Introduction (Nellie Ohr)
Good morning, and welcome to our hybrid PAX liturgy for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time! At our wonderful Mass planning session with Fr. Joe, Mary Linda, Rosa, Katy, and Megan, we settled on the theme “From Illusion to Conversion.” More than once in the readings for today, we found the idea that the trappings of wealth and worldly success are illusory, as false visions of success. Fresh on our minds were the hearings of the Jan 6 Commission.
- We remembered Liz Cheney, who last month cautioned her Republican colleagues. “There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.” [1] She was asking them to choose between illusory political success and integrity.
- And we remembered last week’s testimony, where a young aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, admitted her horror and disillusionment when she realized what was going on. People like this young aide were seemingly intoxicated by the trappings of power, until a horrific event made the scales fall from their eyes. She seems to have experienced an extreme moment of going from illusion to conversion.
But all of us may find ourselves intoxicated with the trappings of wealth, success, and power, in large or small ways. Our lives are a daily process of conversion. And conversion leads to hope and trust in God. Poor people who don’t know what the day will bring have hope because they trust in God rather than trusting in material security. Our gathering song asks God to lead us from falsehood to truth and fear to trust. Please join in singing.
1st Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23
Responsorial: Love is revolution
Our responsorial is drawn from postings on a bulletin board at Harvard that Nellie Ohr spotted. The planners felt these sentiments were timely and apt and, summed up much of the spirit of our second and third readings.
When the old world ends, the new world begins. In the old world, money was power. In the new world, spirit is power. You choose to make the world better or worse with every act. This is your power. R
Race, nationality, class, gender physical appearance – these matter in the old world, not in the new. The most important things in the new world are the quality of your awareness and the strength of your relationships. R
The old world ran on greed. The new world runs on human connection. R
The world is changing. Learn to travel light. When the water rises, all your stuff will not help you. The things you own will mean nothing anymore. The people you know will mean everything. R
Be ready for the change. Pay attention to your community. Help where you can. We will survive by taking care of one another. R
You have been told that you have no power, but that is a lie. You have the power to do right by other people. Selfishness is suicide. R
2nd Reading: Colossians 3:1-5; 9-11
Gospel: Luke 12:13-21
Homily: Joe Nangle, OFM (paraphrased from notes taken)
During our planning we settled on social analysis and not just how today’s readings affect us as individuals. Thinking about PAX, I’ve been privileged these many years to celebrate with you. While many PAX members are privileged, you are counter cultural as well. You have put aside the vanity of material goods. It’s been a wonderful journey with you.
One of the downsides of the January 6th Congressional hearings is the realization that greed is a large part of our culture. Pope Francis urges us to be countersigns to our prevailing culture.
You’ve all received Charles Schehl’s email (via the PAX listerv) [reprinted later in these announcements]. As a physician, Charles knows his life is coming to an end and he is saying good-bye.
I recently attended the home baptism of one of Charles’ grandchildren and was able to give him the Sacrament of the Sick. I’ve never had a more inspiring experience of someone taking the journey home. Charles is calling all his friends to say good-bye; he recognizes what a great gift it is to be able to do this. I hope I may have the same opportunity when I pass from this life.
Our medical-industrial society is so insistent on our staying healthy. Yet, we know moving toward the end of life is inevitable.
Creed: From translated work of Ignatius Brady OFM: The Prayers of St. Francis
St. Francis travelled to forestall the Crusades against Muslims. He was received by the imam; they spent a long time together. Islam has 100 names (approximations) of God – recognizing there is no way to describe God. When Francis returned to Italy, he wrote this creed.
You are the holy Lord the only God, who works wonders, You are strong. You are great. You are most high.
You are the Almighty King, you O Holy Father. King of heaven and Earth.
You are three and one, the Lord God of Gods.
You are good, all good, the highest good, Lord God living and true.
You are love, charity.
You are wisdom, You are humility, You are patience, You are beauty,
You are meekness, You are security. You are quietude, You are joy.
You are our hope and gladness.
You are justice, You are temperance. You are all our riches to the full.
You are beauty, You are meekness. You are protector, You are guardian and defender
You are strength, You are refreshment. You are our hope, You are our faith.
You are our charity, You are all our delight. You are our eternal life:
The Great and wondrous Lord, God Almighty, Merciful Savior!
Special Blessing for Joe Nangle to commemorate his 90th birthday:
Mytrtle Hendricks Corrales: After 15 years in Bolivia and Peru living with and ministering to the poor, the powerless, the disenfranchised, you made a poignant, definitive decision that you needed to bring the call for social justice to the United States, to bring about a change here that would affect the lives of so many in need.
You carried in your heart the lives of Rose, the homeless man who when given food, immediately shared it with a friend, the mother who gave birth in a cold, bare concrete building under construction, young Jose hit and killed by a bus and his family’s struggle to respect his dear body, and so much more about the lives of the sacred people you served. While they are in your heart still, you transplanted their lives and their struggles to our hearts.
You have never wavered in your prophetic voice calling for justice, denouncing war, violence, greed, and the lack of dignity for much of humanity. You combine your strong, truthful prophetic voice with compassion so that your sometime difficult challenges are heard and pondered.
The PAX Community is grateful for the gift of your vision, your ministry, your pastoral care. We are all better for having walked with you. In gratitude and love, PAX blesses you.
Shane MacCarthy: Father Joe, the gifts you have shared with us as a Community and with us individually are many. These are examples of your gentle pastoral ministry, specifically referenced by members of our Community:
- Twenty years ago you simply listened and listened and reopened the doors of the Church for one of our members.
- In reminding us of the poor and disenfranchised, we in some way…and in some manner…are able to look at our lives differently.
- You confess to us of the failures of some of your brother priests, and, for this sinfulness, you have asked our forgiveness.
- You know us as families, as individuals, each with our unique needs, and somehow, without inserting yourself, you kindly and gently address those needs.
- You have given us a sense of what it means to be a Mission Church, of being sent and sharing our lived-out experience in faith
Father Joe, on the occasion of your 90th birthday, we express our thanks to you for being Our priest, Our pastor, Our friend. In gratitude and love, Father Joe, PAX bestows its heartfelt blessing.
Vince Cushing, OFM (from notes taken): The blessing of St. Francis (Numbers 6:24-26), written in Francis’ own hand, is found within the Basilica of St. Francis. It was written perhaps in the early 1200s. St. Francis wrote this blessing and gave it his disciple Brother Leo telling him to guard it until Leo’s death. Brother Leo kept the prayer faithfully for 46 years. And it is this blessing, originally given to Brother Leo, which we now give to Joe:
May the Lord bless you and keep you;
May He make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.