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Readings: Isaiah 7 10-14; Psalm 24, Let the Lord enter, He is King of Glory; Romans 1, 1-7; Matthew 1, 18-24 

Isaiah, a quick review:

Author: remember there are 3 contributors.  This is Isaiah I, composer of chapters 1-39.

Date: ca. 700 before Christ and before the Persians blotted out the northern kingdom, Israel. 

 
 

Today's material: as a sign to the unfaithful people, Isaiah predicts a virgin will conceive, will bear a son, and he shall be named Emmanuel.  Isaiah I is speaking to the Israelites who are going to get annihilated shortly by the Persians.  Matthew uses this passage to authenticate Jesus, saying it refers to him.  The virgin conceiving a god person goes way back in history, at least to the time of the Pharaohs in Egypt.

 

 

Home 

 The afternoon of the second or third day Rosemary & I spent in Hilton Head with her sister & brother in law I was finally rested out.  I decided I got to get some exercise. 

 So I grabbed my favorite bike in the garage, an old American style bike with no gears and a big white wall tires.  It is a sight, but it is great conditioning and much easier to ride than I expected. 

 I took off at about 4:30 knowing that I needed to be home by 5:30 when it would be dark.  And on Hilton Head Island, folks, it is dark at night.  No street lights.  Know why.  Turtle habitat.  Turtles use the beaches to hatch their young and the lights get them disoriented.  Therefore, you can easily see the stars at night, but perhaps not your hand in front of your face when there is no moon. 

 

 The circle ride I make takes about 40 minutes, probably 8-10 miles.  I had gone 15 minutes when I had that sensation.  Something was squishy.  Yes, I had a flat on my rear tire. 

 So I decided to walk it in, instead of calling home for a lift.  I had passed already the more open part of the trail, and had ahead of me the more forested part.  No problem, I know the trail well and light from the houses would guide me.

 Consequently, I’m walking along this long path through the woods and on both sides of me are the forested back yards of houses.  It was chilly, but comfortable.  As I walk along I can see into the kitchens and dens of all these houses, warm, inviting, and homey.

 

 Suddenly I am reminded of other nights walking along behind other houses that were warm, inviting, and homey.  Certainly in Tanzania & Kenya when I lived there.  But also, when I studied the four years in Toronto. 

 At the college in Toronto we had a half mile meandering drive to the main road.  On the right or north of the drive a line of nice middle class homes backed up.  I would walk there in the snow often and long to have a similar house, warm, inviting, and homey.  However, I thought it was not for me as a priest.

 Walking along that path in Hilton Head, I realized I am not lonely or homesick any more.  I am grateful that I do have what I was longing for, thanks to Rosemary and our marriage.  I went home and told her, again.

 

 As we approach one of the more home focused celebrations of our year, we might find that we are more homesick or we might be grateful that we have a place that is warm, inviting, and homey. 

 Where is home for you this Christmas season?

 What do you do to create a home that is warm, inviting, and homey?

 Picture 1:   Ryan lighting the Advent Candle

 Picture 2:   Done!

 Picture 3:   Communion preparation

 Picture 4:    Communion helpers

 Picture 5:    Margarita & Ashley

 

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

 

Mass:   Coffee, donuts, and specials on the house.  

Time: 9:30; Stack Celebrating 

Place:  Vines High School, 15th between Custer & Independence, south side

  
 

 Readings: Exodus 17, 8-13; Psalm 121, Our help is from the Lord, who made Heaven & Earth; 2 Timothy 3, 14-4, 2; Luke 18, 1-8  
 

Community Bulletin Board: 

                                                                                 

Discussion after Mass this Sunday 

                                                                                

Dates to Check: 

 

October 30, Saturday: Our special day at our Habitat house.  Tom Fleming will explain Sunday. 

 

November 20, Saturday before Thanksgiving: help us feed the homeless like we did last year.  More information coming.

 

November 21, Sunday before Thanksgiving: our holiday food drive.                                                             

 

 

Thoughts on The Church:

 

1.  Where we  Catholics came from, NY Times, 10-7-10:  Download A Lesson from History 10-15-10 

                                                                                               

2.  Excellent article on the state of the Catholic world written by Anthony Padovano, a married priest & scholar.  The article is both excellent and long.  Issue #3:  Download Padovano #3 of 4, 10-15-10

                                                                          

 
 

        

True? 

