Acts 13:  Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.

Revelation 7:   Then one of the elders said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

John 10:   Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Connie reading from the Acts of the Apostles

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben 

Outreach: $    75.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

A Mother's Day blessing for all the women

Rosemary's Blessing:

Suggested Petitions for Mother’s Day

For our mothers, who have given us life and love, that we may show them reverence and love, and others who show us a mother’s love, we pray to the Lord.

For adoptive mothers and for the women who wish to give birth but experience challenges, that they know your care, we pray to the Lord.

For mothers who have lost a child through death, that their faith may give them hope, and their family and friends support and console them, we pray to the Lord.

For those who wish to serve as mothers, but are not able to do so, that they know your comfort, we pray to the Lord.

For mothers who have died, that God may bring them into the joy of his kingdom, we pray to the Lord.

Archdiocese of New Orleans

Readings:

Acts 3,  13-15, 17-19,  God raised him from the dead.

Psalm 4,    Lord, let you face shine on us.

1 John 2, 1-5,   He is expiation for our sins.

 Luke  24, 35-48,  Peace be with you.

Some of the members of the class reunion who graduated from Spring Hill College, Mobile 1965 at the end of their 7th year of training.

The Readings:  Stack has introduced you to the author of Luke and Acts being the same person or compiler. They were probably written between 70 and 85 AD so a couple of generations after Jesus.  We don’t know the author of John’s Gospel and letters, but they were written at least another generation later. 

Homily 3^rd Sunday of Easter 04/19/15, John Cade

I’ve been looking for a chance to share with you an editorial in the Dallas Morning News from New Year’s Eve.  The topic is gratitude. So that’s where I’m at, and that’s what I want to share with you.

In Stack’s blog this Thursday he quotes from Winnie the Pooh. Pooh asks, “What day is it?”  “It’s today,” answers Piglet.  And Pooh responds, “My favorite day.”

Avenue of the Oaks, Spring Hill College.

The New Year’s Eve editorial refers to a multi-year research project at the University of California, titled “Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude.” This research turned up many benefits that grow out of gratitude, such as: a stronger immune system; fewer illnesses and aches and pains; better sleep; greater resilience; reduced anxiety and depression; and more joy, optimism and happiness.  The editorial also speaks to how we develop gratitude.  I made copies; there should be enough for each family unit to take one and there may be extras.

The last two weeks Stack talked about Easter events in our lives, events that give new life, fuller life, and joy of spirit.  Gratitude naturally flows from Easter events and from all the blessings we can count every day.  I do not believe there is anyone on this planet who has not experienced an Easter event.   We know that noticing an Easter event, and accepting its offer of new life and joy, can be difficult. I’ve caught myself not noticing such events or not being fully grateful for these blessings and gifts.  

Recently my daughter Joey came by with my grandson, Leo (age 6).  A couple of years ago Joey took a part time job and had been experiencing a desire to go beyond what it offered her in income, and especially in satisfaction.  Without making a formal job search, she was contacted by a company in Austin wanting her to head up a planned expansion to Dallas.

  They eventually offered her a percentage of the company if she took the job.  Another company in Richardson also found her and offered her a position.  When she approached her current employer and told him she had offers and was planning to take one of them, he begged her to stay and go full time. 

Avenue of the Oaks facing Stewart Field.

Joey’s Easter event, her experience of new life, was the realization that her fears about job security were unfounded and she could choose from among the three positions.  This meant more security as a mom and more confidence and satisfaction as an employee. 

Leo, while still in the developmental stage that includes magical thinking, is developing his sense of competence.  He loves playing all kinds of games and he makes them competitive.  In the short time they were at our house, Leo initiated several games with me: first, racing cars on the floor, then Black Jack which helps him learn to count, then Shoots and Ladders, then Parcheesi. 

It was a delight to see his face light up over his competence at these games.  He clearly was experiencing new life and joy in experiencing his competence, and his gratitude and joy showed all over his face. 

One of my Easter events was in 2008 when I was in hospital for heart surgery.  Lambrini and I had hired a construction team to convert an area of our home into an office for my therapy practice.  At one point the guys were not doing the work properly.

An architect friend, hearing about this problem and knowing I was in hospital, simply went over to our home and took charge of the project, telling them what to do over.  When Lambrini told me what he had done, I was so moved by this I was crying with her. 

A nurse must have seen me crying, since they started an anti-depressant and I had the most horrible nightmares I had ever had.  I asked them to please stop this treatment, that I was not depressed, I was emotional and crying because of my immense gratitude. 

