Readings: Genesis 14, 18-20; Psalm 110; 1 Corinthians 11, 23-26; Luke 9, 11-17.

The Miracle of Sharing

Years ago when I lived in Tanzania, East Africa, I suddenly one evening had to take the overnight train from the capital, Dar es Salaam (Harbor of Peace, on the Indian Ocean) to our Jesuit house near Kilimanjaro. Since I was late in getting a reservation, I had to simply pile into one of the 3rd class cars with lots of people, their kids, their luggage, and even chickens. I planned to sit up all night on my suitcase or on the floor. 

Suddenly about 1:00 in the morning the train stopped in the middle of a scrub nowhere and we were eventually told the train had broken down. We sat on that track until about 5:00 the next afternoon.  I even tried to sleep on the rocks of the train bed. Trouble was, thinking I would be home in the early morning, I had no food &, more importantly,  no water. This was just stupidity on my part. I had been around too long to neglect this. Breakdowns were common on train and buses. And there was nothing to buy anywhere.

The Tanzanians all seemed to have come prepared and I would have been given at least a drink by various people, because I could speak with them. They had little stores of food and drink tucked into the folds of their robes or in baskets. But, I did not want to drink their water. It was possibly not purified. Of course all the time I am thinking the train will start any moment.

Late in the morning I noticed an young white couple in the forward part of the train.  We got talking and they shared with me their water.They were Germans and later I was going to climb Kilimajaro with them on one of my 5 trips.

Later that afternoon I was really able to help them out because the guy, a real big guy in the German army, took a picture of a baby lying near us under a shade tree. Someone saw him, told the mother on the train, who told the husband, who told the whole train. They circled him and us and wanted to take him to the police, wherever that might have been. 

Instead I was able to get everyone to sit down and talk. Finally the family agreed to let the German cut off the piece of film. Naturally he just clipped the lead and gave it to them.

I talk about this because I often think about this event when I hear the story about Jesus passing around the bread & fish.  I propose an alternative miracle to the more obvious. I base it on my experience with people who would not likely go out for the day without taking provisions. There were no McDonald’s.  Moreover, normally the people would hide their food and hoard it. Who knows when they might need it? 

What Jesus does it take the 5 loaves & fishes and share them with the nearest people. Picture the scene.The first person gets the food, takes a little, feels guilty because he or she has more hidden away, then pulls out of a hiding place a bit of bread, and passes it on. The process continues all over the huge crowd and at the end there is food left over.

The miracle is sharing. 

I also read recently that strict observance Jews would have been among the crowd and they did not believe in eating with unclean people.  Morever, they would eat only ritually cleaned food.  According to the story, everyone ate.

When I was on that dead train I would have been helped by the Africans. They respect white folks, especially when they speak the language, and many were probably Catholics.  Fortunately, I did not need their generosity because the Germans had purified water (this was before the bottled water fad). They had no trouble sharing and I still remember how good their water tasted. 

How are you being challenged to share more?

 

Download homily as an mp3 file

Readings: Isaiah 49, 3-6; Psalm 40; 1 Corinthians 1, 1-3; John 1, 29-34.

Isaiah: Again we have one of Isaiah’s consoling messages.  This message focuses more on being called.  Remember, the writers of this book lived about 800 years before Christ.

I want to talk about Yahweh’s promise, "I will make you a light to the nations."

A Light to the Nations?  Me?

As many of you have noticed, after Mass & coffee a good percentage of our community reconvenes over at Costco on Central.  Where else can you get such a great free lunch?

When I am not watering trees after Mass, I normally drop Rosemary at the entrance, go fill the car with gas, and then wait for her in the parking lot while listening to Prairie Home Companion.  I love that program and almost always find myself laughing my head off.

Last Sunday Rosemary and I had gone to do our weekly shopping as usual.  I had filled the car with gas and was sitting in the parking lot.  At some point I noticed that an elderly man was wandering around the south side parking lot where I was sitting.  He had passed me already three or four times.  He would walk by me heading toward the Central side of the lot, then return.  Shortly he would do it again.  He had a couple of bags in his arms.  I’m watching him, thinking he must be confused, but I’m not doing anything.

Finally Rosemary arrives, I start up the car, and while we are pulling away I point out to her the man wandering around the parking lot.  I tell her I wonder if he is lost, confused, or suffering from dementia or worse. 

What does she say?  "Let me see if he needs some help."  So we turn around and she gets out.   They talk and together begin to walk around the parking lot.  I wait some more and finally she comes back.  She had helped him look for his car, which he said was a white Infinity.  Since together they still could not find the car, she informed the Cosco staff, who said they would help him.

This is it.  This is what Yahweh is talking about when he says, "I will make you a light to the nations."  It does not mean  lightning is going to strike.  It does not mean the other guy.   When I grew up the Christophers were a Catholic group that intended to light one candle instead of cursing the darkness.  Light one little candle was the theme.  I remember as a kid going with my dad to a rally in the Cotton Bowl, of all places.  It was evening, the lights were turned off, and everyone lit a candle.  I can still remember how beautiful it was.

Lighting the candle does at least two things.

1.  It touches the spirit of the person who receives the light.  That elderly man must have been touched when he saw Rosemary come across the parking lot to help him.  I was. 

2.  The effect is contagious.  When the person’s spirit is touched, he becomes a light and touches someone else.  So instead of the elderly man being angry and frustrated, he is peaceful and gracious.

I was rather confounded that I never thought about getting out and helping the elderly gentleman, but I was delighted that Rosemary immediately suggested she help him when she heard my thoughts. 

How are you a light to the nations?   

    AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-01-20.mp3

Readings: 

Isaiah 7, 10-14,   The virgin will conceive and bear a son.

 

Psalm 24,  Let the Lord enter, he is king of glory.

Romans 1, 1-7,  Grace to you and peace.

Matthew  1, 18-24, She was found with child through the Holy Spirit.

 

 

 Christmas observations:

1.  Celebration of Christmas was banned in Boston up until ca. 200 years ago.  The Puritan influence.  They had seen the corruption of Rome and the inquisition.  They feared and hated Rome and Catholics.
2. Rome had a feast of Saturnalia, which was connected with the Winter Solstice.  It was a feast of the harvest and of light, light returning in the northern hemisphere.  For centuries Roman Catholicism refused to honor the feast, but eventually adopted it as a date for Christ’s birth.
3. The winter solstice had been celebrated for 10,000 years, back when humans started farming.
4. Christmas Eve, Kinshasa, Zaire, 1977.  I was in Kinshasa, Zaire (now, The Congo), Christmas, 1977 and attended a Christmas Eve Mass that was marvelous, singing that went on forever and dancing on the part of the African priest in a very colorful set of vestments.  Having a good set of kidneys helps because the celebration goes on  2 ½ hours.  

 

 

Seen The Spirit Lately?

Ever get the feeling that the world is just getting worse every year, more wars, more killing, more kids being hurt, everything worse?  Where is the spirit of peace and caring?

I would like to propose the spirit is here.  Good things are taking place.  Let me give you 4 examples that have just taken place.

 

 

The first I heard about took place during the ice storm the week after Thanksgiving.  I35 going north through Denton became a parking lot when 18 wheelers got stuck and blocked the highway.  This happened that Friday afternoon and the highway was probably down for the night. 

The pastor of some church in the area heard about the people on the highway.  He gathered a bunch of his community and out they went to the highway with food, hot drinks, and blankets for those who needed them.  Some people were even invited into people’s homes.

You folks would do this.

 

 

At the same time that afternoon our neighbors called to invite us to lunch on the grill because our electricity was off.  They had a gas grill.  The lady across the street offered to let us stay at her house.  She had electricity.  We were on the second of our two day return drive from Thanksgiving at Rosemary’s sister’s house in Hilton Head.

Secondly, you remember that I worked in Oklahoma after the tornado.  I heard of a lady who is making special Christmas ornaments for people who have lost all their precious ornaments.  I thought about those people whose houses I helped to clear out and thought what a nice idea.

 

 

Thirdly, three celebs, two sports stars and one singer.

Ever hear of Andre Johnson of the Houston Texans, a wide receiver.  For the 7^th year in a row he took 12 underprivileged kids on a shopping trip at Kids R Us.  They had 80 seconds, his number, to grab what they wanted.  He even chipped in an Xbox 360 for each kid.  17 thousand bucks.  Sounds like Love for the Kids.

 

 

Also, Damien Lillard, 23, a hot new player for Portland.  He took a whole bus load of kids on a shopping trip.

