Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community 4th Week of Advent December 21, 2019 Dotty Shugrue ARCWP & Michael Rigdon Presiding Mindy Lou Simmons, Music Minister

Welcome!

Presider 1: Please join us around the Advent wreath.

Presider 2: We light this 1st 🕯 to celebrate God’s 1st Incarnation in the beauty of creation. May we protect God’s beauty enfleshed in all creatures large and small.🎄🐊 🐜 ☀️🦋🐠🌵🌼

Presider 1: We light this 2nd 🕯 to celebrate God’s 2nd Incarnation in Jesus. May we always follow Jesus’ way of love and compassion. 💕

Presider 2: We light this 3rd and 4th 🕯🕯to celebrate the 3rd Incarnation—our own Incarnation as Christ’s Body

Presider 1: We light this 5th Christ 🕯to celebrate the Christ presence in 🥖 and 🍷with us today.

Presider 2: Please join us in a circle around the table.

Gathering 🎶 : Taste and See (Refrain: Taste and see, taste and see the goodness of Christ! Oh taste and see, taste and see the goodness of Christ, of Christ!)

Presider (v1): I will bless Christ at all times.

Christ’s praise shall always be on my lips;

My soul shall glory in Christ,

For Christ has been so good to me. (Refrain)

All: In the name of God our creator, Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Spirit our wisdom within. Amen.

Presider 1: Let us welcome one another with a sign of Christ’s peace!

Eucharistic Prayer.

All 🎶: We are holy… (You…I…We…)

Presider 1: We now call on God’s Spirit who blooms all things new. May Spirit/Sophia transform our gifts of bread & wine into Christ’s body and blood to enflame our love.

1st Reading from the Good News according to Luke.

In the course of their meal, having taken and blessed the bread 🥖, he broke it and gave it to them. Then he said,

   All: “Take, this is my body.”

   Taking the chalice 🍷, he gave it to them, thanking God, and they all drank from it. He said,

   All: “This is my blood,

   God's new covenant,[1] 

   Poured out for many people.”

2nd Reading from the Good News according to Mathew.

During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread 🥖 broke it, and gave it to his disciples:

   All: “Take, eat.

   This is my body.”

Taking the cup 🍷 and thanking God, he gave it to them:

   All: “Drink this, all of you.

   This is my blood,

   God's new covenant poured out for many people

   for the forgiveness of sins.

3rd Reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinth community. Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord's Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from Jesus himself and passed them on to you. Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread 🥖. Having given thanks, he broke it and said,

   All: “This is my body, broken for you.

   Do this to remember me.”

After supper, he did the same thing with the cup🍷:

   All: “This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you. Each time you drink this cup, remember me.”

Readings from The Message by Eugene H Peterson

Profession of Faith 🎶: Taste and See (Refrain)

Presider (v2); Glorify Christ with me.

Together let us all praise Christ’s name.

I called to Christ and Christ answered me;

From all my troubles Christ set me free. (Refrain)

Presider 2: Dear MMOJ Saints, we turn to you for protection and guidance as we strive to live the gospel values you modeled—compassion for the neglected and marginalized among us.

All: This is Jesus who liberates, heals and transforms us and our world. All are invited to partake of this banquet of love. We are the Body of Christ.

All 🎶: Taste and See (Refrain)

Presider 1: All are welcome at the table. As you pass the bread to next person, please say, “You are the light of the world.” Suggested response, “I believe!”

Please remain around the table after communion.

Community Prayers. Presider 2. For whom shall we pray today? Response: Christ, graciously hear us!

Presider 2: Christ, make us your light to the world.

All: Amen

Shared Homily. Presider 1: Please share your Spirit- inspired reflections on today’s readings and liturgy.

Introductions

Announcements

All (with hand raised in blessing):

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

The rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of God’s hand.

Presiders: Go in peace. May we be Christ wherever we taste or see Christ. All: Thanks be to God. Alleluia

Closing 🎶: Taste and See. (Refrain)

Presider (v3): Worship Christ, all you people.

