Palm Sunday, March 24, 2024

Ezekiel 2:   Tell them, 'This is the Message of God, the Master.'   They are a defiant bunch. Whether or not they listen, at least they'll know that a prophet's been here.

2 Corinthians 12:  At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that,  and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Mark 6:    Jesus told them, "A prophet has little honor in his hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child."

 

 

 

Readings:

Samuel 3, 3-10, 19,   The call of Samuel by Yahweh.

Psalm402,  Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.

1 Corinthians 6, 13-15, 17-20,  Your bodies are members of Christ.

John 1, 35-42,  What are you looking for?    

 

 

 

 

Thanks, John, for celebrating this week while Rosemary & I had a wedding for her youngest sister's son, Sean, in Mount, Laurel, NJ, just east of Philadelphia.

 

 

The reading from First Samuel tells a story of Samuel’s call by God and how difficult it was to hear it. The Gospel reading tells a story of the call of Peter and Nathaniel by Jesus. These stories are both dramatic in their details and their telling.

 

But even kids seem to hear a call on some level—they seem to identify with things bigger than themselves. I remember my grandson Leo, at about age 3, saying: “I want to be a scientist”, or “I want to go to ‘space university’”. At that same age, we heard how strongly he identified with something bigger than himself. Joey would tell Leo that he was going to go to Texas U.(her college), and Daniel would say that he was going to Oklahoma State (his college).

 

 

 

Sir Charlie, I don't trust you so close.

 

 

Leo’s speech was still rudimentary then and when we said, “Leo, when you grow up, you’re going to Texas U.”, Leo would say with great determination, “No, I’m going to ‘okeenokee steak’. Without even knowing what it meant, Leo, so young, had listened, heard a call, and strongly identified with a parent’s alma mater. He became a follower.

 

In the olden days, today’s readings about a call from God would be used to talk up vocations to the priesthood and the religious life. Though the church still suffers from a clerical culture and a vertical patriarchy, we know all are called to priesthood, to minister—to serve and care for one another. So some calls are special, some are dramatic, like Samuel’s and like Peter’s and Nathaniel’s.

 

 

 

Hi, Beth, Hi, Emma.  So nice to see you.

 

 

I echo Stack in that the call to serve, to care, to follow—is most often a small voice, usually inaudible. We have to be listening for it. Problem: having a ‘habit of ‘listening’ is not automatic. We’re not born with it. But we can all learn to ‘listen’ and, by practicing listening, we all can develop it into a habit.

 

So, when we ‘listen’ daily to what we read or to what others say, or become attentive to random daily situations, we are developing the habit of listening. Our practice at the beginning of Mass to pause and ‘listen’ can be the beginning of developing the habit of listening.

 

 

Hi Tori, Hi, Zoe, So nice to see you girls, too.

 

 

There was the story on TV this week of a man who saved a stranger’s life by pushing her away from an oncoming car which then hit and killed him. This man and this woman had both stopped to help out another driver whose car was stalled. Like Samuel’s and John’s stories, this is a dramatic and amazing example of someone hearing a call, it’s a hero story—difficult, if not impossible, to identify with.

 

What the newscast doesn’t tell us is the back story, how this man and this woman likely lived their lives—my guess is they had a habit of listening for the many small daily calls to care about others in small ways, in ways we all can. This is within the reach of all of us: to develop a habit of listening for those small everyday calls to serve and to care for others.

 

 

 

 The Girls, Cheryl & Marilyn

 

 The question: Can you hear those small daily calls? And have you developed the habit of listening?

 

 

 

John Cade and John Stack begin Mass.

 

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben & Shonda

 

  Expenses: $    330.00

  Outreach: $        0.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

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 in 2018 after a gunman shot members of the Tree of Life Synagogue. He gave The Dallas Morning News permission to publish it.

 

 

Readings:

Ezekiel  34, 11-12, 15-17, I will look after and tend my sheep.

Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.  (a beautiful Psalm)

1 Corinthians  15,  20-26. 28, Christ has been raised from the dead

Matthew 25, 31-46, He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

 

 

From Becky Good:  Our Special Thanksgiving Goal

Would it be possible for you to put in the blog the fact that we are having a food drive at Legacy for our neediest families?

We’re actually doing a giveaway Sunday the 22nd so if people wanted to drop off food between now and Friday the 20th we’d appreciate it. It could be anything from a turkey to peanut butter to apples. I think apples keep for a while don’t they? 

Thank you for this consideration. See you Sunday online!

 

 

 

 

 

John Cade, our homilist this Sunday.

 

ROMEOS, Friday, November 20, 1:00,  as usual.    Welcome!

ROMEOs' Virtual Jason's Deli BYOB lunch
This is a recurring meeting, Friday, 1:00 pm
Link :
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85798571623?pwd=NmFSTW1ocVMzRGdIc0QzUGxKdHM3dz09

Meeting ID: 857 9857 1623
Password: saladbar

 

Reminder for 33rd Sunday Ordinary Time, November 15, 2020

Here are the links for Sunday:

Lev 13:  “The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’

1 Corinthians 10:  Brothers and sisters, Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

Mark 1: Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.”

 

 

 

Note: we are now meeting at Legacy Academy.  We will continue to post this map until after Christmas Eve. 

 

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

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

Place: Legacy Charter School, Accent Drive, Plano, TX 75075

 

 Readings:  

 

Jeremiah 33:14-16,  The days are surely coming, says the LORD

Psalm 25:1-10,  To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13,  How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you?

Luke 21:25-36,  Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees . . .