Special Announcement

Malachi 3: Look! I'm sending my messenger on ahead to clear the way for me. Suddenly, out of the blue, the Leader you've been looking for will enter his Temple – yes, the Messenger of the Covenant, the one you've been waiting for.

Hebrews 2:  That's why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people's sins,  he would have already experienced it all himself – all the pain, all the testing – and would be able to help where help was needed.

Luke 2:  Then when the days stipulated by Moses for purification were complete, they took him up to Jerusalem to offer him to God  as commanded in God's Law: "Every male who opens the womb shall be a holy offering to God,"

 

John Cade's Homily from the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Download 01-19-25 Homily 2nd Sunday Ordinary Time

 

 

Another Reminder for the Presentation of the Lord, February 2, 2025

Deuteronomy 26: Therefore, I have now brought you the first fruits of the products of the soil which you, O LORD, have given me.’

Romans 10: For the Scripture says,  No one who believes in him will be put to shame.

Luke 4: Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.

 

Music,   Ben

Expenses: $   1,835.00

Outreach: $    450.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

The Kiss of Peace

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

 

Readings:

2 Samuel  5, 1-3,  They anointed David king of Israel.

 Psalm 122,  Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

 Colossians 1, 12-20,  Let us give thanks to the Father.

 Luke, 22, 35-43,   If you are king of the Jews, save yourself.

Special Advent reflection by Deacon Mike:   Download Bible Study by Deacon Mike.10-20-16docx

 

"Hi," says the beautiful Victoria, "Welcome in."

 

History of the Christ the King Feast: date, author, reason it was declared

Date: Not during the early church, not during the time when Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Empire, not during the time of Luther & the Reformation, not during the time of Pius IX with the Italian Resorgiamento & his Infallibility statement (1870), but in 1925.  Fairly Recently.

 

 

And not to be outdone in hospitality, this cute little girl likewise says,  "Hi, Everybody."

 

Author: Pius XI, pope 1922-39

Reason(s): at least 2 factors–The Times and Modernism/Secularism

1. The Times:
   1.  End of WW I and build up to WW II   
   2.  Mussolini & Hitler: the same year Pius XI became pope, Mussolini became prime minister.  By 1925 he had become a dictator.  The feast was to counter the dictatorship.
2. Modernism & Secularism:
   1.  Modernism.  Despite being scholarly and pro-scientific methods, Pius XI was suspicious of biblical scholarship which questioned, for example, biblical inerrancy, the nature of bible miracles, the virgin birth, the resurrection, the atonement theory that God demanded his son suffer & die for a single sin by a human.
   2.  Secularism coming out of the Enlightenment said that all people were equal, people should have a say in government as in democracy, and backed the separation of church/state, like proposed by Jefferson. 

Sources: Living with Christ, Nov., 2009; Wikipedia

 

 

Even Kevin says, "I may not be a cute little girl, but I still say, 'Welcome!'"

 

Observations on Samuel:

What: This is a 4 book series, 1 & 2 Samuel & 1 & 2 Kings.  The first two are all about Samuel, the last of the Judges of the tribe, and about Saul and David, the first two kings.

Author: Numerous authors.  Some say even Saul put together some of the parts that pertain to him.

When written: Over a period of even centuries.  However, it seems to have come together in the present form around the Babylonian Captivity, 555 before Christ.

Our selection: David is anointed king.

Sources: Jerusalem Bible, Good News Bible. 

 

 

Guess who has herself a nice letter jacket!  Congratulations Kara and Hi, James.

 

Thanksgiving

When Christ the King Sunday rolls around every year I am always tempted to tell good old stories about my childhood growing up in Christ the King parish here in Dallas.  Suffice it to say Christ the King was one reason why I became a Jesuit instead of a diocesan priest.

Instead of Christ the King, therefore, I would prefer to focus on my most favorite topic, Thanksgiving from my perspective.  Of course, when I ran my idea by Rosemary, I got a “Thanksgiving again. You just talked about it and you will wear everybody out.”  The problem: I don’t think I can ever focus on thanksgiving enough.  And that holds for all of us. 

 

Offertory, The Ekes, Marlene, Mabel, Bill, and Cindy.

 

So, hang on Everybody, I want to talk about four special blessing that have given me life and joy this year.  I pass on the Big 4 you know about, the Jesuit experience, East Africa, Marriage, and our community.  Instead, this year it is biking, backpacking, learning, and priesthood.

Because of biking, which in turn I can do because of my two new hips, I have this summer ridden 500 miles across Iowa, ridden 100 miles the last Saturday in August in the Hotter ‘N Hell out of Wichita Falls, circled White Rock Lake with Rosemary  dozens of times, and made some dear friends at the Jewish Community Center where I put in a strenuous workout every week day. 

 

"Nothing like Grandma's hugs," says Victoria.

 

Backpacking this past September took us to Idaho and the 7 Devils region, 7 of us, 7 nights, and a great time. 

As a spinoff of this I have also been blessed by our Friday Romeos luncheon at Jason’s Deli.

 

Muy Buenos Dias and Bienvenidos, Senora Alisia et Senor Jose.

 

From the first day I entered the Jesuits we were vaccinated with the idea that we never stop learning.  French has been my learning this year and for the last 6 years, since I got my new hips in ’10.  Because of this I have had the opportunity to get to know some really special people in L’Alliance Francaise, the office of which is, you will never guess, at the corner of Central and Royal Lane. 

