Sophia says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."

 

 

Readings:

Jeremiah  20, 7-9,    You duped me, Lord, and I let myself be duped

Psalm 63,   My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Roman s 12, 1-2,  Do not conform yourselves to this age.

Matthew 16, 21-27,  Whoever wishes to come after me, must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  

 

 

 

And Harper, too, says, "Come in, Folks.  Take this chair."

 

Jeremiah observations–

What:  I think Jeremiah is my second favorite O.T. prophet, behind Isaiah, mostly because he makes whining and complaining into an art form.  I need to take lessons from him.  Not that he did not have enough to complain about.   Jeremiah is one of the Big 3 with Isaiah and Ezekiel.  He is called the ‘broken hearted prophet.’  Here is why.

Time:  Jeremiah lived and prophesied in Jerusalem around 600 before Christ.  Why is this important?  It is some 50 years before the Babylonian Captivity.  Jeremiah had a heart rending life predicting punishment of death and destruction for the Hebrews for their sinful, selfish ways.  Jeremiah predicted disaster, and disaster came in the person of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon-Bagdad.

Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke as a visual aid to his message.  He may have been ultimately killed by the Hebrews.

Today:  Jeremiah is in top form.

 

 

 

The Best Music, even though they are slacking off, Wendy & Ben.

 

Deny Yourself, Take up Your Cross, and Follow Me

I want to talk this morning, folks, about the line in Matthew, Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.  I confess right off, I hate this line.  Can you imagine a loving God creating people to deny themselves and take up a life of suffering? 

Matthew’s line can be very tricky.  It can be approached healthily or in a rather sick way.  I can witness to the latter in my own life.  I have already described how as a young Jesuit I was expected to do penance and deny myself in various ways, like the practice of using little whips to scourge our backs and little chains with points to wear around our thighs.  This was supposed to bring me closer to God.

 

 

Two Very Special People, Wendy & Brandon 

 

 

I can laugh at this now, but I am humbled at how easily I can be snookered.  When I read this line and others like it in the Bible and remember my experiences, I now see the presence of an ancient philosophy that still influences a lot of religious activity today.  The philosophy: dualism. 

The idea is simple.  Reality comes in pairs, hot & cold, dark & light, order & chaos, and, in particular for this discussion, body & soul or flesh & spirit.  So far so good. 

 

 

 

Our Candle Lighter of The Week, Sophia (Ben's daughter).

 

The trouble enters with a judgment about the flesh & spirit.  Specifically, flesh is bad, spirit is good, superior.  Consequently, so that my spirit may reach an elevated plane of purity & perfection, and ultimately closer union with God, I attempt to subdue my flesh by disregarding the body's needs, ultimately aiming to live without it.  Do not give in to pleasure.  How about that!

A couple of facts.  Dualism is identified as far back as 1000 years B.C. and came out of Zoroastrianism, a religion that worshiped one god and believed in an afterlife.  Did it come from Egypt as so much did at that time?  No, from Persia, the area we call Iran today.  Zoroastrianism was widespread until Muhammad arrived on the scene around 650 and established Islam.  Through the ages lots of people picked up on dualism, for example, Plato, Augustine, Descartes, and the early Christians, like Matthew.

However, there is a healthy approach to the line.  A story to exemplify the healthy.

 

 

 

 

Welcome back Vivi, Quera, & Mikala, Teresa and Tom's grandkids.

 

 

Way back when I was living at Jesuit and working as a psychotherapist, a single, divorced mother came with her son, Michael, one day and basically said, “help!”  She had a really active boy about 3^rd grade.  He and his neighbor buddy, a black kid, used to race around our neighborhood and the high school on their bikes.  Great kids.

The years passed and I got to know Michael really well.  One afternoon when Michael was in 7^th grade at St. Monica, we were watering trees with the white truck and the old red water trailer.  I don’t remember who was driving us along the medians, but at one point I can remember to this day, he said to me that if he did not make the entrance exam at Jesuit, his life was no good.  

 

 

 

Let me not ask what these 3 are up to.

 

I did not say anything at the moment.  But later I told him that thinking was baloney.  I said Jesuit did not want kids who said their lives were no good.  If he made it, Jesuit would be a better place.  If he did not, another school would be a better place because they had a tremendous gift in their school. 

He did not get in. 

So Michael went to Bishop Dunne.  He played sports, worked hard to make good grades, and kept in contact with a neat guy who was the admissions director at Jesuit.

