All Saints, October 30, 2022

Thanks to all who put together our Sunday Celebration: 

Music, Shonda & Ben

Readers, Mary Jane & John & Deacon Mike with the Gospel

Eucharistic Prayer & homily, John Cade

Blessing of the Week, Rosemary

The Magic Zoom Makers, Mike and Becky and Ben

Reading 1 with John Schanot

A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles

         At that time Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: “Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight.  Jesus of Nazareth, a man thoroughly accredited by God—the wonders that God did through him are common knowledge—this Jesus, following the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men who took the law into their own hands, and was handed over to you.  You pinned him to a cross and killed him.  God untied the death ropes and raised him up.  Death was no match for him.  David said it all: 

         I saw God before me for all time.

                    Nothing can shake me; he’s right by my side.

          I’m glad from the inside out, ecstatic;

                    I’ve pitched my tent in the land of hope.

          I know there will be no trip to Hades;

                    and no stench of death.

          You’ve got my feet on the life-path,

                    with your face shining sun-joy all around.

Let me be completely frank with you.  Our ancestor David is dead and buried—his tomb is in plain sight today.  But being also a prophet and knowing that God had sworn that a descendent of his would rule his kingdom, and seeing far ahead, David talked of the resurrection of the Messiah—‘no trip to Hades, no stench of death.’  This Jesus, God raised up.  And every one of us here is a witness to it.  Then, raised to the heights at the right hand of God and receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out the Spirit he had just received.  That is what, today, you see and hear. 

Our word for today.

Remember?

Reading 2 with Mary Jane

A Reading from the First Letter of Peter

        My sisters and brothers:  You call out to God for help and he helps—he’s a good Father that way.  But don’t forget, he’s also a responsible Father, and won’t let you get by with sloppy living.

        Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God.  It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in.  He paid with the blood of Christ, you know.   He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb.  And this was no afterthought.  Even though it has only lately become public knowledge—at the end of ages—God always knew he was going to do this for you.  It’s because of this Messiah, whom God raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust in God, that you know you have a future in God.

Our word for today.

A Reading from the Gospel of John with Deacon Mike

          On that same first day of the week, two of them were walking to the village of Emmaus, about seven miles out of Jerusalem.  They were deep in conversation, going over all these things that had happened.  In the middle of their talk and questions, Jesus came up and walked along with them.  But they were not able to recognize who he was.  He asked, “What’s this you’re discussing so intently as you walk along?”  They stood there, long-faced, like they had lost their best friend.  Then one of them, Cleopas, said, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard what’s happened during the last few days?”  Jesus said, “What has happened?”

         They said, “The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth.  He was a man of God, a prophet, dynamic in work and word, blessed by God and the people.  Then our high priests and leaders betrayed him, got him sentenced to death, and crucified him.  We had our hopes up that he was the One about to deliver Israel.  And it’s now the third day since it happened.  Now some of our women have completely confused us.  Early this morning they were at the tomb and couldn’t find his body.  They came back with the story that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.  Some of our friends went off to check, and found the tomb empty, just as the women said, but they didn’t see Jesus.”

         Then Jesus said to them, “So thick-headed!  Why can’t you simply believe what the prophets said?  Don’t you see that the Messiah had to suffer and only then enter into his glory?”  Then he started at the beginning with the Books of Moses, and went through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him.

         They came to the edge of the village, and Jesus acted as if he were going on.  But they said:  “Stay and have supper with us.  It’s nearly evening; the day is done.”  So he went with them, and here is what happened.  He sat down at the table with them.  Taking the bread, he blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  At that moment, wide-eyed, they recognized him.  And then he disappeared.  They said to each other, “Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?”                      

The Good News of John

Rosemary's Blessing:

Let us walk softly on the earth

With all living beings, great and small,

Remembering as we go,

That one God, kind and wise, created all.

Author Unknown

Your Finances: April 26, 2020

Sorry for the delay in reporting.  Once the community got messed up, everything got confusing.  Nothing was coming in.  This is our best week of income in a couple of weeks.

JSM expenses:  $775.00

Outreach (often Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.) $300.00

Thanks, everybody, for your generosity.

Remembering…..

Isaiah 45:  I am the Lord and there is no other, there is no God besides me.

1 Thessalonians 1: For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.

Matthew 22:  Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.

John getting ready to start Mass

Thanks…     

Music,    Shonda & Ben 

Readers,  Mary & Frank

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

Hue aand Kevin, the magic Zoom makers

Remember these special people:

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 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;

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.

Bernadette gets a cookie for grand daughter, Zoe's birthday

Birthdays:   Zoe 10/25

Anniversaries:  Ed & Christine Kless 10/22, Mary Jane Stevenson  & John Schanot 10/26

Richard gets a cookie for his birthday last week

Community Finances:   

Expenses:  10/1 – 10/21  $ 2,145.00

                  10/22             $  765.00

Outreach: 10/1 – 10/21  $  60.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Ben gets a cookie for his anniversary last week
          

Readings:  January 18, 2015

1 Samuel 3,  3-19,  Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”

Psalm 40,    Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.

1 Corinthians 6, 13-15, 17-20,   Your body is a temple of the Spirit within you.

John 1, 35-42,   What are you looking for?

Buddy says, "Wow, Look what I got at the Stuff Swap."

1 Samuel observations:

What: 4 books about 4 big leaders of the People, Samuel & Saul, David & Solomon.  1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings.

Who: Samuel is the first big leader of the people.  He is a judge and the last.  The following 3 are kings of the people, Saul, David, and Solomon. 

Time:  The events take place ca. 1100-1000 before Christ.  The compilation & recording of the events takes place ca. 555 before Christ.  Sound familiar?  Babylonian Captivity

Who is that with a new, slightly used skooter?

Today's Selection: Yahweh is calling Samuel in a dream.  This ties in with the Gospel where three future apostles are called.  Samuel's mother was Hannah, and she is famous because of a touching story about how she came to have Samuel.  

I had the story of King David read the Sunday before Christmas and I talked about Samuel.

Hannah, Samuel's mother,  had promised Yahweh that she would dedicate to the temple her son, if she got one.  Consequently, our selection finds Samuel residing in the temple with Eli the prophet.  He would be about 12 years old.

Be aware that while these marvelous stories are mythological, the writer is attempting to convey to a simple people lessons in trust in Yahweh.

The Samuel reading, the Psalm, and the Gospel are all about call.  I would like to talk about this at homily.   As the Psalm says, "I come to do your will."  What is that?  What if it is just being  peaceful? 

Wow, I think that is our Beautiful Zoe.

 Big Calls and Little Calls

Like I mentioned, I would like to talk about calls this morning.  I would observe that there are big calls and little calls.  A big call would be like my call to go work in Tanzania and East Africa.  A little call could be like this.  Our story of the week.

So I go to the J this past Friday morning, the Jewish Community Center.  You know I go there Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for a 6 o’clock spin class.  The room has 25 stationary bikes and often the majority are occupied. 

And then there is our Beautiful Victoria cruising the stuff swap.

I had not been to the spin class since the Monday 10-12 days before.  I had a low grade, almost cold during the cold cloudy period and I just could not get it to go away.  One of the things I do to get ahead of a cold, beside heat and hydration, is rest.  I do no exercise and I force myself to lie down for an hour in the morning and in the afternoon. 

I knew what it was going to take and it did.  The sun came out Thursday, the temperature moderated, and, voila, the cold disappeared.  I could not wait for Friday morning.

Cupcakes of The Week for Ray & Claire at 44 and Kevin at 18.

So I get there, say, ten minutes early.  I walk in, say hi to the lady who gives me a locker key for the change room and a towel.  I walk into the change room and say hi to two other old geezers I like to joke with.  

All this time I am expecting that someone, at least the lady at the entrance, might say, “Where you been?  I’ve missed you.”  No, nothing, not even the two old geezers.

Happiness is a Cupcake of The week at 18.

So I walk down the hall and enter the spin room about 5:50.  Perhaps 8 people are there, including a lady who always rides on the bike immediately to my left. 

She is doing pre-ride exercises on the floor.  I say hi to her and talk with two guys I like, younger guys.  Yep, you guessed it.  No word about me being gone.  I was deflated.  I like the spin classes, but I equally like the people and I know pretty nearly everyone by name.  In fact, when I first started coming, people would just walk in, get on a bike, and start riding without a word to anybody.  Now I greet everyone and it seems like people are talking more. 

Jeanie & Jack with a welcome back cupcake, checking on their daughter, Wendy.

Eventually I just told people I had been gone almost two weeks because of a faint cold.  Then I had a couple of people say they had noticed I had not been around. 

The temptation?   Baloney on those people.  I have liked them, greeted them, and told them that I missed them when I noted that they had been gone, even for one class.  It is easy for me to notice, because the majority use the same bike each class.   I know some of them were flattered when I noticed.

Anad guess who, Wendy and Bethany with Vivian on the way.

That’s the temptation.  What’s the call?  Even a little call.  I think the call to me, at least, is to continue to greet these folks, to chat them up, and, yes, to tell them I missed them when they are gone for a class or two.  People are worth more than my deflation.

So, be sure to tell Rosemary and me how much you missed us the next time we are away for a week.  Only so much deflation I can handle, and you know Rosemary.

How do you handle being deflated like this?

Our great Communion helpers.

Readings:

 Amos 7, 12-15  I was no prophet.  I was a shepherd.

Psalm 85,    Lord, let us see you kindness and grant us your salvation.

Ephesians 1, 3-14, In love he destined us for adoption

 Mark  6, 7-13, Take nothing for the journey but a walking stick

                      Says Kevin, "Welcome in, Everybody."

Amos  observations:

Author: Amos or his scribe.  He was a shepherd of sheep & tended sycamore trees.  One of the 12 minor prophets of the OT, minor because of smallness of the works.  Amos has only 9 chapters.  Usual pattern of prophets: 1. predictions of dire times for evil behavior; 2. predictions of better times in the future. 

Date: Ca. 777 (a memory help), after the kingships of David & Solomon, time of King Jeroboam of the northern kingdom, called Israel vs the southern kingdom, called Judah (where Jerusalem is).   

                          And from Harper, too, "Hi, Folks."

Geography: Note the two kingdoms, Judah in the south, Israel in the north.  Amos tended sheep in a little town called Tekoa, 10 miles south of Jerusalem, in Judah, the south.  He is sent by Yahweh to Bethel, a small but important town in the northern kingdom, 10 miles north of Jerusalem, to warn the people of Israel & their king Jeroboam that Yahweh was mad at them.  The wicked high priest of Bethel, Amaziah condemns Amos for his interference.

The Setting: a time of prosperity.  But Yahweh is mad at the greed of the wealthy and their oppression of the poor (which ties into our gospel talking about walking lightly through life).  We know the people of this kingdom of Israel are headed for annihilation by the Assyrian nation.  And they will disappear as a significant body.  

Our Selection, chapter 7:  Amos describes three visions or dreams he has.  Amaziah gives it to him for spreading these visions around.  Then, Amos responds and socks it to Amaziah with a hammer.

          And from Sienna, "From Brooklyn and me, Welcome."

Take Nothing for the Journey

I apologize this morning for telling you a story that some of you will probably remember.  However, the event so speaks to the gospel this morning that I can not pass it up.  Another African story.

One evening in Tanzania I boarded an overnight train in Dar es Salaam, the capital.  I would get off in the region near Kilimajaro where the Jesuit house was that I used as a base when I was not on the road giving seminars or retreats. 

       Some of The Cupcakes of The Week gang for this week.

I had bought my ticket just the afternoon of the trip.  No compartments were available, which were not much anyway.  Two shared the compartment and an upper bunk came down.  You had to be careful in the little stations, because thieves would look in the window and grab.  So, no big loss.

