Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025

Welcome, Betsy.  We have been awaiting your debut.  Your big sister Harper has been telling us that you were coming.  And doubly nice, with your dad, Brian.

Readings: 

Acts of the Apostles, 10, 37-43,  Peter said, "we are witnesses of all."

Psalm 118,  This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice & be glad.  (an excellent first stanza)

1 Corinthians 5, 6-8, A little yeast leavens all.

John 20, 1-9, On the first day of the week, Mary Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning.

Congratulations, Leo, you have not lost your touch as the candle lighter.  Thanks.

A little Yeast Leavens a Whole Loaf

This morning I would like to talk about that line that says a little yeast leavens a whole loaf of bread.  For me that idea is translated into the idea that a little act on my part may make an enormous difference.  Little resurrections take place, which I would propose happen every day in lots of ways.

Will somebody please go sit with Sir Charlie.

For instance, there is this girl.  She is probably in her mid twenties, average height, average size, brown hair.  I first noticed her when I realized she was suddenly becoming a regular at the gym of the Jewish Community Center, where I work out mornings Monday through Friday.

I know most of the people who work out at the same time as I, namely about 5:00 A.M.  The hour is the result of long years of Jesuit training.  I noticed the girl because she went about her work out pretty seriously.  Moreover, she seemed to know nobody and never talked with anybody.  My heart went out to her.

Welcome Home, Doug, and thanks for introducing us all to Kim.

So one morning I just walked over to a machine where she was working out and where I intended to work a bit.  I waited for her to finish up, then said to her, “Hi, I’m John.  I see you here most mornings and I admire you.”

Washing of the hands Holy Thursday evening.

Well, suddenly all the lights on the downtown Dallas Omni Hotel flashed on.  The girl broke out this glorious smile and her blue eyes shone.  Her serious face was transformed.  “I’m Molly,” she said.  And now every morning that we are at the gym together we greet each other and she flashes her delightful smile.

Good Friday.

A resurrection event.  Just add a little yeast and watch the results.

What is your latest Resurrection event?

The Hostesses with the Mostesses,  Marlene & Cindy.

What a surprise gift Friday evening, Rose was back in town from CO and showed up.

 Readings:

Ruth,  The story of Naomi and Ruth

Psalm 104,    Lord, send out our Spirit, and renew the face of the earth. 

1 Corinthians 12, 3-13,   There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit.

 John 15, 26-27 & 16, 12-15, When he comes, he will guide you to all truth.

                   Georgie says, "Welcome in, Everybody."

Introduction   

When the Jews returned from their exile in Babylon to rebuild their temple, they came back with a lot more than they took with them. A lot of what had begun as oral tradition came back in written form. They came back carrying the scrolls.

When the temple was rebuilt the Jews also added to their Liturgy of the Word one book of Midrash to each of five of their feast days.   

Today in their synagogues, or in their homes, their Pentecost is remembered and the Book of Ruth is read.  Their Pentecost celebrates God giving to Moses the Law 50 days after Passover. The 50 days also coincided with the beginning and end of their grain harvest.

       And Megan, too, says, "Hi, Everybody, Nice to be back."

^{A reading from the Book of Ruth:}

So Naomi returned together with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her from the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain, behind someone in whose sight I may find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.” So she went. She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers.

As it happened, she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” They answered,  “The Lord bless you.” Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “To whom does this young woman belong?”

                   The Beautiful Zoe says, "Wow, it is fun here."

The servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the Moabite who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.  She said, ‘Please, let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ So she came, and she has been on her feet from early this morning until now, without resting even for a moment.”

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women.   Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped, and follow behind.  I have ordered the young men not to bother you.

If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.”

Our Special Gift, Genevieve, says, "Welcome, Folks, Just don't                                       mess with my bottle."

Then she fell prostrate, with her face to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?”

But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.  May the Lord reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!”

What a Team.  Because of the torrential rain, the candles got                forgotten and so did the robes for Georgie and Kevin. 