He got in as a sophomore.  He did excellently.

 

 

 

The Offertory with Louis & Sandra, John & Mary Jane

 

Next Michael wanted to go to A&M and join the corps.  He did not get in.  He does not test well.  So he went to Tech and joined the Air Force ROTC.  After 4 years there he invited me to the ceremony where he was to get his lieutenant bars.  

The ceremony was in a big auditorium.  Michael was the last.  On the stage with him were his mom and his girl friend, Lydia.  At one point in his personal ceremony Michael turns to the whole auditorium, asks their patience for a moment, turns back to Lydia, drops on a knee, and asks her to marry him. 

Talk about blowing the roof off of the auditorium.  Everybody went crazy.  She said yes. 

 

 

 

It does not get better than this, Vivi, Quera, and Mikala.

 

Now, Michael has long finished his flight training, part of which took place right up at the scene of the Hotter N’ Hell, Wichita Falls.  He has been stationed all over the world, like Aviano, Italy, where we got the name of our dog, Aviana, after a visit there.   He has a little boy and a girl, a beautiful wife in Lydia, and a platinum career as a jet pilot.  

Michael has denied himself a lot of quite legitimate pleasures to achieve some healthy goals.  Even now he continues to keep himself in good physical and intellectual shape.  

So, how do you deny yourself and take up a cross? 

 

 

Best buddies, Sophia and Emma.
 

 

 

Readings:                          

Acts  2,  1-11,  There appeared to them tongues as of fire.

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

Romans 8, 8-17,    You are in the spirit.

John 20, 19-23,  Peace be with you.

 

Homily by Mike

 

Well, I just finished reading Bishop John Shelby Spong’s new book titled Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy, which is a study of the Gospel of Matthew.  Bishop Spong is one of my prime mentors in understanding the Christian faith and the Christian Scriptures.  My main reason I picked a chapter of his book for us today is that it is on understanding the Sermon on the Mount in relation to Pentecost, which we are preparing to celebrate next Sunday.  Also, Bishop Spong’s book is on the Gospel of Matthew, and Matthew is our default reading source whom we read from most of this year (of Cycle C readings).  In his new book Bishop Spong teaches how Matthew composed his Gospel to match up with the festivals of the Jewish year, all celebrated in the synagogue.  In this chapter he shows us how Matthew matches the Jewish celebration of Pentecost or Shavuot with Jesus as the New Moses.  Moses was the most significant person in Jewish history.  The second major celebration of the Jewish liturgical year, after Passover, is Pentecost or Shavuot.

At Pentecost, or Shavuot, Matthew provides the liturgy readings that make it clear to the Jewish followers of Jesus that Jesus is the new Moses.  The Book of Exodus tells the story of how Moses went up Mount Sinai, received the law directly from God and announced it to the people.  In their acceptance of God’s law from Moses (The 10 Commandments) the Jewish people entered into a covenant with God.  Matthew, in his Gospel, has Jesus go up a mountain and then deliver to the people God’s new law—the Beatitudes.  In accepting this new law from Jesus, his followers enter into a new covenant with God.     

Remember, at that time most people were illiterate.  The Torah, the Books of Moses, were read at every Sabbath liturgy.  They read the entire 5 books of the Torah every year—compare that with our reading a mere fraction of the Bible once every 3 years. Shavuot or Pentecost was celebrated in a big way (it was huge!), with a 24-hour vigil, so they needed a lot of readings and songs to fill the vigil.  That’s where Psalm 119 came into play—the longest psalm of all with 176 verses (psalms were the synagogue’s hymnal).  This was the psalm sung at the celebration of Shavuot.  Psalm 119 is relentless in its praise of the beauty and wonder of God’s law and the covenant that sprang from accepting and keeping God’s law. The meaning of this covenant is what was renewed liturgically each year, and was what the 24-hour vigil was all about.   

Matthew combined Psalm 119 with the Sermon on the Mount to present Jesus as the new Moses.  Psalm 119 fits the Shavuot liturgy with stanzas for each of the 8 3-hour portions of the vigil.  Psalm 119’s first stanza has 8 verses and the first 2 begin with the word “blessed”.  The Sermon on the Mount also begins with 8 verses, each starting with the word “blessed”.  We call these the Beatitudes.  So Matthew used Psalm 119 as the basis on which to build the Sermon on the Mount. Next Matthew has Jesus give commentaries on each of the 8 beatitudes, 1 for each of the 8 3-hour portions of the vigil.  Matthew then has Jesus do a commentary on the 10 Commandments, going deeper into the heart of these original laws of God.