Something we now know is that we can train our brains in the habit of noticing and accepting Easter events and in having gratitude.

Pooh said “today …is… my favorite day.” 

My question is how are you practicing the habit of noticing Easter events and the joy of gratitude?

Job, 7, 1-4, 6-7, Is not man's life on earth a drudgery?

Psalm 147, Praise the Lord who heals the broken hearted.

1 Corinthians 9, 15-19, 22-23, If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast.

Mark  1, 29-39,  He approached her, grasped her hand, and helped her up.  Then the fever left her and she waited on them.

Welcome, Folks!

Thanks……

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers, Jackie and Patricia, and Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Mike Carrell

Homily,  Mike Carrell

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Richard & Mike 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

Sunday Readings:

Download Reading 5th Sunday 2-7-2021

Homily by Mike Carrell

Download Mike homily 2-7-21

The Best, Shonda & Ben.

Please Remember these special people:

For Carrie's ex, Larry;  For Alan Stryker;  For Joe Sullivan;    For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   For Esparza's new great grandson baby, son of Monique;  For all the medical personnel struggling to treat the tsunami of sick people, in particular, locally, Cindy's staff at Presby, Dallas, and at Frisco Presby, the mother of Harper and Betsy, Kendle, working in labor & delivery, and for Hue & Linda's daughter, Doctor Rosemary Beavers;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, The Woodlands,   For Loretta's aunt Alicia;  For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody &  Leo & all of Shonda's dear family, For Ursuline Sr. Mary Troy 

The Brain Trust–including Aviana.

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For both Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free;    For John O'Donnell & Jean;   For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa; For John Schanot's continued health;  For Anthony & Sabrina;    For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's mother in law, Kalliopi Piskiouli and Lambrini, plus John's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little 4 month old boy undergoing an operation & for Rollie with Corona; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

Birthdays:  Geri, Tom Quinn, Hue & John Bresson

Anniversary:  Bobby & Debbie Ekes

Family Teamwork.  Happy Birthday, Geri.

Community Finances, February 7, 2021

Expenses: $1400.00 

Outreach   $250.00   (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Rosemary's Blessing:

As Lazarus came forth alive from the tomb

may we too, come forth from the corona pandemic

and all the tombs which bind and hold us.

May we be filled with gratitude for life and its blessings,

and for the normal everyday things we took for granted.

Help us to become better people as a result of our

awakening and help us share our lives and blessings with others.

Readings: 2 Maccabees 7, 1-14; Psalm 17, Lord, when Your Glory appears, My Joy will be full; 2 Thessalonians 2, 16-3, 5; Luke 20, 27-38.

Intro to Readings

 Our first reading somehow got past the censors.  It is from the Second Book of Maccabees.  This is the only Sunday in the entire three-year cycle of readings that we have anything from this book.  It is about the martyrdom of a family of seven brothers and their mother.  I suggest the only reason this reading was selected is because the number seven also appears in the gospel story.  If you want to learn more about this period in Jewish history, Wikipedia has more than enough information to satisfy most. 

Paul is writing to the Thessalonians in our second reading. 

 The Gospel reading from Luke has Jesus finally in Jerusalem.  Remember that a major part of Luke’s gospel has Jesus on the great “Journey to Jerusalem”.  Today Jesus is in the temple trying to answer one of those imponderable questions.  “Who gets the bride in heaven?”  The folk who ask the question, the Sadducees are only heard from in Luke in this passage.  They were a group of ultra conservative Jews who only accepted what was written in the Torah and refused all of the oral tradition.  They actually disappear following the destruction of the temple. 

I am keeping these comments brief because I want instead to talk about the sacraments in the homily.

Homily

 I would like to begin by reading from Chapter 3 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy from the Second Vatican council.

“The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the body of Christ, and, finally, to give worship to God; because they are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it; that is why they are called 'sacraments of faith.'

They do indeed impart grace, but, in addition, the very act of celebrating them most effectively disposes the faithful to receive this grace in a fruitful manner, to worship God duly, and to practice charity.

It is, therefore, of the highest importance that the faithful should easily understand the sacramental signs, and should frequent with great eagerness those sacraments which were instituted to nourish the Christian life.”

Many of us last studied the sacraments in CCD class and perhaps a review will be helpful.  There are seven sacraments.  As the council reminds us, the sacraments are a source of grace.  The easiest way for me to understand what that really means is to say that the sacraments help deepen my relationship with God thru a community action. 

