The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 17, 2025

Acts 5:   Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them.

Revelation 1:I saw seven gold lampstands and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, wearing an ankle-length robe, with a gold sash around his chest.

John 20:   “My Lord and my God!”

 

 

Paul reading from the Acts of the Apostles

Music,   Ben & Shonda

 

Expenses: $   850.00

Outreach: $    520.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Denni gets a cookie for her birthday.

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Life is short …

Break the rules,

Forgive quickly,

Kiss slowly,

Love truly,

Laugh uncontrollably,

And never regret anything that made you smile.

Mark Twain

Readings:

Isaiah 58, 7-10,   If you bestow your bread on the hungry, then light shall rise for you in the darkness.   

 Psalm 112,  The Just Person is a light in darkness to the upright.

 1 Corinthians 2, 1-5,   God chose the foolish of the world.

 Matthew 5, 13-16,    You are the light of the world.

 

 

 

Kristin and Everett say, "Welcome in, Everybody. "  And we say to you, Everett, "Welcome into our world."

 

Isaiah reminders, again—(I lied again, Folks.  I thought we were finished with Isaiah, my favorite, until next Advent.  Nope.  Not really sorry, though.  We have him again Feb. 26, last Sunday before Lent.)

 Author: This is Isaiah #3, the composer of chapters 56-66.  Isaiah #3 lives after the Israelites have returned to the ruined city of Jerusalem.  It is a very depressing experience after the exuberance of being allowed to depart from slavery in Babylon.  Like returning to your shattered home after a tornado, hurricane, or forest fire.

 

Hi, Leo, good to see you.

 

 Date:  Ca. 555 before Christ, the composition.  The Jewish people of Jerusalem are home again.

Subject:  A great day will come for you Jews.  You will be a bright light at dawn and your wound will be healed (of your defeat and slavery), if you take care of your neighbor, providing food, clothing, and shelter.  The corporal works of mercy.

 

 Welcome to our marvelous community, Michael Tuck.  It is so nice to have you and you are welcome any time Ray cannot make it.  Or even if he can.

 

Your Light must shine before Others

This is the fourth or fifth Sunday we have dealt with delightful readings that involve light, either receiving light or giving light.  Guess what.  I want to talk again about 3 people who are lights for me.

I have talked before about a guy whom I greatly admire, Jim Mahar, a professor of something like economics at St. Bonaventure University near Buffalo, NY.  This guy just continues to amaze and humble me. 

 

 

 

Hi, Harper.  Welcome to the Queen of Girl Scout Cookies.

 

I first met Jim through Bill Hammond.  He, I, and Bob McGrath,  all went down to Galveston to help with the clean up and repair of the city after the hurricane Ike in 2008.  It seems to me like yesterday and, yet, incredibly long ago.

There were 20-25 of us, mostly students probably on spring break.  We stayed in a very hospitable Protestant church.  The pastor himself was most friendly and accommodating.  The kids had bunk beds on the left & right of the church.  We old guys bedded down in a rectangular room with about 20 Baptist Men volunteers.  I could talk about those guys all day, they are so good.  The only problem that time: one guy in our dorm snored like a bear. 

 

 

Buddy, our Candle Man of The Week.  Thanks, Buddy.

 

These guys had an 18 wheeler trailer that they had rigged up with a number of showers.  The people in the church community fed us 3 meals a day. 

This was the first time I worked with Jim Maher.  I also went to Moore, OK, a suburb of OK City to help with a tornado that passed through.  And now just a week or so ago I get a facebook note from Jim, working with a bunch of St. Bonaventure kids in maybe the Bahamas.

 

 

Offertory, Cindy, Bill, and Marlene.

 

Jim is a bright light in my life.  In fact, his light is blinding.  I am exhausted just following him from one disaster to another.   He and some kids even came to help in Rowlett last year.  I did not get to help out, but Bill Hammond was there. 

Secondly, I have told you about another light of mine, Coach Frank Hart, mostly bed ridden in a home for elders.  I have been visiting Frank almost every Friday afternoon for some years. 

 

 Ready or not, here we go.

 

When I first started entering this house, I noticed the particular accent with which three black caretakers ladies spoke English.  I immediately recognized from where that accent comes, East Africa.  They were marvelous caretakers. 

So one afternoon, I took a minute to speak with one of the girls who bubbled over with personality.  I addressed her in Swahili, which I totally still remember.

 

 

Anybody know who these characters are??

