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Genesis 3:  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.

2 Corinthians 4:  For we know that if our earthly dwelling, a tent, should be destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven.

Mark 3:  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

Aviana went to the Beauty Parlor today

 

John Cade's Homily for Corpus Christi Sunday  Download 06-02-24 Homily-Corpus Christi

 

 

Wisdom 1, God did not make death

Psalm 30, I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me    

2 Corinthians 8, You excel in every respect

Mark 5, Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well.

 

 

Welcome to the Ekes girls, Marlene, Mabel, & Cindy.

 

Romeos, Welcome!    Jason's Deli, 1:00, Friday. June 25.  

 

All of you who attended Mass on line this past Sunday are welcomed this Sunday.  We are circa 35 people.   

 

 

Happy Fathers' Day!

 

Another Reminder for Sunday, June 27, 2021.

Here are the links for Sunday:

Readings: Nehemiah 8, 2-10; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 12, 12-30; Luke 1, 1-21

Nehemiah – The book of Nehemiah takes place during the Babylonian captivity. Three main characters play roles, though the first two are not mentioned in today’s reading. Cyrus is the benevolent ruler of Babylon. Nehemiah is the Jew Cyrus puts in charge of restoring the city of Jerusalem and the temple. Ezra, the central character of today’s reading, is a priest & law scholar.

We arrive on the scene after Nehemiah has established Jerusalem. The people have assembled in the town center and asked Ezra to read to them the law that orders their new lives. We hear part of the reading, a part that emphasizes rejoicing.

1 Corinthinians – During the time of Paul the Greek city of Corinth was almost as significant as Athens. Paul had established a community there and in his letter he is offering his advice to the people.

Chapter 13 is Paul’s famous letter about love being kind & patient. Chapter 12, our reading today, offers an almost amusing analogy of the community to a body. We are parts of the body and consequently we are important, making our unique contributions.

Liberty to Captives and Sight to the Blind – It was 21 years ago that the Jesuit superior in Nairobi told me in a letter that I should go back to the States for good. I was shocked and downcast by the news. It took me some years to get over it.

This spring Rosemary, Mary Ellen, & I will return for my first visit. Something I had hoped I would do, but never knew for sure.

In my 10 years there, I did two basic things. First, I helped establish a spiritual center-retreat house on the edge of Nairobi, Kenya. We bought 39 acres with two houses on the edge of a stream across from the Nairobi game park. In fact one night coming in late, another Jesuit & I (Louie Lambert) saw a giraffe crossing our front lawn.

The second thing I did was to help create spiritual growth & human maturity seminars, which we gave to priests, nuns, and bishops in Tanzania, the country just south of Kenya. I coordinated a mobile team of 2-3 priests and a Dutch nun.

These seminars were residential and lasted 1, 2, or 4 weeks. They were marvelous events with all races and men & women. We even gave a number of the seminars in Uganda during the days of Idi Amin.

All during my time in Kenya & Tanzania, I used to reflect upon what I was doing over there. I did not want to be considered a missionary, because I saw the negative effects of the cultural imperialism that came with the missionaries. For instance, drums were forbidden at Masses some places because they were considered pagan.

What did motivate me was the line in today’s gospel, "I come to give sight to the blind and liberty to captives." This still motivates me. I take the line metaphorically, not literally. For instance, this is why I talk often about the fundamental option instead of mortal-venial sin. I know my spirituality has moved from blindness to better sight, from prison to greater liberty. Otherwise, I would not have had the courage to get married.

I suggest that we, too, are challenged to help others see better. We do it with little kids. We do it with senior citizens. What a gift to help a person see that they are good and not bad.

This is what Jesus says in the gospel that he is doing. It is what I hoped I was doing in Kenya & Tanzania. It is what we are all challenged to do today.

Name one person you can touch into better sight, greater liberty.

Download the homily as an mp3 file (8751.1K).

Special Thanks:
For reading, Alexandra & Mary Ellen
For the Altar Bread, Linda Fleming
For Serving, Carmen & Ashley
For the Altar & cake, Margie Dugan & David & Alexandra
For the Books & Communion Cups, Roy & Carol Strom, Beth  & Rob Robinson
For ushering & all sorts of jobs, Cliff Wright
For the music, Ray & Wendy & Hue

Here is the homily for Sunday.

