Sunday Homily for November 25, 2018, Christ the King, B cycle

Readings: Isaiah 49, 3-6; Psalm 40, Here am I, Lord, I come to do your will; 1 Corinthians 1, 1-3; John 1, 29-34 (apologies for the wrong reading the past 2 blogs)

Isaiah reminders—

 Author: This is Isaiah #2, the composer of chapters 40-55.

 Date:  Ca. 575 before Christ.  The Jewish people of Jerusalem are in the Babylonian Captivity.

 Today’s Message: Hope and promise of a better time with emphasis on 1. being a Servant of the Lord, and 2. being a Light to the Nations.

 
 

A Servant of the Lord, a Light to the Nations.  Me?

 One day about a week ago Rosemary & I took a taxi to the bus station in Cuernavaca, Mexico.  Taxis cost about $2.00 normally, so many folks use the little white Nissan sedans roaming the city streets.

 As I always do with anyone I can question about anything in Spanish, I ask the driver how the new year is going for him.  He says it is going sadly, triste.  So, naturally, I ask him what is causing his new year to go so sadly. 

 

He tells me that 3 months ago his son who lived in Cuernavaca was shot for his pickup truck.  The son, who was in his 20’s, left behind his wife and two young kids, one only 9 months old. 

 I’m reminded of the same situation that happened with an acquaintance of Beth.  Also, some years ago I did a funeral for a recent graduate of A&M who had stopped by a convenience store on his way home from a Mavericks’ game.  He, too, was killed for his Mustang.  I did the boy’s funeral.

 Then, Rosemary & I read the news about Tuscon.

 I’m thinking, “What is going on?”

 

At the same time, Rosemary & I had been reading the selection from Isaiah II about being a light to people.  I am wondering how?  How can I make for a more peaceful environment?  How can I be like, say, Martin Luther King, whose holiday we celebrate tomorrow?  I am feeling overwhelmed. 

 We’ve come up with the following idea.  Any who has better ideas, please let us know.  I cannot expect to make a difference for greater peace in Tuscon or Cuernavaca.  I can expect to shine some light on my environment, Dallas, Plano, even our neighborhood. 

 And then I was struck by the insight that we as a community are a light to the nations.  The community supports CCAC which helps people who can’t get medical help anywhere.  You people help LifeNet, which provides housing for homeless.  The community supports our own members who cannot make it right now.  The community even supports a mother & daughter who had polio in Cuernavaca. 

 

This is only a short list.  Habitat, serving Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless.  There are others.  You people are bringing peace & light to a lot of people

 In a sad way the taxi driver in Cuernavaca was a light to me just by his sharing.  He certainly has me thinking. 

Who has been a light to you?

For whom are you a light? 

 

Picture 1:   Rosemary's Blessing 

Picture 2:   Christine & her mom, Diane  

Picture 3:   Zoe in her dad's arms and mom, Michelle  

Picture 4:   Georgie & Kate selling Girl Scout cookies

Picture 5:   Buddy & Torri

 

 

 

 

Says Harper, "Welcome in, Everybody."

 

Readings:

Zacheriah 9, 9-10,   He shall proclaim peace to the nations.

 Psalm 145,   I will praise your name forever, my king and my God.  

Here it is again, The Terrific Line: "The Lord is gracious & merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love."  Watch for it.

Romans 8,  9, 11-13,  You are not in the flesh, you are in the spirit.  (?)

 Matthew 11, 25-30,  All creation is groaning in labor pains.

 

 

Likewise, Gil, too, says, "Come on in, Folks."

 

Zechariah:  Zechariah is the 11th of the 12 Minor Prophets and lived just when the Hebrews were released from the 70 year long Babylonian Captivity, in other words around 555 B.C. He is in Jerusalem and encourages the people to rebuild the temple.

He is called a minor prophet only because his little work has simply 14 chapters, unlike the Big 3, Isaiah, Jeremiah, & Ezekiel, who have many chapters, in fact 66 for Isaiah.

He was a favorite of the N.T. writers because he is rich in messiah predictions.  Today we have one of those visions.   You might picture how this message is coming across.  The people have been crushed, they have been slaves in Babylon, and the Jerusalem they have returned to is nothing but disaster. 

 

 

 

Tori, what happened to your tooth?  Are you a rich girl now?

