The Surest Sign

Our readings for this Sunday, the First Sunday of Lent are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031724.cfm).

These are my notes and interpretations of Fr Dennis Dillon SJ’s homily from the 8:30AM Mass on March 22, 2015 at St Mary Student Parish, Ann Arbor, MI.

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The poem Fr Dennis references in 2015 is:

Quarantine by Eavan Boland (22 Mar 2015 8:30AM)

In 2015, D2 reflected —

• At this point, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the season is becoming a bit more somber as we’re moving to Jesus’ passion and death, which prompts the questions:
  • What is most important to us / for us?
  • What are our decisions about?
• This time of Lent and these questions call us to think about how central God’s Love for us and for each other is.

The poem, Quarantine by Eavan Boland (now deceased), from the 2015 homily generated several reflections in Dennis, SJ —

• a somber tone to the poem
• describes the action of love rather than the words of love
• the husband / man offered an action of love (holding the woman’s feet to the last source of his body heat, his heart) in a time of what could only have been a dark abyss (see more below). 
• This is the sort of love we take into Holy Week, a love that recalls another’s humanity out of our own act of humanity when circumstances want to force despair and inhumanity, and then commingling our shared sense of humanity into the sacredness of Jesus Christ.  Giving ourselves totally in Love and to Love to say “Yes.”

For those unfamiliar with An Gorta Mor / The Great Famine of Eavan Boland’s poem, it and the echo famine of 1879, following two centuries of penal (anti-Gaelic, anti-Catholic) laws enacted by the British in Ireland, caused the massive decline of the Irish population from 8 million to 4 million in roughly 50 years — 2 million lost to starvation, and another 2 million lost to emigration, with families shattered. 

If you listen to “Thousands Are Crossing” on the Winter’s Crossing by James Galway and Phil Coulter, narrated by Liam Neeson, you’ll get a flavor of the sorrow.  An 1847 painting of An Gorta Mor, “The Irish Peasant Family Discovering the Blight of Their Store” by Daniel MacDonald, an Irishman, is one of the only known contemporaneous paintings to capture a family’s moment of despair during the Great Famine.

The Irish were relegated to growing potatoes to feed themselves, while the remaining crops were exported for British profit.  When the blight hit their potatoes, which could be harvested looking fine and then rot some time later, no policy or tax was changed to save the Irish from starvation during An Gorta Mor. 

Our featured image today is of the sculpture Kindred Spirits by Alex Pentek, composed of nine 20′ high stainless steel eagle feathers forming a bowl; this article further describes the art and surrounding culture of Kindred Spirits installed in Co. Cork.

Why?

This rte.ie article describes the kind of love we hear in Eavan Boland’s poem, except between groups of people.  The Choctaw and Cherokee nations, having recently endured the Trail of Tears and having lost nearly 1/4 of their remaining people, decided to raise money and donate (likely through the Quakers) towards the relief of the 1847 Irish Famine as one of their earliest acts of self-governance following their forced relocation by the United States government and dissolution of their native / original self-governance. 

This sacred giving was remembered by the Irish when the Covid-19 pandemic of this century struck.  While the Choctaw and Cherokee nations faced hardship during the pandemic, the Diné / Navajo people faced a public health disaster and the potential catastrophic loss of their families, elders, faith keepers, and language guides during a quarantine ranging across 140,000 people and 72,000 square miles.  A group of younger Navajo created a GoFundMe account when they realized the federal government would not be acting with the alacrity nor the volume of aid needed.  A simple look at the “remembrances” section of the GoFundMe page reveals the sacred link of Irish gratitude across centuries and thousands of miles.

Our readings for this Sunday, the Second Sunday of Lent are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022524.cfm).

Again, these are my notes and interpretations of Fr Dennis Dillon SJ’s poem from the 10AM Mass on February 25, 2018, an undated daily Mass homily on the Transfiguration, and the 8:30AM Mass on March 1, 2015.  

