Sunday Homily, August 25, 2019, 21st Ordinary Time

Readings:

Daniel 12, 1-3,  The wise shall shine brightly.  

 Psalm 16,    You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Hebrews  10, 11-14, 18, Every priest stands daily at his ministry.

Mark 13, 24-32, This generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.

Leo and Brandon say, "Hi, Folks, Welcome in."  Along with Mary, too.  

Thanksgiving History: Everyone knows about the first Thanksgiving in 1602 with the Pilgrims and the Indians eating together, the Mayflower, and Plymouth Rock.   Here are 5 facts that people do not hear about usually.

1.  When did Thanksgiving begin?  Our ancestors have celebrated end of harvest feasts of gratitude for centuries.  Lincoln first focused on a national feast; FDR established the national holiday in 1941.

2.  The pilgrims did not know they were pilgrims.  They called themselves saints, and non-saints were called strangers.  The word pilgrim came along in the 18 hundreds, 2 centuries later.  They were not even Puritans, but separatists.  They split off from the Church of England, old Henry VIII's church, and the Puritans did not split off. 

                                      "Hi, Paul & Carrie."

3.   The Separatists did not come to establish religious freedom.  They came for religious freedom for their religion and only their religion.  Like the Catholic Church, the Separatists demanded everyone belong to their program.  Failure to conform could result in execution, ala inquisition.

4.  The Mayflower returned to England, was torn apart, and its beams were used to build a barn in Buckinghamshire (just north of London & east of Oxford).

          "Welcome back, Miss Genevieve, Good to see you."

5.  How did the Indians & Separatists communicate?   The Indians were Algonquians & one of them, Squanto had actually lived in Briton some years.  He returned to his tribe and taught his friend, Samoset English.  It was Samoset who communicated with the Separatists, & the Indians taught them to raise corn, to fish, and to hunt.  In the first winter half of the 100 Separatists died before the Indians taught them how to survive.

               "Oh, Folks, Watch out.  The girl walks!"

Thanksgiving

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, my most favorite celebration, I would like to talk about blessings.  Excuse me for the personal focus.  It is my annual assessment.  Rosemary & I do this together more toward the end of the year, but initially I put together my own list.

I have already told you that in life I am grateful for three big blessings, my Jesuit experience, my African experience, and my marriage. 

As an aside, this Tuesday we celebrate the 26^th anniversary of the 6 Jesuits killed in the patio of their residence of their university, UCA, University of Central America, El Salvador. 

                     Zoe, our candle lighter of the week.

I was just back in the States from East Africa and was quite moved by these men.  I was ready to go there myself.

This year I can perceive again three big blessings, marriage, health, and my role as priest/psychotherapist.  Let me explain each of these a little.

The landscape of my marriage this year included, first of all, our Viking cruise on the Rhine River.  Just watching and listening to the river was special, but that was only the beginning.  Delightful people, quaint places, homey environment, and more.

"Hi, Georgie, Suit up time.  Just the two of us this morning."

Our Mondays, dancing also has been a blessing.  We even took a class Friday night in what is called West Coast Swing.  I was getting to a point that I wanted to learn a few new steps or routines, like when we used to dance a lot of years ago.  West Coast Swing we knew some from the old days, but we had forgotten a lot.  Friday was a great help.

Because of our marriage I also have the privilege of spending Thanksgiving most years with Rosemary’s sister & brother in law in Hilton Head.  I can rest and unload the pressure more there than almost anywhere else in the world.

                     Cupcake of the year to John on his birthday.

A final blessing connected with our marriage is just our time together.  We have breakfast together most mornings, lunch 3-5 times a week, and I just enjoy being together.  Maybe we are reading on the couch together in the evening before I check out at 9:00, to comments like, “Party Pooper.”

The second big blessing is health and, in particular, my super hips.  I have already called my hip specialist, like I do every Thanksgiving, to let him know how grateful I am and to list what I have done.

                   Cupcake of The Week to Frank on his birthday.

Like riding 500 miles across the beautiful, rolling hills of Iowa for a whole week.

Like riding the HHH, Hotter N’ Hell Hundred the last Saturday of August out of Wichita Falls.  Hundred like in miles and temp.

