Special Thanks edition for Sunday's celebration and birthday brunch.

 

 

A colorful community for a colorful room at Legacy

 

 

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

Time: 9:30; Celebrate with the Community  & John Cade, Mike Carrell,  &  Stack  

Place: Legacy Charter School,  601 Accent Drive, Plano, TX 75075

 

 

WOW!  Where to begin.

 

We have heard that people discover that the Blog has stopped coming.  Typepad tends to drop people for no reason.  So if this happens to you, just sign up again by going to www.johnstackministries.com

 

 

I would like one of each, please.

 

Readings:

Malachi, 1-4,  I am sending my messenger to prepare the way.

Psalm 24.  Who is this king of glory?  It is the Lord.

Hebrews 2, 14-18,  He was able to help.

Luke 2, 22-40, The Presentation

 

 

Thanks, Jackie, for The Best Cake.

 

Activities:  

ROMEO MEET: Friday, January 31, 2020,   Jason's Deli, Collin Creek Mall, west side of Central, 1:00.  Welcome all wakos, you will fit right in.  

 

 

Better hurry up before it is all gone!

 

JULIETS

Lunch with the Juliets

Hi Ladies

We all are looking forward to a great Valentines Luncheon Friday, February 7th at 12:30.  We will meet at Cafe Amoire 600 N. Coit Road Richardson (Coit and Arapaho) It is a BYOB.  

Please let me know who will be joining us. Looking forward to celebrating Valentines Day.  Per the owner, reservations are required.

Have a good day,  Marilyn

972-491-7068

 

 

Anything left?

 

True?

60 MIGHT BE THE NEW 40, BUT 9:00 IS THE NEW MIDNIGHT…   (and 80??)

 

 

Kenny, did you eat all the guacamole?

 

What's up in Ye Old Catholic Church?  Like…

Francis is dragging the Church into the new century,

https://international.la-croix.com/news/francis-is-dragging-the-church-kicking-and-screaming-into-the-20th-century/11521

 

 

 

Here comes trouble!

 

Swap Sunday, February 16th, "It's still good, but I don't want it, you can have it".  Gather all your good stuff that you can't use anymore and bring it with you on 2/16.  Everything's free.  

 

See you Sunday, J.S.

214-783-0443

 

 

Anybody know these characters?

 

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.

 

And the banner says, Aged to Perfection.  No laughter, please.

Readings: Acts of the Apostles  2, 1-11; Psalm 104, Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the Face of the Earth; 1 Corinthians 12, 3-13; John 20, 19-23

 

Intro to the readings

 I would just like to draw your attention to the reading we have today from Acts of the Apostles.  Luke is very clever in the way the scene is described and unless we are aware, much of what he is doing can easily be missed.  We will be told that there were “pious Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem”.  Even though this Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, was one of the three major Jewish pilgrimage feasts when the Jews would have traveled to Jerusalem, these Jews that Luke mentions are actually “living” in Jerusalem, not just visiting.  And he goes on to list what is most likely all of the places that the Jews would have been scattered to over the many invasions they have experienced, in other words this is the “Diaspora” the scattered Jews. 

 

 It has dawned on me that to really understand a lot of the subtleties in the New Testament it would help to be Jewish!  Today is Pentecost Sunday.  The word pente means fifty.  And so we are counting backwards and I always thought it was back to the resurrection, but in Luke’s mind it was counting back to the Feast of Passover.  Passover for the Jew was “the moment” when Yahweh freed his people from slavery in Egypt.  For the Christian, it is Jesus’ death and resurrection, laid right on top of this feast of Passover.  Now for the counting bit, and the Jews did in fact count the days from the Passover to the next most important event, described in the Book of Exodus chapter 19 v 16ff, namely the time Moses receives the Torah, the Ten Commandments!  How was that event described, we are told of the sound of thunder and God descending in the form of fire, this was the Old Covenant between God and His People.  Now it is quite common in the bible to have the sound of thunder or wind used when God appears, but nowhere else do both this sound and fire appear together except at Mount Sinai and today in the room with the disciples!

 Speaking about Moses, for Luke, Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise.  When Jesus is baptized and receives the Holy Spirit, Luke immediately gives us this long genealogy of Jesus and Luke takes it all the way back not just to Abraham, but to Adam!  Now we look in the other direction and Luke has Jews from every nation present for the gift of the Spirit.

