4th Sunday of Lent, March 15, 2026

Sirach 3:  My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.   Humble yourself the more, the greater you are,  and you will find favor with God.   

Hebrews 12:  No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering, and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, …

Luke 14:  Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

White Rock Lake
                                                                                

Love never counts—either what it gets or what it gives. “Love,” Eleanor Farjeon writes, “has no utter most, as the stars have no number and the sea no rest.”

The Monastic Way, Sister Joan Chittister 

   

 Another Reminder for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 31, 2025

Isaiah 1:   All nations shall stream toward it; many peoples shall come and say: “Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.”
Romans 13:  You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.  For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand.
Matthew 24: Therefore, stay awake!  For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.

Being open to the unexpected is the beginning of new life, new growth, new possibilities. To be happy it is necessary to learn to let go of the way we are convinced life is and open our hearts and mind to what it really is.
The Monastic Way, Sister Joan Chittister

 

From Lynda Fleming:

Senior Citizens Angel Tree:
We are partnering again this year with the Wellness Center for Older Adults in Plano. There are a variety of ways you can help:
~ If you would like to sponsor a senior, please text Lynda Fleming at 972-754-0823 with the number of seniors you would like to sponsor and a budget amount.
~ If you would like to make a contribution, please Venmo her @LyndaFleming and she’ll be happy to shop for you.
~ if you would like to donate $20 gift cards, the most requested places are Walmart, Subway, Target and Aldi.

Thanks so much for your support and generosity!!

I asked Lynda how much it would cost to sponsor a person.   She said  it would probably be $20-$30. They typically want pajamas or a couple pieces of clothing or a small appliance, things like that…
She also said The Wellness Center will contact as many of their people as they can to ask for needs and wants. If they don’t need anything specific, we give them a gift card depending on if they asked for a restaurant, groceries or general items.

 

Another Reminder for the 1st Sunday in Advent, November 30, 2025
Here are the links for Sunday:

For Zoom   ( the video conference)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88528744737?pwd=Te3cub31Q6XpNvUfzutHMgQ8JGqd42.1
Meeting ID: 885 2874 4737
Passcode: 412993

 

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.

 

 

            Wake up, Genevieve, it's time for another great homily.

 

Welcome: Catholic Mass with coffee and juice and pastries, both bought and home-made, after Mass.

Time: 9:30; Celebrate with the Community & Stack.

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

  

  

 

     You, too, Emma, wake up, though I think you are faking it.

 

Readings:

Jeremiah 31, 7-9,   Shout for joy, the Lord has delivered his people.

Psalm 126,    The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

Hebrews  5, 1-6, Every high priest is taken from among people.

Mark 10, 46-52,  Bartimaeus, a blind man, sat by the road begging.                      

 

                                                     Let's begin.                            

Community Activities:  

1.        ROMEO MEET: Friday, October 23, Jason's Deli, Collin Creek Mall, west side of Central, 1:00.   Excellent conversation this past week.  

 2.      LADIES' LUNCHEON,  Friday,  November ?,  12:30 P.M.,  Uni Sushi, 1410 Ave. K, # 1109B, Plano.  Carol says, “Join us early if you can.  They close at 2:00”

Everyone, please forward to anyone you think would be interested.  If you let me know I will add their email to the list. 

Carol 

  

               Sandra accepting Chuck's birthday Cupcake. 

                                           

What is going on in our Catholic World

1.      Some say the Synod is being manipulated, The Tablet,  October 13, 400 words,   Download Synod manipulation 10-22-15          

2.      Synod seeing conflicts arise,  National Catholic Reporter, October 13,  390 words,      Download Synod conflicts 10-22-15

3.      Synod is dealing with Marriage, National Catholic Reporter, October 15,   345 words,        Download Synod on marriage 10-22-15

4.       Fears surfacing in the Synod, National Catholic Reporter,  October 17, 555 words,     Download Synod fear 10-22-15

5.       NJ Bishop lays down the law,  Crux,  October 13, 410 words,       Download NJ Bishop sets strict rules 10-22-15

 

               Says Zoe, "Happiness is a Cupcake of the Week."

 

True?  

 If you are depressed, you are probably living in the past;

If you are anxious, you are living in the future;

If you are at peace, you are living in the present.

 
                                                The elevation.

                                                                                                                                           See you this Sunday.

J.S., 214-783-0443

 

 

                Rosemary reading her blessing of the week. 

           

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.

 

 
                 Victoria says, "Bye, Folks, See you next week."

 

           

Mass: 9:30; coffee, donuts, home made muffins, & juice on the house.

Place: Vines High School on 15th between Custer & Independence.