Like spending 9 nine days in Yosemite with 8 good friends, when on the 2009  hike I thought I would never be able to hike there again.

      Cupcake of The Week to John & Connie on their 29th.

Finally, I would like to mention the privilege and honor I feel in being a priest and psychotherapist.  I love doing the marriages, the memorials, and the visits, all of which Rosemary & I do together. 

And this community.  What a joy to come here each Sunday to see all of you and to watch the kids grow healthy and peaceful.

What are your 2 or 3 biggest blessings of the year that you are grateful for?  Happy Thanksgiving.

         Cupcake of The Week to Mary Ellen on her birthday.
           

Readings: Isaiah 55, 1-3; Psalm 145, The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs; Romans 8, 35, 37-39; Matthew 14, 13-21.  Excellent readings this week.

4 Preliminary Observations:

 1.  Today, July 31.  The Jesuit Feast Day, St. Ignatius Loyola’s church feast, founder of Society of Jesus, Jesuits. I was a Jesuit for 4 years short of 50 years.  

        a.  Time of Ignatius: 1491-1556, vibrant Europe, Spain of Ferdinand & Isabella, expulsion of the Jews & the Moors from the Alhambra in Grenada in 1492, Michelangelo,  Da Vinci, death of Lorenzo the Magnificent of Florence in 1492, Copernicus, Galileo, & Martin Luther.  Luther is almost a contemporary of Ignatius.  He posted his 95 theses in 1517 & the revolution began.  Inquisition time: the monk Giordano Bruno burned at the stake for his ideas, 1600, Campo dei Fiori, Rome.  See his statue today.

        b.  Place of Ignatius: from Loyola Castle, Basque Province, Spain.  He was military, badly wounded in the legs at Pamplona, Navarre, where the bulls run.  He was converted while recuperating from leg operations.  At Manresa, Catalonia, Spain Ignatius came out with a vision.

        c.  Accomplishments of Ignatius: founded a little company which reached 36,000 in the 60’s.  He stressed military self discipline, obedience to authority, education, and spiritual growth especially with his Spiritual Exercises.

 2.  Isaiah 55: 3 beautiful invitations, come, come, come.  The very last chapter of Isaiah II trying to encourage the Israelites in the Babylonian period, ca. 550 B.C.

 3.  Psalm 145 & Romans 8.  That special line again, The Lord is gracious & merciful, does not get angry and is abounding in love.  

Paul is winding up Romans and is almost poetic, claiming that even cosmic events cannot separate us from God’s love.

 4.  Feeding the 10 thousand.  This story is repeated in all 4 gospel stories.  In fact, it is told 6 times.  Get ready.  To convey what I think is the main miracle of this story I have to tell a story from my time in East Africa. 

 Sources: St. Louis U. Liturgies, Reginald Fuller, Daniel Westberg, John Pilch, Larry Gillick, & Wikipedia

Touched into Trust & Sharing

     This story happened to me when I was living in East Africa in the 70’s & 80’s.  It exemplifies for me how this miracle could at least have been Jesus’ touching the people's hearts, so that they trusted one another and shared their hidden goods.

     It started in Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania.  One evening I boarded an overnight train from Dar to a town near Kilimanjaro, where we Jesuits had a small house which I used as a base.  

     For some crazy reason I had to buy a ticket at the last minute.  This gave me only a spot on the train, no bunk, no seat, just a spot.  

     We pulled out at sunset, always at 7:00 because it is close to the equator.  I was sitting on a suit case & expecting to stay there until we arrived at Kilimanjaro at 6:00 in the morning.  The train, of course, was packed.  People & kids everywhere, even an occasional chicken.  I felt right at home, though I knew I had a long night ahead of me.

     About 1:00 A.M. the train stops.  No word about what.  I never found out.  After an hour I get off and lie on the train bed.  If the train moved & I was asleep, I would hear it and hop on.  Though I did not sleep.  Mosquitoes for one thing. 

     The train sat there until 7:00 the following evening.  

     I cannot believe how dumb I was that night.  I was a veteran of Tanzania.  I knew how things broke down.  I had not taken any food or water with me.  

