2nd Sunday of Easter, April 27, 2025

Readings: 2 Samuel 5, 1-3; Psalm 122, Let us go Rejoicing to the House of the Lord; Colossians 1, 12-20; Luke 23, 35-43. 

History of the Christ the King Feast: date, author, reason it was declared

Date: Not during the early church, not during the time when Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Empire, not during the time of Luther & the Reformation, not during the time of Pius IX with the Italian Resorgiamento & his Infallibility statement (1870), but in 1925.  Fairly Recently.

Author: Pius XI, pope 1922-39

 

Reason(s): at least 2 factors–The Times and Modernism/Secularism

1.  The Times:

a) End of WW I and build up to WW II   

b) Mussolini & Hitler: the same year Pius XI became pope, Mussolini became prime minister.  By 1925 he had become a dictator.  The feast was to counter the dictatorship.  "Christ is king, not you."

2.  Modernism & Secularism:

a) Modernism.  Despite being scholarly and pro-scientific methods, Pius XI was suspicious of biblical scholarship which questioned, for example, biblical inerrancy, the nature of bible miracles, the virgin birth, the resurrection, the atonement theory that God demanded his son suffer & die for a single sin by a human.

b) Secularism coming out of the Enlightenment said that all people were equal, people should have a say in government as in democracy, and backed the separation of church/state, like proposed by Jefferson.  The Catholic Church was against democracy.

 Sources: Living with Christ, Nov., 2009; Wikipedia

 
 

Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Woods

 

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

                        Robert Frost

                                                                                                   

 

A few weeks ago this past fall Rosemary and I received a special gift.  We were given two tickets to a Notre Dame home football game, a game against Pittsburg. 

This had special meaning for me because when I was 18 I was enrolled in Notre Dame for college.  I had even bought some winter clothes.  Until I changed my mind and joined the Jesuits, to my mother’s rather lengthy irritation. 

Never in the following 50 odd years of my life did I ever get to visit the campus where my life might have been totally different.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I want to give thanks for three things connected with this event.

 

First, I finally had the opportunity to reunite with one of my best old buddies from high school and even grade school, Pete Wacks.   He  has spent almost all of his adult life in Chicago working as an F.B.I agent.

 There is an amusing quality to this.  Here are two kids who seemed to get into trouble together and who spent some evenings in the University Park jail.  One ends up a Jesuit priest & the other works as an F.B.I. agent.

 After 50 years it was like we just picked up where we left off.  Rosemary & I spent the whole weekend with Pete & Margie.  We stayed at their house and they drove us to South Bend and joined us at the game.  One of his buddies even met us when we arrived at the campus and toured us around in a golf cart.  

 I am really grateful for this.

 Secondly, I was grateful for the opportunity to visit what I had heard was one of the beautiful campuses.  I got to meet touchdown Jesus, to witness a game in a fabled stadium, and to walk the campus.  The trees were just changing colors and it was a beautiful, warm fall afternoon.  It was fun and touching to walk around imagining how my life could have been different had I ended up there for 4 years.

 Thirdly, I was grateful that I had chosen the second road the summer of ’58.  It has been a good road.

 

As we look forward this week to Thanksgiving, I invite you to reminisce.  Look back.  Not often in life do we encounter two roads in a wood.  How grateful are you for the roads you have chosen?

 

Picture 1:   Curtis guarding our food drive

Picture 2:   Ryan & his mom, Michelle

Picture 3:   Connie & her family 

Picture 4:   Mark & Isabella & Donuts

Picture 5:   Wendy & Ray

 

 

 

Welcome in, Everybody, from Cindy & Dee.

 

Readings: 

Isaiah 62, 1-5,    The Lord delights in you (a good one)

Psalm 96,  Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.

1 Corinthians 12, 4-11,  There are different kinds of spiritual gifts. 

John 2, 1-11,  The wedding at Cana.

 

 

 

Also from Ken and the two crazies behind him, Cindy & Marlene,    Welcome in, Everybody.