 

Folks, I thought she was going to faint, drop her teeth, and go crazy.  She yelled to her 2 girl friends and we had a marvelous time.  They were from Kenya.  Very caring, very courageous girls.  Lights to me for their courage in making a better life for themselves and others, like Coach Frank. 

The third group: our kids.  They don’t have to do anything and I love them.  I am so delighted with their presence, which brings light to our celebrations.

 

 

The "Juliets," just us ladies into eating together."

 

I have always welcomed little kids at the Masses I celebrate, and for sure, at St. Marks.  I would normally invite them up around me during the Eucharistic prayer.  One time a little boy knocked over the standing candles and another time a little baby barfed on my shoulder while I was welcoming her for maybe the first time. 

 

 

Is this not a pretty tough group?!  Hi, Carol.  Love the hair.

 

Guess what, everybody was so timid and cowed they did not even stop me to let me know the baby had thrown up on my shoulder until after the Mass, when even I was beginning to wonder about where that smell was coming from.  These events both took place in the big church, not the 10:30 cafetorium.   That 10:30 crowd would have spoken up, probably laughing at me.

 

 

And another play station.

 

Again the questions:

Who gives you light?

To whom do you give light?

 

Readings:   Wisdom 12, 13-19; Psalm 86, Lord, You are good and forgiving; Romans 8, 26-27; Matthew 13, 24-43

Wisdom:

• Author: not Solomon, but an unknown Jew from Alexandria
• Original Language: Greek
• Time: 1-2 centuries B.C.
• Message: Yahweh rewards those faithful to him.
• Means: Greek Philosophy common in Alexandria (Platonism & Stoicism) and Jewish traditional  teachings (wisdom of Solomon).
• Uniqueness: one of the ca. 11 deutero-canonical books (not originally part of the Jewish bible).
• Today's reading from chapter 12 emphasizes a God who cares for all, is merciful, and kind, perhaps as a balance to the parable of the wheat & weeds in Matthew

 

How We Help Each Other Along the Way

    Last Friday morning Rosemary & I, Gilberto & Bernadette were riding around White Rock Lake.  It was about 7:00.  We had started at Royal Lane and had passed through the marvelously dense forest along the White Rock Creek Trail.  We had crossed Mockingbird & Northwest Hwy, and were going around the stunningly beautiful lake in a clockwise direction.  We had split up, each going at their comfortable speed until we meet up at the boat house on the south end of the lake near the dam, the half way point.

     
 

    I’m ahead and see a lady on the left side of the road with her bike down.  I ask if she needs help, hoping, I confess, that she will say no.  She says yes.  Ugh, oh.  So I slow down, turn around, and get off next to her.  Shortly after that Gilberto rides up.

     She says her rear tire is real low, she has an air pump, but she has never used it, and cannot get it to work.  The problem was she had her pump set for one type of inner tube valve and she had the other.   For bikers, she had a schraeder valve, and her pump was set for presta, the skinny tire..

     So we showed her the problem, helped her pump up her tire, and she took off with a hundred thank you’s.  

 

     Meanwhile, my phone is ringing non-stop.  I usually do not answer when riding.  An 18 year old riding with us once fell down when he answered a call from his mom.  

     On the phone is Rosemary.  You guessed it, she has a front flat.  She is behind us at the Bath House.  So I return and we start a pump and run strategy to help her get back to a good pick up point, which turned out to be the Dart station on Northwest. Hwy.  

 

     Twice as we return we encounter the lady.  The first time she even says to Rosemary, “You are a lucky lady!”   Yahoo!   The second time she is taking a break at the same place Rosemary has stopped to pump up her tire again.  

     After Rosemary departed on her run, she says again how grateful she is and she adds, “I really learned something special about myself this morning.  I normally hate to ask for help and when I did it today it was okay.  From now on I will always ask others on the side of the road if they need help.  But I will also let myself ask for help.” 

     We have here a metaphor for community, folks.  We are not alone.  We help and accept help.  It is how I would like to handle the three parables, one of which could scare you.  Actually, it was intended by Matthew to scare his young Christian community, because he thought some members were not always doing good. 

     I see two community symbols in what happened on the shore of White Rock Lake. First, what we did.  Secondly, what took place in the lady.

     The first thing, normal for community, we stopped to help someone.  Simple.  What about people who are unemployed or sick?  We help them, too.  What about fear?  You hear the parable of the wheat & weeds and immediately see yourself heading for the furnace.  