People, even more than things,
have to be restored,
renewed, revived,
reclaimed,
and redeemed;
never throw out anyone.

Audrey Hepburn
 

Picture 5:   Kevin & Georgie at the pastry table

 

  

 
 See you Sunday, October 17

 J.S.   (214-783-0443)

 

 

Readings: Isaiah 62, 1-5; Psalm 96, Proclaim His Marvelous Deeds to All the Nations; 1 Corinthians 12, 4-11; John 2, 1-11, Wedding at Cana

Mass with Tony

Notes on Readings for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Our First Reading is from Isaiah, chapter 62.  The book of the Prophet Isaiah is quite long, 66 chapters and in reality falls into two separate books.  The first section up to and including chapter 39 was written starting around 740 BCE.  Up to this time, Judah, the southern kingdom had enjoyed great prosperity.  The northern kingdom had fallen to the Assyrians, but the southern kingdom, including Jerusalem was fine.  Isaiah starts to write because the southern kingdom has subjected itself to the Assyrians and accepted their gods.

  

 

Second Isaiah was written many years later.  The situation is totally different because the kingdom has been conquered by the Babylonians, Jerusalem and the Temple have been destroyed and the people carried off into exile.  Our reading today is towards the very end of the book and the author is trying to offer encouragement to the people about the New Jerusalem.  He is trying to build up their faith in God that everything will be all right.  The reading is really a kind of liturgical song.

  

The Second Reading is from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, and the issue he deals with is a whole lot of arguing within the community about the different gifts of the Spirit, and which is the best!!  Just like little kids!!  The verses, which come just before our reading, should really have been included, and I have decided to have them read as part of the reading, as they give full meaning to the reading.

 

 

  

Homily for Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

 

Today is the only Sunday in Ordinary time this year when our Gospel comes from St John.  For the rest of the year we will be reading Luke.  We will run into John’s Gospel again in Lent.  The gospel reading today is about Jesus’ First Miracle, and this is probably why we have this reading, as we are pretty much at the start of the New Year.  Last Sunday we had the Baptism of Jesus, and since John is the only Gospel with this event, hence we have John today!

A few words first about the Gospel itself.  Written between the years 90 and 100 CE.  It is very different for the other three Gospels, namely Matt, Mk and Luke.  They are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels because of their similarities.  But John is very different.  Remember this is the gospel the starts out with “In the beginning was the Word”, by the way, remember that is also the way the book of Genesis begins, “In the beginning…this is no accident.  In Genesis we have the story of the creation taking seven days.  If you read Johns Gospel, you will find that we are in fact on the seventh day if one is counting days in Johns Gospel!  Our reading today properly begins with the words “on the third day”.  That in itself sounds familiar.  It is intended to.

I would like to point out a couple of things about John’s gospel.  Written at the end of the first century.  The temple had been destroyed, and this Christian community had been expelled from the synagogue.  There was fierce animosity between the Jewish community and the Christian community.

    

John never identifies the mother of Jesus as Mary, only as his mother.  We meet her twice in the whole gospel, the first time in today’s reading and the other time is at the foot of the cross when he says to her to take care of the beloved disciple John.

   

But lets look at today’s gospel.  A wedding, Jesus shows up with his mother and his disciples.  The narrative is carefully crafted.  There is an exchange between Jesus and his mother.  “They have no wine, what’s it to me.”  Then between the mother and the servants, “do whatever he tells you”, then between Jesus and the servants, “go fill the jars” and finally between the head steward and the bridegroom, who doesn’t have anything to say!  And again remember Jesus is later referred to as the Bridegroom!

   

By the way, that is a whole lot of wine!!  Somewhere between 120 and 140 gallons!! To the person familiar with the Old Testament, that would remind them of paradise!  An abundance of wine.  The water jars were normally used as part of the ritual purification process, which later we know that Jesus basically ignored completely.  But the piece I would like to draw attention to is brief exchange between Jesus and his mother.  It is one of those strange exchanges.  They should have whacked him properly for his answer when they found him in the temple at 12 and because they didn’t this is what you get!!