 

  Mary Ellen Munzell

As a way to honor Mary Ellen, I would like to tell you 4 stories that show why she was a special friend and  dear to me.

The first time that Mary Ellen came to my attention in a special way was the first time we gathered a group for a two week trip to Italy.  We had about 8 people.

 

 

And not to be outdone by the previous characters, Grace, too, says, "Welcome to our special Memorial for our dear Mary Ellen."  It was Grace who packed her up so she could move back home to Connecticut, where she stayed one winter and returned immediately back to Dallas.

 

Mary Ellen asked me if she could go over about 3-4 days early and be picked up in the area around Lake Guarda, Italy.  I was a little nervous, but thought okay.  Mary Ellen wanted to visit Trieste before meeting up with us.

Why Trieste?  Because her deceased husband, Chris, had been born there to a military family.  Mary Ellen wanted to leave some of his ashes, which she did.

 

 

The A Team.

 

Just in case you are not familiar with how Mary Ellen & Chris met, it was at the American Embassy in Buenos Aires where she was working as a secretary and Chris was a Marine guard.

It was when Chris died that Mary Ellen took on the goal of scattering his ashes on golf courses on which they had played, especially in southern CA, where they had resided for some years.   Which brought her to Trieste.

 

 

It takes a Grandmother!

 

I can still remember approaching Verona.  It was sunny & mild. Verona was quaint & colorful.  The plan was to meet Mary Ellen in front of the train station.  She had taken the train from Trieste to Verona. 

As we approached the small station on our right I saw ahead of us a traffic circle with a lot of flowers, and there was Mary Ellen.  I was so relieved and impressed with Mary Ellen and touched by her gesture.

 

 

 

Are our musicians crazy or what??

 

The second event caused me to love Mary Ellen’s adventurous spirit.  I took her and Rosemary to the best game parks in East Africa for a visit with the lions, elephants, and giraffes.  This had been my home for about ten years.  I had lots of connections.

We hired a driver & helper, rented a Land Rover, and headed to the mystical Ngorongoro Crater and the magnificent Serengetti.   We visited all the animals and, in fact, late one morning a lion walked up and plopped down in the shade of our Land Rover. 

 

 

It takes a Dad, too.  Cody, a great one, and Olivia, his daughter.

 

Picture this.  The Land Rover’s roof lifts up and locks into place so you may stand.  We were standing  while the lion took a morning siesta.   If we had leaned out, we could have touched that lion.  We didn’t.

 

I was especially touched by Mary Ellen on this trip.  The ride was rough, we tented, and one afternoon we drove though a scrub area with Tsetse Flies, which could keep up with the Land Rover.  We had to shoo them away for about 30 minutes.

 

 

Nothing better than meeting up again with good old friends, like Bob & Jackie McGrath and Joanne Languell.

 

The third story.   Mary Ellen had a small private swimming pool in her back yard, as many of you know.  What you may not have heard is that ME liked to skinny dip in her pool, until one afternoon she spied two young neighbor boys peeking over the roof line of her neighbor’s house.

Finally, as you had to know, ME was an avid supporter of U Conn’s women’s basket ball team.  She loved to watch them play and then she and her sisters would discuss the game. U Conn had a record of 111 victories the day before ME died.  The very next day, U Conn lost. 

 

 

And more good old friends, like Cathy, Jackie, Alice.

 

Thanks, Mary Ellen, for being a special person and a special friend

 

 

And still more good friends, Grace, Camille, and Diane..

Readings:

Sirach 3, 2-6, 12-14, My son, take care of your father when he is old.

Psalm 128,  Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.

Colossians 3, 12-21,  Wives, be subordinate to your husbands.

Matthew 2, 13-15, 19-23, Take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt and stay there until I tell you.

 

 

Sirach observations:

What.  One of those 12 odd books, neither in the Old nor the New Testament.  A book with wise little sayings & vingettes.