Ezekiel

Ezekiel was the third great prophet with Isaiah and Jeremiah, because this author’s book is big like theirs, divided into 48 chapters.  Ezekiel is called by God to warn the Israelite people of their coming punishment and banishment to Babylon because of their infidelity to God and his law.  Ezekiel starts out about 600 years before Jesus lived and before the Babylonian captivity. Ezekiel’s prophecies continue through the captivity and the return of the Jewish people to Israel.

                                                                              

Homily

The book of Ezekiel is about warning people to get it together. The Gospel story has a similar directive to warn or confront a friend of their need for correction.  I want to say a word about that difficult directive.  The formula given in Matthew is 1) By yourself, speak your hurt to your friend and try to work it out; 2) take one or two others and confront your friend; and 3) take it to the community for mediation.  The smartest statement in Matthew may be admitting that these three steps might not achieve the desired end, and then you start over from scratch (or you drop it).  The point I want to make is that human relationship is probably the most difficult thing we do as humans and that healing hurt is what we’re all about.

An example is a personal case I have talked about before, between my sisters and me.   

1) Two of my sisters felt hurt and upset by each other’s actions in regards to our sister Carol’s care in a nursing home. Our older sister had been in charge of managing Carol’s care.  The sister who lives in the town where Carol’s nursing home was visited Carol and checked up on her every day. The older sister and the local sister didn’t seem able to speak respectfully to or listen well with each other. Often they would cancel out one another’s directives about Carol’s care. So Step 1 didn’t really happen.

2) Their inability to connect work together as co-caregivers led to step 2 and my involvement. Our older sister asked me to be present at a meeting with the local sister and our youngest sister, and an ombudsman representing Carol. This was an awkward meeting.  Since the home had complained about the local sister’s intrusive and disruptive behavior at the home, and threatened to ask us to remove Carol from the home, I and our youngest sister sided with our older sister in the matter. In theory this meeting had the potential of bringing us together for Carol’s sake.  In reality the process pitted two sisters and a brother against Carol’s local sister and set limits on that sister’s behavior as regards the nursing home and its staff.  No real listening to one another happened.

3) That takes us to Step 3: As Catholic Christians we no longer have a tradition of taking one’s hurts to the church community for mediation.  That venue in this time is the court.  Carol’s local sister took the matter to the court and she ultimately gained legal management over Carol’s care.  This result was probably beneficial to Carol as the push and pull about her welfare and treatment ended, and Carol’s local sister continued to visit and care for her till Carol died 1½ years ago. The family breach, however, hardened, and my sisters remain estranged from one another. 

 

Do I think I am alone in having family hurts that remain unresolved?  No, I don’t. In 44 years as a counselor, I have known many relationships that are stuck in their hurt.  Do I lose hope for them or for my own family relationships?  No I don’t.  Today’s second reading from Paul to the Romans, is a clue to our hope: everything is summed up by love, and there’s no accounting for how or when love will find expression. Period.

Finally, going back to Ezekiel, near the end of his book (in Chapter 37) Ezekiel talks about God’s promise, when times were the darkest, to raise up the people of Israel and help them get it together and walk back to their promised land.  His point was that, even if we are dead and gone and our bones are dried up, even then God is with us raising us up. Ezekiel’s poetic words were turned into a spiritual I remember singing as a child: “Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones….I hear the Word of the Lord” …  your toe bone connected to your foot bone, your foot bone connected to your ankle bone….

 

My question for you is: Who has been Ezekiel in your life, confronting you and giving you hope in stuck times?

And when have you been the Ezekiel in someone else’s life?

 

 

 

Genesis 2: The Man said, "Finally! Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh! Name her Woman for she was made from Man."   Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh.

Hebrews 2:  Since the One who saves and those who are saved have a common origin, Jesus doesn't hesitate to treat them as family.

