Sunday Homily, November 24, 2019, Christ the King

Readings: Acts 13, 14, 43-52; Psalm 100, We are His People, The Sheep of His Flock; Revelation 7, 9, 14-17; John 10, 27-30

Acts:  a brief resume of what Tony has already explained, using the structure of who, what, when, and today's reading.

Who wrote: Luke, who wrote the Gospel.  He was a Greek speaking Gentile convert to Judaism.  He writes for Gentile Christians.  Writes about Paul, but did not know him nor his letters.

When: Big question.  Before or after 2 momentous events–

70 C.E: the Jews rebel against Rome.  Rome smashes them and destroys the most precious temple.  End of priests, beginning of rabbis.

88 C.E.: the Jewish Christians who have been worshiping in the temple or synagogue for decades split off. 

What about: story of spread of Christianity after Christ's death.  History or not?  Big question.  Idealized history?

Today: Paul & Barnabas scolding the Jews and affirming the Gentiles.  Is Acts pro Gentile?  

Revelation: a strange book

Some of my old Jesuit confreres were convinced the author(s) of this book was on halucinagens, undergoing an LSD trip.  What do you think?

The Good Shepherd

Want to know what a good shepherd looks like?

There is a couple.  They are celebrating 25 years of marriage.  They met in college in Pennsylvania.  Good kids.  The girl, Donna had spent a summer overseas doing service work in Calcutta. 

Know who else started out in Calcutta?  Mother Teresa.

The guy, John had also been doing summer mission work with the Glenmary Home Missionaries. 

So they got married and planned to have a family.  They tried and waited.  The news: they could not have kids.  So, one thing led to another and they adopted.

They adopted Rosa, a baby from an orphanage in Mexico. 

Then they adopted Natalie, a baby from Guatemala.

Then David, a baby from a local foster care family.

Then they adopted a 12 year old.  Maria Elena came from the same Mexican orphanage as Rosa. 

They had been living in a house in Philadelphia.  They moved to a church basement.  Then to an empty convent. 

All the while they continued adopting kids.  Just could not say no.  Donna was home schooling the kids.  John was working as an independent contractor—until they reached 11 kids.  Then he quit his job.  He was needed too much at home.

With the number of adoptions rising they found a 7 acre farm in south east Pennsylvania.  Here they could attempt more self-sufficiency.  They also were granted status as a foundation and took the name of St. Joseph House.

Today on the farm they have somewhere between 17 and 20 kids under their roof. 

How have they managed over these 25 years and 20 kids?  With the help of Catholic communities like ours right here. 

What kind of good shepherd are you?  Are we?

I found the story of John & Donna Kurtz in the March edition of The Anthony Messenger.   There is a picture of the whole bunch on the cover. http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Mar2010/Feature1.asp

Readings:

Exodus, 17, 8-13,  Joshua mowed down Amelak and his people.  

 Psalm 121,  Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

2 Timothy  3, 14-4, 2,  Remain faithful to what you learned.

 Luke 18, 1–8,   The poor widow who pestered the judge.

Harper says, "Welcome, Everybody."  And what could I be seeing on your cheeks, Harper?  

Exodus  observations:

What: A very readable story about the Israelites departing their slavery in Egypt.  Moses is their reluctant leader and his struggle in getting old Pharoah to allow the people to depart is classic.   The story, mostly fable, continues through the people's journey through the Sinai Desert for 40 years and their entrance into the Caananite land, a land promised to them by Yahweh. 

 When put together:  Two collections were recorded as early as the time of Solomon, about 1000 ears before Christ.  Other collections were added and the definitive & final form took place around the Babylonian Captivity, i.e., 555 before Christ.  

Our Selection: The people are in the desert.  They get attacked by the Amelekites.  How Moses saves the day is amusing.  The finale is not so amusing, but typical for the time.

Sources:  The New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Bible. 

Victoria, too, says, "Hi, Folks, Come in."

What We Ask For

A few years ago I had three elderly people from the subdivision of Northwood Hills contact me about planting trees in their neighborhood.  Two were a couple and there was a third guy, all probably about my age right now.  I really did not want to do this project because they were north of LBJ and I thought it was too far to drag the water trailer full of water from Jesuit, where I was living then.

Welcome in to you, My Dearest Vivian.  So nice to see you.  Thanks to your special mommy.