Readings: Genesis 12, 1-4; Psalm 33; 2 Timothy 1, 8-10; Matthew 17, 1-9.

Community Bulletin Board

Feb. 10 Mass, this past Sunday:   Thanks, Everyone.    

Rotary Camp Ryla: any high school juniors who would like me to sponsor you to an all expense paid, one week camp for leadership?  The camp has great press.  Takes place in June.

See you Sunday.

 

 

 

They finally caught her.
 

 

 

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

 

 

 

The Girls.  Again.

 

Readings:

Ezekiel  33, 7-9,    You have been appointed watchman for the house of Israel

Psalm 95,   If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts

Roman s 13, 8-10,  Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another

Matthew 18, 15-20,  Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am.  

 

 

 

Does that not look like a takeover!

 

 

Community Activities:  

ROMEO MEET: Friday, September 15, Jason's Deli, Collin Creek Mall, west side of Central, 1:00.  Welcome all wakos,  you will fit right in.  Most of us will be gone to Yosemite until the 14^th.  Take a break for a week?

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

 

 

The Community.

 

What is going on in Our Catholic World

1. Jean Vanier, The Tablet & Corpus, August 18  800 words (a hero of mine from my years in Toronto),   Download VANIER 7-31-17

 

 

 

The Best Team.

 

True?    (from Patricia)

Author Anne Lamott recently turned 61. So she’s compiled the following list of “every single true thing I know.” A brief recap:

1. All truth is a paradox. “Life is a precious unfathomably beautiful gift, and it is impossible here,” she says. Life is “filled with heartbreaking sweetness and beauty, floods and babies and acne and Mozart, all swirled together.”
   .
2. “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes.” That includes you.
   .
3. Nothing outside of you will help you in any real, lasting way. Radical self-care is the only thing that will get you through. It’s hard to admit, but it’s true, and it works the other way around too. “If it is someone else’s problem, you probably don’t have the solution,” she says.
   .
4. “Everyone is screwed up, broken, clingy and scared. Everyone, even the people who seem to have it most together.” So don’t compare your insides to someone else’s outsides, she warns.
   .
5. “Chocolate with 75% cacao is not actually a food. Its best use is as bait in snake traps or to balance the legs on wobbly chairs.”
   .
6. Every writer puts down terrible first drafts. The trick is that they commit to sticking with it. They take it Bird by Bird, her father’s advice that became the heart of her bestselling book. “Every story you own is yours. If people wanted you to write more warmly about them, they should have behaved better,” she says. “You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
   .
7. Creative success are “something you have to recover from. They will hurt, damage and change you in ways you cannot imagine.” And that brings us back to #1, because creative success is also amazing. “It is a miracle to get your work published,” she says. “Just try to bust yourself gently of the fantasy that publication will heal you, will fill the Swiss cheesey holes inside you. It can’t. It won’t.”
   .
8. Families are both astonishing and hard. Again reference #1. “Earth is forgiveness school,” she says. “It begins with forgiving yourself — then you might as well start at the dinner table.”
   .
9. Speaking of food: try to do a little better. “I think you know what I mean.”
   .
10. Grace is a powerful thing. “Grace is Spiritual WD-40 or water wings,” she says. “The mystery of grace is that God loves Henry Kissinger and Vladimir Putin and me exactly as much as He or She loves your new grandchild.” Grace doesn’t always come in the forms you expect. Lamott sees it most in laughter. “Laughter really is carbonated holiness,” she says. “It helps us breathe again and again, and gives us back to ourselves.”
    .
11. God isn’t that scary. Rather than getting trapped in the mundanity of our own lives, she tells us to “go look up.” Now. “My pastor says you can trap bees on the floor of a Mason jar without a lid, because they don’t look up,” she says. “If they did, they could fly to freedom. Instead, they walk around bitterly, bumping into glass walls.”
    .
12. Death is incredibly hard to bear, and you don’t get over losing people you love. “We Christians like to think death is a major change of address,” she says. “But the person will live again fully in your heart, at some point, if you don’t seal it off.” Memories of the people you love will make you smile at inappropriate times, but their absence will also be “a lifelong nightmare of homesickness for you.” Again, see #1.

She takes a deep breath. “Okay, I think that’s it. But if I think of anything else, I’ll let you know.”

 

 

Healing for Cindy.

 

See you Sunday.

J.S., 214-783-0443

 

A footnote:  We are donating  as a Community

$1000 to the special fund established by the mayor of Houston,

$1000 to the 1st Baptist Church of Rockport

 

 

 

Healing and Life for Zoe.

 

 

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.

 

 

Communion for everyone.