Readings: Jesus' Entry into Jerusalem at the beginning, John 12, 12-16; then first reading, Isaiah 50, 4-7; Psalm 22; Philippians 2, 6-11; The Passion, Mark 14 & 15.

We have no homily today because the Passion reading from Mark takes up so much time that it is impossible to add a homily.  Next week, Easter Sunday.

Note on palms:

• Egyptians used them to cover mummies.  The palms were considered prophylactics, able to ward off diseases, like our vaccinations.

• Greeks had the goddess Nike bestowing palms on winners of competitions.  There was a legend that palm trees were so strong that they could stand erect even when burdened with a heavy load.  The winners were seen to have overcome heavy loads to win. 

• People in East Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, & Uganda, even today use palm branches and banana plantation leaves to celebrate at parades.

Sources: National Catholic Reporter, NCRonline.org, Fr. Hays, 4-4-09; plus my own experience in East Africa

Picture 1:  Entrance with sprinkling

Picture 2:  Teresas & Zack

Picture 3:  Rosemary with her sister Clare & brother Peter

Readings:

Isaiah  5, 1-7,  Let me now sing of my friend, my friend’s song concerning his vineyard.

 Psalm 80,   The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Philippians 4, 6-9,  Have no anxiety at all.

Matthew 21, 33-43,  There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. 

Shonda says, "Welcome, Folks, I can't sing today, but I want to be here."

Isaiah observations–

What:  My favorite prophet again.  When you note this is Isaiah, chapter 5, you can make some pretty educated guesses, like the following 3:

1.  This is Isaiah 1, the first of the three major composers.  Chapter 1-39 are Isaiah 1.

2.  This Isaiah is writing before the Babylonian Captivity, which took place around 555 before Christ.

3.    You might guess correcty, then, that he is criticising the Israelite people for their bad behavior.

Our passage:  In fact, he is highly critical.  He uses the metaphor or symbol of a vineyard.  Just so you know ahead of time, the vineyard is the people.  Watch what he says happens to the vineyard and why.  This, of course, is setting the stage for the gospel, which is about, you guessed it, another vineyard.  Even the responsorial Psalm is about the vineyard.

Guess what I just might talk about during the homily.

Celeste, home from France and Switzerland for the summer, says it is nice to be home.

We, The Vineyard

Folks, Rosemary & I have been to the vineyard of the Lord.  In fact, I have been twice during the month of September, Yosemite and now our boat trip on the Danube. 

I am still so influenced by my years as a Jesuit and the desire to live a simple life that I am embarrassed to talk about this cruise.  It cost money.  And I feel squeamish about spending.

Cathy & Harper getting ready for Halloween.

However, this trip was one of, if not the best of all the trips we have taken.  Let me mention three aspects, the natural beauty, the beauty of the staff, and the beauty of the group of people we randomly formed up with.

The natural beauty.  We certainly did travel through a section of Germany celebrated for its gorgeous vistas and its vineyards.  We visited some of the villages.

Kara says, "Time for Halloween yet?"

However, for me it was the Danube.  Especially at night.  We would open the curtains of our room and the sliding glass door.  6 feet below me was the Danube moving by, quiet with the exception of the swish of water as we powered up stream.  I would get up to visit the bathroom and return to just gaze. 

Secondly, the staff.  There were two in particular, the program director, Stein, and the concierge, Radi, a young woman with personality and glorious black hair.  But also, the staff down to the girl, Carmen, who watched over our room.  From the beginning when we walked on board and were welcomed with glasses of mimosas, to the end when there was a Viking agent waiting to help us at the Nuremburg airport at 3:45 A.M.  Great cordiality and hospitality.

The Danube at the Continental Divide (no strong current).

Thirdly, the people and especially our group.  On perhaps the 4^th night I noticed around 2:00 A.M. we were simply sitting in the river, not moving.  Turned out, a barge ahead of us had troubles and was blocking our entrance into a lock.  We spent that night and the next morning anchored in the river with other tour boats lined up behind us.  Not one complaint from the group.  In fact, we had a good time.

That good time was enhanced by the charm and cordiality of the group we ended up meeting and putting together, four couples.  Chicago, Philadelphia, Ontario, and Dallas  When it was discovered I was a former Jesuit priest, that led to many interesting conversations. 

Sunset on the Danube looking over the prow of the boat from the top deck.

Isaiah says that the vineyard of the Lord is the House of Israel.  The cruise ship the Viking Njord was the vineyard of the Lord.  You, We are the vineyard.