You’ll want for nothing if you ask.

Taste and see that Christ is good;

In Christ we need put all our trust. (Refrain)

---

 [1]

"For Chrissake, let Catholics ordain women, priests marry" by MAKAU MUTUA, SUNDAY DECEMBER 15 2019, Daily Nation

https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2019/12/for-chrissake-let-catholics-ordain.html

For Chrissake, let Catholics ordain women, priests marry

Pope Francis leads a Holy Mass at the National Stadium in Bangkok on November 21, 2019. PHOTO | VINCENZO PINTO | AFP 

In Summary

• Let’s separate man-made religious law from holy text. In the Church, canonical law are rules made by ecclesiastical authority, or Church leadership, for the governance of the flock.
• It shouldn’t be confused with the Bible. Messianic religions, of which there are two – Islam and Christianity – are guilty of grave historical wrongs.

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By MAKAU MUTUA
More by this Author

Established and recognised religions, including some of the largest – Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism, African religions, and Judaism – involve both individual conscience, belief, and community identity. By and large, public authorities in democracies generally permit religions to establish their own internal rules.

NEW WAYS

But not all internal religious rules are godly, ethical or even moral. The same is true of religious practices throughout history. Some have been abominable. Others are clearly discriminatory. Today, I focus on two new progressive practices the Catholic Church needs to accept – the ordination of women and marriage of priests.

Recently, the synod of Amazon bishops voted – in a meeting with Pope Francis in Vatican City – to allow married men to become priests. The Amazon plea was largely driven by pragmatic logic. The shortage of priests in the Amazon is so acute that many faithful Catholics go for years without attending mass or receiving the Eucharist. The cure to the problem is hiding in plain sight – allow priests to marry and the shortage vanishes. To his credit, Pope Francis, as he has done throughout his papacy, seemed to signal an opening in special cases. Despite stiff conservative opposition to allowing priests to marry, Pope Francis urged “openness to new ways”. He could rule on the issue by year’s end. Given the politics and dynamics in the Church, it’s doubtful that Pope Francis will go beyond a marginal relaxation of the rules requiring celibacy. But to be clear, celibacy isn’t required by the Bible, or any scripture, although the Apostle Paul recommended it in the First Letter to the Corinthians.

SCOURGE

Rather, celibacy is a millennia-old practice that has usually, but not always, been adhered to. For example, many of the Apostles of Jesus were married, although he was reportedly celibate himself. St Peter himself, the first Pope, was married. In fact, in Matthew 8:14 and Luke 4:38-40, Jesus healed his mother-in-law. Only in 304 AD does there appear the first written, but rarely enforced, requirement of celibacy for priests.

Also Read

It was only in the 11th century that Pope Gregory VII issued in the medieval period of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church an ironclad decree requiring all priests to be celibate and unmarried. From that point forward every bishop has been expected to strictly enforce the rule. The rule stuck and is now the norm in the Catholic Church.

It’s clear from history that despite this rule on celibacy, many priests – even some popes – engaged in sexual relations with women and men. Such “scandals” were not unknown at the Vatican. Today, many priests, including in Kenya, are guilty of sexual predations. Nor can we forget the current scourge of paedophile priests, an existential threat to the Church.

INDEFENSIBLE

Today, most, but not all Roman Catholic clergy (Latin Rite) is celibate. In the Eastern Catholic Church, as in the Orthodox Church, married men serve as Catholic priests. Furthermore, married Anglican priests who came into Catholicism serve as full Catholic priests. That’s why the call by the Amazon bishops, and the sympathetic ear of Pope Francis, isn’t out of left field. Just like paedophilia gravely threatens the Catholic Church from America to the remotest island on Earth, the refusal to allow priests to marry will thin out its congregation and put it in ICU. The rule was a fiat by one Pope. A fiat by another Pope can reverse it. Pope Francis may do it.

