Link Announcement for Trinity Sunday, June 7, 2020

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

Rosemary missed our celebration this morning because Aviana had gotten sick overnight and Rosemary took her to our vet.  Both are okay now.

 

Thanks to the Team

Music, Shonda & Ben

Readers, Hue & Brent, Deacon Mike, & Buddy, the candle blessing

Eucharistic Prayer, John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike & Ben & Becky

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

 

Community Finances, May 17, 2020

Expenses: $350.00

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

Thanks, Everybody.  Your generosity is humbling.

I am both humbled and proud to announce that we put together two of our monthly contributions to Souls Harbor, i.e., $2000 & $1500, and donated them on the Giving Tuesday recently.  Yes, the amount was matched.  Thanks again, Everybody.

 

A Special Gift:

The Ask Dr. B. Good radio show can be located on 1160 am at 8 am Sundays. Why should you listen? Everyone needs to understand what is happening in public education, especially right now during COVID. Public education must become something different than what it’s been for the last 100 years. Stay up and stay tuned to what’s happening in public education! 

 

 

 

Readings:

Acts of the Apostles, 8, 5-8, 14-17,  They laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 66, Let all earth cry out to God with joy.  (Beautiful Psalm)

1 Peter  3, 15-18, Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.

John 14, 15-21, I will  not leave you orphans. 

 

 

 

Reading 1

A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles

         Going down to Samaritan city, Philip proclaimed the Message of the Messiah.  When the people heard what he had to say and saw the miracles, the clear signs of God’s action, they hung on his every word.  Many who could neither stand nor walk were healed that day.  The evil spirits protested loudly as they were sent on their way.  And what joy in the city!

        When the apostles in Jerusalem received the report that Samaria had accepted God’s Message, they sent Peter and John down to pray for them to receive the Holy Spirit.  Up to this point they had been baptized in the name of the Master Jesus; the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen on them.  Then the apostles laid their hands on them, and they did receive the Holy Spirit.

Our word for today.

 

 

The cheese factory.

 

 

Reading 2

A Reading from the First Letter of Peter     

Sisters and brothers: Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention before Christ, your Master.  Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks, why you’re living the way you are, and always do it with the utmost courtesy.  Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick.  They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, than to be punished for doing bad.  That’s what Christ did: he went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.

Our word for today

 

 

 

The Lord be with you.       A Reading from the Gospel of John     

Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you.  I will talk to the Father, and he will provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you.  This Friend is the Spirit of Truth.  The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t even know what to look for.  But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will be in you!  I will not leave you orphaned.  I’m coming back.  In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me, because I am alive and you are about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.    

The Good News of John

 

 

Please Remember these special people:

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;  ;  For Frank having hernia surgery this week;  For Joe Hogan with cancer,  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;   For Ryan, Rosemary's nephew, who had surgery; For Bill Hammond,    For Sydney;  & For Sir Charlie;  Shonda's mom;   For Gilberto:  for Michelle;  For a friend, a neighbor, & a doctor, Karen, with brain cancer; For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free.;    For Hue;  For John O'Donnell;    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; 

 

Birthdays:  Sr. Mary Troy, 87, Rick Froebe, Debbie Ekes

 

Zechariah 9:  His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Romans 8:  For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Matthew 11:  Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.

           

Mary Jane reading from Zechariah

 

 

Thanks…     

Music,    Shonda & Ben 

Readers,  Mary Jane & John

Homily,   John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Richard

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

                                 

John reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans

 

                                                    

 

Readings: Download 07-09-23 Readings -14th Ordinary

Homily: 

 

 

Information on Jan Keszler's internment and reception:  https://ariacremation.com/obituary/janet-lee-keszler/               

                                                                                     

 

 

Cody offering a comment on the homily

 

 

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  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;

                                                                                                 

 Brent gets a cookie for his birthday last week

 

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 gets a cookie for his birthday                        

 

Birthdays:  John Schanot 7/13

Anniversaries:  Ackerman 7/13

                         

 

Paul gets a cookie for his birthday last week         

 

 

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $  505.00

Outreach: $   

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

       

The Kiss of Peace

Isaiah 35:  Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness, streams flow in the desert.   Hot sands will become a cool oasis, thirsty ground a splashing fountain. 