So I put them off.  Maybe even for a year.  Eventually, however, because of their persistence I went to see their project, which consisted of Fretz Park, Hillcrest from LBJ to Beltline, Beltline from Preston to Coit, and a neighborhood elementary school, about 350 plus trees.

Despite not being eager to tackle the distance, two things pulled down my resistance.  First, they were willing to kick in a good portion of the cost of the trees.  Secondly, they were so gracious and eager to improve their own neighborhood.  I could not tell them no after all they were willing to put out, and all their pleading. 

Genevieve says, "Where now is that Vivian?  She has disappeared."

You know the rest.  We planted one of our bigger projects and the trees are thriving.   I was especially touched because they gave me a recognition of gratitude at one of their large community meetings.

When I hear Luke's story about the widow & the judge I always think about Northwood Hills.  With gratitude. 

With confusion also, because I have difficulty with the main point of the story.  Namely, that God will answer persistent prayer, without even being slow about it, as Luke says.  Do you believe that God answers our prayers, and even more swiftly if we are persistent as the widow?  My mom thought that a nine day novena with special prayers got her every request, though my memory tells me otherwise.

Entrance of Lauren Lucas and her dad, Jim.  Friday night wedding at Ana Villa in The Colony.  

I need to make a distinction and an observation to make sense of this for me.  I have talked with numerous people about this discomfort I have.   The distinction is between a macro-managing God and a micro-managing God.

The macro-managing God I can handle.  This god is behind the big stuff, the sky, creation, the stars, life, the balance of the universe.  I see this god as like a person bowling.  He gets the ball going and it travels on its own.

The Unity Candle, Lauren & Dylan.

The micro-managing god, however, is responsible for my sickness.  He makes good things happen & bad things.  He can change each.  If I pester this god enough he will find my lost wedding ring or car keys.  He will cure the sick, make me rich, fix the lottery so I win it, and so forth.  This god I don't see in my experience.

Then why do I pray for people?  Like at our prayers of the faithful.  This is the observation. I pray first because I think, I hope, our God hears and is personal.  Secondly, I pray because I imagine that my spirit sends forth some kind of emotional energy to that God that says, "Please take special care of this person I love."  When we do this as a group, the emotional energy has a little more punch. 

Exit and beginning of a New Life for Lauren and Dylan Mosley.  

I also pray for people because it sensitizes me to the suffering & difficulty other people are experiencing.

So where does this leave us?  Don't pray for people?  Don't pray persistently like the little widow or the people from Northwood Hills?  No. It may mean I lower my expectations. Maybe it helps to make the distinction about the macro vs micro-managing god.  I still remember people in prayer. 

Ultimately, what is your belief about praying for special intentions?

Is there anything you cannot do, Leo?  This is terrific.  Move over, Ray & Mary.  

February 8, 2015, 5th Ordinary Time

Readings:

Job  7, 1-7,  Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?

Psalm 147,    Praise the Lord, who heals the broken hearted.

1 Corinthians 9, 16-25,   I have made myself a slave to all.

 Mark 1, 29-39,   They brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.

Leo says, "Hi, Folks, welcome in, we got cupcakes."

Job 0bservations:

What: A comment on The Universe.  No book in the OT or NT has less known about it.  Called the most profound book of the OT.    It deals with the problem of evil, personal justification, and why bad things happen to good people.   Job himself could be historical, a literary creation, or a combination of the first two.

Author: Unknown. 

Vivian says, "Hi, Folks, and thanks for the cupcake. Even though I am not quite here yet, I already love cupcakes." Ask her mom, Bethany.

Date: It is guessed to be before the time of Moses and Egypt, i.e., earlier than 1300 before Christ.

Structure: 3 poetic dialogues preceded by a prose introduction and ending with a prose conclusion, an epilogue judged to have been added sometime later by another person or group of persons.

Happiness is… Poor Job should have had a cupcake of the week.

The Story of Job

I would like to tell you this morning the story of Job.

Once upon a time there was a good man named Job who lived in the land of Uz.  He had 7 sons and 3 daughters, a sign that he was especially blessed.  He not only had sons, but he had the special number of 7.

John with Mary, Jean, and Jan.

One day Yahweh was walking around heaven talking with his buddies when he ran into the devil.  "What have you been doing?" he asked.  "I have been walking around here and there," the devil responded. 

"Have you noticed how good my man Job is?"  "Yes,' says the devil, "but I bet he will curse you to your face if you stop protecting him and take away all his goodies."  "It's a bet," says Yahweh, "Just don't hurt him."