If we go back to the very beginning of the Old Testament and the Book of Genesis, in the story of the creation of the world we have this concept of God speaking and then something happening.  God said, Let there be light, and there was light.   I find a similar pattern in each of the sacraments.  We have a liturgy of the Word, followed by an action of some sort, whether it is pouring of water, or anointing with oil or an exchange of promises.  The sacrament of Penance when celebrated as a communal service also fits into this. 

So we can say that each of the sacraments has Word and action.  I also like to divide the sacraments into two main groups.  One group is about joining, namely Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist, and the other group is about special circumstances or situations, namely, Marriage, Ordination, Penance and Holy Orders. 

One of the challenges we have today is to be able to understand the symbols used.  Symbols are a funny thing, because in themselves they can have one meaning, but when an object is used as a symbol it points to something else, and unless you are part of the group using that object symbolically you can too easily fail to understand what is intended in the symbol. 

But the most important aspect of sacrament is that it is a community action.  We seem to have drifted from the original concept of God’s People, to that of individual relationship with God.  But the whole history of the Old Testament was that of a people, a community in relationship with God.  And the New Testament continued that notion.  The early church was a community of believers.  I think we need to begin with that reality when discussing the sacraments too.  They are community actions, not individual actions.  In fact none of the sacraments can be celebrated, and notice I use the word “celebrated” in isolation or on ones own. 

In future homilies I would like to delve into each one of the sacraments in detail, but let's not forget, while we talk of the seven sacraments, we acknowledge that almost any action/activity which brings us closer to God deserves the title sacrament.

Picture 1:     Mass beginning

Picture 2:    Offertory with Grace & Marsha

Picture 3:    Carol & Marilyn

Picture 4:    Jan (The photo taker) & Curtis & Charlie

Say Rosemary & Cathy, "Happy Kentucky Derby Weekend and welcome in."

Readings:

Acts of the Apostles  2, 14, 36-41  Let the whole house of Israel know.

Psalm 23,  The Lord is my shepherd.  (Beautiful, consoling)

1 Peter 2, 20-25, By his wounds have you been healed.

 John 10, 1-10,  Whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd. 

Welcome back to Dallas, Ann, and to our community.  You are one of our best all time friends.

The Three Best

Whenever I go on a trip like the one Rosemary & I just did with Viking on the Elbe River in Eastern Germany, I get questions.  Like, ‘What was the best thing?’  I would like to talk briefly about 3 best things that struck me, a Berlin chapel, a church door, and a concentration camp. 

This bell tower is all that is left of the old gothic Kaiser Wilhelm church in central Berlin.  It is preserved as a remembrance.

In the heart of Berlin there used to be a large gothic church called Kaiser Wilhelm Church.  It was bombed badly in the war and all that is left is a large, beat up bell tower.  Bullet wounds and bomb damage from bottom to what is left of the top.   The bell tower has been preserved as is to remind.

Interior of the Kaiser Wilhelm chapel .   The blue ambiance comes from bricks with glass circles tinted blue, very moving.

Next to the tower a chapel has been built, very plain, a grey box on the outside.  After looking at prewar pictures of the old church, just for the heck of it, I decide to go inside the rather plain chapel.  I am stunned by the simple beauty.  The curved front wall is made of cement blocks with round blue bottle like glass.   A gold, ascending, larger than life-sized Christ hangs right in the middle.   Simple wooden pews.  The blue and gold ambience was stunning. 

The half destroyed bell tower and the stunningly moving chapel symbolize for me the story of Berlin.

View of interior from right aisle.  The bell tower in union with this simple chapel symbolize the old and the new Berlin.

Second best experience.  Wittenberg and the church where Martin Luther posted 95 theses, exactly 5 centuries ago on October 31.

All my training about this event gave me a misconception.  Namely, that Luther was out to start a church revolution.   Nope.

Wittenburg, Church door where Martin Luther posted his 95 theses 500 year ago this year.  It was a university bulletin board.

The story goes like this.  Luther was a professor at the Wittenberg University.  The church door was a bulletin board.  Professors would post theses which the students were expected to debate the pros and cons of.   Everything was hand written in Latin.  Luther even titled his material as Disputation on the Power & Efficiency of Indulgences.  Disputation is the key word and implied debate of the pros and cons.  It was only later that year or the next that Rome got wind of them and a year later excommunicated Luther and the ideas went viral.

Wittenburg town center.

3 samples of theses:

#21.  Those indulgence preachers are in error who say that a man is absolved from every penalty and saved by papal indulgences.