Homily by Mike

 As you might have hoped, Boaz marries Ruth, the widow and foreigner. She has no property to bring to this union; she brings only herself, and that is more than enough.  Boaz has been her advocate; he respects her for who she is as a person.

The whole community of Bethlehem celebrated with Naomi the sacredness of their wedding and the wonder of what would come from it.  In this intimate spiritual union of Jew and foreigner, Boaz treats Ruth with goodness and justice, with tenderness and compassion, and in him we see a glimpse of God, as Father, who does bless them with a son, Obed.

                                              Mike homilizing.

 And God blessed Obed to be the father of Jesse, the father of King David.  From David’s descendants God brought forth the Messiah, his Son, from whom we received the Holy Spirit, our advocate when Christ returned to the Father in glory.

Together, we have been called to be Christ in the world; we are his advocates to others, by our words and actions.  Advocates recognize the worth of the other; for they perceive others as made in the image and likeness of God.

                               Victoria giving us The Look.

Advocates bring about the Kingdom; they are young and old, male and female. They come in all sizes, shapes, colors, and religions; they welcome all others with the same ease and grace; to them God has no favorites.  

                   Emma putting her bread into the Mass bowl.

Readings:

Wisdom  3, 1-9,  The souls of the just are in the hand of God.

Psalm 23,   The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.

1 John 3, 1-3,  See what love the Father has bestowed on us.

John 6, 37-40,  I will not reject anyone.

Emma says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome."

All Souls Day observations–

Let me give you a bit of history and the thinking behind this All Souls' Day.  Five observations: the theology, purgatory-limbo, a legend, pre-Christian practices, and today.

1.  The Theology.  All Souls' Day is part of a package with All Saints.  The idea is: on All Saints' Day we honor all those who are enjoying the beatific vision, that is, heaven, the saints.  On All Souls' Day we honor those who have died but have not reached heaven because they had penance to do. 

We are talking mortal & venial sin here.  If the person died with mortal sin, they are you know where. Those with venial sins have to go through purification and purging, which brings us to All Souls' Day and purgatory.

And Georgie, too, "Come in, Everybody."

2.  Purgatory & limbo.  People ended up in purgatory to purify themselves with suffering, before being allowed into heaven.  Limbo was for whom?  It was for people, especially children who died without being baptized.  They remained there how long?  Forever.  Can you imagine a baby there or even in the old purgatory?

At least the Catholic Church recently acknowledged that the limbo idea was bogus.  The pope said it does not exist and never did.  Though many consider purgatory to be in the same class, it still exists.  Want to know how we know?  A previous pope was offering indulgences.  The indulgence is for the soul in purgatory.  It speeds up the process.  There are partial & total indulgences.  We can win them for these souls and get them out or we can win them for ourselves. 

For instance, on the last feast of Peter & Paul Rome offered an indulgence if you visited a church named after one or both of these two, and you recited a prescribed menu of prayers. 

And Zoe says, "It's fun here."

3.  The legend.   It happened around 1000 A.D. that a monk, St. Idolo, from the French monastery of Cluny was shipwrecked on a desolate island as he returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, i.e., Israel.  On the island he met a poor hermit.  The hermit told him that among the rocks was a crevice from which came the anguished voices of the many suffering in purgatory.  Likewise, listening carefully you could hear the devils cursing that living people were speeding up the sufferings of these souls by praying and doing penance for them. 

Some time after this, i.e., 1000 A.D., the Cluny Monastery established an All Souls' Day.  Ca. 1300 Rome followed suit.  

Buddy asks, "Any cupcakes left over this morning?"

4.  Pre-Christian times.  There is evidence that at least in Mexico numerous tribes had a day or period when the departed ancestors were honored.  The purpose was to honor them, remember their example, and to communicate with them.  Today in Mexico & in Hispanic families the Day of the Dead is still celebrated.  This custom has been celebrated for 3,000 years.

5.  Today.  Limbo has been discarded by Rome and many scholars consider purgatory a dinosaur idea from antiquity.  Consequently, All Souls' Day celebrates Samantha, my mom & dad, Rosemary's mom & dad, and all our loved ones pictured on the stage.  All Saints' Day handles the canonized.   Hell is also considered today a mental concept, not real.

