Readings:

Revelation 7, 2-4, 9-14, These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress

Psalm 24, Lord this is the people that long to see your face. 

1 John 3, 1-3,  See what love the Father has bestowed on us.—–

Matthew 5,1-12, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom.

 

 

 

Thanks to the Team,  Ben & Shonda's  

Readers,   Denni & Tom & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Deacon Mike 

Homily,  Deacon Mike 

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,  Richard & Hue 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

Download Readings Week 31 All Saints (2)

 

 

Homily by Mike Carrell,   All Saints            

The Mark gospel teaches us how potential saints come alive:  It begins with the unexpected: an accident; a death; a fire, a flood. It is then that a call comes to us; the kingdom of God is at hand; repent. Live the Good News! 

Buddy, this morning, revealed to us from the Matthew Gospel how the beatitudes call us each to be the light in the world, to be saints.

The feast of All Saints teaches us that holiness comes in all sizes and shapes. Saints are rich and poor, young and old, warriors and peacemakers, scholars and those who don’t even know how to read. Every era has its saints as does ours. We read about the struggles our nurses and doctors face day after day to keep patients alive during this pandemic.

 

 

Mary Ellen, Honfleur, France, 2011, one of our Saints.

 

We give thanks to our parents, grandparents, and god parents who gave us names of known saints when we were baptized; they were intended to challenge us to be ready to respond to a call to holiness.

Most of the names of these heroes that we read about in the News have already faded away; however some of our teenagers have chosen not to forget about these holy ones by taking their names when they were and are confirmed.

Praise be to God.

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Alan Stryker;  For John Doherty recuperating from an operation this past week for his back pain;   For David Dinsmore's bad shoulder from a biking accident;  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 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 & Ben & Leo & all of Shonda's dear family;  

 

 

Mike, how come you did not invite us to this beautiful lake?  Daisy State Park, Arkansas.

For 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;   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,  For the students, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

 

Birthdays:  John DeGenova, Ed Kless, Karen Anderlick, Ryan McCabe, 19

  

 

Community Finances, November 1, 2020

Expenses: $750.00

Outreach   $200.00    (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

Home, Sweet Home for Mike & Gerry.

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

Gracious God inspire us with the hope in the gift of shalom, the gift of wholeness and the promise of your presence.

Give wisdom to seek nonviolence as an answer to the violence of our lives and world.

Give us courage to seek wholeness in a fractured and divided world, to find reconciliation rather than revenge, to abandon the instruments of violence and death and entrust our lives, our homes and our families to you.

May your presence fill us and others with the thirst for unity, wholeness, and the desire to see all people valued as created in your image.

May we and others receive your shalom, that we might be faithful instruments of your love.

Blessed be your name forever,

Amen.

Rabbi Andrew M. Paley, senior rabbi with Temple Shalom, Dallas.  He emailed this letter to his congregation and gave The Dallas Morning News permission to publish it.

 

Readings: Isaiah 2, 1-5; Psalm 122, Let us go Rejoicing to the House of the Lord; Romans 13, 11-14; Matthew 24, 37-44

 

First Sunday in Advent – Intro to Readings

With the start of a new Church year we begin a new cycle of readings, this year is Cycle A and the gospel readings will focus on Matthew’s Gospel.  It was written about the year 85-90 CE and used Mark’s Gospel, a source now referred to as “Q” and some material unique to Matthew.  The audience had knowledge of the Old Testament and is presumed to have been Jewish. 

 
 

A familiar phrase occurring some 41 times in the gospel is “this was to fulfill….”.  In Luke’s Gospel the major theme centered on Jesus journeying up to Jerusalem.  Matthew’s Gospel had five major sections, each ending with a great discourse, the most well known being the Sermon on the Mount.  Matthew’s Gospel is one of the two gospels to tell us about Jesus’ birth.  Joseph is the focus in this gospel and Mary is the focus in Luke’s Gospel. 

The trigger event for Matthew’s Gospel was the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.  Since the temple was central to the Jewish faith – what was to become of Judaism?  For Matthew it was Jesus, he is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, he is the way forward.

 

  

Homily 

The last line of our first reading from Isaiah was “let us walk in the light of the Lord” and I would like to use that line as our starting point for a few ideas on the Sacrament of Baptism.  In the rite of infant baptism, the priest hands the parents and godparents a lighted candle and says “receive the light of Christ”.  By our baptism we are put on a well lit spiritual highway.    

We know that in the gospels, Jesus begins his public ministry by being baptized by John in the Jordan River.  This baptism of John’s was a baptism of repentance.  The next time baptism is mentioned in the gospels is in Matthew’s gospel at the very end of the gospel “go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”. 