This whole Sermon on the Mount is a beautifully crafted interpretation of Jesus as the new Moses.  And it’s all organized around the psalm used at Shavuot, Pentecost.  This amazing take and understanding of Matthew’s writing of his Gospel knocks my socks off and I love it.

As we prepare for Pentecost, what is our commitment to the new law?  How do we renew our covenant with this understanding of Jesus as the new Moses?                                                                                                                                                              

 

 

 

Say Rosemary & Cathy, "Happy Kentucky Derby Weekend and welcome in."

 

Readings:

Acts of the Apostles  2, 14, 36-41  Let the whole house of Israel know.

Psalm 23,  The Lord is my shepherd.  (Beautiful, consoling)

1 Peter 2, 20-25, By his wounds have you been healed.

 John 10, 1-10,  Whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd. 

 

 

 

Welcome back to Dallas, Ann, and to our community.  You are one of our best all time friends.

 

The Three Best

Whenever I go on a trip like the one Rosemary & I just did with Viking on the Elbe River in Eastern Germany, I get questions.  Like, ‘What was the best thing?’  I would like to talk briefly about 3 best things that struck me, a Berlin chapel, a church door, and a concentration camp. 

 

 

 

This bell tower is all that is left of the old gothic Kaiser Wilhelm church in central Berlin.  It is preserved as a remembrance.

 

In the heart of Berlin there used to be a large gothic church called Kaiser Wilhelm Church.  It was bombed badly in the war and all that is left is a large, beat up bell tower.  Bullet wounds and bomb damage from bottom to what is left of the top.   The bell tower has been preserved as is to remind.

 

 

 

Interior of the Kaiser Wilhelm chapel .   The blue ambiance comes from bricks with glass circles tinted blue, very moving.

 

Next to the tower a chapel has been built, very plain, a grey box on the outside.  After looking at prewar pictures of the old church, just for the heck of it, I decide to go inside the rather plain chapel.  I am stunned by the simple beauty.  The curved front wall is made of cement blocks with round blue bottle like glass.   A gold, ascending, larger than life-sized Christ hangs right in the middle.   Simple wooden pews.  The blue and gold ambience was stunning. 

The half destroyed bell tower and the stunningly moving chapel symbolize for me the story of Berlin.

 

 

View of interior from right aisle.  The bell tower in union with this simple chapel symbolize the old and the new Berlin.

 

Second best experience.  Wittenberg and the church where Martin Luther posted 95 theses, exactly 5 centuries ago on October 31.

All my training about this event gave me a misconception.  Namely, that Luther was out to start a church revolution.   Nope.

 

 

Wittenburg, Church door where Martin Luther posted his 95 theses 500 year ago this year.  It was a university bulletin board.

 

The story goes like this.  Luther was a professor at the Wittenberg University.  The church door was a bulletin board.  Professors would post theses which the students were expected to debate the pros and cons of.   Everything was hand written in Latin.  Luther even titled his material as Disputation on the Power & Efficiency of Indulgences.  Disputation is the key word and implied debate of the pros and cons.  It was only later that year or the next that Rome got wind of them and a year later excommunicated Luther and the ideas went viral.

 

 

 

Wittenburg town center.

 

3 samples of theses:

#21.  Those indulgence preachers are in error who say that a man is absolved from every penalty and saved by papal indulgences.

27.  They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory.

32.  Those who believe they can be certain of their salvation because they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned, together with their teachers.

 

St. Mary's Church, Wittenberg.  This is not the Luther church which was more of a college chapel. 

 

I spent three years, ’62-’65, studying philosophy at Spring Hill College in Mobile.  There were a hundred plus Jesuits engaged in this process.  We debated theses and we debated in Latin.  I took all my philosophy exams in Latin, written and mostly oral.   We had the church position and we had the adversaries.  We were expected to be able to verbally ace those adversaries.  Luther was probably one of our adversaries. 

 

 

 

A small number of the survivors of Ravensbruck. 

 

This was so déjà vu for me.  I could feel exactly what was going on, no revolt, just debate.  Somebody copied those theses, got them to Rome, and some priest, bishop, or pope over reacted, excommunicated Luther, and a revolt took place among the people.  Could this be taking place today?