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The poems Fr Dennis references in 2018 & 2015 are:

Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel as sung by Paul Robeson (25 Feb 2018 10AM Mass)

Adirondack Moosehead by Jeffrey Harrison (1 Mar 2015 8:30AM)

In 2018, we reflected on —

• I only captured the one poem/lyrics, without notes at the time.  … 🙂 or they are “somewhere.”
• This spiritual is sung and choreographed in Alvin Ailey’s Revelations, an American classic in the dance repertoire.  I remember one year Transfiguration was observed during the week at a daily Mass (or a Transfiguration gospel reading was the reading of the day), and Dennis happened to be the celebrant. During the homily described his understanding, of course, some theological matters in the long tradition of theology but also how in his Jesuit time in New York City , he had the opportunity to see Alvin Ailey’s Revelations.  (It premiered in 1960 when Alvin Ailey was 29.  !!)
• What I remember is D2 offering that after seeing these luminous dancers of the soulful, rich music — he left feeling like he could dance like that, even as he knew he couldn’t!  He felt like he floated up the subway stairs and could have danced down the New York City streets back to the Jesuit residence. 
• That sense of Transfiguration always stuck with me — the feeling of the illumination of our souls which, if even for a moment, outshines the limitations of our bodies.
• Here’s a link to one of the “Daniel” scene performances in Alvin Ailey’s Revelations. It is at about 3:30 time of the full 1/2 hour-ish choreography — well worth watching!!

In 2015, D2 reflected —

It is good to remember in the Genesis reading of today that

• in the tribes around Israel at the time of Abraham, child sacrifice was common.
• it was used as an (extreme by our standards) expression of sacrificing the best or first fruits, animals, or other possessions (recalling that children, like women, have been considered “property” for much of the history of humanity) to gods or God.
• so, in that context, we can say that God, in this story and example, is very clearly saying “No.  This is what I am NOT calling you to do.”

Likewise, in the Transfiguration,

• Jesus and God reveal another side of themselves to us (after having long retired the flaming bushes and overwhelming Presence in favor of God-with-us humility) … which raises the issue
  • How do we (each and communally) know God?  And how do we allow for a change in how we know God?

This being surprised by God — can we accept and love a new facet of our Loving God?  In the poem, Adirondack Moosehead by Jeffrey Harrison, he takes on this notion of quiet presence and potential for change … and transfiguration.

• (rl adds colloquially — Dandelions can be a “weed” or even like a prophecy of nature on planned, manicured lawns.  Most deciduous trees surrender all their leaves as part of an eventual complete regeneration of the tree itself — one tree, completely different and constantly changing manifestation throughout the year.)

So some possible reflections for us are:  Who is God for the author of this poem?  Who and how for each of us?  Who is God to me now and how do I respond?  In what faith will I respond to the next turn in the road?

Lent is the “changing of the heart-mind” season, a metanoia.

Our image this is week is James B Janknegt’s Transfiguration oil painting from 2001.  I love it for this week because of its celebration and the dancing like poses of Moses and Elijah — very fitting for the Alvin Ailey Revelations reflection of Dennis Dillon, SJ!

Our readings for this Sunday, the First Sunday of Lent are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021824.cfm).

Again, these are my notes and interpretations of Fr Dennis Dillon SJ’s homily from the 10AM Mass on February 18, 2018 and his poem selection from February 22, 2015.  