 

Pentecost Sunday – Homily

 If today’s gospel sounds familiar, it should, because it is a shorter version of our gospel reading from the Second Sunday of Easter.  It is a similar description of the gift of the Holy Spirit, which we also have in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles.  Today we celebrate the birthday of the Church.  It is the day the church officially recognizes the coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles from today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles. 

 The Holy Spirit is third person in the Trinity.  That is about as much as can be said without wandering into heresy of some sort!  But what we can do is talk about the effects of the Holy Spirit.  We see in today’s readings that it totally transformed the disciples from fear to faith!  But if we look around other places we find the Spirit descending on Jesus at his baptism and then He begins his public ministry.  The big discussion in John’s gospel was that until Jesus left the Holy Spirit could not come.

 

 If we think about Luke’s description from our first reading, he takes only four verses to describe the descent of the Holy Spirit, very brief. He is mostly interested in describing the results brought about in the disciples by that event.  And I think it makes sense for us to do the same.  We have been promised the Holy Spirit, we receive the Holy Spirit and so the question is – so what now, what happens, how are we different?

 There was an interesting little event described in the Old Testament Book of Numbers chapter 20.  The folks have been wandering in the desert for a few months, and they have arrived at a place where there is no water.  God tells Moses to take a branch and strike a rock.  Unfortunately Moses kind of thought it was up to him, and so when he hit the rock the first time, nothing happens, so he hits it again.  He got in trouble, because it seems he was thinking that the miracle was going to happen by his efforts.  For me this is a powerful lesson about God and each one of us.  Remember, the gift of relationship with God is a freely given gift, and our response is really and truly free.  We have many great stories from the Old Testament of how many times the people strayed from their covenant with God, and each time when they got into trouble they came crawling back.  They are not too different from us. We can too easily forget that God is in charge.  When we do that, forget who is in charge, we get into all kinds of trouble and fear.  Then we start to worry about stuff that we have no control over.  I believe that is where the disciples were in our readings today, in fear, forgetting that Jesus had told them he would be with them.

 Sometimes when I look at the church today, I see the same thing happening.  The church authorities seem to have forgotten about the presence of the Spirit and instead try to keep the folk in line with rules and threats.  The problem is that threats only work with little kids and only for a short while.  Adults will ignore threats. 

 

I believe that the Spirit is very much present in each one of us.  But He can only be present when we acknowledge that He is in charge.  When we try to run things, then the messes happen!  We tend to forget that Jesus did tell us he would be with us.  And when we do forget, it seems that then we are in charge.  It was when Paul became helpless by blindness that he was able to listen.  And we know how effective he became once he allowed the spirit to work in and thru him.  This weekend, as we celebrate the birthday of the church, we might we ask ourselves, who is in charge!

Picture 1:   Mass Begins

Picture 2:   The Team

Picture 3:   Communion Volunteers, Joanne, Jackie, Mike, Nancy, Jan, Don, John, & Patricia

Picture 4:   Communion with Nancy & Tony, Richard & Bernadette

Picture 5:   The Kites, Doug & Julie & Emily on their 25th Anniversary

 

 

 

 

 

 Welcome Home, Sabrina!

 

Readings:

Micah  5, 1-4,  He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock

Psalm 80,    Lord, make us turn to you, let us see you face and we shall be saved

Pope Francis' Laudato Si, 

A Reading from Pope Francis’ Letter on the Environment:

Whether believers or not, we are agreed today that the earth is essentially a shared inheritance, meant to benefit everyone. Hence every ecological approach needs to incorporate a social perspective which takes into account the fundamental rights of the poor and the underprivileged.

The principle of the subordination of private property to the universal distribution of goods, and thus the right of everyone to their use, is the first principle of the whole ethical and social order.  

 

 

Welcome, Everybody, the music is wonderful.

 

The Christian tradition has never recognized the right to private property as an absolute, and has stressed the social purpose of all forms of private property. 

The natural environment is a collective good, the patrimony of all humanity, and the responsibility of everyone.

The words of Pope Francis.

 

Luke  1,  39-45, Mary set out and traveled to the hill country. 

