Wisdom 2, Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious

Psalm 54, The Lord upholds my life.

James 3,  Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder.

Mark 9,  If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last.

 

 

John Simari reads the first reading.

 

Thanks……

Music,    Ben & Shonda

Readers, John & Brent & Buddy, our candle blesser 

Gospel,     John Cade

Homily,   John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,     Richard & Hue & Mike

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy for all these years & will miss you enormously, Becky

 

 

 

Brent reads the second reading.

 

Homily by John Cade,  

Download Homily John Cade 09-19-21

 

 

Welcome home, Sir Charlie & Jan.  So good to see you.  It has been too long!

 

Remember these special people:

For John & Karen Anderlick's unborn grandson;   For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   For Esparza's new great grandson  & Frank;  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 Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody &  Leo & all of Shonda's dear family; For Ursuline Sr. Mary Troy,

  

John shares his interesting insights into today's readings.

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 daughters, Lisa & Lauren  ;  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 12 month old baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; For Beth's friends & brother;   for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

Welcome Home, Patricia & Fred!

 

Birthdays:   Ben's daughter, Sophia, 14

Anniversaries:  

Tom & Lynda Fleming

Rob & Beth

 

 

Peace, Everybody!

 

Community Finances,   September 19, 2021

Expenses: $ 745.00

Outreach: $ 255.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

How we see ourselves has everything to do with how we see God and how we see others. Let us make sure our God is the kindest, most loving and forgiving person we know. We become our image of God.

 

Taken from We Become Our Image of God by Sr. Jean Amore, CSJ, Principal Sacred Heart Academy, Hempstead, New York

 

 

Happy Anniversary, Beth & Rob, and welcome home.

 

 

 

Says Harper, "Welcome in, Everybody."

 

Readings:

Zacheriah 9, 9-10,   He shall proclaim peace to the nations.

 Psalm 145,   I will praise your name forever, my king and my God.  

Here it is again, The Terrific Line: "The Lord is gracious & merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love."  Watch for it.

Romans 8,  9, 11-13,  You are not in the flesh, you are in the spirit.  (?)

 Matthew 11, 25-30,  All creation is groaning in labor pains.

 

 

Likewise, Gil, too, says, "Come on in, Folks."

 

Zechariah:  Zechariah is the 11th of the 12 Minor Prophets and lived just when the Hebrews were released from the 70 year long Babylonian Captivity, in other words around 555 B.C. He is in Jerusalem and encourages the people to rebuild the temple.

He is called a minor prophet only because his little work has simply 14 chapters, unlike the Big 3, Isaiah, Jeremiah, & Ezekiel, who have many chapters, in fact 66 for Isaiah.

He was a favorite of the N.T. writers because he is rich in messiah predictions.  Today we have one of those visions.   You might picture how this message is coming across.  The people have been crushed, they have been slaves in Babylon, and the Jerusalem they have returned to is nothing but disaster. 

 

 

 

Tori, what happened to your tooth?  Are you a rich girl now?

 

The Lord is Gracious and Merciful, never gets Angry, and is abounding in Love

I was asking myself, how did this line come to say so much to me about the nature of our God.  Here is what I found.

I can tell you the time of day it first hit me, a sunny morning.  I can tell you exactly where I was, Nairobi, Kenya, in the little chapel of a house run by a small group of American religious teaching brothers.    

 

 

 

 

Zoe, did you snatch Tori's tooth?  You got beautiful teeth.

 

It was my second year working in East Africa.  I was taking a day off at this American brothers’ place because it was just around the corner from a really nice arboretum and because they were Americans.  The Jesuits in Nairobi were mostly Indians with a few Quebecois.  I liked to hang out once in a while with fellow Americans. 

So why at this time and place?  Two reasons.

 

 

 

 

Emma, just seeing you & your mom here today makes my day.

 

One, education and Jesuit formation.  I had some good, progressive professors when I studied theology in Toronto, like David Michael Stanley in New Testament.

Secondly, people who showed me compassion and sensitivity, intellectual curiosity and acceptance, like the novice master, Tony Mangiaracina, about whom I talked once.  He is the priest I told you I saw cigarette smoke coming out of his desk drawer when I went in to get permission to drink water for that month.

