21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 21, 2022

 

Are you guys laughing at me–again?  This is serious business, no?

 

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

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

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

The next two weeks The Blog will take a bit of a vacation.

 

 

Sez Mike, "John, Want to buy a used bike?"

 

Readings: 

Acts of the Apostles, 15, 22-29,  Unless you are circumcised, you cannot be saved.

Psalm 67,  O God, Let all the nations praise you. 

Revelation 21, 10-14, 22-23, The Angel took me in spirit to a great, high mountain. 

John 13, 31-35, Whoever loves me will keep my word..

 

 

 

Healing Touch.

 

Community Activities:  

ROMEO MEET: Friday, May 24, Jason's Deli, Collin Creek Mall, west side of Central, 1:00.  Welcome all wakos, you will fit right in.   

 

Juliettes, June, TBA

 

 

Healing touch for Bill.

 

TRUE?

Only a biker knows why a dog sticks his head out a car window.

 

 

 

Our Father.

 

 

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

2 steps forward & 1 step back won't cleanse the Catholic Church

http://corpus-blog.blogspot.com/2019/05/two-steps-forward-and-one-step-back.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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi, Tori, Welcome back, you look beautiful.

 

 

Readings:  

 Proverbs 9, 1-6,  Wisdom ha built her house.  

Psalm 34,   Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.  (Wow, 2^nd week in a row, terrific)

Ephesians 5, 15-20,  Watch carefully how you live. 

John 6: 51-58,  I am the living bread.

 

 

 

Hi, Leo, Welcome back to you, too.   You also look beautiful.

 

Proverbs:

What are they: a collection of moral & religious teachings in the form of pithy sayings.  For example: "Better to eat a dry crust of bread with peace of mind than to have a banquet in a house full of trouble" (17, 1); "Being cheerful always keeps you healthy" (17, 22).

Some a bit tough: "Don't hesitate to discipline a child.  A good beating won't kill him" (23, 12).

Some amusing: "A nagging wife is like water going drip-drip-drip" (27, 15); "Better to live on the roof than to share the house with a nagging wife" (25, 24). 

Author: Maybe Solomon is behind chapters 1-29.  Most likely a compilation.

Date: Ca. 300 BCE is considered a possibility with material coming from as far back as 900, during the time of Solomon.

                                                                 

 

 

 

Great job, Zoe.  You, too, are a Super Candle Lighter.

 

 

Taste & See the Goodness of the Lord, part 2, or

Pet Delights, the inspirational column of Steve Blow, which I shared in the blog Thursday

 

Sorry, Folks, but I am going to do it again, namely, push the belief that we can taste and see the goodness of the Lord, every day.

This week for me it has been the White Rock Creek trail running from Royal & Greenville to White Rock Lake.  It had rained last weekend, so the whole creek edge was a beautiful green.  The lawn mower guys were out and where they had passed the rows & patterns made it super special.

 

 

 

 

Georgie reads our Blessing of the Candles.  I hope you know, Dearest Georgie, how terrific I think you are.

 

 

We  tunnel under 5 or six bridges on this trail.  One for me is breath taking.  Going north I come out of the Skillman tunnel, cross over a quaint steel & wooden bridge, look ahead for about ½ a mile, and see the trail meandering along often with other bikers, see a blue sky framed by a V of large green trees, and take in wilderness on my right and left. This cannot be Dallas.  It takes my breath away.

Taste & See the Goodness of the Lord.

Another biking blessing came this week Friday, when I actually had enough stamina to keep up with Rosemary, who this year leaves me in the dust.  It should be humiliating.  I’m actually quite proud of her, remembering that Sunday when she crashed and ended up with 9 screws in her left elbow.  As I tell her, the good professor is the one who sees his student do better than the old professor.

 

 

 

 

Sisters act, Jessica and Renee.  Welcome home, Jessica, from Boston, and congratulations, Renee, upon becoming an officially licensed architect.

 

 

Then there is Jim Mahar, the professor at St. Bonaventure who set up Bona Responds.  A great person always, but especially when he phones me about a story that touched him.

The scene: Sierra Leone.  Jim has worked there and has organized a bit.  One of his local teams was planning a talent show for kids to earn money.  They had prizes for the winners.  Until they were all stolen.

The police catch a guy.  Jim’s man, who has been even accused of stealing the awards, goes to see the guy and explains what all the gifts are for.  Jim even talks with the guy by phone.   He finally admits that he stole the awards and wants to give them all back.

The charges are all dropped and the guy even asks if he can join the group which is trying to help others with this talent show.

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Dallas, My Dear Paul.  The last time we met up was at your wedding with Lori in Ashville, NC.  Wish Lori had come with you.

 

 

When did you last Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord?

 

 

Communion with Jan on bread and Lynda on grape juice.

Baruch 5:  Wrapped in the mantle of justice from God, place on your head the diadem of the glory of the Eternal One.

Philippians 1: So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well.

Luke 3:  … John, Zachariah's son, out in the desert at the time, received a message from God.

John Cade's Homily from last Sunday:  Download 12-01-24 Homily- 1st Sunday of Advent

 

 

Mike celebrating his birthday at the Crab Shack with a tin foil crab on his head

 

 

Another Reminder for the 2nd Sunday of Advent, December 8, 2024

Readings: Wisdom 18, 6-9; Psalm 33; Hebrews 11, 1-19; Luke 12, 32-48.

Wisdom: this book is one of the 12 special books only finally approved by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent in 1546.  Martin Luther, for instance, did not think the 12 books were genuine.  Whatever the case, the 12 books are in a special section of our bible after the Old Testament.

The book we are reading from today contains traditional Jewish and Greek ideas about life, basically saying that God rewards those faithful to him & punishes you know whom.

What are You Afraid of?

When I was about sixteen, I came home from the old Jesuit High School one afternoon probably in the spring.  Nobody was home, not even my sister as far as I can remember. My dad was at work. My mom was at one of her afternoon bridge clubs and had gone with one of her friends because her baby blue Pontiac was in the garage. 

After hanging around a bit and getting bored, I decided I was going to go visit a friend and use my mom’s car. Mom, however, did not like me using her car, so I could not find her keys. Now in those days all of us kids knew how to run a car without keys. It was called hot wiring a car. You used tin foil on the back of the key slot under the dash. 

So I hot wired my mom’s big Pontiac, pulled out of the driveway onto Stanford, and turned toward Preston Road. Arriving at the corner the car stalls. For five minutes I am working on the key slot to start the car, all to no avail, when a car coming north on Preston turns into Stanford. A lady is driving.  I know that lady and sitting next to her, my mom.

The master had returned and the servant was unprepared. In fact, the servant was caught red handed.

I never got that car started and, in fact, had to pay my hard earned paper route money to get it towed and fixed. I had shorted out some wires. I don’t remember my mom ever saying anything, but I was humiliated. 

I remembered this incident when I read about the master & the servant. I have some observations about these readings.

First, I don’t see our God as a thief who is trying to catch us off guard. He is not a strict master who is looking to catch us red handed and beat us. 

Secondly, I don’t see us as servants. In fact, in John’s gospel Jesus says he does not call us servants, but friends. In today’s psalm it says, "Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.  We are his chosen.  So is everyone.

To see this parable in a positive light, I would go back to last week when we talked about life being a gift.  When it says that the Lord will come at an hour we do not expect, I propose that the gift comes at moments and in packages we do not expect.  Appreciation is the goal and the process. It involves being sensitive and reflective.

One of the best lines in the whole gospel today is the very first line where Jesus says, "Do not be afraid any longer." This means I do not have to be afraid of God, afraid of death, afraid of getting caught red handed, or afraid of missing the gifts of the moment. 

I’ll always remember how stupid I felt when my mom came around that corner and saw me in her car, broken down. She did not tear into me, and neither do we have a god who is a thief or master who will beat us. 

So what are you afraid of?

   

Hey, Buddy, it looks like you have a new admirer.  Would you like to teach Genevieve how to help us with the Mass?  Never too young to help out.  Maybe she also loves you new robes. 

 

 

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

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

Place: Sigler Elementary, 1400 Janwood Drive, Plano, TX 75075

 

 

That little girl can walk!  Leo is guiding her around to visit all her admirers.

 

 

Readings:                          

Zechariah   12,  10-11, 13, 1, I pour out on the house of David a spirit of grace.

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

Galatians 3, 26-29,     Through faith you are all children of God

Luke 9, 18-24,  If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily.

 

 

Leo says, "At that rate we ain't getting there."

 

 

Community Activities:  

1. ROMEO MEET: Friday, June 17 , Jason's Deli, Collin Creek Mall, west side of Central, 1:00.   Welcome all wakos,  you will fit right in.
2. JULIET LUNCHEON, (aka.,just us ladies into eating together):  TBA

 

 

 

Healing for Maddie and Sandra.
 

 

 

What is going on in Our Catholic World

1.  2 Questions about new law concerning negligent bishops, National Catholic Reporter, June 10,   1400 words,      Download Questions on new law 6-16-16

 

 

Healing for Teresa and Tom.

 

True? 

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up 

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore —

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over–

Like a syrupy sweet?

 

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

 

Or does it explode?

 Langston Hughes

 

 

Communion for All.

 

 

See you Sunday.

J.S., 214-783-0443

 

The Play Corner.

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.

See you Sunday.

J.S., 214-783-0443

 

Claire, want to know how to scare away the bears in Yosemite?  Having learned last year with us, Nicole is ready to share her profound knowledge.  Who knows, Claire, maybe you could us this method with your tribe of grand kids, especially the twins.

Isaiah 22: I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim's shoulder; when he opens, no one  shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open.

Romans 11: Oh, the depth of the riches  and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!

Matthew 16:  And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, …

 

Sun rise at White Rock Lake