     Because I spoke the language with no problem, I could have asked the Tanzanians for food & water, but I did not want to drink the water, which was probably unpurified.  As the day passed, they ate & drank along the tracks in the shade of a few frangipani trees.  

     Finally I noticed another white couple, Germans.  I got water from them & was okay.  Eventually, they stayed at our house a couple of days and I climbed Kilimanjaro with them.  

     The people on that train, with the exception of one dumb white guy, they traveled with provisions.  They had food & water for emergencies. 

     I would propose that the 10 thousand people sitting around Jesus & his apostles, they were just like the Tanzanians.  They traveled with emergency provisions.  Like the Tanzanians, also, they did not trust the others whom they did not know and certainly did not share their provisions.  They were accustomed to shortages.  Hang on to what you got, because you don’t know when you will have nothing.    

     What happened with Jesus did not happen on the train.  Jesus took a piece of the bread and fish, and he passed it on.  The next person received it, took a bit, and then, thinking it would be fitting, put in a little of his or her own cache.  Eventually, when everyone has had the food pass them & they have contributed, 12 baskets are left over (a symbol likely connected with the 12 apostles).

     Jesus touched the hearts of the people and caused a miracle to take place.  They trusted one another and shared their provisions.  These miracles do take place today.  I saw them in the mountains of Colorado the past two weeks.  

     How are you sharing your provisions?  How do you show you trust your neighbor? 

 Picture 1:   Mass begins

 Picture 2:   New choir member, Hue

 Picture 3:   Sisters, Cindy (her birthday) & Marlene

 Picture 4:   Barb & Warren

 Picture 5:   Sienna offers to help Ray

 Picture 6:   Sienna ready to sing  

Readings:

Genesis 12, 7-9; 3, 1-7,  I will make of you a great nation   

 Psalm 33,  Lord, let your merciful love be upon us, as we  place our trust in you.

 2 Timothy 1, 8-10,   Bear your share of hardship for the gospel.

 Matthew 17, 1-9,    The Transfiguration.

Post Hurricane, Spring on Hilton Head Island.

On the Readings Genesis

Traditionally the first 5 books of the Jewish Scriptures (Christian Old Testament) were called the Torah and all five were attributed to Moses as their author. Modern Biblical scholars say definitely not.

In fact, Genesis and the other 4 books of the Torah (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) were most likely written in the 5th and 4th centuries before Christ, so during and after the Babylonian captivity (dated around 555 BC).

The Jewish people had been defeated, their temple destroyed, and they were in captivity in Babylon. They knew that the southern tribes of Israel, when they were defeated and taken captive, had basically disappeared, being absorbed by intermarriage with their captors.

To avoid a similar outcome, their oral tradition was written down to give the Jewish people a history and a strong identity. The emphasis was on a special covenant with God. This covenant included many laws and practices touching every aspect of their lives. They left no doubt as to what it meant to be an Israelite, a Jew.

Today’s Lenten readings have connected the words spoken to Abraham in Genesis “you are blessed”, with the words spoken in Matthew’s Transfiguration story “listen to him.”

 A riot of colors, red, white, and pink, everywhere.

Homily:  

To understand the context of the Transfiguration story we need to remember: Matthew wrote this Gospel for the early Jewish community, now Christian, living in Jerusalem. They would know well all the books of the law and the prophets, including the first, Genesis, and the last prophet, Malachi. 

In today’s reading Matthew is referencing that last named prophet in the OT. (Read Malachi. 4:4-6)

So, in the last paragraph of the last book of the OT—and the early Jewish Christians Matthew was addressing knew it well—Malachi reminds the Jewish people of Moses, the greatest leader of them all, who took them out of slavery in Egypt, led them to the promised land and gave them the law spoken by God, also on a mountain top.

And Malachi says, “I’m sending Elijah the prophet to clear the way for the Big Day of God.”

So, as Matthew set the scene, here’s the picture: On a mountain top—where else?—that’s where in Scripture all important meetings with God happened—Moses appears representing the law and Elijah appears representing the prophets, and Jesus is transfigured before Moses and Elijah and right in front of the 3 disciples, his face and clothes shining as white as sun light.

