5th Sunday of Easter, 5-2-2021

Readings:                          

1 Kings   19,  16, 19-21,  Please, let me kiss my father & mother goodbye.

Psalm 16,  You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Galatians 5, 1, 13-18,     You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Luke 9, 51-62,  I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family.

Says Donna, "Welcome in, Everybody."

Introduction

[first reading] In our reading from 1 Kings, Elisha realizes that he has received a call from God to first be Elijah’s servant, then his successor.

[second reading] The gospel sets us free from the Law! For the whole Law is fulfilled by these words of Christ, ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’  We are led by the Spirit to be love, and this love is active in works.

Mabel and Marlene also say, "Hi, Folks, Come on in."

Homily by Mike:

How do we become the Lord’s disciples? Discipleship is a choice, through grace, to be led by the Holy Spirit to live the gospel by treating others with goodness and justice, with tenderness and compassion.  ‘For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying to self that we are born to eternal live!’ 

Cole, our Candle Lighter, at work.

As Jesus walked along the road to Jerusalem with his aspiring disciples in today’s gospel, others joined to walk along with him.  And a man said to Jesus, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus turned to him, ‘Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay his head.’  The journey to Jerusalem is the structural backbone of the Gospel for it is there that Jesus literally dies to himself for humankind.   He is telling this man that if he wants to follow him he must die to self.   Everyone’s Jerusalem is different; but the journey is the same. The inspired writers tell Jesus’ aspiring disciples to return to Galilee, in the written gospel. It is there that the Holy Spirit will lead them, and us, to their Jerusalem.

Happy Birthday, Alison.

Jesus said to another man who had begun to walk along beside him, ‘Follow me!’  The man replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Obviously he wouldn’t have been walking along with Jesus that day if his father had just died.  The man’s answer to Jesus was that he wasn’t going to make a decision until he received his  inheritance when his father died. So Jesus said to him. ‘Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead, but you I have asked to be spiritually alive, to proclaim by word and deed the kingdom of heaven.

Offertory, John & Alison, Carrie & Paul.  Thanks.

Still another said to Jesus, ‘I will follow you Lord, but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.  Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit to serve in the kingdom of God.’   Those who are looking back over their shoulder literally do not know where they are going; they are likely to fall.  Jesus is saying to him, ‘put the past behind; look forward, follow me.’ 

Special Good Wishes to you, John, on the big Wednesday Operation.

This past Sunday my younger brother and I were visiting our older brother in Florida.  I took a short walk that afternoon to a park not far from his house.  There, on Father’s Day, I began to enjoy watching a woman and her twenty-something son celebrating a picnic lunch together.  Later, after joining them, I learned that her husband, the young man’s father, had recently passed unexpectedly.  It had been difficult for them, but members of their church community had supported them with help and encouragement.  She had gone back to work, was making good friends, and he had returned to college.  Each of us has a cross to bear on our journey in the kingdom of heaven; but, we are called to assist one another, to press forward, our burden light.

Mike sharing his thoughts on today's readings.

Amos 8:  The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done!

1 Timothy 2:  For there is one God.  There is also one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all. 

Luke 16:  The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; 

Very exciting first Sunday at the ArtCentre.  We were welcomed by the Fire Department.  It seems Richard and Hue got stuck in the elevator  and they had to call the Fire Department to get them out

Music,    Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Pat & Fred 

Gospel,   John Cade

Homily,  John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,      Hue & Richard 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

John starts Mass at our new home

Readings:  Download 09-18-22- Readings – 25th Sunday Ord

Homily:    Download 09-18-22- Homily – 25th Sunday Ord

Remember these special people:

For Jan; For Sandra who has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma;   For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer and Kaliope, John Cade's Mother-in-law;  For Donna and the Dinsmore Family after her brother, Dennis died  from pancreatic cancer;   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; 

Buddy reads the prayer for the lighting of the candles

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:   Sandra Pratt 9/18,  Mary Jane Stevenson 9/20

Anniversaries:   Lynda & Tom Fleming 9/18

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $  1,195.00 

Outreach: $  60.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

The Kiss of Peace

Rosemary's Blessing:  

… May God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you can make a difference
in this world, in your neighborhood,
so that you will courageously try
what you don't think you can do, but,
in Jesus Christ you'll have all the strength necessary.