 

 

 

The Offertory Gang, Paul & Carrie & Diane.

 

Another priest I never have talked about is the assistant novice master, Bobby Rimes, another of the numerous New Orleans guys who made up our province.

Three reasons why Bobby influenced me to perceive the significance of the line, The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry, and is abounding in love.

 

 

Where did you get that megawatt smile, Olivia?   It lights up the room.

 

First, he was disappointed but accepting of his assignment to be assistance novice master.  Bobby really wanted to be a missionary like Francis Xavier.  He wanted to be The Best.  Assistance novice master was not very romantic.  He did not ever complain, but simply shared he would prefer to be in the missions. 

And here I, never dreamed of going to the missions, I end up in East Africa.  I did not yearn to work in the missions because I did not like the cultural imperialism I read about, which played a role in my getting asked to leave.

 

 

 

You, too, Ben, your personality warms the whole room.

 

Secondly, Bobby was an excellent athlete and probably could have been a pitcher in the big leagues.  Wow, could he pitch.  I got to know this athleticism up close & personal because the second 3 years I spent in Grand Coteau, the noviciate, I spent many afternoons in titanic 2 on 2 handball games.  I never won a game, though we came oh so close  numerous times. 

I had a partner who was quite strong.  He was one of those who did 10 one armed pushups.  He was Mexican from Juarez.  Bobby,  he probably could have asked one of the nuns from the Sacred Heart Academy down the street.  We never won a game in three years, but it was so fun and moving.

 

 

 

So good to have you back, Leo.  The place is not right without you.

 

Thirdly, Bobby was always a friend, supportive and accepting.  He had every gift, not only a great athlete, but really a nice looking guy.  

Because of the influence of Bobby Rimes, somehow or other, I suddenly saw that  The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry, and is abounding in love.

How does the line strike you?

 

 

 

 

Says Genevieve, "Happy Easter, Everybody.  It is my very first Easter."

 

Readings:

Acts  10, 34, 37-43,  You know what has happened all over Judea.

Psalm 118,  This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.

1 Corinthians 5, 6-8, A little yeast leavens all the dough.

John 20, 1-9,  Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark. 

 

And J.T. and his mom, Maria, say, "Happy Easter, Folks." 

 

 

Acts observations:

What:  This work describes the spread of Christianity though out the Mediterranean world.  The main characters are Peter & Paul.  It presents both an idealized view of the community and a look at the significant struggles that took place between Peter & Paul on policy.  

We will see Acts every Sunday until May 15, Pentecost.  

 

 

Kevin says, "Come on in, Folks, we are ready to celebrate Easter."

 

Resurrection People

This Easter morning I would like to talk about Resurrection people.  These are folks who have come back to life.  Some may not be local, others are right here in our marvelous community.   I have three people and a bonus.  Here we go.

Ever hear of Anthony Graves?  He is an exoneree.  What is that?  Anthony is a black guy who was pardoned or exonerated for a multiple murder near Bryan, TX.  He never committed the crime.  Anthony spent 18 years in prison, 12 of them on Texas death row.  The DA at the trial hid evidence and falsified testimony.  He has since been disbarred.  How could he live with himself!

 

 

Hi, Emma, is that an Easter package?

 

 

How do you think you would feel if you were released after spending 18 years in prison?  Anthony Graves came out not angry, not resentful, and not seeking revenge.  He came out grateful and at peace. 

As some recompense, Anthony was given 1 1/2 million.  Anthony would easily be excused if he just took the money and went off the radar screen. 

 

 

Hi, Ben, Love the metalic look.   Happy Easter.

 

As a matter of fact, Anthony has used the money for others unfairly imprisoned.  He has opened a free clinic in Houston where exonerees get medical help and counseling.  He also works on the cases of others he knows have been unjustly condemned. 

Anthony is a Resurrection Person for me.  

(Reference. Dallas Morning News, 3-20 & 23)

 

 

 

Hi, Charlotte, tell your daddy thanks for coming today & bringing you and Nora.  

 

There are others, too, closer to home and closer to me, members of our very own own community.  

Rosemary & I brought communion one Sunday a  year or so ago to Stacie when she was struggling with chemo and cancer recovery.   Stacie is now cancer free and this past February 17 we just celebrated Stacie’s wedding to Paul.   Guess where they had met?  On an airline flight.  They were seated together.  Stacie is one of my Resurrection People. 