 

The Lord is Gracious and Merciful, never gets Angry, and is abounding in Love

I was asking myself, how did this line come to say so much to me about the nature of our God.  Here is what I found.

I can tell you the time of day it first hit me, a sunny morning.  I can tell you exactly where I was, Nairobi, Kenya, in the little chapel of a house run by a small group of American religious teaching brothers.    

 

 

 

 

Zoe, did you snatch Tori's tooth?  You got beautiful teeth.

 

It was my second year working in East Africa.  I was taking a day off at this American brothers’ place because it was just around the corner from a really nice arboretum and because they were Americans.  The Jesuits in Nairobi were mostly Indians with a few Quebecois.  I liked to hang out once in a while with fellow Americans. 

So why at this time and place?  Two reasons.

 

 

 

 

Emma, just seeing you & your mom here today makes my day.

 

One, education and Jesuit formation.  I had some good, progressive professors when I studied theology in Toronto, like David Michael Stanley in New Testament.

Secondly, people who showed me compassion and sensitivity, intellectual curiosity and acceptance, like the novice master, Tony Mangiaracina, about whom I talked once.  He is the priest I told you I saw cigarette smoke coming out of his desk drawer when I went in to get permission to drink water for that month.

 

 

 

The Offertory Gang, Paul & Carrie & Diane.

 

Another priest I never have talked about is the assistant novice master, Bobby Rimes, another of the numerous New Orleans guys who made up our province.

Three reasons why Bobby influenced me to perceive the significance of the line, The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry, and is abounding in love.

 

 

Where did you get that megawatt smile, Olivia?   It lights up the room.

 

First, he was disappointed but accepting of his assignment to be assistance novice master.  Bobby really wanted to be a missionary like Francis Xavier.  He wanted to be The Best.  Assistance novice master was not very romantic.  He did not ever complain, but simply shared he would prefer to be in the missions. 

And here I, never dreamed of going to the missions, I end up in East Africa.  I did not yearn to work in the missions because I did not like the cultural imperialism I read about, which played a role in my getting asked to leave.

 

 

 

You, too, Ben, your personality warms the whole room.

 

Secondly, Bobby was an excellent athlete and probably could have been a pitcher in the big leagues.  Wow, could he pitch.  I got to know this athleticism up close & personal because the second 3 years I spent in Grand Coteau, the noviciate, I spent many afternoons in titanic 2 on 2 handball games.  I never won a game, though we came oh so close  numerous times. 

I had a partner who was quite strong.  He was one of those who did 10 one armed pushups.  He was Mexican from Juarez.  Bobby,  he probably could have asked one of the nuns from the Sacred Heart Academy down the street.  We never won a game in three years, but it was so fun and moving.

 

 

 

So good to have you back, Leo.  The place is not right without you.

 

Thirdly, Bobby was always a friend, supportive and accepting.  He had every gift, not only a great athlete, but really a nice looking guy.  

Because of the influence of Bobby Rimes, somehow or other, I suddenly saw that  The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry, and is abounding in love.

How does the line strike you?

 

 

 

 

Welcome into our community, Tom & Susan.  Poor Tom was a student at Jesuit when that Stack was supposed to be one of the teaching staff.

 

 

Readings:

Wisdom 9, 13-18,  Thus were the paths of those on earth made straight

Psalm 90,  In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge

Philemon  9, 10. 12-17,   Welcome him as you would me.

Luke 14, 25-33,    …hating his father & mother, wife & children

 

 

Pagosa Bill just returned from the wild lands of Colorado. 

 

 

Homily by Stack     

I would like to talk about the line from Wisdom that struck me, It’s’ hard to make sense of what is going on in the world & harder still to understand what happening right under our noses. 

My problem is that I do understand.  Consequently, I can get down and I tell Rosemary, ”Let’s don’t talk about that stuff.”  Now, seeing that Rosemary & I will be out of the country the next  two weeks of September, I want to focus on activities and events that console me, challenge me, and make me proud to be an American.  I got five quickies.

 

 

 

Our candle lighting team of the week, Zoe, Tori, and their friend Zoe.

 

 

First, anybody know where the Dallas Baptist Men are this morning?  Try Florida and N. Carolina, according to the announcement I heard while Dorian was still in the Bahamas.  So, before hitting the U.S. they already had packed up their pick ups, their shower 18 wheeler, their mobile kitchen, and tons of food.