I can see it.  Can you see it?

Sunset looking over the prow from the top deck.

Apologies to everyone and to John for putting into last Sunday's blog the wrong homily from John's Mass, September 28.  Here is the correct homily,   Download Cade Homily 9-28-14

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 6, 1-7; Psalm 33, Lord, let your Mercy be upon Us, as we place our Trust in You; 1 Peter 2, 4-9; John 14, 1-12 

Sixth Sunday of Easter – Intro to the Reading

 Because we have been reading from Acts and Peter’s First Letter for the past several weeks I thought today I would focus on John’s Gospel.  It is very different from Matthew, Mark and Luke, better known as the Synoptic Gospels.  They were written earlier than John, and their style is more story or history.  Both Matthew and Luke start their gospels with an account of the birth of Jesus, Mark begins when John the Baptist baptizes Jesus as an adult at the Jordan.  St. John begins his gospel with the cryptic phrase “ in the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word was with God”.  John’s community was a group that had been evicted from the Jewish faith.  Thus in this gospel there is a great deal of animosity between Jesus and “the Jews”.  A few weeks ago I mentioned that one of the features of John’s gospel was to show that each of the major Jewish feasts have been reinterpreted by Jesus.  There is another way to look at the gospel.  The first part can be described as the Book of Signs, where Jesus does a whole lot of miracles.  The second half is the Book of Glory.  It is from Chapter 13 to the end.  But chapters 13 to 17 are the Last Supper and there are long monologues from Jesus to his disciples.  Incidentally John does not refer to them as apostles but always as disciples.  Four chapters are dedicated to the Last Supper.  Our reading today is taken from this section of the gospel.  And some of these chapters are repetitions. It suggests that the gospel has been reworked and added to by later writers, because the theme of not abandoning the disciples in today’s reading comes up again, almost word for word, two chapters later.  If there is anything, which becomes clear in the discussion during the last supper, it is that the disciples just do not understand Jesus’ mission. 

Homily

This past Sunday at Notre Dame College, during the graduation ceremonies, the Laetare Medal (“Truth is mighty, and it shall prevail.”) was presented to Sr. Mary Scullion and Joan McConnon for their work with Project H.O.M.E., which they both started some 30 years ago in Philadelphia.  During her acceptance speech, Sr. Mary made the following comment, which seemed to me to fit perfectly with what I wanted to talk about this morning.  She said, “our faith doesn’t give us answers, it gives us courage”. 

 Each of our readings today focus in one-way or another on the early Church.  We have just read from St. John’s Gospel Jesus trying to assure his disciples that even though He is going away, He isn’t going to be far away! 

 In the Acts of the Apostles we hear of early success as the community expands beyond Jerusalem to Samaria and Peter and John being sent to that little community to strengthen them with the Holy Spirit.

Finally in our reading from the Letter of Peter, Peter is writing to another little community, which needs encouragement.  They are surrounded by non-Christians and are feeling insecure in their faith.

 You would think that having been around for over 2,000 years these feelings of abandonment, weakness and the need for encouragement would be long gone – and yet I feel exactly as those early communities and those disciples felt, so long ago.

When Vatican II was held, there was a great sense of excitement.  It was said at the time that Pope John XXIII threw open the windows of the church and the Holy Spirit was able to get back in again.  There was a great sense of renewal and fresh new life in the church. 

 In recent times, with the huge exodus of Catholics from the church, that group who has left would make up the second largest church in America if they were together.  The decline of vocations to the priesthood, the shame and disgrace of the pedophile scandal, and with the current mighty efforts to undo much of what was done at the Second Vatican Council.  The church’s refusal to even consider discussing having women ordained priests, I feel that the Holy Spirit must have gone away again.

 This is why today’s readings are important for me.  I need to be reminded that in spite of all of this, the Holy Spirit is very much alive.  He is present in the hundreds of small faith communities such as ours, which are being formed all over the country.  In two weeks time in Detroit, over 40 of those communities will be gathering as the American Catholic Council to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Vatican II.  These little communities are led by the Spirit. They are celebrating God’s presence in their midst.  They are doing what we do each week.  Come together, listen to God’s Word, break bread together and reach out to those in need, whether it is the CCAC, the Plano Homes, MyFriend's House, Habitat for Humanity or the people in Tuscaloosa, AL whom you heard about last week.