That event, in Matthew’s story, is Malachi’s Big Day of God—the proclamation of Jesus as the new Moses, the new Elijah, the long-awaited Messiah. The disciples are told Jesus is the one to listen to now.

Hilton Head is 90% cleaned up.  A long way from how it looked at Thanksgiving.

That’s our message too. (As it turned out there were actually four ‘Big Day of God’ events: Jesus’ Baptism, His Transfiguration, His Crucifixion/Resurrection, and His Ascension/ Pentecost.) An interesting difference in the Eastern and Western Christian churches: the Western Church was more influenced by the story of the Crucifixion/Resurrection. E.g., some Catholic saints displayed stigmata (e.g., Saint Francis, Padre Pio).

The Eastern Church was more influenced by the story of the Transfiguration; Eastern Orthodox saints never reported stigmata; they were often described as transfigured by the inner light of grace (e.g., Saints Seraphim and Silouan).

Remember how for several weeks Stack helped us reflect on the questions of who gives us light and to whom do we give light? Guess what? The Transfiguration story takes us right there again, showing Jesus all lit up, as something to see, as the one to listen to, the one to learn from.

How do we shine as people of the light? One challenge is living like Jesus: accepting life as it comes to us, with its joys and delights, its pain and grief.

Another is living like God of Psalm 103: being “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in kindness.”

Another is living like the people of this community do: Look around you: Name how these people shine for you? Name the ways they give light in your life. Look at yourself: how do you give light to others around you?

Another is being more like the little children: accepting ourselves–even our innocence, being bold, living in the present, chilling, receiving and sharing with such ease.

Can we do this? What do you say?

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

Readings:

Isaiah  60, 1-6,  Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem.

Psalm 72,  Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Ephesians  3, 2-3, 5-6,  You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace.

Matthew 2, 1-12, Behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem.

Emma says, Welcome, Everybody."

 Isaiah observations & reminders:

Who.  This is Isaiah III, the third of three.  

Time.  The Jewish people have been released from slavery in Babylon and are back in a devasted Jerusalem.  Around 555 before Christ.

Message:  consolation and encouragement.   The splendor of Jerusalem will shine again.

Leo and his daddy coming to work.

 Two Wise Men from the East

We all have people who are our models.  This morning in celebrating the Epiphany, I would like to tell you about two wise men from the east who have been models for me. 

The first is Julius Neyerere who was the first president of Tanzania when the country became independent in 1961.  I admire him first of all because he was maybe the first president of an African country to voluntarily retire from the presidency, which he did in 1985, after almost 25 years.  He was president all during my time in Tanzania.

Georgie coming to work.

Equally admirable to me was that he went to Mass every morning.  Yes, he was a Catholic and a very approachable person.  He & his family lived in a simple house in Dar es Salaam, the capital and he was open to seeing anyone.  He was really interested in the welfare of his people.  The country was poor but peaceful while I lived there.

Cowboy Cole and Zoe at work.

My second model from the east has been in the news this past month of December, because he just died at 95 years of age.  He was Nelson Mandela of South Africa.  He was and is a model for me because of at least 3 things.

First, he was in prison all during my ten years in East Africa.  In fact, he was in prison almost 30 years.  That knocks me out.  I remember the loneliness I felt in Tanzania at times and I was not even in prison.

Buddy and pal with his sister, Zoe.

During that time on three occasions he was offered conditional release.  He refused and demanded unconditional release.  Wow. 

But what really knocks me is that when he was released around 1990, he held no grudges and took no revenge.  On the contrary, he cooperated with some of the people who imprisoned him to govern the country with equality.

Tori in a contemplative mood.

A famous move he made once was when he supported the white national rugby team in a major match with the team from another country.

A second move he made wins my admiration.  He was elected president of South Africa in 1994.  At the end of his term in 1999, as he had promised, he declined to run again, but retired.  Phenomenal.  Would that some other African countries could follow that example.

Thirdly, all of Nelson’s adult life he fought for democracy, equality, and education.

C.C. helping to light the candles.

