Sunday Homily, August 13, 2017, 19th, Ordinary Time

Readings: We are celebrating All Saints, but using the readings for Sunday, Sirach 35, 12-18; Psalm 145, I will praise Your Name forever, My King and My God (my favorite line in the psalm; can you spot it?); 2 Thessalonians 1, 11-2, 2; Luke 10, 9-14 (Good Ole Zacheus ).

We actually had two poems read this morning for All Saints.  Watch for them in the Friday blog. 

Psalm 145:

 See if you can pick it out.  My favorite line in perhaps all of scripture. 

Fr. Jack Deeves, S.J. at 82

 A week ago Thursday I attended a celebration of the life of Fr. Jack Deeves at St. Rita’s.  Jack was a Jesuit companion all my 50 plus years as a Jesuit.  He was 82.  He had received a heart transplant in ‘89, and lived with it for 21 years, close to if not a record.  He was one of the good old Jesuits. 

 I want to tell you about him this morning and use as a template the story of Zacheus and my favorite line from scripture.  Could you spot it?  My version: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry and is abounding in love.”  Psalm 145, verse 8.  Could this not be the answer to our big question?

Unlike our friend Zacheus, Jack was not short in stature.  Probably 6’2” or more, you could see him above the crowd smiling and greeting all the people gathering around him. 

 Like Zacheus, who was agile enough to climb trees, Jack was a good athlete.  In my early Jesuit days I did not like to face him when he was pitching for the other side. 

 Like Zacheus he was what the psalm calls ‘gracious.’  I would say he was a gracious hospitable extrovert.  For many of the years I spent at Jesuit with him he was the father minister, the priest in charge of the kitchen, supplies, and the well being of the men in the house.  I cannot count the number of years he played the role of Santa Clause at our annual Christmas party. 

 I took Jack out to lunch about a year ago at Kel’s Kitchen down at Forest & the Tollway, a Jesuit staff hangout.  As we go in, half a dozen or ten people all know Jack and stop him to chat.  Jack graciously spent time with all of them, smiling and asking them about their families & lives.  I thought he was never going to make it to our table.

 Like Zacheus and certainly like God who the psalm writer says never gets angry, Jack never lost his amiable disposition and enthusiasm for people and life.  Only if one of us Jesuits to be buggers would slightly intimate that Ursuline, the institution he loved last & most, we would intimate that Ursuline was slightly less than Jesuit.  To the rescue Jack would come. 

 I can remember when I was in my 5^th, 6^th and 7^th years of study in Mobile we used to go to a 2 week summer camp on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, a place I loved, because I loved the outdoors, the water, the sun, water skiing, and outdoor sports like 2 person volley ball.  Jack was the father superior for us maybe 50 guys living in a two storey, screened in pavilion.  Big open dormitory on the second floor.  Jack made life heavenly for us, even though some guys were not into the outdoor life.  We had no a/c.  He even had time to play with the neighbor kids from houses along the shore.  I developed some close friends among those neighbors. 

 Finally, as the psalm writer says about God, Jack was dear.  He was loving.  He loved people and he poured out his spirit loving them, at Kel’s Kitchen, at Jesuit, at Ursuline, as cheer leader moderator for years, and at so many football games and school events. 

 I know Jack was hurting because of my departure, but he was one of the guys I could always call up or go by Ursuline to find him.  I would ask how he was and how the other guys were.  He would even go out to eat with me.

Jack was not short of stature physically or spirit-wise.  He was, moreover,gracious and merciful, never got angry and was dear, abounding in love.

 Who is the Jack Deeves in your life?

 Picture 1:   Beginning of Mass for All Saints

 Picture 2:   Memorial for Our Beloved

 Picture 3:    More of the Memorial

 Picture 4:    Our Father

 Picture & Obituary from the Dallas Morning News, October 17:            

Welcome in, Everybody.  It gets no crazier.