  

How are we to understand the whole thing?  Woman, my hour has not yet come!  Remember the next time we meet his mother was when his hour had come!  In spite of the harshness of the rebuke, Mary’s faith is demonstrated by the fact that she knows that anything asked in Jesus’ Name will be granted and so she simply tells the servants “Do whatever He tells you”.  That is the model of faith.

  

Faith is one of those words where I think for many of us there may be a bit of confusion.  At times faith and a belief system are often interchanged, but they are very different.  A belief system is all the things that have been put together by the Church as facts about our faith, but faith itself is quite simple.  It is an acknowledgement that there is a God who, in human terms, loves me and wants me to share that love with others!  As humans, we tend to complicate things, but it really is that simple.  Jesus told us to Love God and Love our Neighbor.  That was it.  With that in mind, we can go back and look at Mary’s actions in the story today.  First of all, she was sensitive to the embarrassment, which the married couple were about to be in, and secondly she had complete confidence that whatever she asked her Son, he would answer.  She didn’t get caught up in how he answered her, which would have been a distraction.  She simply told with servants to do whatever he told them to do. 

 

 

Now this is Mary we are holding up, as a model.  We will spend our lifetime trying to live with that kind of complete trust in God.  This is the woman who years earlier had said, “Be it done unto me”. 

We have gathered here today because of our own faith.  To have it nourished, to listen to God’s Word, and to share in this Meal.  We have the opportunity to live that faith each day, with our family, our neighbors, the folks we work with or are at school with us.  This week, lets remember Mary’s very simple “faith-filled” response, “Do whatever he tells you”  An answer she could give with complete confidence because she knew she was loved!

 

 

Picture 1:  Mass beginning with Tony & Kevin

Picture 2:  Tony blessing Geri's shawls

Picture 3:  The Bentleys, Holden, Cole, Hope, & Hunter

Picture 4:  Celebrating their 39th anniversary, Ray & Claire; celebrating her 15th birthday, Alexandra with her dad, David

  

Readings: Isaiah 40, 1-11; Psalm 104, O Bless the Lord, My Soul; Titus 2, 11-14, 3, 4-7; Luke 3, 1-22.

 

Baptism & Original Sin: traditional & contemporary theology

 

Traditional theology on baptism & original sin:

 

a.  Original sin: the 1 sin of Eve & Adam, the eating of an apple, ruptured the relationship between God & Humans.

 

b.  Why we baptized: purification & removal of that original sin inherited by all babies.  A new born baby was a sinner & would go to Limbo forever if not baptized before dying. 

   

 

Contemporary theology on baptism & original sin:

  

a.  Original sin:

 

1.  no original sin

  

2.  Genesis story of the fall is allegory, not fact.  No Garden of Eden and no Adam & Eve.

  

3.  from Darwin's Origin of the Species the idea has developed that in our human infancy, we needed certain behaviors to survive.  For instance, killing another person & stealing (like food).  As our ancestors formed communities, norms of social behavior emerged, for example, the 10 commandments. 

  

4.  St. Augustine, ca. 400: 

 

–A major, if not the major influence on Christian/Catholic theology of original sin and human nature from his time to today 

–After conversion from a rather lusty life at 32, he had a pessimistic view of human nature, different from early Christianity

–St. John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), Pelagius, a British monk, & Julian of Eclanum, Italy, a bishop, all found nature good and fought against Augustine

–Augustine used all means to vanquish his opponents with their positive view that nature was good, even to sending a gift of horses to the pope to influence his decision.  Augustine won.

   

 

b.  Why we baptize today: (using the contemporary theology)

  

1.  To celebrate a new life

   

2.  To ritually & formally welcome the new person into a family, a community, and to a God famous for love and acceptance.

  

3.  To cleanse after the journey

 

Sources: Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent; John Shelby Spong; Wikipedia

 

 

We are Getting Better

 

I have one more Christmas story to celebrate this baptism today. 

 

There are three people in the story.  My good friend, her little daughter, and her niece, who is about 16 or 17.  The story took place at Collin Creek Mall one or two days just after Christmas.  Guess what they were doing.  Bringing things back. 

 

It happened that the niece had offered to take the daughter to the mall to have girl fun while her mother went to the mall to return various items.  After they had been there a while, the niece phoned to say that it was getting to be time for her to leave.  So could she return the daughter? 

