Readings:

Isaiah  55, 10-11,   My word shall not return to me void.

Psalm 65,   The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.

Romans 8, 18-23,  We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains.

Matthew  13, 1-23,  A sower went out to sow.

Kevin says, "Welcome, Everybody, It is good to be back home.

Isaiah, The Great One, observations—

Who:  One of the Big 3 prophets, the greatest in my estimation.  Jeremiah and Ezekiel are the other two.  Actually, the book includes the work of 3 prophets.   Our selection is the last chapter written by Isaiah 2.

Time:  Isaiah 2 was living during the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 555.  Isaiah 1 writes before the Captivity, maybe 150 years.  Isaiah 3 writes after the return to Jerusalem.

Georgie also says, "Hi, Everybody, It is fun to be home again."

Subject today: better times will come.  I am expanding today’s passage, because it is so good.

Isaiah 2 has some of the most beautiful passages, many of which are seen as foretelling the coming of the Savior.  His readings are used all through the Advent & Christmas readings, as well as in Lent.  Handel uses Isaiah 2 in his marvelous work, The Messiah.

Both the Isaiah reading and Psalm 65 are beautiful.  

And Zoe, Tori, and Buddy all say, "Hi, Folks, it is so fun to be back again."

And My Seed Landed Where?

This morning I would like to talk about how Jesus is said to describe how the farmer’s seed is scattered on four different types of ground, the path, the rocks, the thorns, and the fertile.  Where did your seed fall?  Where did my seed fall?  I’m sure a lot of volunteers would be happy to let me know where my seed fell.

If you are a sinful gambler poker player you would look at this explanation and notice the bad odds, one out of four.  I would propose, however, that we all landed on fertile soil.  Let me offer some examples. 

I’ve shared this example once before, so you might remember it, but probably not. 

Cupcake of The Week to John on his birthday.

When I was a little kid about 5 years old, I was playing in the driveway of our house in University Park.  There were no fences and the drive went from the street, through the space between our house and the neighbor’s, and to the back up against the alley. 

The neighbor was Sam Berger, who owned a hat store in downtown Dallas.  He was Jewish and lived next to us all during the Holocaust.  I was oblivious to it all.  He & his wife had a big black lady who not only worked in the house, but lived in the back in an apartment attached to the garage, the servant quarters.  This black lady was not nice to me.

And a Cupcake of The Week to Beth on her birthday.

So this day as I am playing in the driveway, the lady steps out of the kitchen door & stands on the steps.  Without thinking, I say, “You are a big fat elephant.”

To the lady’s credit, she marches right across the drive and tells my mom.  My mom comes out of the house, drags me in, and spanks me.  Thinking back, I am impressed that my mom respected the lady.  The spanking, however, and her treatment of me confirmed my suspicions that my seed had fallen at least on the path or rocks, if not right on the thorns.   I definitely grew up with the belief that I was a bad kid. 

And a Cupcake of The Week to Harper for her 3rd birthday about 3 weeks late.

Despite the fact that you folks might agree with that assessment, I would propose that I was just a normal little boy doing silly things. 

This habit of doing silly, not bad things, can continue into adult years.  I know a guy who gets on his bike and rides off for an hour leaving the driver’s door of his car wide upon. 

I know a lady who last week let her Lincoln run out of gas in rush hour traffic.  Her husband, a bit nettled, brought gas, but then could not start the car.  It had to be towed.

Zoe seriously at work.

I know a dear friend who drove into her garage with a canoe strapped to the top of her car. 

You do this stuff and you begin to believe the bad news, ‘I am a loser, I am bad, my seed obviously landed in the ditch.” 

And then there are the malicious acts.  You know where I come in on this.  Kids hurt and abused grow up to hurt and abuse.  They are not bad.  They are damaged. 

So, who landed on fertile soil?  All of us.  God don’t make bad seed.

So, what do you think about all this?

Emma and her pal say, "It is so nice to be here."

Readings:

Isaiah 55, 10-12,   Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down…

 Psalm 65,   The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.

Romans 8,  18-23,  The sufferings of this present time are as nothing…

Matthew 13, 1-23,  The parable of the sower.

Emma and her mom, Beth, say, "Welcome in, Everybody."