Readings: 

Genesis 15, 5-12, 17-18,  The Lord God took Abraham outside and said to him, "Look up at the sky and count the stars."  

Psalm 27,  The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Philippians 3, 17-4, 7,  He will change our lowly bodies

Luke 9, 28b-36,  The Transfiguration.

The Irish are taking over, Joe with Marsha & Cathy.

Genesis observations

What : book 1 of the whole Bible which includes

1. Origin of people, Creation, Adam & Eve, the apple tree,
2. Cain & Abel,
3. Tower of Babel,
4. The flood, Noah, and the arc,
5. Abraham, The Father of the tribe, Isaac, and Jacob

The stories are mythological and fun reading.

Beware, Hue, it may be contagious.

Author: numerous sources, at least 4 big strands. 

When: guess.  Yes, compiled during the Babylonian Captivity, 555 before Christ, to build cohesion in the tribe because it has a history, especially the point that they are chosen to be special by God.

Our selection: The story about Abraham and how God made a pact with the tribe led by Abraham, considered the founder of the tribe. 

Welcome back home, Shonda & Bill.

Amusing note: in our reading Yahweh promises a section of land to the Israelite tribe.  This genre of literature comes under the title of denial of responsibility, typified by ‘The dog ate my homework” or ‘God made me do it.’

The story is put together after the fact, after the event.  The fact is, the Israelite tribe had to remove the Caananite tribe from the land.  The Israelites slaughtered them all, men, women, and children, even the live stock.

Their observation years later, ‘Yahweh told us to do it.”  Such was the origin of the Holy Land.

Emma has this candle lighting down perfect.

Philippians: another amusing observation

Paul says that his enemies and the enemies of the new Christianity have as their god their stomach.   That could apply to me, too.

At your age, Buddy, I could never do what you do every Sunday.  Congratulations.

Sunday Homily, 3-16-19, Transfiguration

This morning we celebrate the Transfiguration.

I would propose that our lives are filled with transfigurations, emphasis on the plural. 

I would likewise propose that a transfiguration event produces in us peace, joy, and gratitude.

What's going on back there, Cheryl & Grace?  You are missing one of your conspirators, Rosemary.  

Six examples from my own life.

Kilimanjaro.  I climbed that mountain 5 times and each time was a transfiguration.  Each time was a special story and filled me with peace, joy, and gratitude.  How high was I?   19 thousand feet plus.

Secondly, every time I biked across Iowa with Ragbrai.   About 500 miles, 12-20 thousand other wakos.  Talk about peace, joy, and gratitude.  I could be riding along with tears in my eyes, just to be there pedaling along on a bright, cool morning, bike riders all around me.  When I was younger and stronger, passing lots of people, I would greet everyone with a “Good Morning.”

The Best  of all Teams.

More modestly, my early morning spin bike get togethers {M. W, F.) at the Jewish Community Center.   6 A.M. 15-18 people.  Survival  is a transfiguration, a natural high.  And to think that there were days recently when I thought I may never do this again.  To top it off, the first time I returned after the lumbar operation (another T.), they threw a welcome back-birthday party at the Monday session.  Got me all choked up, which I know you find difficult to believe.

The Great Dougherty Team.  Welcome home for Spring Break, Kevin.

Then there is Hilton Head, where Rosemary’s sister & brother in law live.  It is always special.  This trip tomorrow will be especially beautiful because the azaleas, the camellias, and maybe the Gardenias will all be in bloom.  This is a re-booting trip after the disaster of our Thanksgiving trip

Did you notice the beauty of yesterday morning?  It even reminded me of many equally cold, calm & beautiful mornings in Yosemite, especially my favorite, the Matterhorn Canyon trail.

Can you find happier kids?

Finally, it is a transfiguration trip for me each Sunday morning when we all get together.  It don’t get no better.

Peace, joy, gratitude.

What are your transfiguration moments?

Communion team ready.