     Naturally, we all see the weeds in ourselves.  Everybody does because we all see our weeds.  In a caring community we hear that we are both, not either/or, wheat or weeds.  You might even hear that one old priest doubts that there is a furnace.  After all, it has been admitted that limbo was imaginary.  What about purgatory?  Enough with fear of me going to hell.

 

     Secondly, what happened inside the lady is symbolic.  One little community event has touched her into new sensitivity and acceptance.  Even deeper peace.  Can you see the mustard seed growing, the yeast expanding in her spirit?  

     Can you give me one way you are richer because of community and one way you make community richer for another?

 Picture 1:   Mass

 Picture 2:   Georgie with Buddy & her dad, Randolph

 Picture 3:   Zoe with her mom, Michelle

 Picture 4:   Hugh & Sydney Bivona

 Picture 5:   The Girls, Gayle, Jackie, & Mary Ellen 

   

 

 

 Readings:

1 Samuel 1, 20-28, Hannah conceived and bore a son whom she called Samuel.

Psalm 84, Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.

1 John 3, 1-2, 21-24, We are God’s children.

Luke 2, 41-52, After 3 days they found him in the temple. 

 

Samuel observations: who, when, what, our passage with a story

Who:

          –about whom: Samuel, the last judge ruler of the Israelites and the first of the Big Three, that is, Samuel, Saul, and The Great King David, a fascinating Old Testament character. 

          –by whom: not written by Samuel, but a compilation of numerous sources.

When:  The Samuel figure lived around  1000 years before Christ.  As far as being put together into a unit, being familiar as you are with the Big Three Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, when they did their prophet job,  and the influence of the Babylonian Captivity, around 600-550, yes, you are right if you guess that the work apparently was assembled at this same time.  The Jewish leaders were attempting to preserve their community as a tribe-nation.  

What:  a Jewish history lesson, fantasized greatly, and attempting to give a divinely chosen character to the Israelites’ heredity.  Originally there were two books, Samuel and Kings.  Now there are 4.  How come?  A simple answer.

Originally, it seems, Samuel was one scroll written in Hebrew.  It was translated into Greek.  Hebrew has no vowels and therefore takes up less space.  Greek has vowels.  Therefore, two scrolls were needed to write out the book of Samuel and thus it became Samuel I and II.   Sort of amusingly simple.

The Story: (chapter 1)

          The 4 characters: Samuel’s mom, Hannah; her husband Elkanah; Elkanah’s second wife, Peninnah; & the temple priest, Eli.

          There was this man, Elkanah, who lived with his two wives in Ramah.  He loved them both.  Over the years Peninnah had numerous children, but Hannah had none.  Despite this, Elkanah had a special love for Hannah.

Peninnah used to laugh at and mock Hannah, who became depressed, often would not eat, and cried a lot.

One day Hannah was in the temple crying over her inability to have children.  At one point she promised that if she had a son, she would dedicate him to God’s service.  She continued to pray, mouthing her prayer silently.

Eli, the priest, was sitting in the back of the temple watching Hannah.  He thinks she is drunk and scolds her, “Stop making a drunken spectacle of yourself.  Stop your drinking and sober up.”

Hannah, of course, is mortified and defends herself, saying she has no children and is miserable.  Eli believes her and tells her to go in peace and may God give you what you ask.

Guess what happens….

Sources: Good News Bible, New Interpreter's Study Bible, Bible Gateway.com, Wikipedia

 

Our Harper

The Family

This morning I would like to say a few words about the family, especially in connection with what happened in Newtown, CT. 

When the news first hit me, like millions of others, I think I was in denial, then angry, then in tears.  As time went on I would occasionally hear or see some snippet of news asking the question why this boy went off like he did.   Everyone seemed perplexed by this.

When I thought more, taking into my experience as a priest and with psychology, I kept thinking, this is not difficult.  I see three factors: nurture, nature, and environment.  And maybe all three together.  This is how it touches us.  Let me explain each one.

Nurture.  I immediately asked myself, what did he not get that he needed to grow up balanced.  What basic needs were not met?  What did I need, what did you need growing up?  I would propose 4 things, affection, acceptance, encouragement, and training.  I would include time here, too, though it is assumed with the first three. 

What happens when I do not have these needs attended to, the result?  I am hurt.  How does hurt often manifest?  Anger.

 

Nature.   This is a tough one.  Psychological disorder.  I have seen young kids who probably were getting nurture, but were out of control, impulsive, even violent.  The result: anger. 

Modern medication can certainly help a young person with such a disorder.  Sometimes it just does not work.