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The poems Fr Dennis references in 2018 & 2015 are:

Evening on the Lawn by Gary Soto (18 Feb 2018 10AM Mass)

Small Boy by Norman MacCaig (22 Feb 2015 8:30AM, Noon, or 9PM Mass)

In 2018, we reflected on —

• How the readings are a review of our basic call to be Christians — our covenants (God with us), our being claimed by God through Baptism, and our responsibility to confront our temptations.
• 1st Reading (Genesis) Water! is a reference to Baptism (our RCIA / OCIA elect), a long tradition back to Noah, a one-sided covenant, a gracious guarantee as God promises Noah and all his descendants … but note that they don’t have any obligation to God in this covenant.
  • On a summer retreat I (rl) encountered my temptation of cynicism with this passage, as I wiseacred to myself that “Yeah, God didn’t promise we wouldn’t destroy ourselves …”  That is not who God is — not Lawyer God who specifies that burning up was not the part of that covenant; not Cynical God; not Human God (think STAR TREK IV) not any of those human frailties — but Love Loving.  We don’t know God, but I can remember this covenant (between God, humans, and ALL living creatures) and push back against my temptation to give up.
• Back to D2 — The Sign of the Cross at the start of Mass is a remembrance of God’s promise in our Baptism; God leads us through the floods of our lives — great and small.
• The Gospel — the first time D2 has thought of this time in the desert more squarely in the context of the vision quests, like the indigenous tribes across the globe.  The time in the desert is a journey to see who we are now and who we are meant to be.
• Maybe Jesus, particularly in Mark’s version of the Time in the Desert, is a vision quest by Jesus to understand what “you are my Beloved Son” means, to find out what it meant.  The journey and meditation certainly marks a transition in his life and ministry.
• In essence, that’s what we’re all doing as Christians, ever since our creation and Baptismal grace.  We are in the desert, trying to find out which spirits we are pulled by.
• College can be a desert!   🙂  Trying to figure out who you are and who you are meant to be.  Jesus finds out that John the Baptist is arrested and to be killed; that’s when he announces his professional life.   (fyi — St Mary’s is officially Saint Mary Student Parish and is a parish dedicated by the bishop to serve the University of Michigan Catholic community and hosts the Newman Center, so there were a fair portion of young people present.)
• Evening on the Lawn by Gary Soto describes a pivotal moment in a young man’s life when his gifts have him perceive this wondrous image of nature, an isolated roiling cloud seemingly gobbling up stars, and he calls his mother and stepfather to join him.  They don’t share the moment with him, though they come outside and indicate mild puzzlement or irritation that their routine was interrupted.  It is a pivotal moment of individuation for him (and all others) when the “home of our youth [is] struck by lightning.”  This felt like Jesus reconciling his new sense of identity:  devotion to the faith, his authenticity, and the faith traditions.  All of us are called and must do this devotion to the faith and the authenticity created inside us.

In 2015, D2 used (I must have missed the Mass / homily) —

• Norman MacCaig’s poem, Small Boy, as a simple reflection on the practices and challenges of Lent:  we practice simple things every day but we are really “practicing for the future” and our greatest challenge is to “unclench [our grasp] and let them go.”

The Sunday readings were particularly meaningful for me this year.  I made my bucket list trip to visit the overwintering monarch butterflies in the central mountains of Mexico, about 3-ish hours west of CDMX (Ciudad de Mexico aka Mexico City).  I stayed closer to the southern edge of the monarch sanctuaries / reserves at Cerro Pelón Butterfly B&B (triple thumbs up!!), and they could take us out the back door to the Cerro Pelón Reserve or drive us in their comfy van to the other main reserves (El Rosario and Sierra Chincua) or any other place the monarch colonies were (literally) hanging out.  These monarchs born last August through October in the United States and Canada made the (up to) 3500 mile journey back to these areas in Mexico, form colonies to conserve body energy and protect each other, and are just now mating, and they will begin the northward migration laying the eggs for the first generation in northern Mexico or the southern United States.  It is the third or even fifth generation, never having seen or been to the mountain reserves in Mexico, who will overwinter there arriving between late October and mid-November.