Cupcakes of The Week to Geri, Mike, and Randolf with some little mice suddenly appearing.

So a few days later while all of Job's 7 sons and 3 daughters where having a feast with their families, a storm blew up killed them all.  A messenger runs to tell Job of the horrible news. 

Shortly after that, another messenger races in and says lightening has just killed all his sheep and the shepherds.   Other messengers then run in saying Job's livestock have been rustled by robbers who killed all the farm hands.

Job is devastated, of course, but responds with the famous statement: "I was born with nothing, and I will die with nothing.  The Lord gave, and now he has taken away.  May his name be praised." 

Even these characters get Cupcakes, John, Hue, Scott, and Tom.

So Yahweh wins his bet.  But, when Yahweh and the devil meet up to settle their bet, the devil raises the stakes by saying that he bets Job will curse Yahweh if the devil is allowed to hurt his body.  Not death, just hurt.  "Bet," says Yahweh.

The next day Job comes down with sores all over his body, like leprosy, and he has to go outside of town where the lepers go.  He sits in the town dump.  His wife now comes and his friends.  They all grieve. They also encourage Job to see what he has done bad.  Has he cursed Yahweh?  Confess and repent.  Job proclaims his innocence.  But he is depressed and discouraged. 

(In East Africa I used to celebrate Mass for a small community of lepers.)

Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe with Class, thanks to Mike and Geri. Poncik moving in.

Finally, while not cursing Yahweh, he cries out his anguish saying (chapter 3): 

"Oh, God, put a curse on the day I was born; put a curse on the night when I was conceived!  Turn that day into darkness, God." (verses  2-4) 

"I wish I had died in my mother's womb or died the moment I was born.  Why did my mother hold me on her knees?" (verses 11-12) 

"Why let men go on living in misery?  Why give light to men in grief?" (verse 20) 

Harper says, "If you love me, you will give me a Cupcake. Right?"

"Everything I fear and dread comes true.  I have no peace, no rest, and my troubles never end." (verses 25-26)

After some time in this situation, Yahweh comes along and speaks with him:

"Who are you to question my wisdom with your ignorant, empty words?  Stand up now like a man and answer the questions I ask you.  Were you there when I made the world?" (verses 2-3)

"Job, have you ever in all you life commanded a day to dawn?" (verse 12)

"Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea?  Have you walked on the floor of the ocean? "(verse 16)

"Yes, I love you, Harper. Happy Cupcake."

"Have you been to the place where the sun comes up or the place where the east wind blows?" (verse 24)

After hearing all the numerous ways Yahweh reminds him of how insignificant he is, Job apologizes to Yahweh and promises to be a good boy from now on. 

In an epilogue, which is considered a late addition, Yahweh restores his wealth and gives him 7 more sons and 3 more beautiful daughters.  He lives another 140 years a prosperous and happy man.

Ever feel like Job?  How do you handle the feeling?

Mark 11, 1-10, Jesus enters Jerusalem

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

Psalm 22, My God, Why have you forsaken me.

Philippians 2, Christ did not not regard equality with God.  (Omit)

Mark 11, Passion

Happy Palm Sunday and Here's to New Life!

Thanks……

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers, John & Connie Doherty, John Schanot & Mary Jane, & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  see Readers in last line

Homily,  none today

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Mike  

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

Readings for Sunday, March 28, 2021

Download Readings for 3-28-2021 Palm Sunday

Regarding today's readings:  We will read

1.  Mark's description of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem;

2. Isaiah's description of one of the Suffering Servant pieces;

3.  Skip the Philippians reading;

4.  Mark's long description of The Passion. 

The Best Music, Shonda & Ben.

Please Remember these special people:

For Carrie's ex, Larry with Corona;  For Alan Stryker;  For Joe Sullivan;    For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   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 Ursuline Sr. Mary Troy 

Our Brain Center!

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free & John Schanot;    For John O'Donnell & Jean;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa;  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 David McKeon's brother, Hugh; For Beth's friends;   for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

Birthdays:   Barb Wittek

Anniversaries: 

Community Finances,   March 28, 2021

Expenses: $ 1,000.00

Outreach: $ 375.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Rosemary's Blessing:

Lord God who is endlessly patient

with our foolish and annoying frailties,

instill in us patience for our fellow humans. 

Help us to keep our temper cool,

our nerves calm,

and our disposition amiable.