The Acts of the Apostles and Paul’s letters make clear that this command of Jesus was very quickly identified as the method of joining this group of followers of Jesus.  It became a ‘Rite of Initiation’.  Remember that for this early group, they were Jews first and then baptism made them different.  We have a clear disagreement between Paul and the other apostles over whether gentiles who were baptized needed to be circumcised also.  Paul won that argument. 

 
 

Within a couple of centuries we find a big change when the church declares that only those who are baptized can enter heaven and so we have Original Sin invented and baptism was the only way that could be forgiven.  This later let to the invention of Limbo.  It wasn’t until the Second Vatican Council that the focus on baptism shifted back to its being a sacrament of initiation or joining. 

 The point I would like to have us consider this morning is this:  what does being baptized mean to me today?  It may have happened when I was two or three days old, or maybe when I was an adult.  It was a one-time event, but I believe that has an effect in my life every day.  By being a member of the Christian community I am part of a group which focuses on living life according to a set of ideals, has a faith in a God who loves me and who wants me to love my neighbor.  

Just a few words about water, as the main symbol used in baptism.  Water is one of those primal elements, necessary for life.  Our experience of water is fairly simple, great for washing things, essential to keep a lawn alive here in Texas, wonderfully refreshing on a hot day for quenching thirst.  But for the Old Testament people it also reminded them of the escape thru the Red Sea from a life of slavery in Egypt, it was there at the beginning of time at the creation,

 and the waters of the flood destroyed all of the evil in the world.

 

Even though my baptism was a once only event, each time I come here to the community to celebrate the liturgy, each time I try to follow God’s way I am reaffirming what my parents had done to me when I was three days old. 

Picture 1:   Tony beginning with Advent Candles

Picture 2:   Sacrament of the Sick with Curtis

Picture 3:   Curtis' daughters, Marlene & Cindy

Picture 4:   Ryan with mom & dad, Jim & Michelle

Readings:

Acts 15, 1-2, 22-29,  Unless you are circumcised, you cannot be saved.   

Psalm 67,  Oh, God, let all the nations praise you

Revelation 21, 10-14, 22-23,  The angel took me in spirit to a great, high mountain.

John 14, 23-29,  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.

 WHAT: Acts

WHO: same as author of Gospel of Luke

WHEN: late 60’s, before 70

WHY: To further Paul’s desire to make “The Way” of Jesus’ followers acceptable to people in the Greco-Roman world of his time.

Today’s reading from Chapter 15 of Acts gives us another example of how the followers of Jesus at that time were originally Jewish. We have no documents from the 20 years following Jesus’ death. Scholars conjecture that there were writings from that time that became sources for the authors of the gospels of Matthew and Luke.

Whether or not there were such documents, the focus of the Jesus movement was on the “kingdom of God.” The movement gathered around the belief that Jesus preached with urgency and intensity the need to establish God’s reign on earth. The movement was a way of life and was radical in its embrace of Jesus’ preaching.

It is highly likely that in this 20 year period Jesus was considered by members of the movement to be a Jewish prophetical figure. The movement’s concern was to change this world. The focus was on Jesus’ preaching a way of life that would express the Divine Presence in human living and loving.

It is also important to acknowledge that this was a Jewish movement rather than a new religion. There is no evidence to suggest that any members of the Jesus movement thought they were part of a new religion.

Then, beginning mid-century with Paul’s writings and culminating in John’s Gospel at the end of the century, a monumental shift in thinking occurred. The short answer is that Paul, himself a Jew, embraced the idea that Jesus’ preaching and message was intended for Jews and Gentiles alike. So, in his letters, Paul wrote about Jesus in a way that could be heard and would be acceptable to the Greco-Roman world of his time.

This raises many other questions for us, for another time.

 

 Homily: 

When Lambrini left for Baton Rouge 2 weeks ago for a week of business training, I thought my home job would be watching after and preparing meals for my mother-in-law, Kalliopi. That changes when we discovered on Wednesday morning she had some serious bleeding. I took her to the ER. Eventually she was transferred to a room in the hospital,  given 2 units of blood by transfusion, and several tests ordered.

A colonoscopy indicated that diverticulosis was the likely culprit. Kalliopi was in hospital till Friday, still in a lot of pain from the broken arm. I was moved by the peace with which she accepted all the questioning and poking and testing she endured along with the pain of her broken arm. She shared her gratitude for the treatment she received from the doctors and nurses and techs. She did not whine or demand special treatment.