Then, the singer Beyonce went into a Wal-mart, bought 750 $50 gift cards for everyone that moment in the Wal-Mart. 

 

 

Fourth.   Out of bad stuff, good stuff.  A grandmother was caring for 9 young kids somewhere here in Dallas.  She had bought their presents and had them hidden in her apartment.  Yes, you guessed it, they all go stolen.  The story got out and she received more presents than she could ever have afforded. 

Where are you seeing The Spirit of peace and caring this Christmas?  How are you contributing to it?

 

 

Readings:                          

Deuteronomy  30,  10-14,  Heed the voice of the Lord.

Psalm 69,  Turn to the Lord in your need and you will live.

Colossians 1, 15-20,     Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

Luke 10, 25-37,  The man robbed on the road to Jericho.

 

 

Genevieve says, "Welcome in, Everybody.  It is nice to be back.  Here, let me open the door for you."

 

Deuteronomy observations:

The Scene: the desert outside the promised land.  Moses is talking to the people about all that has happened to them since he led them out of Israel and through the desert for many years.  Now, as they prepare to enter, Moses is dying.  He is simply exhorting them to love Yahweh and obey his laws. 

The Author:  not Moses.  A compilation put into three discourses.

Date:  guess when?  Yes, after the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 555 before Christ.

Subject today:  Moses talks about a command, but never mentions exactly what it is.  Watch for the answer in today's gospel.  The Great Command, to be a Good Samaritan.

 

Says Zoe, "Hi, Folks, Yes, it is nice to be back.  California is also pretty nice."

 

 

 

The Victims in Our Lives

This past Friday evening I did something I have been doing a lot of.  I rode my bike down the White Rock Creek Path to The Lake, went around it, and came back up the path to Royal Lane, a distance of about 20 miles.   Sorry to tell another biking story, but it was so relevant for me at the time.

As I was coming home and making the transition from the Lake to the Path, I went under the new Northwest Hwy Bridge.  Being dusk it was sort of dark under the bridge.  However, to my left about twenty yards over to the wall, I noticed 3 bikers stopped maybe two guys and a girl. 

So, I took a deep breath and yelled, “You guys okay, need any help?”

 

 

Welcome back to you, Leo.  I've missed the Leo spirit around here.

 

It may seem pretty trivial, but this is so hard for me to do.  These people are calling me to be a Good Samaritan.  I, however, am obsessed about keeping my schedule.  As I yelled I was hoping they would say, “We are okay.”  Which they did.  So I got off easy. 

I asked these people because I knew I was going to have to make a resolution in view of this homily.  I even used to ask people, but got too busy, at least in my mind. 

 

 

Victoria and Zoe, our Candle Lighters of The Week.

 

In the past two months I have passed two groups.  One group of two guys, they were walking a bike with a flat front tire.  I can fix flats in ten minutes.   I have everything I need.  The other group was under another bridge and had a bike upside down and they were working on an inner tube.  Both times I passed by, said nothing, and then felt guilty.

So, I resolve to always ask people if they need help when I see them standing by their bike. 

Now, you say, ‘Well, I don’t even ride a bike.  How does this pertain to me?’   My bet?  Somewhere you have a similar challenge.

 

 

Three of the Wyndham Clan, Ron, Barbara, and Ray.

 

 

As a community, I would highlight a joy I have, the fact that we attempt to be a good Samaritan to a number of small charities, and in particular to Souls Harbor.  This is a privilege. 

Recalling my psych stuff, How am I called to be a good Samaritan to myself?   We are all wounded people in some way.  How am I nurturing my spirit?  Where have I been hurt and how am I a Good Samaritan with that hurt? 

Where are you challenged to be a Better Good Samaritan?

 

 

"Nothing beats Grandma's hugs,"  says Zoe?

 

Readings: Nehemiah 3, 2-10; Psalm 19, Your Words, Lord are Spirit and Life; 1 Corinthians 12, 12-30; Luke 1, 1-4, 4, 14-21

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Reading Reflections

Our readings today focus primarily on Readings.  Our first Reading from Nehemiah gives us a complete change from the Old Testament reading we have been hearing from for many weeks, namely the time of Exile.  For Nehemiah is writing from a time after the Exile.  The “Remnant”, as the people who had been scattered were referred to, had come back to Jerusalem.  This writing is part of a greater collection of writing composed of 1 and 2 Chronicles and Ezra, whom we hear about in our selection today.  This is the only Sunday in the three-year cycle of readings when we hear from Nehemiah, makes you wonder what he did wrong!