 

 

Hi, Nora, thanks for coming today.  Remember Christmas?  Who was  Baby Jesus?      Ready for your baptism this Saturday?  

 

 

Also part of our community is Jackie.  She had one bout with cancer and I was with her when she danced in her driveway one afternoon after she had been declared free of that cancer. 

A year or so later, it returned.  After more treatment, the prognosis is positive and Jackie rejoices in being alive.  She has even become part of a small team of cancer survivors who share their stories with medical students at Baylor.  Jackie is one of my Resurrection People.

 

Happy Easter, Natalie.  You look terrific.

 

Finally, a bonus.  This person, who will remain nameless, had received a present from Santa of a new bike a couple of years ago.  A few weeks later on a beautiful Friday afternoon in January on a bike ride around White Rock Lake this person fell off of her bike and broke her left elbow so badly it needed 9 screws and a plate to put it back together.   Recuperation took some months.

You would figure, right?, that she would give up biking and take up walking the dog.   Nope.   She got back up on that bike and last summer rode around The Lake most weekdays.  In fact, she has become a wicked biker.  This is my special Resurrection Person. 

 

 

Anybody want to try to guess what Chloe & her grandmom, Denni  are plotting? 

 

Who are your Resurrection People? 

How are you an R.P?

 

An Easter Picture, Denni & her grandkids minus only Nora.

 

 

Readings: Nehemiah 3, 2-10; Psalm 19, Your Words, Lord are Spirit and Life; 1 Corinthians 12, 12-30; Luke 1, 1-4, 4, 14-21

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Reading Reflections

Our readings today focus primarily on Readings.  Our first Reading from Nehemiah gives us a complete change from the Old Testament reading we have been hearing from for many weeks, namely the time of Exile.  For Nehemiah is writing from a time after the Exile.  The “Remnant”, as the people who had been scattered were referred to, had come back to Jerusalem.  This writing is part of a greater collection of writing composed of 1 and 2 Chronicles and Ezra, whom we hear about in our selection today.  This is the only Sunday in the three-year cycle of readings when we hear from Nehemiah, makes you wonder what he did wrong!

 

   

The last four books of the Hebrew canon are Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles.  In our first reading today, we will hear about Ezra, so it is worth commenting about both Nehemiah and Ezra as they are both the two men most responsible for the reorganization of Jewish life after the Exile.  There are good reasons for believing that originally the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah formed the last part of a single literary work that began with 1 and 2 Chronicles. Some authors even regard Ezra himself as having been the anonymous Chronicler. c. 400 B.C. as the time of composition of this work.

   

Nehemiah was the man of action who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and introduced necessary administrative reforms. Ezra in turn was the great religious reformer who succeeded in establishing the Torah as the constitution of the returned community.

 

The second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians continues where we left off last week, addressing issues within the community in Corinth.  I have chosen to use the optional shorter version and avoid most of the anatomy lesson.

 

 

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Homily

 

It would seem that the topic for today is “Reading the Scriptures”.  In our first reading we hear of Ezra reading to the people for hours and hours, think how lucky you all are today with these short reading we have!!  In the Gospel, Luke we have the very first verses from Luke’s gospel and then a jump to chapter 4 and a very detailed account of Jesus in his local synagogue in Nazareth.  What strikes me as interesting is the detail, almost like stage directions, which Luke gives us of Jesus getting up to read.

   

And here in Plano today, we too have listened as we do each week to the Scripture being read to us!  There are not too many human activities, which have remained in place for about 2300 years.  So we must ask the question – what is it about the Scriptures, which makes it survive for so long?

 

If we start to look at the Bible, we realize that it is the story of a peoples understanding of their relationship with their God, and how that relationship played out over several hundreds of years.  With a sense of their uniqueness, they try to answer the most fundamental questions about human life, how did it begin, what is our place in the world.  To answer these questions they told stories.  Unfortunately up until quite recently we tended to view the stories as historically accurate, and there are some folks who still view them as accurate!!