The refusal to ordain women into the Catholic priesthood is similarly indefensible. There’s no biblical or scriptural authority barring the ordination of women. In 1994, Pope John Paul II, an impossibly staunch conservative, declared in an Ordinatio sacerdotalis – an ecclesiastical letter – that the “Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women.” However, he failed to quote any biblical authority other than taking refuge in the history of patriarchy in Jewish society at the time of Jesus. He cited the choice of 12 Apostles – all men – as proof positive that Jesus wanted Church ministry to be reserved for men.

ABOMINABLE

Let’s separate man-made religious law from holy text. In the Church, canonical law are rules made by ecclesiastical authority, or Church leadership, for the governance of the flock. It shouldn’t be confused with the Bible. In the same way that sharia or Islamic law shouldn’t be conflated with the Quran and the Hadith. Sharia is man-made law even if the religious authorities and scholars derive it from the Quran and Hadith. That’s why using canonical law or sharia law to deny penitents basic rights of equality can’t stand scrutiny.

Messianic religions, of which there are two – Islam and Christianity – are guilty of grave historical wrongs such as colonialism, the enslavement of Africans, crusades and jihads. Denying women ordination and refusing priests the right to marry needn’t be part of that abominable catalogue.

Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School and Chair of KHRC. @makaumutua.

Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community - Gaudete Sunday - Presiders: Kathleen Ryan, ARCWP, and Ginny O'Brien

Welcome and Theme 

Gaudete Sunday, Rejoice and Be Glad!  Season of Joy- we hear this so often but what is joy?  It is generally associated with children who wait in anticipation for Santa's visit. They are thrilled with the notion that Santa will visit every house on Christmas Eve and they so want to be on the "nice"list.  Can we remember that feeling of sheer happiness, innocence and bliss? Are we still able to experience and share that joy? is it still contagious?  Our ability and indeed our willingness to once again become that innocent child demonstrates our inner strength. This kind of joy is deeply rooted in faith, hope and love. This joy becomes a virtue one to be shared, practiced and emulated.

  

Receiving the stole

We, your community, bless you and thank you for leading us in liturgy today.

Lighting the Advent Candle: Third Sunday

We light this third candle and remember that in the heart of every person on this earth, and in all of creation there burns the spark of luminous goodness – the presence of the Divine. Let us kindle the light of joy! Amen.

Opening Song: Spirit of the Living God 

https://youtu.be/GK-O5nfL1Mo

A Reading from the Prophet Isaiah     IS 35:1-6A, 10

The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to them,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.
Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
who comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
and who comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.

These are the inspired words of Isaiah, a prophet of the Holy One.

A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew                           

MT 11:2-11                                                    

When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ,
he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question,
"Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?"
Jesus said to them in reply,
"Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.
And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me."

As they were going off,
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John,
"What did you go out to the desert to see?
A reed swayed by the wind?
Then what did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in fine clothing?
Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces.
Then why did you go out?  To see a prophet?
Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
This is the one about whom it is written:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way before you.
Amen, I say to you,
among those born of women
there has been none greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

These are the inspired words of Matthew a disciple of Jesus. The community affirms these words with AMEN.

Kathie Ryan's Homily Starter for Gaudete Sunday

Today is Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete means rejoice-so today we are reminded to rejoice. We go from lighting purple candles to a pink one. I looked up the origin of Gaudete Sunday and found the Roman Catholic Church established Gaudete Sunday  to give us a little break from our “penitential exercises.”  My immediate thought was “what penitential exercises?”  Let’s hold that idea for a moment and go back to the readings- in the readings there is expectation, anticipation, and hope.

In the Isaiah reading we hear:  and then the desert will bloom with abundant flowers, creation will sing with joyful song, feeble hands will be strengthened, knees will be firm, and then just like our gospel reading we hear the blind will see and the lame will walk. Matthew adds more-the lepers will be cleansed, the deaf will hear, the dead will rise and the poor will have the good news. 