"Troubadour: A Missionary Magazine," published by the Franciscan Missionary Society

Readings:

Acts 5, 12-16,   Many signs and wonders were done among the people.

Psalm 118,  Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting. 

Revelation  1, 9-19,  I was caught up in the spirit.

John 20, 19-31,  Put your finger here and see my hands.

Offertory, Ron & Barb, Claire & Ray.

 Acts observations:  I won’t bore you every Sunday for the next six with these same observations.  I thought I would repeat them because you may have missed them Easter Sunday with all that was going on.  Periodically I will remind you of the basics.

Date:  sometime before the year 70.  Why?  No mention of the destruction of Jerusalem, which took place the year 70, a Big Date in Jewish history.

Who:  The same person who wrote the Gospel of Luke.  How do we know?  Similarities of style, language (Greek), and theological themes.

Subject:  The story of the expansion of the Jesus story in 3 areas, first, Jerusalem, then, Palestine or the Holy Land, and finally, into the Mediterranean and ultimately, Rome.

Today’s Subject: a description of the growth & expansion within the first area, Jerusalem. 

Sources: Good News Bible, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, Wikipedia

Easter Poster, by Rosemary.

 More on New Life

Ever hear of a guy named Christopher Scott?  How about Michael Morton?

I want to talk again about the new life coming from the resurrection.  To exemplify I want to tell you the story of one of these two men,  Michael.  Both were chosen by The Dallas Morning News as their Toys of 2012, Texans of the Year.  Both were exonerated of crimes in the last two years.   Christopher served 13 years for a robbery & murder he never committed.  Michael, 25 years.  Here is Michael’s story. 

Cupcake of The Week to Tom on his Birthday.

It is early morning, August 13, 1986.  Michael is 33 years old and manager of a grocery store.  He gets up early this morning and slips out of the house quietly so he won’t wake up Christine, his wife, and his son. 

He goes to work, punches in, and begins his regular day.  Meanwhile, back home a sick man breaks in and kills Christine while the 3 year old son watches.  Then he disappears.

Cupcake of The Week to Mabel & Curtis for their anniversary, Sixty Years!

Next thing Michael knows he is arrested for killing his wife and taken to jail.  The prosecutor is convinced Michael did it and determined to convict him, even to the point of hiding evidence that proved Michael could not have done it.   The prosecutor succeeds and Michael is sent to prison for life.

Sixteen months later in the same area another woman is killed in a similar fashion and a man is caught and charged.  His DNA and the DNA from Christine’s crime scene match.  Nobody checks it out.

Our beautiful Celeste.

All during this time, Michael is in prison for life, knowing he was innocent.  His wife murdered and he is convicted of it.  He cannot raise his young son.  The long years pass for Michael.

Until 2011.  A group of lawyers and student lawyers take up his case and expose how he was framed.  November 9, 2011, Michael, now 58,  walks free exonerated more than half his life behind him.

Buddy.

And now the amazing part.  I would imagine that if I were in the same place, I would be bitter and eager for revenge.  Michael, however, is totally at peace and instead of seeking revenge is seeking to convince the Texas legislature that some new laws need to be enacted to protect innocent people from prosecutors framing people and hiding evidence. 

Both Michael with his 25 years and Christopher with 13, the other guy I mentioned, are working to help other prisoners who are innocent.   Already about 90 have been exonerated.  How many more?

Zoe.

Can you imagine how you would feel walking free after 25 years in prison for a crime you did not commit?   And not be bitter?  And not want justice, but want to help others in similar circumstances?   Talk about resurrection and new life.  This is it.

When was the last time you were grateful for and just savored your life and your freedom? 