 

They agreed that the easiest way to arrange the swap was for the niece to take the girl in her car, drive over to where my friend's car was, and then transfer the daughter & her car seat.  So they met in the parking lot, my friend's car in a parking place, the other car in the aisle behind the first car. 

 

Mother goes into the niece's car, unbuckles her daughter, and places the girl in her car.  Then she disconnects the car seat and reconnects it in her own car, securing her daughter in place.  Somewhere in this process she set her purse down.  Yep, you guessed it.

 

Who knows where she set it down.  Maybe by her niece's car, maybe by her own.  But apparently outside. 

 

She gets into her car and drives off.  Almost immediately she notices her purse is missing.  She calls her niece and asks her to look in her car.  No purse. 

 

So they both return to where the car was parked.  They drive around, ask people.  No sign of the purse.  The niece finally departs and mom  goes home.  She calls her mom, then she calls the mall security.  Nothing had been reported or brought in.  Security says to call the police.  The police do not know what to do.  Was it stolen?  Or was it forgotten? 

 

She thinks of her credit card, of getting a new license, she thinks of her phone.  So, using her mom's phone, she starts calling her phone hoping someone will answer   No one answers. 

 

 

Time passes.  A few hours later in the evening, her mom gets a phone call.  It is young boy, a high school aged kid.  He has the purse.  He says he and his dad found it in the parking lot and simply used the phone's incoming calls to call the number identified as "Mom."

 

The mom who got the purse back was Bobbi Jo Whitley, mother of Dillon, Hunter, and Audry.  Bobbi's mom is Jo Whitley, who read this morning.  The purse came back.  Nothing missing.

 

Are there not lots of good stories like this?  Are we not evolving into a better people?  Scott Burns said so in his column in the Dallas Morning News a couple of weeks ago.  A great Jesuit geologist and paleontologist, Teilhard de Chardin, thought so, saying that the human race is slowly becoming more mature, more sensitive, more peaceful.  I think so, too.  For lots of reasons.

 

What do you think?

 

Picture 1:  Mass begins with Kevin helping

 

Picture 2:  Daniel (Mr. A&M) & Beth

 

Picture 3:  Bob & Jerry with 2 new knees

 

Picture 4:  Georgie

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing Video:

 

 

 

 

 

Mass:  Plus coffee & donuts & specials on the house.  Welcome!

 

Place: Vines High School, Plano, 15th between Custer & Independence, west of Central Expressway.

Time: 9:30

 

Readings: Isaiah 60, 1-6; Psalm 72, Lord, Every Nation on Earth will adore You; Ephesians 3, 2-6; Matthew 2, 1-12

Santa visited the Christmas Eve Community:

 

Community Bulletin Board: 

Heritage Farm renovation:  On hold for a while

   

 

True?

One kind word can warm three winter months.
— Japanese Proverb 
 
 

 Picture 1:  Santa arrives

Picture 2:  Vivian's brother

Picture 3:  Vivian's sister

Picture 4:  Wendy, Shonda, Ray, & Celeste

   
   

  

  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

     

See you Sunday, January 3  

 J.S.   (214-783-0443) 

 

Readings: Daniel 12, 1-3; Psalm 16, You are my Inheritance, O Lord; Hebrews 10, 11-18; Mark 13, 24-32

 

Daniel: Author & date, subject matter, our selection–

 

Author & Date: put together by people ca. 160 BCE.  Maybe a Daniel authored some of the material about himself, but others added & subtracted.  Because the work describes the Babylonian captivity, people thought it was written at that time, i.e. ca. 550. 

 

 

However, today it is seen that the heroism and fidelity described in some of the stories is used to strengthen Jewish resistance during a Jewish revolt in 160.  It would be like using the story of Washington crossing a frozen river, the Delaware, to strengthen freezing troops in another combat today. 

 

What was taking place was a group of Jews, the Maccabees, revolted against the Seleucid Empire (the remains of Alexander the Great's Empire after he died a young 32, ca. 390 BCE.  He had no sons).  The Jewish Maccabees were getting smashed by the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphenes.  The writer of the book of Daniel is attempting to buck them up.

