Special Announcement

Zephaniah 3,   Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!  Sing joyfully, O Israel!

Isaiah 12,  Cry out with joy and gladness;

Philippians 4,   …Rejoice in the Lord always.

Luke 3,   I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming.

 

 

Thanks……

Music,    Ben 

Readers,    Mike & Geri, & Buddy, our candle blesser 

Gospel,     John Cade

Homily,  John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,      Hue, Richard & Mike 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

Norwegian Fiord

 

Readings:  Download 12-12-21 – Readings – Advent 3

Homily:  Download 12-12-21 – Homily – Advent 3

 

Gdansk

 

Remember these special people:

For John Stack having a hard time right now with a bad back;  For Laura Chollick;  For Sandra who has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma;   For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   For Esparza's new great grandson  & Frank;  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 Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody &  Leo & all of Shonda's dear family; For Ursuline Sr. Mary Troy,

 

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 daughters, Lisa & Lauren  ;  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 baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation & a nephew; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; For Beth's friends & brother;   for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

Sunset in the Baltics

 

 

 

Birthdays:  Loretta Williams 12/12,  Tom Good 12/14,  Allen Stryker 12/17, Ben Porter 12/18

Anniversaries:  

                                                        

Dubrovnik

 

Community Finances,   

Expenses: $  430.00

Outreach: $  325.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

Rosemary's Blessing:  

May an abundance of gratitude burst forth in our minds and hearts as we remember all the blessings in our life

May we slow our hurried pace these days so we can be aware of, and enjoy, what we can too easily take for granted

May we always be open, willing and ready to share our blessings with others and never forget the God who loves us lavishly and unconditionally

And  may we remember that our thanksgiving is incomplete until we pay it forward by doing for others what they cannot do for themselves

Amen.

 

From a prayer by Sr. Jean Amore CSJ,  Sacred Heart Academy,  Hempstead, N.Y.

 

John Cade and John Stack begin Mass.

 

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben & Shonda

 

  Expenses: $    330.00

  Outreach: $        0.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Gracious God inspire us with the hope in the gift of shalom, the gift of wholeness and the promise of your presence.

Give wisdom to seek nonviolence as an answer to the violence of our lives and world.

Give us courage to seek wholeness in a fractured and divided world, to find reconciliation rather than revenge, to abandon the instruments of violence and death and entrust our lives, our homes and our families to you.

May your presence fill us and others with the thirst for unity, wholeness, and the desire to see all people valued as created in your image.

May we and others receive your shalom, that we might be faithful instruments of your love.

Blessed be your name forever,

Amen.

Rabbi Andrew M. Paley, senior rabbi with Temple Shalom, Dallas. He emailed this letter to his congregation in 2018 after a gunman shot members of the Tree of Life Synagogue. He gave The Dallas Morning News permission to publish it.

 

 

Revelation 7:   “These are those who come from the great tribulation, and they’ve washed their robes, scrubbed them clean in the blood of the Lamb.”

1John 3:  What marvelous love the Father has extended to us!  Just look at it—we’re called children of God! 

Matthew 5:  Whenever you did one of these things to someone. who is overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.”                             

 

Saturday night – fall back 1 hour

 

 

 

Another Reminder for All Saints Day, November 3, 2024

Readings: Isaiah 62, 1-5; Psalm 96, Proclaim His Marvelous Deeds to All the Nations; 1 Corinthians 12, 4-11; John 2, 1-11, Wedding at Cana

Mass with Tony

Notes on Readings for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Our First Reading is from Isaiah, chapter 62.  The book of the Prophet Isaiah is quite long, 66 chapters and in reality falls into two separate books.  The first section up to and including chapter 39 was written starting around 740 BCE.  Up to this time, Judah, the southern kingdom had enjoyed great prosperity.  The northern kingdom had fallen to the Assyrians, but the southern kingdom, including Jerusalem was fine.  Isaiah starts to write because the southern kingdom has subjected itself to the Assyrians and accepted their gods.

  

 

Second Isaiah was written many years later.  The situation is totally different because the kingdom has been conquered by the Babylonians, Jerusalem and the Temple have been destroyed and the people carried off into exile.  Our reading today is towards the very end of the book and the author is trying to offer encouragement to the people about the New Jerusalem.  He is trying to build up their faith in God that everything will be all right.  The reading is really a kind of liturgical song.

  

The Second Reading is from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, and the issue he deals with is a whole lot of arguing within the community about the different gifts of the Spirit, and which is the best!!  Just like little kids!!  The verses, which come just before our reading, should really have been included, and I have decided to have them read as part of the reading, as they give full meaning to the reading.

 

 

  

Homily for Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

 

Today is the only Sunday in Ordinary time this year when our Gospel comes from St John.  For the rest of the year we will be reading Luke.  We will run into John’s Gospel again in Lent.  The gospel reading today is about Jesus’ First Miracle, and this is probably why we have this reading, as we are pretty much at the start of the New Year.  Last Sunday we had the Baptism of Jesus, and since John is the only Gospel with this event, hence we have John today!

A few words first about the Gospel itself.  Written between the years 90 and 100 CE.  It is very different for the other three Gospels, namely Matt, Mk and Luke.  They are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels because of their similarities.  But John is very different.  Remember this is the gospel the starts out with “In the beginning was the Word”, by the way, remember that is also the way the book of Genesis begins, “In the beginning…this is no accident.  In Genesis we have the story of the creation taking seven days.  If you read Johns Gospel, you will find that we are in fact on the seventh day if one is counting days in Johns Gospel!  Our reading today properly begins with the words “on the third day”.  That in itself sounds familiar.  It is intended to.