When we visited the monarch colony in Sierra Chincua, it was very quiet being early in the season (late November) and during the work week.  I went with the 1/2 hour-ish ride being led on horseback up and up towards 10,000 feet, followed by a 20-ish minute hike to the colony.  I prayed a bit in this peaceful, quietly joyful place.  Grateful to be here, so very grateful for the Moreño familia whose business model for their B&B made this possible for me.  We had 30 minutes with the colony, and then went around the corner of the trail and sat down for our delicious packed lunch — a Meal as Communion if there ever was one!  As the clouds lifted a bit, the butterflies became more active — a “gentle explosion” of 100s rather than the 1000s you sometimes see images of.  Still — in the silence of no traffic, no human voices, no other noises whatsoever, all we could hear was the flapping whirr of monarch butterfly wings.  Unbelievable!  And then the rainbow came out.

My prayer had been that God not let us mess up and destroy these butterflies and their migration (the latter of which is headed towards extinction because of the decrease in number of butterflies).  I wiped away tears at the renewal of the covenant “between me [God] and you and every living creature with you” that we will not be destroyed (Gen 9:8-15).  So that is today’s image …

As one friend quipped — the only thing missing is the unicorn!  But deep mysticism in a cynical world does feel magical.  No unicorn needed.  🙂

The covenant is a good reminder that we never enter our journeys alone — God is with us, angels minister us, and the Trinity in our friends and communities shine brightly if we let them (sometimes the vulnerability that invites the shining is the hardest choice for us).

Our readings for Sunday are here. 

These are the poem, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis Dillon SJ’s homily from the Mass of

• December 21, 2014 10AM

The poem Fr Dennis references this cycle are:

• From a Country Overlooked by Tom Hennen on December 21, 2014 10AM

In 2014, we reflected that —

• There is so much in these readings!!
• In the first reading, from the second Book of Samuel —
  • in Nathan’s response, as the prophet of God, to King David, there is all kinds of word play going on with the Hebrew word for “house” and some pretty ironic humor from God’s perspective
    • House as palace
    • House as temple
    • House as dynasty
  • It is this passage that the gospel captures when Gabriel tells Mary that God will her son / His Son “the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, …” (Luke 1:32-33) and makes real God’s words through Nathan that Jesus is (2 Sam 7:16)
    • of the line of David (both Joseph [Mt 1, Luke 3] and Mary [Lk 1, Elizabeth’s cousin, spouse of Zechariah, a priest of the Temple])
    • sprung from his loins
    • Messiah of all the ages
    • God’s promise fulfilled through Jesus.
  • The humor of the passage is David’s saying (paraphrased): I’m good; I gots the house of cedar, but … wait!! God in the Ark is in a tent!!  I need to do something!! … and Nathan, on behalf of God replies (paraphrased): YOU!?!  You’re going to build me a house when I’ve done all these things for you and the Jewish people?!?
  • rl note — thank you for pitching your tent with us, God.  🙂  the humor of this vignette reminds me of the Billy Collins’ poem, D2 shared, The Lanyard, in which a young child haphazardly creates a summer camp trinket and reflects back as an adult how implicitly the child version of himself thought it returned in measure his mother’s love.
• In the gospel, it’s striking how important the names are: Gabriel, David, Joseph, Galilee, Nazareth, Mary, Elizabeth.
  • This feels in contrast to God’s encounters with us without recognition or name
    • Example #1, the Samson story of this week in the daily readings, a man of God appears, terrible to behold, but knows not to ask his name or where he came from.  (Note: at the time, it was thought that knowing a person’s name and place gave you more control … and more relationship.)
    • Example #2, in the burning bush story with Moses, God gives a name that’s not a name: I AM WHO I AM.
  • And so … Luke gives us a very close / near placement / pitching of the tent of God with us / in us / among us / as the least of us of Jesus, our brother and Savior with the passage’s detailed lineage, names, and places. It is a reminder that Jesus is like us humans — with a genealogy, with parents, grandparents, and more.
• Tom Hennen’s poem, From a Country Overlooked (and unnamed, D2 added) offers an ordinary but grace-filled moment, like Mary’s encounter with Gabriel amidst her daily life:
  • “A frog calling at God”
  • a spot “so full of grace and being”
• This week’s image is The Annunciation (public domain) by Henry Ossawa Tanner, and held by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. By Henry Ossawa Tanner – Philadelphia Museum of Arthttps://philamuseum.org/collection/object/104384, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=133819364
  • Mary’s visage is one of my favorites — wonder, engagement, humility but no fear, no shrinking from One who Loves us, Gabriel, the angel of God.
  • If Gabriel seems as brilliant as the tungsten of a light bulb; you’re right! Tanner painted this image after witnessing one of many Tesla’s public programs demonstrating this new light. He had also returned from trips to Egypt and Palestine. 
  • Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) was one of the first African-American painters in the European tradition to gain international acclaim. He spent much of his adult life in Paris.