Isaiah, The Great One, observations—

Who:  One of the Big 3 prophets, the greatest in my estimation.  Jeremiah and Ezekiel are the other two.  Actually, the book includes the work of 3 prophets.   Our selection is the last chapter written by Isaiah 2.

Time:  Isaiah 2 was living during the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 555.  Isaiah 1 writes before the Captivity, maybe 150 years.  Isaiah 3 writes after the return to Jerusalem. 

Subject today: better times will come.  I am expanding today’s passage by a third line, because it is so good.

Isaiah 2 has some of the most beautiful passages, many of which are seen as foretelling the coming of the Savior.  His readings are used all through the Advent & Christmas readings, as well as in Lent.  Handel uses Isaiah 2 in his marvelous work, The Messiah.

Both the Isaiah reading and Psalm 65 are beautiful.

David and Donna, our hearts and our complete condolences go out to you on the loss of your 1 year old little Yorkie, Dixie Belle.  On a sunny morning this past week in the Canyon Creek neighborhood, David was taking his coffee on the patio of their fenced in back yard and Dixie was playing, when a bobcat climbed over the fence,  grabbed Dixie by the neck, and climbed back over the fence with her.   David, yelling, climbed over the fence in pursuit.  With the help of a neighbor Dixie was rescued.  But it was too late.  She died later that day.  A year ago February the same thing happened to another of their little Yorkies.  So sorry!

And My Seed Landed Where?

This morning I would like to talk about how Jesus is said to describe how the farmer’s seed is scattered on four different types of ground, the path, the rocks, the thorns, and the fertile.  Where did your seed fall?  Where did my seed fall?  I’m sure a lot of volunteers would be happy to let me know where my seed fell.

If you are a sinful gambler poker player you would look at this explanation and notice the bad odds, one out of four.  I would propose, however, that we all landed on fertile soil.  Let me offer some examples.

Hi, Tori.

I’ve shared this example once before, so you might remember it, but probably not.  

When I was a little kid about 5 years old, I was playing in the driveway of our house in University Park.  There were no fences and the drive went from the street, through the space between our house and the neighbor’s, and to the back up against the alley. 

The neighbor was Sam Berger, who owned a hat store in downtown Dallas.  He was Jewish and lived next to us all during the Holocaust.  I was oblivious to it all.  He & his wife had a big black lady who not only worked in the house, but lived in the back in an apartment attached to the garage, the servant quarters.  This black lady was not nice to me. 

Our Candle Lighter of The Week at work.

So this day as I am playing in the driveway, the lady steps out of the kitchen door & stands on the steps.  Without thinking, I say, “You are a big fat elephant.”

To the lady’s credit, she marches right across the drive and tells my mom.  My mom comes out of the house, drags me in, and spanks me.  Thinking back, I am impressed that my mom respected the lady.  The spanking, however, and her treatment of me confirmed my suspicions that my seed had fallen at least on the path or rocks, if not right on the thorns.   I definitely grew up with the belief that I was a bad kid. 

Best buddies, Mary, Judy, and Mike.

Despite the fact that you folks might agree with that assessment, I would propose that I was just a normal little boy doing silly things. 

This habit of doing silly, not bad things, can continue into adult years.  I know a guy who gets on his bike and rides off for an hour leaving the driver’s door of his car wide upon. 

The Best, Shonda and Ben

I know a lady who last week let her Lincoln run out of gas in rush hour traffic.  Her husband, a bit nettled, brought gas, but then could not start the car.  It had to be towed.

I know a dear friend who drove into her garage with a canoe strapped to the top of her car. 

Wake up, Buddy, we are almost through. 
 

You do this stuff and you begin to believe the bad news, ‘I am a loser, I am bad, my seed obviously landed in the ditch.” 

And then there are the malicious acts.  You know where I come in on this.  Kids hurt and abused grow up to hurt and abuse.  They are not bad.  They are damaged. 

So, who landed on fertile soil?  All of us.  God don’t make bad seed.

So, what do you think about all this?

Beware Angela!  Cathy may be treating you all nice, but she's probably trying to sell you that mint condition Edsel that her husband brought home.  I bet she told you Bill, your son in law would love it.

Readings: Isaiah 35, 1-10; Psalm 146, Lord, Come and Save Us; James 5, 7-10; Matthew 11, 2-11. 

