Reminder for 7th Sunday of Easter, May 12, 2024

Readings:                          

Proverbs  8,  22-31, When the Lord established the heavens I was there.

Psalm 8,  Lord, Our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth

Romans 5,1-5,    We have been justified by faith.

John 16, 12-15,  I have much more to tall you

 

John's Homily

The fruits or signs of the Spirit, what you see when a person lives in the Spirit of Jesus, are the behaviors that descrobe love, joy, peace, patience or tolerance, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness or self-control.

I have shared with you in the past my having sisters who no longer speak with one another and the pain this signifies.  Well, this whole past week I have experienced the signs of the Spirit.  Lambrini’s older brother George had never been to Dallas in the 22 years since Lambrini and I were married.

 On the occasion of his mother, Kalliopi’s, 90^th birthday, George agreed to come.  I already knew George as a man of love and joy and peace.  He lives with his wife, on their farm in Pelaponesia near a town called Crimidi.  In addition to love, joy and peace, George demonstrates amazing patience. 

 

 

Guess who lit candles today.

 

 

I’m able to practice patience in some aspects of life, but fall down, especially in the areas of mechanics and technology.  I lose patience with machines that I want to do something they won’t do.  E.g., my lawn mower ‘died’ last year at the beginning of mowing season.  I found someone who would cut my yard for a reasonable cost and didn’t buy a new machine.  This year I took it in and the shop guy said it wasn’t worth fixing, and he could sell me a new one for $300.  When George got here, he little by little found out what was wrong with it, and then fixed each problem, one by one. 

I was amazed.  George reminded me of what Scott Peck said in his classic book, The Road Less Traveled’.  He said that he, like many others, said “I can’t do this or that.”  Peck said what we mean is “I won’t spend the time learning how to do that.”  Anyone graced with normal intelligence can learn to do anything, if we exercise the patience required to learn how.

Then yesterday my family got together to welcome George to Dallas and to celebrate Kalliopi’s and Lambrini’s birthdays.  Lambrini’s sister-in-law Debbie, and her daughter Leah with her one year old son, flew in to be with George and the family.  Our two daughters and grandson Freddie also came.

 

Viking Sea docked at Stockholm, Sweden last night, a Spirit Event.

 

 

I experienced their love and peace and kindness with one another all day long.  Everyone showed their love for Leah’s 1-year old CJ, and Joey’s 5-year old Freddie—total acceptance and joy.  I saw Patience, which includes tolerance, in how the 5 carnivores and 3 vegetarians respected one another and showed great tolerance for our different life choices.  Faithfulness includes self-control, and I experienced this sign of the Spirit in their total lack of judgement in sharing personal stories with each other.  What a day of blessing.

I also experience this ‘Spirit event’ each week when we gather here to celebrate together.  Remember Stack talking about the ‘Christmas event’ and the ‘Easter or Resurrection event’.  At Pentecost time we celebrate the ‘Spirit event’.  Be on the watch for Spirit events; they are happening all the time.   

How do you experience ‘Spirit events’, in yourself and with others?

 

Sunset around 9:00 P.M. Saturday night, Stockholm.  The Ending. 

 

 Yes, we have just returned to Dallas, Ro & Jo

 

 

Jeremiah 38:   Then the king ordered Ebedmelech the Cushite to take 3 men along with him, and draw the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he should die.

Hebrews 12:  For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross,…

Luke 12:  There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished.

                           

         

Mary reading from Jeremiah

 

 

Thanks…

Music,    Ben

Readers,  Mary & 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 Hebrews       

Readings:  Download 08-14-22- Readings – 20th Sunday Ord

Homily:  

                  

                         

Hue and Kevin working on the Zoom

 

 

 

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 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; 

                           

Meredith, Brent and Paul

                                                                                                                                              

                   
Aggie and Allan 

 

 

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.

 

 

Connie and Barbara

   

Birthdays:   Marlene Ekes 8/15

Anniversaries:   Jean & John O'Donnell 8/15, Bernadette & Gilberto Delgado  8/20

      

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $   780.00

Outreach: $   120.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

                 

 

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:  

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty;

To find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you lived.

This is to have succeeded.

 

Success – Ralph Waldo Emerson

May you succeed!

  

Acts 2,  They were all in one place together.

Psalm 104, Lord, Send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth

1 Corinthians 12, There are different kinds of spiritual gifts

John 20, Jesus came and stood in their midst

 

Welcome, Barb  & Warren.

 

Romeos, Welcome!    Jason's Deli, 1:00, Friday. May 21.  Required: vaccines, mask for entrance & departure. 

 

All of you who attended Mass this past Sunday are welcomed this Sunday.  We were circa 30 people.   Another 10 would fit in comfortably.  Is it time we discard our masks during our Mass?

 

 

Meeting of the board.

 

Another Reminder for Sunday, May 23, 2021.

