2nd Sunday of Advent, December 8, 2024

Ecclesiastes 1:   … vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!

Colossians 3:  Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all.

Luke 12:  Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.

           

Buddy reading the prayer for the Lighting of the Candles

 

 

Thanks…

Music,    Ben 

Readers,   Carrie & Paul

Gospel,   John Cade

Homily,  John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,      Hue & Richard & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

                                             

                                    

Paul reading from Ecclesiastes

Readings:  Download 07-31-22- Readings – 18th Sunday Ord

Homily:  

                  

                             

Carrie reading from Paul's Letter to the Colossians

 

 

 

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;  For Hue; For Jackie;  For John's sister, Kathey recovering from 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; 

                           

Brent and Meredith

 

Jackie's mom, 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 & friends, Annie, a mom of 3 kids and Michael ;    for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

Ben, the music man

   

Birthdays:   Cindy Ekes 7/31,  Linda Beavers 8/4

Anniversaries:   

      

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $  1,275.00 

Outreach: $  575.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

                 

Kevin and Hue, the Zoom experts

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:  

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

Mother Teresa

 

 

 

Hi, Emma, and Happy Christmas.  You look gorgeous.

 

 

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

Time: 4:00; Celebrate with the Community & Stack

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

                       

 Note for bad weather Sundays:  If you wonder if we will have our celebration, call me (214-783-0443) and I will record a message.   I will also get a phone tree moving.  Check the directory for phone numbers.  If we know for sure the Saturday evening before, I can also post a blog.

 

 

 

Hi, Nora, I hear Santa  is coming to visit you tonight and maybe even this evening.

 

Readings:

Genesis15, 1-6; 21, 1-3    Look up at the sky and count the stars.  Just so shall your descendants be.

Psalm, 105,  the Lord remembers his covenant forever.

Hebrews 11, 8, 11-12, 17-19  By faith Abraham obeyed.

Luke 2, 22-40,   Simeon & Anna meet Jesus

 

 

 

 

Quiz: how many people are singing in the photo.

 

 

Community Activities:  

ROMEO MEET: Friday, December  29, Jason's Deli, Collin Creek Mall, west side of Central, 1:00.  Welcome all wakos,  you will fit right in.  Apologies for the mix up last Friday.

JULIET LUNCHEON, (aka.,just us ladies into eating together),  January Lunch, TBA

 

Dickenson Trip:  February 23- March 3

 

 

 

 

Those Bresson kids.

 

 

What is going on in Our Catholic World:

1    The cruelty of the tax plan, NationalCatholic Reporter, December 14, 666  words,    Download THE CRUEL BUDGET 12-28-17- 

2.  Jesuit parishes as sanctuaries, National Catholic Reporter,   December 21, 654 words,    Download SJ PARISHES SANCTUARIES 12-28-17

3.   How to reform the Vatican, National Catholic Reporter,  December 21, 255 words, Download REFORMING VATICAN 12-28-31

 

 

 

 

I think I see some shepherds.

 

 

True?

The belief that there is only one truth, and that oneself is in possession of it, is the root of all evil in the world.

Max Born

 

 

 

 

Under that bush, could there be a Cathy?

 

 

See you Sunday, December 31, 2017

J.S., 214-783-0443

 

 

 

 

Sez Sam, "Where is that Santa character?"

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Sez Tori,  "He's coming, Sam.  You just watch."

 

 

 

 

"I've seen him," says Zoe

Weather looks like it's going to be fine on Sunday Morning.  We'll see you at the ArtCentre at 9:30.

 

 

 

 

 

Acts of the Apostles 3:  The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.

1 John 2:  But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him.

Luke 24:  . . . he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?"  They gave him a piece of baked fish;  he took it and ate it in front of them".

 

Readings:

1 Kings 19, 9, 11-13, Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord.

Psalm 85,  Lord, let us see your kindness and grant us your salvation            

Romans  9, 1-5, They are Israelites.  

Matthew 14, 22-33,   Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.   

 

 

ROMEOS, Friday, August 7, 1:00,  as usual.    Welcome!

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

Palo Duro Canyon

 

 

Reminder for 19th Sunday Ordinary Time, August 9, 2020

Here are the links for Sunday:

 3.  Catholic influence on Joe Biden, https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/how-joe-bidens-catholic-roots-have-shaped-his-public-life

 

Alaska

 

Community Finances, August 2, 2020

Expenses: $  980.00

Outreach   $  150.00  (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

Cindy Cramer:  Here is the latest on Cindy from her daughter.

Good news! My mom is making great progress in rehab and they've given her a tentative discharge date of August 13! She's walking on a walker already, but they want her to have time to build up her strength some more before letting her out.

 

 

Also — there is no need to bring her food anymore. It turns out, the food at this place is really good — much better than the hospital food was! 

 

Thank you all again so much for all your cards, gifts, thoughts, and prayers! You are really helping to make her stay more tolerable, and she is fortunate to have such a strong support network!

 

 

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.