Our readings for Sunday are here. 

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

• December 17, 2017 Noon
• December 14, 2014 Noon

The poems Fr Dennis references this cycle are:

• Minnesota Thanksgiving by John Berryman on December 17, 2017 Noon
• The Place by Paul Zimmer on December 17, 2017 Noon
• December by Gary Johnson on December 14, 2014 Noon
• Wait by Galway Kinnell on December 14, 2014 Noon

In 2017, we reflected that —

• In the gospel, John the Baptist won’t say who he is!  It is almost like a legal language game:
  • “Are you ….?”  Nope
  • It feels like this familiar and frequent first question in a courtroom
  • It is happening with scribes and pharisees
  • He doesn’t deny or admit anything
  • And, on repeated listenings, it takes on the rhythm of a comedy sketch
• In Jewish rituals
  • lotsa water is used (ritual purity, drawing of water, blessing on water ….) but no baptisms
  • so the innovation of the baptism with water by John the Baptist may be why the Jewish leaders think he is the Messiah
• One reason the Jewish leaders may be unable to recognize Jesus as the Messiah
  • John the Baptist testifies to the Light, rather than the power and crampedness of scripture interpretation of the time, the heuristic of many Jewish religious leaders of the time, some Roman appointed
  • John the Baptist says, “I am not worthy to untie his sandal strap” —
    • The pharisees and the scribes (those of power) think John the Baptist must be beneath this unrecognized and thus earthly poor “Messiah” Jesus, whom they do not see as holy
    • But, we now know that John the Baptist is really saying that he cannot lower himself in heavenly humility as much as the one who will wash our feet and be hung on the cross.
• In Minnesota Thanksgiving by John Berryman, captures the sense of how gratitude opens the door to our perceiving God’s grace and sanctification in us … even in secular circumstances, even with Thanksgiving is a civic holiday.
  • “Dusk comes as perfect ripeness.”
  • “This is where you will go / At last when coldness comes.”
  • “At the end of your life / You remember and dwell in / Its faultless light forever.”
  • rl reflection: The Pope Francis Center in Detroit, serving central Detroit’s community of people who are unsheltered and/or food insecure, for some time shared a quote of one of their guests: I’m not grateful because I’m joyful; I’m joyful because I’m grateful. If there was a hallmark of D2, it was his contentedness — with a couple dozen at daily Mass, with near 600 lined up the aisles at Ash Wednesday (he quipped with his cheery smile, “We should do this more often” joking about the annual celebration.) And so I find myself turning to gratitude, not to avoid my life but to live it fully, not allow myself to be inured in any dark room that circumstances may have me in — but remember I am housed in a mansion of which most rooms have been filled with light and joy, even as the current one may not feel that way. Sometimes they are so in the very moment I live them, sometimes after the fact. When I feel gratitude, I am humble like John the Baptist (love this icon image for praying; Thanks!, Fr Peter Fennessy, SJ, for your icon class). A Friendly Reminder: icons are sacred objects — they are to be displayed in churches or in your home’s designated and attended prayer space. They are not art to be displayed in museums or printed out from a computer and left on a table. We revere or let them be. :-)

