Reminder for 4th Advent, December 20, 2020,

Isaiah 55: …my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.

Romans 8:  Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.

Matthew 13:  But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.

John Stack Ministries now meets at:  The ArtCentre of Plano, 902 E. 16th St, Plano

John Cade's homily from last Sunday: Download 07-09-23 Homily -14th Ordinary

Information on Jan Keszler's internment and reception: https://ariacremation.com/obituary/janet-lee-keszler/ 

Sirach 27:  Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.

Romans 14: For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; …

Matthew 18:  Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often  must I forgive?  As many as seven times?"  Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy -seven times."

Beth reading from the Book of Sirach

Thanks…     

Music,    Shonda & Ben 

Readers,  Beth & Rob

Homily,   John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Hue & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

Rob reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans

Readings:  Download 09-17-23 Readings -24th Ordinary

Homily:  Download 09-17-23 Homily -24th Ordinary

John reading from the Gospel of Matthew

Remember these special people:

For the family of Ron Senter;   For Meredith  whose cancer has come back;  For Tom Good;  For Tom  Quinn who had back surgery on November 21st; 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 Mary Hall's friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition;   For Sir Charlie;  For Ron ;  For Teresa Quinn's niece, Maddie who has a brain tumor;

Jackie's 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 & the families of Annie and Michael ;    for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

Linda helping John vest for Mass

Birthdays:   Mary Jane Stevenson

Anniversaries:  Lynda & Tom Fleming

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $  455.00

Outreach: $  60.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

                        Connie and her son, Kevin                     

"Welcome in, Everybody," say Emma & her mom, Beth.

Readings: 

Jeremiah 17,  5-8,   Cursed  is the one who trusts in human beings.

Psalm 1,  Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.  

1 Corinthians 15, 12, 16-20,    Christ has been raised from the dead.

Luke 6,  17, 20-26,  Blessed are you who are poor.  (beatitudes)

Suiting up is a teamwork.

Sunday Homily

 Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings.

This morning I would like to talk about this line from Jeremiah, which, you know me, I do not like. 

A little story for perspective.

Victoria doing her magic lighting of the candles.

It was only a week ago this past Thursday that I went to visit my spine surgeon for my 6 week post op check up.  I expected to get a looser leash, like maybe a physical therapist.  Rosemary came with me, mostly because she did not want me to come home saying I could do things she doubted came from the surgeon.  

So, what happens?  I got more freedom than I could imagine.  I was even asked if I wanted a physical therapist.  I said I did not care.  He asked if I learned anything new from the physical therapist I had pre-op.  I said I really learned nothing.  So, he said just go do what you know.

I was so stunned, so surprised, I was in tears.  Lucky I had Rosemary there.  She would have never believed me.

Buddy reading the Blessing of The Winter Candles.  You just gets better each week, Buddy.

So, from the office in the Presby  complex we headed home all elated in our Prius.  We took Royal Lane west from Central and caught the light at Hillcrest.  We were behind a lady.  The red light changed to green and the lady sat there.  I flashed my lights one time.

Then, Bamm!  We were tail gated. 

What now?  All the horror stories I have heard of hit & run people, people who get angry and blame the victims.

I am proud to say, Carol, that I am jealous of your hair.

So we went to the first left bound lane, pulled over to the right hand curb, and got out.  My elation had turned to a downer.  At least the person had not tried to run away and pulled right up behind us.  Moreover she jumped out of her Infinity SUV, asking, "Are you okay?  Anybody get hurt?   I am so sorry, my foot just slipped off the brake pedal."  I know you are warned never to do this if you caused the accident.

The Music Musicians Ben & David.

Corey was the lady's name, middle aged, slender, and probably from the neighborhood.  She had a lot of integrity, claimed she was responsible, gave us photos of her papers, especially the insurance paper.  

By the next day, Friday, her insurance company was in touch, they offered us a rental, which we did not think we needed for a few days, and we booked the Prius into the local service King this past Thursday.  

Elevation time.

So, cursed is the one who trusts in human beings?  Jeremiah, you must have been having a bad day, a bunch of which I know you had in your life.

I think the real challenge for us is to trust. 

Who are the people in your life whom you trust?  

The Beautiful Sisters Geri & Francine.

Because someone attending Mass last Sunday has been diagnosed with the Covid virus, the Board would like to reinstitute some of the precautions that we were using when we first came together again as a Community for Mass.  

1. Masks.  We have all been wearing masks.
2. Observe the 6 foot rule.  Families may sit together but different families should maintain a 6 ft distance from each other.
3. No touching or wandering around.  At the Kiss of Pease, please wave or nod to each other rather than hugging and touching.
4. Sanitize.  There will be a bottle of hand sanitizer on the table when you come in.

We are all vaccinated and these extra precautions should provide a safe atmosphere to celebrate Mass.

Thank you.

Welcome in Everybody, and welcome to Advent.

Readings:  

Jeremiah  33, 14-16, “The days are coming”, says the Lord, “when I will fulfill the promise I made.”

Psalm 25,  To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

1 Thesssalonians 3,12-4,2, May the Lord make you increase and abound in love.

Like 21,  25-28, 34-36, There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars.  

Welcome from today's Offertory Team, Michelle & Gil, Carol & Rich

One Day on a Walker   

For a New Appreciation of People, Try a Walker

This morning I would like to talk about how I came to see again how genuinely good ordinary people can be.  Want a quickie answer to that?  Try lumbar stenosis which leads to lower back pain which leads to life on a walker.

Another Day on the walker.

Two examples.

Just after the doctor put me on a walker I had an 8:00 A.M. appointment with my skin doctor.  It was freezing dark, cold, windy, and I had to park in one of those ground level parking areas, like about ½ a mile from the double glass entrance doors. 