Examples: Be humble in everything you do, 3, 17.   Stubborness will get you into trouble, 3, 26.  If you are polite and courteous, you will enjoy the friendship of many, 6, 5.  A father who loves his son will whip him often, 30, 1.  A woman has to take any man as a husband, but a man must choose his wife carefully, 36, 21.

Who.   Sirach is the father of a man names Joshua (or Jesus) who wrote & compiled these saying.

When.   Composed around 200 years before Christ, maybe.

 

Colossians observations:

Get ready, this is a good one.  Especially for wives.  

 

 

Paradigmes for Families

I remember way back when Rosemary and I had been married a while, I told her one day that I thought this special line from the Bible was my new favorite line.  “Wives, be subordinate to your husbands.”  Sounded good to me. 

You know what I got, the look, the dog kennel look, the look that said, ‘There is a vacancy in the dog kennel in the back yard, bubba.’  So much for my new favorite line. 

We have one of the classic lines in Scripture here this morning.  “Wives,be subordinate to your husbands.”  I would like to talk about this.

 

 

I also remember one afternoon I was in line to ride the roller coaster or something at 6 Flags.  Ahead of me was a family, husband and wife with maybe two or three kids.  The couple were discussing two sides of some decision.  Then I heard the husband tell the wife that she should follow his opinion, because….   You know what he said.  I almost passed out.  I did not realize that contemporary, educated, middle class folks followed this just because it says it in the Bible.

Let me offer some perspective, a little history and the 3 models of family dynamics.

Historically, remember that the writer of the line lived not in the Middle Ages, but way before that.  Women were not considered equal to men in any way.  I saw this in East Africa when I lived there.  The man was the head and the wife, kids, and farm animals were all more or less on the same level.

 

 

You may see the same phenomenon today.  Where?  Try Afghanistan or among many Arab or Muslim countries.  Women have no rights and are certainly not considered equal to men.  Because of this, women can be beaten like a child or abused with hardly any consequence.  The old dictum held, ‘A good beating never hurt anyone.’

The writer of this letter saw this and spoke to it.  Not only does he speak to the wife, he also speaks to the husband, “Husbands, love your wives.”  Pretty unique stuff for those days.  Wives, in other words, are human beings, not property to be told how to dress and behave.

 

 

Finally, let me remind you of the 3 models of family dynamics.

First, you have the patriarchy.  The father is the head, which today’s writer is aware of.  And accepts.

Secondly, you have the matriarchy, the wife is the head of the family.  This model has been used over the centuries in various places.

Thirdly, you have equality.  This model has more traction today because women and men are equally educated and often equally talented.  In this family the husband and wife share responsibility and consult with each other.

It is not so much that one model is better than the other.  Which model works?

 

 

There are days when I am convinced that Rosemary and I have a matriarchy.

What works for you?

 

 

 

 

Readings: Wisdom 9, 13-18; Psalm 90; Philemon 9, 10-17; Luke 14, 25-33.

Wisdom: This is another of the books called Apocrypha, because they are not part of the original Old Testament.  The work makes use of traditional Jewish material, as well as ideas borrowed from Greek philosophy, in order to teach that God rewards those who are faithful to him. 

Our section this morning is simply saying, Who knows or who can guess God’s mind or intentions for us. This sets up the Gospel which is rather confounding at first reading.

Hate my Mother, Father, & Wife?

A few summers ago Rosemary & I made a three night back packing trip through Zion National Park in Utah. We entered the north west corner of the park by getting a farmer to drop us off, and we hiked back to the center of the park where the headquarters, lodges, and our car were.

Somewhere in the middle of the hike after climbing some switchbacks, we came to a vista point and took a break. Suddenly from below comes a muscular college kid running up the switchbacks.  When he arrives at the top he stops for a break and some water. 

Being very outgoing, he explains that he is from Notre Dame, is planning on entering the Olympics, and is in training.  He runs in one day the whole trip we used four days to cover. 

