Readings: Isaiah 66, 10-14; Psalm 66; Galatians 6, 14-18; Luke 10, 1-20.

Isaiah: The scene is this. The Israelites are enslaved in Babylon, which was in today’s Iraq, about 60 miles south of Bagdad, now called Al Hilah. Isaiah is telling the people that the day is coming when they will live again in Jerusalem. 

What a Gift Community

When I used to say Masses before we gathered here I was really spoiled. I would walk into St. Mark’s, for instance, put on my robes, celebrate the Mass, and depart, or go over and goof around with Duffy & Rita in the rectory. I had everything prepared before I walked out on the alter and everything was cleaned up after I left. 

The first time we celebrated here, I remember thinking how many little things have to be taken care of. I got to get my own robes, set up an altar, provide bread & wine, and so on. 

Now I am knocked over at how many people pitch in to make this celebration special. Margie does the alter, Jackie brings donuts, Lisa makes muffins, many of you take turns making altar bread and providing coffee. Margarita comes with juice, Roy with the books, Rob & Beth with the cross & wine cups. And this highlights only a few of you. 

The past two weeks I have been especially touched and moved by the community extending itself.

Last Sunday you may remember that we had the summer blood drive. I thought the numbers might be down. It is summer, after all. Yet, on the contrary, after Mass as I was preparing to depart with Rosemary & Naomi, I passed by the blood mobile. I had hoped we might reach 20 donors, though I was prepared for less. The nurses told me they had already received over 21 and I saw about 3 to 4 people waiting. I was stunned.  And grateful.

The second amazing event took place yesterday when a group of about 15 showed up to put a roof on a home. I had spotted the need for this some time ago. I contacted Lynda & Tom to see if they could induce Habitat to help us. They only build new housing, however, and recommended we contact Lake Point Baptist, because they do renovations. 

Through that contact we met this marvelous guy named Alex Moore, quiet, serene, skilled, and hard working. Alex, who is retired and from MN, actually came over by himself Wednesday & Thursday to augur, set, and cement about 15 4 by 4’s to hold up the roof. He did this so we could all work together Saturday. And did we work. Laying roofing tiles over black tar paper in the afternoon sun was like sitting on a hot frying pan. 

I had to depart the project at 3:00 to get ready for a 6:00 wedding, and the last thing Alex asked me was, "We working next Saturday?" He was ready & wants to finish the job.

This is a gift community. And this is saying nothing about your weekly generosity.

Thanks. 

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Readings: 1 Kings 19, 16-21; Psalm 16; Galatians 5, 13-18; Luke 9, 51-62.

1 Kings: This book continues the history of the Israelite kings begun in the two previous books of Samual. First was Samuel, a judge, then Saul, the first king, then the Great King David.  David’s activities make up a large part of this book.  When David dies the kingdom gets split into north and south.  Things go badly.  Along comes Elija the prophet.  This is a sign that times are bad.  We read in today’s section about the time Elija chooses Elisha as his successor. 

A Role Model

I would like to talk this morning about my Aunt Kitty with her glorious 100 years. She has always been a hero of mine and after our visit this past week she still is. We stayed in the retirement home where Kitty lives. Consequently, were able to make numerous small visits over the day & a half we were there. One attendant even asked me if I lived there now!

Since we had just been talking two weeks ago about the qualities of a peaceful & whole person, I was looking at Kitty with the 6 qualities in mind, e.g., curiosity & hope, gratitude & love, zest and, my own, humor. I spotted at least 3. 

Above all else, I was struck about how peaceful she was. At one point in our visits she said that while she had not wanted to live until she was 100, "It is not bad," she claimed. This said a lot to me, because over the past 10 years Kitty often told us that she did not want to live to 100. 

I asked her how she got to this peace & 100 years. "Golf", she replied.  She loved to play golf.  I think I see here that zest for living that I mentioned was one of the 6 characteristics of a whole & peaceful person. She, also of course, was famous for her yellow Buick convertible.  Which leads to the second quality I remember about her.

Her humor.  I can still remember her laughing at my uncle Frank and going into hysterics with my mom.  The two of them were close in age and spirit.  They laughed often over a time when the two of them as girls in Pittsburg were driving along behind a streetcar and went right out over a bridge. They had to get rescued. Kitty was notorious as an air head and my mom was right with her.   

One year when I was returning to East Africa from a home visit, I toured Kitty, my mom, and their older sister Pauline around Ireland in a little, two door, red economy sized car. Folks, it was lucky that Ireland is so small because we did not get started in the morning until about 9:30 or 10:00 and then we began looking for a place to stay around 4:00. Plus we stopped for lunch & morning & afternoon tea.  During all this time they laughed non stop.

During our visits Kitty often poked fun at her situation and age, when she remembered she really was 100. And when she did not remember, she laughed at herself. 

Besides humor and zest for life, Kitty loved her friends. While we were with her she said how much she missed her pals Jenny Gooch and Betty Lynch. Betty had three paintings on Kitty’s wall.  Especially she missed my mom. In fact, she was disappointed she had not heard from her recently.  Her long term memory is shaky. She did not remember that mom had died about 15 years ago.  She was even disappointed Pauline had not written her.  Pauline lived in NYC and died before my mom.

One moment after she forgot her age, however, she tuned directly into me and asked how I liked marriage, what was my relation with the Jesuits, and was I still working actively as a priest. Even though she became Presbyterian when she married my Uncle Frank, she has been totally interested in and supportive of my process.  And she remembed clearly. 

Of all the qualities my aunt shows, humor is her best. 

What is your best quality?

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Readings: Isaiah 49, 1-6; Psalm 139 (good); Acts of the Apostles 13 22-26; Luke 1, 57-66.

Isaiah: One of the 3 great Old Testament prophets, he lived about 700 years before Christ.  Actually the book itself has about 3 authors. The section we read this morning emphasizes the call Isaiah received from Yahweh to be a prophet. It ties in with John the Baptist, today’s feast. 

How to Get There

Last week when we confirmed Erica & Susie we talked about six qualities of the person who is becoming more mature and more whole. The qualities were curiosity, hope, gratitude, love, zest, and humor. 

This morning I would like to focus on the road to these qualities. How do I get there? I have five suggestions plus one. The first five I picked up somewhere, liked them, and wrote them down. 

The five plus one suggestions are: no hatred, no worry, give more, expect less, live simply, and accept.

With hatred I would distinguish between the feeling of hating a person and the state of being a person of hatred.  It is normal to hate. It is a feeling. To deny it if I feel it is more dangerous.  Because of guilt I may try to stuff the feeling. Then watch it become a state. If I hate, process it and then for me it has helped to forget.  Note that underneath hatred is probably anger & hurt.  That was where I was when I got kicked out of East Africa. After talking about it with trustworthy people, I had to just forget. And it worked.

Worry often involves the game of "What if?"  What if my child gets hurt?  What if I fall down? The opposite can be used as the antidote: "What if not?" Worry does not mean that I do not care or take care. Worry involves fret over a future I have at most limited control over. 

What is the hardest thing for me to give more of? Money, things, time, my attention?  That is where the path to greater peace lies. It may even involve giving care to myself, what I call self nurturing. I occasionally see people fearful of nurturing themselves because they consider it selfishness. 

Expecting less can really get tough when I focus on people. When my expectation of a person’s behavior is up here and they behave down there, I get mad & hurt. My dad always used to get upset on Saturday nights when he & my mom were going out. Mom was always late & dad’s expectation of being on time was up there where mom did not go.

Living simply takes work these days. When I lived in Tanzania, it was pretty easy to live a simple life style. In Dallas there is so much stuff. Wardrobes can go out of sight.  Cars, houses, things.  They weigh us down.

Finally, I add acceptance. Acceptance involves not only things & events, it involves me, accepting myself. It comes up constantly in daily life. 

Using these six little rules for happiness, we can become more peaceful and more whole people. One may be more challenging than the others. 

Which challenges you more?

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Readings: 2 Samuel 12; Psalm 32; Galatians 2, 16-21; Luke 7, 36-8, 3

Happy Father’s Day & Confirmation Day

2 Samuel.  What has taken place before the reading today is that King David, the Great, has taken another man’s wife and then had the man killed in battle to eliminate him. The wife is the famous Bathsheba and her son is to be the great Solomon. Nathan is the prophet who will condemn David.

We Confirm Excellence

This morning I would like to direct my remarks to Erica & Susie because it is their special day. 

Every year to maintain my pschological therapist license in TX I have to attend 20 hours of continuing education. Last week I attended an all day seminar for six hours.

In the afternoon the presenter was talking about achieving internal peace and wholeness.  He said he could probably come up with 20 qualities of a person who is peaceful and whole. However, he wanted to share his top five. Think you can figure out what the 5 are, maybe one or two? 

I’ll tell you what they are and I want to add one of my own. I’ll give them alphabetically.  His 5 are curiosity & hope, gratitude & love, & zest.  I add humor. 

Confirmation:

Curiosity for you girls might come pretty easy right now in your lives. In fact, maybe your curiosity can get overwhelmed at times. You are in school. The day will come, however, when you will graduate. Then you can choose to read, to know different places by traveling there, to study different languages, to befriend people different from you. 

If you were not girls of hope you would not be here this morning. Your hope is that tomorrow will be an even better day than today, with more peace, fascinating people (which all are), and fun times.

You hear me talk always about focusing on my blessings. I do this to stimulte my gratitude to God, to People, to Rosemary.

When I focus on gratitude I find I can love more. Knowing you girls, you will love a lot of people and a lot of people will love you because of what neat people you are. Occasionally you will be challenged to love a person who makes your love a decision. I love the person despite the behavior.  Unconditional love: maybe does not exist except on rare occasions. It is, however, always a goal.

When you are grateful and loving, full of hope and curious, you will live your lives with zest.  You will love your lives and live to the fullest.  Life itself will be a gift.

Finally, I add humor.  Not only is it healthy to laugh.  It is esecially healthy to laugh at myself. How often do you girls laugh at events, people, yourselves?  Humor helps on those occasions when I fall flat on my face and make a fool of myself. 

You girls look around and you will see these qualities in your mom & dad, your friends, and lots of people here this morning. You girls have these qualities.  I know you & have seen them.  I confirm these qualities in you. The Community, the Catholic Church, and I, we are all proud of you.  Continue to be The Best.

Folks, back to you.  How are you going to confirm these girls in their excellence?

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