Readings: Jeremiah 20,10-13; Psalm 69; Romans 5, 12-15; Matthew 10, 26-33

Jeremiah: one of the 3 great prophets along with Isaiah & Ezekiel.  He lives just before the defeat & destruction of Jerusalem 650 years before Christ.  He foretells the catastrophe, warning the Hebrews that their sinful ways will lead to destruction.  He lives to see the event, but also prophesies that the exile will be temporary and that one day the people will return to Jerusalem.

Jeremiah was unpopular with the people because of his warnings.  Today's reading shows him bitter and complaining about the people. 

As Good as Sparrows, as Good as Aviana?

In February, when we put our little dog Naomi to sleep after 15 years, Rosemary & I debated whether we would ever want to get another dog.  Putting her to sleep was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. 

Around Memorial Day, however, Rosemary began to look on line just a bit.  Shih-tzus were our favorite, but we entertained other types of small dogs.   In fact, our vet had recommended a woman in East Texas who occasionally raised a litter of maltipoos, a mixture of maltese & poodle. 

Last Wednesday we took a trip to East Texas.  We had two ladies to visit, the one recommended by the vet and another who raised shih-tzus.  On the way we debated: yes or no.  We decided to just look.  

Well, so much for looking.  In fact, the hardest thing was coming home without one of each. 

Behold Aviana, a maltese-poodle mix whose name comes from the air base north east of  Venice, where we visited Michael & Lydia on our spring trip.  The base is Aviano; we made it feminine.

Do I have any doubts or reservations now that she is part of our family?  No, not one.  In fact, I am reminded every day why she is a special gift.  A couple of observations.

Do you realize that she is not afraid?  I think she is like all of us when we are born.  When do we begin to be afraid?  I know how Aviana could become afraid.  If I treated her mean & rough, and abused her.  Matthew recommends that we be afraid not of the person who kills the body, but of the person who kills the soul.  I would suggest the word spirit instead of soul.  Abuse kills the spirit.  At the least it wounds the spirit.

Yesterday I was working on line and Aviana was lying under my feet sound asleep.  Not on her tummy or on her side.  She was lying on her back with her legs and ears splayed out.  Talk about trust.  Lack of fear.

Matthew says that we need not fear because we are worth more than many sparrows.  Am I worth as much as one Aviana? 

Second observation is that I see the acceptance of God in the behavior of Aviana.  I saw it in Naomi.  I walk in the house and receive not just unconditional acceptance.  I encounter excited & joyous celebration.  I am amazed and touched.  We hear a lot about how we will be judged a sheep or a goat at the great roundup.  If I am lax, God will come like a thief in the night and hurl me into hell for being caught off guard. 

My preference is to see the acceptance of Aviana as reflective of the acceptance of God.  She is another of those little creatures we talked about last week.  She is another metaphor or parable about God's acceptance of us as we are. 

Aviana is not afraid of us.  She amazingly trusts us.  Moreover, she accepts and celebrates us just as we are.  

How does she symbolize or not symbolize your relationship with God? 

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-06-22.mp3

Readings:

Exodus  22, 20-26,  You shall not molest or oppress an alien.

Psalm 18,   I love you Lord, My Strength

1 Thessalonians 1, 5-10,  You know what sort of people we were among you.

Matthew 22, 34-40,  The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

Zoe & Michelle say, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome."

Exodus observations–

What: One of the great books of the Bible, the second book of the O.T.  A good read.  The name  means 'departure' and refers to one of the most important events in Israel's history, the departure of the people of Israel from Egypt where they had become slaves after going there to escape drought in their own land.

Author: not Moses, but a bunch of people putting together the story most likely after the Babylonian Captivity, therefore around 555 before Christ.

Our selection:   comes from the "Book of the Covenant," that is, the law or commandments.

The materials in the book are akin to many legal codes of the ancient Near East, the most famous of which is the Code of Hammurabi, 20th Century before Christ.

