There will be a Celebration of Life for Ron Senter on April 1, 2023 at Restland at 2:00 in the afternoon.
Remember these special people:
For Cindy Cramer's family; For the family of Ron Senter; For Frank Esparza; For Jan; For Tom Quinn who had back surgery on November 21st; For Sandra who has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma; For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer ; For Madeleine, Richard Eshelbrenner's granddaughter; 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;
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.
Denni and Tom
Birthdays: Barbara Wittek 3/29
Anniversaries:
Community Finances:
Expenses: $ 500.00
Outreach: $ 125.00
Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.
Rosemary's Blessing:
Oh God who made me absolutely unique,
Help me to value more the Person You made Me to be.
And protect me from comparisons and envy and discouragement over what I am not.
Andrew Greeley, Irish American Blessings
JSM Mission-Faith Statement
Help create a Catholic Community that welcomes all God’s People, provides for & challenges spiritual & total growth.
Reaches out to help people who are disadvantaged & make the world we live in a better place to live.
Readings: Isaiah 40, 1-11; Psalm 104, O Bless the Lord, My Soul; Titus 2, 11-14, 3, 4-7; Luke 3, 1-22.
Baptism & Original Sin: traditional & contemporary theology
Traditional theology on baptism & original sin:
a. Original sin: the 1 sin of Eve & Adam, the eating of an apple, ruptured the relationship between God & Humans.
b. Why we baptized: purification & removal of that original sin inherited by all babies. A new born baby was a sinner & would go to Limbo forever if not baptized before dying.
Contemporary theology on baptism & original sin:
a. Original sin:
1. no original sin
2. Genesis story of the fall is allegory, not fact. No Garden of Eden and no Adam & Eve.
3. from Darwin's Origin of the Species the idea has developed that in our human infancy, we needed certain behaviors to survive. For instance, killing another person & stealing (like food). As our ancestors formed communities, norms of social behavior emerged, for example, the 10 commandments.
4. St. Augustine, ca. 400:
–A major, if not the major influence on Christian/Catholic theology of original sin and human nature from his time to today
–After conversion from a rather lusty life at 32, he had a pessimistic view of human nature, different from early Christianity
–St. John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), Pelagius, a British monk, & Julian of Eclanum, Italy, a bishop, all found nature good and fought against Augustine
–Augustine used all means to vanquish his opponents with their positive view that nature was good, even to sending a gift of horses to the pope to influence his decision. Augustine won.
b. Why we baptize today: (using the contemporary theology)
1. To celebrate a new life
2. To ritually & formally welcome the new person into a family, a community, and to a God famous for love and acceptance.
3. To cleanse after the journey
Sources: Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent; John Shelby Spong; Wikipedia
We are Getting Better
I have one more Christmas story to celebrate this baptism today.
There are three people in the story. My good friend, her little daughter, and her niece, who is about 16 or 17. The story took place at Collin Creek Mall one or two days just after Christmas. Guess what they were doing. Bringing things back.
It happened that the niece had offered to take the daughter to the mall to have girl fun while her mother went to the mall to return various items. After they had been there a while, the niece phoned to say that it was getting to be time for her to leave. So could she return the daughter?
They agreed that the easiest way to arrange the swap was for the niece to take the girl in her car, drive over to where my friend's car was, and then transfer the daughter & her car seat. So they met in the parking lot, my friend's car in a parking place, the other car in the aisle behind the first car.
Mother goes into the niece's car, unbuckles her daughter, and places the girl in her car. Then she disconnects the car seat and reconnects it in her own car, securing her daughter in place. Somewhere in this process she set her purse down. Yep, you guessed it.
Who knows where she set it down. Maybe by her niece's car, maybe by her own. But apparently outside.
She gets into her car and drives off. Almost immediately she notices her purse is missing. She calls her niece and asks her to look in her car. No purse.
So they both return to where the car was parked. They drive around, ask people. No sign of the purse. The niece finally departs and mom goes home. She calls her mom, then she calls the mall security. Nothing had been reported or brought in. Security says to call the police. The police do not know what to do. Was it stolen? Or was it forgotten?
She thinks of her credit card, of getting a new license, she thinks of her phone. So, using her mom's phone, she starts calling her phone hoping someone will answer No one answers.
Time passes. A few hours later in the evening, her mom gets a phone call. It is young boy, a high school aged kid. He has the purse. He says he and his dad found it in the parking lot and simply used the phone's incoming calls to call the number identified as "Mom."
The mom who got the purse back was Bobbi Jo Whitley, mother of Dillon, Hunter, and Audry. Bobbi's mom is Jo Whitley, who read this morning. The purse came back. Nothing missing.
Are there not lots of good stories like this? Are we not evolving into a better people? Scott Burns said so in his column in the Dallas MorningNews a couple of weeks ago. A great Jesuit geologist and paleontologist, Teilhard de Chardin, thought so, saying that the human race is slowly becoming more mature, more sensitive, more peaceful. I think so, too. For lots of reasons.
For Alan Stryker; For Joe Sullivan; For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie ; For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine; 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 & Leo & all of Shonda's dear family; For Ursuline Sr. Mary Troy
Rob reading from Colossians.
Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn; For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free & John Schanot; For John O'Donnell & Jean; For Jean & Cliff Wright; For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa; 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; from Barbara, a little 4 month old boy undergoing an operation; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; For Beth's friends; for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.
Sandra reading the Gospel story of Mary Magdalen.
Birthdays: Jean O'Donnell
Anniversaries:
John spooning out Communion.
Community Finances, April 4, 2021
Expenses:$1440.00
Outreach: $650.00
Donation: $2000 to Souls Harbor
Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.
Love for Kids,
April 10, this Saturday, Circle R Ranch, Flower Mound.
Phone 214-426-5683. Call to let them know you can help. In memory of Bill Hammond!
Rosemary's Blessing:
Risen Jesus, help us to be human expressions of the God you proclaimed: a God who is gracious and merciful, never gets angry and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
May we know deeply God's great love for us, and like God, lean toward those suffering, oppressed and poor.
Adapted from A Reflection and Prayer for Easter by S. Jean Amore, CSJ
Peace!
JSM Mission-Faith Statement
Help create a Catholic Community that welcomes all God’s People, provides for & challenges spiritual & total growth.
Reaches out to help people who are disadvantaged & make the world we live in a better place to live.
John Stack Ministries, 7017 Helsem Way, Dallas, Texas 75230
Isaiah 62: No more will anyone call you Rejected, and your country will no more be called Ruined. You'll be called Hephzibah (My Delight), and your land Beulah (Married), Because God delights in you and your land will be like a wedding celebration.
1 Corinthians 12: All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.
John 2: This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
Aviana 6/2008
Aviana 1/2025
Another Reminder for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 19, 2025
Carrie reading from Paul's Letter to the Colossians
Remember these special people:
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;
Brent and Meredith
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.
Ben, the music man
Birthdays: Cindy Ekes 7/31, Linda Beavers 8/4
Anniversaries:
Community Finances:
Expenses: $ 1,275.00
Outreach: $ 575.00
Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.
Kevin and Hue, the Zoom experts
Rosemary's Blessing:
People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
Mother Teresa
JSM Mission-Faith Statement
Help create a Catholic Community that welcomes all God’s People, provides for & challenges spiritual & total growth.
Reaches out to help people who are disadvantaged & make the world we live in a better place to live.
John Stack Ministries, 7017 Helsem Way, Dallas, Texas 75230