Unfortunately, we never did notice whether he showed up at the Olympics or not.   Whether he did or not, he was motivated.

Luke’s gospel today talks about motivation, but in exaggerated terms. This is hyperbole, hype, exaggeration to make a point.  It is coach talk.

So what is the goal? "Being my disciple," Jesus says.  What is that? I would propose that it means being a whole person, a balanced, maturing person, a peaceful person. To achieve the goal takes self discipline and effort. These are the means to the goal. What is mentioned by Luke is the means, even though hyped.

What are the signs of my progress?  The author I’ve been reading says there are three signs: more outgoing, more self confident, and more loving-caring.

Teachers can watch the process with kids they teach.  Initially we are self focused, self absorbed.  As we grow we turn from our self to others. 

This outgoing characteristic is strengthened as I become more self confident, which, in turn, grows because I am accepted and loved by others. With this foundation I can risk more. Success increases my self confidence.

Then I, too, love and care for others. The self focused child becomes the caring parent, teacher, or volunteer.

Our Notre Dame boy would probably think this passage about hating your mother, father, spouse, even your own life is silly.  Yet, he is doing what it recommends if you can see it as saying the ultimate goal is so good it is worth devoting everything to it with passion.  He is focused on an intermediate goal, the Olympics, but in that focus he is maturing and becoming a more whole & peaceful person.

What are you passionate about?  

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-09-09.mp3

 Readings:

2 Chronicles 36, 14-16, 19-23 , He has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem.

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

Ephesians  2, 4-10,   God brought us to life with Christ.

 John  3,  14-21,   Jesus & Nicodemus.

 

 

INTRODUCTION to Gospel:

 When our gospel begins, Jesus is in dialog with Nicodemus, who is present three times in the John gospel. He is a Pharisee and teacher who wants to know what Jesus is teaching and doing. Today’s reading occurs at night for he is afraid that other Pharisees might think that he had become a disciple of Jesus.

 Later Nicodemus will remind the Pharisees who want to rid themselves of Jesus that the Law does not allow them to arrest Jesus without first knowing what he is saying and doing. 

After the crucifixion, Nicodemus, while it is still day, brings to Jesus’ disciples an unheard of amount of expensive spices so that Jesus’ body can be given a kingly burial.   Initial fear had turned into great love.

 

 

INTRODUCTION to 1^st and 2^nd Readings:

Salvation comes to us through Christ. Our witness of good works, our love, is how they will know we are Christians.

 

 

 

 

GOSPEL and HOMILY: 

A year or two ago I also gave a homily on this fourth Sunday of Lent; but then I chose the other gospel reading about the man who had been blind from birth.  I took you in that homily to the Feast of Tabernacles where Jesus had called out in the temple inviting anyone who was thirsty to come to him and drink from the fountain of living waters. 

It was in these waters that the man born blind had been baptized.  I also made you aware of the verse from the prophet Jeremiah, ‘Those who reject the Lord, the fountain of living waters, will in shame have their names written in the earth.’ 

 

 

 

The Pharisees sought to circumvent Nicodemus’ words to them about the Law, by trying to trap Jesus using the Law, by bringing to him a woman caught in the act of adultery.  ‘Moses said that this woman should be stoned. What do you say?’ 

They knew that Jesus would not allow them to stone her; he would seek to bring forgiveness to the woman.  They had him trapped; but Jesus bent down and began writing the names of these Pharisees and scribes on the ground to inform them that they were the ones in need of forgiveness.

 

 

 

When they kept after him to take a position he said, ‘The one of you, who is without sin, cast the first stone at her.’  One by one they left until there was no one left in front of him but the woman who recognizes his great love.

She made no excuse; she does not try to run away from what she has done, she submits herself to his words. He says to her, ‘woman, where are they, is there no one left to condemn you?’ 

 

 

 

He has addressed and treated her with goodness and justice, tenderness and compassion.  She replies, ‘No one.’  Since Jesus has already said in today’s gospel that he came not to condemn but to bring forgiveness to the world, he truly has forgiven her.  He says, ‘neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.’ 