But there is a catch-all of these expectations, anticipations and hopes that are described in the readings are already happening. The desert has and is always blooming, creation is always singing. Long before Jesus there were many stories in Hebrew scriptures of the lame walking, and the blind seeing.  That tells us something important-- there is always reason to rejoice yesterday, today and tomorrow.  We have to wake up, see and be aware. Rejoice!

Henri Nouwen, defined joy as “the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing-sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death-can take that love away.”  The key to rejoicing is to know you are unconditionally loved. 

Remember according to the RCC we are supposed to be taking a break from our penitential exercises? Maybe not penitential but there is an exercise that needs attention. I think the most important exercise and an exercise we all struggle with-- is to remind ourselves and each other that we are unconditionally loved. Believing, knowing and living as if we are unconditionally loved is not easy. You and I put that unconditional love into action when we take care of one another, when we are kind to those who are not kind to us, when we feed the hungry, when we take care of the poor, when we take care of creation. And when we really accept that we are personally, individually  unconditionally loved. The real message of Gaudete Sunday is to be aware of unconditional love and to love one another and all of creation, today, tomorrow and always.

What did you hear and see in these scripture readings today?  How will they change you? What will it cost?

Communion Song: Christ Be Our Light by Bernadette Farrell

https://youtu.be/JhQ0_XMUtvQ

Closing Song: Canticle of the Sun by Marty Haugen

https://youtu.be/lE_Ei6JRl1o 

At This Table- by Idina Menzel, "Everyone is welcome, Everyone matters, There is enough for everyone, so come as you are.'

https://youtu.be/acRAIkV7QDc

Women Bishops Were Active in Fifth Century and Are Active in 21st Century

From left to right, Bishop Christine Mayr Lumetzberger, RCWP, Mary Theresa Streck ARCWP and Bishop Mary Eileen Collingwood ARCWP ordain Shanon Sterringer ARCWP a priest in Austria in Aug. 2019

https://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/women-bishops-were-active-in-fifth-century-36763044.

 A fresco unearthed in an Italian catacomb  suggests that women were acting as bishops in the early Christian church, academics claim.

The fifth century image of a woman named Cerula shows her surrounded by open, flaming Gospel books, symbolic of the role of a bishop. Academics said the discovery, in San Gennaro, Naples, was "incredibly significant" and proved that women held senior roles in the early church.

It could mean that millions will have to rethink the origins of their faith.

The revelations are made in Jesus's Female Disciples: The New Evidence, due to be aired on Channel 4 next weekend. The programme also suggests Jesus had many more female disciples than previously thought.

Bible experts Helen Bond and Joan Taylor visited the catacomb in Naples, where, in the early third century, the Christians began to bury their dead and pave the walls with frescoes.

The wall paintings, hidden for 1,000 years, were rediscovered in 1971 and recently restored. Cerula was painted in the late fifth or early sixth century and is depicted in the praying position with the "chi-rho" symbol of Christ over her head. Crucially, she is surrounded by open volumes of all four gospels, suggesting she had real influence and responsibility. 

Dr Ally Kateusz, a Christian art expert, told the show: "It's really extraordinary because bishops were associated with the gospels. Bishops, and bishops only, had open gospel books placed over their heads during their ordination ritual."

Dr Luca Badini, from the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research, said: "It was known that women bishops were preaching at that time but very little evidence exists of it. There are still some people who argue on the basis of tradition, stating that they can't allow women to minister because it's never been done before, but of course, that's not true."

Homily for Third Sunday of Advent 2019 by Mary Eileen Collingwood ARCWP

Mary Eileen Collingwood ARCWP

Homily Starter – Third Sunday in Advent 2019

The four weeks of Advent begin our liturgical year, and all the readings chosen for this season are documented through the male perspective—as are all the books of the Bible.