 

   

The last four books of the Hebrew canon are Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles.  In our first reading today, we will hear about Ezra, so it is worth commenting about both Nehemiah and Ezra as they are both the two men most responsible for the reorganization of Jewish life after the Exile.  There are good reasons for believing that originally the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah formed the last part of a single literary work that began with 1 and 2 Chronicles. Some authors even regard Ezra himself as having been the anonymous Chronicler. c. 400 B.C. as the time of composition of this work.

   

Nehemiah was the man of action who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and introduced necessary administrative reforms. Ezra in turn was the great religious reformer who succeeded in establishing the Torah as the constitution of the returned community.

 

The second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians continues where we left off last week, addressing issues within the community in Corinth.  I have chosen to use the optional shorter version and avoid most of the anatomy lesson.

 

 

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Homily

 

It would seem that the topic for today is “Reading the Scriptures”.  In our first reading we hear of Ezra reading to the people for hours and hours, think how lucky you all are today with these short reading we have!!  In the Gospel, Luke we have the very first verses from Luke’s gospel and then a jump to chapter 4 and a very detailed account of Jesus in his local synagogue in Nazareth.  What strikes me as interesting is the detail, almost like stage directions, which Luke gives us of Jesus getting up to read.

   

And here in Plano today, we too have listened as we do each week to the Scripture being read to us!  There are not too many human activities, which have remained in place for about 2300 years.  So we must ask the question – what is it about the Scriptures, which makes it survive for so long?

 

If we start to look at the Bible, we realize that it is the story of a peoples understanding of their relationship with their God, and how that relationship played out over several hundreds of years.  With a sense of their uniqueness, they try to answer the most fundamental questions about human life, how did it begin, what is our place in the world.  To answer these questions they told stories.  Unfortunately up until quite recently we tended to view the stories as historically accurate, and there are some folks who still view them as accurate!!

   

 

As Catholics we have a very long tradition of NOT reading the bible, it was viewed as too dangerous!  Remember, it was reading and interpreting the Bible was what caused the Reformation.  Today, I know of folk who use the Bible to determine their whole code of relationships. “Wives submit to your husbands” came from a society of about two thousand years ago, and yet, in spite of our more liberated view of humans, there are folk who happily live this way.

In 1943, Pope Pius XII published an encyclical “Divino Afflante Spiritu” on Bible Studies.  This was really the first time that the Church was officially encouraging Catholics to read the Scriptures again.

   

So what about us here today?  Each Sunday, we gather and get short readings and hopefully some background to those reading so that we may understand the context. But you are probably the most educated Catholics ever to sit and listen to the Scriptures.  Remember, when Pius XII was submitting his encyclical, less than 70 years ago, most people could barely read, and had not even completed high school.  So their thinking was done for them by the Church.  Today, we are invited to read and reflect on the Scriptures ourselves.  There is much available by way of help.  Even if we use the online edition of the New American Bible, http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.shtml there are helpful introductions and not too many footnotes. 

   

 

If we accept that the Scriptures are inspired by the Spirit, then careful reading and reflection can help us to deepen our relationship with God and allow us to better our relationships with one another. 

The Vatican II council issued a document on the Scriptures called “The Constitution on Divine Revelation” and urges us to “learn by frequent reading of the divine scriptures the “excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:8) and that prayer should accompany the reading of sacred scripture, so that God and man may talk together; for “we speak to him when we pray; we hear him when we read the divine sayings”. #25.

   

So what is to be our take-away for today?  “Be careful how you read the scriptures” Take the time to understand who wrote it, why it was written, whom it was written for and what was the culture.  Remember, spin-doctors are nothing new.

 

Sources:  New American Bible, http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.shtml

  

 

Picture 1:  Mass begins with Tony

 

Picture 2:  Lilly with her Grand daddy, Buddy

 

Picture 3:  The Donut Shoppe, Ron & Chloe & C.C.

 

Picture 4:  Sacrament of the Sick, Curtis, Barb, & Tony

 

 

Readings:

Isaiah 25, 6-10, On this mountain the Lord will provide for all peoples a feast

Psalm 23, I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my  life.