Today's reading comes from a section of the code dealing with the laws of social conduct.  They inculcate a social ethic based upon compassion.  Abstract justice is not enough, especially for the underprivileged.  The lesson was obviously chosen to go with the summary of the Law that forms the gospel reading. 

Watch how Yahweh (that is, the person writing in Yahweh's name) says he is compassionate just after declaring he will kill certain types of people if they are not compassionate.

Cupcake of The Week to Zoe on her 6th birthday today.

Matthew observations–

What:  another example of the cultural game of "gotcha," a set up.  How this works you got to know the background…

Background:  The Pharasees identified 613 commandments in the Torah (first 5 books of the O.T.)  248 were positive ("thou shalt"), and 365 were negative ("thou shalt not").  How could anyone remember all of them?  Were some more important than others?  If you choose one, what about another??

See where we are going?   Our Gospel, "the Greatest Commandment?"  Matthew has the the Pharasees ask this question to put Jesus into a bind.  But again, Jesus slips their trap.  

Cupcake of The Week to Zaile & Billy on their anniversary.

Some teachers distinguished between "heavy" and "light" commandments.  The "Ten" are examples of the heavies.  An example of a light commandment is in Deut. 22, 6-7, which stipulates that a person who finds a bird's nest with a mother sitting on eggs or with young may take the young but must let the mother go.  The reason for observing all these commandments: "That it may go well with you, and that you may live long."  (Deut. 5, 16; 22, 7)

Resources: The New Interpreters Study Bible; St. Louis U. Liturgical @ Liturgical.slu.edu

Cupcake of The Week to Shirley for putting up with Jerry and Poncic.

Love Myself ?   I’m okay, you’re okay?

I hate it when I get these ideas.  I composed a homily yesterday evening and was all ready to go this morning when I woke up.  At 8:00 A.M., 30 minutes before Rosemary & I depart for Vines, I change my mind.  I want to talk about an event that took place Saturday evening. 

I want also to tie it with the great commandment.  I have said it maybe a hundred times, there are 3 commandments here, love God, love my neighbor as myself, and love myself.  Loving myself, from my own experience and my experience in psychology, is the most difficult and the foundation of the first two.  I don’t love myself, I don’t love anybody else.

A  little dictum that sums it up for me is, “I’m okay and you are okay.”  It does not have to get dramatic, just simple.

Cupcake to Greg to console him for getting stung on his right eyelid at the house project yesterday.

Here is what happened last evening and exemplifies some of this.

At about 6:30 I told Rosemary I was going to walk across the street to the Chase bank on the corner of Preston & Royal.  It was a gorgeous Saturday night and I thought, ‘I’ll just walk over to the bank and make a deposit of a check.’  We live maybe 300 yards from this corner.

So I walk to the bank, I make the deposit, and am ready to return, crossing back across Preston at the light.  But what do I see?  A man is lying on the cement on his right side, his right hand under his head, and he is asleep.  He is in the corner parking slot in the small Chase parking lot. 

Mary and Frank with a cupcake for Nikki & Cameron on their birthday.

I think, ‘Is he alive, does he need help?  He is in a bizarre spot, tons of Saturday evening traffic, out of sight tucked into the parking nook, and looking like a homeless person, old, gray pants and t-shirt.’  He also has a sunburn high water mark on his left arm, a sign he is outside a lot.

‘Should I go check on him?  What if he pulls a gun or knife and kills me?’  I feel like the Pharisee in the parable of the Good Samaritan.  So I call 911.  At least something.  The lady says the police will swing by right away.

I walk away a bit, not toward the corner, but toward the drug store so I can see him.   I’m curious.  I stop and wait.  I wait maybe 15-20 minutes, hoping to see the cops check on the guy.

Offertory, Sandra, Jerry, and Grace.

Finally I say to myself, ‘Stop being such a wimp.  Go check on him.  The cops are taking too much time.  I’ve worked with lots of guys like this.   He won’t hurt me.  I’m bigger and in better shape anyway.’

