Reminder for Sunday, December 2, 2018, First Advent

Readings: Acts 9, 26-31; Psalm 22, I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people; 1 John 3, 18-24; John 15, 1-8

Acts: a review–

Date: 70-100 A.D.

Author: Luke wrote both the Gospel and Acts

Plan:Chapters 1-8 tell of the early community with focus on Peter & John and on the Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost.  The rest of the book focuses on Paul, his conversion and travels.

Our Selection: We finally have moved from chapters 3-4 with the focus on Peter & John and now in chapter 9 we focus on Paul.  What has happened is this.  In chapters 7 & 8  Stephen is stoned for being a Christian.  Paul is watching and approves.  At the beginning of chapter 9 Paul gets permission in Jerusalem to go to Damascus and round up more Christians so they can be put in prison and probably stoned.  

Just outside Damascus a bright light flashes around Paul and he falls to the ground.  A voice says, "Why do you persecute me, Saul?"  Paul asks the voice, "Who are you, Lord?"  The voice tells him to go into Damascus where he will be told what to do.  When he gets up he cannot see.  He spends three days in Damascus without eating or drinking.

Meanwhile the Lord appears to a Christian named Ananias and tells him to go bless Saul.  Ananias is afraid because he knows Paul's reputation.  But he goes and when Paul is blessed he can see again.  This is Paul's conversion and he sets out immediately talking in Damascus about what has happened to him.  Then Paul goes to Jerusalem and we read what happens there.

This selection talks about Paul, 3rd person, i.e., he did this, he did that.  Chapters 22 & 26 of Acts have Paul himself speaking, 1st person, about his conversion experience.  Biblical students suggest that Luke was not presenting an historical event so much as  emphasizing the power of the risen Lord.

Mothers' Day

In honor of Mothers' Day I have a story for all you moms.  The rest of you can tune out if you want.  In fact, you may go get a donut or a coffee or a juice.  Return after my usual 5 minute homily.

Let's say, for the story's sake, you have a son.  Say he's about 4 years old.  He tends to get into mischief. 

One day you are driving along in your car, not on a freeway but on a suburban street.  Your car starts to buck and cough.  What's wrong, you wonder.  It seems like the car is running out of gas, but the tank is more than half full.  Finally the car dies and you roll over to the side of the road.  You call AAA, they come, cannot get it started, and tow it to your garage. 

The man checks everything and it all seems okay.  Gas, oil, electric.  But it still seems to not be getting gas.  Finally, he checks the gas line for maybe a kink.  What does he find?  Water.  The tank had been filled with water.  Who did it?  Suspicions arise.  Mom goes home and begins to ask around.  "Anybody around her put water in my gas tank?"  Word has gotten around that this has caused a lot of trouble, so there is an atmosphere in the house.  Nobody says anything. 

Finally, with a little more questioning, a confession is forthcoming.  Suspicions were correct.  This 4 year old boy had filled the tank so his mom would not run out and have to pay the high price of gas.

What does mom do?

Same mom, another day.  She has been working around the house.  Beautiful day, kids are playing all up and down the block because it is safe.  She goes in and begins to arrange things to prepare the evening meal.  Eventually everyone comes in and has dinner. 

Asking everyone how their day was, she finally asks her 4 year old.  He was playing with his little buddy a couple of doors down.  They are inseparable.  But toward the end of the afternoon his mom asked him to come get in the car because they were going to go out for a bit.  Our little boy could walk home on his own a couple of doors away.  Everyone finishes telling their story, they finish dinner, and the older kids go upstairs to finish homework while mom cleans up the kitchen with our 4 year old playing around on the floor.  All is peaceful.

Half way through cleaning up the doorbell rings.  The other little boy's mother  is outside and asks if she could talk for a moment.  Does she know where her little boy is?  Sure, in the kitchen.   

Turns out when the woman came home she opens the door and finds her bottom floor flooded with water.  She immediately thinks of a broken pipe or a toilet.  She runs around but cannot find where it is coming from.  Finally as she passes the front door, she sees the culprit.  The garden hose has been stuck through the mail box in the door and is running full blast.  She turns it off and has suspicion. 

She talks with her little boy.  Yes, they had been playing with the hose before they left in the car.  Yes, it probably was still on when they left.

The neighbor mother narrates this event to mom.  More suspicion.  The little boy has been listening and disappeared.  Finally, he comes out from where he was hiding and admits he had put the hose into the mail box.  Why had he done it?  He says he does not know.

What would you do, Mom? 

To aggravate the event, the family had to have the whole downstairs of their 2 story Tudor replaced.  The neighbor, however, never was irritated or critical, in fact, very forgiving and accepting.  Fortunately, her husband worked for an insurance company.

What would you do, Mom?

I see three possibilities. 

First, if you are really mad and embarrassed, after each of these events you might spank the boy, or get dad to spank the boy.  Got to teach him not to do stupid things. 

Secondly, if you are less mad, you can give him a firm admonition, dress him down, with, maybe, a threat of severe consequences.  Even make him stay home and not play outside for a week or so. 

