Happy Saturday Evening. I am disappointed to tell you that we have not been able to put together a live stream for tomorrow's Mass.
Becky has worked tirelessly on this project and Mike Moran has also put in many hours on the project. As of now we are hoping to get a You Tube presentation together of the Mass tomorrow at 9:30 at Legacy. If we succeed we will put it out on the Blog tomorrow and you should be able to click on the link and see a presentation of the Mass. We hope to put the link in around noon. You will not get an email about the Blog until Monday BUT if you go to www.johnstackministries.com about 1:00 it should be out there
In the meantime you have the readings and John Cade's excellent homily so that you can reflect as a family on what you read.
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 MorningNews 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.
Acts of the Apostles 6: The word of God continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly, …
1 Peter 2: You are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises" of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
John 14: " … Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father."
Celeste gets a cookie for visiting us from Thailand
Remember these special people:
For Cindy Cramer's family; For the family of Ron Senter; For Meredith whose cancer has come back; For Jan; For Tom Quinn who had back surgery on November 21st; For Sandra who has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma; 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 a young man, 19 struggling with a brain tumor and cancer; For Mary Hall's friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition; For Sir Charlie & Jan;
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 & friends, Annie, a mom of 3 kids and Michael ; for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.
The Kiss of Peace
Birthdays: Patricia Jansky, Barbara Senter
Anniversaries:
Community Finances:
Expenses: $ 1,005.00
Outreach: $ 460.00
Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.
Rosemary's Blessing:
…and life is still a constant surprise to me. We never know what will happen next, what we will see, and what important person will come into our life, or what important person we will lose. Life is change, constant change, and unless we are lucky enough to find comedy in it, change is nearly always drama, if not tragedy. But after everything, and even when the skies turn scarlet and threatening, I still believe that if we are lucky enough to be alive, we must give thanks for the miracle of every moment of every day, no matter how flawed. And we must have faith in God, and in the Universe, and in a better tomorrow even if that faith is not always deserved.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan
JSM Mission-Faith Statement
Help create a Catholic Community that welcomes all God’s People, provides for & challenges spiritual & total growth.
Reaches out to help people who are disadvantaged & make the world we live in a better place to live.
Exodus 22: Thus says the LORD: "You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
1 Thessalonians 1: And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
Matthew 22: He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Notre Dame Basilica, Montreal
Another Reminder for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 29, 2023
Here are the links for Sunday:
For Zoom ( the video conference, same as last week )
Genesis 22: . . . I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; . . .
Romans 8: . . . if God is for us, who can be against us?
Mark 1: Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, . . .
John reading from the Gospel of Mark
Thanks…
Music, Shonda & Ben
Readers, Pat & Fred
Homily, John Stack
Eucharistic Prayer A & B, John Stack & John Cade
The Magic Zoom makers, Hue & Kevin
Final Blessing, Lynda
Shonda and Ben, our musicians
Remember these special people:
For John Stack; For Shonda's Grandmother; 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 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.
Michelle gets a cookie for her birthday
Birthdays: Michelle Brown
Anniversaries:
Donna sharing with the community about the gift bags for the men at Soul's Harbor
Community Finances:
Expenses: $ 430.00
Outreach: $
Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.
Lynda reading the Blessing
Rosemary's Blessing:
Author Unknown
John Stack Ministries meets on Sunday for Mass at 9:30 at The ArtCentre of Plano, 902 E. 16th St, Plano, Texas.
JSM Mission-Faith Statement
Help create a Catholic Community that welcomes all God’s People, provides for & challenges spiritual & total growth.
Reaches out to help people who are disadvantaged & make the world we live in a better place to live.
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 Team
Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn; For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free & John Schanot; For John O'Donnell & Jean; For Jean & Cliff Wright; For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa; 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 baby girl named Ford undergoing an operation; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; For Beth's friends; for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.
John presenting another excellent homily.
Birthdays:
Anniversaries: John & Alyson DeGenova, 26th
Community Finances, April 18, 2021
Expenses:$775.00
Outreach: $300.00
Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.
Rosemary & Her Blessing:
May the graces of Easter help us to close the distance between God’s vision for a world of love, unity, reconciliation, justice and peace and the way we live our daily lives. Let us rejoice that by the grace of God, in so many ways, we make a difference to God, not perfectly, but with love and fidelity. Indeed, this is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
May your lives continue to partner with God and bless the world.
Taken from Our Easter Faith – Making a Difference to Our God by Sister Jean Amore CSJ, Ed.D., Principal, Sacred Heart Academy, Hempstead, NY
John & Connie
JSM Mission-Faith Statement
Help create a Catholic Community that welcomes all God’s People, provides for & challenges spiritual & total growth.
Reaches out to help people who are disadvantaged & make the world we live in a better place to live.
John Stack Ministries, 7017 Helsem Way, Dallas, Texas 75230