James 2: Listen, dear friends. Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and privileges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God.

Mark 7:  He took the man off by himself, put his fingers in the man's ears and some spit on the man's tongue.  Then Jesus looked up in prayer, groaned mightily, and commanded, "Ephphatha! – Open up!" And it happened. The man's hearing was clear and his speech plain – just like that.

 

 

Another Reminder for 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 8, 2024

Readings: Isaiah 7 10-14; Psalm 24, Let the Lord enter, He is King of Glory; Romans 1, 1-7; Matthew 1, 18-24 

Isaiah, a quick review:

Author: remember there are 3 contributors.  This is Isaiah I, composer of chapters 1-39.

Date: ca. 700 before Christ and before the Persians blotted out the northern kingdom, Israel. 

 
 

Today's material: as a sign to the unfaithful people, Isaiah predicts a virgin will conceive, will bear a son, and he shall be named Emmanuel.  Isaiah I is speaking to the Israelites who are going to get annihilated shortly by the Persians.  Matthew uses this passage to authenticate Jesus, saying it refers to him.  The virgin conceiving a god person goes way back in history, at least to the time of the Pharaohs in Egypt.

 

 

Home 

 The afternoon of the second or third day Rosemary & I spent in Hilton Head with her sister & brother in law I was finally rested out.  I decided I got to get some exercise. 

 So I grabbed my favorite bike in the garage, an old American style bike with no gears and a big white wall tires.  It is a sight, but it is great conditioning and much easier to ride than I expected. 

 I took off at about 4:30 knowing that I needed to be home by 5:30 when it would be dark.  And on Hilton Head Island, folks, it is dark at night.  No street lights.  Know why.  Turtle habitat.  Turtles use the beaches to hatch their young and the lights get them disoriented.  Therefore, you can easily see the stars at night, but perhaps not your hand in front of your face when there is no moon. 

 

 The circle ride I make takes about 40 minutes, probably 8-10 miles.  I had gone 15 minutes when I had that sensation.  Something was squishy.  Yes, I had a flat on my rear tire. 

 So I decided to walk it in, instead of calling home for a lift.  I had passed already the more open part of the trail, and had ahead of me the more forested part.  No problem, I know the trail well and light from the houses would guide me.

 Consequently, I’m walking along this long path through the woods and on both sides of me are the forested back yards of houses.  It was chilly, but comfortable.  As I walk along I can see into the kitchens and dens of all these houses, warm, inviting, and homey.

 

 Suddenly I am reminded of other nights walking along behind other houses that were warm, inviting, and homey.  Certainly in Tanzania & Kenya when I lived there.  But also, when I studied the four years in Toronto. 

 At the college in Toronto we had a half mile meandering drive to the main road.  On the right or north of the drive a line of nice middle class homes backed up.  I would walk there in the snow often and long to have a similar house, warm, inviting, and homey.  However, I thought it was not for me as a priest.

 Walking along that path in Hilton Head, I realized I am not lonely or homesick any more.  I am grateful that I do have what I was longing for, thanks to Rosemary and our marriage.  I went home and told her, again.

 

 As we approach one of the more home focused celebrations of our year, we might find that we are more homesick or we might be grateful that we have a place that is warm, inviting, and homey. 

 Where is home for you this Christmas season?

 What do you do to create a home that is warm, inviting, and homey?

 Picture 1:   Ryan lighting the Advent Candle

 Picture 2:   Done!

 Picture 3:   Communion preparation

 Picture 4:    Communion helpers

 Picture 5:    Margarita & Ashley

 

Wisdom 7:  I prayed, and prudence was given me;  I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.

Hebrews 4: Nothing and no one is impervious to God's Word.

Mark 10:  Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.

John Cades Homily from last Sunday:    Download 10-06-24 Homily- The 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

Gardens in Nova Scotia

 

 

 

Another Reminder for 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 13, 2024

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 2, 14, 22-33; Psalm 16, Lord, You will show us the Path of Life; 1st Letter of Peter 1, 17-21; Luke 24, 13-35

 

Acts observations—(Author, Date, Place, Subject), a repeat from Easter

 Author: This is Luke, the physician, the companion of Paul, the Gentile writing for Gentile Christians, and the same Luke who wrote the Gospel of Luke.