I had to take general booking.  This entitled me to a place on the train, not necessarily a seat.  It is not air conditioned and can be a bit warm. 

           Offertory with Mike and Judy, Sydney and Hugh.

I started out sitting on a suitcase I traveled with.  There were mothers with little kids and a few chickens all around my area at the end of a train car.   I expected it would be a long night, but I would get where I wanted to go and then sleep extra.

About midnight the train stopped, like in the middle of nowhere.  We sit there.  No explanation, nothing.   I finally join others getting off.  I lie down on the rocks on the edge of the track, my case under my head so no one would snatch it, and wait.  And wait.  We sit there with no explanation until about 7:00 the next evening. 

                      Wendy and Collin providing The Best.

Just like Mark recommends in the gospel today, I had boarded that train with nothing to drink or eat.  Looking back, I cannot believe I was so stupid.  Normally I would never have set out without water. 

Why did I not ask the Tanzanian ladies for a drink?  I could easily talk Swahili with them.  Trouble was, they did not often purify their water and I was afraid of it.   So there I sat, now in the shade.  I look around.  Everyone on that train is Tanzanian.  I am the only white guy, which by then I am at home with.

                                             Elevation.

Suddenly I see up the track maybe 4 or 5 cars ahead of me a white couple.  They have extra water.  Hooray.  They are Germans, but speak English with no problem.

We hang out.  They saved me, and let me tell you a quickie about how I saved them.

We were seated in the shade of a Frangipani tree I can still clearly remember.  All the passengers were seated along the train in the shade.  Next to us was a momma with her baby.  At one point the momma gets up and goes into the train.

                          Emma and Beth solving the World's problems.

The German guy who was about 6 foot 4 inches gets up and takes a picture of the baby.  Bad move.  Someone on the train sees him, tells the momma, she tells her husband, and he comes out yelling with a bunch of people.  He wants the camera.  He wants to take the German to the police, wherever that might be.

So, I stepped in.  We all sat down under the trees and I talked.   I finally got the father to allow the German to go to his compartment, cut off the baby’s picture, and give it to the man. 

                         Emma with one of her Best Buddies.

He cuts off just the end of the film, brings it back, and gives it to the man.  The crisis comes to an end. 

I ended up climbing Kilimanjaro with the couple, which ended up being amusing.  He was an Alpine Mountain rescue expert, like a 4 on a 5 scale.  He could crawl across your ceiling holding on with his fingernails.  When we got to the top of Kilimanjaro he got altitude sickness and I carried his back pack.  Of course, I teased him mercilessly. 

                                 Harper dancing to the music.

I never saw them again, although they were begging me to come to Germany on one of my homeward trips.  I wanted to see the Berlin wall and never did.  She was East German, he West.

The story simply tries to show how literal reading of the Bible can get you into bad places. 

What  would you suggest is a positive in this story about traveling with nothing? Could this be what Francis is emphasizing when he talks about Less is Better? 

How is Less Better for you?

1 Kings17:  'The jar of flour will not run out and the bottle of oil will not become empty before God sends rain on the land and ends this drought."

Hebrews 9:  But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin.

Mark 12:  "All the others gave what they'll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn't afford – she gave her all."

Another Reminder for 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 10, 2024

Isaiah 22: I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim's shoulder; when he opens, no one  shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open.

Romans 11: Oh, the depth of the riches  and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!

Matthew 16:  And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, …

Mary reading from Isaiah

Thanks…     

Music,    Shonda & Ben 

Readers,  Mary & Brent

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

Brent reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans

Readings:  Download 08-27-23 Readings -21st Ordinary

Homily:  

Buddy reading the prayer for the lighting of the candles

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 Good;  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;

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 reading from the Gospel of Matthew
                                          

Birthdays:  Teresa Quinn 8/29

Anniversaries:  

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $  255.00

Outreach: $  

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.