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
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The poem Fr Dennis references is:
- 2017 homily — Candlelight by Tony Hoagland
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.
- 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.
The Surest Sign 