 

 

Subject Matter: the book has 12 chapters divided into 2 parts–

 

Chapters 1-6: 6 stories involving the young Jew Daniel in his dealing with the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.  The king appreciated Daniel because Daniel interpreted his dreams. It also includes the famous Shadrack, Meshak, & Abednego who survived being tossed into the furnace rather than worship a gold statue.

 

Chapters 7-12: 4 visions. 

 

Our Selection: only 3 lines, but heavy.  A time of distress is predicted which will be followed by escape and those who have died will awake, some to shine brightly, others to experience everlasting horror. 

 

This is significant.  The little passage introduces the idea of reward & punishment after death.  Previously Jews believed in a place called Sheol, an abode where the dead remained somewhat depressed.  From this time forward the belief in an after life becomes part of Jewish belief. 

 

 

Elizabeth Rainey  (homily put together Sunday morning)

 

I received a call early this morning that a dear little friend of mine had died in Medical City.  My friend, Elizabeth Rainey, was 93, had fallen and broken her hip about two weeks ago, and Thursday or Friday she had her hip surgically repaired. 

 

I have been visiting with Elizabeth every Friday morning since around 1989.  For some years she came out to see me, coming on the bus because she never did learn how to drive. 

 

I remember one fall Friday morning she was walking down the hall of the school, Jesuit, from the front to the back where I had my office.  The bell rang for the end of class, the guys poured out, and Elizabeth at about 4' 9" got knocked down by a boy with a 55 on his football jersey.  "No problem," she said.  Fortunately the school is carpeted.

 

Eventually Elizabeth could not get around, so I went to see her, for years.  Some of you got to know her because you helped me move her from one apartment to another over the years.  Three observations about her.

 

First, I was proud of Elizabeth for her membership in AA.  In fact, I was hoping she was going to celebrate her 54th anniversary this past Thursday by going on the other side.  I had medical power of attorney and had suggested she not be operated on, she was in such a weak and confused state.  We had discussed this and she wanted no life prolonging measures. 

 

Instead of this happening, Wednesday morning she awoke hungry and clear minded.  She did not want to spend the rest of her days in bed with a broken hip, so "Let's have the hip operation." 

 

 
 
Secondly, Elizabeth wrote a novel when she was about 80 years old.  She failed to get it published, but I always complimented her on her achievement.

Thirdly, Elizabeth suffered from borderline personality disorder.  Medication helped, but she knew that often she would lose her patience with people, regularly with me.  In fact, often she would kick me out and order me never to return.  In a day or so, she would meekly call and apologize.  I always laughed and told her because I was a priest I had to love everyone.  So I loved her too. 

This was hard on her as she aged because she not only ended up with no family, she ended up pushing away people who would have been her friends.  We talked about this occasionally.  Sometimes when our hands are delt we don't get a good set of cards. 

I am grateful for a couple of things.  One is that I was able to be Elizabeth's friend for so long. 

Secondly, I was helped and supported by a couple from Holy Trinity Parish, where Elizabeth attended when she was able to go.  This couple, Peter & Lynn, helped Elizabeth in numerous practical ways, from helping her to buy a condo, to helping her sell it and move into a retirement home.  The couple have been a terrific and patient help.

Who is the Elizabeth in your life?

 

 

The End of Times  (Original Homily)

 

Remember January 1, 2000?  I do not know if any of you did it, but I know some people who really expected the world was going to end.  One guy I know even loaded up his pantry with lots of non-perishable food.  I guess he figured that despite it being the end of the world, he might need some can goods to carry him over.

 

I was informed recently that the next scheduled end of the world takes place Dec. 21, 2012, according to our friend Nostradamos & the Mayan calandar.  Set your watches.  In fact, that I did not know this date nor the guru who is predicting the date, indicated that I was really out of it.  I felt like a child who showed up for class without his homework. Trouble is, so many of the end of world dates have been expected and passed.

 

A lot of these ideas about the end of the world take their inspiration from our Mark reading and especially from our first reading from Daniel and, most especially, from Revelation, the last book of the Bible.  Could our readings have been chosen for this Sunday because it is the last of the liturgical year?  Next week we have Christ the King and then we start a new liturgical year with Advent. 

 

A word about a literary genre called apocalyptic writing, then a couple of points about the history behind Daniel & Mark. 

