Reminder for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary TIme, February 9, 2025

 

A note from Becky concerning the Thanksgiving Food Drive at Legacy.

 

We are short about 49 turkeys.  The give away is this Sunday.  She (Becky) will be in town until mid afternoon on Thursday.  If anyone would like to donate a turkey,  she can meet people at the school from Tuesday through Thursday and store any turkeys in the school's freezers.   She can also take money donations.

Proverbs 8:   … then was I beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day;

Romans 5:  … because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through  the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

John 16:  But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.

Ben and David, our musicians today

Thanks…

Music,    Ben & David

Readers, Lynda & Tom

Gospel,   John Cade

Homily,  John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,      Hue & Richard & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

Loretta, Connie and John join in the singing

 

 

 

Readings:  Download 6-12-22 – Readings – Trinity

Homily: 

                                       

 

 

Tom reading from Proverbs

 

 

Remember these special people:

For Sandra who has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma;   For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer and Kaliope, John Cade's Mother-in-law, with 2 broken vertebrae;  For Jackie;  For John's sister, Kathey in the hospital after a fall;    For Tom Good;  For a young man, 19 struggling with a brain tumor and cancer;     For Mary Hall's friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition;   For Sir Charlie & Jan; 

                           

 

The Kiss of Peace

 

 

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.

 

 

The Kiss of Peace

                   

                  

Birthdays:   Alison DeGenova 6/12,  Mary Esparza 6/12,  Bernadette Delgado 6/17

Anniversaries:   

      

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $   750.00

Outreach: $     235.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

                    

                               

Communion line

 

Rosemary's Blessing:  

Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars.
Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings.
Now, think.
What delight God gives to humankind
with all these things. . . .
All nature is at the disposal of humankind.
We are to work with it.
For without we cannot survive.

Hildegard of Bingen  (September 16, 1098 – September 17, 1179)

Isaiah 60: Caravans of camels shall fill you, dromedaries from Midian and Ephah; all from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of theLord.

Ephesians 3:  … the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Matthew 2:  … and on entering the house, they saw the child with Mary  his mother.  They prostrated themselves and did him homage.  Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

 

Readings:

Genesis 15, 5-12,  17-18, To your descendents I give this land.

Psalm 27,  The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Philippians 3, 17 -4, 1,  Therefore, stand firm in the Lord

Luke 9, 28-36, Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain.

INTRODUCTION

You probably have heard the figure of speech, ‘They cut a deal.’  The origin of the Hebrew word for covenant was the Hebrew word cut.  As you listen to our First Reading from the Book of Genesis it will become apparent that God and Abraham have entered into a covenant.  A covenant was accompanied by sacrifices that were cut, halved.  [They were ultimately fulfilled for us by the Lamb of God.]

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, encourages this early church to continue to be guided by the words of Christ, the Lamb of God.

 

HOMILY with Mike

Instead of Sarah being barren, the Luke gospel begins with the barren Elizabeth and her husband Zachariah.  They too are symbols, to teach the gentiles, the audience of the Luke gospel, about Judaism in what we call Luke’s Infancy Narrative.  [Recall that later she gave birth to John the Baptist, who prepares the way for the Lamb of God.]

The Levite and priest, were the ruling classes of Judaism. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, both pass by the man who has been beaten, robbed and left to die along side the road. Zachariah, who is a priest, symbolizes the priest.

Elizabeth is a descendant of Aaron from the tribe of the Levites, symbolizes the Levite.  The story teaches us why Judaism is barren. Remember the Jewish law, ‘you must love your neighbor as yourself.’  Within Judaism, the word neighbor referred only to one’s fellow Jew.  The Religious leaders of Judaism could claim that they were still righteous [God-like], for they had not broken their law, when they passed by the gentile who had been left to die. 

The words of Christ are not barren; they pour forth the Holy Spirit, the grace given by God to those who live Christ’s words. The voice from heaven to Peter, James and John in today’s transfiguration event is for them to live Christ’s words. 

Immediately following the transfiguration there is a story in Matthew, Mark and Luke of a Father who brings his Son to Jesus to be healed from a sickness that has existed since the boy’s infancy.  The sickness began to take root with the father’s lack of faith in Christ’s words when he chose instead to have his son circumcised after his birth.  The father and his son are to live the words of Christ that do not abolish but fulfill the Law and Prophets.  What is it that we can take away from today’s gospel?  As parents or grandparents we are to teach our children and grandchildren to live the words of Christ by the way we live them.  Young children can do wonders when they receive a little guidance and encouragement. 

I shared a fond memory about our youngest child, who will be 40 this summer, with Judy a few weeks ago.   Judy had been assigned to take communion to a small nursing home when our youngest son was somewhere around the age of seven or eight.   The older children would often find reasons for not joining Paul when we went to the nursing home with Judy late Sunday mornings.

At that time there were six Catholics for her to visit and give communion.  One was an elderly man who certainly seemed depressed about being there, and he didn’t look forward to us, or anyone else, coming to visit.  One day Paul, who loved to go fishing with his older brother and me, noticed a small picture on a bulletin board in his room.  I saw him looking at it. The two men, one younger than the other, had poles in hand and had definitely been fishing.