Environment.  This obviously involves the home atmosphere.  But it includes extended family, school, and neighborhood.  A lot of abuse can take place at school.  Bullying.   Result: hurt.  Manifestation: anger.

 

Also under environment I would include what is offered on TV, electronic games, and news from other tragedies.  Who right now are the young people out there who want to emulate Newtown or Columbine?  The example is contagious for a kid. 

What has this got to do with you and me?  It has this to do with you and me: we are family.  We can nurture, whether we are parents, grandparents, teachers, mentors, coaches, scout leaders. 

One of the people who nurtured me in 7^th & 8^th grade was Frank Hart, my old coach, scout leader, and teacher.  We are still close friends.

We as a Catholic spiritual community have the honor and privilege of nurturing all the marvelous kids who join with us on Sunday mornings.  May they take away a positive image of themselves from their time here.  May they take with them an image of an affectionate and accepting God. 

Affection, acceptance, encouragement, training.  For whom are you doing this today?

 

 

 

 

Readings:

Acts 10, 25-26, 34-35, 44-48, God shows no partiality;

Psalm 98, The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power;

1 John 4, 7-10, Let us love one another; 

John 15, 9-17, I have told you this so my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

 

An introduction to today’s readings.  We continue reading in Acts. It’s called Acts of the Apostles, but only Peter and Paul are given any space. John is mentioned only 3 times, and for James only his execution by the Emperor Herod is mentioned. So it is more properly Some Acts of Some Apostles.

As Stack said before, we’re pretty sure that Acts was written by Luke who is also the author of the third Gospel. Luke was a Gentile (non-Jewish) from Antioch in Syria, and was a companion of Paul in his travels around Asia Minor, from Antioch, around through Greece, and to Rome. We know Luke was with Paul in Rome when Paul was in prison. Acts was probably written around the time Paul was put to death during his second imprisonment under the Emperor Nero in 64 or perhaps 66 CE.

The other readings are from the First Letter of John and the fourth Gospel. Traditionally 4 books of the New Testament were attributed to John the Apostle: the 4^th Gospel, 3 letters and the Book of Revelation. Scholars say that the vocabulary, grammar and style of writing make it unlikely that Book of Revelation was written by the same person responsible for the 4^th Gospel. Some modern Bible scholars raise the possibility that John the Apostle, John the Evangelist who wrote the Gospel and John of Patmos who wrote the Book of Revelation were 3 separate individuals. The First Letter of John reads like a summary of the 4^th Gospel teachings, and the time of writing is probably similar, in the latter part of first century, sometime between 80-100 CE. 

 

Homily

Today’s readings really speak for themselves.  That they happened to fall on Mother’s Day is serendipitous. In Acts we heard that the Good News is for everyone, without exception: “God shows no partiality.”

The Gospel told us what the Good News is: that God is love and is always with us, without exception. “Remain in my love”….”I tell you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be full”….“I call you friends.” 

And the Letter of John gave us the call to respond to the Good News: “Let us love one another…everyone who loves is of God…”  

On Mother’s Day we get to express love and gratitude in a special way for our mothers. Personally, I have never known a Mother who was not doing the very best she knew how. Not everyone, however, gets to have a Mother who consistently protects them, consistently nurtures and teaches them, and consistently loves them as they wish and deserve.  All mothers are somewhere on the continuum of consistency as mothers. All mothers I have known aspire to be good mothers, and good mothers aspire to be even better mothers. Some mothers were actually Aunts or Grandmothers or adoptive mothers. My mother’s mother died giving birth. So my mother’s mother was actually her Aunt Molly.

I think one of the reasons Mary, the Mother of Jesus, has received such honor and devotion from us down through the centuries is that, without knowing much about her life, we could easily project on to her an ideal of mothering for us to aspire to. I love it that we can do that today for all our mothers. Mothers aren’t perfect and don’t have to be perfect. We honor our mothers for protecting us, nurturing us, teaching us, and loving us as best they can or could.

My mother, a Methodist of Scotch-Irish descent, immigrated as a young woman from Mississippi to Louisiana in the 1920’s, to teach school in a very small town that was totally Cajun and Catholic. She left everything she knew and moved to live in a ‘foreign’ culture. There she met my father. They fell in love and married. My mother never felt fully accepted by all his family—remember this was 4 generations ago, when Catholics considered themselves the only true believers—everyone else was suspect. She of course had to promise that all her children would be raised Catholic. When my parents’ second child was born, a son, he died right after birth. My Mother was in a hospital in Abbeville where I later grew up, and my father was 10 miles away in the country, where they lived at that time on my grandparent’s plantation.