So I walk over to him, look down, and say, “How you doing, man?”  It wakes him and he looks at me with light blue eyes which are like out of focus.  He wonders where he is.  This young man is on something.  That is obvious. 

The first thing he says is, “Thanks for checking on me.”  Does that ever touch me.  We talk a bit and finally he asks me if I have a cigarette.  I said I don’t smoke, but I wished I had a cigarette, if that was all he wanted for a little pleasure. 

The Team.

I admit that if he wanted money for food, I would have walked him right over to McDonnell’s on the opposite corner.  I also admit that I did not want spend the evening carrying him down to The Bridge, if he asked me for a place to stay.  And I certainly knew Rosemary would toss me out if I brought him home.  He did neither.

So I asked him if he was okay and he said yes.  I walked away again toward Dougherty’s drug store.  I looked back one time and he was still just sitting there on the cement looking around and looking at the people driving up to use the ATM machine, which probably made them nervous.

Bethany and Ray.

The guy is in my spirit right now.  I wonder.  How did he get to where he is?  Where is he?  When did he get addicted?  Does he love himself, enough to love his neighbors?  Can he say, ‘I’m okay and you are okay.’

What do you need to do to say, ‘I’m okay and you are okay,’ if you can’t say it this morning?

Sez Shonda, "Welcome in, Everybody."

Readings:

2 Samuel 5, 1-3, David anointed 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 23, 35-43,  This is the king of the Jews.  

Likewise say Connie & John, "Come on  in, Folks"

Homily by John Cade

Every Sunday we “do” the Mass. ‘Eucharist’ is the Greek word for “giving thanks”. Following the theme Stack and Mike and I set for these three weeks, I will share my gratitude for four of the many blessings I received this year.

Welcome Home, Gil.  It has been a long recuperation and it is delightful to see you.

On Jan. 1 Lambrini retired. We are grateful together for her having this good job for 21 years, achieving many career goals, and, in the process, earning the respect of her coworkers. Of course, even a good job includes work stress—like its duties and demands and sometimes its environment. And you know, if your partner is stressed, you are stressed. Retirement is when we both get to say goodbye to those stresses, and catch up on our bucket list.

Thanks, Sophia, for lighting our candles.

In terms of health, Lambrini had severe A-fib symptoms; they were debilitating. A blessing I shared with her was her ablation surgery that reduced the worst of her A-fib symptoms, Alleluia! On my personal health blessings: I had an echocardiogram and a stress test this summer, after which my cardiologist said, “See you next year!”—always what we want to hear. My Urologist said the same just this past week.

Happy Thanksgiving, Brent.  This $1000 check is for the Souls Harbor enterprise.  I only wish it could be our $2000.

Another blessing was celebrating with Lambrini our 25^th wedding anniversary. It’s not just all these years together; it’s also deepening our devotion and gratitude for each other and working to better accept our differences.  Speaking of weddings, I was blessed getting to preside over the wedding of a young couple. Doing weddings is a gift; they are such happy occasions, intimate and full of promise and fun.

Bill, even with chemo treatment, you still challenge our community to do more, like the Love for Kids Picnic coming up this month.  Thanks.

Finally a big blessing, this year and every year, is being part of this community. An example of what a blessing this community is was how this community stood with Rich and Carol as they ‘walked their walk’ right in our midst. We got to see their steadfast loyalty and courage.

Says Marilyn, " Sign up for the Juliets Christmas luncheon coming up soon."

I give thanks for the loving support this community provides. We all experience losses. My gratitude is for the way this community helps me and all of us feel safe enough to share them, and courageous enough to accept them, and get on to the next step of our journey.

How will you remember and give thanks for the blessings of this year, individually and together?

Communion for All.

Readings:

Leviticus 19, 1-2,  17-18,  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.   

 Psalm 103,  The Lord is kind and merciful. (Stanza 2, one of the best)

 1 Corinthians 3, 16-23,   You are the temple of God.

 Matthew 5, 38-48,    Love your enemies.