 

Welcome home all you Dinsmores, David, Dana, Betty, Donna, and Dawson.

 

Micah: author, date, subject, our selection–

Author: one of the minor prophets (because of length, 7 chapters), Micah is considered to be the author of these words.

Date: probably around 700-690 BCE, a contemporary of Isaiah, living in Judah.  He had witnessed the destruction of the northern half of the kingdom, Israel, by the Assyrians, ca. 720 BCE.  He watched Judah pay tribute to Assyria.  He forsaw the Babylonian disaster in 590.

 

Candle Lighter of The Week, Cole.

 

Subject: like all prophets, he predicts doom and destruction for Judah because of the injustice of the people, especially the rich over the poor.  Micah learned from Israel's destruction by Assyria, which he attributed to God's anger with those people. 

Then, of course, in the prophet tradition, he predicts a return to peace and prosperity after the people are purified.  He speaks to Bethlehem as if to a person and says that a new ruler will come from the town and the good ruler will shepherd the people.  Why Bethlehem?  Because David was born there and the new David was supposed to come from the same royal village. 

 

Does it get any better?  Leo & Brandon.

 

Asked what God wants of us (like penance, sacrifices of animals, goods, even children), Micah states one of the great lines in scripture: "What God requires of us is: 1. act justly, 2. love tenderly, and 3. walk humbly with our God." (6, 8)  You people do that. 

Our Selection: God promises a good ruler will be born in Bethlehem, the place where King David was born, a royal village.

Sources: Good News Bible, John Shelby Spong, Wikipedia

 

And from Marlene, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."

 

A Christmas Story

This morning I want to tell you a Christmas story. I am reminded of the event partly because Tom & Teresa just visited Mombasa, Kenya, where I passed some time while I was living in East Africa.  Also I thought about it at the Christmas concert Thursday evening.

 I have talked about this event before, but it seems to fit here again.  It took place in Tanzania the Christmas of my sixth, seventh, or eighth year living in the country.

 

 

 The Brain Trust, Zoe, Emma, & Victoria.

 

To begin, it is good to mention that Tanzania does not celebrate Christmas like we do here.  First of all, it is summer, being just south of the equator.  So, warm.   Moreover, people do not decorate with lights like we do here.  It is not the custom, nor do folks have the money.

I was usually pretty homesick at Christmas, both in the Jesuits and more so in Tanzania.  So this year I decided I would throw a Christmas day party American style, especially with a turkey. 

 

Beautiful Advent Colors.

 

To get the turkey I had to not only go beyond the little town of Moshi, where the Jesuits had a house and where I was based.  I, in fact, had to travel to Nairobi, Kenya, the country immediately to the north. 

Despite the fact that most of the time I was away from Moshi on the road giving seminars and retreats, I still knew some people from the times I was in town.  So I invited a number of families.

 

The Community.

 

In particular, I invited the family who lived next door to us, a husband and wife with their two little girls, for whom I had a great affection.  The family was all Muslim and the father was a police chief.  It is always helpful to have a police chief as a friend in certain countries.  I assure you.

To invite the family I followed the more formal African protocol.  I invited the husband to come over to our house.  I had two rocking chairs ready in my office/bedroom.  We sat down and I offered him coffee or tea.

 

Everybody partakes at this communion, kids, too. 

 

Then I said, “Mohammed, I would like to invite you and your family to a special celebration of the Christian Christmas.  It will be the evening of December 25, beginning around 5:00.”  Then, I explained what was Christian Christmas.

Finally, I added, “We both know, Mohammed, that you have a problem with alcohol.  I request that you show up sober.  If you show up drunk, I will have to ask you to leave.”  Mohammed said he was grateful for the invitation for him and his family.  He would not arrive drunk and if he did I should invite him out.

 

Communion Helpers, Beth & Rob & Mike

 

Want to guess what happened?   You guessed it.

About 1:00 Christmas day Mohammed and his buddy arrived a bit early.  Yes, they were both drunk out of their minds.  We talked, I told him I was sorry, but he could not come to the party.  He, too, said he was sorry, he left, and I did not see him again that day.

 

Kevin & Georgina

 

Later, however, about 5:00, his wife and girls arrived with a surprise.  In the African tradition of hospitality, she had invited all her extended family and they all showed up together, about 15 of them. 