 

 

Revensbruck compound & barracks.  100,000 plus women were concentrated here.

 

Thirdly, Ravensbruck concentration camp for women.  For years I have read about the camps, in particular Ravensbruck.  This camp was set up for women and it was this camp where medical experiments were performed on the women. 

 

 

 

Ravensbrook compound.  The camp is 60 miles north of Berlin.

 

We drove straight north out of Berlin about two hours on a beautiful day.  When I walked onto the compound I felt I was walking on hallowed, sacred ground. The barracks have all been removed, but the official buildings are still there, the infirmary, the clothes sewing hall, and the men & women officers’ houses.  I stood on the morning assembly ground and could see it all. 

As human beings we are capable of such horror and such beauty. 

 

 

Ravensbruck today.  The barracks have been removed, but the outlines are still present.  On the left are the work building and the infamous infirmary.  The picture is taken from the assembly area.

 

 

Welcome, Everybody, including you crazies.

 

 

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

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

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

 

 

Peace, Everybody.

 

Readings:

Wisdom 18, 6-9,  You people awaited the salvation of the just.

Psalm 33,  Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to me his own (Everybody?) 

Hebrews 11, 1-2, 8-19,  Faith is the realization of what is hoped for.

Luke 12, 32-48,  Do not be afraid any longer.

 

 

The Look!

 

Community Activities:  

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

 

Juliets, August-September, TBA

 

 

Two buddies (kids, really)

 

TRUE?

 

 

 

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

Catholic Church in Germany shrinking,  http://corpus-blog.blogspot.com/2019/07/latest-statistics-show-german-church.html

                  

 

 

Our Father.

 

See you Sunday, J.S.

214-783-0443

 

Peace, Everybody.

 

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.

 

 

 

 

The Coffee Shoppe is open, John, Rob, & Geri.

Readings: Jeremiah 317, 7-9; Psalm 126, The Lord has done Great Things for Us; we are filled with Joy; Hebrews 5, 1-6; Mark 10, 46-52.

Jeremiah.  One of the “great prophets”.  The book covers one of the most turbulent times for the Jewish people, a time we have been discussing with a number of our other prophets of recent weeks, namely “The Exile”.   Jeremiah witnessed the fall of a great empire, the Assyrian, and the rise of the Babylonian Empire!  His writings cover a period of about 40 years. 

 

  

 

The main issue he deals with is the People's turning away from Yahweh and towards worshiping idols.  Due to the nature of the period, the major political convulsions in the region, we find there were several prophets at this time.  Jeremiah stands out from this group in his ability to show God’s love for his people and the People’s duty to God through the covenant ties.

   

Our passage today is very interesting in that it shows God’s loving care of His people compared to that of a Father for his firstborn.

 

 

The Way  (Tony O'Donovan)

  

The very last sentence in today’s Gospel is what I want us to focus on this morning!  “Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way”.  I want us to spend a little time on this “Way of Jesus”.  Remember two weeks ago we had the gospel story of the rich young man, who was quite anxious to do whatever to “inherit eternal life”.  Remember he had observed all the laws from his youth, but when Jesus challenged him to sell all and “follow me,”  he went away sad.  He was unable to follow Jesus.

 

I want to step back a bit and take a look at where we are in Mark’s Gospel.  Remember Mark wrote the first Gospel, it is the shortest of the Gospels.  If we look at how it is written we find that it neatly falls into two parts, the first beginning with the Baptism of Jesus at the Jordan by John, and ending with the famous confession of Peter to the question “Who do you say I am?”. 

 

The second part is the Journey to Jerusalem and the death of Jesus.  This “journey” begins with a miracle, the gradual healing of a blind man.  He declares that he can see shadows, and gradually his sight returns to him.  And then the one we have today, just as Jesus arrives in Jerusalem.  There is a strong suggestion that these “blind stories” are there as a comment on the apostles inability to see what Jesus was about.  Remember last weeks gospel had James and John asking Jesus if they could sit on his left right side in heaven!!

 

 

 

Now, back to the way of Jesus.  If we are familiar with the stories about Jesus from the Gospels, we will begin to discern very easily a pattern as to what was Jesus’ Way.  He went about trying to get people to understand what God wanted of us.  He summed up the commandments to two, “love God and love your neighbor.”  And he practiced that in his actions of healing the sick, and most especially showing that the society had become trapped by the rules.  He reached out to sinners, he dined with them and worst of all, in the eyes of the authorities, he forgave people their sins!!  This was Jesus’ Way.