 It is all of these things, which convince me that we are not abandoned.  The Holy Spirit is very present here in our community and in all of those other communities today.  That presence of the Holy Spirit may not give us the answers, but does give us the courage to follow Jesus’ command to love.

 
Picture 1:   Mass begins

Picture 2:   Offertory with Charlotte & Geri

Picture 3:   Communion Helpers

Picture 4:   Communion  

Picture 5:   Leo with his buddy, Richard

Readings:  Exodus 32, 7-14; Psalm 51, I will rise and go to My Father; 1 Timothy 1, 12-17; Luke 15, 1-32

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Intro to Readings

Our first reading from the Book ofExodus is a wonderful piece of writing!  There are two sections to the reading; the first is God expressing his anger to Moses because the people have made an idol. 

One very interesting human touch in the reading should be familiar to anyone who has had kids, when the kids have not been at their best.  The kids suddenly do not belong to one of the parents!  In our reading, the people are no longer “God’s people” but suddenly are Moses’ people!  The second section of the reading Moses turns the situation around convincing God not to destroy the people.

The second reading comes from Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. 

I suppose the first question that comes to mind is “who is Timothy”?  He has two letters from Paul!  Acts of the Apostles Chapter 16 tells us that Paul was in Lystra when he met with Timothy.  We are told who Timothy’s parents are and Paul took him with him on his missionary work, finally sending him to the community in Ephesus, and that is where Timothy was when our letter today was written to him, probably around the year 65 CE.  By this time Paul is in prison in Rome.  The reading ends with what we call a doxology, which is a short type of hymn, we have one when we pray the Eucharistic Prayer and the ending “Through him, with him etc.”  That is a doxology.  Paul simply tried to get the message that if he could be forgiven his sins, then anyone could!

Homily

The theme in each one of our readings today is the same “being lost and in need of God’s forgiveness, or being found”.  In our first reading from the Book of Exodus, recall that the people have been lead by Moses from slavery in Egypt and have wandered through the desert for many years.  Moses has gone up the mountain, Mount Sinai, to receive the 10 Commandments from God.  Meanwhile the people are tired of God and have built a golden calf to worship.  Needless to say, God is pretty upset.  They are about to get really lost, but Moses manages to talk God out of it!

Psalm 51 is our responsorial psalm and is a great favorite of mine.  Like St Paul, you have to be a great sinner to really appreciate this psalm.  There is a great awareness on the part of the writer, sometimes ascribed to King David, of how sinful he is.  “Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight”

In Paul’s letter to Timothy, Paul is telling him his own story as a way of encouraging Timothy and to all who feel lost.

Our gospel reading from Luke gives us three stories about losses.  If you look closely at all three stories, there is another theme running through them, that of “rejoicing”  When a sheep gets lost, he simply lies down and will not get up even when the shepherd finds him, which is why the shepherd picks him up and carries him. 

I think at times we too can fall into a similar pattern.  When we get lost we have a tendency to lie down and do nothing.  The readings today are a very loud reminder to us of God’s forgiveness.  Two thoughts to take away.  First, are we willing to accept God’s forgiveness and secondly are we able to bring that forgiveness to those around us who need to be picked up?

Picture 1:   Mass begins

Picture 2:   Anthony

Picture 3:   Michelle is ready

Picture 4:   Zoe, Michelle's second daughter, & Rich 

Readings: Exodus 3, 1-15; Psalm 103, The Lord is kind and merciful; 1 Corinthians 10, 1-12; Luke 13, 1-9

Third Sunday in Lent – Introduction to the Readings

Our readings today are definitely a reminder that there is a cultural influence in our readings, which was alive and well at the time of Jesus and unfortunately is still very much alive today.  Namely, if bad stuff happens to you, you must have deserved it and God is getting back at you!  In the gospel we will hear Jesus explain that the tower fell on the 18 people, but that didn’t mean they were bad.  That the people Pilate had put to death were not bad people.  But Jesus ends each of these examples with a scary warning – worse will happen to you if you don’t behave!!

In our second reading from Paul to the Corinthians we find Paul remembering the fate of the Jews who had escaped from Egypt with Moses and saying that God was not pleased with most of them and so they never made it out of the desert!!

It is readings like these that are bad PR for God.  They represent the view of the punishing God.  And yet a careful reading of Luke’s Gospel will show that when Jesus is asked about those who were killed and whether they were greater sinners than the rest, he is quite clear in his response “By no means” God does not operate that way.

The first reading I am saving to comment on in the homily.