Here are the links for Sunday:

 

John Cade Homily 5-16-2021

Download Homily John Cade 5-16-21

 

The Old Cripple with his nurse.

 

 

 

 

Acts of the Apostles 2:  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

1 Corinthians 12:  There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there  are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.

John 20:  Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

           

      

 

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

 

 

Here are the arrangements for Sandra Pratt:

                       

Celebration of Life:  Thursday, 5/25,  6:30 PM to 8:00 PM

All Saints Catholic Church, Dallas, Fellowship Hall

5231 Meadowcreek Drive, Dallas, TX

 

LIVESTREAM INFORMATION for the Celebration of Life

The livestream will start about 5-10 minutes before it begins, and that is when the livestream will appear at the below links.

The livestream can be accessed at https://www.allsaintsdallas.org/livestream.  If you click on that link right now it will show that the next event is tomorrow’s 9 AM Mass (or today’s mass may still be on)… but that is the spot all livestreams can be found.

We simulcast to Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/asccdallas) and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@asccdallas).

Christ the King Catholic Church, 

8017 Preston Road, Dallas, TX

 

The streaming info for the funeral Mass is not available yet.

 

Here is the homily for Sunday.

Ezekiel

Ezekiel was the third great prophet with Isaiah and Jeremiah, because this author’s book is big like theirs, divided into 48 chapters.  Ezekiel is called by God to warn the Israelite people of their coming punishment and banishment to Babylon because of their infidelity to God and his law.  Ezekiel starts out about 600 years before Jesus lived and before the Babylonian captivity. Ezekiel’s prophecies continue through the captivity and the return of the Jewish people to Israel.

                                                                              

Homily

The book of Ezekiel is about warning people to get it together. The Gospel story has a similar directive to warn or confront a friend of their need for correction.  I want to say a word about that difficult directive.  The formula given in Matthew is 1) By yourself, speak your hurt to your friend and try to work it out; 2) take one or two others and confront your friend; and 3) take it to the community for mediation.  The smartest statement in Matthew may be admitting that these three steps might not achieve the desired end, and then you start over from scratch (or you drop it).  The point I want to make is that human relationship is probably the most difficult thing we do as humans and that healing hurt is what we’re all about.

An example is a personal case I have talked about before, between my sisters and me.   

1) Two of my sisters felt hurt and upset by each other’s actions in regards to our sister Carol’s care in a nursing home. Our older sister had been in charge of managing Carol’s care.  The sister who lives in the town where Carol’s nursing home was visited Carol and checked up on her every day. The older sister and the local sister didn’t seem able to speak respectfully to or listen well with each other. Often they would cancel out one another’s directives about Carol’s care. So Step 1 didn’t really happen.

2) Their inability to connect work together as co-caregivers led to step 2 and my involvement. Our older sister asked me to be present at a meeting with the local sister and our youngest sister, and an ombudsman representing Carol. This was an awkward meeting.  Since the home had complained about the local sister’s intrusive and disruptive behavior at the home, and threatened to ask us to remove Carol from the home, I and our youngest sister sided with our older sister in the matter. In theory this meeting had the potential of bringing us together for Carol’s sake.  In reality the process pitted two sisters and a brother against Carol’s local sister and set limits on that sister’s behavior as regards the nursing home and its staff.  No real listening to one another happened.

3) That takes us to Step 3: As Catholic Christians we no longer have a tradition of taking one’s hurts to the church community for mediation.  That venue in this time is the court.  Carol’s local sister took the matter to the court and she ultimately gained legal management over Carol’s care.  This result was probably beneficial to Carol as the push and pull about her welfare and treatment ended, and Carol’s local sister continued to visit and care for her till Carol died 1½ years ago. The family breach, however, hardened, and my sisters remain estranged from one another. 

 

Do I think I am alone in having family hurts that remain unresolved?  No, I don’t. In 44 years as a counselor, I have known many relationships that are stuck in their hurt.  Do I lose hope for them or for my own family relationships?  No I don’t.  Today’s second reading from Paul to the Romans, is a clue to our hope: everything is summed up by love, and there’s no accounting for how or when love will find expression. Period.

Finally, going back to Ezekiel, near the end of his book (in Chapter 37) Ezekiel talks about God’s promise, when times were the darkest, to raise up the people of Israel and help them get it together and walk back to their promised land.  His point was that, even if we are dead and gone and our bones are dried up, even then God is with us raising us up. Ezekiel’s poetic words were turned into a spiritual I remember singing as a child: “Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones….I hear the Word of the Lord” …  your toe bone connected to your foot bone, your foot bone connected to your ankle bone….

 

My question for you is: Who has been Ezekiel in your life, confronting you and giving you hope in stuck times?

And when have you been the Ezekiel in someone else’s life?

 

 

 

Hi Everyone,

 

John and Rosemary finally got back home on Thursday night after having their flights cancelled 3 times.  We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the ArtCentre of Plano for Mass on Sunday.