I would like to point out a couple of things about John’s gospel.  Written at the end of the first century.  The temple had been destroyed, and this Christian community had been expelled from the synagogue.  There was fierce animosity between the Jewish community and the Christian community.

    

John never identifies the mother of Jesus as Mary, only as his mother.  We meet her twice in the whole gospel, the first time in today’s reading and the other time is at the foot of the cross when he says to her to take care of the beloved disciple John.

   

But lets look at today’s gospel.  A wedding, Jesus shows up with his mother and his disciples.  The narrative is carefully crafted.  There is an exchange between Jesus and his mother.  “They have no wine, what’s it to me.”  Then between the mother and the servants, “do whatever he tells you”, then between Jesus and the servants, “go fill the jars” and finally between the head steward and the bridegroom, who doesn’t have anything to say!  And again remember Jesus is later referred to as the Bridegroom!

   

By the way, that is a whole lot of wine!!  Somewhere between 120 and 140 gallons!! To the person familiar with the Old Testament, that would remind them of paradise!  An abundance of wine.  The water jars were normally used as part of the ritual purification process, which later we know that Jesus basically ignored completely.  But the piece I would like to draw attention to is brief exchange between Jesus and his mother.  It is one of those strange exchanges.  They should have whacked him properly for his answer when they found him in the temple at 12 and because they didn’t this is what you get!!

  

How are we to understand the whole thing?  Woman, my hour has not yet come!  Remember the next time we meet his mother was when his hour had come!  In spite of the harshness of the rebuke, Mary’s faith is demonstrated by the fact that she knows that anything asked in Jesus’ Name will be granted and so she simply tells the servants “Do whatever He tells you”.  That is the model of faith.

  

Faith is one of those words where I think for many of us there may be a bit of confusion.  At times faith and a belief system are often interchanged, but they are very different.  A belief system is all the things that have been put together by the Church as facts about our faith, but faith itself is quite simple.  It is an acknowledgement that there is a God who, in human terms, loves me and wants me to share that love with others!  As humans, we tend to complicate things, but it really is that simple.  Jesus told us to Love God and Love our Neighbor.  That was it.  With that in mind, we can go back and look at Mary’s actions in the story today.  First of all, she was sensitive to the embarrassment, which the married couple were about to be in, and secondly she had complete confidence that whatever she asked her Son, he would answer.  She didn’t get caught up in how he answered her, which would have been a distraction.  She simply told with servants to do whatever he told them to do. 

 

 

Now this is Mary we are holding up, as a model.  We will spend our lifetime trying to live with that kind of complete trust in God.  This is the woman who years earlier had said, “Be it done unto me”. 

We have gathered here today because of our own faith.  To have it nourished, to listen to God’s Word, and to share in this Meal.  We have the opportunity to live that faith each day, with our family, our neighbors, the folks we work with or are at school with us.  This week, lets remember Mary’s very simple “faith-filled” response, “Do whatever he tells you”  An answer she could give with complete confidence because she knew she was loved!

 

 

Picture 1:  Mass beginning with Tony & Kevin

Picture 2:  Tony blessing Geri's shawls

Picture 3:  The Bentleys, Holden, Cole, Hope, & Hunter

Picture 4:  Celebrating their 39th anniversary, Ray & Claire; celebrating her 15th birthday, Alexandra with her dad, David

  

So sorry, but Mass this Sunday, January 9, 2022 will be virtual on Zoom because of the current threat of the Omicron virus.

Keep safe.  Hope to see you all soon.

 

 

 

 

Note: we are now meeting at Legacy Academy.

 

 

 

Welcome: Catholic Mass with coffee & juice, and pastries, some bought, some home-made.  

Time: 9:30; Celebrate with the Community & John Cade 

Place: Legacy Charter School, Accent Drive, Plano, TX 75075

 

 

 

 

Suit up time.

 

 

Readings:  

 Ezekiel   17, 22-24,   All the trees of the field will know…

 Psalm 130,   Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.

 2 Corinthians 5, 6-10,  We are always courageous

 Mark 4, 26-34,   This is how  it is with the kingdom of God.   

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Dearest CC, for being our Candle Lighter of The Week.

 

 

Community Activities:  

ROMEO MEET: Friday, June 22, Jason's Deli, Collin Creek Mall, west side of Central, 1:00.  Welcome all wakos, you will fit right in.  Note: let’s skip this Friday.  We are all out of town.

JULIET LUNCHEON, (aka.,just us ladies into eating together), July, TBA

 

 

 

 

CC's best helper and sister, Kayla.

 

 

What is going on in Our Catholic World:

 5 Loves of Francis,  National Catholic Reporter via Corpus, 6-6-18,   Download FRANCIS' FIVE LOVES 9-14-18     

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, My Dearest Alison.

 

 

True?

 

How to survive a knife attack (very seriously helpful!)
 

  Download 2018-04-12-VIDEO-00000008

 

 

 

Happy 40th Anniversary of you being ordained a deacon, Dearest Mike.

 

 

See you Sunday.

J.S., 214-783-0443

 

 

 

 

John, this will give you a little something solid to go along with that rumored gin & tonic in your cast.   Congratulations on getting it done.

 

 

JSM Mission-Faith Statement: 

 Help create a Catholic Community that welcomes all God’s People, provides for and challenges spiritual and total growth.

Reaches out to help people who are disadvantaged and make the world we live in a better place to live.

 

 

 

 

Dana this is medicine guaranteed to help recuperation from a bike fall.