Readings:  Isaiah 61, 1-11 (beautiful); Psalm is Luke 1, 46-54 (The Magnificat, beautiful); 1 Thessalonians 5, 16-24; John 1, 6-8, 19-28 .

Isaiah:This is Third Isaiah.  One Isaiah goes to Chap. 39; Two Isaiah, chapters 40-55.  From 40 on we have what is called the Book of Comfort, as I mentioned last week.  Our selection today is all about comfort.  The writer is consoling the Hebrews during the Babylonian captivity, which took place about 580 BCE, in other words about a century after One Isaiah wrote. 

The first marvelous couple of verses are repeated more or less in Isaiah 42, i.e., Two Isaiah.  Also, Luke puts these words into Jesus' mouth in chapter 4 of his gospel.  I will have all of chapter 61 read because it is so good.  For the reading, google The Bible at Your Fingertips.

Advent Wreaths: This little liturgical practice came to the Catholic liturgy, believe it or not, from the German Lutherans in the 1500's, the time of Martin Luther.  It was more than just decoration.  The circle symbolized eternity.  The greens, Christian life in a dead time of the year.  The candles represent each of the 4 weeks of Advent, each candle symbolizing the greater light brought by Christ.  Their color purple symbolized penance and purification for the Coming.  The Rose  candle says, 'We are almost there!'

Chosen Me to Bring Good News to the Poor

Last Sunday 15 of you donated blood.  Many of you chipped in to help with our adopted family.  Beth, who herself has donated a lot of time to this family, says we are close to having everything we need.  Others of you brought food.  And all of you brought food for the Anniversary Brunch, a feast, as usual.

A month or so ago I was honored to help bless the Habitat house that many of you helped to build.  

Every month you help to contribute $2,000 to our Collin County Adult Clinic, where everyone on the staff, doctors, nurses, technicians, and helpers, all work pro bono, gratis, without pay.  That is $24,000 you have donated to support this marvelous service this year.

The generosity of our little community, of you people often blows me away and always humbles me. 

Isaiah is talking about this.  He says Yahweh has chosen me and sent me.  He is obviously talking about himself, and the temptation is to leave it at that.  That's his job.  I would propose, however, that Yahweh is calling each of us.  We are chosen and we are sent to bring good news to the poor, to heal and to comfort.  The poor, the broken hearted, and the imprisoned are all around us.  If we don't bring them good news and comfort, perhaps nobody will.

When I lived in Tanzania & Kenya occasionally I would ask myself, "What on earth am I doing over here?"  This passage about bringing good news to the poor often gave me consolation and motivation.  I can remember reflecting upon the idea when I was traveling 4-6 lonely hours over dirt roads on my motorcycle to get to a center where I was going to conduct a week long or month long seminar for nuns and priests. 

In John's Gospel the writer is setting the scene, similar to Mark's reading last week.  He is using John the Baptist to make way for The Good News, the Jesus event that let's us know that Our God is accepting us, not condemning us.

The writer of this gospel is likewise crafting his work.  In a short space he identifies John the Baptist and prepares the reader for something greater.  Why is this important?  Because John the Baptist was popular, had his own group of followers, and could have been mistaken for the Messiah.  The gospel writer takes 4 steps.

Step 1.  John the Baptist's place in the drama: give witness to The Light, e.g., Jesus, The Good News.

Step 2.  A negative witness about who he is: not The Light, not the Messiah.

Step 3.  A positive witness about who he is: preparing a way & making straight the way.

Step 4.  Why is John the Baptist baptizing: preparing the people for One greater, The Light. 

The Light, The Lord, The Messiah that John's gospel talks about is the one who brings good news and comfort to the poor, the broken hearted, and the imprisoned.  He, however, cannot do it alone. 

This year each of you in our little community has helped out.  How are you bringing Good News and Comfort to the Poor today?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-12-14.mp3

Picture 1:  Serving, Lisa (Mom), & daughters Lorynne & Lacee

Picture 2:  Frank & Laura Reyes celebrating 26th

Picture 3:  Frank & Mary Esparza watched by Audry.

Readings:  Isaiah 40, 1-11; Psalm 85; 2 Peter 3, 8-14; Mark 1, 1-8.

Isaiah 2: Remember that Isaiah is one of the Big 3 Prophets, along with Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  Because of its 66 chapters this work is the big one.  Remember, also, that at least 3 writers contributed to the book. 

The first 39 chapters are the main Isaiah and present a strong critic of the rampant corruption of the ruling class with their oppression of the ordinary people.  His counsel was that Israel & Judah (north & south) pursue a passive political & military policy versus Assyria, the threatening power of the time, ca. 700 BCE.  Moreover, the Hebrews should not form a military alliance with Egypt & Babylon.  Babylon was no threat at this time, but would be so ca. 590, when they would enslave the Hebrews.