My father’s sisters apparently told him that my mother wouldn’t want anyone going to the hospital at this time; that she needed time alone before she came home. When I was about 21 my mother confided in me that story, and she finished telling it with the words, “I never forgot it, and I never forgave him.” I share this story, even though it carries her pain, because of what else it told me about her: that even though my mother and father did not have a close/intimate relationship and their married life was a struggle, she was totally dedicated to our family and to being the best mother she could be for us 5 children. And her life was a testament to that.

 

 

We do not get to choose our mothers. But today we get to honor them. However consistent they have been in protecting, nurturing and loving us, we honor all mothers today. We honor them for their dedication, and for their struggles, and for their efforts at mothering us the very best way they know how (or knew how).

 

The questions I have for us are: whoever mothered us, do we know and appreciate how she was mothered? What was her joy, and what was her pain and her struggle? And how do we honor that in our own lives?

 

 

Welcome in!

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

A Summer Blessing

May you walk with God
This summer
In whatever you do
Wherever you go

Walking with God means…
Walking with honesty
And with courage,
Walking with love
And respect
And concern for the feelings of others

May you talk to God
This summer
And every day and
In every situation

Talking with God means…
Praying words of praise
For the beauty of creation
Saying prayers of thanks
For friends and good times,
Asking God's help
In all your decisions
Expressing sorrow
When you have failed

May you talk with God
Every day. Amen.

www.jesuitresource.org  Author unknown

 

 

 

Mike doing his magic.

 

Readings:

Wisdom 12, 13, 16-19, There is no God besides you.

Psalm 86,  Lord, you are good and forgiving.

Romans  8, 26-27,  The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness.

Matthew 13, 24-43,   A sower went out to sow.  Three agricultural parables.

 

 

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers,    John & Connie & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel & Homily,  John Cade & Stack

Eucharistic Prayer, John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike & Richard & Ben

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

 

Download Readings Week 7-19

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Cindy recuperating from a procedure 3 Mondays ago;   For our Bill;  For Carrie Bieda's son;   For Esparzas, Frank & Mary, who lost their son Jim to sepsis;   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;   For Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;    For Sydney;  & For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom;   for Michelle;  

For Jackie's mom;  For a friend, a neighbor, & a doctor, Karen, with brain cancer; For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free.;    For Hue;  For John O'Donnell;    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;  for Virginia Mattingly.

 

 

Birthdays:  Reth Robonson

 

 

 

Community Finances, July 19, 2020

Expenses: $  360.00

Outreach   $  100.00   (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

The Hidden Blessings & Graces of COVID-19

I would like to talk this morning about the hidden blessings & graces available to us in this time of the COVID-19.  There are special gifts for us.  There are always opportunities for us to grow and be richer in body, mind, & spirit.  Today we have  extraordinary opportunities to grow into even better and richer people.

For example, take body.  What are you doing today to exercise, to get in better shape and to do it leisurely.  Jackie Johnson just got an airedyne bike for her house.  Rosemary & I have an airedyne  we bought when the J & the gyms were all closed.  I felt bereft when I could not go to work out with my friends at the J at 5:00 in the morning. 

 

 

Ben working his magic with Shonda sharing from home.

 

 

We also have been riding our bikes weekday mornings from Northwood Park at Royal Lane to White Rock Lake on the W. R. Creek Trail.  Granted, it was the way I was mounting my bike that injured the soft tissue around my left recycled hip.  I have learned. 

Did you know there has been a run on bikes & some bike stores were sold out?  In our neighborhood lots of families, parents and kids, ride by every day.  Biking, great exercise.  To say nothing about the people whom we have never seen walking by.  Some come by probably just to witness the devastation of our Tulip Lane corner.  So, what are you doing to improve or maintain your health? 

 

 

Richard consulting from a distance.

 

What about the mental component?  I remember that when I was laid up 10 years ago getting new hips I took up learning French.  Learn Spanish.  Rosemary & I are reading some really good books.  Across our street, Joyce Scott at 90 years & who did not read nor study Spanish, she loves the massive jigsaw puzzles.  Her house was one of the houses totally demolished that famous October 20 night.  But she loved her puzzles and she was mentally totally sharp.

And finally, the spirit.  What are you grateful for?  What is the blessing of today?  Make a list.  I’ve mentioned this before: Rosemary & I before we go to bed mention two or three special gifts of our day.

And you?  How are you growing in body, mind, and spirit during this unique time in our lives?

 

 

 

 

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.

Winston Churchill