When he was on trial facing the death penalty or life, which he eventually received, he stated,

“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Who are your models and why?

Kayla helping to light the candles.

Readings:

Acts 4,  34, 32-35  The community of believers was of one heart and mind.

Psalm 118,    Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.

1 John 5, 1-6,   Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God.

 John  20, 19-31,  Thomas.

Brandon, our greeter, opens the door and says, "Welcome, Everybody."

Acts reminders:

Author: Luke, the same who wrote the gospel.  He was an educated, urbane Jew.

Date: the years 75-80 

Subject: This is a travel log, detailing the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome and the Mediterranean in between.

Today: we have a passage pretty universally admittedly idealistic.  All is perfect and harmonious.   We view a community which is a commune, a utopian vision of life and the foundation of communism.

Sienna, too, says, "Hi, Folks, Welcome."

Do Not be Unbelieving, But Believe 

This week Rosemary and I will head south to Mobile, Alabama, where two events are taking place.  First, we plan another reunion of my old ’58 class Jesuits will get together.  Secondly, 50 years ago we graduated from Spring Hill College and there is a homecoming event staged by the college.

Of course, all this has me reflecting fondly on our years together.  Three memories.

And, of course, Brooklyn and her rabbit say, "Hi, Folks."

First, there was a neat spirit among the 25 or so guys I entered with.  Most of these guys were amazingly normal, intellectually gifted, and some were amazing athletes. 

Secondly, as a group we lived a rigorous monastic life.  Silence, formal prayer times, work, study, and three recreation afternoons, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.  We wore a black cassock & cincture or we wore long sleeved shirts and long pants, even to play touch football & baseball in 100 degree heat & Gulf Coast humidity.  We took only three showers a week, a left over reflection of the old Catholic phobia about nakedness. 

Welcome, Cathy, back from Egypt.

There is a story funny today about the odor or sanctity.  This was how you could tell a fake Jew from a true Catholic during the time of Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain, say 1492.  Catholics did not bathe, Jews did bathe once a week.  Guess what the odor of sanctity was.

The third thing I remember is our life at Spring Hill College.  For me it was a marvelous release from a cloistered life to life on a campus with guys and girls, not that we were allowed to, as it was termed, fraternize with the college kids.

Harper, too, is delighted to have her grandmother back home.

I graduated 50 years ago with a degree in secondary ed, maybe grooming myself for administration in one of our 6 regional high schools.  I also spent the three years studying Catholic philosophy in Latin.  It was totally boring to me.  We had the adversaries and we had to learn how to out argue them.  We took our finals in Latin.

Just in case you were wondering who is handling our security, Leo, oops, no that's Batman.

It was during these three years that a lot of my classmates began to question the whole process.  It was Vatican II time, the murder of John Kennedy and Martin Luther King.  At this time I never questioned.  I just went along.  I admired the guys, but was content.  I survived because I played a lot of touch football and I took care of a fleet of boats & motors we used at a villa across Mobile Bay.  I could go there every weekend and for two marvelous weeks in the summer.  We also had three hot, excellent meals a day.

Robyn, the dear grandmother of Sienna and Brooklyn.

The overall training made me grow up quickly.  I look back now, however, am somewhat embarrassed, and ask myself how could I believe in some of those practices.  And I know.  It was believe, believe in the process, in the company, in those who have gone through this before me, and look at them, how successful they are.

Doubting Thomas, the subject of our Gospel today, is a hero of mine.  I think I would like to have been more like him in those early years.  Which would have been impossible at the time, I know. I believed.   Paradoxically, I think the training itself ultimately gave me the self-confidence and intellectual curiosity to enable me to have doubts & questions.  Want to know when I started questioning?  East Africa.

Our generous communion helpers.

The danger with the "do not be unbelieving, but believe" statement is that it is a "do not think" statement.  I become a sheep following the footsteps of whoever is in front of me with a feeling of security.  Doubts can be scary, questions confusing.  Without them I am less than fully human. 

Like with Thomas, what are your doubts & questions.  What do you do about them and how do you feel about them?

The music presented by Wendy, Shonda, Bethany, and Ray will take you to a different zone.