"Welcome in, Everybody," say Olivia and her dad, Cory.

Observations on Leviticus

What :  the 3rd book of the Bible and one of the 5 books of the Torah.

Who:  a compilation of sayings accumulated over centuries, not Moses, as was thought for some years.

Date: sometime after the Exile in Babylon, ca. 555 before Christ.

"Don't forget me," says Tori, "Come in, Folks."
 

Subject:  rules about how to live, how to worship, and the penalties for transgressing.  This is based upon 2 beliefs:

1. The world has been created good, but is vulnerable to sin.
2. Enactment of proper ritual makes God present and ignoring proper ritual compromises the harmony between God & people. 

Some unique rules:

1. Cursing, death.   24.14
2. Unkempt hair, God will smite you.  10.1
3.  You will not tatoo yourself, 19.28
4. Trimming your beard.  19.27
5. Cutting the hair on the sides of your head.  19.27

Today’s Subject:  the best line in the whole work, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”   19.18

Sources:  Good News Bible, Wikipedia

The Offertory Team, Bill, Ray, Bernadette, and Richard.

I want to help people.  That’s what I’m for.

Ever hear of a guy named Clarence Griffith?  I read about him in the Dallas Morning News recently.  Three things are unique about him.

1. He was born in 1913.  Know anybody that old?  104 years.
2. When he was 94 he received triple heart bypass at Baylor, Dallas.
3. Ever since his recuperation he regularly goes to console and help people in the Baylor cardiac waiting room.  He gets them coffee, food, and offers them support, praying with them or just letting them talk.  He says,  “That’s what I’m for.  I want to help people.”

Leo, our Candle Lighter of The Week.

For me, Clarence Griffith has accepted that, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry and is abounding in love.”  Moreover, he is making himself live that image.

Last week we looked at infinite demand that was followed up with promises of hell.  A fear based program.

This week we look at a different infinite demand equally challenging.  The demand is to get rid of fear in our relationship with God using that description, and to help others to do so.

The Team.

This is one of the biggest reasons I have been and am a priest, and even a psychotherapist, to help others get rid of fear in our relationship with God.

Which leads me to three demands presented by Matthew.  If you reflect upon it, these three are a result of knowing that our God is gracious and merciful, never gets angry and is abounding in love.

The Wedding, Patricia and John.

First, Matthew says, using his favorite little figure of speech, ‘You have heard it said, but I say to you…’, when someone hits the left side of your face, offer the right and don’t resist the person who is evil. 

Is this insanity or what?  Has it ever been tried?  Yes, you say, by dead people.   Impossible.  This is the message of the pacifist, a person mostly ridiculed by the rest of us.  Know any?  Sure, John Dear, once a Jesuit, Roy Bourgeois, once a Maryknoll. 

I wonder what would happen if we really did this.  I confess I have not been able to get there. 

Congratulations, John, I am so happy when I am not the only one with tears up here.  Must be because you come from Australia.  Double congratulations.  
 

Secondly, give to the person who asks from you.  Another tough one.  How do you feel passing the men & women begging at stop lights?  I, for one, feel horrible, even though I know they have a number of shelters, like The Bridge and Austin St. Shelter.   I can work in those places and know that we as a community help them, but I still feel horrible passing those people on the corner.

Thirdly, love my enemy.  I really don’t have any serious enemies that I know of.

"I, Patricia, take you, John in marriage.  I promise to be true to you in good times and bad, in sickness and in health.  I will love and cherish you all the days of my life."

Despite failure to live up to these demands, which are infinite, our God is still infinitely accepting, specifically gracious and merciful, never get angry and is abounding in love.   Moreover, relevant to our weakness, he says in the following line, “Not according to our sins does he deal with us.”

104 year old Clarence Griffith is showing people this image of God in the Baylor hospital waiting room.

Who shows this image to you?

To whom do you show the image?

 The Kiss.