Despite all this, we had a fun American style Christmas, most of it, in fact, on the roof.  We had an Arabian style house with a flat roof.  A great place for parties and watching the sun set glow on Kilimanjaro nearby.

 

 The Team.

 

Why talk about this today?

First, to show you how Christmas is celebrated in other countries.

Secondly, to show just how we are so fortunate to celebrate with such fan fare and warmth.   I am grateful to be here.

What has been your best Christmas ever? 

How are you celebrating this year?

 

Don't forget to hug the gorilla on your way out.  He loves hugs.

Readings:  Job, 7, 1-7, Is not man's life on earth a drudgery? (I will expand this reading); Psalm 147, 
Praise the Lord, who heals the broken hearted; 1 Corinthians, 9, 16-23; I have made myself a slave to all; Mark, 1, 29-39, They brought to him all who were ill.

Job:

Author: Unknown.  No book in the OT or NT has less known about it.  Called the most profound book of the OT.  It deals with the problem of evil, personal justification, and why bad things happen to good people.   Job himself could be historical, a literary creation, or a combination of the first two.

Date: It is guessed to be before the time of Moses and Egypt, i.e., earlier than 1300 BCE.

Structure: 3 poetic dialogs preceded by a prose introduction and ending with a prose conclusion.

 

Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People

I would like to talk this morning about why bad things happen to good people.

Once upon a time there was a good man named Job who lived in the land of Uz.  He had 7 sons and 3 daughters, a sign that he was especially blessed.  He not only had sons, but he had the special number of 7.

One day Yahweh was walking around heaven talking with his buddies when he ran into the devil.  "What have you been doing?" he asked.  "I have been walking around here and there," the devil responded. 

"Have you noticed how good my man Job is?"  "Yes,' says the devil, "but I bet he will curse you to your face if you stop protecting him and take away all his goodies."  "It's a bet," says Yahweh, "Just don't hurt him."

So a few days later while all of Job's 7 sons and 3 daughters where having a feast with their families, a storm blew up killed them all.  A messenger runs to tell Job of the horrible news. 

Shortly after that, another messenger races in and says lightening has just killed all his sheep and the shepherds.   Other messengers then run in saying Job's livestock have been rustled by robbers who killed all the farm hands.

Job is devastated, of course, but responds with the famous statement: "I was born with nothing, and I will die with nothing.  The Lord gave, and now he has taken away.  May his name be praised." 

So Yahweh wins his bet.  But, when Yahweh and the devil meet up to settle their bet, the devil pushes by saying that he bets Job will curse Yahweh if the devil is allowed to hurt his body.  Not death, just hurt.  "Bet," says Yahweh.

The next day Job comes down with sores all over his body, like leprosy, and he has to go outside of town where the lepers go.  He sits in the town dump.  His wife now comes and his friends.  They all grieve. They also encourage Job to see what he has done bad.  Has he  cursed Yahweh?  Confess and repent.  Job proclaims his innocence.  But he is depressed and discouraged. 

(In East Africa I used to celebrate Mass for a small community of lepers.)

Finally, while not cursing Yahweh, he cries out his anguish saying (chapter 3): 

"Oh, God, put a curse on the day I was born; put a curse on the night when I was conceived!  Turn that day into darkness, God." (verses  2-4) 

"I wish I had died in my mother's womb or died the moment I was born.  Why did my mother hold me on her knees?" (verses 11-12) 

"Why let men go on living in misery?  Why give light to men in grief?" (verse 20) 

"Everything I fear and dread comes true.  I have no peace, no rest, and my troubles never end." (verses 25-26)

After some time in this situation, Yahweh comes along and speaks with him:

"Who are you to question my wisdom with your ignorant, empty words?  Stand up now like a man and answer the questions I ask you.  Were you there when I made the world?" (verses 2-3)

"Job, have you ever in all you life commanded a day to dawn?" (verse 12)

"Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea?  Have you walked on the floor of the ocean? "(verse 16)

"Have you been to the place where the sun comes up or the place where the east wind blows?" (verse 24)

After hearing all the numerous ways Yahweh reminds him of how insignificant he is, Job apologizes to Yahweh and promises to be a good boy from now on.  Yahweh restores his wealth and gives him 7 more sons and 3 more beautiful daughters.  He lives another 140 years a prosperous and happy man.

