Christmas Eve Homily, December 24, 2019

 

The Brain Trust.

 

Readings:

Habakkuk,  1, 2-3, 2,2-4, I cry for help, but you do not listen

Psalm 95,  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

2 Timothy 1, 6-8, 13-14, Stir into flame the gift  of God.

Luke 17, 5-10,   We are unprofitable servants.

 

 

 

 

 

You see this Buddy!  He has the whole Blessing of The Candles memorized!

 

Where is the spirit these days?

I never know from where or why suddenly something or someone will really touch me.

On floor #1 on board the Viking Sea there is a grouping of 2 small & one larger room with workout equipment.  6 to 7 every morning I used to work out.  Get this, even Rosemary joined me.  Then at 7:00 we would head down to the atrium on the same floor where there is a small bar that serves the best lattes on the ship.

 

 

 

The Candle Lighting Girls, Tori & Zoe.

 

 

About the third morning out I am working out on a stand up elliptical when I hear the clear and friendly voice of a guy on a treadmill behind me.  It seems like he enjoys talking with everyone. 

The room has three elliptical & 4 stationary bikes in one line and a second line of maybe 6-7 treadmills, all facing the big windows outside of which the sea is going wild.

 

 

The Offertory Team, Bill, Fred, and Martha.

 

I chat up the guy when he finishes and we are both drying off.  This goes on maybe 4 more days when one morning we all 3 get talking at the water fountain in the corner.  In answer to his question, whatever it was, Rosemary & I share the story of our marriage.  He goes crazy.  I tell him he is welcome to share it with others and he does.

Maybe 2-3 days later I realize the guy is working out twice a day.  I am impressed and see why he looks to be in such good shape, being in his late 50’ or 60’s.

 

 

Tara, where did you get that megawatt smile??!!

 

We go on for another 2-3 days until we arrive at L’Ance au Meadow in Newfoundland, a fairly recently discovered area where a Viking village existed some hundreds of year ago.  To get from the village where the ship moored to the former Viking village Viking Cruises had to requisition 10 or more buses, school buses no less.

Lo and behold, at the Viking village we meet up with our new friend and get talking.  It was a delightful sunny day, mild temperature.  We asked him more about his life.  We already knew he was a university professor.

 

 

 

 

Fred & Martha, So good to see you both in town and with us.

 

 

Turns out he had to watch both of his parents slowly deteriorate one from Alzheimer's & one from Parkinson's.  Because of this he tries to stay in the best shape possible.  This news really stunned me.  Just that he shared it meant a lot.  No wonder he works out so faithfully, something I certainly appreciate and emulate. 

When was the last time your spirit was touched?

(What about Izzi’s baptism last Sunday!)

 

 

The Best Music with Shonda, Ben, & David

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome in, Tori, so nice to see you.

 

Readings:  

 Isaiah 49, 1-6, The Lord called me from birth.  (good ole Isaiah)

 Psalm 139,   I praise you for I am wonderfully made. (beautiful)

 Acts 13,22-26  To us this word of salvation has been sent.

Like 1 57-66 80,   When the time came for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. 

 

 

 

 

Welcome, Everyone.  What a team!
 

 

Isaiah observations:

What:  The passage is another from Isaiah 2, the best of the 3 parts

Our selection:  Another beautiful passage about a bright future.

 

 

 

 

 

Emma at work as our special candle lighter of the week.

 

 

Happy 50th Anniversary, Bill Hammond

 

Because it is Bill Hammond’s 50th Anniversary with Patty and because Bill is one of my best friends, I get to talk about him this morning.

I do not even remember when it was that I began to hang out with Bill.  It seems like ages ago.  I do remember clearly, however, an event that changed my life.  The HHH, Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred.  The infamous bike ride out of & around the area of Wichita Falls, the last Saturday of August.

 

 

 

 

Georgie reading The Blessing of the Candles.

 

 

I remember Bill calling and inviting me.  I told him I would think about it.  He said that he had everything I would need, even a bike.  I informed Rosemary, which was a mistake.  “You have been thinking about this for years.  Go!!”

So we end up sleeping on our air mattresses on the grass around a big pavilion at Midwestern State U., where Kevin goes to school right now.   My only memory of that night: there was a bar across the RV parking lot and street.  It played loud music all night long.

 

 

 

 

Welcome back, Katie, so nice to hear your beautiful voice again.  Even with Ben.

 

 

Then the fun began.  I got Bill’s extra bike, helmet, and special padded pants.  The now famous part: in the dim light of the parking lot I put the pants on backward and rode 20 miles before I turned them around in a port-a-potty.

This even took place probably about 5 years before my hips in 2010.  And he is still my friend.