 

When Kalliopi was moved from the ER to the room I met her roommate, Margaret. I spoke with Margaret off and on and actually asked about her story. About 5 years ago Margaret was bitten by a dog in the abdomen and she developed sepsis, a dangerous blood infection that is often fatal. In her case it led to the amputation of both legs and about half of her right hand. Her lungs were seriously affected. She is on oxygen all the time. Before we left Margaret told me she was to have a rib removed to facilitate being able to treat her lungs that need drainage and other treatment.

In talking with Margaret I observed how calm she seemed to be and how she did not complain about being in the hospital again for more surgery. The only time she complained was when we met her. She had been taken for tests and had not been given a meal. I offered to get food for her down on the 1^st floor, but she kept asking nurse at station for a meal and eventually got it. When they brought her food, it wasn’t great. When she heard me say I was going down to eat, she asked me for a favor, to bring her a Hershey bar with almonds, which I did.  

Eventually I asked Margaret how she was able to have peace in the midst of all her trauma.  Margaret replied, “I pray a lot.” She added that when she woke each morning, she gave thanks for her life. I told her she was an inspiration to me in the way she accepted her life just as it came to her, and in the way she received peace and shared that peace with others.

This past Sunday Lambrini and I were at Joey’s home for the 70^th birthday celebration of my former wife, Kay. Joey, as a surprise gift for her mom, had flown Kay’s granddaughter, Chyna, and Chyna’s 10 month old daughter, Catrina, from Florida for the weekend.

 

 

I mention this because I got to experience again the peace that Chyna, the new mother in our family, has. I won’t go into details, but Chyna has had plenty of trauma in her young life. Yet she displays so much peace in her life, in her mothering and in her relationships.

A few words about peace, inner peace. Although some people may live in a more-or-less constant state of peace, most of us experience moments of peace in our lives. For me it is most often close contact with nature and in special relationships that I experience peace. Sometimes we are surrounded by nature (trips to mountains or oceans eg) and sometimes we are struck by nature in our urban lives (sunset, cloud formation eg). Peace received in relationships sometimes comes with those we are closest to, and sometimes it is a chance moment like my meeting Margaret.

My question is how do you receive and experience peace? And how do you share this peace with others?

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Welcome in, Everybody," says our dear Michelle, The Great Mom.

 

 

Readings:

Isaiah 40, 1-5, 9-11,   Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God

Psalm 85,  Lord, let us see you kindness and grant us your salvation.

2 Peter 3, 8-14,  One day with the Lord is like a thousand years.

Mark, 1, 1-,  He will prepare your way.

 

Christmas Eve Mass, 12/24/17 at 4:00.

 

 

Our Dearest Candle Lighter, Emma, at work bringing us light.

 

Observations on Isaiah

Who: number 2 Isaiah, my favorite and a bringer of peace and consolation.  This is despite the fact that Isaiah 2 is composing during the time of the Babylonian Captivity.

If you are familiar with Handel’s Messiah, you will recognize lines he took directly from this passage.  

 

Watch out for a line in the letter of Peter, where God is compared to a thief who will come unexpectedly and send you to a bad place.

 

 

 

Thanks for the help with the Offertory, Teresa & Tom, and Leo in the back.

 

 

The Day of the Lord will come like a thief

In the spirit of Advent I want to tell you three stories about how the thief came to me in the past week.  This is my kind of thief, one who brings peace and consolation.

 

 

 

The Best Music with Shonda, Ben, & David.
 

 

 

There is a person who lives in a suburb not far from our community gathering place here at Sigler Elementary.  In this neighborhood the Dallas Morning News is delivered every morning at 6:10.  The paper is thrown into the lawn from a passing car or pick-up (not like in my days as a paper boy when I walked and took pride in placing the paper right at the front door).  In the neighborhood the first person to fetch the paper walks around and delivers everyone’s paper to their doorstep.  Pretty cool.

This past Friday morning this person was ready to do the paper delivery, stepped out, and behold, his paper had already been delivered by a neighbor.  This is getting merit by intention, an old Catholic grade school teaching of the Ursuline nuns.  The person?  Our Mike Carroll, a thief who regularly brings peace and consolation to all.

 

 

 

Communion ready, Claire & Sandra, Geri & Mike & Patricia.

 

 

 

The name of second thief is unknown.  Andy Sokolowski, one of our stalwart backpackers, told me this.  He & his wife were in their RV looking for a special park in Arizona.  They cannot find it, are sitting at the edge of the road looking at their map, and up comes a black guy who asks if they are lost. 

Yes!  The guy explains how to get to the park, which involves about half a dozen turns on little roads.  A couple of miles down their road, they are lost again. 

 

 

 

The real thieves at the Love for Kids picnic bringing peace and consolation.

 

 

But, behind them comes the thief bringing peace and consolation.  He offers to personally lead them to the park.  The thief of peace and consolation has struck again.

The third even took place yesterday, yes, the Great Love for Kids picnic at the large ranch west of Flower Mound.  The picnic invites kids from DISD and other school districts.  The schools are mostly from low income neighborhoods.

 

 

 

Those thieves were everywhere.   This young teacher is lacing up the shoe of one of her little charges.

 

Saturday 30 plus buses delivered a thousand pumped kids to a whole swarm of activities.  I watched those kids come into the big rectangular pavilion.  They were so excited.   Immediately they were welcomed with music and special middle school kids who sang and invited the kids to dance.  One the stage was even a Downs Syndrome girl who could really dance.

Waiting for them were bags of pop corn, kool-ade, face painting and tatoos, horse back rides, and  lunch.  Plus more music and dancing.  Every kid got a new winter coat and they were not all alike.  When the kids got back on their buses, guess what they found. A package of goodies had been put on every seat in every bus.

 

 

 

 

Welcome, All You Kids.

 

Who made this all possible and did all the work?  A whole big gang of volunteers , among them a big bunch from our community.  They struck again, those thieves of peace and consolation.

To whom are you a thief bringing peace and consolation?

 

 

These kids looked like middle school level, but could they all sing and dance, and get everyone else dancing.

 

 

 Readings:

Isaiah 6, 1-8,  Whom shall I send?  Send me.

Psalm 138,  In the sight of the angels, I will sing your praises, Lord.

1 Corinthians 15, 1-11, I am the least of the apostles.

Luke 5, 1-11, They caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing.

 

Leo and his best pacifier, John

For those who don’t have a decent Bible or a book of the readings, here are two links that I use,

The Bible at Your Fingertips (http://st-luke-church.org/bible-at-finger-tips.php) and USCCB, The New American Bible (http://www.usccb.org/).  

The difference?  The first is Protestant more or less, and the second is officially Catholic and has the 12 little books in between the O.T. & N.T., called Deuterocanonical or Apocrypha. 

Both are good translations. 

Buying a bible?  The Jerusalem Bible. 

 Isaiah 1

This is The Great One.  The Prophet.  My favorite.  In general, this work has three parts put together by three different people.  It is time dependent: before, during, and after the, you guessed it, the Babylonian Captivity.  Keep 500 before Christ in mind as an easy date. 

Last week we heard the story of the prophet Jeremiah’s call by Yahweh.  This week we have Isaiah’s call. 

Psalm 138

Want to hear something beautiful?  Listen to today’s psalm.  Another of my favorites. Thanks, thanks, and more thanks.

1 Corinthians 15

In last week’s Corinthians’ reading Paul described his vision of love.  Today he continues talking to the people of his church in Corinth, focusing on how he was called by God.

 

 

The Small Call

I would like to talk this morning about small calls.  Our readings are all about great calls, like Isaiah, to be God’s spokesperson.  These calls come once in life, or a few times in life.  I would like to suggest small calls come every day.   Let me illustrate.

In Mexico City there is this magnificent avenue, Reforma, modeled by the Empress Carlotta on the famous Champs Elysee in Paris, built during our Civil War, say 1860.  A week ago I was on Reforma one afternoon before returning to the U.S.

I was intrigued.  The government provides rental bikes.  Along the pedestrian islands that border Reforma are numerous racks of some 40 bikes which people can rent.  People are riding these bikes all over the center of Mexico City.  I wanted to know if I could rent a bike for a day. 

I had asked a few people, but no one was sure.  I was simply told that for $30 I could obtain a card which I could use to rent the bike for one year.

 

 At one point I am standing beside the check-in post reading the instructions.  You buy the card at a drug store, show proof of identity, and then swipe the card through the reader.  It tells you what number bike is yours.  You may return the bike to any of the numerous bike racks around the city center.

I finish unsatisfied, turn around, and watch a man ride up on one of the recognizable bikes.  He puts it in the rack down the way, then begins to walk in my direction.  He is middle aged, in his mid 50’s, trim, dressed neatly in business pants, white shirt and tie, and a small back pack. 

I ask him if he could help me.  I tell him what I want and he is sure I cannot rent a bike for a day.  In fact, he thinks only citizens can rent the bikes. 

We continue to talk.  I tell him how I admire Mexico City for installing the bikes, that my wife & I, who ride a lot, saw the bikes two years ago when we were in town.  He says he has seen them not only in Mexico City, but in cities in the States and in Europe.  This tells me something, he has traveled internationally.

