Announcements, no. 2

John Cade and John Stack start Mass

Music,   Ben & Shonda

Expenses: $   505.00

Outreach: $    80.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey …

I asked for health, that I might do great things.
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things …

I asked for riches, that I might be happy.
I was given poverty, that I might be wise …

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God …

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things …

I got nothing I asked for—but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am, among men, most richly blessed”

― Confederate soldier

 

Isaiah 22: I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim's shoulder; when he opens, no one  shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open.

Romans 11: Oh, the depth of the riches  and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!

Matthew 16:  And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, …

 

Mary reading from Isaiah

 

Thanks…     

Music,    Shonda & Ben 

Readers,  Mary & Brent

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

                                      

Brent reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans

 

 

 

Readings:  Download 08-27-23 Readings -21st Ordinary

Homily:  

 

 

Buddy reading the prayer for the lighting of the candles

 

 

 

Remember these special people:

For Jan Keszler's Family; For Sandra Pratt's family;  For Cindy Cramer's family;  For the family of Ron Senter;   For Meredith  whose cancer has come back;  For Tom Good;  For Tom  Quinn who had back surgery on November 21st; For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer ;  For Madeleine, Richard Eshelbrenner's granddaughter;  For Hue; For Jackie;  For John's sister, Kathey recovering from a fall;   For Tom Good;   For Mary Hall's friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition;   For Sir Charlie;  For Ron ;  For Teresa Quinn's niece, Maddie who has a brain tumor;

                                                                                                 

 

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughters, Lisa & Lauren;  For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation & the families of Annie and Michael ;    for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

John reading from the Gospel of Matthew
                                          

Birthdays:  Teresa Quinn 8/29

Anniversaries:  

                 

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $  255.00

Outreach: $  

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

       

 

 

Isaiah 6:  As the earth brings forth its plants, and a garden makes it's growth  spring up, so will the Lord God make justice and praise spring up before all the nations.

1 Thessalonians 5:  May the God of Peace make you perfectly holy and may you entirely,  spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ

John 1:  "I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord;"

 

 

Connie reading from the book of Isaiah

 

Thanks…     

Music,   Shonda & Ben 

Readers,  Connie & John

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

                                      

John reading from Paul's letter to the Thessalonians
 

 

Remember these special people:

For the family of Ron Senter;   For Meredith  whose cancer has come back;  For Tom Good;  For Tom  Quinn who had back surgery on November 21st; For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer ;  For Allen Stryker;   For Mike and Judy Carrell ; For Madeleine, Richard Eshelbrenner's granddaughter;  For Hue; For Jackie;  For John's sister, Kathey recovering from a fall;   For Tom Good;   For Mary Hall's friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition;   For Sir Charlie;  For Ron ;  For Teresa Quinn's niece, Maddie who has a brain tumor;

                                                                                                 

 

Jackie's sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughters, Lisa & Lauren;  For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation & the families of Annie and Michael ;    for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

John  reading from the Gospel of John

                                    

Birthdays: Allen Stryker 12/17, Ben Porter 12/18

     

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $  505.00

Outreach: $   180.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

                                 
Lynda  letting us know about the Anger Tree for the Plano Wellness Center for Older Adults

Readings: Isaiah 40, 1-11; Psalm 104, O Bless the Lord, My Soul; Titus 2, 11-14, 3, 4-7; Luke 3, 1-22.

 

Baptism & Original Sin: traditional & contemporary theology

 

Traditional theology on baptism & original sin:

 

a.  Original sin: the 1 sin of Eve & Adam, the eating of an apple, ruptured the relationship between God & Humans.

 

b.  Why we baptized: purification & removal of that original sin inherited by all babies.  A new born baby was a sinner & would go to Limbo forever if not baptized before dying. 

   

 

Contemporary theology on baptism & original sin:

  

a.  Original sin:

 

1.  no original sin

  

2.  Genesis story of the fall is allegory, not fact.  No Garden of Eden and no Adam & Eve.

  

3.  from Darwin's Origin of the Species the idea has developed that in our human infancy, we needed certain behaviors to survive.  For instance, killing another person & stealing (like food).  As our ancestors formed communities, norms of social behavior emerged, for example, the 10 commandments. 