In 2014, we reflected that —

• We accidentally sang the Gloria at the Gaudete Sunday Noon Mass in 2014.  As he and we realized it, Fr Dennis cheerily noted, “Oops!  Ah, but we’re told in the second reading not to quench the Spirit!”
• The first reading focuses on Joy and Justice.  On reflection (by rl) it seems that qualities of God — justice, gratitude, peace create joy in us.  That resonance of our soul in God creates that Joy that shines from us.
• In the second reading, the line “Do not quench the Spirit.” stuck with Fr Dennis, even before our unanticipated Gloria!
• Several things came to him as he reflected on the nature of Advent —
  • When D2 was doing his studies at NYU, he was assigned to and living in the Nativity Parish on the Lower East Side of NYC.
  • On occasion he would visit the Catholic Worker House.  He noticed that Dorothy Day seemed completely present to whomever she was with; no sense of rushing off or other things to do — even when she must surely have had such demands on her time, as she had already become a national and international figure.  When a staff member approached her as she was engaged with a guest; her simple response — “Do you need to speak with one of us?” struck D2 as this John the Baptist humility.
  • His recollection from T.S. Eliot’s play “Cocktail Party” — a one character cocktail party in which one “waits and does nothing.”
  • And, so is Advent — being present, waiting, and, need be — do nothing, in this time of remembering.
• And so the poems are Wait by Galway Kinnell and December (a poem in English sonnet form!) by Gary Johnson.  The poems focus on what sustains us in the waiting — people, kids, hope.  They are how we hear “the voice of the angels.”

Our readings for Sunday are here. 

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

• December 10, 2017 Noon
• December 7, 2014 8:30

The poems Fr Dennis references this cycle are:

• December by Gary Johnson on December 10, 2017 Noon
• Winter Grace by Patricia Fargnoli on December 10, 2017 Noon
• A Prayer At a Baptism by John Shea on December 7, 2014 8:30 (Sorry, I can no longer find a version on the web; I only have it in hard copy in my notes.)

In 2017, we reflected that —

• In the first reading (Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11)
  • the text is the libretto for Handel’s Messiah (“Comfort, give comfort ye my people”), i.e., don’t worry.  “Com” “fort” is with-strength from Latin derivations
  • just being with one another, with God, is a comfort and strength
  • presence is not about changing things, necessarily, but about being.  When we wait upon the Lord, when God comes, the very presence of God changes things.  The ground is leveled and we can then walk on the level –> 🙂  so preach the Good News, shout it out!  🙂 
  • Mark is the first gospel written and the first to use the term “Good News,” i.e., I’m writing Good News, Good News that Jesus proclaimed.
• In Gary Johnson’s poem December
  • we pass time with singing or humming, e.g., Handel’s “Messiah,” perhaps 🙂
  • a poem is a form of hymn
  • the everyday-ness of Jesus and Christmas, his coming, now, into our untriumphant lives
  • going forward into the dark, we don’t understand — it’s our going forward without head knowledge or certainty is what marks our faithfulness of heart to walk with Jesus.
• In Patricia Fargnoli’s poem Winter Grace
  • it is about asking for comfort without asking (“truth is found in silence”)
  • the passage of time, preparing for God, and how if we go out & turn to God, God is right there
  • bread — “piled up like a white beaver hat”
  • feast — “on the picnic table”
  • wine — “to be swallowed by water”
  • The Presence — “then you have seen beauty”
  • Transubstantiation — “and know it for its transience”

