Reminder for 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 2, 2023

Good Morning Everyone.   Welcome to our celebration of life, peace and friendship.  Happy Valentine's Day.

You people are so lucky this morning.  It is freezing outside and you can join the Community celebration from your living room.  We also celebrate the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Guess what this Wednesday is?  Yep, Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.  The most unpleasant season of the Church calendar.  I grew up thinking I was bad and Lent's emphasis on my sinfulness did not do me good.

I have a February wish.  That we will all get the vaccine this month.

To start our Sunday celebration, I invite you to go inside, listen to your heart, and listen to your breathing.  What is your blessing this morning, the blessing of your week?  Take a moment to reflect.

Share Blessings.

 

Leviticus 13, 1-2, 44-46, If the man is leprous and unclean…

Psalm 32, I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble.

1 Corinthians 10, 31-11, 1, Do everything for the glory of God.

Mark  1, 40-45,  A leper came to Jesus.

 

 

 

Thanks……

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers,   , and Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Mike Carrell

Homily,  John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Richard & Mike 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

Sunday Readings:

Download Reading 6th Sunday 2-14-2021

 

Homily by John Stack

Download Sunday Homily 6th Ordinary 2-14-21

 

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Carrie's ex, Larry;  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 

The Brain Trust–including Aviana.

 

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:        Dana Dinsmore

Anniversary:  John & Allison, 28th

                              John & Lambrini, 15th

 

 

Community Finances, February 14, 2021

Expenses: $ 

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

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Finances will be in next week's blog.

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

Isaiah 9:  For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests.

Titus 2:  Beloved: The grace of God has appeared…

Luke 2:  Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

     

 

 

Connie reading from Isaiah

 

 

Thanks…     

Music,    Ben, Shonda & Sofia

Readers,  Connie, John  & Jackie

Gospel,   John Cade

Homily,  John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Lynda & Tom

Final Blessing, Rosemary

       

                             

John reading from Paul's letter to Titus

 

 

 

                                                                  

Readings:  Download 12-24-22- Readings – Christmas

Homily:  

 

 

Jackie reading Luke's Nativity event

 

 

Remember these special people:

For Kaliope, John Cade's Mother-in-law who passed this week  and for the family;  For Jan;  For Tom  Quinn who had back surgery on November 21st;  For Sandra who has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma;   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 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; 

       

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.

 

 

Sofia (Ben's daughter) playing the cello

 

 

Birthdays:  

Anniversaries:   

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $  4,435.00

Outreach: $  300.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

         

                                     

Welcome back Diane and Erin

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:  

 

A Christmas Prayer

Loving Father, help us to remember the birth
of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels,
the gladness of the shepherds,
and the worship of the wise men.
Close the door of hate and
open the door of love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and
good desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil by the blessing
which Christ brings, and teach us to
be merry with clear hearts.
May the Christmas morning make us happy
to be Thy children, and the Christmas evening
bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts,
forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen!

— Robert Louis Stevenson

 

Here are the links for Sunday:

Isaiah 60: Caravans of camels shall fill you, dromedaries from Midian and Ephah; all from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of theLord.

Ephesians 3:  … the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Matthew 2:  … and on entering the house, they saw the child with Mary  his mother.  They prostrated themselves and did him homage.  Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

 

Readings: Deuteronomy 4, 1-8; Psalm 15, The One who does Justice will Live in the Presence of the Lord; James 1 17-27; Mark 7, 1-23.

Deuteronomy:  

The fifth book of the Old Testament.  The last book of what we refer to as the Pentateuch, namely five books.  These five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy were made up of five scrolls, which is how it got its Greek title, Pentateuch.  The Jewish people referred to them at the Torah or Law.  Interestingly, the books themselves got their titles from the Greeks as a way to describe what the content of each book was about.  They cover a period from the very beginning of time down to the arrival of the Jewish people into the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy is mainly made of laws, and the bulk of the book is composed of a series of addresses by Moses and also a long collection of laws, which covered just about every facet of life for the “devout Jew”.