So does this answer the question why bad things happen to good people?  Contemporary scripture scholars find evidence that the happy ending of Job's story was a late addition, that the story ended simply with Job apologizing.  Not always is the Job story a happy ending.

For example, there is a kid, Timothy Cole, whose story still shakes me to this day.  He was a freshman at Tech in '85.  He was studying in his room in the apartment of his brother.  There were other kids in the house.  Timothy was accused of attacking a coed that same night and he was convicted.  The girl mistakenly identified him from a picture.  He was given a 25 year sentence. 

He was finally acquitted of the attack by a DNA match and the confession of another prisoner who did the attack.  The trouble was, the college freshman passed 14 years of his 25 year sentence.  Moreover, he died before he was exonerated.   Found dead in his cell.  An asthma attack. 

Pathetically the girl attacked repeatedly noted that the attacker smoked non stop and that she challenged him on it.  Timothy, because of his asthma, never smoked.  Moreover, when the guy who really did it tried to tell the local authorities in Lubbock, they did not even respond.  The guy had to write to the family of Timothy.  He said he heard Timothy crying in his cell and saying he never did it.

Timothy is a Job without a happy ending, a good kid who had a really bad thing happen to him.  This happens every day, folks. 

How do you answer the question?

Picture 1:    Delgados & Elwells, Bernadette & Gilberto, Marianne & George

Picture 2:    Jan & Geri

Picture 3:    Leo & pillow ready for nap

Picture 4:    Communion helpers, Mike & Rob & Beth

Picture 5:    John & Denni & Patricia

Picture 6:    The Kerns, Candy, Holly (on U.T. athletic scholarship, softball pitcher), Mike, Ben, Sam, & Stephen

 

Readings:

Isaiah 63, 16-17, 64, 2-7,  No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen any God but you.

Psalm 80, Lord, make us turn to you.

1 Corinthians  1,  3-9, I give thanks to my God always on your account.

Mark 13, 33-37, Be watchful, be alert.

 

Note:  Watch out in the readings for fear based spirituality.   For instance, in Isaiah, Behold, you are angry and we are sinful; Mark, Watch, you do not know when the lord is coming; may he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.   Gratitude based spirituality says, watch so that you spot & appreciate  the gifts. 

 

 

Have a Blessed & Happy Advent.

 

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben & Shonda, 

Readers,   Mary Jane & John & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  John Cade 

Homily,   Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Mike & Richard

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

Download Readings Week Advent 1

 

Download Homily for Sunday

 

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Paul & Carrie recuperating;  For Alan Stryker;  For Joe Sullivan;  For John Doherty recuperating;   For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine; For David Dinsmore's bad shoulder from a biking accident;  For Esparza's new great grandson baby, son of Monique;  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, and for Hue & Linda's daughter, Doctor Rosemary Beavers;   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;  

 

 

Tranquility.

 

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.

 

Song Sheets for Sunday's Mass can be found online at 
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1IOrhygLoXEtbwb3Jws3-JMXMUOzESA8l
Thanks to you, Mike

 

Birthdays:  Mike Moran 71 (impossible),  & Cathy Bambanek

Anniversaries:

Brent & Meredith, 8th

Shonda & Cody, 4th

 

 

The Laboratory on air.

 

Community Finances, November 29, 2020

Expenses: $1100.00

Outreach   $100.00  (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

And again double thanks to all who jumped right in within 1 week to help the 50 families Becky adopted for special Thanksgiving help.  Our marvelous little community has been so generous that the same families already are covered for Christmas.  I feel humbled and privileged to be part of our most generous community.

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

Author Unknown

 

 

 

 Readings:

Matthew 21, 1-11, Jesus enters Jerusalem

Isaiah 50, 4-7,   I gave my back to those who beat me.

Psalm 22,  My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?

Philippians  2, 6-11,  Because of this God greatly exalted him.

Matthew  27,, 11-54,  The passion & death.

 

Sorry, Everybody, because of the extraordinary length of so many readings, especially the Matthew Passion, we don't have a homily.  Tune in for a good one this Sunday, Easter.  Welcome, also.  You might find an Easter Bunny attending.