3rd Sunday in Lent March 12, 2023

 

 

Says Tori, "Welcome in Everybody, and Happy Mother's Day.

 

 

Readings:  

 Acts of the Apostles 1, 15-17, 20-26,  The lot fell upon Matthias.

Psalm 103,  The Lord has set his throne in heaven.

 1 John 4, 11-16,  We must love one another.

 John 17, 11-19,  When I was with them I protected them.

 

 

 

They are back, Everybody.  Welcome Home, Bernadette, to you and Gilbert playing with the kids in the hallway.Welcome home to both of you from your around the world cruise.
 

 

Mother's Day History:

1905-08: Anna Jarvis of West Virginia began this celebration for her mother, Ann, who cared for wounded Civil War soldiers of both sides.  She campaigned to make it a national day and in 1914,  Woodrow Wilson made it national.

The spelling: always singular, according to Anna. 

Hallmark Cards: Anna hated them because she felt you know what.  

 

 

 

 

Welcome in, too, Tom & Teresa.  Are you ready for an around the world Viking cruise?

 

 

Happy Mother’s Day

This morning I would like to tell the story of how on one occasion I attempted to make up to my mom all that she had to put up with in me.  This took place when I must have been about 40, still living and working in East Africa, but on a home leave.  Rosemary says I have shared this story before.  Pardon me if I go here again.  It was one of the highlights of my life.

I had a couple of things I figured I owed her for.  The first was that she thought I was a bad kid, especially that afternoon the University Park Police came to our house looking for me. 

It just happened to be the very day on which my mom was hosting her whole bridge club. 

 

 

 

Sister team, Zoe & Georgie teaming up to light and bless our candles for the week.

 

 

The second was that I did not go to College (I was enrolled at N.D.) 
Instead, I joined the Jesuits in the days when we never came home.  It was seven years before I got back to Dallas, not to go home, but to teach at Jesuit.

To compound this event some 15 years later I agreed to accept an invitation to set up a spiritual center in Nairobi, Kenya.  For at least 5 or 6 years my mom never spoke to the Jesuits in Dallas.  She was convinced I had been sent.

 

 

 

The team special for today on Mother's Day & the special vow renewal.

 

 

So, at about 40 years of age I am on a few months home leave, when my mom asks would I be willing to come to Ireland with her and her two sisters, Kitty and Pauline.  “Sure,” I said.  I would be their driver.

So, we met up in London.  

We went to eat at The Irish Pub where we were seated in the basement.  Half way through the meal a victorious Irish rugby club tromps in.  There was a piano player doing Irish songs at the end of the room on a little platform.  These guys joined in with such gusto that I think they drove the poor guy out.

 

 

 

John reads the closing.

 

 

Guess who took up the piano, my Aunt Pauline from N.Y.  Eventually, all the guys and my girls got up, made a ring around the otherwise now empty basement, we held hands, and with my aunt playing we danced around in a counter clockwise direction.  It was one of the most memorable nights of my life and got us all off to a roaring start.

In Dublin we rented a little red car, took off to the north, and laughed our way through the next ten days.  We drove counter clockwise all the way over to and beyond Shannon.   

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Shonda and Ben, for singing & leading us in The Father will Dance, one of my most favorite hymns.

 

 

Our daily drill was breakfast around 9:00, in the car about 10:00.  At 12:00 we were looking for lunch until 1:00 or 1:30.  3:00 was time for tea, and by 5:00 I had to find a place to stay that was clean, had carpet, and had bathrooms connected to the rooms.  The girls stayed in one room and laughed until they cried every night.  If Ireland were not so small we would never have gotten anywhere.

This was probably the best time I ever had with my mom.

You?  What was the best time?  Or as a mom, what was the best time?

 

 

 

The Blessing of All The Mothers, actual or virtual.

 

 

 The Special Blessing.

 

Wisdom 1, God did not make death

Psalm 30, I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me    

2 Corinthians 8, You excel in every respect

Mark 5, Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well.

 

 

Says Fred & Patricia & Aviana, "Welcome, Everybody!"

 

Thanks……

Music,    Shonda

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

Gospel,     John Cade

Homily,  John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,    Mike and David and Richard

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

 

Geri reading from Wisdom.

 

Readings:

Download Readings 13th Ordinary Time 6-27-21

 

Homily by John Stack:

Download Homily by John Stack 5-27-2021 13th Ordinary Time B

 

 

 

Mike reading from Corinthians.

 

 

Remember these special people:

For Alan Stryker;   For Candice Taht, friend of Mary Hall;   For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   For Esparza's new great grandson baby, son of Monique & Frank with shingles;  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, 

 

 

Peace, Everybody.

 

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

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Bernadette.

 

Birthdays:   Bernadette & Betsy 

Anniversaries:   

Community Finances,   June 27, 2021

Expenses: $650.00  

Outreach: $175.00  

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Happy Birthday to our dear Betsy (Cathy's grand-daughter).