The book was probably composed sometime either during or shortly after the Babylonian Captivity, namly around the sixth century before Christ.

In today’s reading we hear Moses first of all explaining that there is no need for anything beyond the laws he is giving and also selling them on how lucky they are to have such laws!

 

Letter of James

 

For five Sundays, starting this week, we are going to be reading the Letter of James as our second reading.  The author, James was probably the head of the church in Jerusalem, and at times is referred to as the brother of Jesus.  He is not one of the twelve apostle James, there were two of them!  The letter is not a typical “letter” in the same sense as Paul’s Letters, in that there is a very brief greeting, not the typical extended greeting, no information about the sender and nothing of the usual formulaic ending of letters of that time.

The letter was probably written before 62CE when James was stoned to death.  It is addressed to the “twelve tribes of the diaspora”, which refers back to the diaspora when the tribes were scattered following the Babylonian and Assyrian invasions.  In this case it is thought to be addressed to those churches outside of  Jerusalem made up of Jewish converts to Christianity.

The contents are a collection of moral observations and instructions, our reading today from Chapter One fits perfectly with the whole theme of todays Gospel, namely the need to interiorize what it means to follow Christ rather than to go through the motions.

 

 

Why am I here

I blame Vatican II.  Up until that time, the early 1960s we knew exactly what was a sin and what wasn’t a sin.  In fact George Carlin had great fun with his album Class Clown.  But after Vatican Council 2 everything seems to have changed and all the certainties we had before are gone.  You knew clearly that it was a sin to eat meat on Friday!  You knew that you had to fast from Midnight before receiving communion.  It was the kind of environment we find Jesus dealing with today.  The rules became everything.  I can remember in the early 70’s getting that phone call when a holy day fell on a Saturday.  “Father, if I go to mass on Saturday evening will that cover for the Holy day obligation and also the Sunday.”  It was the same as asking “what is the least I have to do to remain in a relationship with you?”

 

 

 

 

Before Vatican II the pathway was clear, follow the rules and you will get into heaven, or at least purgatory.  After the council, it seems that the ball was passed to each one of us.  We were responsible for our own relationship with God.  Catholics certainly began to take responsibility, aided greatly by the encyclical on Birth Control. 

The gospel today focus’ on rules for meals…but if we step back and really take a closer look at what is going on it is the way the rules are used by Jesus, versus the Pharisees.  They are going by the literal interpretation of the rules, kind of like slavishly following a recipe, where as Jesus is looking at the “intention” behind the actions.

 

 

 

We might well apply this discussion to our selves.  Why are you here today?  Is it because your parents made you come??? Is it because you will go to hell if you don’t come here?  Probably a more basic question could well be: What is the purpose of being here today?  Am I here just because of habit, or does what we do here each week have an impact on my life outside this “getting together”?

 

Picture 1:  Mass with Kevin & Sabrina

Picture 2:  Mass helpers, an Old Geezer, Kevin, and Sabrina

Picture 3:  Birthdays, Melissa, Maureen, & Carl

Picture 4:  Birthdays, Jo & Jackie

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

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

Place: Sigler Elementary, 1400 Janwood Drive, Plano, TX 75075

 

 

Readings:                          

Proverbs  8,  22-31, When the Lord established the heavens I was there.

Psalm 8,  Lord, Our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth

Romans 5,1-5,    We have been justified by faith.

John 16, 12-15,  I have much more to tall you

 

Posted from St. Petersburg, Russia.

 

 

 

 

Community Activities:  

1. ROMEO MEET: Friday, May 27 , Jason's Deli, Collin Creek Mall, west side of Central, 1:00.   Welcome all wakos,  you will fit right in.                                                                                                                                                      
2. JULIET LUNCHEON, (aka.,just us ladies into eating together):  To Be Announced.              

  

 

True? 

 

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.

John Muir, American environmentalist and author (very important at Yosemite)

 

See you Sunday.

J.S., 214-783-0443

 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.