  

4.  St. Augustine, ca. 400: 

 

–A major, if not the major influence on Christian/Catholic theology of original sin and human nature from his time to today 

–After conversion from a rather lusty life at 32, he had a pessimistic view of human nature, different from early Christianity

–St. John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), Pelagius, a British monk, & Julian of Eclanum, Italy, a bishop, all found nature good and fought against Augustine

–Augustine used all means to vanquish his opponents with their positive view that nature was good, even to sending a gift of horses to the pope to influence his decision.  Augustine won.

   

 

b.  Why we baptize today: (using the contemporary theology)

  

1.  To celebrate a new life

   

2.  To ritually & formally welcome the new person into a family, a community, and to a God famous for love and acceptance.

  

3.  To cleanse after the journey

 

Sources: Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent; John Shelby Spong; Wikipedia

 

 

We are Getting Better

 

I have one more Christmas story to celebrate this baptism today. 

 

There are three people in the story.  My good friend, her little daughter, and her niece, who is about 16 or 17.  The story took place at Collin Creek Mall one or two days just after Christmas.  Guess what they were doing.  Bringing things back. 

 

It happened that the niece had offered to take the daughter to the mall to have girl fun while her mother went to the mall to return various items.  After they had been there a while, the niece phoned to say that it was getting to be time for her to leave.  So could she return the daughter? 

 

They agreed that the easiest way to arrange the swap was for the niece to take the girl in her car, drive over to where my friend's car was, and then transfer the daughter & her car seat.  So they met in the parking lot, my friend's car in a parking place, the other car in the aisle behind the first car. 

 

Mother goes into the niece's car, unbuckles her daughter, and places the girl in her car.  Then she disconnects the car seat and reconnects it in her own car, securing her daughter in place.  Somewhere in this process she set her purse down.  Yep, you guessed it.

 

Who knows where she set it down.  Maybe by her niece's car, maybe by her own.  But apparently outside. 

 

She gets into her car and drives off.  Almost immediately she notices her purse is missing.  She calls her niece and asks her to look in her car.  No purse. 

 

So they both return to where the car was parked.  They drive around, ask people.  No sign of the purse.  The niece finally departs and mom  goes home.  She calls her mom, then she calls the mall security.  Nothing had been reported or brought in.  Security says to call the police.  The police do not know what to do.  Was it stolen?  Or was it forgotten? 

 

She thinks of her credit card, of getting a new license, she thinks of her phone.  So, using her mom's phone, she starts calling her phone hoping someone will answer   No one answers. 

 

 

Time passes.  A few hours later in the evening, her mom gets a phone call.  It is young boy, a high school aged kid.  He has the purse.  He says he and his dad found it in the parking lot and simply used the phone's incoming calls to call the number identified as "Mom."

 

The mom who got the purse back was Bobbi Jo Whitley, mother of Dillon, Hunter, and Audry.  Bobbi's mom is Jo Whitley, who read this morning.  The purse came back.  Nothing missing.

 

Are there not lots of good stories like this?  Are we not evolving into a better people?  Scott Burns said so in his column in the Dallas Morning News a couple of weeks ago.  A great Jesuit geologist and paleontologist, Teilhard de Chardin, thought so, saying that the human race is slowly becoming more mature, more sensitive, more peaceful.  I think so, too.  For lots of reasons.

 

What do you think?

 

Picture 1:  Mass begins with Kevin helping

 

Picture 2:  Daniel (Mr. A&M) & Beth

 

Picture 3:  Bob & Jerry with 2 new knees

 

Picture 4:  Georgie

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing Video:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all who put together our Sunday Celebration: 

Music, Shonda & Ben

Readers, Mary Jane & John & Deacon Mike with the Gospel

Eucharistic Prayer & homily, John Cade

Blessing of the Week, Rosemary

The Magic Zoom Makers, Mike and Becky and Ben

 

 

 

 

Reading 1 with John Schanot

A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles

         At that time Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: “Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight.  Jesus of Nazareth, a man thoroughly accredited by God—the wonders that God did through him are common knowledge—this Jesus, following the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men who took the law into their own hands, and was handed over to you.  You pinned him to a cross and killed him.  God untied the death ropes and raised him up.  Death was no match for him.  David said it all: 

         I saw God before me for all time.