 

 

Download Shonda 3

 

 

                                                                                                 

                                                                                              

                                                                                        

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

 

 

Jonah 3: The word of the Lord came to Jonah, saying "Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you."

1 Corinthians 29:  For the world in its present form is passing away.

Mark 1:  "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Readings:  Wisdom 1, 13-15, 2, 23-24; Psalm 30, I will Praise You, Lord, for You have rescued Me; 2 Corinthians 8, 7-15; Mark 5, 21-43.  

     

Wisdom: One of the 14-15 books of the deutero-canonical books of the bible.  Not part of the orginal Jewish bible, not part of the OT nor the NT, but in between and the subject of controvercy over the centuries.  Were they really part of the bible or not?  How do you know?  Catholic church accepts the books.

Author: not Solomon, but a Jew living in Alexandria, Egypt, who spoke and wrote excellent Greek.

Date: ca. 100-200 BCE.  How do we know these facts?  Because of text analysis.  For example, while the author wrote in Greek, he uses phrases and expressions that have a Hebrew flavor.  Also, he mentions rulers and places that reveal date and locale. 

Sources: Catholic Encyclopedia on line

This is Radical

There is a novel going around called Shanghai Girls, by Lisa See.  I recommend it. The novel tracks the lives of two middle class, educated sisters who are born in Shanghai in the 1920's or early '30's.   It follows them through a time in 1937 when the Japanese invaded China to the time when they end up in California as arranged brides. The novel has good character development and provides a view into a time just before & after the Second World War from the perspective of Chinese middle class women. 

What struck me in a unique way was the mother of the two girls.  She was, according to the girls, an old fashioned mother.  That is, she bound her feet so they would not grow.  From the novel I discovered what a barbaric & painful experience this was for women, young & old.  Imagine the pain of wearing shoes too tight or new.  Why?  Beauty?  I discovered in researching for our homily that another reason was to limit the mobility of women.  So they cannot run away or even run.  The reason for the demand was to limit mobility; the side effect was beauty, all because of male bias against women.

I remembered this novel when I read about Jesus healing two females.  Do you realize how radical this was, especially with the woman bleeding?  Leviticus, the third book of the Bible, has a lot to say about women who bleed.  For instance, a woman giving birth to a boy is ritually unclean for 7 days; a girl baby, 14 days (chapter12).

In Lev. 15 it says that during menstration, women were ritually unclean, which meant they were considered socially dead, not allowed in the temple, not allowed in the community, could not touch anyone and no one was allowed to touch them or their clothes or they, too, were ritually unclean.  So what does the lady in Mark do?   What does Jesus do?

Do you realize today how historic and universal this bias was against women?  Plato in The Republic says that Socrates asked, Do you know of any thing done by humans which is not done better by the male.

Hindus teach that a woman must immolate herself after her husband's death.  Buddhists consider it bad karma to be reincarnated as a woman.  Jewish men are taught to pray, Blessed be God who has not created me a heathen, a slave, or a woman.  Our Bible in Genesis blames a woman for the origin of evil in our world.

In 1873 in Illinois a case was decided against a woman.  She had passed the bar exam to be a lawyer, and the court would not grant her appeal to receive a law license.  A judge said that the place of a woman was in the home and that women did not have the fortitude to deal with such issues as the law.

The church fathers, as they are called, had their own bias.  St. Jerome says that when a woman wishes to serve God more that the world, then she will cease to be a woman and will be called a man.  You do not want to know what St. Augustine thinks about women.

So why this historic and universal bias against women by men (& women)?  One reason, from my research, blood.  Another is the male nervousness & weakness around women, beginning in adolescence.

So here comes Jesus along.  The woman touches him.  He could have had her killed by the crowd.  What was she doing in the crowd anyway?    And what does he do?  He calls her "Daughter," and heals her.  This is revolutionary.  He moves from bias to inclusion & acceptance.

In Galatians (Chapter 3) it says there is no male or female.  Just folks.  We are being called to get rid of the bias.  Women do not deserve to have their feet bound.

 

How is your bias barometer?  Any bias against women, men, a particular race, political party, a part of town, a school? 

Sources: The Sins of Scritpture, Bishop (Anglican) John Shelby Spong; Catholic Encyclopedia on line.

Audio on vacation this week & next, sorry.

Picture 1:  Mass with Kevin & Noah helping

Picture 2:  Kevin & Noah

Picture 3:  Birthdays & Anniversaries, Sue Tomas, Rick & Jackie, Sandra & Chuck Pratt

Picture 4:  Birthdays & Anniversaries, Nina Waldron, Barb & Warren Wittek

Jeremiah 20:  I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; …

Romans 12: … that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and  perfect.

Matthew 16:  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

 

 

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