Philippians  4, 6-9, I can do all things in him who strengthens me

Matthew 22, 1-14, The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast.

 

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben & Shonda 

Readers,  Tom & Mary  & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Deacon Mike 

Homily,  Stack 

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike, Ben, Richard, & Welcome Back, Hue 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

 

 

Remember?  3 years ago, South Rim, Grand Canyon.

 

Isaiah observations:

Who:  Any idea which Isaiah this is, 1, 2, or 3?   We had Isaiah 1 last week talking about the vineyard.  That was chapter 5.  Pretty easy to guess, Isaiah 1.  But, this is chapter 25.

It seems out of character for Isaiah 1, who criticizes the people.  More like Isaiah 2, which John Cade loves and which we will read this Advent. 

Remember Isaiah 1 is pre-Babylonian Captivity, around 555 before Christ.  This selection is a marvelous vision of peace and sensual satisfaction, one of my favorites.

Yep, it is still Isaiah 1, all the way to chapter 39.  Basically he is saying that a great day will come, after you people have paid for your sinful, selfish ways. 

 

 

Remembering…..

 

Download Readings Week 28
 

 

Homily:

As a boy, Jesse was a chicken plucker.

He stood on a line in a factory and spent his days

pulling the feathers off dead chickens so the rest of us

wouldn't have to.

It wasn't much of a job, but at the time

Jesse didn't think he was much of a person.

His father was a brute of a man

thought to be mentally ill,

and treated Jesse roughly all his life.

Jesse's older brother wasn't much better.

He was always picking on Jesse and beating him up.

Yes, Jesse grew up in a very rough home in

West Virginia.  Life was anything but easy,

and he thought life didn't hold much hope for him.

That's why he was standing in this chicken line

doing a job that few people wanted.

Jesse was always sick.

Sometimes it was real physical illness,

but often it was all in his head.

He was a small child, skinny and meek.

That didn't help the situation.

 

 

Remembering….

When he started to school he was the object of every

bully on the playground.

He was a hypochondriac of the first order.

For Jesse, tomorrow was not always something he

looked forward to.

 

 

But he had a dream. He wanted to be a ventriloquist.

He found books on ventriloquism. He practiced with

sock puppets and saved his hard-earned dollars until

he could get a real ventriloquist dummy.

When he got old enough, he joined the military,

and even though many of his hypochondriac symptoms

persisted, the military recognized his talents and

put him in the entertainment corps.

That was when his world changed.

He gained confidence.

 

 

The Wizards Hue & Rich.

He found that he had a talent for making people laugh,

and laugh so hard they often had tears in their eyes.

Yes, little Jesse had found himself.

You know, the history books are full of people

who overcame a handicap to go on and make a success

of themselves, but Jesse is one of the few I know of

who didn't overcome it. Instead he used his paranoia

to make a million dollars and become one of

the best-loved characters of all time doing it!

That little paranoid hypochondriac, who transferred

his nervousness into a successful career, still holds the

record for the most Emmys given in a single category.

The wonderful, talented, nervous comedian

who brought us

Barney Fife (The Andy Griffith Show)

was

Jesse Don Knotts.

(July 21, 1924 – February 24, 2006)

There is a street named for him and his statue in

Morgantown, West Virginia, his home town.

At this stress filled time in our lives, how are you reaching out  to peace & beauty?

 

 

Remembering….

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Alan Stryker;  For John Doherty with back pain; For Becky's dad who has moved to the other side;  For Cindy is recuperated!!;    For David Dismore's bad shoulder from a biking accident;  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;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, Woodlands,  For Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;   For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody & Ben & Leo & all of Shonda's dear family;   for all the students and teachers and coaches returning to school, for Geri's sister with heart & circulation problems, 

Richard & Mike Zooming. 

 

For Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For both Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free;    For Hue;  For John O'Donnell;   For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa; For John Schanot's continued health;  For Anthony & Sabrina;    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,  For the students, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

Birthdays: Bill Hammond, Celeste Colmanero, Rich Eschelbrenner

 

 

 

Hammond, you are so missed around here!

 

Community Finances, October 11, 2020

Expenses: $710.00 

Outreach   $180.00    (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

 

Just in case you missed our new address, 7017 Helsem Way  75230.   (notice the same Zip Code as Tulip Lane?)