Intro to Readings

 Remember what I had said on the First Sunday of Advent, it is a time when the Church turns towards not just the coming of Jesus at Christmas but gives greater focus on the Second coming of Jesus at the end time.  We can see this very clearly in our readings today.  It is a common theme; “when is the world going to end?”  “what will be the signs?”  For the Jews there was an expectation that it was when all wrongs would be made right.  

The second reading is interesting.  It is a letter from James.  There has been much speculation on who this James is.  The apostle James or the James mentioned as the ‘brother of the Lord’.  We just don’t know and there are different supporters for each position.  The letter is more like a sermon than a typical letter from the time.  The main purpose of the letter seems to be to warn the hearers of the danger of having just an abstract faith.  Faith must be implemented in every action of our lives.  It can become too easy to make it theory and nothing more.

 The responsorial psalm is worth thinking about carefully.  It too picks up the same theme of the results of God’s activity in human lives!

Homily

 This past week the Church celebrated two big feasts, on Wednesday it was the Immaculate Conception and then today Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Certainly a big week for Mary.  The Immaculate Conception is a statement about Mary’s birth, namely that she was conceived to be free from sin.  I am not too sure what to make of that statement, but it is the Church’s way of honoring her as the mother of Jesus.  As we get closer to Christmas I would like to spend a few minutes reflecting with you on what Christmas might mean for us today.

 I remember many years ago reading a book on Quantum Mechanics and it was examining the question whether light traveled as a wave or a particle!!  A great book!  The feast of the Incarnation, namely God becoming human, is one of those events beyond our ability to understand.  I am sorry to have to keep saying it but God is way outside our ability to comprehend. 

The Jews were smart when they basically adopted the use of the name Yahweh without the vowels, in other words a name you could not say.  It sounds like something JK Rowling dreamed up for the Harry Potter world!  And yet our faith has gone to the trouble of coming out with proclamations about God in great detail.  One of the great blessings of both Luke and Matthew’s infancy stories about the birth of Jesus is that they are very easy to understand, which is what makes Christmas a wonderful event!  We can all relate to a baby’s birth, in fact we have all gone thru one!!

 The insight I have had this past few weeks was that since God is outside of time, then that event, God becoming human, even though it was an event in our experience that happened over two thousand years ago, since God is outside of time, it is an event which is always happening for God!  Look around you.  God is present in each one of us.  We have been given clues by Jesus of this:  remember “where two or three are gathered” or “as often as you did it for one of these”. 

 In Jesus’s response to John’s disciples he tells them to go back to John and tell him what they see, and there is almost a direct quote from our first reading from Isaiah about the blind seeing etc.  Remember last Sunday John sharing about his Jesuit friend Fr. Larry Gillick.  His blindness was taken away by his Jesuit colleagues who read to him and helped  him so that he could pass the exams!  Maybe that is how the blind see!!

 This Christmas, as we go about our busy days, trying to get too much done in too little time, pause!  Not only are the people you meet bringing God into your life, but you are also bringing God into theirs.  It may be that you will have an opportunity to help the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear and the poor have the good news preached to them.

Picture 1:    Mass begins

Picture 2:   Eleanor with her grand dad

Picture 3:   Dillon lighting the candles

Picture 4:   Our Father

Picture 5:   Ben & Amanda

Readings:  Proverbs 31, 10-31, When one finds a worthy wife…; Psalm 128, Blessed are those who fear the Lord; 1 Thessalonians 5, 1-6, You are not in darkness; Matthew 25, 14-30, The parable of the talents.

Proverbs:

Author: Not Solomon, the wise king, but, as usual, a compilation of sources.

Date of Composition: ca. 300 B.C.  It is recognized from the text that it is post exile, that is, after the Babylonian Exile, around 600 to 550 before Christ. 

Content: a collection of moral & religious teachings which  mostly deal with practical matters.   We have some of this folk wisdom, like the saying, 'early to bed, early to rise makes a person healthy, wealthy, and wise.   Let me give you six examples:

    1.  (Chapter 1, verse 7),  'Pay attention to what your father & mother tell you, my son.'

    2.  (13, 24),  'If you don't punish your son, you don't love him.'

    3.  (22, 15),  'Children naturally do silly things, but a good beating will teach them.'

    4.  (17, 22),  'Being cheerful keeps you healthy.'