I worked along side these guys in Galveston and, in fact, shared a  large rectangular dormitory with about 25 guys, one of which snored like a chain saw.

 

 

 

Rosemary sez to Cindy, "Now while I am gone you have this short list of 16 things to do for the community."

 

 

The group I was with in Galveston was, as you can guess, Bona Responds, the group of St. Bonaventure students with their incredible professor, Jim Mahar, plus his henchman, our own Pagosa Bill Hammond.  Guess from whom I got a message about taking a group to the Bahamas.

Closer at hand, how about Meals on Wheels?  I am so proud of Rosemary and Barbara, her buddy, when they head out together to bring food to about 12-18 people.  You might think this is a local endeavor only.  Come with us on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day when a mob of regular volunteers pick up their food at the central headquarters near Love Field.

 

 

 

The BEST, John & Connie who can now see the world, thanks to the cataract removals.

 

 

On 60 Minutes a week or so I heard about a wealthy alumnus of NYU (Rosemary's Alma Mater) who gathered & donated enough money to set up a trust to enable all students in the medical school study loan free.  I was in tears when it showed the assembled students getting the notice.

Finally, a favorite of our community, the Love for Kids picnic in the Fall and the one in the Spring.  We ride in under the flag of Bona Responds and Pagosa Bill suits us all up in special T shirts.  Who ever came up with this plan?  It is fabulous and most touching.

 

 

Come on, Ben, I'm jealous & want a Zeke Elliott do like you got.

 

 

These are five reasons I am honored and proud to be here in Plano with you people, to be in Texas, and to be in the U.S.

Your five reasons?

 

 

Want to see the man who has no stage fright?  You are looking at him, Leo.

Readings: Isaiah, 66, 18-21; Psalm 117, Go out to All the World and tell the Good News; Hebrews 12, 5-7, 11-13; Luke 13, 22-30.

 

Luke: 4 observations & an extra

 

 

Author:  Luke, a physician, a gentile, a Christian, a resident of Antioch (a big Christian center in the early church, Syria), wrote in Greek, and wrote The Acts of the Apostles, also.

 

 

 

Audience: Gentile Christians who are spread about, e.g., Antioch; more attention to women than other writers; special stories include the Good Samaritan & the Prodigal Son, which I think broadens the concept of our rather threatening Luke selection today.

 

 

Time: ca. 90 C.E.  Note this is after the defeat of the Jewish rebellion    and the destruction of the temple ca. 70 C.E., & the separation of the Jewish & Gentile Christians from the synagogue ca. 80 C.E.

 

 

Structure: follows & often copies Mark who builds his gospel around the Jewish liturgical calendar used in the synagogue.

 

 

 

A Significant Contemporary Shift taking Place Today?

 

–Ca. 450 C.E. the Council of Calcedon.  Big fight over nature of Jesus, one nature (all divine) or two natures (divine & human).  The two nature people won, not just with persuasion, but killing and bullying.

 

–Today the one nature position is returning, but not the divine nature position.  The human nature.

 

–Interesting analogy with Rosa Parks, who sparked the civil rights movement, Dec. 1, 1955, when she refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, AL.  Though she never did much else, she is considered the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.  Others picked up the program and moved it forward.

 

Did Christianity follow a similar path?  Jesus started something.  Is Rosa Parks an analogy of the Jesus event?  Was it not Jesus' followers, most of whom never knew him, who built the edifice?  Did he even know what was coming?  It is said that Jesus was first declared divine at the Council of Nicea, (Constantine's villa across from what became Constantinople/Istanbul) ca. 325 C.E.   

 

Sources: Bishop John Shelby Spong, Jesus for the Non-Religious; New Interpreter's Study Bible, pp. 1847-1849; Early Christian Writings on line; St. Louis U, Center for Liturgy; Wikipedia

 

 

Homily: The Master of the House has Arisen and Locked the Door?

 

 

Anybody know who Patrick Sharp is?  Anybody heard of him?

 

 

Yes, he is the guy who Tuesday shot up the McKinney police station after setting his ammunition loaded truck on fire in the parking lot. 

 

 

He is also the guy who an hour before that was messaging an adolescent girl in GA and maybe other young girls that he was going to do it.  He said, “I enjoy watching people drown.  I enjoy watching people beg for their life?

 

 

Then he killed himself. 