 

 

 

 

Hi, Zoe, it is so nice to see you and Emma playing again this week.

 

 

A second reason why I love Bill is that he is a pest.  Just when I think I have a Saturday free from weddings, which I love to do, Bill says, “Hey, John, it is time for Love for Kids.” 

Or I get introduced to Bona Responds and Jim Mahar, the service to others mad man.  This takes me to Galveston to help after the hurricane and, later, to Little Ax near OK City after the tornado up there.  I grieved that I could not go with the team to Dickinson, TX  these  past weeks.

I always come home from these events a richer person.

 

 

 

 

The Offertory Team, Ken & Warren, Barbara & Cindy.  Thanks, you all.

 

 

Finally, as I have already hinted at, Bill is over the edge generous.  The bike & equipment, the rides to recovery sites,   & the invitation to stay at his condo in Pagosa Springs for camping trips.

This last camping trip he loaned me his extra back pack and tent because mine are worn out.  What do I do to show my appreciation?  I stuff his back pack so full I rip the fabric right down the middle.

 

 

 

 

That hand should not be able to be sticking through that back pack.

 

 

Thanks, Bill, for being such a good friend, a pest, and so generous.

 

 

Readings:

Jeremiah 33, 14-16, In those days Jerusalem shall dwell secure.

Psalm 25, To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

1 Thessalonians 3, 12- 4, 2, May the Lord make you increase and abound in love.

Luke 21, 25-28, 34-36, Be vigilant at all times.

 

Jeremiah observations:

Who:            One of the Big 3 prophets, 52, chapters.  Called the sorrowful prophet because he did not want to condemn his people.  He had to and as a result was beaten, put in stocks, thrown in a cistern, threatened with death, and imprisoned.  In fact, Nebuchadnezzar released him and admired him.  He also wrote Lamentation, Jeremiah grieving over the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the slavery of the people.

When:  as a convenient date, use 600 before Christ.  Jeremiah knew how the Assyrians had destroyed the northern province of Israel and taken off the 10 tribes living there.  Jeremiah saw the badness of the Jews in Judah and he saw the Babylonians threatening.  He finally saw what he foretold, the Babylonian Captivity.

Subject: like all prophets, condemn behavior, foretell punishment, envision recovery and peace.  Jeremiah does it all.

Today:  parallelism.  This is the key.  It ties Jeremiah’s vision of release to Luke’s of redemption.  God saves his people from slavery; Gods saves us, his people, from slavery. 

Sources: Good News Bible, The New Interpreter's Study Bible, Wikipedia.

Georgie making her debut as an Altar helper, with Kevin

 Vigilance!

I want to talk today about the advice to be vigilant.  To lead into the topic I have another biking story.

This took place recently in, I think, the Greenville bike rally.  I was at a rest stop.  I usually stop every 10 miles and drink a lot of liquid so that I am ready to visit the portapotty at the next 10 mile stop.  The stop was not my first, maybe my 3^rd or 4^th. 

I had just eaten a banana and was talking with people around me.  I threw the banana peel at a trash can and missed.  So I went over, picked it up along with a few other things, and threw them into the can.

 A lady behind me says, “Hey, thanks, I really appreciate you picking up.”  She was one of the volunteers running the rest stop.  I thanked her in return and said I appreciated her mentioning it.  I talked with her a few more minutes, then rode on.

As I rode I reflected back on the event and how touched I had been by her simple thanks.  Which leads me to our subject, vigilance.

First, I want to say the real vigilance is not watching out that something bad is about to happen.  I am not about to be caught in a trap.  There is no cosmic assault.

Rather, especially at this time of year of Advent, I am looking for the small ways God taps me on the shoulder.  He/she is saying, “Thanks, you are okay, peace.” 

The flip of this is true, also.  I look for the ways I can touch someone, complimenting them, even just saying thanks. 

 

So, I would propose that vigilance during this waiting period for Christmas means being aware of all the many, many ways I am blessed & touched by God each day, just as we mention at the beginning of all our Masses. 

 The lady in Greenville probably has no idea she was God’s touch to me.  Moreover, she has no idea we are talking about her.  A simple blessing.

So, go be vigilant!

 

Isaiah 66:  I know their works and their thoughts, and I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory.

Hebrews 12:  So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.  Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed.

Luke 13:  For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

Claire reading from Isaiah

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben  

The Kiss of Peace

Outreach: $  50.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Rosemary’s Blessing:

O God from whom all blessings come,

we thank you for this celebration and meal and community. 

We also thank you for the joys with which you have blessed us through the years. 

May our lives shine forth as bright lights of gratitude for all your gifts.

 

Edited and adapted from a blessing by Fr. Andrew M. Greeley