                    Nothing can shake me; he’s right by my side.

          I’m glad from the inside out, ecstatic;

                    I’ve pitched my tent in the land of hope.

          I know there will be no trip to Hades;

                    and no stench of death.

          You’ve got my feet on the life-path,

                    with your face shining sun-joy all around.

Let me be completely frank with you.  Our ancestor David is dead and buried—his tomb is in plain sight today.  But being also a prophet and knowing that God had sworn that a descendent of his would rule his kingdom, and seeing far ahead, David talked of the resurrection of the Messiah—‘no trip to Hades, no stench of death.’  This Jesus, God raised up.  And every one of us here is a witness to it.  Then, raised to the heights at the right hand of God and receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out the Spirit he had just received.  That is what, today, you see and hear. 

Our word for today.

 

 

Remember?

 

Reading 2 with Mary Jane

A Reading from the First Letter of Peter

        My sisters and brothers:  You call out to God for help and he helps—he’s a good Father that way.  But don’t forget, he’s also a responsible Father, and won’t let you get by with sloppy living.

        Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God.  It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in.  He paid with the blood of Christ, you know.   He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb.  And this was no afterthought.  Even though it has only lately become public knowledge—at the end of ages—God always knew he was going to do this for you.  It’s because of this Messiah, whom God raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust in God, that you know you have a future in God.

Our word for today.

 

 

 

A Reading from the Gospel of John with Deacon Mike

          On that same first day of the week, two of them were walking to the village of Emmaus, about seven miles out of Jerusalem.  They were deep in conversation, going over all these things that had happened.  In the middle of their talk and questions, Jesus came up and walked along with them.  But they were not able to recognize who he was.  He asked, “What’s this you’re discussing so intently as you walk along?”  They stood there, long-faced, like they had lost their best friend.  Then one of them, Cleopas, said, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard what’s happened during the last few days?”  Jesus said, “What has happened?”

         They said, “The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth.  He was a man of God, a prophet, dynamic in work and word, blessed by God and the people.  Then our high priests and leaders betrayed him, got him sentenced to death, and crucified him.  We had our hopes up that he was the One about to deliver Israel.  And it’s now the third day since it happened.  Now some of our women have completely confused us.  Early this morning they were at the tomb and couldn’t find his body.  They came back with the story that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.  Some of our friends went off to check, and found the tomb empty, just as the women said, but they didn’t see Jesus.”

         Then Jesus said to them, “So thick-headed!  Why can’t you simply believe what the prophets said?  Don’t you see that the Messiah had to suffer and only then enter into his glory?”  Then he started at the beginning with the Books of Moses, and went through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him.

         They came to the edge of the village, and Jesus acted as if he were going on.  But they said:  “Stay and have supper with us.  It’s nearly evening; the day is done.”  So he went with them, and here is what happened.  He sat down at the table with them.  Taking the bread, he blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  At that moment, wide-eyed, they recognized him.  And then he disappeared.  They said to each other, “Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?”                      

The Good News of John

Rosemary's Blessing:

                                                                               

Let us walk softly on the earth

With all living beings, great and small,

Remembering as we go,

That one God, kind and wise, created all.

 

Author Unknown

 

Your Finances: April 26, 2020

Sorry for the delay in reporting.  Once the community got messed up, everything got confusing.  Nothing was coming in.  This is our best week of income in a couple of weeks.

 

JSM expenses:  $775.00

Outreach (often Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.) $300.00

Thanks, everybody, for your generosity.

 

 

 

Remembering…..

 

 

Good Morning, My Dearest Izzy, and welcome to our community.  We gather here this morning to baptize you into the the Catholic Community.  Thanks for coming. 

 

 

Readings:

Amos 6, 1, 4-7, Woe to the complacent

Psalm 146,  Praise the Lord, my soul.

1 Timothy 6, 11-16,    Pursue righteousness, love, and gentleness

Luke 16, 19-31,   The Rich Man & Lazarus.

 

Today's Homily will  be the baptism ceremony of Isaura Barbara Fleming,(Izzy), Daughter of Megan & TC Fleming.

 

 

 

This Baptism says that you belong to a community which loves you and believes in a God who loves you now and will love you forever.