Reminder, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 16, 2020

Exodus 20, 1-17, God delivered all these commandments

Psalm 19,  Lord, You have the words of everlasting life.

1 Corinthians, 1, 22-25. The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom.  

John 2, 13-25, He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out.

 

 

 

Mike sharing The Gift

 

Thanks……

Music,  Ben 

Readers, Mary Hall and John Simari, & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Mike Carrell

Homily,  Mike Carrell

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Richard  

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

The Brain Team without the presence of Mike Moran.

 

Sunday Readings:

Download Reading 3rd Lent 03-07-21

 

Mike's Homily

Download Homily Mike 3-7-2021

 

 

What a joy having Mike grace us with his presence to present his homily.  A Gift.

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Carrie's ex, Larry with Corona;  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 

 

Ben sharing His Gift.  With Halo.

 

 

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:   Dee Miller

 

 

Path to Peace.

 

Community Finances,  February 28 and March 7, 2021

Expenses: $1525.00

Outreach: $550.00   

 

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

A Prayer For Growing Old Gracefully

Lord, Thou knowest better than I myself that I am growing older and will someday be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.

 

Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody; helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all; but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end. Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains; they are increasing, and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by.

 

I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cock-sureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.

 

Keep me reasonably sweet, for a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil. Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places and talents in unexpected people; and give, O Lord, the grace to tell them so.

 

Amen.

 

17^th Century Nun’s Prayer

 

 

Note:  Because of popular demand and because I am still congested, no spin class for me at the J Monday morning.  John

 

 

 

Hi, Dearest Emma, Welcome in.

 

 

Readings:

Exodus 20, 1-17,  Yahweh gives the 10 Commandments to Moses

Psalm 19,  Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.

 1 Corinthians 1, 22-25,  God is stronger

John  2,  13-25, Jesus cleans out the temple.

 

 

 

 

Tori & Zoe at work lighting our candles.
 

 

 

Exodus: 2nd book of the Bible & of the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible.

 

Date of Composition: put together ca 450-400 BCE, though elements come from 1000 BCE at least.

 

Author(s):  Moses, no.  At least 3 sources, maybe 4, e.g., the Yahweh (J) source, the Elohim (E) source, the Priestly (P) source, and even the Deuteronomy Source. 

 

 

 

 

 

While Zoe & Tori light the candles, Georgie reads the Candle Blessing.

 

 

Subject:  The 10 Commandments–observations:

1. Academics see 3 maybe 4 versions of the 10 commandments, Exodus 34 (the oldest), Exodus 20 (our selection), Deuteronomy 5 (the last)
2. The versions come from the sources composing at different times, for example these 4

• The Yahweh Source, 10th Century BCE, therefore, Exodus 34    
• The Elohim Source, 9th Century BCE, therefore Exodus 20
• The Deuteronomy Source, 7th Century BCE, therefore Deuteronomy 5    
• The Priestly Source, edited all the sources in 6th Century BCE (450-400 BCE, at the end of the Babylonian Captivity).  The 7 Day Creation Story comes from this source at this time.

 

Source:  Bishop (Episcopal) John Shelby Spong (Excellent Biblical Scholar)

 

Side Note:  it is interesting to realize that the 10 Commandments are not considered the first set of laws.  For instance, the famous Code of Hamurabi .  Hamurabi was the ruler of Babylon (good old Babylon again) 18-20 centuries even before the Christ event.

 

 

 

 

Good Morning to the Kerns, Michael, Candy, Ben, and Holly around here somewhere.

 

 

The Week's Blessings (3)

Two Sundays before Ash Wednesday we had a first reading from the Book of Job.  Job was the man over whom Yahweh and Satan had a little wager.  

Job was a prosperous man.  So Satan bet that Job would curse Yahweh if Yahweh allowed Satan to send into his life a whole lot of afflictions.

 

 

 

 

And Good Morning to you, also, Vanessa and Stella.

 

 

The line that Job is famous for comes after Job has been flattened.  He says to his tormentors, “The Lord gives.  The Lord takes away.  Blessed be the Lord.” 

This has been one of those rare Job weeks in my life.  Things started going down Thursday about 2:00.  I felt a slight whisper in my chest.    I know my physical system well enough to spot when something different is happening.

 

 

 

 

The Team, Georgie & Buddy.

 

 

Rosemary & I had just spent Monday to Thursday with Kay Reddick in the small Ontario town of Lindsay.  We were just departing to drive into Toronto to share dinner with Renee, one of the Reddick kids. 

When we arrived at Renee’s house, I knew I was coming down with something.  It turned out to be Influenza Type B.  I struggled with that all the way home and through Saturday & Sunday until I saw my favorite internist Monday.  Initially, he thought I had severe chest congestion.  Only on a just to be sure did he do an influenza test.  In ten minutes my doctor said, “You got it.”

 

 

 

Ladies' Luncheon, Friday.

 

I felt immediate improvement once I got on Tamaflu.  What a gift.   But, as far as I was concerned this diagnosis complicated my life.  I had hoped to join the Dickinson team.  I never made it.  “The Lord gives.  The Lord takes away.  Blessed be the Lord.”

I truly have no significant reason to be anything other than grateful—for my health. 

 

 

 

Who let these people out on the streets?

 

I had a five day menu of Tamaflu and every morning I felt better until Saturday morning I woke up and knew I was healed.  I am grateful for my health.  I am disappointed I did not get to take part in Dickinson, but I am touched and proud of our community which contributed so much.

What are you grateful for this third Sunday of Lent?