    5.  (18, 6),  'When some fool starts an argument, he is asking for a beating.'

    6.  (25, 24), guys' favorite,  'Better to live on the roof than share the house with a nagging wife.'

Today's Selection: This chapter 31 is the last and most beautiful chapter.  A tribute to wives.  The editors of the lectionary have broken the piece up, but I have printed off the whole section.  Very nice. 

Notice anything especially obvious about the proverbs, even from the few I chose?  What do you think?  Written by men for men?

1Thessalonians

We have read this work for a bunch of Sundays.  You might remember one thing about it.  It is the first written document in the New Testament.

Sources: The New Interpreter's Study Bible, The Good News Bible.

The Parable of the Talents

I have to talk about something this morning.  I would call it a Thanksgiving event, an event that makes a difference.  Was yesterday not beautiful?  Even more beautiful was what about 20 members of our little community did at the house of Rita Dore. 

I am sorry the rest of you did not make it, but you can be proud of your community members, as I am. 

 We started about 8:00.  We had to scrape & paint three large walls and touch up the front wall, which Frank Reyes, a buddy of his, and I had painted in the summer.  There must have been twelve people scraping for two hours.  This is the painful part of a painting project.  By 10:30 we were rolling and painting vertical cracks.  By 12:30 we were 99% finished, and Jenny, Melissa, and Diane brought the pizza.  

Beth took off the handle & lock of the front door and painted it gloss white.  Jim McCabe & Ryan rigged up a block & tackle arrangement from a tree to each of the dead holly bushes and pulled them out one by one.  We even were able to buy and plant 8 Texas Sage bushes along the front of the house where the holly had been.  More drought tolerant.

Folks, later after everyone had left & I had finished cleaning up, Rita said she was overwhelmed with joy. 

I talk about this event because we are less than two weeks from Thanksgiving and because the event leads into the Parable of the Talents.  This is a crazy parable and commentaries by academics are not too helpful. One Jesuit at St. Louis U. mentioned, “Okay, what is the moral?”  I would like to touch upon 3 morals to the parable. 

The first moral.  Fr. John Foley, S.J. says the moral of the parable is obvious, ‘Make the most of what you got.  On the positive side, the moral can be a positive influence in my life.  On the negative side, it might influence me to take too many risks, like with drugs, like with motorcycles, like with money.  The first two servants are lucky they did not invest their talents with Bernie Madoff. 

The second moral.  You fear, you lose.  Observation: it is okay to be afraid.  It is a normal feeling.  It may lead to prudence, which is what the third servant may be praised for.  Or it may lead to paralysis if I let it run loose.  

The third moral.  Watch out for that mean God.  The property owner is obviously a symbol for God or Christ.  What about Matthew?  Could he have been criticizing the religious authorities, who were afraid of anything new, in this case, Jesus & his message? 

Ultimately, I would propose that the symbol for God is over drawn.  It goes contrary to where we are today with our image of God, namely, my favorite line,”He is gracious and merciful; he never gets angry and is abounding in love.” 

Renovating Rita’s house was a Thanksgiving event where a lot of talents were put to good use.  How are you sensitizing yourself and preparing for Thanksgiving? 

Sources: Fr. John Foley, S.J., St. Louis U. Liturgies.

Picture 1:    Mass Begins

Picture 2:    Chloe

Picture 3:    Cole

Picture 4:    Ryan helping scrape Rita's house with his dad, Jim

Picture 5:    Rob & Mike on Rita's house

Picture 6:    Bill Hammond replacing the dead hollies with Texas Sage, which are more drought resistant   

Readings:

1 Kings 17, 10-16,  Please bring me a small cup of water to drink.

Psalm 146,    Praise the Lord, my soul.

Hebrews  9, 24-28, Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands.

Mark 12, 38-44,  The poor widow with the 2 small coins, The Widow's Mite.

            Genevieve & Mary say, "Good Morning, Everybody,                     Welcome in."                     

Kings:

     Author & date of composition: the work is a compilation of numerous sources put together near the end of the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 555.

    Subject Matter: 1 Kings is part of a 4 book work that includes 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings.  The 3 kings are Saul, David, and his son, Solomon.

 The work begins with Samuel, the last great judge, continues through the lives of the 3 kings, and finally shows how Solomon’s sons’ squabbles led to the division of the Jewish nation into two states, north & south, Israel & Judah.  Both states were defeated and the people of both were taken into captivity as slaves. 