 

I gave Paul a little push and he asked the man about the picture.  A short time later Paul told him about an aquarium that was in the hallway at the entrance of the nursing home. The next week when Judy came to bring communion, we were surprised to find the man in a wheel chair waiting for us. From then on after receiving communion, Paul would push him down to the aquarium where they would talk about fishing.  The word of the Lord.

 

 

Note:  Because of popular demand and because I am still congested, no spin class for me at the J Monday morning.  John

 

 

 

Hi, Dearest Emma, Welcome in.

 

 

Readings:

Exodus 20, 1-17,  Yahweh gives the 10 Commandments to Moses

Psalm 19,  Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.

 1 Corinthians 1, 22-25,  God is stronger

John  2,  13-25, Jesus cleans out the temple.

 

 

 

 

Tori & Zoe at work lighting our candles.
 

 

 

Exodus: 2nd book of the Bible & of the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible.

 

Date of Composition: put together ca 450-400 BCE, though elements come from 1000 BCE at least.

 

Author(s):  Moses, no.  At least 3 sources, maybe 4, e.g., the Yahweh (J) source, the Elohim (E) source, the Priestly (P) source, and even the Deuteronomy Source. 

 

 

 

 

 

While Zoe & Tori light the candles, Georgie reads the Candle Blessing.

 

 

Subject:  The 10 Commandments–observations:

1. Academics see 3 maybe 4 versions of the 10 commandments, Exodus 34 (the oldest), Exodus 20 (our selection), Deuteronomy 5 (the last)
2. The versions come from the sources composing at different times, for example these 4

• The Yahweh Source, 10th Century BCE, therefore, Exodus 34    
• The Elohim Source, 9th Century BCE, therefore Exodus 20
• The Deuteronomy Source, 7th Century BCE, therefore Deuteronomy 5    
• The Priestly Source, edited all the sources in 6th Century BCE (450-400 BCE, at the end of the Babylonian Captivity).  The 7 Day Creation Story comes from this source at this time.

 

Source:  Bishop (Episcopal) John Shelby Spong (Excellent Biblical Scholar)

 

Side Note:  it is interesting to realize that the 10 Commandments are not considered the first set of laws.  For instance, the famous Code of Hamurabi .  Hamurabi was the ruler of Babylon (good old Babylon again) 18-20 centuries even before the Christ event.

 

 

 

 

Good Morning to the Kerns, Michael, Candy, Ben, and Holly around here somewhere.

 

 

The Week's Blessings (3)

Two Sundays before Ash Wednesday we had a first reading from the Book of Job.  Job was the man over whom Yahweh and Satan had a little wager.  

Job was a prosperous man.  So Satan bet that Job would curse Yahweh if Yahweh allowed Satan to send into his life a whole lot of afflictions.

 

 

 

 

And Good Morning to you, also, Vanessa and Stella.

 

 

The line that Job is famous for comes after Job has been flattened.  He says to his tormentors, “The Lord gives.  The Lord takes away.  Blessed be the Lord.” 

This has been one of those rare Job weeks in my life.  Things started going down Thursday about 2:00.  I felt a slight whisper in my chest.    I know my physical system well enough to spot when something different is happening.

 

 

 

 

The Team, Georgie & Buddy.

 

 

Rosemary & I had just spent Monday to Thursday with Kay Reddick in the small Ontario town of Lindsay.  We were just departing to drive into Toronto to share dinner with Renee, one of the Reddick kids. 

When we arrived at Renee’s house, I knew I was coming down with something.  It turned out to be Influenza Type B.  I struggled with that all the way home and through Saturday & Sunday until I saw my favorite internist Monday.  Initially, he thought I had severe chest congestion.  Only on a just to be sure did he do an influenza test.  In ten minutes my doctor said, “You got it.”

 

 

 

Ladies' Luncheon, Friday.

 

I felt immediate improvement once I got on Tamaflu.  What a gift.   But, as far as I was concerned this diagnosis complicated my life.  I had hoped to join the Dickinson team.  I never made it.  “The Lord gives.  The Lord takes away.  Blessed be the Lord.”

I truly have no significant reason to be anything other than grateful—for my health. 

 

 

 

Who let these people out on the streets?

 

I had a five day menu of Tamaflu and every morning I felt better until Saturday morning I woke up and knew I was healed.  I am grateful for my health.  I am disappointed I did not get to take part in Dickinson, but I am touched and proud of our community which contributed so much.

What are you grateful for this third Sunday of Lent?

 

 

 

This could be dangerous.

Exodus 16:  "I've listened to the complaints of the Israelites. Now tell them: 'At dusk you will eat meat and at dawn you'll eat your fill of bread; and you'll realize that I am God, your God.'"

Ephesians 4:  And then take on an entirely new way of life – a God-fashioned life,  a life renewed from the inside . . .

John 6:  They jumped at that: "Master, give us this bread, now and forever!"   Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever.