Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Our readings for Sunday are here. 

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

  • October 5, 2014 10:10AM

_______

The poems Fr Dennis references are:

In 2014

  • This Sunday’s readings are another collection highlighting the difference between God’s Way and our Way.
  • A main teaching of these readings is that the Kin-dom goes to those who do something, not just lip service.
  • In the first reading from Isaiah, God presents himself as the owner of the vineyard (the people), but those tending the vineyard have not produced a crop, i.e., results of value; then God goes to the other extreme (takes away the hedge, …) in hope they will produce the fruit God asks of them.
  • Good to remember that we are all stewards to produce the fruit God asks of us, namely, love and service to others. In other words, ๐Ÿ™‚ have a care not to think of the crop as “our” fruit or agency. ๐Ÿ™‚ rl’s take: ‘Tis God’s and God’s alone, we are graced to be in the family business, so to speak. — back to D2 …
  • In the excerpt from the gospel of Matthew, Jesus’ story is directed at the chief priests and elders. He kind of lures them into revenge-style thinking that has an element of “for a while we lost, but God’s on our side, so we’ll win soon.” But the priests and elders don’t think of forgiveness, God’s Way, they expect the stewards to have retribution exacted upon them.
    • rl sidenote: I think of this gospel as those times I feel injured and imagine I want a smoting God to smote those who wronged me (in my perception) … and usually later I realize even in that situation I might be the one who needs to be smoted, let alone the many other times in my life I am smote-worthy. Thennnnnn, I am much more keen on a Merciful God, and I spiritually wallow my way back to mercy and praying for God’s Mercy on those who I perceive (and not so harshly) wronged me. In my limited experience, certainty in judgment of others generally doesn’t help a Christian towards God’s Way.
  • Back to D2, and his wonderful simplicity: We know we need forgiveness, but it’s hard to forgive.
  • Stanley Kunitz’ poem ends with the phrase “I only // borrowed this dust” is another way of saying “thanks for this space” to God, to remembering we are stewards, those designated to care for the Master’s property in the manner of the Master — and when that Master is God? This means to do so as lovingly as possible for others.
  • And the Wendell Berry poem was timely for its reminder of the Midwestern beauty of autumn, and this capacity of faith and life that trees make which allows us “To walk on radiance, amazed. // O light come down to earth, be praised!” RIP Mr. Berry, thank you for the loving words lovingly crafted these many years, and thank you to his Mary for typing them all up!

And the picture upload has not gone smoothly … so we’ll see if some other inspiration strikes later! ๐Ÿ™‚

Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Our readings for Sunday are here. 

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

  • September 28, 2014 5PM

_______

The poems Fr Dennis references are:

In 2014

  • All three readings engage with humanity’s (need and) duties of accepting change and growing through, out, and beyond anger to forgiveness. We need to release and change (or grow, however you prefer to characterize the transformation).
  • Yet, how do we know what needs to be let go of, or the like? From our daily Examen (the Jesuit daily prayer, not the general Catholic Examination of Conscience).
    • From rl — The Jesuit Examen is a prayer presented in many styles and forms, encapsulating the four / five encounters:
      • Presence — I choose to be with God in this moment.
      • Review of the day — think of it like a film reel of your life in this day playing out before you. Notice your feelings throughout; notice what you notice. ๐Ÿ™‚ (And practice the skill of seeing what you don’t see or choose not to see, too.)
      • Gratitude for those blessings and beautiful, joyful, kind, or loving moments I have received.
      • Contrition and hope for those moments in my day in which I have been challenged or simply did not respond in kindness or love.
      • Openness and hope for the day ahead, a prayer that I might meet and greet God in the world, and do so in the way God wishes, or ๐Ÿ™‚ The Way :-).
      • Conclude with the Our Father (or an appropriate prayer of your tradition invoking humility, wonder, gratitude, service, and community, i.e., Our Father, not My Father).
    • Once when I asked D2 how he built his habit of praying the Examen, that I was struggling a bit with the demands of work, etc., he mused and with a kind chuckle and smile at the remembrance noted that the Novitiate rang a chime, and every Jesuit in the building dropped what they were doing and prayed the Examen for whatever time was allocated. Somehow he knew how to teach the importance of the practice and acknowledge that “civilian” life bore its own challenges and graces in living our faith, just as while some aspects of our faith were made simpler by being in formation to be a priest, other aspects were more difficult. The compass heading to God remains the same and the path has to be one of love, kindness, and a joyful heart.
  • Back to D2 — The practice of our daily Examen helps us know “one good thing” when it happens, as Edwin Romond’s poem so clearly shares. Likewise, Billy Collins’ poem, “Genius” also captures the unfolding and waiting needed, as Romond writes, “to turn emptiness into ecstasy.”

And I (re)used the photo of a ruby-throated hummingbird because my garden and feeders have been feeding the return migration of hummies, much to my delight. I see these photos of dozens of hummies at feeders, all congregating and darting in and out. Not so for my feeders and garden.

The other night, one peripatetic hummingbird was trying to feed at the feeder but kept darting the three feet back to the garden to scare off another hummie that was extracting nectar from one of the hundred blooms remaining in the garden. So, in a roughly 6′ by 12′ area containing two feeders with 6 drinking holes and 100 active blooms ….

… was nectar enough for only one hummingbird, according to the wee bossy one, who eventually entered a full scale chase away of the interloper. Too bad, as soon as they left, a third hummie came right up and enjoyed an undisturbed feast at the feeder!

Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Our readings for Sunday are here.ย 

The following are the poem, my notes, and interpretation of Fr Dennis’ homily from the Mass of

  • September 17, 2017 Noon

_______

The poem Fr Dennis references is:

In 2017

  • This year (2017) Pope Francis changed canon law so that the national bishop conferences have direct authority and discretion regarding the Mass translations to be used in their dioceses, rather than the Vatican.
    • The 2011 translation had a flavor of “We in Rome know English better than you do.” [laughter] But, seriously, it was an attempt to normalize the many global English translations (regardless of tone) and the lone translation used in 2011 was one that hewed closer to Latin language structure …
    • … which all still raises issues of translation! We will always have such challenges.
  • Per D2 — examples of translation challenges in the gospel “for this grey beard”:
    • The gospel story used to be told “seven times” but now is “as many as seven.” The Ancient Greek verb form has an implied expectation of an answer from Jesus akin to “no, no, 3x was fine, Peter.” But, instead, Jesus says 7 x 70 or 77 times … but basically, “over and over.” [See also the Left Behind and Loving It blog associated with this gospel passage: Ridiculous Forgiveness and Reasonable Evil].
    • In the original example of forgiveness (rather than later in the parable), Jesus offers no anger in forgiveness of “the Master,” as in “otherwise my Father will be compelled to do the same to you unless you forgive from your heart,” a parallel to the king later in the parable. In other words, our choice not to forgive carries its own consequence (and God always forgives … so those consequences are unknown to God, just to us).
    • “Many talents” owed by the first debtor now is a “huge amount,” from literally “myriads of talents” where “myriad” is translated as “beyond number.” One talent was 20 years of day labor, so a “myriad of talents” is like a gazillion owed.
    • D2 enjoyed Paul Hostovsky’s The Calculus, for its “open-mouthed astonishment.” ๐Ÿ™‚ Perhaps much like Peter felt in learning to be one of Jesus’ companions. Like us, as we follow our astonishment to follow Peter following Christ.

And I (re)used the photo of a Monarch butterfly on goldenrod, attributed to Michael Barrick. This summer we saw more butterflies in our neighborhood than for some time, including Monarch butterflies. But, then again, we have also planted many native and nectar plants to feed the butterflies, buzzies, and humming birds! These lives thriving after having all (or so much) of God’s food for them removed and now bit-by-bit returning seems one face of forgiveness.

Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Our readings for Sunday are here. 