 

Apocalyptic writing usually has three parts:

  

1.  A remembrance of historical events leading up to the present.

   

2.  A prediction of dire tribulations and bad times, pointing to the fact that they have been mentioned in Revelation, for instance.  Like wars & eclipses of the sun.

   

3.  A prediction of cosmic events and the end of time.

 

A couple of historical notes behind Daniel & Mark.    Two points.

 

First, I already mentioned that Daniel was written at a time of "unsurpassed tribulation," to use the Daniel writer's words. It was the time of the Maccabees' revolt against the Seleucid king and the Maccabees were getting clobbered. 

 

Scholars think that Mark, too, was composed at a time of great "tribulation," to use Mark's word.  What was going on was as traumatic as, first, the destruction and enslavement of the Jews in the northern state of Israel and, secondly, the Babylonian Captivity 200 years later, ca. 600 and, thirdly, the Holocaust in our times. 

 

What happened about 35 years after Jesus' death, in ca. 65 CE, was that the Jewish people, fed up with Rome's abusive rule (so much for the Pax Romana), they revolted.  By 70 CE the Romans had not only defeated the revolt and slaughtered thousands, but they destroyed Jerusalem and they destroyed the temple.  

 

This is equivalent to having the U.S. destroyed and Washington obliterated.  From 70 CE until, guess when, 1948 there was no Jewish homeland.  The Jewish priesthood became unemployed, defunct, and is so to this day.  The priest was supposed to handle sacrifices in the temple.  For instance, the priest slaughtered the turtledoves offered by Joseph & Mary.  In place of the priests we now hear of Rabbis, who were originally before the time of Christ like judges.  Do you know of any Jewish priest? 

 

Secondly, during this time of tribulation a group of zealous Jews detatched themselves from not only the corruption of Roman rule, but also from the rich Jewish suck ups who doted on the Roman rulers for favors.  These zealous Jews moved out into caves around the Dead Sea.  They lived an ascetical life, practiced celibacy, and expected to see the end of the world.

 

So, how do you respond to all this?  With peace or anxiety?

 

Sources: Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong, Origins of the Bible, Lecture XVI; Truthnet.org.; Wikipedia

 

Picture 1:  The Choir, Wendy, Shonda, Ray, & Celeste

 

Picture 2:  Angela & Grace with Gayle & Hugh in the background

 

Picture 3:  The Pastry Shoppe, Maddie, Diana & Cliff, & Hugh

 

Picture 4:  Anniversary of John & Colleen, Birthdays of Mary Ellen & Penny

 

Rosemary's Blessing:  

May the blessing of the rain be on you—
the soft sweet rain.
May it fall upon your spirit
so that all the little flowers may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.
May the blessing of the great rains be on you,
may they beat upon your spirit
and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there many a shining pool
where the blue of heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.

Irish Blessing

Special Thanks: 

• For Reading: Julie & Donna

• For the Communion Bread:  Cindy Cramer & Kim Crossk

• For Serving:   Sabrina

• For the Books & Wine Cups & Cross: John & Alison 

• For the Music: Ray & Shonda & Celeste & Wendy

• For the Pictures: Taylor 

• For the altar & sound:  Margie & Hue

• For the donuts & coffee:  Jackie & Tony & Gayle

• For all his work as The Board Secretary, George Elwell

Happy Birthday:  Georgie Brown (8), Sabrina (14 yesterday), Lacee (today) & her mom, Lisa, Angela Kemp, Amy Carey (20), Celeste, & Dick Eshelbrenner

 

 

Please Remember:   Celeste's niece, Lexi Colmenero; Alice Alt;   Christine Drescher's Grandmother;   David Hoover's mom who is failing;  Ann Bivona with her broken leg;  Rita Dore; Jackie's friend Jack Brown with various cancers;  Julie Johnston;  Margie Weynant;  Hugh Bivona's sick friends Bob & Bonnie; Rick Urbanczyk’s mom, Irene;  Richard Froebe's dad who had a stroke;  Warren & Barb's friends Jerry & and Mark, and a little baby, Reese who has tuberous sclerosis complex;   Mary Ellen's Christopher, Margaret, & Jim;  Tom & Teresa's friend Neva Flynn with cancer & Teresa's niece Angel;  Diane's dad Butch Uderman  & cousin Judy;  Margie's mom ; Donna & Cathy Goode's mom; our friends, sons, & daughters in the military, including Trey Bailey, Ryan McClurg, Matt Gardner, Chebino, Roy's son Chris, Lisa's nephew Kristopher on his 2nd Iraq trip;  George & Marianne's sons & Linda's son and Marianne's mom Marguerite, plus Stacie & Ben White & their niece just diagnosed with leukemia; a cure for autism from Laura Chollick;  Dawn's friend Jessica & Aunt Ann & Hector; Fred's friend John with cancer; Casey & Rob plus Cameron  & Reid, Trey and Brady; for our President  that he have great success and someday hold his grandchildren in his lap.  

 

             

Picture 1:  Communion: Jackie, Mabel & Curtis

Picture 2:  Financial Report by Tom

Picture 3:  Maggie

 

Picture 4:  Georgie  (the birthday girl) with her parents Michelle & Randolph

 

Check out the Quads: http://gerwerbabies.blogspot.com   

Next Week we will be at Wilson Middle School (on Custer, North of Plano Pkwy)

 

 

Your Finances: October 11

• Income for Running   Expenses: $  809.00 
• Income for Outreach Expenses: $  710.00 

 

 Thanks for your Generosity!

 Have a Great Week, J.S    (214-783-0443)

Readings: Deuteronomy 4, 1-8; Psalm 15, The One who does Justice will Live in the Presence of the Lord; James 1 17-27; Mark 7, 1-23.

Deuteronomy:  

The fifth book of the Old Testament.  The last book of what we refer to as the Pentateuch, namely five books.  These five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy were made up of five scrolls, which is how it got its Greek title, Pentateuch.  The Jewish people referred to them at the Torah or Law.  Interestingly, the books themselves got their titles from the Greeks as a way to describe what the content of each book was about.  They cover a period from the very beginning of time down to the arrival of the Jewish people into the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy is mainly made of laws, and the bulk of the book is composed of a series of addresses by Moses and also a long collection of laws, which covered just about every facet of life for the “devout Jew”.

The book was probably composed sometime either during or shortly after the Babylonian Captivity, namly around the sixth century before Christ.

In today’s reading we hear Moses first of all explaining that there is no need for anything beyond the laws he is giving and also selling them on how lucky they are to have such laws!

 

Letter of James

 

For five Sundays, starting this week, we are going to be reading the Letter of James as our second reading.  The author, James was probably the head of the church in Jerusalem, and at times is referred to as the brother of Jesus.  He is not one of the twelve apostle James, there were two of them!  The letter is not a typical “letter” in the same sense as Paul’s Letters, in that there is a very brief greeting, not the typical extended greeting, no information about the sender and nothing of the usual formulaic ending of letters of that time.

The letter was probably written before 62CE when James was stoned to death.  It is addressed to the “twelve tribes of the diaspora”, which refers back to the diaspora when the tribes were scattered following the Babylonian and Assyrian invasions.  In this case it is thought to be addressed to those churches outside of  Jerusalem made up of Jewish converts to Christianity.

The contents are a collection of moral observations and instructions, our reading today from Chapter One fits perfectly with the whole theme of todays Gospel, namely the need to interiorize what it means to follow Christ rather than to go through the motions.

 

 

Why am I here

I blame Vatican II.  Up until that time, the early 1960s we knew exactly what was a sin and what wasn’t a sin.  In fact George Carlin had great fun with his album Class Clown.  But after Vatican Council 2 everything seems to have changed and all the certainties we had before are gone.  You knew clearly that it was a sin to eat meat on Friday!  You knew that you had to fast from Midnight before receiving communion.  It was the kind of environment we find Jesus dealing with today.  The rules became everything.  I can remember in the early 70’s getting that phone call when a holy day fell on a Saturday.  “Father, if I go to mass on Saturday evening will that cover for the Holy day obligation and also the Sunday.”  It was the same as asking “what is the least I have to do to remain in a relationship with you?”

 

 

 

 

Before Vatican II the pathway was clear, follow the rules and you will get into heaven, or at least purgatory.  After the council, it seems that the ball was passed to each one of us.  We were responsible for our own relationship with God.  Catholics certainly began to take responsibility, aided greatly by the encyclical on Birth Control. 