As I reviewed numerous commentaries on the readings chosen for this Third Sunday in Advent, I got very bored with the same translations, the same perspectives, the same conclusions that I’ve heard over and over and over again throughout the centuries.

It amazes me that during this whole time of Advent, the scripture readings written and chosen by men speak of conflicts and the oppression of people, of what we need to think and say, about how to prepare for Jesus’ coming, yet never once reflected on the female figure that brought this all on—that made it possible for Jesus to be born at all—save the incongruous feast of the Immaculate Conception that is inserted in the Advent Season to assure us that Mary had to be “purified” by an ill-conceived church dogma that states she was actually born without sin. No male who inseminated her had to be purified—only Mary. Oh yes, that’s right! No male did inseminate her according to that doctrine—the female “Spirit” did!

Truth be told, the season of Advent is not primarily about the coming of Jesus, our vision for a more peaceful world—whether in terms of the end times and Second Coming, or in the liturgical readings that primarily recall Israel’s faith and hope in God, the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, and directives from Paul on how we should believe and behave. The perspective of men continues as the readings conclude with the Gospel that describes the conditions of the pregnancy, Joseph’s response, the angel’s directive, and the purpose of the birth.

Truth be told, Advent is primarily about the Mother of Jesus. Her name is Miriam—Mary, in our translated context. This is her season to shine! The words from our psalm today are HER words! Her Magnificat! Her realization that she is pregnant with new life and, because of this, her whole world will change—indeed, the whole world has changed because of her pregnancy and the birthing her son, Jesus of Nazareth. And because Mary was willing to carry this child for nine months in her womb, the whole world did change. Her son transformed the way we see the hand of God in our lives, the way we understand the true Spirit of the Law, the way we are called to live in love with one another to bring about the true kinship of God.

In the words of scripture commentator Kenyatta Gilbert, “..news of Jesus’ coming provides reassurance because a coming Jesus brings reversals of circumstance.” And because of the willingness of Mary, circumstances did indeed reverse, and continue to change in our world today.

There was a young woman, married and pregnant for the first time, who shared with me that her mother was not giving her the attention during her pregnancy that she expected-- at least the degree of attention she believed she needed from her mother. This young woman felt isolated because her mother was not being solicitous or visiting her much at all. This new mother felt cut off and isolated and in reality, was lamenting her perceived separation and lack of support from her own mother. Because of this, she felt robbed of the opportunity to share the emotions and physical changes in her body, or the dreams for her unborn child that she was experiencing, with her mother. She had hoped to get some consolation and support and was more than a little unnerved because she didn’t.

Now can you imagine that Mary, the soon-to-be mother of Jesus, who was pregnant, unmarried, and experienced all kinds of emotional and physical changes, can relate to this young woman today, after all these years? Of course she can! Women continue to get pregnant, hormones continue to wreak havoc, and dreams continue to occur. And all these experiences, are intended to be shared with a trusted someone. The reality is that women need other women!

Using male vocabulary, we are led to the “end game” with the readings that are chosen for this Season. I caution everyone to rethink this approach to Advent. The word means “coming.” And, as we know, the world is constantly coming at us before our very eyes. We are called to “become” over and over again. Meditating on a woman’s pregnancy can be transformative for all people as we embrace this call to bring forth new life over and over and over again.

The time is now for women to recount their experiences of relating to their Creator Spirit, and the exclusive privilege they have in bearing new human life in the intimacy of their own hearts and bodies. Each child born has the potential to bring hope of new life and a refreshing perspective to our world. Each maternal gesture of love embodies the Divine Feminine for humankind. We can prepare for this new life, or just ignore its impact. But life goes on whether we are ready or not.

I believe Mary had much more to say. Women need to be her voice today.

Your thoughts: What words can we use to describe the primary role Mary

played in the Advent “coming” of her son, Jesus?

Millenniums Are Leaving Religion and Not Coming Back

https://apple.news/AOEHtl3tXR5SuXMTnvssQ0Q