Thirdly, you might accept that he does crazy things and does not know why.  And put your hands gently on him and hold him.  Maybe tell him it okay.  The touch of mom is so healing and comforting.  All women have it.

I am not the hero of these stories, but I have been there.  I know the guilty feeling and how lame it sounded when I said, "I don't know why."  A hint: this little boy grew up in West Hempstead, NY, the next to the last of six.

So, what would you like to do, Mom?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-05-10.mp3

Picture 1:  Beginning Mass, T.J. helping

Picture 2:  Birthdays, Stephen, Ron, Abby (17 today); Anniversary, Rosemary; 1st Communion, Ginny

Picture 3:  Mothers' Blessing left

Picture 4:  Mothers' Blessing right

Lev 13:  “The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’

1 Corinthians 10:  Brothers and sisters, Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

Mark 1: Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.”

 

 

 

Says Cindy, "Welcome in, Everybody."

 

Readings:

Isaiah , 49, 3, 5-6,  I will make you a light to the nations.

       (This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.)

Psalm 40,  Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.

1 Corinthians 1, 1-3,  Paul, called to be an apostle

John 1, 29-34, I saw the spirit come down

 

 

And never to be left behind, Ben, too, says, "Come in, Everybody.  It is delightful here."

 

 

I will make you a light to the nations

Have you people ever heard of a woman named Samantha Elandary?  No?  Never heard of her?  You must be living under a rock. 

No.  Actually I had never heard of her until I saw her at choral presentation last fall at Richardson High School.  All singers were Parkinson persons.  She  is my choice for being a light to the nations.  Certainly she is a light for me.  Why?

 

 

The Candle Girls in action.

 

 

Samantha, a graduate of UNT with a degree in speech pathology, established in 2005 a non- profit program called Parkinson Voice Project. 

One of the delightful little surprises of Parkinson is that the person slowly loses voice strength, eventually becoming almost mute and faced with whispering to communicate.  I personally have noticed that I am developing a little bit of this.  Ask my buddies at our Friday Romeo’s luncheons.  Maybe even Rosemary would love me more if I would reach this stage.

 

 

 

Buddy reading the Candle Blessing.

 

Samantha’s program at Parkinson Voice Project has two levels.

1. Individual speech therapy one on one with a professional therapist.  I am on this level.  I started in January a 4 week program of 3 sessions a week, 2 sessions with my therapist,  & a third session with a group of people on this beginner ‘s level.

 

 

The communion team.

 

I have a workbook with phrases I am instructed to read and speak with intent.  Speaking with intent is the key.

2. The second level takes place at the end of my month and involves group sessions where I am challenged to speak with intent loudly.  I’ll tell you more about this in February, when I graduate into the group therapy sessions.

 

 

I'm jealous, Ben!

 

I cannot tell you how consoled I felt the one time I was in the group session.  All of us had the same problem and I felt a sense of strength & of being among kindred spirits.

There are today over 400 participants in the Parkinson Voice Project .   It is also training therapists from other corners of the U.S.  The program started by Samantha, meeting such a great need, is the only one in the world. 

 

 

Welcome in.

 

The program operates on a pay it forward arrangement.  I have not been asked for a nickel.  Participants are obviously chipping in. 

In fact, at the fall choral presentation we were told about a financial challenge Samantha was given.  Collect 1 million dollars and a benefactor would donate $500 thousand.  Samantha & her team succeeded. 

 

 

 

The Best Team.

 

Samantha Elandary is my Light to the Nations, a person who makes God’s touch reach to all the corners of the earth.

Who is your Samantha?  How are you a Light?

 

 

You are The Best Salesgirl for Girl Scout cookies, Dearest Harper.

 

 

Community Finances:   

  Expenses: $   340.00

  Outreach: $   110.00

 

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Paul gets a cookie for his birthday

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

Lord Jesus Christ,

who are called the Prince of Peace,

who are yourself our peace and reconciliation,

who so often said, “Peace to you,”

grant us peace.

Make all men and women witnesses of

truth, justice, and brotherly love.

Banish from their hearts whatever might endanger peace.

Enlighten our rulers that they may guarantee

and defend the great gift of peace.

May all peoples of the earth become as brothers and sisters.

May longed-for peace blossom forth

and reign always over us all.

Amen.

Prayer for Peace– by St. John XXIII

 

Readings: Sirach 35, 12-18; Psalm 34, The Lord hears the Cry of the Poor; 2 Timothy 4, 6-8, 16-18; Luke 18 9-14.

Introduction to the Readings 

A brief word about our first reading.  We have heard from Sirach eight weeks ago on the twenty second Sunday of Ordinary Time.  At that time I had told you that this book was written by Sirach, it is part of the Wisdom literature, and probably written around the year 180 BCE.  The writing is also known at Ecclesiasticus, because early in the life of the church it was one of the most used of the Old Testament books.  I love that contrast between the statement in the first two lines “The LORD is a God of justice, who knows no favorites” with what then follows, namely how God hears the cry of the poor, the widows, the orphans, the oppressed. 