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

  • September 10, 2017 5PM
  • September 7, 2014 8:30AM

_______

The poems Fr Dennis references are:

In 2017

  • All three readings present the challenge of responding with the fullness of love to the call we hear from God.
    • The first reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel and the second from Romans share the harder edge of love, the more challenging (in some ways). The reason we warn someone is because of God’s Love, which doesn’t want the sinner to die in their sin (i.e., their separation from God).
    • The gospel reading is about major faults / grievances / sin. It is not about winning or achieving an outcome; it is not about judgment. The kind of sin at issue in the gospel is one which not only harms some one person but is also a sin against the church and greater community, the kind of sin that rips the fabric of community.
  • It is a teaching gospel, and teaching needs to be done in a spirit of gift and love, so no condemnation.
  • This gospel passage is probably not a direct saying of Jesus because there was no “church” during his ministry, but the saying is within the spirit of Jesus / the Risen Christ. At the time of this teaching (time line of the gospels), Jesus was still squarely presenting himself within and as part of the Hebrew tradition. So, it is likely that this passage was created by Matthew to embody Jesus’ teaching in the context of the emerging Christian church.
  • Some context from rl — the relevant dates are roughly 30-ish C.E. for the teaching encounter, and the earliest surviving copy and estimate of the gospel attributed to Matthew is thought to be first written in Ancient Greek on papyri in 80-ish C.E., using the gospel attributed to St Mark (70-ish C.E.) and the Q Source, all in koinฤ“ Greek (the larger body of various Greek forms — Attic, Homeric, koinฤ“, etc… ) referred to as Ancient Greek, to distinguish these forms from the Greek used as daily fare in contemporary Greece.

In 2014, D2 focused on the gospel (or rl’s notes did) —

  • The phrase “whatever you [bind / loose] … shall be [bound / loosed] in heaven” is written in the Ancient Greek with
    • the future perfect verb form in Ancient Greek. A better translation might be as “shall be [bound/loosed] in heaven” as “will have already been [bound / loosed] in heaven.”
    • This form of the verb makes it clear that the statement is referring to our doing something and a later discovery that this was as part of God’s plan. We are not controlling God or having agency to affect or effect the gospel growing (rl notes, i.e., the gospel grows itself because the Word is God; see the Solemnity of the Trinity entry!). This passage is not about power or conferring power, when attention is paid to the verb form; it is helping us understand that God has been, is, and always will be proximate and in love with us, no matter the circumstances.
  • In Tony Hoagland’s poem, You’re the Top, he shares how time can help us see God’s Hand after the fact. (And for those of us who are the beneficiaries of the free people in all nations and the heroic efforts of the Allied Forces, and have been granted the privilege of letting WWII dates slide away — March 1938 marked Germany’s invasion of Austria.)

In keeping with the Psalm verse of shepherd and flock, I’ve used an unattributed, hopefully free image of shepherd with sheep. Also, this time, D2’s notion that this is a teaching gospel and must be read and listened and interpreted in Love, together, made a flock image feel fitting for today’s entry. And, somehow, calming and comforting in today’s violent and topsy-turvy world.

Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Our readings for Sunday are here.ย 

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

  • Sept 3, 2017 10:10 (Poems only)
  • August 31, 2014

_______

The poems Fr Dennis references are:

In 2014

  • The readings from Jeremiah (“You duped me, o Lord, …”), the excerpt from Psalm 63 (“My soul is searching for you … “), and the excerpt from the gospel of St Matthew all emphasize the sense of God’s Word (the fire) that is central to all of us, to where our true life is. In other words, don’t spend our lives on things that don’t really matter.
  • E.g., the character Richard Rich, in A Man for All Seasons, is obsessed with clothing and social status. Ultimately, he perjures himself to help convict his one-time friend and mentor, Sir Thomas More, of treason (punishable by death). Sir (and now Saint) Thomas More gently chides him: We shouldn’t sell our souls … ever, but … for Wales ?” Rich ruptured his soul for a minor position.
  • In Robert Bly’s Caterpillar poem, he writes of hopes and transitions:
    • the caterpillar (eventual transformation of shape)
    • the edge of the sheet of stamps
    • stamps (sending)
    • seasons (summer into fall)
  • All this looking back .. and then forward to the next steps of life, ๐Ÿ™‚ not unlike September in a college town (like Ann Arbor). ๐Ÿ™‚

And it seemed fitting to have a picture of a caterpillar of a Monarch butterfly as our featured image today.

Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Our readings for Sunday are here. 

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

  • August 20, 2017 Noon
  • August 17, 2014

_______

The poem Fr Dennis references is:

In 2017

  • Because of all the turmoil in the world and the country (riots against racism, neo-Nazism, terrorism … ) in 2017 (and all the flavors present in 2026!!), the Bishop of Lansing at the time, Bishop Earl Boyea, directed the diocese to pray the Mass setting for Civil Needs #29 Progress for Peoples, with Eucharistic Preface for Sundays in Ordinary Time III, Salvation of man by a man.
    • Another example of the pastoral creativity of Fr Dennis was in his creation of daily Mass. For a Friday 12:10 Mass, on February 9, 2018, he chose the Mass Setting for Various Needs #49 For Giving Thanks (A) and Eucharist Prayer Various Needs IV, Jesus who walked about doing good. After a past Sunday start with five inches of snow, fresh snow had been added every day, with another seven inches on this Friday; all now being referred to as a Snomageddon. But in our shared prayer together, we prayed about the wonder of this snow and then gratitude for all those civic workers “walking about” and keeping the infrastructure functioning and people safe, “doing good” if ever there was. Another gentle reminder from D2 that we love a God of “And”s and much Love, Who loves us.
  • How do we capture that sense of being “special”? More specifically, how do we keep the knowledge that we are each special, without the concept being diluted by all humans being so or corrupted by comparisons with each other?
  • D2 thinks of the Eucharistic Rite language “the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many [emphasis added] …” “All” is an acceptable and popularly preferred translation. (rl notes “all” also sidesteps the invitation for us frail humans to judge each other as to who is in “many” and who is not.)
  • Tony Hoagland’s poem is a beautiful sharing of the extraordinary in the ordinary.

In 2014, we reflected from D2’s homily that —

  • The readings evoke a lot of differences — Gentiles, Jews, Canaanites, dogs (!), … but with any “us” and “them,” how are we called to learn? We are to grow from one another’s offerings and in one another, all in Christ and in the Trinity.
  • He noted his fondness for the phrases
    • “and make joyful in my house of prayer” in Isaiah.
    • “… for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Romans) (and, an rl interjection, I sunk deeper into the meaning of this in my 2014 silent retreat in which it was made lovingly clear that we grow out of our gifts, like an iris out of its bulb, rather than pummeling out our frailties).
  • Jesus learns because of his experience with the Canaanite woman and adapts his mission to one of even greater love.
  • D2 asked us to consider: When has someone’s rejection and persistence won me over? (“For the gifts and call of God are irrevocable.”)

I stumbled across this image of the Canaanite woman story on the web but the file only contained the image not the artist or title of the work. What I love about it is how the artist captures the mother’s urgency for her ailing daughter (demonic possession), AND how the daughter (child, female, ill) and dog (lesser being, outcast) are comforting each other. Please let me know if you know the artist / title, so I can attribute and seek permission.

Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Our readings for Sunday are here. 

These are the simple captures of brief cameos by Frs. Eric Sundrup, SJ at the 8:30AM and Tom Florek, SJ at the Noon Mass on Sunday, August 10, 2014

Fr Eric: God meets us in our authentic hearts and minds.

Fr Tom: God meets us in the silence and holy dark.

==> And Jesus comes to save us immediately, because He already has.