   

 

As Catholics we have a very long tradition of NOT reading the bible, it was viewed as too dangerous!  Remember, it was reading and interpreting the Bible was what caused the Reformation.  Today, I know of folk who use the Bible to determine their whole code of relationships. “Wives submit to your husbands” came from a society of about two thousand years ago, and yet, in spite of our more liberated view of humans, there are folk who happily live this way.

In 1943, Pope Pius XII published an encyclical “Divino Afflante Spiritu” on Bible Studies.  This was really the first time that the Church was officially encouraging Catholics to read the Scriptures again.

   

So what about us here today?  Each Sunday, we gather and get short readings and hopefully some background to those reading so that we may understand the context. But you are probably the most educated Catholics ever to sit and listen to the Scriptures.  Remember, when Pius XII was submitting his encyclical, less than 70 years ago, most people could barely read, and had not even completed high school.  So their thinking was done for them by the Church.  Today, we are invited to read and reflect on the Scriptures ourselves.  There is much available by way of help.  Even if we use the online edition of the New American Bible, http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.shtml there are helpful introductions and not too many footnotes. 

   

 

If we accept that the Scriptures are inspired by the Spirit, then careful reading and reflection can help us to deepen our relationship with God and allow us to better our relationships with one another. 

The Vatican II council issued a document on the Scriptures called “The Constitution on Divine Revelation” and urges us to “learn by frequent reading of the divine scriptures the “excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:8) and that prayer should accompany the reading of sacred scripture, so that God and man may talk together; for “we speak to him when we pray; we hear him when we read the divine sayings”. #25.

   

So what is to be our take-away for today?  “Be careful how you read the scriptures” Take the time to understand who wrote it, why it was written, whom it was written for and what was the culture.  Remember, spin-doctors are nothing new.

 

Sources:  New American Bible, http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.shtml

  

 

Picture 1:  Mass begins with Tony

 

Picture 2:  Lilly with her Grand daddy, Buddy

 

Picture 3:  The Donut Shoppe, Ron & Chloe & C.C.

 

Picture 4:  Sacrament of the Sick, Curtis, Barb, & Tony

 

 

Readings: Isaiah 35, 1-10; Psalm 146, Lord, Come and Save Us; James 5, 7-10; Matthew 11, 2-11. 

Intro to Readings

 Remember what I had said on the First Sunday of Advent, it is a time when the Church turns towards not just the coming of Jesus at Christmas but gives greater focus on the Second coming of Jesus at the end time.  We can see this very clearly in our readings today.  It is a common theme; “when is the world going to end?”  “what will be the signs?”  For the Jews there was an expectation that it was when all wrongs would be made right.  

 

The second reading is interesting.  It is a letter from James.  There has been much speculation on who this James is.  The apostle James or the James mentioned as the ‘brother of the Lord’.  We just don’t know and there are different supporters for each position.  The letter is more like a sermon than a typical letter from the time.  The main purpose of the letter seems to be to warn the hearers of the danger of having just an abstract faith.  Faith must be implemented in every action of our lives.  It can become too easy to make it theory and nothing more.

 The responsorial psalm is worth thinking about carefully.  It too picks up the same theme of the results of God’s activity in human lives!

 
 

Homily

 This past week the Church celebrated two big feasts, on Wednesday it was the Immaculate Conception and then today Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Certainly a big week for Mary.  The Immaculate Conception is a statement about Mary’s birth, namely that she was conceived to be free from sin.  I am not too sure what to make of that statement, but it is the Church’s way of honoring her as the mother of Jesus.  As we get closer to Christmas I would like to spend a few minutes reflecting with you on what Christmas might mean for us today.

 I remember many years ago reading a book on Quantum Mechanics and it was examining the question whether light traveled as a wave or a particle!!  A great book!  The feast of the Incarnation, namely God becoming human, is one of those events beyond our ability to understand.  I am sorry to have to keep saying it but God is way outside our ability to comprehend. 

 
 

The Jews were smart when they basically adopted the use of the name Yahweh without the vowels, in other words a name you could not say.  It sounds like something JK Rowling dreamed up for the Harry Potter world!  And yet our faith has gone to the trouble of coming out with proclamations about God in great detail.  One of the great blessings of both Luke and Matthew’s infancy stories about the birth of Jesus is that they are very easy to understand, which is what makes Christmas a wonderful event!  We can all relate to a baby’s birth, in fact we have all gone thru one!!

