11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 16, 2024

Readings:

Isaiah, 35, 1-6, 10,  Then will the eyes of the blind be opened

 Psalm 146,  Lord, come and save us.

 James 5, 7-10,  Welcome one another as Christ welcomed you.

 Matthew 11, 2-11,   Are you the one who is to come?

 

 

Treat of The Week: Sabrina is home from college.  Welcome home, Sabrina.

 

Observations on Isaiah 35

What:  The passage is another from Isaiah 1, (Chapters 1-39)

Our selection:  Another beautiful passage about a bright future.

 

 

Sez Tori, "Yes, Welcome Home, Sabrina."

 

Then the Eyes of the Blind will be opened

I would like to talk this morning about how once in a while, of course, only once in a while, I can be so blind to other people.  This is an old story, but it is right on.

One mild afternoon afternoon I was sitting on a bench in front of Baskin & Robbins on the corner of Preston & Royal, just near our house.   In front of me were two handicapped parking spots, both empty.

 

 

"Welcome home from me, too, Sabrina."
 

 

Suddenly a guy in, say, his early 20’s pulls into one of the parking spots, gets out of his car, and walks into Baskin & Robbins.  I am thinking, ‘Hey, this guys is cheating. There is nothing wrong with him and he has no handicapped sticker in his car window.’  I’m thinking, ‘Why did I not give him my opinion while he walked by me?  I will give it to him whenever he comes out.’

I wait probably about five minute, when suddenly the door opens.  The man emerges holding the right arm of a little old lady who was barely able to walk.

 

 

Is that really you, Leo?

 

Thank God ‘the eyes of the blind will be opened’ before something stupid is said.  Classic judging the book by the cover, one of my favorite activities.

Want to know of another place where my eyes are opened every year?  The Love for the Kids picnic in Flower Mound.

 

 

Love for the Kids picnic, entertainers

 

Again this year we had about 20 volunteers from our home community.  1000 kids with their teachers and sponsors.  There was all the usual activity, horseback riding, bounce units, face painting, people dressed as super heroes. 

When the kids walk in they are given a bag of goodies.  When they return to their school busses, they find a special gift in their seat.

 

 

Bill, the horse whisperer and the kid whisperer, helping the kids ride the horses.

 

They get lunch, put together by a bunch of our people.  People are floating around with bags of popcorn in baskets to give to the kids.  Kids who needed or wanted a coat, they could get one.  Bike helmets were being given away, good helmets.

I go to give the gift of my time to these kids, but the kids gift me even more.  But it is the great number of volunteers that touch my spirit.

 

 

So, the question obviously is: who is cuter, the white guy or the pink pig?  

 

That guy outside of Baskin & Robbins, the kids, and the volunteers open my eyes to the good around me.

How are you blind & how are your eyes opened?

 

Hey, John & Connie, I think those cookies are supposed to be for the kids' lunches, not you guys.

 

Not only were the kids given jackets & coats if they were needed, but bike helmets were given and fitted to the kids' heads.  These were good helmets, like Specialized.

 

Nehemiah 8:  Then Ezra praised God, the great God, and all the people responded, "Oh Yes! Yes!" with hands raised high. And then they fell to their knees in worship of God, their faces to the ground.

1 Corinthians 12:  You are Christ's body – that's who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your "part" mean anything.

John 2:  God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free,  to announce, "This is God's year to act!"

 

 

 

Another Reminder for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 26, 2025

2 Maccabees 7:  It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him;…

2 Thessalonians 2:  May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.

Luke 20:  They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.

 

     

Mary reading from Maccabees

 

 

Thanks…     

Music,    Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Mary and Warren

Gospel,   John Cade

Homily,  John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Richard & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

         

                               

Warren reading from Paul's letter to the Thessalonians

               

                                                                  

Readings:  Download 11-03-22- Readings – 32nd Sunday Ord

Homily:  

 

 

 

Grace and Aviana

 

 

 

Remember these special people:

For Jan; For Sandra who has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma;   For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer and Kaliope, John Cade's Mother-in-law;  For Madeleine, Richard Eshelbrenner's granddaughter;  For Donna and the Dinsmore Family after her brother, Dennis died  from pancreatic cancer;   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; 

                                                                    

 

 

Richard reminding us about the Love For Kids Party in December    

 

 

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.