In 2014, we reflected that —

• In the Gospel according to Mark
  • there are no infant stories
  • it is the shortest gospel
  • the most used word in this gospel is “suddenly.”  It gives this gospel a very edgy feel relative to the other gospels. “Suddenly” Jesus went here; “suddenly” Jesus went there …
  • in Mark, John the Baptist points the way to Jesus
• The Isaiah reading
  • has excerpts used as the libretto for Handel’s Messiah, which happened to be being performed at Hill Auditorium that same weekend.
  • and, it is always a good reminder that Handel’s Messiah was originally composed and at first performed at Easter time.
• John Shea wrote a very long poem about John the Baptist, “The Man Who Was a Lamb,” (which rl couldn’t rummage up on the web at this point) and plays with almost every gospel passage about John 🙂 but, since it’s so long, D2 shared a shorter John Shea poem about baptism, “A Prayer At a Baptism” (which rl also can no longer find on the web, only hard copy in her notes).
  • We recognize and respond to the prayer to be God’s people and recognize each other as our own in the verses “We made you [wee baptized Johnny] our own // by making you God’s [through the Sacrament of baptism]”

Our featured image is one of the works of Professor Bill Burgard‘s. It is the lamb of Isaiah and the Messiah, and the image for one year’s production of Handel’s Messiah by the University Musical Society. Hill Auditorium (acoustically perfect) usually sells out all 3300 or so seats; the stage is filled with orchestra, the UMS Choral Union, and more.

Bill Burgard is on the faculty of The University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design. I always loved this design and am realizing he also did one of a holy king for the production in another year. I use both as part of my nativity scene at home, a Peruvian ceramic set (Mary, Joseph, the three wise guys, a couple llamas, no shepherds, and one baby Jesus — not added until Christmas morning, of course!). I use a Tibetan silk fabric of the richest blue as background and set all in one of my book shelves (I guess that makes me go with the theological option of Jesus born in a cave rather than a stable). I add stars (lights) and angels, but the two Burgard images add the lamb, king, and prophecy of sacrifice and divinity.

I use this image of Bill Burgard’s with his written permission; do not copy or otherwise use or separate it from this site, please. Here is the link to Bill Burgard’s personal website in which you can peruse more of his (secular) art, if you wish!

Our readings for Sunday are here. 

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

• December 3, 2017 Noon
• November 30, 2014

The poems Fr Dennis references this cycle are:

• Only This Morning by Dan Gerber on December 3, 2017 Noon
• For Jessica, My Daughter by Mark Strand on November 30, 2014

In 2017, we reflected that —

• In this liturgical season, we celebrate three comings, the three “Advents” of Christ:
  • The second coming
  • his birth
  • right now, in this very moment today
• We are beginning the Gospel of Mark, called Cycle B, of
  • Cycle A focusing on the Gospel according to Matthew,
  • Cycle B focusing on the Gospel according to Mark
  • Cycle C focusing on the Gospel according to Luke

with the Gospel of John scattered throughout the three Cycles, but predominating during the Triduum gospel readings for all three cycles.

• The Gospel of Mark is
  • the earliest recorded, canonical gospel with a ~70 CE date
  • the approximate date is determined in large part because it references the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in ~70 CE (and was never re-built)
  • the final loss of the Temple was a major blow to Jewish identity and a major event in their history, as Yahweh (God) was in the Temple and was defeated.  Of course, this was exactly what Jesus was offering, is that God abides in us, too, and indestructible.
• The event inevitably created what we would call PTSD in individuals and in cultural identity.
• So, in that context, the “Watch!  Be on the lookout!!” (Mark 13:33-37) is about the “how” of the second coming and reflects this contemporary cultural trauma for 70 CE listeners: Where is that God (with the Temple now destroyed)? How can we be more alert?
• The Dan Gerber poem Only This Morning reflects on the end of all time, being orphaned, a filly (indicating a relatively new birth) on the only day that matters — now.
  • We go ahead with our lives knowing all things will die
  • And, yet, the gesture of helping, support leading us in the right way is the “Advent” of thanksgiving, and ultimately the Eucharist.

In 2014, we reflected that —

• the themes of light and dark, watchful waiting
• In the Mark Strand poem For Jessica, My Daughter
  • He writes austerely, a bit darkly about that mystery of making connection when we aren’t certain when and how it will occur.

And, of course, we’re starting the season with Celeste’s beautiful design — which should actually be for the second week of Advent (Peace), but here we are!