Isaiah was not heeded and eventually the Assyrians defeated the northern state, Israel, and the people disappeared.  They intermarried and did not maintain their identity.  Today they are called the 10 lost tribes of Israel, the remaining two tribes surviving in Judah, the southern state, capital, Jerusalem.  Remember how I mentioned Ezekiel helped the Hebrews enslaved in Babylon ca. 580 maintain their identity with 1. sabbath, 2. kosher food, 3. male circumcision.

Side note: why 12 tribes?  Because of the 12 sons of Jacob, the third of the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob.  Jacob was given the name Israel.  Israelites are the sons of Israel or Jacob.

For our purposes this second Sunday of Advent when we look forward to Christmas, we use the second Isaiah, which begins, guess where?  With our selection, chapter 40.  These chapters are called the Book of Comfort and you will see why.  Even though I as a backpacker would not like to see all the mountains & hills made low, we have a beautifully consoling reading.  Isaiah 2 is speaking to the Jewish people under siege.

Jim in the Blood Mobile

Good News in Strange Places

I did it again, folks.  Rode in car number 1, DART red line.  It was Wednesday ca. 12:00 when I caught the down town train at Forest Lane to have one of our occasional lunches with Dawn Schultz.  She got on at City place, but what happened before that was the event.

I was seated on the aisle, right side, third seat from the front, so I can watch the scenery ahead as well as beside me.  Somewhere like Walnut Hill Lane we stopped and the driver laid out the handicap bridge to let someone on.  In came an orange baseball cap covering a skinny old black man in an electric wheel chair.  He parked in the bay just in front of the seat on the left side, right in front of a white woman in her 30's. 

We  had not gone one stop when he started talking loudly enough to hear him all over the car.  He had his back to us but was asking people if they had a paper towel.  His nose was dripping because of the cold.  He was able to talk most directly to this white woman because he was near her and only needed to swivel around in his chair to face her.  She was  good.   Did not have a paper towel, but offered him a Kleenex.  Which he used to wipe his nose.

Then he proceeded to converse with her some more.  She responded graciously.  At one point, he says in his loud, gravely voice, "How old are you?"  I was really amused.  Smiling she said she was 33.  He said something I could not distinguish and she responded, "You are 30 years older than I am."

I was stunned.  He was 63.  5 years younger than I am.  Wow.  He must have lost count along the way, I am thinking.  He looks and sounds like 83.

This got me thinking on how our two lives have been so different from the beginning.  He was born into this world probably a poor black boy.  I was born into this world a rich white kid.  I've had every door opened to me, every opportunity.  I obviously have much greater health than he.  I've worked at it, no doubt, but I had so much help, starting with my parents and teachers who appreciated being well rounded.   When I returned from East Africa in '86 and began to have annual checkups, we Jesuits had total coverage and I had an internist that was the best.  He set me on a road to overall health in my older years that has been a priceless gift.  All this came to me as I listened to the little black man in the wheel chair on the red line.

The readings we have this morning all point at the coming of a priceless gift.  Isaiah and Mark talk about the coming.   In fact, Mark quotes Isaiah's very words saying, "Prepare the way of the Lord."  The Good News is coming.

So how does that effect me, us?  So what?  Two observations.

 Rose in the Blood Mobile 

First, the Good News that Isaiah foresaw and the Good New that Mark is trying to set up, it has come.  It is past tense.  We can take consolation from the knowledge that we are accepted.  Jesus has lived.

Mark is trying to convey this by creating for his readers  something special and he is working a plot.  He is writing in the 70's after Jesus' death in the 30's, Jesus a person whom he never knew.  He writes for Jews who became Jesus' followers and are being persecuted for it.  He is trying to show that Jesus it the one foretold by the prophets.  He begins with a three stage strategy, prepare, proclaim, test. 

In today's reading he is doing the first, that is, counseling the people to prepare for The Coming.  With Jesus'  baptism he proclaims The Good News.  The temptation in the desert is the test and the third part of the trilogy.

Second observation.  The Good News is not just past tense.  It is present tense.  I encounter it daily in big and small ways.  I encountered it on the red line.

Where or when do you encounter the Good News?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-12-07.mp3

1.  The Joy of helping with the Quads and meeting Casey and Robbie.  Truly gives hope for the future.

2.  I am Thankful for My Family, My Pets, the World, Jesus, and God.

3.  My Kid quit Smoking.

4.  I am Blessed to have known & loved Sarah Dixon Herbert during her short life.

Readings:  Isaiah 63, 16-19 & 64, 2-7; Psalm 80; 1 Corinthians 1, 3-9; Mark 13, 33-37

Isaiah: One of the big 3 Prophets, mostly because of the size of the book.  At least 3 writers put this book together and this is number 3.

Thanksgiving History: Everyone knows about the first Thanksgiving in 1602 with the Pilgrims and the Indians eating together, the Mayflower, and Plymouth Rock.   Here are 5 facts that people do not hear about usually.

1.  When did Thanksgiving begin?  Our ancestors have celebrated end of harvest feasts of gratitude for centuries.  Lincoln first focused on a national feast; FDR established the national holiday in 1941.

2.  The pilgrims did not know they were pilgrims.  They called themselves saints, and non-saints were called strangers.  The word pilgrim came along in the 18 hundreds, 2 centuries later.  They were not even Puritans, but separatists.  They split off from the Church of England, old Henry VIII's church, and the Puritans did not split off.

3.  The Separatists did not come to establish religious freedom.  They came for religious freedom for their religion and only their religion.  The Separatists demanded everyone belong to their program.  Failure to conform could result in execution, ala inquisition.

4.  The Mayflower returned to England, was torn apart, and its beams were used ot build a barn in Buckinghamshire (just north of London & east of Oxford).

5.  How did the Indians & Separatists communicate?   The Indians were Algonquins & one of them, Squanto had actually lived in Briton some years.  He returned to his tribe and taught his friend Samoset English.  It was Samoset who communicated with the Separatists, & the Indians taught them to raise corn, to fish, and to hunt.  In the first winter half of the 100 Separatists died before the Indians taught them how to survive. 

How to Prepare for a Marvelous Christmas

For the first ten years of my life as a Jesuit and the ten years I was in East Africa I think every Christmas I was homesick.  This was true despite my efforts to make the event a lot of fun.  One year when I was in Tanzania I brought a frozen turkey down from Nairobi, Kenya, across the border into Tanzania, and threw a party Christmas day on the roof of our house, inviting friends and neighbors, many of whom were Muslim. 

Because of this and because we are just beginning the season of Advent, the season of preparation for Christmas, I would like to review some ways to prepare ourselves for a marvelous Christmas.  I have 5 observations.

1.  First, beware of fear and depression.  You read Mark's story about the man traveling abroad and you get spooked into thinking God is going to grab me when I'm not looking.  Nonsense.

Depression seems to surface more during the Christmas season, because of at least one reason.  Expectations.  We expect more out of the Christmas season, peace, love, warm relationships, gifts.  When the reality comes in below the expectation I have, I get disappointed and maybe depressed.  Memories of disappointing Christmases past can also depress me. 

2.  Unlike Mark's warning about sleeping, I would propose that we need more rest at this darker time of the year.  Our ancestors used to sleep when it went dark.  Today we force ourselves to stay awake and lights keep us awake.  Doctors are saying we need more sleep in the dark days of winter and are recommending, get this, 9 hours.  Maybe try an extra hour.  How about a nap?

3.  Along with more sleep, exercise.  My internist tells me that he wants me to exercise every day.  I do.  Walk through the neighborhood.  Ride a bike.  Along the way look at the colors of the red oaks and Bradford Pear trees. 

4.  Have you got anything special you do every year for Christmas, during Advent?  Something to get you into a Christmas spirit?  If not, what about finding something?  Two things I have got to do every year: take in a performance of Handel's Messiah and take in the Dallas Symphony Christmas concert.  I may get in an extra one or two of these, but I find this so touches my spirit.

I know a few families who tour Christmas lights.  Here in Plano is Deerfield.  Among the best is Highland Park, Beverly Drive and Armstrong Parkway, both east and west of Preston.   In Deerfield, you may walk around.  In Highland Park there are horse drawn carriages. 

5.  Finally, in line with Mark's gospel, watch, watch for the daily miracles and blessings.  Review your year for the biggest blessings, like I mentioned before Thanksgiving.  Write a blessing on one of the pieces of paper by the blessing tree.  I will include one or two in each Sunday's blog.  Your blessing will be a gift to someone who cannot get here to Vines for Mass and has to pick up our celebration via the blog.

I thank God each year now that I am no longer homesick at Christmas.  I am home.

How are you putting together a Marvelous Christmas?

Picture 1.  17 years old, Renee Bresson, plus T.J. & Lorynne & Lacee serving

Picture 2.  Barb & Ron, Diane, Mary & Frank, Anniversaries & Birthdays

Picture 3.  45th Anniversary: Mary & Frank Esparza

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-11-30.mp3

  Blessings under the Tree:

1.  My biggest blessing of the year was my mom's recovery & being able able to be there for her.

2.  One of my blessings is to turn 70 years of age and have my mother call at 8 A.M. and sing Happy Birthday to me.

3.  A special blessing is my daughter.  She has adjusted to college life so well, emotionally, physically, adademically, and much more.