1st Sunday in Lent, February 18, 2024

Some of our Community members  are in need of special prayers:

 

Jan Keszler  is in Chicago with her Mom who will be 101 on 6/31.  Her Mom  is now in Hospice Care and Jan asks for prayers for her and the family.

 

John Cade's Mother-in-Law, Kaliope, who is 96, fell and broke 2 vertebrae and is in the hospital.

 

Tom and Teresa Quinn were on a  river cruise on the Danube and the second day Tom tested positive for Covid.  They are now in a hotel room in Vienna and Tom is quarantined for 5 days and can't leave the room.  Teresa just hopes she doesn't get it.

 

 Readings:

Deuternomy 26, 4-10,  He brought us out of Egypt.

Psalm 91,  Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.

Romans 10, 8-13, The same Lord is Lord of all.

Luke 4, 1-13, Jesus was led into the desert for 40 days.

 Deuteronomy 

The scene: The Israelites have escaped from Egypt and have been wandering in the desert for years.  They are just about to enter The Land.  They are assembled.  Moses is addressing them and reminding them of all Yahweh has done for them over the years of wandering.   

In our chapter he is telling them that when they have settled in their new land, where he will not accompany them, they must take a basket full of a portion of their first harvest, present it to the rabbi, and offer it as a sacrifice of thanksgiving.   

Who & When: Though about Moses, Deuteronomy is a compilation of numerous sources.  Guess when: post Babylonian Captivity, say 555.  Easy to remember.

Romans

Paul writes to the Romans that all people, Gentiles as well as Jews, are invited to be part of the Christ event.

  Beware of Great Expectations: observations on a new pope

I must confess that Monday morning when I first heard of Benedict’s retirement, I was excited.  “We might get a new man who is progressive and less authoritarian,” I thought.  With a little reflection I have two observations I would like to share with you from my perspective and experience.  Both fall under the Beware of Great Expectations heading.

1. Beware of expecting a progressive pope.  The college of cardinals has been carefully screened to include only very conservative, corporate, follow the leader type men.  They will likely vote their kindred.
2. Beware of the idea that a 3^rd world man would be great.  Two Africans are mentioned, one I know, Cardinal Arinze from Nigeria.  I attended his "coronation" in ’76 or ’77. 

One observation about him and many Africans is that in being converted they really bought into traditional Catholicism.  I knew a Tanzanian bishop who prohibited drums at liturgies because he thought they were pagan. 

Moreover, the custom of the African tribe demands that a big man make a big impression, not the idea of being a servant or last.

 

Leo ready to dance. Check the video.

Have a Happy Lent?

Looking forward to Lent this year?  I confess that I was not.  Maybe it has come too quickly after Christmas this year.  However, I know I mildly dreaded it until.  Until we had our Ash Wednesday Mass at Marlene’s house.  Something happened there, some grace of being at home.  I felt peaceful about it all.

So what are we going to do about this Lent?  Three observations.

1.  As a community you all will be invited on several occasions.  We will have a food drive next Sunday and a general pick up by Soul’s Harbor’s truck another Sunday.  One Sunday we will have one of our penitential rites, probably the Sunday just before Palm Sunday. 

        2.    I am going to invite you most Sundays to have a happy Lent.  It is Spring Training time.  Instead of focusing on the negativity  and the bad, focus on getting back in shape, from taking a daily walk to riding your bike around The Lake, White Rock.  Pass out compliments, like I mentioned last week.

          3.  I am also going to kick off a special project.  For years before I moved out of Jesuit I had a men’s group in the evening maybe two Tuesday a month.  It was both fun and profound.  I did not have furniture enough for all who came.  So I would take all the furniture out and I lay cushions all along the walls of the small office I had.  Everybody sat on the floor. 

I want to start a new group, a lunch group.  All you guys here are invited.  Tentatively, it will be Fridays, 1:00, Jason’s Deli here at Collin Creek Mall on Central.  It won’t be every week usually, mostly when I can come.  I’ll send out a note to everyone.  2 guys, 20 guys, who knows? 

  

Why am I doing this now?  Good Lenten Penance!  Lenten penance with Stack.  Get you to heaven quicker.  Actually, it is because I miss you guys.  I may see everybody Sundays, but I don’t get to find out how it is going.  It will be great fun.

You women can rejoice that the old guy is out of the house for a while each week.   

So, what are you going to do to have a happy Lent?

 

 

Genesis15: Abraham gave the name Isaac to this  son of his whom Sarah bore him.

Hebrews 11:  So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

Luke 2:  When the day of circumcision arrived, the child was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived.  Then when the days stipulated for purification were complete, they took him up to Jerusalem to offer him to God. 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Is the Brown Family taking over??   Only Zoe on candles, Buddy on Blessing, and Georgie directing the orchestra. 

 

 

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

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

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

Notice:  Prepare yourself for a Mystery Guest Speaker.

 

 

 

 

Are you people crazy?  Here it is time to change our clocks, a good time to sleep in, and here you are!

 

 

Readings:  

 1 Kings 17, 10-16,  The jar of flour shall not go empty

Psalm 146,  Praise the Lord, my soul.

 Hebrews 7, 23-28,  Once for all he has now appeared

 Mark 12, 38-44,  This poor widow put in more than all the others.

 

     

 

 

Offertory Time with Bill, Marlene, and Cindy.

             

                                               

Community Activities:  

ROMEO MEET: Friday, November 9, Jason's Deli, Collin Creek Mall, west side of Central, 1:00.  Welcome all wakos, you will fit right in.  

JULIETTE LUNCHEON  December Luncheon TBA 

 

Note 1:  The Meyerson Christmas concert, December 13, Thursday.  Welcome.  Rosemary is filling the list. Tickets are $32.00.

 

 

 

 

Board Meet: is it time again for you to sing, Emma?

 

 

TRUE?

 

Download Cramer Old Folks' perks Blog Oct.24

 

 

 

 

Healing touch for Bern.  Thanks, too, Bernadette for helping with this memorial for the Pittsburgh special people.

 

 

Anything happening in our Catholic World?  

1.   The Caravan.  National Catholic Reporter,  November 3,   https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/theology-en-la-plaza/immigrant-caravan-wave-hope-america?utm_source=NCR+Weekend+Edition+Nov+3-4&utm_campaign=cc&utm_medium=email     

 

 

 

Healing touch for Beth.

 

 

See you Sunday.

J.S., 214-783-0443

 

 

 

 

 

Healing touch for Bernadette's Jewish friend who graced us with her presence this special day.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 Peace, Beth, peace, Everybody.

 

 

  Donna sharing with the community about the gift bags for the men at Soul's Harbor

 

 

Community Finances:   

  Expenses: $  430.00

  Outreach: $  

  Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

 

Lynda reading the Blessing