Link Announcement for 3rd Sunday of Easter, April 26, 2020

Music,   Shonda & Ben

Expenses: $   990.00

Outreach: $    140.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

Michelle gets a cookie for her birthday

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

A Prayer For Growing Old Gracefully

Lord, Thou knowest better than I myself that I am growing older and will someday be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.

Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody; helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all; but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end. Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains; they are increasing, and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by.

I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cock-sureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.

Keep me reasonably sweet, for a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil. Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places and talents in unexpected people; and give, O Lord, the grace to tell them so.

Amen.

17^th Century Nun’s Prayer

 

 

A short note to let you know that Ken Cramer passed, today Sunday, April 3rd.  Please keep Cindy and the family in your prayers.

 

 

Isaiah 43:  … for I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink.

Philippians 3:   … I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God's upward calling, in Christ Jesus.

John 8:  Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you.  Go, and from now on do not sin any more."

 

Thanks…Music,    Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Carrie & Paul

Gospel,     John Cade

Homily,  John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,      Mike & Hue & Richard

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

It was wonderful to see you, Leo

 

 

 

 

Readings: Download 04-03-22 – Readings – 5th Lent

 

Homily:  

 

 

Hue keeping the Zoom working well

 

                                                 

 

 

Remember these special people:

For John Stack having a hard time right now with a bad back;  For Sandra who has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma;   For Rosemary's brother-in-law, Joe who is having a procedure on March 14th;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;    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 and for a friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition;   For Sir Charlie & Jan;  All of Shonda's dear family;

                           

 

 

Richard telling us about the Love For Kids picnic coming up

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 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 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.

 

 

    Sharing greetings with each other   

                 

                  

Birthdays:   Jean O'Donnell 4/5

Anniversaries:   

      

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $  475.00

Outreach: $  60.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

                                    

Communion

 

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  

 

 

Readings:

Genesis 15, 1-6,  Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can…Thus so shall your descendants be.

Psalm 105, The Lord remembers his covenant forever

Hebrews 11-14,  By faith Abraham obeyed, by faith Abraham received power

Luke 2, 22-40,  Simeon had been told that he would not die until he saw the Redeemer

 

 

Dreaming?  Yes!   HHH, end of August, Wichita Falls, 100 miles, last Saturday of August.

 

ROMEOS, Friday, January 8, 1:00,  as usual.    Welcome!   Note, not this Friday, Jan.1 

ROMEOs' Virtual Jason's Deli BYOB lunch
This is a recurring meeting, Friday, 1:00 pm
Link :
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85798571623?pwd=NmFSTW1ocVMzRGdIc0QzUGxKdHM3dz09

Meeting ID: 857 9857 1623
Password: saladbar

 

 

Reminder for Holy Family Sunday, December 27, 2020

Here are the links for Sunday:

Joshua 5:  On the day after the Passover, they ate of the produce of the land in the form of unleavened cakes and parched grain.

2 Corinthians 5:  So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us.

Luke 15: While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.  He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.

Another Reminder for the 4th Sunday in Lent, March 30, 2025

Readings: Isaiah 62, 1-5; Psalm 96, Proclaim His Marvelous Deeds to All the Nations; 1 Corinthians 12, 4-11; John 2, 1-11, Wedding at Cana

Mass with Tony

Notes on Readings for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Our First Reading is from Isaiah, chapter 62.  The book of the Prophet Isaiah is quite long, 66 chapters and in reality falls into two separate books.  The first section up to and including chapter 39 was written starting around 740 BCE.  Up to this time, Judah, the southern kingdom had enjoyed great prosperity.  The northern kingdom had fallen to the Assyrians, but the southern kingdom, including Jerusalem was fine.  Isaiah starts to write because the southern kingdom has subjected itself to the Assyrians and accepted their gods.

  

 

Second Isaiah was written many years later.  The situation is totally different because the kingdom has been conquered by the Babylonians, Jerusalem and the Temple have been destroyed and the people carried off into exile.  Our reading today is towards the very end of the book and the author is trying to offer encouragement to the people about the New Jerusalem.  He is trying to build up their faith in God that everything will be all right.  The reading is really a kind of liturgical song.

  

The Second Reading is from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, and the issue he deals with is a whole lot of arguing within the community about the different gifts of the Spirit, and which is the best!!  Just like little kids!!  The verses, which come just before our reading, should really have been included, and I have decided to have them read as part of the reading, as they give full meaning to the reading.

 

 

  

Homily for Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

 

Today is the only Sunday in Ordinary time this year when our Gospel comes from St John.  For the rest of the year we will be reading Luke.  We will run into John’s Gospel again in Lent.  The gospel reading today is about Jesus’ First Miracle, and this is probably why we have this reading, as we are pretty much at the start of the New Year.  Last Sunday we had the Baptism of Jesus, and since John is the only Gospel with this event, hence we have John today!

A few words first about the Gospel itself.  Written between the years 90 and 100 CE.  It is very different for the other three Gospels, namely Matt, Mk and Luke.  They are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels because of their similarities.  But John is very different.  Remember this is the gospel the starts out with “In the beginning was the Word”, by the way, remember that is also the way the book of Genesis begins, “In the beginning…this is no accident.  In Genesis we have the story of the creation taking seven days.  If you read Johns Gospel, you will find that we are in fact on the seventh day if one is counting days in Johns Gospel!  Our reading today properly begins with the words “on the third day”.  That in itself sounds familiar.  It is intended to.

