclopedia on line.

 

Special Poems for All Saints:

SMILE BECAUSE THEY LIVED (Jackie McGrath)

You can shed tears because he is gone

Or you can smile because he lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that he will come back,

Or you can open your eyes and see all that he has left.

Your heart can be empty, because you can’t see him

Or you can be full of the love that you have shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow

And live in yesterday,

Or you can be happy for tomorrow

Because of yesterday.

You can remember only that he has gone

Or you can cherish his memory and let it live on.

You can weep, and close your mind,

Be empty and turn back,

Or you can do what he would want –

Open your eyes, smile, love and go on.

DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL (Geri to read)

Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other
That we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes
We enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me,
Let my name be ever the household word that
It always was.

Let it be spoken without effort,
Without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of mind because I am
Out of sight? I am but waiting for you
For an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner .
All is well.

Today's Saint

Know any saints around here?  I told the story of Mother Teresa recently and propose that she is a saint.  Trouble is, I look at her and think her example is quite a bit out of my reach.  I have a story that may be more in reach.

This guy is 44 years old.  His name is Adam.  A year ago he was 70 pounds overweight.  He took medication for blood pressure, he took cholesterol meds, he even had to use a breathing machine to sleep sometimes.  He had tried to lose the weight a million times, he says, but never really put his whole spirit into the project. 

This is one aspect of being poor in spirit.  This is what it means to take up thy cross and follow The Man. 

His dad who died some years ago of heart disease had told him that if you believe in your project you can sell anything.  The guy says he did not believe in his product any more, the product being himself.  Even though he had a marvelous wife, Trayce, and two young kids, he could not move.

Then one day Adam had one of those moments.  He is a doctor and caught himself telling one of his patients that they should more carefully monitor their weight.  The patient responded, "You know, doctor, I'm not the only one who needs to lose weight."  In one way a body slam, in another a wake up call.  A beatific vision?

For Adam it was a wake up.  He realized suddenly that he had to turn his life around for his patients, for Trayce, for their kids, and for The Product, himself. 

He joined Weight Watchers.  He started walking 30 minutes a day.  Ounce by ounce the 70 pounds began to come off.  He joined a running class and found an Adam he had never known.  He even began to rise at 4:00 A.M. to join an early morning running group.

One evening while he was on line he came across information about The Marathon.  The one going on right this minute.  It said that if you collected money for a charity you could register for the marathon, 26 miles.  At that moment he decided he could collect the money and that he would run the marathon.  He was so pumped he ran in to tell Trayce. 

At this moment, this man, Dr. Adam Kaplan, has lost his 70 pounds, has renewed belief in The Product, and is with our own beloved Tom Fleming.  They are running the New York Marathon, all 26 miles. 

I found this Adam Kaplan story in The Dallas Morning News, Tuesday. 

Why is Dr. Kaplan for me a member of the All Saints Team?  And all of you?  Take a guess, take two guesses.

Source: The Dallas Morning News, Tuesday, Oct. 27, p. 12E, Healthy Living section

Picture 1:  All Saints Celebration with Wendy & Ben

Picture 2:  Chloe dancing to the music

Picture 3:  Birthday Man, Rob

Picture 4:  Our Father

Picture 5:  Birthday Man, John hugged by Sabrina, his daughter

Picture 6:  The Community

 

 

 

 

 

From John & Connie, "Welcome in, Everybody."

 

Readings: 

Deuteronomy 26, 4-10,   He brought us out of Egypt.  

Psalm 91,  Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.

Romans 10, 8-13,    No one who believes in him will be put to shame.

Luke 4,  1-23,  Jesus in the desert for forty days.

 

 

Likewise from Jackie, "Come on in, Folks, & welcome to Day- light Savings Time."

 

 

Sunday Homily, Mike Carrell, 3-10-19

 Lent is preparation for Easter, so the words spoken over those who desire ashes are more appropriately the choice given by the Church from the Mark gospel, ‘The time is fulfilled; the Kingdom of God is at hand; Repent and Believe in the Good News.’  

 

 

 

Welcome, Ana-Patricia & Alicia, from the old 10:30 cafetorium Mass at St. Marks.

 

Last Sunday, led by our musicians, we responded together from the Psalm 92, ‘It is good to give thanks to the Lord.’ That psalm reminds us to begin and end each day saying, ‘Thank you Lord for being with us, here and now.  Thank you Lord for the seed that you have sown into our hearts along with a the desire bear good fruit. Let us be led by your Spirit to be Love in this world.

 

 

And while we are at it today, welcome to more 10:30 cafetorium Mass goers, Cathy, her daughter, Katy, and Katy's marvelous fiance' Enza from Uganda, no less.  But he does not speak Swahili!

 

 

Here and now, in every moment of the day, we are the body of Christ in the world.  Our mindset should constantly be that we are meant to be Love, in everything we say and do.  So,‘In everything give thanks for that is God’s will for us in Christ, Jesus.’ 

 

Not to long ago, I was in a waiting room while Judy was being seen by a doctor. There were a hand full of children’s books among the magazines on a table there. They usually have a good intended meaning, so, I took the liberty of choosing Aunt Grace and her nephew about to give birth to a garden. I smiled, and said to myself, ‘With a name like ‘Aunt Grace,’ this is got to be good.

 

 

Hi, David, Hi, Caroline.

 

Before they took a step into what would be their garden, they started with a prayer. Then they began to remove the weeds, cans, bottles, sticks and rocks. When that was done, they broke open the soil and used a wheelbarrow to cover it with an abundance of new mulch, to provide the garden with good soil.

 

 

The Most Reliable Jan making sure everyone can go to communion.

 

 

This sounds a lot like Lent doesn’t it; with each of us refreshing our garden, and why John has a Sunday each year when we grant God’s loving forgiveness to each other.  Lent is a time to be more aware of the people we meet everyday.  With goodness and kindness, we can smile more; say thank you more; and you are welcome, more.

 

 

The Bona Responds Team on site in Wilmington, NC, to help people with recovery from the Hurricane Michael last Fall.

 

 

We can do lots of little things like letting the car and its occupant get in front of us without honking at them. Let’s be aware of the mother with small children. We can help her put her groceries in her car, and to push her cart back for them. Let’s have a neighbor or two, or three over for coffee.  Practice makes perfect.

 

 

From our community, Connie & John Bresson, David Dinsmore, and, of course, Bill Hammond.   From St. Bonaventure University, the man behind all the recovery work so many in our community have volunteered for over the years, Jim Mahar.

 

So, what was it that Aunt Grace and her nephew sowed in their garden? Of all things, Potatoes. She taught her nephew how cut up potatoes that were covered with eyes into pieces, so that the eye of each piece could and would be placed in an upright position within the good soil, looking up to the heavens with faith that this would bring forth a bountiful harvest, that they could share with their neighbors.

 

Our journey through Lent has just begun. Who might you invite to journey with you?

 

 

  What a Team!