 

Our second reading is the final one from Paul’s Letters to Timothy.  We have been reading from these two letters for the past six weeks.  The letter is perhaps the last one written by Paul from prison in Rome before he is executed.  The two letters to Timothy and the letter to Titus, form what is known as the Pastoral Letters.  The style is very different from Paul’s other letters.  He is writing to these two to encourage them as leaders in communities that Paul had set up.  Remember, Timothy, who is mentioned in Luke’s Acts Chapter 16, was a companion to Paul.  Our reading today is the conclusion of the second letter and sounds like Paul’s farewell.

 

 Homily

 Main Point – A simple parable, humility trumps pride, especially when we pray.  I could stop there but won’t because there is a second layer to this simple parable.  We need to understand the setting for the story.  The two men going into the temple were not like two men going into church here any afternoon. 

 First of all, they were going into the Temple in Jerusalem.  They were going into a “Prayer of Atonement” service held each afternoon in the Temple.  The Pharisee would have naturally joined with the other Pharisees at the front and the tax collector would have hung around inside the door.  In the eyes of the Law, or Torah, the Pharisee was a very good person, and what he declared went even beyond the Law. 

 Where he failed, was realizing that everything about his “holiness” was due to his own efforts and nothing came from God.  The tax collector on the other hand was all too well aware of his shortcomings and acknowledges that he is totally dependant on God and His mercy.

 

 Our catholic tradition has always given me the impression that if I was good, went to Mass every Sunday, obeyed the commandments, fasted at the appropriate time etc. then I was all set for heaven.  It would seem that God had very little to do in it.  And of course this was the whole crux that caused the Reformation. 

 One would think we could have learned from our mistakes.  At that time Martin Luther was appalled at the practice of selling indulgences, as if folks could purchase their way into heaven.  His position was: “Salvation by faith alone” and the church preferred to add that “good works” were also important. 

 But back to the two in the temple.  There are several interesting little hints given which tell us a whole lot more.  The Pharisee stands apart, he does not seem to belong to the gathered community.  When the tax collector prays “have mercy on me a sinner” the word he uses in the original Greek is not the common word “eleison” which we use when we say Lord have mercy, or Kyrie Eleison, but a very different word connecting to the liturgy which he was part of that afternoon. 

 In other words the tax collector saw himself as part of a community, and absolutely in need of God’s forgiveness, the Pharisee saw only himself!!  It was being part of a community and recognizing his total need for God, which allowed for him to go home justified. 

 
 

 The message:  we must be aware that even though we are here each Sunday, this should not lead us down the same path of the Pharisee. 

Picture 1:  Mass with Tony

Picture 2:  Tom, Lynda, & Nina packing up food for this Saturday at the Habitat House

Picture 3:  Maggie with her dad & granddad, Tom & Bob

Picture 4:  Sienna with her mom & dad, Erin & Payton

 

Isaiah 50:  The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced;

Philippians 3:   … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

Luke:  The Passion of the Lord

 

 

Hue reading from Luke 

 

 

Thanks…

Music,    Ben 

Readers,  Hue, Claire, Tom, Lynda, The Crowd (Rob, Beth, John, Connie, Kevin and Geri)

Gospel,     

Homily,  

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,      Mike & Hue & Richard

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

 

Claire, the Narrator, for the reading of the Passion of the Lord

 

 

Lynda, the Voice, and Tom, Christ, for the reading of the Passion of the Lord

 

 

 

Readings: Download 04-10-22 – Readings – Palm Sunday

Homily:  

 

 

The Crowd (Rob, Beth, Connie, John, Kevin and Geri), for the reading of the Passion of the Lord

                                                 

 

 

Remember these special people:

For John Stack having a hard time right now with a bad back;  For Sandra who has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma;   For Lambrini, John Cade's wife who is dealing with cancer;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;    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 and for a friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition;   For Sir Charlie & Jan;  All of Shonda's dear family;

 

                           

The Kiss of Peace

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 daughters, Lisa & Lauren;     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 baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation & friends, Annie, a mom of 3 kids and Michael ;    for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

The Kiss of Peace
                   

                  

Birthdays:   Tom Zurchin 4/11

Anniversaries:   

      

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $  580.00

Outreach: $  

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

                                    

Barb receiving a cupcake

Rosemary's Blessing:  

 

Gethsemane            by Mary Oliver

The grass never sleeps.
Or the roses.
Nor does the lily have a secret eye that shuts until morning.
Jesus said, wait with me. But the disciples slept.
The cricket has such splendid fringe on its feet,
and it sings, have you noticed, with its whole body,
and heaven knows if it ever sleeps.
Jesus said, wait with me. And maybe the stars did, maybe the wind wound itself
into a silver tree, and didn't move, maybe
the lake far away, where once he walked as on a
blue pavement,
lay still and waited, wild awake.
Oh the dear bodies, slumped and eye-shut, that could not
keep that vigil, how they must have wept,
so utterly human, knowing this too
must be a part of the story.