As I hobbled up to the doors, a guy and a woman jumped ahead of me and held the doors open for me.  I was most touched.

Leo the Candle Man in Action.

The same thing happened when I departed the buildings.

Other similar events happened all the time we were in Hilton Head.   But a special one took place at an Alabama highway welcome facility just departing Georgia. 

We stopped in the visitor space to visit the facilities.  As I approached the one story building I noticed that the host of the facility this particular morning was a black guy about 60.  He saw me and was immediately heading toward the entrance doors.

Buddy reading the Blessing of The Advent Candle.

We arrived about the same moment and I reached out to pull outward the right hand door.  Trouble was, I was coming at it from the left.  I was awkwardly pulling the door with my right hand when the guy opened the door and stepped out to help me. 

Lucky me, because I was planning on using the door handle with my right hand to balance.  Suddenly the door was open, the handle out of reach, and I am falling over—right into the arms of the welcoming station.  Yes, he caught me and graciously got me righted.

Yes, Harper, you look really pretty with your new shorter hair.

Then, even at the restroom door, truckers were holding it so I could enter and depart.

I have been most touched, folks, and feel privileged.

Any of you seen these people around lately? 

And the question I would ask normally, I don’t ask now because it is irrelevant.  You do this kind of activity every day.

Could it be that Leo's most favorite time of our Sunday Mass is the Cupcake of the Week time.

Readings: 1 Kings 3, 5-12; Psalm 119; Romans 8, 28-30; Matthew 13, 44-52 (beautiful section)

1 Kings:

• Author & date of composition: a compiler who seems to have lived ca. 550, during the Babylonian captivity.
• Subject Matter: King Solomon, David’s son. 1 Kings was once considered part 3 of a 4 part series, 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings, all of which was called the Book of the Kingdom because the books all talk about the kings of the Hebrews after the rule of the judges.
• Sources of the Compiler: many, but in particular The Court History of David and The Acts of Solomon.
• Time Span of Kings: 450 years, from 9th century to 5th century B.C., King Solomon & the Temple to Nebuchadnezzar & the Babylonian Captivity, one of the great Hebrew catastrophes along with the Holocaust.
• Today’s selection shows Solomon is so wise, as he is given a choice by Yahweh.

A Man Who was a Treasure: Tom Collerain

Last Sunday, you may remember, we had a touching Mass and a fun brunch.  And seated right up there behind Ken & Cindy, Kim & Lance was Tom Collerain for the first time in about a month.  Rosemary & I had missed him, wondered how he was doing, and called him the week before.  He said he and Alice had just returned from a cruise on the Rhine, which was why we had not seen him, and that he was looking forward to Sunday and seeing everyone again.  As usual, Tom was there with his warm, marvelous smile.

That evening he had dinner at 6:00 with Alice, was cleaning up, and went out with the garbage.  Alice wondered what was taking him so long.  She went out and found him lying in the flower bed.  He had gone to the other side. 

Again this Sunday we hear more humble metaphors of what the kingdom is like, like a fishing net, like a pearl, like a treasure.  Folks, Tom Collerain was a treasure.  For at least three reasons.

First, because he was fully alive.  He received the gift or treasure of life and fully experienced it.  On the Myers-Briggs personality indicator, he probably was a judging or type A personality.  He lived with order, working out every day at 9:00, eating at 12:00 & 6:00, nap at 1:00, and probably on time for everything.  That was his gift. 

He also celebrated life, for example traveling with Alice after his retirement.  In fact, they had just returned from the Rhine.  To celebrate even more, he had the joker in him.  For example, he could have given me the one about the couple who were 60 years old and celebrating their 40th anniversary.  They were in a nice restaurant.  Suddenly a little fairy appears on their table and says that because they were such a good & loving couple, they could each have one wish.  Like Solomon.

The wife, with the wisdom of Solomon when she had a choice, asked that she and her darling husband be given a cruise trip around the world.  The fairy said yes, and, poof, two cruise tickets appeared on the table. 

When the fairy asked the husband, he said that he had a wish which was not intended to hurt his wife, but he would like a new wife 30 years younger.  The fairy & the wife look and each other, roll their eyes, the fairy says, “Okay,” and, poof, the husband becomes 90 years old. 

Secondly, Tom was a treasure because he was, as Alice describes him, a gentle man.  He was a gentle man because he was at peace, at peace with his numerous friends, so many of which showed their appreciation of him Wednesday at his funeral service.  He was at peace with his terrific family, with himself, and with his God.  He was likewise at peace with animals, so many of which he welcomed under his roof.  His favorite golden retriever, Rowdy, even reflected his peace.  When a litter of abandoned baby kittens from the neighborhood were brought in, it was Rowdy who would pick the little kittens up in his mouth and carry them around. 

Thirdly, Tom was a treasure because he considered himself a roof keeper.  He took care, he watched over.  In fact, once he retired he developed a talent for cooking he had put on the shelf when he was working.  It is amusing to note that Tom gave Alice one of her first cooking lessons.

Before they got married and were living in Houston, Tom brought Alice a gift of fresh corn on the cob.  She put it away.  A while later Tom returned, saw the corn, and suggested that she cook it up.  “I don’t know how,” she responded.  Tom taught her how to boil corn on the cob. 

It also seemed so symbolic to me that Tom’s last act was taking the garbage out.  How symbolic of how he spent time making his world a better place in which to live. 

I can see Tom this morning walking beside his favorite dog Rowdy, like he did so many times.  Rowdy is introducing him to all the new neighbors, for whom the gentle man Tom will act as a roof keeper. 

We have only so much time, folks.   How are you appreciating the treasure?

AUDIO:   http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-07-27.mp3