 

 

 

John, Brent and Tom

   

 

Birthdays:   

Anniversaries:   

      

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $   1,210.00

Outreach: $   360.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

                 

John and Connie

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:  

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

 

Taken from IN FLANDERS FIELDS
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915 
during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium

Acts of the Apostles 10:  While Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word.

1 John 4:  Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.

John 15:  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete.

 

Readings:

Malachi  3, 19-20,  There will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.

 Psalm 98,  The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.

 2 Thessalonians 3, 7-12,  See what love the father has bestowed on us.

 Luke, 21, 5-19,   When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified.

Some Sundays the selection of readings are beautiful and touching. Some Sundays they are not.  Such are our readings today as we come to the end of the church readings for this year.

 

Who is this little girl in John's arms welcoming everybody?

 

Observations on Malachi:

What:  The very last book of the O.T.  A little book, only 4 short chapters.  

When:  After the return of the Israelites from the Babylonian Captivity, therefore, the 5th century before Christ, i.e., ca 499 and before.

Message: because of laxity and corruption Malachi is warning the people that they will get punished again.  Such is our reading today. 

 

 

Getting ready: you put your left arm in, Buddy, you put your right arm down, and you shake it all around.

 

 

Thanksgiving I

With the approach of Thanksgiving, my favorite feast of all, I would like to talk about what I am grateful for on two occasions, this Sunday and next Sunday. 

I want to talk today about what I am grateful for because it has been a rough, almost depressing week for me.  Tuesday night, of course, was where it began.  As the evening progressed I began to tell which way the wind was blowing. 

 

 

Got it, show time.

 

As you know, by 9:00 I was ready to go to bed, but I was also tempted to stay up.  Temptation.  So as not to get wound up, I told Rosemary I was going to be as normal and would check in the morning.  I went to bed consciously focusing on my blessings, and in the morning, despite the news, I continued.  This focus really helped me to maintain perspective and hope for the future. 

Want to know what the blessings were?  Here are the big four.

 

 

Our Candle Man of The week, Buddy.

 

First, I was grateful for the relationship Rosemary & I have.  Rosemary does not come to bed with me at 9:00, but she and Aviana are all snuggled in when I get up at 4:00.  The gift of their presence on a cold morning is almost enough to make me change my mind about getting up. 

The second blessing takes place when I get up.  After doing some pushups and crunches at home, I head to the Jewish Community Center where I join 10 – 20 others doing spin class and then I work out in the gym for 15 minutes.  In the winter I take a  shower.   I love the exercise and I love the congeniality.  I know a bunch of  people by name and even know a bunch of birthdays in my spin class.  Guess what I do on their birthdays. 

 

 

Congratulations to Cody and our dear Shonda (marriage).

 

Connected with the exercise at the J, I love the gift of White Rock Lake and my ability to be able to ride around it.  Thursday or Friday The Lake was flat as glass, just beautiful.   

Third blessing, you people, our community.  Every Sunday I head home with Rosemary and sometimes Aviana on a high.  The high continues through the afternoon when I am sorting through all the pictures for about 30 that I plug into the blog.

 

 

Hey, Leo, I am jealous of your glasses.

 

 Fourth blessing.  Thursday morning I was privileged to visit a guy’s mother who was just on the edge of moving to the other side.   She was in one of the retirement homes on Plano Parkway.  I went in.  She was lying on her back in bed.  Her eyes were open but she was oblivious.  Occasionally she had like muscle spasms where she would kind of ball up. 

I blessed her and then leaned down and caressed her cheek.  I put my left hand under her hair and talked quietly to her.  I heard the word mama once, so I started telling her her mama was coming for her.

 

 

The Best, Shonda & Ray

 

This went on for, say, 10-15 minutes.  I had worn my white alb to give her peace.  Then it happened.  She focused and looked right into my eye.  We looked consciously at each other maybe a foot apart.  I continued to reassure her.  Then she was gone again.

These are the daily blessings I focused on to maintain my normal inner peace.

 

 

Welcome Home, Norm, good to see you.

 

If you needed to, what did you do?

 

Welcome home, Kim and Dave, good having you in.

 

 

 

Community Finances:   

  Expenses: $  1,600.00

  Outreach: $   315.00

 

  Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

                       

Richard distributes Communion