Mark 10:  In the original creation, God made male and female to be together.  Because of this, a man leaves father and mother, and in marriage he becomes one flesh with a woman – no longer two individuals, but forming a new unity.

 

John in Montreal in September

 

 

Another Reminder for 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 6, 2024

Readings:

Sirach 3, 17-18, 28-29,   Conduct your affairs with humility.

Psalm 68,  God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.

Hebrews 12, 18-19, 22-24,  You have approached Mount Zion.

Luke 14, 1, 7-14, Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.

 

 

Sirach observations

Author :  The author is
Sirach or Joshua, a Jewish scribe.  The
book of 51 chapters is one of the “in between books,”  more or less 12 of them.  In other words, their genuiness is
questioned.  The Catholic Church accepts
them; the Protestants don’t. 

Date: 
about 200 years before Christ. 

Subject:   Ethics, norms for good Jewish living.  For example, “Do not compliment a person on
his good looks,” (11, 2), or “Never abandon an old friend; you will never find
a new one who can take his place,” (9, 10), or “Friendship is like wine, it
gets better as it gets older,” (9, 10), or Don’t prevent the poor from making a
living, or keep them waiting in their need,” (4,1).

Today’s subject:  Humility.

Sources: Good News Bible

 

 

Invite the
poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.

I would like to speak on the line about inviting the poor and crippled rather
than my friends and wealthy neighbors. 
To give meaning to the idea, and in remembrance of 9/11, I would like to tell a true story about a
Delta flight. 

Some of you may have seen the story Friday in the blog.  It is quite touching.  For those who did not read the story, let me
fill you in.  It has a lot to say about inviting people and 9/11.

The day is 9/11.  Delta 15 is
about 5 hours out of Frankfurt, Germany on its homebound run to Atlanta.  A flight attendant is telling the story. 

 The plane is over the north Atlantic when the pilots tell her to come
straight to the flight deck.  She enters
and notices the team is all business. 
They tell her that they have been informed that all U.S. airports are
closed to commercial traffic.  Land as
quickly as possible wherever possible.

They turn back 400 miles and land at Gander, New Foundland.  About 20 other planes are already on the
ground.  Time is around 11:00 A.M.

They did not inform the passengers about the real reason for the odd landing
while in the air.  On the ground they
give them the real reason, though they only knew that some planes had been
hijacked. In an hour 53 planes are packed on the runway, 10 thousand people in
a town of 10 thousand.

 

They are treated well, but have to spend the night on the plane and are finally informed they may deplane at
11:00.  Promptly at
11:00 a convoy of school buses arrives and everyone exits and is passed through
immigration. 

At this point the crew gets taken to a hotel in Gander and the
passengers disappear.  That evening they
discover the reality.  They remain in
Gander two days.

At the end of the two days, everyone is reunited and they board Delta
15.  It turns out the passengers are actually
in a really congenial mood, calling each other by first names, sharing their
experiences, exchanging phone numbers, and even crying over the hospitality.

What happen?  All of Gander and
the neighboring villages welcomed them with open arms.  They cleared space, housing, school buildings, auditoriums,
everything.  Schools were closed and the
students were told to play host.  Food
was provided, hiking trips took place, boat trips, visits to cafes and
bakeries. 

The passengers had been put up by the inhabitants of a little village
called Lewisporte. 

 

Once airborne again, a passenger approached this flight attendant and
asked if he might use the mike.  Normally
prohibited, but because of the spirit and the uniqueness of the experience she
said, “Of course.” 

The man, a doctor from Virginia, says to everybody that because of the
extraordinary hospitality of the people he would like to propose that a college
fund for the students be set up.  He
would be willing to establish it and he said he would match the amount.  After passing the hat, $14,000 was collected,
which he matched.

As of today a million and a half has been raised and over 100 kids have
received help with college.

What do you think?  Hospitality?   Yes, over the
top. 

 

Gratitude?  Yes, over the top.

Rare?   No.  I
saw it this summer in Des Moines, Iowa. 
I saw it a week ago in Wichita Falls. 

You, where do you see hospitality and gratitude?  When do you show it?

 

Source: 
Download Delta 15 & 9-11, 8-30-13