I would like to point out a couple of things about John’s gospel.  Written at the end of the first century.  The temple had been destroyed, and this Christian community had been expelled from the synagogue.  There was fierce animosity between the Jewish community and the Christian community.

    

John never identifies the mother of Jesus as Mary, only as his mother.  We meet her twice in the whole gospel, the first time in today’s reading and the other time is at the foot of the cross when he says to her to take care of the beloved disciple John.

   

But lets look at today’s gospel.  A wedding, Jesus shows up with his mother and his disciples.  The narrative is carefully crafted.  There is an exchange between Jesus and his mother.  “They have no wine, what’s it to me.”  Then between the mother and the servants, “do whatever he tells you”, then between Jesus and the servants, “go fill the jars” and finally between the head steward and the bridegroom, who doesn’t have anything to say!  And again remember Jesus is later referred to as the Bridegroom!

   

By the way, that is a whole lot of wine!!  Somewhere between 120 and 140 gallons!! To the person familiar with the Old Testament, that would remind them of paradise!  An abundance of wine.  The water jars were normally used as part of the ritual purification process, which later we know that Jesus basically ignored completely.  But the piece I would like to draw attention to is brief exchange between Jesus and his mother.  It is one of those strange exchanges.  They should have whacked him properly for his answer when they found him in the temple at 12 and because they didn’t this is what you get!!

  

How are we to understand the whole thing?  Woman, my hour has not yet come!  Remember the next time we meet his mother was when his hour had come!  In spite of the harshness of the rebuke, Mary’s faith is demonstrated by the fact that she knows that anything asked in Jesus’ Name will be granted and so she simply tells the servants “Do whatever He tells you”.  That is the model of faith.

  

Faith is one of those words where I think for many of us there may be a bit of confusion.  At times faith and a belief system are often interchanged, but they are very different.  A belief system is all the things that have been put together by the Church as facts about our faith, but faith itself is quite simple.  It is an acknowledgement that there is a God who, in human terms, loves me and wants me to share that love with others!  As humans, we tend to complicate things, but it really is that simple.  Jesus told us to Love God and Love our Neighbor.  That was it.  With that in mind, we can go back and look at Mary’s actions in the story today.  First of all, she was sensitive to the embarrassment, which the married couple were about to be in, and secondly she had complete confidence that whatever she asked her Son, he would answer.  She didn’t get caught up in how he answered her, which would have been a distraction.  She simply told with servants to do whatever he told them to do. 

 

 

Now this is Mary we are holding up, as a model.  We will spend our lifetime trying to live with that kind of complete trust in God.  This is the woman who years earlier had said, “Be it done unto me”. 

We have gathered here today because of our own faith.  To have it nourished, to listen to God’s Word, and to share in this Meal.  We have the opportunity to live that faith each day, with our family, our neighbors, the folks we work with or are at school with us.  This week, lets remember Mary’s very simple “faith-filled” response, “Do whatever he tells you”  An answer she could give with complete confidence because she knew she was loved!

 

 

Picture 1:  Mass beginning with Tony & Kevin

Picture 2:  Tony blessing Geri's shawls

Picture 3:  The Bentleys, Holden, Cole, Hope, & Hunter

Picture 4:  Celebrating their 39th anniversary, Ray & Claire; celebrating her 15th birthday, Alexandra with her dad, David

  

 

                              Says Emma, "Hi, Everybody."

 

 

Welcome: Catholic Mass with coffee and juice and pastries, both bought and home-made, after Mass.

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

Place: Vines High School, Plano, 15th between Custer & Independence.

 

 

 

                      Says Harper, "You got any extra cupcakes?"

 

Readings:

 Exodus 16, 2-4, 12-15 You had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine.

Psalm 78,    The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

Ephesians 4, 17-24,   You must no longer live as the Gentiles do.

John 6, 24-35 I am the bread of life. 

 

 
Says Leo, "Be nice to me and I bet I can get you a cupcake, Harper."

 

Community Activities:  

1.        ROMEO MEET: Friday, July 31, Jason's Deli, Collin Creek Mall, west side of Central, 1:00.   Ragbrai stories for cookies.

 2.      LADIES' LUNCHEON,  August 6, Thursday, 1:00 P.M.,  Big Shucks, 103 S. Coit, Richardson, between Beltline and Spring Valley.

Everyone, please forward to anyone you think would be interested.  If you let me know I will add their email to the list. 

Carol 

 

                          Zoe looks at The Gang with awe.

 

 3.  Ray and Shonda have some new Mass responses (Mass of Glory) that they would like for us to practice for a few weeks before Mass before we sing it during the Mass proper.  You can check out these utube sites to hear them: 

http://youtu.be/mGlpu6_c3gQ

http://youtu.be/wYAikjow24E

http://youtu.be/k6Qjsxq8dU4

 

 

                                Brandon and his momma.

 

What is going on in our Catholic World:

1.       Francis fires two more bishops, National Catholic Reporter, July 15, 567 words,   Download Francis dumps two bishops 7-30-15    

 2.      Phillippine Church embraces Francis' environment vision, National Catholic Reporter, July 25, 765 words,       Download Philippine Church 7-31-15

 

Genevieve says, "Wanna bet I don't weigh 5 pounds any more." 

 

True?  

This is my simple religion.  There is no need for temples.  No need for complicated philosophy.  Our brain, our own heart is our temple.  The philosophy is kindness.

Dalai Lama

 

                     I think I see a philosophy of kindness.

 

 See you this Sunday.

J.S., 214-783-0443

 

 "Okay, let's get serious.  Enough of this having a good time."

 

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.

 

 

 

              Our temple is filled with music, beautiful music.