The Greek word, translated as ‘go,’ means in Greek, ‘to journey along the way she has been invited to pursue.’  She has been invited by Jesus to follow him.  Jesus’ command to the woman, ‘do not sin again,’ recognizes, again, that she is forgiven, and is an ongoing request to remain contrite.

 

 

 

At the end of our Eucharistic Prayer we will join together in the Our Father before celebrating our Lenten Penitential service where we ask for forgiveness and grant forgiveness. It is appropriate for us at this time to take a moment to reflect on some habit we might have that is not life-giving or love-giving, and in a contrite way think about how we will replace it with something that is.

 

 

 

 

Readings:

Ezekiel  17,  22-24.  Nope, actually a change this Sunday to 1 Corinthians 13.  Bet you cannot guess which great passage this it.

Psalm 92,    Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.

2 Corinthians 5, 6-10,   We are always courageous.

Mark  4, 26-34,  On its own accord, the land yields fruit.

 

The Wedding in Mechanicsburg, PA with Sarah & Beth, and the United Church of Christ ministers, Karin and John.

 

Love is patient, Love is kind, Love is accepting

This morning I would like to talk about some things that struck me about the wedding we performed last week in Mechanicsburg, PA.  As I’ve mentioned, the wedding was between two women.

About 14 years ago I performed the wedding of Beth to a neat guy named Doug, a stocky Greek.  They had only been married 6 months when Doug died of a heart attack.  Beth is Rosemary’s niece, the daughter of Joe & Claire, who live in Hilton Head, where Rosemary & I love to go for Thanksgiving. 

 

                   The 3 Sisters, Rosemary, Patty, and Claire.
 

Beth decided to stay in the house she and Doug owned and stay in her job.  During the next few years she got involved with a very open United Church of Christ.  Sarah played the organ.  They got together and developed a warm friendship.  Eventually this lead to their marriage last Saturday. 

I don’t know how you all feel about same sex marriages.  I personally would have loved to sit down with Beth and have her tell me how it all came about, first marrying a guy, now marrying her best friend.  Whatever, I did not have the chance.  However, I am convinced from all my years of experience with gay people as a priest and a psychotherapist that no gay person really chooses this path.  I have worked with so many who agonized over coming out.  It involves hatred and abuse, even from family members.

 

 

Cupcake of The Week to Georgie for the do.  "I may tease you, Georgie, about the do, but I admire your spirit of exploration. Keep it up.  Keep dancing.  And keep swimming

 

The first thing that struck me at the wedding.  Did you recognize the 1 Corinthians passage?  I confess that after performing so many weddings where I heard the passage read, I eventually was put off by it.  Until a few years ago.  I suddenly realized it is helpful for me to be reminded of what love really is. 

At the wedding I heard Beth’s sister read the passage with such feeling and tears that I and lots more of the 200 more or less people there, we were all in tears.  Kristine herself took 30 minutes because she was in tears.   I was so touched and so struck.

 

                                                      What a team.

 

The second thing that struck me was the cordiality and warmth of the present pastor, John, and the previous interim pastor, Karin.  I thanked them and told them how I sensed a kinship of spirit among us. 

Karin was the one who suggested we go bare footed as a sign of respect for the sanctuary where we were performing the wedding.   It was a first for me.  Should I do the same here?

 

                  Zoe & Buddy say, "Hey, don't forget about us."

 

The final thing that struck me was the whole hearted acceptance of Beth on the part of, not only her parents, but all the McGinn Clan.  Rosemary had 3 brothers and two sisters.  One brother died a few years ago.  All these siblings have kids and all of them were there, most of them with their kids.  Their support was total. 

Kristine’s reading about love being patient & kind, the pastors John & Karin, and the total McGinn family acceptance of Beth.  A powerful, moving weekend. 

Where are you on the whole phenomenon of same sex marriages?