Transfiguration August 6

So … the Feast of the Transfiguration is … a Feast.ย  It is a biggie for the message it shares, however, liturgically — it is not a Holy Day of Obligation.ย  But it is pretty amazing!ย  So, since it was one of my favorite Fr Dennis homilies when it fell on a Thursday in 2014 (Cycle A). Here we go / rachamuid!ย  His homily, shortened for daily mass sensibilities and kind consideration of the flock’s schedul follows. ย 

Our readings for Transfiguration are here.ย 

This is the link to the dance, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis Dillon SJ’s homily from the

  • Thursday, August 6, 2014 5:10 Daily Mass

_______

The art Fr Dennis references is:

In 2014, we reflected on —

  • That August 6 is the anniversary date of the Hiroshima bombing by United States Air Forces in 1945. 
  • (rl notes, to be clear, Fr Dennis was not saying nuclear detonations are emblematic of the Transfiguration!  As one of the generation growing up during WWII and devoted to life, he found it important to remember the anniversary of one of the two days human settlements were subject to nuclear attack on that scale. A very complex time of history — best not to judge but to stay in the vulnerable heart of its complexity.)
  • (but … back to Transfiguration!)
  • Transfiguration contains readings, and the gospel most particularly, of resplendence.
  • We might imagine this moment of Transfiguration akin to the Irish engagement with “thin spaces” in which the resplendent world abides closely with ours.  D2 imagine-prayed that the Transfiguration (Peter, John, and James abiding with Jesus transfigured, Moses and Elijah) might feel like a thin space to Peter, John, and James.
  • In his life, a rare personal interlude in a homily, he recounted that when he was missioned to NYC for his PhD in Film History and Criticism at NYU, he did his best to experience the city.  He and others from his Jesuit community would serve at the same Catholic Worker House that Dorothy Day served.  (He recounts one encounter in a different homily.)  But also, they would engage with the arts — the hallmark of NYC.
  • He had an experience of being so Beloved, so transfigured after watching a performance of Alvin Ailey’s Revelations for the first time, that he wanted to walk rather than take the enclosed limiting subway home.  So he near bounced up the stairs out of the subway to street level.  It felt like he was walking 1/2 foot off the ground the whole way home, feeling like — yes! he could move like the dancers moved!  Of course, as he noted — he wasn’t moving like the dancers and couldn’t, but that sense of possibility arising out of our Belovedness is the gift given to us by God through Jesus and lived in the Spirit.
  • When I (rl) heard his homily and watched youtube, I was infected with the Transfiguration, too!ย  The next day my old legs and I dashed out on my bicycle and found myself laughing joyously as I pedaled a furious pace in low gears to slowly grind “full speed” up one of Ann Arbor’s steep hills.ย  It came when I walked into the Heathdale, the closest thing to a sacred grove in Ann Arbor, and was surrounded by butterflies.ย  It was present after my high school friends and I overlooked the night lights of “Spaceport Billings” a lร  STAR WARS and pledged what we were going to do, but, when we turned 180 degrees from the city lights, that chatter was immediately silenced by the night sky filled with the shining backbone of the Milky Way (once we realized what it was) and shared who we are.ย  We are Beloved.ย 
  • Thanks, D2.

Apologies for the Featured Image quality … but that’s what Transfiguration, a deep moment of Belovedness felt like for me … based on how resonant Fr Dennis’ description of Transfiguration moments feel.

Leaf Quidditch by Lorraine Lamey (published Groundcover News Vol 14:8, 2023)

The chlorophyll has left the leaves.
A zephyr sets the branches waving farewell
to their bright or brown denizens.
The road ahead drops just right
for the tilted pitch of a Seekerโ€™s two-wheeler.
My bicycle and I take flight coasting downhill
at a hearty speed and with precarious leanings
but not so precarious as in years past.
We sail among the drifting leaves dancing
like sunbeams in and out of my outstretched fingers.

I am transfigured with each ascension
though my pace and joints evoke the rickety-clickety clack
of an early wooden rollercoaster
hauling a full load to its peak height.
The ten minute ascent garners scarcely a two minute ride.
Push off, pedal a bit, brakes ready for the all-stop intersection,
clear?
Then pedal furiously to make up for caution.
During each descent, the leaves and wind stream by
and slough off another decade from my heart and soul.
Weight, worry, and weariness whip behind me.
By the fourth ascent, I am ten-years-old again
and playing leaf quidditch on my bicycle.
In that moment of refulgent joy,
a wee brightest yellow sugar maple leaf
finds me.


Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Our readings for Sunday are here.ย  Since the Feast Day of St Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits and The Spiritual Exercises is on July 31st, we’ll keep the image and quotes of Jesuits! And, of course, Fr Dennis Dillon was a Jesuit aka a member of the Society of Jesus abbreviated “S.J.” or often just “SJ”.

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

  • August 3, 2014 8:30AM

_______

Fr Dennis references this Daniel Berrigan, SJ poem-like quote:

“Sometime in your life, hope that you might see one starved man, the look on his face when the bread finally arrives. Hope that you might have baked it or bought or even kneaded it yourself. For that look on his face, for your meeting his eyes across a piece of bread, you might be willing to lose a lot, or suffer a lot, or die a little, even.” Daniel Berrigan, SJ.

In 2014, we reflected on —

  • Extraordinary ordinariness and ordinary extraordinariness.
  • Jesus chose to leave himself to us in ordinary bread
    • As in Hebrew Scriptures, God gave and became manna to the Jewish people during the Exodus and challah for the Sabbath.
    • Bread is something we all need; the daily sort of food we all and each need to sustain ourselves. (rl — With respect for those with wheat- or grain-based dietary restrictions and your substitute essentials.)
  • So, we now have this awesomeness of the Divine in the most ordinary of foods.
  • In the Communion line
    • Our hand gesture is the gesture of both offering and receiving. (rl — Keeping in mind that spiritually, we are to offer all of our self to God at the Altar — in imitation, not exchange. We can never match the Gift …. so no “exchange.”)
    • At our parish, St Mary’s in Ann Arbor, D2 noted the joy of the Communion line in the diversity of faces and hands in receiving styles.
  • D2 kept this quote of his fellow Jesuit as a reminder of the ordinary extraordinariness of our Savior and Sacrament, and how we ourselves meet Him in the world — the one who hungers, the one who feeds us all, and the moment within should we be able to be the one who offers a gift of food.

Our image today is a mural in El Paisnal, El Salvador, seen in this Jan. 29 photo by Rhina Guidos. It features Saint Oscar Romero and town native the Blessed Fr. Rutilio Grande, S.J. surrounded by rural men, women and children, in the community the Jesuit Father Grande served from 1972 until his March 12, 1977, assassination. Fr. Grande spoke of his dream of a communal table where everyone, including the poor, had a place to eat and a right to have a say in matters that affected them. Catholic News Service photo by Rhina Guidos.

Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Our readings for Sunday are here.ย 

No notes from D2’s homily this time, but these are the poems from the Mass of

  • July 30, 2017

_______

The poems Fr Dennis references are:

I had some notes from my deep dive into “treasure” with the New Jerome Biblical Commentary and couldn’t get myself into them to post in a timely matter last week.

๐Ÿ™‚ I think God was watching out for us! ๐Ÿ™‚

On reflection, the foray seemed a bit heavy and not very D2-y (even as he did dive into theology for his own explorations). He had found early on in his pastoral life that his homily and spiritual conversations needed to reach the flock’s daily experiences. So — a “maybe” to direct sharings of scholarship, and a definite “Yes!” to all that captured the emotions and experience of being alive and human in Christ, like poetry and more.

On Sunday, I was the team member shepherding our parish’ Children’s Liturgy of the Word, in which we offer 2- to 6-year-olds more accessible and interactive gatherings in the lounge (parents encouraged to join!) while the Mass continues in the main church.

We had a good time with a simpler discourse: feeling God’s Love is the treasure, the pearl of great value … and we need to practice returning to the feeling of Belovedness throughout our lives. So: notice where and with whom that occurs (as one Grandpa and granddaughter happily squished in a sofa chair together) and practice it now when we are young and feel Beloved, because as we age, it can become more difficult to clear ourselves from the thickets of daily life and return to our Belovedness. That being said, the kids loved finding the heart stickers we hid around the lounge and sticking them on!

Emily Dickinson’s poem captures this sentiment perfectly and so does a purportedly free image of a hummingbird … as we all go to Heaven all along the way, moment by Beloved moment.