 

We have a charming conversation for about 10 minutes.  As we part he tells me how he enjoyed conversing, welcome to Mexico, and, get this, he congratulates me on excellent Spanish!

Folks, I could have done a backward somersault in the air.  I felt I could jump from tree top to tree top.  I was so full, ecstatic, grateful.    All the work I had put into Spanish over the years was worth it. 

This is the small call, what that Mexican did.  A compliment. 

 

I would propose that we get small calls every day.  A compliment, an offer to help, a thanks, an apology for a small mishap.  The girl at the checkout has fancy fingernails; I tell her I like them. 

These small calls fill others.  With life. 

What was your small call yesterday?  Your next one? 

                                                 

Readings:  2 Special Readings plus Psalm 145 (from Aug. 3) &  John 15, 9.  The readings:

                 Download remembrance_readings_1102.doc

Celebrating All Souls

I want to dedicate our Mass & homily this morning to two little twin girls, Samantha & Zoe.They were  born Tuesday in Plano Presbyterian to Michelle & Randolf Brown.  Michelle is the daughter of Bernadette & Gilberto Delgado.  Michelle was with us last Sunday or at most two Sundays ago.  Zoe was born healthy & happy.  Samantha died at birth.

I visited Zoe & Samantha Tuesday evening.  I baptized, blessed, & prayed for Samantha who was being held by her dad while Zoe nursed.  Both little girls were beautiful and I had a hard time registering that Samantha had moved on already to the next world.  She is one of our most recent souls whom we honor today, All Souls Day. 

Let me give you a bit of history and the thinking behind this All Souls' Day.  Five observations: the theology, purgatory-limbo, a legend, pre-Christian practices, and today.

 

1.  The Theology.  All Souls' Day is part of a package with All Saints.  The idea is: on All Saints' Day we honor all those who are enjoying the beatific vision, that is, heaven, the saints.  On All Souls' Day we honor those who have died but have not reached heaven because they have penance to do. 

We are talking mortal & venial sin here.  If the person died with mortal sin, they are you know where. Those with venial sins have to go through purification and purging, which brings us to All Souls' Day and purgatory.

2.  Purgatory & Limbo.  People ended up in purgatory to purify themselves with suffering, before being allowed into heaven.  Limbo was for whom?  It was for people, especially children, who died without being baptized.  They remained there how long?  Forever.  Can you imagine Samantha there or even in the old purgatory?

At least the Catholic Church this year or last acknowledged that the limbo idea was bogus.  Rome has said it does not exist and never did.  Though many consider purgatory to be in the same class, it still exists in the minds of some.    Indulgences are for the souls in purgatory or the living.  It speeds up the process for those in purgatory.  There are partial & total indulgences.  We can win them for these souls and get them out or we can win them for ourselves. 

For instance, on the last feast of Peter & Paul Rome offered an indulgence if you visited a church named after one or both of these two, and you recited a prescribed menu of prayers.  All Souls' Day used to be aimed at winning lots of indulgences for the souls in purgatory.

3.  The legend.   It happened around 1000 A.D. that a monk, St. Idolo, from the French monastery of Cluny was shipwrecked on a desolate island as he returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, i.e., Israel.  On the island he met a poor hermit.  The hermit told him that among the rocks was a crevice from which came the anguished voices of the many suffering in purgatory.  Likewise, listening carefully you could hear the devils cursing that living people were speeding up the sufferings of these souls by praying and doing penance for them. 

Some time after this, i.e., 1000 A.D., the Cluny Monastery established an All Souls' Day.  Ca. 1300 Rome followed suit.  

4.  Pre-Christian times.  There is evidence that at least in Mexico numerous tribes had a day or period when the departed ancestors were honored.  The purpose was to honor them, remember their example, and to communicate with them.  In Europe food & drink was put out over night.  Today in Mexico & in Hispanic families here in the States the Day of the Dead is still celebrated.  This custom has been celebrated for 3,000 years.

5.  Today.  Limbo has been discarded by Rome and many scholars consider purgatory a dinosaur idea from antiquity.  All these ideas are man made, not God made.  Consequently, today All Souls' Day celebrates Samantha, my mom & dad, Rosemary's mom & dad, and all our loved ones pictured on the stage.  All Saints' Day still focuses on the canonized.  

Who among these people has touched your heart the most? 

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-11-02.mp3

Picture 1: All Souls' Mass & Sabrina

Picture 2: All Souls' Mass & Choir

Picture 3: Hunter & Audry