The final blessing is the privilege of continuing to act as a priest.  Just recently I have been part of two superb weddings, Lisa Anderlick, the daughter of John and Karen, and Scott Simari, the son of John and Michelle.

 

What do you think, Buddy, am I doing a good job?  You are awake anyway.

 

Besides weddings, I have had the enormous privilege of walking with some people on their last walk.  John’s mother, Pat.  Jerry Gleason. Curtis Ekes. And Mike Miller.

These are some of my blessing for 2016.  What are yours?

 

Says Zoe, "Leo, may I go for a ride in your car?"

 

I heard a nice idea for sitting around the Thanksgiving table.  Each person is invited to thank one other person at the table and to give thanks to or for one person not at the table. 

 

The Best, Mary, Bethany, and Ray.

Readings:  Wisdom 1, 13-15, 2, 23-24; Psalm 30, I will Praise You, Lord, for You have rescued Me; 2 Corinthians 8, 7-15; Mark 5, 21-43.  

     

Wisdom: One of the 14-15 books of the deutero-canonical books of the bible.  Not part of the orginal Jewish bible, not part of the OT nor the NT, but in between and the subject of controvercy over the centuries.  Were they really part of the bible or not?  How do you know?  Catholic church accepts the books.

Author: not Solomon, but a Jew living in Alexandria, Egypt, who spoke and wrote excellent Greek.

Date: ca. 100-200 BCE.  How do we know these facts?  Because of text analysis.  For example, while the author wrote in Greek, he uses phrases and expressions that have a Hebrew flavor.  Also, he mentions rulers and places that reveal date and locale. 

Sources: Catholic Encyclopedia on line

This is Radical

There is a novel going around called Shanghai Girls, by Lisa See.  I recommend it. The novel tracks the lives of two middle class, educated sisters who are born in Shanghai in the 1920's or early '30's.   It follows them through a time in 1937 when the Japanese invaded China to the time when they end up in California as arranged brides. The novel has good character development and provides a view into a time just before & after the Second World War from the perspective of Chinese middle class women. 

What struck me in a unique way was the mother of the two girls.  She was, according to the girls, an old fashioned mother.  That is, she bound her feet so they would not grow.  From the novel I discovered what a barbaric & painful experience this was for women, young & old.  Imagine the pain of wearing shoes too tight or new.  Why?  Beauty?  I discovered in researching for our homily that another reason was to limit the mobility of women.  So they cannot run away or even run.  The reason for the demand was to limit mobility; the side effect was beauty, all because of male bias against women.

I remembered this novel when I read about Jesus healing two females.  Do you realize how radical this was, especially with the woman bleeding?  Leviticus, the third book of the Bible, has a lot to say about women who bleed.  For instance, a woman giving birth to a boy is ritually unclean for 7 days; a girl baby, 14 days (chapter12).

In Lev. 15 it says that during menstration, women were ritually unclean, which meant they were considered socially dead, not allowed in the temple, not allowed in the community, could not touch anyone and no one was allowed to touch them or their clothes or they, too, were ritually unclean.  So what does the lady in Mark do?   What does Jesus do?

Do you realize today how historic and universal this bias was against women?  Plato in The Republic says that Socrates asked, Do you know of any thing done by humans which is not done better by the male.

Hindus teach that a woman must immolate herself after her husband's death.  Buddhists consider it bad karma to be reincarnated as a woman.  Jewish men are taught to pray, Blessed be God who has not created me a heathen, a slave, or a woman.  Our Bible in Genesis blames a woman for the origin of evil in our world.

In 1873 in Illinois a case was decided against a woman.  She had passed the bar exam to be a lawyer, and the court would not grant her appeal to receive a law license.  A judge said that the place of a woman was in the home and that women did not have the fortitude to deal with such issues as the law.

The church fathers, as they are called, had their own bias.  St. Jerome says that when a woman wishes to serve God more that the world, then she will cease to be a woman and will be called a man.  You do not want to know what St. Augustine thinks about women.

So why this historic and universal bias against women by men (& women)?  One reason, from my research, blood.  Another is the male nervousness & weakness around women, beginning in adolescence.

So here comes Jesus along.  The woman touches him.  He could have had her killed by the crowd.  What was she doing in the crowd anyway?    And what does he do?  He calls her "Daughter," and heals her.  This is revolutionary.  He moves from bias to inclusion & acceptance.

In Galatians (Chapter 3) it says there is no male or female.  Just folks.  We are being called to get rid of the bias.  Women do not deserve to have their feet bound.

 

How is your bias barometer?  Any bias against women, men, a particular race, political party, a part of town, a school? 

Sources: The Sins of Scritpture, Bishop (Anglican) John Shelby Spong; Catholic Encyclopedia on line.

Audio on vacation this week & next, sorry.

Picture 1:  Mass with Kevin & Noah helping

Picture 2:  Kevin & Noah

Picture 3:  Birthdays & Anniversaries, Sue Tomas, Rick & Jackie, Sandra & Chuck Pratt

Picture 4:  Birthdays & Anniversaries, Nina Waldron, Barb & Warren Wittek

1 Samuel 3: When Samuel went to sleep in his place, the Lord came and revealed his presence, calling out as before. "Samuel, Samuel!" Samuel answered, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

1 Corinthians 6:  Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?  But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one Spirit with him.

John 1:  Then he brought him to Jesus.  Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas" –which is translated Peter.

 

Here are the links for Sunday: