The Surest Sign

Our readings for Sunday are here. 

These are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homilies from the Masses of

• December 18, 2016 5PM
• December 22, 2013 Noon

The poems Fr Dennis references this year are:

• December by Gary Johnson in both 2013 & 2016
• Going to Bed by George Bilgere in 2016

In 2016, we reflected that —

• the Nativity is only in Luke and Matthew, but all the gospels have his death and resurrection because that is central to his life and message.
• However, culturally, Christmas has moved to a more central part of the story
  • The birth of Jesus isn’t “all happy” because of the Death of the Innocents, as well as the pain and danger of birth to mother and child.
  • There is cultural fun, too, in that there are different stories about the birth of Jesus (e.g., the Huron Carol) and that every child, each of us!, is a reaffirmation of the birth of Jesus.
• In December by Gary Johnson
  • He alludes to many Christmas carols (see some below). The allusions suggest our hopes of greater holiness and wisdom
  • the dark of night : the dark of the future
• In Going to Bed by George Bilgere
  • It is not just a poem about every day matters; like Johnson’s, he ties the ordinary modern things to reverence
• In the sum of it all, there is simple excitement in knowing Jesus is our Savior, and that is something to celebrate in and of itself.

In 2013, we reflected that —

• Joseph is a righteous man, meaning that he follows the law, but doesn’t want Mary to face public shame.
• This sense we get of Joseph being faithful to the law and conscious of the people involved is like Pope Francis, about placing the person first then the law, i.e., being pastoral.
• Gary Johnson’s December poem utilizes snippets and words evocative of specific Christmas carols, resulting in a poem with smiles but also the richness of a realistic faith:
  • Adeste Fideles — “singing for the faithful to come ye”
  • Twelve Days of Christmas — “partridge in a pear tree // And the golden rings and the turtle doves.”
  • O Little Town of Bethlehem — “In the dark streets [lights shining]”
  • Adeste Fideles — “Not much triumph going on here.”
  • O Little Town of Bethlehem — “And my hopes and fears are met // “
  • Hark! The Herald Angels Sing — “And are there angels hovering overhead? Hark.”

Our readings for Sunday are here.  Rejoice! It’s Gaudete Sunday! This is the break in Advent the Church provides, but a focused break, as our Advent may be having challenges. A re-focusing to remember this entire season is pointed toward the Incarnation, the Great Joy!

These are the poems, my notes, and interpretation of Fr Dennis’ homily from the Mass of

• December 11, 2016 10AM

The poems Fr Dennis references this year are:

• I Think Constantly of Those Who Were Truly Great by Michael Blumenthal
• In This Season of Waiting by Linda Pastan. It is a poem he used at some point but whose date I couldn’t place … but fits well here.

In 2016, we reflected that —

• In the gospel, there is the list of what Jesus tells the messenger to tell the imprisoned John the Baptist of what is happening — healing blind, lame, deaf, dead, etc…  Usually in a list the last item is the most important.  In this case, the last item is “the poor have good news preached to them.”  A good cause for reflection that it is in the same list as the others and in the place of prominence (the one that the listener will most likely remember).
• Who could be scandalized by Jesus’ miracles?  Why are leaders so hostile?  It’s not just the miracles; it is what underlies them, i.e.,  that God is reconciled with us, and there is a Messiah, a Messiah and God Who lift up the lowly.
• John the Baptist is the great cry in the wilderness but the least in the Kindom according to Christ is the greater, and so John journeys on in his role.
• Michael Blumenthal’s poem I Think Constantly of Those Who Were Truly Great is about the least in the Kindom of our times, and it has a lot of vocabulary builders!
  • quotidian = daily, ordinary
  • Perseus = an ancient Greek hero who slew Medusa (serpent head, and could turn you to stone) and flew the winged horse Pegasus
  • mundanity = common, of the earth
  • übermenschlicke = good human, really humble, to the nth degree
• Even John the Baptist is pointing to Jesus. The ordinary folks like us?  We’re still in the Kindom recognizing the presence of our Savior.

• Something that I enjoyed from SALT Lectionary’s The Dawn Chorus reflection booklet this week: When birds break into song and begin their glorious dawn chorus, you might wonder: Why do they sing in the first place? Here’s what we know. Birds sing for two big reasons: first, to mark their territories (This is my house!); and, second, to attract a mate (Want to make a home together?). But some scientists believe birds also sing for the sake of delight. Charles Darwin, for example, wrote that birds sing “for their own amusement.” A third big reason, then, may be just that: birds sing because it gives them joy!

The same is true for humans. Especially when we sing with others, our brains release endorphins and oxytocin (the “bonding” or “love” hormone), which is known to reduce stress and increase feelings of trust and gladness. It’s no wonder Isaiah’s vision of a new world features the wilderness singing for joy! Rejoice!

Our readings for Sunday are here. 

These are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homilies from the Masses of

• December 4, 2016 10AM
• December 8, 2013

The poems Fr Dennis references these year are:

• November, 1967 by Joyce Sutphen in 2016
• Wild Geese by Charles Goodrich in 2013
• Advent (for nelson mandela) by r. russeth

In 2016, we reflected that —

• Waiting in Advent is
  • Expectation as hopeful waiting; God is present to us now and newly (and past … and future)
  • Waiting more peacefully as we look back on all that we have been given, in thanksgiving; waiting in hope is what sees us through these times
  • A practical sense of keeping hope alive with
    • a daily process of prayer
    • Sundays – 🙂 to see who would be there; seeing them there (good and bad), silent needs, and the community as a whole — we take strength and learn from one another.
    • rl notes the final comment about Sundays is significantly more poignant with our recent pandemic experience; how hard it was not to see each other … or our body language in group settings that provided relevant social cues by each individual in response to the group dynamic.
• Joyce Sutphen’s November, 1967 poem captures our sense of gratitude for things in the past … in film, poetry, life, … We learn from the old and past to indeed be hopeful that God can bring about the miraculous.
• It is like the shoot that springs from the stump: David.  Exile is a dead stump that brings forth life; it’s not logical.  🙂  But God can do remarkable, miraculous things … like bring out a new king, Jesus.  And God is constantly doing these remarkable, miraculous things.
• There is the scary and encouraging line re chaff thrown into the unquenchable fire.  The unquenchable fire is like the burning bush, the fire that burns but does not consume. Thus, chaff thrown into the fire is more like God’s Light and heat in people — transformation without destruction.  (In a different homily once, Fr Dennis reminded us that John the Baptist was off the mark about the nature of Jesus as more condemnatory than the relatively gregarious, humorous, peaceful encounters we hear about.)
• We are called to look for hopefulness, not just “better.”  Life goes on — remarkable things go on and arise, even out of things seeming dead.

In 2013, we reflected that —

• The Wild Geese poem is a bit like the work-a-day commitment of John the Baptist to his role, helping people prepare the way.  He preaches character and repentance — which is pretty hard work in preparation of Jesus and the Baptism of Holy Spirit and Fire He will bring.
• Advent (for Nelson Mandela) by richard russeth offers the nobility and hope of the promise of Isaiah for Nelson Mandela, who had recently passed in 2013. I apologize … the text of this poem had been hard to find ten years ago. I continue to have no luck finding it this year.

Our featured image is one of our Celeste Novak’s Advent offerings for this Advent Week of Peace.

Our readings for Sunday are here. 

These are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homily from the Masses of

• November 27, 2016
• November 29, 2013 Noon

The poems Fr Dennis references this year are:

• Country Roads by Joyce Sutphen
• Rutabagas by James Silas Rogers

In 2016, we reflected that —

• We receive apocalyptic phrasing (“swords into plowshares”) in Isaiah but they are nonetheless uplifting readings.
• Gospel?  Stay awake! But what does that mean?
• Advent is a time of rethinking / start over / retelling a story in our religious and personal and spiritual lives … and in retelling these stories we remember who we are and how God is in our life.
• That kind of staying awake — a contemplative awake, an aware in gratitude awake (not fearful) — the kind we want more of!
• Remember that Eucharist = thanksgiving, so we practice to turn more quickly to gratitude.
• Poetry gets underneath where we are in our lives and their meaning.
• Joyce Sutphen’s Country Roads
  • “as if we were waiting” evokes Advent
  • “for the waters to open” reminds us of the Red Sea or a river parting
  • “cross over Jordan” reference is the cross over to death in the psalms, the Hebrew scripture.
• Other new life is the waiting to be seen or crossed over to.
• This idea of “waiting for more” is waiting for the more who is once again the infant Jesus.

In 2013, we reflected that —

• Each new birth is a sign of joy, of hope, of a soul being given some purpose before God.
• Advent is the waiting, the collapse of Mary’s pregnancy into 1 month.
• Advent is getting into the earthiness, the realness of God-with-us, of God being with us: The Incarnation is on His Way.  🙂
• James Silas Rogers’ Rutabagas evokes this sense of Advent.  Each earthy taste of the dirt; the realness that won’t go away, like The Gift, the child Jesus Christ.

Our readings for Thanksgiving are here. 

These are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homilies from the Masses of

• November 24, 2016 10AM
• November 25, 2010

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The poems Fr Dennis Dillon, SJ references are:

• 2016 homily — i thank You God for most this amazing by e.e. cummings
• 2010 homily — The Sycamore by Wendell Berry

In 2016, we reflected on —

• The origins of Thanksgiving, as captured in The Writers’ Almanac for that same Thanksgiving Day.  He noted the complexities that surround the stories of origin, but asked us to stay focused on the gratitude in the celebration.
• rl notes the SALT Lectionary crew similarly has a good reflection on Thanksgiving.
• He also shared the story from earlier in his Jesuit life, of a parishioner from a parish of limited means, in an urban area.  The only name he received from her and others was “Bottle Mary”; it was not used pejoratively in any way.  She had had tuberculosis and spent 14 years or so in a sanitarium, of which 3 to 4 years she was restricted to bed.  She would chat with all, cheerily.  Someone with no reason to be kind or good-natured, yet she was.  He had one photo with her … “hulking over her at his 6’2″ or so” he said, and she was small (in part due to so many years of poor health).
• She is one of the people in his life that he turns to as a model of gratefulness, and encourages us to find those individuals in our own lives.
• The E. E. Cummings poem encourages us to move outside our box, our comfort zones … and the last lines of seeing and hearing seem especially fitting to our gospel of healing today.

In 2010, we reflected that —

• Our gratitude and joy often arise in the broader context of challenges.  Our personalities and quirks, our defining characteristics seem to come more from these experiences that challenge us.  Wendell Berry’s poem, The Sycamore, captures this sense beautifully.
• At this Mass, Fr Dennis drew us close to the altar for the Eucharistic Rite — about 100 of us gathered from all parts of the church to its liturgical center, the altar, near and with him.  We always held hands for the Our Father at our parish, but this was something much more intimate.  The Last Supper, a table of close friends, seemed closer … and thus Christ seemed closer.  Then, just when we thought we were bound in — how do we manage communion like this?!?, among 100? — out he comes from the altar, moves far enough down the center aisle, so that the two Communion queues form and flow without verbal instruction, gradually unwinding from the altar & sanctuary and weaving into straight lines to him to receive the Sacrament, and we then headed down the empty rows to return to our original seats for the post-Communion reflection moment. A “thin space” to be sure, and one chock full of gratitude.
• In that Mass, I began to understand how a Good Shepherd creatively holds the flock close to the Sacrament and to himself (without ever getting between the Creator and God’s Created) in a Christian love.  The Mass became a work of art in the hands of a creative spirit, rather than a dry checklist unimaginatively completed. The mystery of our faith was easy to feel in that Thanksgiving of thin space.

Today’s image is the one Fr Dennis referred to in his 2016 homily. It was one of the items displayed at his funeral in April this year (2025).

Our readings for Sunday are here. 

These are the songs, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homilies from the Masses of

• November 24, 2019
• November 20, 2016 5PM
• November 24, 2013 8:30AM

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The songs that Fr Dennis Dillon, SJ references these years are:

• 2019 homily — When the Stars Begin to Fall (trad) sung by the Tannahill Weavers
• 2016 homily — Give Me Jesus (trad) sung by Jessye Norman
• 2013 homily —  Give Me Jesus (trad)

In 2019, we reflected that —

• The end time themes, like the traditional When the Stars Begin to Fall, embed new hopes (“what a morning”) with the endings.  This is what we know from Christ’s life and death; it all brings newness and salvation.  There are no promises about the Way, just that it is the Way to and with Love Loving.

In 2016 & 2013, we reflected that —

• The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, is an observance originated in the 1920s by the Church as a statement against the totalitarianism of Russia, Germany, and Spain, which were persecuting and murdering those who weren’t sycophants to the state.  No personal dignity or sacredness.
• With Christ as King, each of us has God-given dignity.
• The United States can feel different, but we had sanctioned and institutionalized slavery (no personal dignity or sacredness) which has simply changed form in our culture over the centuries; it has not been eradicated.  Racism remains a great weight.  Yet Christ was a huge call to Africans for freedom from exile, from slavery (Moses), for the Good News, for Christ’s Kingdom, and thus they could not be kept down in spirit because of Christ the King. Or perhaps more accurately, Black spirituality and abiding faith in Jesus raised up in dignity and love and forgiveness those who believe.
• D2 played one of Jessye Norman’s versions of “Give Me Jesus.” 
• The simplicity but power of the message, particularly arising out of the African-American … or any marginalized or oppressed people’s experience.  Jesus is enough.
• The featured image is the original art, “Glimpses from the New Creation,” created by W David O Taylor.

RL notes that in 2025 the United States Bishops recently addressed this loss of human dignity in immigration matters, the full text provided in America Media.

Our readings for Sunday are here for the 32nd Sunday OT and here for Feast of the Dedication of the (St John’s) Lateran Basilica in Rome. 

Sooooo, why is the Roman Catholic Church celebrating a building dedicated in 342 C.E.? The abridged version, based on this excellent article in America Magazine is … home. In John Shea’s wonderful poem, the “A Prayer to the God Who Fell From Heaven” he ends with, “for by now / the secret is out. / You are home.” We are celebrating that we have a home in God, really, the only true home we have, but it can be symbolized and present in a magnificent building yet most importantly in our hearts, wherever we go, whenever we turn to God.

Kind of like the starlings of our featured image today somehow know to turn and remain with each other in the dynamic movement of their bird lives.

These are the poem, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homily from the Mass for the Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time which we would otherwise be celebrating …

• November 10, 2013 9PM

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The poem Fr Dennis references this year is:

• 2013 homily — Starlings in Winter by Mary Oliver

In 2013, we reflected with Fr Dennis that —

• At the time of the Maccabees , the Jewish people began to believe in resurrection (~200 to 100 B.C.E.). But, of course, humans being human — not all Jewish people did:
  • the Pharisees became the branch of Judaism that did believe in the Resurrection, and so this is the tradition Jesus was a part of.
  • the Sadduccees did not believe in the Resurrection and stuck tight to the first 5 books (the Pentateuch), which is why they begin their conversation with Jesus with “Teacher, Moses wrote for us …”
  • In a book D2 recommended to me the year before he passed, The History of the Primitive Church by Jules Lebreton, SJ and Jacques Zeiller (1949), pp 60-65, Lebreton offered a helpful description of Pharisees and Sadducees.
  • The Sadducees structure to Jewish society was more like a caste system of lay priestly and aristocratic people with an almost exclusionary focus on written law (and near neglect of oral tradition). So the written law was supreme, especially for those who were not of the ruling caste. We can easily imagine this structure opened the path to cruelty by the Sadduccees to the every day Jewish people. Without the consideration of oral tradition, the Sadducees and their followers did not have a belief in resurrection or angels.
  • The Pharisees sit on “the chair of Moses,” i.e., and serve as magistrates of sorts. In contrast to the Sadducees, all classes of people are Pharisees, e.g., priests, scribes, and the simple folk. The Pharisaic tradition is rabbinical, i.e., a master-disciple transmission of the law and faith in the tradition of the elders, more so than a current scrupulous reading of the law in Scripture (i.e., the wisdom of the elders prevailed in interpretative disputes). They also believed in angels and the resurrection of the body AND scrupulous conformity to the law, e.g., observing the Sabbath and legal purity.
• The Jewish people were not unique in this regard.  The Greeks of the time continued to press an engraved coin under the corpse’s tongue (only one side of the coin was engraved — cheaper production cost that way!) to pay the ferryman Charon for passage across the River Styx.  This is just one cultural example, among many, indicating how the Spirit or soul lies beyond corporeal death.
• This sense of disintegration, flying away in spirit, and re-configuring in hope of new life is captured in Mary Oliver’s “Starlings in Winter.”  It reminds us of our hope in the life in the Resurrection.
• This action of the starlings is called murmuration.

Our readings for Sunday are here, for All Souls’ Day, and here for the regular Cycle C readings that Fr Dennis’ homilies were based on.

Well. And on reflection, I think D2’s 31st OT homilies fit well with the readings for All Souls’ Day (though they understandably don’t capture the richness of a specific commemoration!). Still … good, and on we go!

These are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homilies from the Masses of

• October 30, 2016 8:30AM
• November 3, 2013

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The poems Fr Dennis Dillon, SJ references this year are:

• 2016 homily — Fall by Edward Hirsch
• 2013 homily — Harmony by Stuart Kestenbaum

We also remember that, in phrases of our time, Jericho was considered a “den of iniquity.” So, as Fr Dennis points out below in one abridged telling about our God, the “Lover of Souls,” is that this amazing God loves each of us, anywhere, anytime. And that is a reassuring thought.

In 2016, we reflected on —

• D2 visualizes scene with short, scurrying Zaccheus (Zuh-KEE-us) played by Danny DeVito.
• D2 had thought it might have been an original notion, but then one of the websites he uses (Left Behind and Loving It) also mentioned it, and then more.  He found it reassuring that others thought the same thing.
• Blog Point 1: it’s unclear in the original Greek whether he climbs the tree because Jesus is short or Zaccheus is short.  Changes the reading a bit … and our sympathies some, too.  Reassuring to know Jesus might have been short.
• Blog Point 2:  the tense of his compensation is in the present tense, as in “I am [currently] giving four-fold” rather than the future tense, “I will pay four-fold.”  The former is a mark of enthusiasm rather than conversion, the latter of which is often how the passage is read.  (rl note — this is also discussed in the New Jerome Biblical Commentary.)
• Zaccheus comes down from the tree right away, another mark of this enthusaism.  And, from the blog, Jesus calls him by name … by nickname!!  “Zacchi” rather than “Zaccheus.”
• So … we love a personal God, who loves us.  This took D2 (or at least rl’s recollection of where it took his homily!!) to the phrase from the Wisdom reading “lover of souls.”  Loving us as we are.  Zaccheus’ story fits with this.
• D2 chose a poem by Edward Hirsch about autumn starting with “Fall, falling, fallen.” 
• It reminds me (rl) of being on my bicycle in autumn going down our beautiful wooded roads in the Michigan autumn.  The scene is available for everyone, but it feels like it’s right there, just for me, because I’m with God — using the eyes, heart, senses, legs, lungs, and bicycle God gave me the money to buy, … all of it — to share it back with God.
  • And, I leave the experience feeling beloved and loving in return with an open heart, filled with gratitude quietly overpouring, which seems how we ought to feel after Eucharist, too.
  • D2 celebrates a great Eucharistic Rite, too.  Bottom-line is that it feels like he loves us (or at least loves being with us), and rightly or wrongly, it then is easier to imagine Christ wanting to be close to us.

In 2013, we reflected that —

• If it was a film, he’d have Danny DeVito play the role of Zaccheus — self-important tax collector, short, wealthy, but wanting to have different experiences.
• So!  In D2’s Ignatian Contemplation of the scene:
  • It was quite a sight to see a wealthy man up a tree!
  • When a person in the gospel is called by name, it usually means the person became a Christian (as the gospels were mostly written for Christians
• Zaccheus’ story is traditionally thought of as one of coming to faith
  • Seems like he climbed the tree out of sheer curiosity (rl — maybe the same kind of attitude that King Herod in JC SUPERSTAR had — just wanted to see a miracle).
  • Jesus calls him out of the tree so Jesus can be a guest and, of course, people complain in one translation “stood there” but it can also be translated as “stood his ground.”
  • Zaccheus knew his scriptures and has not turned his back on them.
    • The penalty for fraud was 2x the valued restitution.
    • The penalty for thievery was 4x the restitution.
    • Zaccheus has been paying the more serious restitution as an act of faith and repentance.  (See 2016 notes discussing that this was declaration of what he was already doing not a pledge of behavior to come.)
• D2 thought this story is a reminder that the oddest circumstances lead us to God, natural curiosity to God’s grandeur, and how God intervenes and gives meaning.
• Noted that a musing on how John’s gospel would have told this story would have Jesus intending to go to Jericho to find Zaccheus;  Lucan Jesus happens to need to go to Jericho, and Zaccheus happens to be the soul he finds and saves.
• Kestenbaum’s poem of Harmony captures this Lucan vision of salvation.

The featured image today is one of autumn (because it is!), leaves (because of the poetry), and the trees (because of their beauty, their grace in letting go, and because “Zacchi” is climbing one to connect with Jesus).

Happy Halloween!, A blessed All Saints’ Day of many thin spaces and places for you, and a consoling All Souls’ Day.