27.  They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory.

32.  Those who believe they can be certain of their salvation because they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned, together with their teachers.

St. Mary's Church, Wittenberg.  This is not the Luther church which was more of a college chapel. 

I spent three years, ’62-’65, studying philosophy at Spring Hill College in Mobile.  There were a hundred plus Jesuits engaged in this process.  We debated theses and we debated in Latin.  I took all my philosophy exams in Latin, written and mostly oral.   We had the church position and we had the adversaries.  We were expected to be able to verbally ace those adversaries.  Luther was probably one of our adversaries. 

A small number of the survivors of Ravensbruck. 

This was so déjà vu for me.  I could feel exactly what was going on, no revolt, just debate.  Somebody copied those theses, got them to Rome, and some priest, bishop, or pope over reacted, excommunicated Luther, and a revolt took place among the people.  Could this be taking place today?

Revensbruck compound & barracks.  100,000 plus women were concentrated here.

Thirdly, Ravensbruck concentration camp for women.  For years I have read about the camps, in particular Ravensbruck.  This camp was set up for women and it was this camp where medical experiments were performed on the women. 

Ravensbrook compound.  The camp is 60 miles north of Berlin.

We drove straight north out of Berlin about two hours on a beautiful day.  When I walked onto the compound I felt I was walking on hallowed, sacred ground. The barracks have all been removed, but the official buildings are still there, the infirmary, the clothes sewing hall, and the men & women officers’ houses.  I stood on the morning assembly ground and could see it all. 

As human beings we are capable of such horror and such beauty. 

Ravensbruck today.  The barracks have been removed, but the outlines are still present.  On the left are the work building and the infamous infirmary.  The picture is taken from the assembly area.

Jeremiah  33, 14-16, The days are coming.

 Psalm 25,    To you, Oh Lord, I lift up my soul

Pope Francis Letter “Laudato si”  (“Praise to you”)  –  “There is an inseparable bond between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.”

Luke  21,  25-28, 34-36,,  There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars.

Luke: Ch 21 –  “Up on your feet.  Help is on the way!”

Author: The gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles make up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts.  According to an early Church tradition, the author was the Luke named as a companion of Paul in three of Paul’s letters, but Scripture scholars say there is a problem with this. Though the author of Luke-Acts admired Paul, his theology was significantly different from Paul’s; there are countless contradictions between Acts and Paul’s letters. Bottom line: we don’t know who author of Luke-Acts is.

When written: The most probable date is around 80-100 AD, and there is evidence that it was still being revised well into the 2nd century.  The author takes as sources the Gospel of Mark, written around 70 AD, the sayings collection called the Q source, and a collection of material called the L source (L for Luke).

Audience: Luke was written to be read aloud to a group of Jesus’ followers gathered in a house to share the Lord's supper. The author assumes an educated Greek-speaking audience, but attends mainly to specifically Christian concerns rather than to the Greco-Roman world at large.

Today’s passage: A commonly held belief of the early Christian community was the return of Jesus; many thought this would happen within one generation. So it’s not surprising to read prophecies of that event attributed to Jesus in the Gospel writings.

Homily by John

  As a kid I attended school and church regularly.  I really liked the beginning of a new school year and the season of Advent at church.  Both of these were like a chance to start over again.  Another chance to start fresh and without judgment.  During my school years, we had summer fun times for 3 months and, remarkably, I was often ‘summered out’ and looking forward to a new school year with my classmates and most of my teachers.

We started over with new subjects, new books, new teachers – happy time for me.   At church we had finished that long ‘ordinary time’ without much happening, and had the scary sermons just before Advent about the ‘end of times’ and the ‘sheep and goats’ and judgment and punishment. 

Advent for the most part aimed us toward Christmas and the baby Jesus and the lights and happy thoughts and times.  I remember gathering a bunch of green fern moss to be the grass for the village I helped build around the manger scene.  Advent – happy time.

This week I’ve been thinking how happy it is for me to not actually ever hear hell and brimstone and judgment when we gather here; rather, acceptance and encouragement and challenge. 

I have so much to be thankful for.  I have a loving family who care for me in so many ways.  I have loving friends who show care and acceptance, including you guys.  I have a Pope with whom I feel a togetherness in thought and aspiration, and permission to express my thoughts, even my doubts, without judgment.  I have a Pope who encourages and challenges me to love and care for the world, for the environment, for my neighborhood, for my neighbors, for myself.  And I am grateful. 

My question is: What are you grateful for at this start of the new church year?  Or for the entire last year?