So we say, What special blessing did you receive from one of these people pictured or whom you remember in your heart?

Arianna, another one of Our Saints.

Today's Saint

I would like to talk today about a saint for the day.  Every day has its saint. I want to talk about one.

Ever hear of a 67 year old black guy named Johnny Lindsay?  I read about him in the Dallas Morning News this summer.   Another of the army of exonerees. 

Johnny spent 26 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. He got out in 2008.  Can you believe that, 26 years!  Oh, but how he had grown.  

Richard Froebe painting The House.

He came out of prison without anger, bitterness, or desire for revenge.  In fact, he came out with a desire to do one thing positive for someone.  He had reached that acceptance state where peace lives.  

Ever since Johnny was 12 years old music had touched his spirit.  What kept his spirit alive those 26 years was music.  He sang in a choir the prisoners formed.  He said music was his saving grace and he dreamed all those years of finally being exonerated one day and doing one thing good for others.

Richard Eshelbrenner doing fence removal ai the yard of The House.

At his release he was given $2 million.  So his wife, Sherita, and he decided to actually take piano lessons.   He met Debbie Beach and she became an inspiration for him.  She taught them and shared her dream to have her own music school.  Johnny & Sherita bought her all the keyboards she needed to open her school. 

Has Johnny come out of prison eager for revenge?  Does he hate?  Is he angry?   I think I would be.  However, he, like so many, many of these  exonerated men is at peace. 

Jackie painting The House, her house with Rick.

Even this past Wedneswday, two men were exonerated and released after 14 years in prison.  They are not angry and not looking for revenge.   Johnny loves and accepts others.  He is at peace, with others and with himself. 

With whom are you not at peace?  What do you need to do to attain the peace Johnny has?

Reference:  Dallas Morning News, June 23, 2014. 

The Malphurs, Arianna with her parents, Ryan (an old friend) and Nicole.

Welcome into our community, Tom & Susan.  Poor Tom was a student at Jesuit when that Stack was supposed to be one of the teaching staff.

Readings:

Wisdom 9, 13-18,  Thus were the paths of those on earth made straight

Psalm 90,  In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge

Philemon  9, 10. 12-17,   Welcome him as you would me.

Luke 14, 25-33,    …hating his father & mother, wife & children

Pagosa Bill just returned from the wild lands of Colorado. 

Homily by Stack     

I would like to talk about the line from Wisdom that struck me, It’s’ hard to make sense of what is going on in the world & harder still to understand what happening right under our noses. 

My problem is that I do understand.  Consequently, I can get down and I tell Rosemary, ”Let’s don’t talk about that stuff.”  Now, seeing that Rosemary & I will be out of the country the next  two weeks of September, I want to focus on activities and events that console me, challenge me, and make me proud to be an American.  I got five quickies.

Our candle lighting team of the week, Zoe, Tori, and their friend Zoe.

First, anybody know where the Dallas Baptist Men are this morning?  Try Florida and N. Carolina, according to the announcement I heard while Dorian was still in the Bahamas.  So, before hitting the U.S. they already had packed up their pick ups, their shower 18 wheeler, their mobile kitchen, and tons of food.

I worked along side these guys in Galveston and, in fact, shared a  large rectangular dormitory with about 25 guys, one of which snored like a chain saw.

Rosemary sez to Cindy, "Now while I am gone you have this short list of 16 things to do for the community."

The group I was with in Galveston was, as you can guess, Bona Responds, the group of St. Bonaventure students with their incredible professor, Jim Mahar, plus his henchman, our own Pagosa Bill Hammond.  Guess from whom I got a message about taking a group to the Bahamas.

Closer at hand, how about Meals on Wheels?  I am so proud of Rosemary and Barbara, her buddy, when they head out together to bring food to about 12-18 people.  You might think this is a local endeavor only.  Come with us on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day when a mob of regular volunteers pick up their food at the central headquarters near Love Field.