Source: The Dallas Morning News, Sunday, December 30, 2012, Texan of the Year

Emma eager to get there.

Genesis 2: The Man said, "Finally! Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh! Name her Woman for she was made from Man."   Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh.

Hebrews 2:  Since the One who saves and those who are saved have a common origin, Jesus doesn't hesitate to treat them as family.

Mark 10:  In the original creation, God made male and female to be together.  Because of this, a man leaves father and mother, and in marriage he becomes one flesh with a woman – no longer two individuals, but forming a new unity.

John in Montreal in September

Another Reminder for 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 6, 2024

Readings: Wisdom 18, 6-9; Psalm 33; Hebrews 11, 1-19; Luke 12, 32-48.

Wisdom: this book is one of the 12 special books only finally approved by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent in 1546.  Martin Luther, for instance, did not think the 12 books were genuine.  Whatever the case, the 12 books are in a special section of our bible after the Old Testament.

The book we are reading from today contains traditional Jewish and Greek ideas about life, basically saying that God rewards those faithful to him & punishes you know whom.

What are You Afraid of?

When I was about sixteen, I came home from the old Jesuit High School one afternoon probably in the spring.  Nobody was home, not even my sister as far as I can remember. My dad was at work. My mom was at one of her afternoon bridge clubs and had gone with one of her friends because her baby blue Pontiac was in the garage. 

After hanging around a bit and getting bored, I decided I was going to go visit a friend and use my mom’s car. Mom, however, did not like me using her car, so I could not find her keys. Now in those days all of us kids knew how to run a car without keys. It was called hot wiring a car. You used tin foil on the back of the key slot under the dash. 

So I hot wired my mom’s big Pontiac, pulled out of the driveway onto Stanford, and turned toward Preston Road. Arriving at the corner the car stalls. For five minutes I am working on the key slot to start the car, all to no avail, when a car coming north on Preston turns into Stanford. A lady is driving.  I know that lady and sitting next to her, my mom.

The master had returned and the servant was unprepared. In fact, the servant was caught red handed.

I never got that car started and, in fact, had to pay my hard earned paper route money to get it towed and fixed. I had shorted out some wires. I don’t remember my mom ever saying anything, but I was humiliated. 

I remembered this incident when I read about the master & the servant. I have some observations about these readings.

First, I don’t see our God as a thief who is trying to catch us off guard. He is not a strict master who is looking to catch us red handed and beat us. 

Secondly, I don’t see us as servants. In fact, in John’s gospel Jesus says he does not call us servants, but friends. In today’s psalm it says, "Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.  We are his chosen.  So is everyone.

To see this parable in a positive light, I would go back to last week when we talked about life being a gift.  When it says that the Lord will come at an hour we do not expect, I propose that the gift comes at moments and in packages we do not expect.  Appreciation is the goal and the process. It involves being sensitive and reflective.

One of the best lines in the whole gospel today is the very first line where Jesus says, "Do not be afraid any longer." This means I do not have to be afraid of God, afraid of death, afraid of getting caught red handed, or afraid of missing the gifts of the moment. 

I’ll always remember how stupid I felt when my mom came around that corner and saw me in her car, broken down. She did not tear into me, and neither do we have a god who is a thief or master who will beat us. 

So what are you afraid of?

Malachi 3: Look! I'm sending my messenger on ahead to clear the way for me. Suddenly, out of the blue, the Leader you've been looking for will enter his Temple – yes, the Messenger of the Covenant, the one you've been waiting for.

Hebrews 2:  That's why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people's sins,  he would have already experienced it all himself – all the pain, all the testing – and would be able to help where help was needed.

Luke 2:  Then when the days stipulated by Moses for purification were complete, they took him up to Jerusalem to offer him to God  as commanded in God's Law: "Every male who opens the womb shall be a holy offering to God,"

John Cade's Homily from the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Download 01-19-25 Homily 2nd Sunday Ordinary Time

Another Reminder for the Presentation of the Lord, February 2, 2025