Reminder for the 1st Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2024

Acts of the Apostles 2:  Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father and poured him forth, as you see and hear .

1 Peter 1:  He was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the final time for you….

Luke 24:  "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!"  Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

                  

 

 

 

                                                

John Stack Ministries now meets at:  The ArtCentre of Plano, 902 E. 16th St, Plano

 

                                                            

Spring

 

Isaiah 62:  No more will anyone call you Rejected, and your country will no more be called Ruined. You'll be called Hephzibah (My Delight), and your land Beulah (Married), Because God delights in you and your land will be like a wedding celebration.

1 Corinthians 12:  All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.

John 2:  This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

 

Aviana 6/2008

 

Aviana 1/2025

 

 

 

Another Reminder for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 19, 2025

Good Sunday afternoon everybody (hoping you are healthy and peaceful),

 

Here is the link to the Mass this morning.  It was a special service and one I hope will fill you with hope and appreciation.  Hopefully, next week we can be live but we shall see.  In the meantime have a healthy and peaceful week.

 

https://youtu.be/SCtQ5Wl-M6s  

 

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

Exodus 22:  Thus says the LORD: "You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.

1 Thessalonians 1: And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

Matthew 22: He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

 

 

John reading from Exodus

 

 

Thanks…     

Music,    Ben 

Readers,  Connie & John

Homily,   John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

Homily:  Download 10-29-23 Homily -30th Ordinary

     

                                

 

Connie reading from Thessalonians

 

 

 

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.

 

 

John sharing his homily

                                          

Birthdays:   Rob Robinson 10/29, Karen Anderlick 11/4

Anniversaries:  

 

       

The Kiss of Peace
        

 

Community Finances:   

Expenses:  $ 70.00

Outreach:  $  

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Hue and Ben

       

 

 

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

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

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

 

 

 

Readings:

Jeremiah   20, 10-13,  He has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked

 Psalm 69,   Lord, in your great love answer me. 

Romans 5, 12-15, Through one man sin entered the world.

Matthew 10, 26-33, Fear no one. 

 

 

 

Community Activities:  

ROMEO MEET: Friday, June 30, Jason's Deli, Collin Creek Mall, west side of Central, 1:00.  Welcome all wakos,  you will fit right in.  

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

 

 

 

What is going on in Our Catholic World

1. The vanishing parish priest,   The Tablet, June 7,   800 words,  

 

 

 

True?

The 'Middle Wife' by an Anonymous 2nd grade teacher:

I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids
myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own
second grade classroom a few years back.

When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few
sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually,
show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model
airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never,
ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug
it in to school and talk about it, they're welcome.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing
kid,takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a
pillow stuffed under her sweater.

She holds up a snapshot of an infant. 'This is Luke, my baby brother,
and I'm going to tell you about his birthday.'

'First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad
put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for
nine months through an umbrella cord.'

She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not
to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching
her in amazement.

'Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts going, 'Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!'
Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. 'She walked around the
house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!' (Now this kid is doing a
hysterical duck walk and groaning.)

'My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't
have a sign on the car like the Domino's man. They got my Mom to lie
down in bed like this.' (Then Erica lies down with her back against
the wall.)

'And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case
he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like
psshhheew!' (This kid has her legs spread with her little hands miming
water flowing away. It was too much!)

'Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push,' and 'breathe, breathe.
They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a
sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they
all said it was from Mom's play-center, so there must be a lot of toys
inside there. When he got out, the middle wife spanked him for
crawling up in there in the first place.'

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat.

I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, when it's
Show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another 'Middle
Wife' comes along.

 

 

 

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.