 

 

 

Is this guy in hell?  Has the master of the house shut the door on him?  You say, “Well, I hope so.”  And according to Luke’s selection, which has Jesus saying, “Depart from me all you evil doers,” it sounds like this guy is in a bad place right now. 

 

 

Maybe he was not warned adequately enough about this.  I certainly was as a kid.  Tony told me about the nun with the candle.  I’ll give you $10 if one of you boys can hold your finger in the flame for one minute.  Nobody?  Hell is this candle all over your body forever!

 

 

I probably was partly motivated by this when I decided I better enter the Jesuits and be a priest.

 

 

While not wanting to contradict this message, I would like to propose a broader picture and wonder, 'What if there is no hell?'  Two reasons: the nature of our God and the nature of us humans.

 

The nature of God.  Hold on to the story of the Prodigal Son.  The father, the symbol of God in the story, does not close the door on the son who has done all the most grievous things.  He not only leaves the door open.  He runs down the driveway to embrace the kid when the father sees him shuffling up the lane all filthy and beaten down.  

 

This is the best image of God.  Add to it the stars in the sky, the moon tonight, good people we know, teachers, parents, coaches.  

 

The nature of us humans.  As a priest and as a psychotherapist I have worked with and come to know intimately Patrick Sharps.  I might think the person pretty bad until I hear their story.  Maybe bullied by companions, physically abused by a parent, or worse.  Even this Patrick Sharp knew he was damaged goods.  Why?  I've been humbled so often when I judged the book by the cover. 

 

What if there is no hell for Patrick Sharp?

 

What do you need to do to let loose of any old fears that you are going to hell?

 

Picture 1:  Mass begins with Emma supervising

 

Picture 2:  Sisters, Brandy & Wendy

 

Picture 3:  Cousins, Georgie & Natalie

 

Picture 4:  Sienna & her grandmommy, Robyn

 

Readings:

Isaiah 62, 1-5,  The Lord delights in you.

Psalm 96,  Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.

1 Corinthians 12, 4-11, There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit.

John 2, 1-11, There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee.

 For those who don’t have a decent Bible or a book of the readings, here are two links that I use, The Bible at Your Fingertips (http://st-luke-church.org/bible-at-finger-tips.php) and USCCB, The New American Bible (http://www.usccb.org/).  

The difference?  The first is Protestant more or less, and the second is officially Catholic and has the 12 little books in between the O.T. & N.T., called Deuterocanonical or Apocrypha. 

Both are good translations.     

 Homily for January 20

 One of the three summer canoe trips that I used to organize each year at St. Mark was for the 13 and 14 year old children.  It was a three-day trip where we put in the Brazos River just south of Cleburne off highway 67 below the Boy Scout camp.

On the third day all the adult team was aware of a stop we would make an hour or so before we would board the bus for home.  The young people would be tired and hot as they approached some water gently pouring over some limestone at probably 5 or 10 gallons a minute like a miniature waterfall. 

They got terribly excited when they were told that it was a natural spring, cold and drinkable. The kids would take turns standing under it with their mouths open. 

2000 years ago a traveling Jesus and his disciples would have loved such water.  They would have used it drink and to dilute the wine that they had with them.  Travelers usually didn’t drink water unless it was living, flowing from a spring or recent rain.  They drank diluted wine.

The OT Stories were written around things like living waters, wine and vineyards.  Since the gospels fulfilled the expectation of the OT for the coming of the Messiah, within them these symbols took on a deeper spiritual meaning. The vine became the symbol of Christ, living waters the symbol for the good news.

Since the word, wine, is present in most, if not all, of the books in the OT, we should expect that the wine in today’s gospel would be a symbol for something terribly important…and it is.

In the Mark gospel we are presented with this metaphor.  You don’t pour new wine into an old wineskin.  Anyone who ever left a wet handball or golf glove in the sun knows why.  You would find it stiff and hardened.  If you tried to pour new wine into them, the cracks in the leather would become revealed.  The wine would be lost; the leather also would be of no value.

Therefore, Place new wine into new wineskins!  In the Story where you find that metaphor, you are introduced to the hardened hearts of the Pharisees and scribes who had rejected the good news and therefore the Holy Spirit that flowed forth from those living waters.

Remember the Holy Spirit and the unclean spirits cannot coexist within a heart.  A new wineskin is the heart of someone who has repented and welcomed the new wine, the Holy Spirit.