The people of Israel never returned from Syria.  The people of Judah taken into the Babylonian Captivity maintained their tribal identify and came back to Jerusalem, which had been wrecked.   The Babylonian Captivity ended on a high note when Cyrus of Persia defeats Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, and allows the Jews to return to Jerusalem.

                    Cole, a Master Candle Lighter, at work.   

    The Theme: you be good, good things happen to you; you be bad, bad things happen to you.

    Our selection: 2 great prophets lived when the kingdom divided, Elijah & Elisha.  They criticized the bad ways of the sons of King Solomon.  In this selection, Elijah tells the king he is going to send a drought to the king's land.  Then Elijah goes away & meets a poor, starving widow with a son.  Watch what happens.  This is setting us up for the Widow's Mite story in the gospel.

               Another team of Master Helpers, Kevin & Georgina 

Today’s Widow’s Mite

This morning I would like to talk about the two ladies in our readings, the lady with her son getting ready to eat their last meal before dying and the famous Widow’s Mite.  Let's make it contemporary.

A story to exemplify. 

Ever hear about Nathan Bradley?

Narthan Bradley is a policeman.  In fact, he is a GA State Trooper.  He is young, 25 years old, and has been working as a trooper for a year and a half. 

           Is that an angel that I see?  Why, Yes, it is Victoria.

This past Halloween Saturday afternoon Nathan was on duty when he was called to cover a traffic accident.  He discovers when he arrives that a young couple have been killed.  Somehow he checks out where they live, which was not far away.  He decides to go to their house to report the deaths to whomever lives there.

He goes to the house and rings the bell.  The inside door is opened cautiously and Nathan discovers 4 children aged 13 to 6, all dressed in their Halloween costumes.  The kids tell him their parents have gone to buy some face paint at the corner.

             Is that another angel that I see?  Yep, it is Zoe

On the spot Nathan makes 2 decisions.  He cannot tell them about their parents’ deaths.  In fact, he decides he has got to make this Halloween special for them . 

So he bundles them into his squad car and takes them first to McDonald’s, hamburgers, milk shakes, the whole deal.  Then he takes them on a tour of the state trooper complex.  They play trick or treat.  Finally they have a sleep-over at the station. 

    Remember that nice little kid we talked about last Sunday…..

During this time a call has been made to a grandmother in Jacksonville.  She is driving up to take care of the kids. 

With the kids bedded down, Nathan is not finished.  To help pay for expenses, like the funerals, Nathan goes on line and sets up a fund on Go Fund Me, hoping to collect $7,000.   As of yesterday, Saturday, one week from Halloween and the accident, the fund had reached $400,000. 

Are there not sensitive and generous people everywhere around us? 

                Here he is, like a few years ago, Noah before.

3 quick observations on The Widow’s Mite.

Three observations.

First, this is a marvelous call to help and to contribute, not just money, but so much else, my time, my positive strokes of others, my efforts to help kids recover from deaths, like Nathan Bradley. 

                 
                  Cupcake of The Week to Mike & Dee.

Secondly, watch out.  A trap here.  See Mark’s use of infinite demand?  Am I supposed to likewise contribute all I have, my whole livelihood?  Not quite, which leads to my next point.

Thirdly, want to know why I did not want to take up a formal collection at our liturgies?  Because the churches I was part of as a young boy always pushed money.  These little stories guilted me.   I bet a lot of parishioners are hearing this morning how they should be donating to their parish.  Tithing is the norm, 10%.  It is a really literal approach to the story.

How are you helping others?

Source: I found this story on line, Outlook Express, Friday, 11/6/15.

Cupcake of The Week to Rosemary on her birthday, the 14th

Readings:  Isaiah 56, 1-7; Psalm 67; Romans 11, 13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15, 21-28.

Romans: For months we have been using as our second reading Paul's letter to the Romans.  I have not mentioned it or even included in the homilies for two reasons:

1. It is not related to the other two readings. The Gospel & the first reading attempt to follow a theme. The second reading continues the same book week after week and if it relates it is accidental.
2. It is dense. 7 letters are considered written by Paul who wrote this one probably around 55 A.D., while he was in Corinth, Greece, and in anticipation of a visit to Rome. It is the most complete statement of his understanding of the Christian faith. Some scholars consider it his masterpiece, but it is often difficult to understand.