The BEST, John & Connie who can now see the world, thanks to the cataract removals.

On 60 Minutes a week or so I heard about a wealthy alumnus of NYU (Rosemary's Alma Mater) who gathered & donated enough money to set up a trust to enable all students in the medical school study loan free.  I was in tears when it showed the assembled students getting the notice.

Finally, a favorite of our community, the Love for Kids picnic in the Fall and the one in the Spring.  We ride in under the flag of Bona Responds and Pagosa Bill suits us all up in special T shirts.  Who ever came up with this plan?  It is fabulous and most touching.

Come on, Ben, I'm jealous & want a Zeke Elliott do like you got.

These are five reasons I am honored and proud to be here in Plano with you people, to be in Texas, and to be in the U.S.

Your five reasons?

Want to see the man who has no stage fright?  You are looking at him, Leo.

Christmas Eve Readings: Isaiah 9, 1-6; Psalm 96, Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord; Titus 2, 11-14; Luke 2, 1-14

A Review of Isaiah:

 Author: there are 3 writers of this work of 66 chapters.  Our writer today is Isaiah I.

Date of Writing & of Composing: the work was put together probably after the Babylonian Captivity around 550, a time when the Babylonians with King Nebuchadnezzar defeated the two tribes of the southern kingdom of Judah, where Jerusalem is.

Isaiah I wrote much earlier, like around 700, before the Syrians annihilated the northern kingdom and led the 10 lost tribes off into captivity where they vanished in the DNA of the middle east with intermarriage.  He was warning them their evil ways were going to bring Yahweh's wrath down upon them.

Our Selection: a prediction of an optimistic & hopeful future when the people will be freed from walking in darkness and gloom because a child will be born who is a God-Hero and The Prince of Peace.

Where is He?  Who is He?

Rosemary & I have a love of riding our bikes.  In particular, we love to ride around White Rock Lake, which is about 10 miles around.  We can access it close to our house where the White Rock Trail runs north crossing Royal Lane near Central and heading up past Medical City to Valley View.

One sunny day we were riding as usual.  Most likely Bernadette & Gilberto and maybe Chris Phipps were with us.  We all go at different speeds and we meet half way at a boat house on the south end of the lake near Garland Road. 

On this particular day, I had arrived at the boat house and was waiting as people came in.  No sign of Rosemary.  I was beginning to get concerned when I see her approaching.

She is fine, but says she was delayed because her chain fell off and she did not know how to replace it.  So she started walking.  As she walked numerous people passed her both riding bikes and walking or running. 

Suddenly out of the stream of people a guy asks her if she needs help.  When she tells him her problem, he says, "No problem."  He can fix it, which he did. 

She got back on her bike and continued on to the boat house.

We are in the process this Christmas season of looking around and searching, searching for this God- Hero, this Prince of Peace.  Where is he?  What does he look like? 

I would propose that the man who helped Rosemary is that person.  That is what he looks like.  That is what he does. 

There is another example of this person's presence in the story by our friend Steve Blow in this morning's Dallas Morning News.  A repo man was so touched by the plight of a woman whose car he was repossessing that he got his buddies together & they bought her another car.. A good story.  Read it.

I was so impressed with what the man did for Rosemary that it has made a small but significant difference in my own life.  I have resolved to ask people if they need help when they are broken down, especially on my bike, when I can get hooked often into an obsession with maintaining my average speed or whatever. 

This evening as we look around, this room is full of people who are like our God.  This is what he looks like, like the man who helped Rosemary.

Who is the Prince of Peace in your life?

How are you a Prince of Peace to others? 

Picture 1:   Charlie lighting the Advent & Christmas candles   

Picture 2:    4 of the 5 Bambini, Sienna with her dad, Payton; Leo with his mom, Shonda; Buddy & Torri with their mom, Michelle; Beth 

Picture 3:     All but Emma on the right

Picture 4:     Angels

Picture 5:     Joseph, Dillon, & Shepherd, Hunter

Picture 6:     Angels, Chloe, & Shepherd with Mary, Georgie, & Joseph, Dillon