Third Sunday in Lent – Homily

“Take off your shoes, you are standing on Holy Ground!”

Most of the time we are not really aware that we are standing on holy ground.  I do remember a few years ago, when Gayle and I were living in California we did a bit of camping.  In the early days of the camping we slept in the back of the Volvo wagon we had.  On one of our trips we had driven down Hwy 1 to San Simeon and pulled off the road just next to some sand hills.  We cooked our meal and as the sky darkened I suddenly became aware that we were on holy ground.  There was a full moon overhead, in the distance we could see the lights of Hearst Castle, the sounds of the waves came in over the sandhills from the Pacific Ocean.  I had a little transistor radio that my parents had given me for my 21st birthday, and I was able to get the BBC World Service broadcasting  the Last Night of the Prom Concerts!  It was glorious.

I think, occasionally we have moments like this when we are suddenly aware of God’s Creation, but sadly most of the time we are too busy to notice our surroundings.  Moses, in today’s first reading was reminded.

In the Gospel, we had an incident where 18 people had been killed by a falling tower.  Big News.  Last month we had 250,000 people killed in Haiti, old news.  We get too much news and we have become insensitive to so much around us.  There is too much demand on our time.  We come here each Sunday to try and take a bit of time out.  To listen to God’s Word and to remember that not only are we standing on Holy Ground, but that each person around us, not just today, but everyday, is representing God to us, and also an opportunity for us to represent God to them.

Readings:

Isaiah 49, 14-15,  I will never forget you.   

 Psalm 62,  Rest in God alone, my soul.

 1 Corinthians 4, 1-5,   Then everyone will receive praise from God.

 Matthew 6, 24-34,    Do not worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will take care of itself.

"Happy Mardi Gras, Everybody," say Cathy and Harper.

Isaiah observations and reminders—

Who, This is 2^nd Isaiah.

When, This is during the Captivity in Babylon, ca. 555 before Christ. 

Subject, The writer, the prophet, is trying to lift the spirits of his fellow slaves.  He gives them exquisite news, using God’s words, “I will never forget you.”  A short but touching cameo of consolation and hope. 

And from Kevin, "Welcome in, Folks."

Have a Happy Lent

I admit that Lent is my least favorite seasons of the year, mostly because of the emphasis on penance I encountered as a kid and during my early years as a Jesuit.  We did penance in those days.  I don’t think it was spiritually and psychologically healthy. 

Therefore, I would like to talk about how to have a Happy Lent.  A no dread zone.  And, I would add, a belief that God cares not a whit for us doing all sorts of penance.   

Tori, too, says, "Hi, Everybody."

Consequently, I have two points based on being people fully alive.  The first point focuses on self nurture and has two suggestions.

First, treat yourself each week of Lent.  Like take a special day off, go out to eat, like join us at Romeos or Juliettes, have some ice cream, and go for a drive (if possible with the traffic congestion).  In fact, because we have not had a day off since Thanksgiving, Rosemary, I, and Aviana are going to visit her sister in Hilton Head for a week. 

Hi, Vivian.  It is so nice to have you with us this morning.

Secondly, spend some quiet time in contemplation, especially with a focus on gratitude.  I just read about a guy who survived the Burma death camps.  He said he was never a prisoner, meaning he always focused on what he was grateful for whatever torment was going on around him.

The second half of this you will maybe hate me for bringing up.  But, here I go, exercise.  I want to keep you people alive, fully alive until you are ready to check out.  This really involves only 2-3 hours per week, 30 minutes a day for six days.  There are two types of exercise, cardio and strength. 

The Candle Man of The Week, Cole, at work. 

Cardio involves walking, riding a bike, and running.  A 30 minute walk around the neighborhood has amazingly positive effects. 

I can certainly vouch for how good I feel after I have done a spin class at the Jewish Community Center in the morning.  I do this Monday through Friday and it is marvelous.

Delivery day is here,  TODAY.   Do we have a doctor in the house?  
 

Strength is for muscle and bone, and involves things like yoga, Tai Chi, and weights.  It also includes doing things like gardening (even mowing the grass?), taking the stairs, walking from the outer edge of the parking lot, dancing, and house work (like vacuuming).

The goal in all of this is to be fully alive and happy until we arrive home. 

Offertory team, John & Connie, Scott & Lily

So, how are you going to have a Happy Lent?

Good article on exercise,  Download EXERCISE FOR LENT 2-

Bethany, when is my new play mate coming to visit me?