The gospel today focus’ on rules for meals…but if we step back and really take a closer look at what is going on it is the way the rules are used by Jesus, versus the Pharisees.  They are going by the literal interpretation of the rules, kind of like slavishly following a recipe, where as Jesus is looking at the “intention” behind the actions.

 

 

 

We might well apply this discussion to our selves.  Why are you here today?  Is it because your parents made you come??? Is it because you will go to hell if you don’t come here?  Probably a more basic question could well be: What is the purpose of being here today?  Am I here just because of habit, or does what we do here each week have an impact on my life outside this “getting together”?

 

Picture 1:  Mass with Kevin & Sabrina

Picture 2:  Mass helpers, an Old Geezer, Kevin, and Sabrina

Picture 3:  Birthdays, Melissa, Maureen, & Carl

Picture 4:  Birthdays, Jo & Jackie

Rosemary's Blessing: 

 

HOPI PRAYER OF THE SOUL'S GRADUATION:

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there,
I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight
On the ripened grain.
I am the gentle Autumn's rain.

When you awaken in the morning hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there.
I did not die.

Special Thanks: 

• For Reading: Scott, Mary Ellen

• For the Communion Bread:  Christine & Megan

• For Serving:   Kevin Doherty & T.J.

• For the Books & Wine Cups & Cross: John & Allison & Rob

• For the Music: Ray & Wendy & Celeste

• For the Pictures: Jan & Beth

• For the altar & sound:  Mary Ellen & Hue

• For the donuts & coffee:  Jackie & Charley & Jan

Happy Birthday:  Laura McKinley (20), Melissa Meyer (18), Marilyn Ackerman, Joan Gleason, Emily Kite (15) 

 

Happy Anniversary: 

• Rose & Wally Banzhaf (38th)

Please Remember:   Rosemary's brother Peter who died Monday;  Bill Russell whose funeral I did yesterday, Saturday, with a jazz quintet at Sparkmen-Hillcrest; Cindy Cramer recuperating from her foot operation; Chris Phipp's mom with cancer; Cara Kless who had eye surgery Tuesday; Christine Drescher's Grandmother;   David Hoover's mom who is failing;  Ann Bivona with her broken leg;  Rita at home & recuperating; Jackie's friend Jack Brown with various cancers & Keith Beasley who fell off the 7th floor of a parking garage;  Julie Johnston who is dealing with a return of her cancer;  Margie Weynant whose lung cancer has returned;  Hugh Bivona's sick friends Bob & Bonnie; Rick Urbanczyk’s mom, Irene;  Richard Froebe's dad who had a stroke;  Warren & Barb's friends Jerry & and Mark, and a little baby, Reese who has tuberous sclerosis complex;   Mary Ellen's Christopher, Margaret, & Jim;  Tom & Teresa's friend Neva Flynn with cancer & Teresa's niece Angel;  Diane's dad Butch Uderman  & cousin Judy;  Margie's mom ; Donna & Cathy Goode's mom; our friends, sons, & daughters in the military, including Trey Bailey, Ryan McClurg, Matt Gardner, Chebino, Roy's son Chris, Lisa's nephew Kristopher on his 2nd Iraq trip; David Hoover; George & Marianne's sons & Linda's son and Marianne's mom Marguerite, plus Stacie & Ben White & their niece just diagnosed with leukemia; a cure for autism from Laura Chollick;  Dawn's friend Jessica & Aunt Ann & Hector; Fred's friend John with cancer; Casey & Rob plus Cameron  & Reid, Trey and Brady; for our President  that he have great success and someday hold his grandchildren in his lap.                  

Picture 1:  Mary Ellen reading Ephesians

Picture 2:  Joan Gleason on her birthday

 

Picture 3:  Community

 

Picture 4:  Frank & his Mom, Mela

 

Check out the Quads: http://gerwerbabies.blogspot.com   

 

Your Finances:

 

August 23:  Postponed until next Sunday because of the memorial in NY Monday

• Income for Running   Expenses: $ 
• Income for Outreach Expenses: $   

 Thanks for your Generosity!

 Have a Great Week, J.S    (214-783-0443)