 The insight I have had this past few weeks was that since God is outside of time, then that event, God becoming human, even though it was an event in our experience that happened over two thousand years ago, since God is outside of time, it is an event which is always happening for God!  Look around you.  God is present in each one of us.  We have been given clues by Jesus of this:  remember “where two or three are gathered” or “as often as you did it for one of these”. 

 

 In Jesus’s response to John’s disciples he tells them to go back to John and tell him what they see, and there is almost a direct quote from our first reading from Isaiah about the blind seeing etc.  Remember last Sunday John sharing about his Jesuit friend Fr. Larry Gillick.  His blindness was taken away by his Jesuit colleagues who read to him and helped  him so that he could pass the exams!  Maybe that is how the blind see!!

 This Christmas, as we go about our busy days, trying to get too much done in too little time, pause!  Not only are the people you meet bringing God into your life, but you are also bringing God into theirs.  It may be that you will have an opportunity to help the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear and the poor have the good news preached to them.

 

Picture 1:    Mass begins

Picture 2:   Eleanor with her grand dad

Picture 3:   Dillon lighting the candles

Picture 4:   Our Father

Picture 5:   Ben & Amanda

  

 

Readings:

Genesis 2, 7-9; 3, 1-7,  Eating the apple.   

 Psalm 51,  Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned

 Romans 5, 12-19   Then everyone will receive praise from God.

 Matthew 4, 1-11,    Temptation in the desert.

 

Say Ben & Cody, "Welcome in, everybody." 

 

Introduction: In the creation story from Genesis, the serpent deceives Eve; and Adam brings sin into the world. In our gospel reading, Satan is also a deceiver. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, ‘We are all made righteous through Jesus Christ.

 

 

Let the celebration begin.

 

Homily: 

Here is a Greek definition for the word ‘tempter.’  In Greek, it is dee-ah-bah-lahs. The tempter is diabolic, wicked.   In today’s gospel reading it is the world that is arrogant and wicked.  It wants from Jesus Christ, the Son of God, a miracle or two, or three.  The world receives Jesus’ answer.  ‘I am not of the world. I bring to you the Father’s love; for he has sent me to redeem the world.’ 

 

 

Cole, our Candle Lighter of The Week.

 

The Lord doesn’t have miracles on his agenda, for a faith based on miracles is no faith at all!  I propose to you that the Scribes and Pharisees are the devil in this reading. They are the ones who say to Jesus, ‘give us a miracle, so that we might believe in you.’

 

 

Mike, our Homilist of The Week.

 

Recall that it is the diabolic Pharisees and Scribes who want to trap Jesus by bringing to him, while he was teaching at the entrance of the temple, a woman caught in the act of adultery. ‘Moses said that we should stone her; what do you say.’

 

The Team.

 

 The spirit that flows forth from the legalistic way the Pharisees and Scribes teach and live the Law ignore love. Their spirit is unclean.  They are the hypocrites that put fear in the minds of others, instead of love.   They can be likened to a circus hustler, ‘Come see Jesus feed, with a loaf of bread and a few fish, the overflowing crowd in the Big Tent.’  

 

 

Leo and Genevieve, that little girl is crazy about her big brother.

 

Their ignorance misleads the crowd, for the bread and fish of the Gospel are the Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of Eucharist.  There is no miracle here, only love.

When Jesus spiritually heals the sick and unclean in the Gospel; these are not miracles. Those who come to him desire to be forgiven; they are seeking to change their lives by welcoming and living his life-giving words. 

 

 

Could it get any better than this?  Zoe & Harper.

 

God’s plan for us is not easy, therefore, ‘in everything we are to give thanks,’  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ is alive to us, in good times and bad.  When we pray together each Sunday for our brothers and sisters who are physically sick or ill, we are praying for their care givers, their doctors, their nurses, their children, their parents, their friends. 

 

 

The Offertory Team, Ron, Ray, Bill, Bernadette, and Barbara.

 

We pray that they all become stronger in faith. The physical illnesses experienced by those dear to us are so much easier to accept knowing that the Lord journeys with us and in us and through us as the Body of Christ in the world.  We give thanks to Fr. John for keeping them in our hearts each week.’  

 

 

Play station with Victoria and Zoe.