 Date: Around 65 years after Christ.  Probably just before the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (70 C.E., a big date in Jewish history), or Luke would have likely mentioned it. 

 

Place: most probably Ephesus, today a ruin on the west coast of Turkey south of Constantinople.  Once this town was a major Christian center.

 Subject: the material works like in concentric, expanding circles, beginning in Jerusalem and ending in Rome after touching Judea, Syria, Ephesus, & Europe.  It treats activities in the early Christian community, some of which may describe they way they wished things were. 

 Sources: Good News Bible, New Interpreter’s Study Bible, St. Louis U. Jesuits’ Liturgical web

 

Mother's Day: a brief history–

1.  Greece & Rome: Cybele was the mother of all gods

2.  in the U.S.

    a.  Julia Ward Howe: during Civil War, ca. 1870,  as a counter to the tragedy

    b.  Anna Jarvis: 1912, pushed for 2nd Sunday of May, Mother's Day, with emphasis on the apostrophe, i.e., a single mother of a family, not all mothers.  Ended up regretting the day because of commercializaiton in the 40's before she died.  Hated Hallmark Cards' canned messages instead of personal notes.

  
   

c.  President Woodrow Wilson: 1912, made it a national holiday.

Sources: Legacy Project & Wikipedia

 

Cura Personalis

I have a Mother’s Day story for you.  It comes from of all places, Rosemary’s home, NYC, naturally.  We were just there this very hour last Sunday.

 The scene is this.  It is around 4:30 on a beautiful day, blue sky, 62 degrees.  The Ride began at 8:00, all 32,000.  We have traveled up 6^th Avenue from Battery Park in Manhattan, through Central Park & Harlem, into the Bronx, passed through Queens into Brooklyn, and the 40 miles came to an end in Staten Island, near the Staten Island ferry, which we took to get to the starting line in Battery Park. 

 

 We have gone straight north and returned straight south.  This has not been a race, like the Hotter ‘N Hell here at the end of August, rather a stroll or a promenade.  I have never ridden in a tsunami of people until this event.  90 percent of the time I rode shoulder to shoulder with other riders, scrutinizing their every move so that I would not crash.

 At 4:30 on this lovely afternoon Bernadette is just arriving at the last bridge, the famous Verrazano Narrows, a bridge that goes up a good way before it comes down into Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island and the finish line. 

 

 Bernadette is pooped as she begins this final ascent.  Everybody else in our group of 7 has already reached the end.  

 As Bernadette climbs bit by bit, she realizes that she cannot ride up to the top.  She gets off and starts pushing her bike up the bridge.  Remember, folks, this is New York City.

 Shortly after she begins trudging up the bridge a young man in his 30’s goes by.  Then he returns and stops.  “Would you like me to push your bike up the bridge?” he asks.  Remember this is New York City.  And this is a New Yorker, in fact, from Brooklyn, Bernadette tells me.

 Our New Yorker pushes Bernadette’s bike along with his own up to the top of the bridge. 

 

 When I was a Jesuit we were educated in a concept, cura personalis, which is Latin for personal care.  Advertising has made this term into a expression of narcissism, meaning my personal care.  In the Jesuits it was meant as a term for others, personal care of my brother & sister & my neighbor. 

 I would propose that this is a particular attribute of women, caring for others, which is what we celebrate today, Mother’s Day.  It is not limited to women, however.  This young man exemplified personal care.  In Luke’s story about the two guys on the road to Emmaus, who  is showing personal care?  Jesus.

 Today we honor the personal care of mothers.  We all, however, male or female, adult or kid, we all are called to personally care for our people.

 When was the last time you personally cared for yours?

 Thanks, Bernadette, for letting me tell your story.

 Picture 1:   Mass begins

 Picture 2:   Cameron & Nikki with their grandparents, Mary & Frank Esparza

 Picture 3:   Cora

 Picture 4:   Liam up, for the moment

 Picture 5:   Liam down & totally at home

 Picture 6:   Liam & Cora with their parent, Megan & Dave plus Megan's parents Rob & Beth