 

 

 

This could be dangerous.

1 Samuel 16:  There – anoint him, for this is the one!  Then Samuel , with the horn of oil in his hand, anointed David in the presence of his brothers;

Ephesians 5:  Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.

John 4:  As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.  He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, "Go wash in the Pool of Siloam"

 

There will be a Celebration of Life for Ron Senter on April 1st at 2:00 PM at Restland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Stack Ministries now meets at:  The ArtCentre of Plano, 902 E. 16th St, Plano

 

 

 

 

 

Next Sunday we will have a service for Cody’s son, Caleb,  at 12:30 at the ArtCentre.  Family will be coming into town.  We would like to hep Cody and Shonda during this time by providing some food for the out of towners (15 – 20 persons) to share while here.  If you are able to bring some food to 3622 North Echo Trail, Plano TX 75023  on Saturday at 2:00, it would be appreciated.

Ideas for food:  cheese plates, small sandwiches, salads, pasta, deviled eggs, hors d’oeuvres, the usual luncheon things.

Cody’s Mom will bring dessert.

Thanks to all.

Here is the homily for Sunday.

Ezekiel

Ezekiel was the third great prophet with Isaiah and Jeremiah, because this author’s book is big like theirs, divided into 48 chapters.  Ezekiel is called by God to warn the Israelite people of their coming punishment and banishment to Babylon because of their infidelity to God and his law.  Ezekiel starts out about 600 years before Jesus lived and before the Babylonian captivity. Ezekiel’s prophecies continue through the captivity and the return of the Jewish people to Israel.

                                                                              

Homily

The book of Ezekiel is about warning people to get it together. The Gospel story has a similar directive to warn or confront a friend of their need for correction.  I want to say a word about that difficult directive.  The formula given in Matthew is 1) By yourself, speak your hurt to your friend and try to work it out; 2) take one or two others and confront your friend; and 3) take it to the community for mediation.  The smartest statement in Matthew may be admitting that these three steps might not achieve the desired end, and then you start over from scratch (or you drop it).  The point I want to make is that human relationship is probably the most difficult thing we do as humans and that healing hurt is what we’re all about.

An example is a personal case I have talked about before, between my sisters and me.   

1) Two of my sisters felt hurt and upset by each other’s actions in regards to our sister Carol’s care in a nursing home. Our older sister had been in charge of managing Carol’s care.  The sister who lives in the town where Carol’s nursing home was visited Carol and checked up on her every day. The older sister and the local sister didn’t seem able to speak respectfully to or listen well with each other. Often they would cancel out one another’s directives about Carol’s care. So Step 1 didn’t really happen.

2) Their inability to connect work together as co-caregivers led to step 2 and my involvement. Our older sister asked me to be present at a meeting with the local sister and our youngest sister, and an ombudsman representing Carol. This was an awkward meeting.  Since the home had complained about the local sister’s intrusive and disruptive behavior at the home, and threatened to ask us to remove Carol from the home, I and our youngest sister sided with our older sister in the matter. In theory this meeting had the potential of bringing us together for Carol’s sake.  In reality the process pitted two sisters and a brother against Carol’s local sister and set limits on that sister’s behavior as regards the nursing home and its staff.  No real listening to one another happened.

3) That takes us to Step 3: As Catholic Christians we no longer have a tradition of taking one’s hurts to the church community for mediation.  That venue in this time is the court.  Carol’s local sister took the matter to the court and she ultimately gained legal management over Carol’s care.  This result was probably beneficial to Carol as the push and pull about her welfare and treatment ended, and Carol’s local sister continued to visit and care for her till Carol died 1½ years ago. The family breach, however, hardened, and my sisters remain estranged from one another. 

 

Do I think I am alone in having family hurts that remain unresolved?  No, I don’t. In 44 years as a counselor, I have known many relationships that are stuck in their hurt.  Do I lose hope for them or for my own family relationships?  No I don’t.  Today’s second reading from Paul to the Romans, is a clue to our hope: everything is summed up by love, and there’s no accounting for how or when love will find expression. Period.

Finally, going back to Ezekiel, near the end of his book (in Chapter 37) Ezekiel talks about God’s promise, when times were the darkest, to raise up the people of Israel and help them get it together and walk back to their promised land.  His point was that, even if we are dead and gone and our bones are dried up, even then God is with us raising us up. Ezekiel’s poetic words were turned into a spiritual I remember singing as a child: “Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones….I hear the Word of the Lord” …  your toe bone connected to your foot bone, your foot bone connected to your ankle bone….

 

My question for you is: Who has been Ezekiel in your life, confronting you and giving you hope in stuck times?

And when have you been the Ezekiel in someone else’s life?

 

 

 

Exodus 34:  Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out, “The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.”
2 Corinthians 13:  Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
John 3:  God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

 

Pope John XXIII modeled love and kindness for all the world to see. “See everything,” he said, “overlook a great deal; correct a little.”
The Monastic Way, Sister Joan Chittister

 

Rickey Turner
Please click on the link below for more information on Rick’s fund for ongoing treatment and medications for a kidney transplant. As Rick is now back on track for the transplant, we are helping to cover the medications necessary following the transplant.
Rick Turner Blog Post

Another Reminder for Trinity Sunday, May 31, 2026
Here are the links for Sunday:

For Zoom   ( the video conference)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88528744737?pwd=Te3cub31Q6XpNvUfzutHMgQ8JGqd42.1
Meeting ID: 885 2874 4737
Passcode: 412993

 

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.