  

We are here this morning because presumably we have accepted the invitation “come follow Me”.  How are we doing on the Way, on that journey we call life?  Human nature is interesting, particularly as I reflect on my own life.  I have had the best of intentions but the reality of my actions often fall way too short!  Thankfully I have a forgiving and loving God who is constantly inviting me to get back on “the Way,” and supporting me with the community I belong to, the Church and its sacraments. 

 

Picture 1:  Tony

   

Picture 2:  Our Man in the NY Marathon this Saturday, Tom Fleming receiving the blessing of The Community

 

Picture 3:  Sean & Cara with their parents, Ed & Christine

 

Picture 4:  Bill with Nancy & Helen

 

Readings:

1 Kings 19, 9, 11-13, Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord.

Psalm 85,  Lord, let us see your kindness and grant us your salvation            

Romans  9, 1-5, They are Israelites.  

Matthew 14, 22-33,   Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.     

 

 

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Jackie & Patricia, & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel & Homily,  Deacon Mike 

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike (on vacation) & Richard, Ben & Hue 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

 

Download Readings week 19

 

1^st part of Homily

Today’s gospel is a continuation of last week’s story from Matthew about the Lord, with his disciples, feeding the Jews with the fish and the loaves, for the fish are a metaphor for the liturgy of the Word, and the loaves and leftovers a metaphor for the liturgy of the Eucharist. 

 

 

Homily by Mike Carrell

The Lord be with you.

A reading from the holy gospel according to Matthew

After Jesus had fed the Jews, he made the disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side of the lake. With the crowd dispersed, Jesus climbed the mountain so he could be by himself to pray.

He stayed there alone, late into the night. Meanwhile, the boat was far out to sea when the wind came up against the boat, and they were battered by the waves. At about four o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. They were scared out of their wits. "A ghost!" they said, crying out in terror. 

 

Their music just gets better & better.

 

But Jesus was quick to comfort them. "Courage, it's me. Don't be afraid." Peter, suddenly bold, said, "Master, if it's really you, call me to come to you on the water." 

Jesus said, "Come ahead." But when Peter looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, "Master, save me!" Jesus didn't hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, "You of little faith, what got into you?" The two of them climbed into the boat, and the wind died down. 

The disciples in the boat, having watched the whole thing, worshiped Jesus, saying, "This is it! You are God's Son for sure!" 

 

 

Tom, Richard, & Hue working their magic.

 

2^nd part of homily

It was Jesus intention for his disciples to follow his example of sharing the fish and preparing the gentiles to also receive the loaves and leftovers, so that Jews and gentiles could become brothers and sisters in Christ. This story teaches the Church that its disciples were to have faith in his words even until the end of time.  The gospel of the Lord.

 

 

There he is, Folks, Mike finally in the wilderness of Colorado, with Rose.

 

Please Remember these special people:

For our Bill & his family,   For Becky's dad just discovered with the virus;  For Cindy recuperating from a procedure some weeks ago;    For Esparzas, Frank & Mary,  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;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, Woodlands,  For Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;    For Sydney;  & For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody & Ben & all of Shonda's dear family;   for Michelle;

 

 

Two happy campers, Mike & Rose.

 

For Jackie's mom;  For a friend, a neighbor, & a doctor, Karen, with brain cancer; For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free;    For Hue;  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

 

 

Where is that Mike??!!

 

Birthdays:   Carrie Bieda, 62; Stephen Farmer, 30; Marlene; Richard has a new grandbaby, Madeline, congratulations, Carrie

Anniversary:  John & Jean O'Donnell, 62nd;  Ryan McClurg & Grace, 7th  

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Come, O Dancing God,

Spirit of Life and Love,

of  Beauty and Diversity,

stir up my soul,

bathe me in your light,

and unleash my own spirit

that I may dance with you

and be light for those around me

and reflect your love to all that I meet this week.

 

Edited and adapted from a blessing by Fr. Andrew M. Greeley

 

 

A 2020 broadcasting studio??

 

   

Community Finances, August 9, 2020

Expenses: $1040.00

Outreach   $300.00    (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

Here is a link to a survey about access to the Sunday Mass.  Please take the survey and let us know how easy/difficult it is to get to the Mass.  Thanks. 

(Take this survey and all your life problems will be solved.  That is what Becky & Mike told me.)