Andrew N Greeley   A Book of Irish American Blessings and Prayers                

 Readings:  

 Daniel  7, 13-14,   His dominion is an everlasting dominion.

Psalm 93,   The Lord is King, He is robed in majesty.

Revelations 1, 5-8,   Behold, his coming amid the clouds.

John 18, 33-37,  Are you the king of the Jews? 

Today we celebrate the last Sunday of the liturgical year with the Feast of Christ, King of the Universe. Pope Pius XI proclaimed this Feast Day in 1925 to counter the increasing nationalism and secularism of his time. The Christian religion and the church seemed to be losing ground to modern secular movements. As we’ve seen before and since, the Vatican tends to overreact, in this case by condemning so much of what was new in the world.

As if in counterpoint, Jesus, in today’s Gospel reading, redefines the title of ‘king’ as being witness to the truth.

A few words about today’s readings from Daniel and Revelations.

Daniel is considered by some to be the 4^th major prophet, after Isaiah,
Jeremiah and Ezechial. However, his book has only 14 chapters and most don’t place him with the big three.

Daniel describes events during the Babylonian captivity, about 600-550 BC. The book was probably compiled as late as the 2^nd century BC during the rebellion against Greek ruler Antiochus IV.

Authors were probably at least 3, since parts are written in Hebrew, Aramaic and a little in Greek. The book is rich in symbolism similar to Book of Revelation. Its most famous stories are about Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego, thrown with Daniel into the fiery furnace, and the story of Daniel thrown into the lion’s den.

The Book of Revelation is the final book in the New Testament, written in Greek. Modern scholars think the book was written by an unknown author who was given the name John of Patmos to increase the authority of the book.

As to when it was written: most say about 95 AD/CE during the persecution by the Roman Emperor Domitian, others say earlier during the persecution of the Roman Emperor Nero. In either case the book describes in dramatic allegory the battle between good and evil, with good winning out in the end.

Homily by John Cade

Jesus said: “My kingdom does not belong to this world.”

Especially in the gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke, Jesus gives umpteen descriptions of what the kingdom he proclaims as already present is all about.   And its not about lording it over others or about vengeance or greed or that place called ‘it’s all about me’.   It’s about the simple things children do naturally, like giving themselves fully to each moment,
knowing what they like, giving and sharing (like Leo freely shared a bus with Cole a couple Sundays ago), receiving and taking graciously/joyfully, asking for what they need or want, and knowing how to say No to what they don’t need or want.

 These simple things are a stumbling block for many since they don’t seem big enough or important enough or memorable enough to count for a lot.

In Mark, Matthew and Luke there is the parable of the people bringing little children up to Jesus and Jesus’ friends trying to stop them. And then Jesus saying, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.”

Every time I am with my grandsons I learn more about what it means to be real and connected with others. They are real and connect with me instinctively. Like Freddie clamoring for me, his Papou, asking me to be a ‘monster’ and chase him, later, as he and we are enjoying his birthday cake, calling me by my name, John, later asking me to be the one who puts him down for a nap and tell him a story as he snuggles in my lap, later still playing with me with his new toy train.

The question I leave us with today is twofold: what do we learn from the children around us? And how does what we learn help us live in the kingdom Jesus says is here?

Buddies, Zoe and Emma arriving.

Readings:

2 Samuel  12, 1-14,  The verses of this reading are expanded because of the excellence of the story, King David and Bathsheba.

Psalm 32,  Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.

Galatians 2, 16-21,  If justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Luke 7, 36-8, 3,  She stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears.  Another beautiful reading.

14 seconds over Little Axe, OK, outside Norman, tore this car apart. Little Axe was hit the day before Moore, a middle class suburb of OK City.

Relief Work
in OK City

This morning I would like to talk with you about the trip I made to OK
City a week ago.  Three aspects, the time
and the geography of the tornadoes, gratitude, and the three teams.

You might not know it, but three tornadoes hit the area.  The third and second were E5’s, the kind with
winds over 250 miles per hour.  The third
was also the tornado with the diameter of about 2 & a half miles.  20 people were killed, including the 3
professional tornado watchers, but it mostly roamed the countryside, not living
areas. 

Maybe unrecognizable, a pick up, upside down, door and window gone, trailer on top, OU lawn chair I set up.

The middle tornado was the Moore tornado, Moore being a suburb of OK
City.  You drive north on I-35.  On the right you see devastation—of houses
like in Plano or Richardson.  On the left
you see devastation–of a large strip shopping complex like Collin Creek
Mall. 