So, now you pretty much know the meaning of the parable about the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee.  The old wine gave out because God sent to us his only begotten Son with new wine. The empty jars used in the purification rite within Judaism that had been empty, barren, now would be fulfilled by living waters, to the brim…from which would pour forth the Holy Spirit. 

What one thing would I like for you to take away from the gospel today?  

The Greek word for the servants who assisted Jesus in today’s gospel is used for male or female, diakonia. We are to understand that they were manifesting the Holy Spirit to those at the wedding feast of Cana by their words and actions. 

You might have felt distanced by Nancy’s 2^nd reading if you were wondering who those people are in our assembly.  We are those people!   Those who proclaimed the Word; those who serve at the table, those who distribute from the table; those who wash and fill the cups; those who bake the bread; those who set the table with gifts; those who lead us in song; those who give and distribute our gifts to those in need; those who visit the sick; those who extend the sign of peace to one another.

We are his body, blessed and broken for each other.

 

 

 

 

Readings:                          

Genesis  14,  18-20, Abraham gave Melchizadek a tenth of everything.

Psalm 110,  You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek.

1 Corinthians 11, 23-26,    Do this in remembrance of me.

Luke 9, 11-17,  Give them some food yourselves.

 

Welcome Erin & Diane & Cole.  So good to see you all.

 

Spirit Feast

I would like to talk this morning about 2 things.   First, what was my most favorite moment or experience on the Viking cruise.  Secondly, let me say a word about Jesus feeding the people.

This little story in Luke about the feeding of the 5 thousand men is one of my favorites.  I have talked about the story a number of times over the years, because I’ve been there & done that.

 

 

Welcome back, Marlene.  It has been too long since the days we did the 9:00 Spanish Mass in the cafetorium at St. Marks. 

 

The point I like to make is that  these country people would hardly ever leave home for the day without some food hidden  away in their robes.  They would not be in to sharing it. 

By telling his apostles to share their 5 loaves and 2 fish, Jesus gets the people to share their food, too.  He creates a spirit of trust.  I would call this a unique spirit event, which leads me to the first point I mentioned,  what about our cruise was the best.

 

Welcome Home, Ellen.
 

 

 As much as I loved being guided through so many cities I had read about and heard of my whole life, this was not my favorite.

I loved watching the water and watching the captain park this enormous boat, but this was not my favorite.

My favorite: the meals!   Yes.  But not in the way you are thinking,  the food, which was excellent, but in the sense of spirit.  Let me give an example.

 

This is it, the Viking Sea sailing out of the Norwegian fiord of Flam.  Stupendous beauty.

 

 

There was a couple named June and Steve.  We actually met them in the Heathrow Airport, where we were all part of a group of about 12 who missed our connection to Bergen, Norway because we had only 50 minutes between arriving from Boston and departing for Bergen in another terminal.

A bunch of us spent the night at a Holiday Inn, including June & Steve.   We rode the shuttle with them and had breakfast together. 

 

 

Docked at the Norwegian village of Flam from the exterior tables of the so titled "World Cafe," probably because from this 7th floor stern deck you can see the world.

 

On board we continued to see them and ate with them.   On one occasion we had dinner with them in my most favorite eating location on the boat, the World Café, as they called it.  It was on one of the top floors of the 8-9 floor boat, in the stern area, had no waiters, just buffet, and from each of the numerous tables on the port, starboard, and rear,  I could see the ocean.   A fabulous place to eat and appreciate just being alive and in that setting. 

This particular evening we were finally settled in and the ship was moving.  We talked about all sorts of things and we had a common spirit on so much.  We actually sat at that table and talked for 3 hours.  June noticed it when we were beginning to break up.  I had never even thought of the time.

 

 

The marvelous World Cafe from the inside.

 

 

That 3 hour meal was my favorite moment.  It was a spirit feast.

It is difficult to have these spirit feasts.  We are so busy.  It takes time.  I don't get to do this often.  At Romeos we don't take 3 hours, but we can take two.  On our camping trips we can take 3 hours.   This is one reason why I tote in every evening a pint or more of Jack Daniels and a pound of cheese for hors d'oeuvres.  Camaraderie.

 

 

 

The World Cafe.

 

 

This is what we try to do here at Sigler each Sunday.  And I think we succeed.   Even now without wine.

It is the feast of Corpus Christi.  When is your next spirit feast?  What about tomorrow, Memorial Day?  

 

Who let that homeless man on board?