The Assumption

This past Friday the Catholic Church celebrated one of its big feast days, the Assumption of Mary into heaven.  The meaning: Mary, after she finished her time on earth, was taken bodily into heaven.  Let me talk about this feast.  4 observations.

1.  The history of the belief.  The idea that Mary was taken up bodily into heaven got going by at least the 5th century.  People thought that she was rewarded for her role in redemption by this action on God's part. 

2.  The history of the declaration.  In November, 1950, Pius XII declared this event to be a dogma of the Catholic Church, that is, you have to believe it if you are a Catholic.   It was the first and only doctrine declared under papal infallibility, a doctrine proclaimed by Pius IX in 1870.

The story behind both of these dates is quite interesting.  1870 is the date of Italian unification.  Up to this time there was no united peninsula, no Italy like today.  There were at least three big parts: north, south, and right in the middle the Papal States. 

The people wanted those states to be part of the whole.  Pius IX was adamantly against ceding an inch of his property.  When the people won the property deal , Pius withdrew into the Vatican, declared himself a prisoner of the Vatican, appealed to France who did not help him, and finally declared that what he said as pope on faith & morals was infallible, despite the advice of the majority of his consul tors.

In 1950 the Second World War was finished and the world was stunned into shock by the revelation of the Holocaust.  Pius XII himself was downcast by the Holocaust.  Moreover, he was getting some heat because he did not stand up more strenuously to Hitler.  He had been Vatican ambassador to Germany during the build up of the Third Reich, so he knew the atmosphere well.  On top of that, there was evidence that at least one senior vatican official was complicit in sending Jews to the death camps. 

Pius XII might have experienced some shame.  In the face of the brutality of the Holocaust, Pius decided to make a dramatic statement to show the sacredness of the human person, body included, by declaring the assumption of Mary's body into heaven a dogma. 

3.  The basis in Scripture for the doctrine.  There is none.  What is taking place here, is that Pius is articulating what has been considered a belief for centuries.  It has been believed for, say, 10-15 centuries.  Therefore, it took place.  There is a weakness here, of course.  What can be asserted a fact without evidence, can be discarded without evidence. 

4.  The Assumption in my life.  50 years ago Friday I walked into the Jesuit novitiate in Grand Coteau, LA.  30 of us entered more or less together.  Two of my classmates celebrated Friday in New Orleans or Mobile when the Jesuit Province gathered to celebrate anniversaries. 

On that day 50 years ago my life took a 180 degree turn from being a typical  bratty teen ager to a monk.  From days spent with friends, girls, music, cars, and radios, I entered a world of silence, meditation, physical work, and study.  Feast days were eagerly anticipated and the Assumption was one of the big ones.  I took vows twice on August 15 and the date is still big with Jesuits.  It comes at a convenient time at the end of the summer and before the school year. 

I still celebrate August 15, and in 2004 I did it in a special way.  You may have heard.  This is the story.  It was earlier that week that I returned from the annual Yosemite trip and was told unexpectedly that I had been suspended by the bishop because of an anonymous letter saying Stack wanted to get married.  Why then?  Who knows?  I had been saying this for years, ever since returning from East Africa.

August 15 that year was a Sunday.  Where was I always on Sunday mornings?  St. Marks.  10:30 that morning, when I would have been starting the cafetorium Mass, Rosemary & I were watering trees at Fretz Park, Belt Line & Hillcrest.  I had gotten out of the truck to repair a tree, got up, and went into a disassociation state that lasted until about 5:00 that evening.  I woke up looking out the bay window of the living room on Tulip Lane.  Rosemary & Libby had taken me to the emergency room, thinking I had a stroke.  I had been released when they found nothing.  It was stress induced.  I have run into this defense mechanism in people over the years as a priest & psychotherapist.  I never thought that I might try it, but you never know totally what your inner spirit is feeling.

The stress, of course, was over getting suspended, being turned away by St. Marks, and facing another 180 degree turn around in my life. 

Guess what: it was all worth it and I could not be happier.  Actually, both 180 degree turns in my life were special blessings. 

The Assumption was the feast Friday.  What do you think about it?  What do you believe?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-08-17.mp3