Where is the little boy who practiced hoops on this basket? Little Axe, where the first of the 3 big tornadoes hit, is rural and comparatively poor with unpaved, dirt roads. This debris has been bulldozed to the edge of the road, where it will be picked up.

The first tornado, a day or two before Moore, hit Little Axe, a small
village of maybe 50 houses.  35 were
destroyed.  I would conjecture the
majority of the residences were portables, trailer homes.  This tornado spent 14 seconds on the ground
and you will see the result. 

Many of the 50 or so homes in Little Axe were trailer homes which were mounted on these I beams. The wind twisted the beams like spaghetti. These were long trailer homes with beautiful scenery around them.

We were sent to Little Axe because it had been neglected and forgotten
after Moore.  Moore was urban and middle
class.  Little Axe was rural and
relatively poor.  The roads were not paved,
just gravel and dirt.  Moore sucked up
all the press coverage and attention.  We
were sent to redress this neglect.

Debris piles being removed. 35 houses were swept away.

Secondly, the gratitude.  The
first thing I noticed, after the shock of seeing Moore from I-35 as I drove
north, was the gratitude of people.  We
wore our Bona Responds brown T shirts as we visited stores like Home
Depot.  Customers and staff all thanked
us for coming to help out.  At the Stihl
outlet where we went to buy chain saw parts, the staff comes out with Stihl T
shirts for all of us.  Jim gave them Bona
Responds T shirts.   It was humbling.   See the two types of T shirts.

Bona Responds team. Besides Jim and Jerry, two professors from St. Bonaventure, an OU chemistry professor and graduate of St. B. joined us with his daughter, Rose.

Thirdly, the teams.  Obviously, we
were the team from St. Bonaventure, the Catholic university.  Besides Jim, who is a finance professor,
there was Jerry, a chemistry professor. 

The second team was Israeli.  The
first morning I’m standing outside our barracks style quarters at this generic
church.  I hear these kids talking a language
I don’t recognize.  I look more closely
at them and see the obvious Israeli blue & white flag on their white T
shirts.  I ask them who they are and what
are they doing.  They say they have come
from Israel to help.  I am stunned.

Less than half of the Israeli team. These kids actually flew in to work relief in OK. They were living with us in the same complex of barracks. I heard them speaking a language I did not know one morning and asked, "Who are you guys?" The shirts have the Israeli flag.

A footnote on these kids.  When I
am driving to our site in Little Axe later that morning, the two girls in my
Prius see the Israeli kids and are all excited because they had worked together
at another site.  Guess where: New York
after Sandy.  They were like old friends
meeting.

The third group was a group of, get this, Muslim kids.  Marvelous young people.  Acting and looking just like us except they
were dark, the guys I talked with said they were from St. Louis.

The Israeli trailer of equipment. It says "Jewish Response to Disaster." Our kids had worked with the Israeli kids in NY after Sandy. They were old friends.

Both the Muslim and the Israeli groups obviously have organizations behind them on the ground in the U.S. 
They both had more equipment than we. 
Like, the Muslims had a generator with which they ran a saw that cut I
beams. 

In fact, during the afternoon I worked a lot with the Muslims.  They were cutting up I beams and I and some
others were carrying 6-9 foot sections up out of a valley to the edge of the
road where we had 3 piles, metal, wood, and trash.

While the Israelis were a delightful surprise for me, the biggest surprise came with the 3rd team, "Muslims for Humanity," as it says on the truck door. Meet Dwight, with whom I worked sawing the I beams into 9 foot sections so they could be taken over to the metals pile on the edge of the road. Humbling to work with these kids.

At one point I trip over some debris on the ground and fall.  Fortunately for sports in my early years I
learned how to fall.  Not hurt at all,
just rolling into ground.  Guess who the
first person to reach out to me was: not one of those Catholic kids, not even
an Israeli, a Muslim.   The others were not near anyway.  They did not even know I fell. Check the pictures of
the teams and equipment.

This open area once was a home. In the background is a tornado shelter. 13 people and a dog saved their lives a second or two before the tornado swept down on them by jumping into this shelter. Imagine opening the door of the shelter and looking where your house once stood.

I told you all how proud I am to be part of you, of this little community
which is so generous and makes such a positive difference.   You
people not only helped the people of Little Axe, but you helped these kids from
St. Bonaventure have a marvelous ecumenical and international experience.

Thanks.