HOPE FOR ALL
2024 Dates For Yard Sales
Saturdays8 - 11 am
January 13
February 10
March 9
April 13
May 11
June 8
July 13
August 10
September 14
October 12
November 9
December 14
Thursdays 5 - 7 pm
January 25
February 22
March 28
April 25
May 23
June 27
July 25
August 29
September 26
October 24
November 21
Most, but not all of our Parishioners may be familiar with our Green Prayer Book. On Easter it made it's reappearance on the table in the foyer. Our tradition, as established in 2013 was to leave the book out before liturgies so that people can write intentions, prayers of thanks or whatever the spirit moves them to share, and then bring it up with the Gifts and place it on the altar. It then becomes part of our prayers that we offer during the consecration.
We hope that everyone will take the time at some point to add to the book. We have included in the pictures a sample from the first page of the book. The first entry was made nine years ago on May 26, 2013. We are looking forward to many more years of offering prayers.
Starting in June we have designated three organizations to receive 10 % of what we receive in offerings. We have given to three very different and worthy groups; Mt Vernon Virtuoso, Community Change .Org and MD. Food Bank. The Tithing team is meeting this week to select more groups for 2022
We have decided that we wanted to use a formula that
will allow us to have a consistent amount that we would allocate each
month.
We arrived at an amount of $ 160. 00 per
month.
The generosity of our parishoners has allowed us to
set this designated amount .
However, we also need your help in a very important
way. Our goal would be to have every
member of our Parish Community involved. We are committed to communicate to the parish on a consistent basis to
encourage your participation and to submit suggestions for worthy groups.
Again, we want
to hear from you and have everyone in our Parish Community involved in this
very important ministry.
We also have set a goal of inviting a representative
of the groups that have or will receive a donation to come speak to our Parish
Community. We have agreed that this is
an important aspect of this ministry so that everyone in the parish can see
first hand how their contribution is being used.
We have formed a team that will be responsible for “vetting”
and selecting the groups. If you think
you would be interested in being part of this team please contact Jacke Ryan,
Charlie Ernst, Alice Jo Weaver or Jane Papenberg
THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU FOR THE
GENEROSITY YOU HAVE SHOWN THAT ALLOWS US TO DO THIS
Taken from
Richard Rohr’s Weekly Newsletter from the Center for Action and Contemplation
Author Tiffany Shlain offers a practice she
calls a “Technology Sabbath” as a way of reducing our addiction to technology
and our personal devices. She writes:
How often have you looked up from your screen, eyes dazed, and realized you’ve just wasted thirty minutes or an hour or more? You look around and see everyone else with their heads down staring at their screens, too. You worry about how this is affecting you as an individual and society at large. You think you should do something about it, then your phone buzzes, you respond to the text, and you’re pulled back to the screen again. We’ve become ostriches, burying our heads in silicon sand
Researchers have compared the sense of technological dependency—the feeling that we must be accessible and responsive at any time—to that of drugs and alcohol. It’s all because of the hormone dopamine, which is related to mood, attention, and desire. When you find something that feels good, dopamine makes you want more of it.
What brings you joy ? Think about all the (screen free) activities you enjoy doing that you just don't do enough
Consider your own tradition or history. What foods, practices from your childhood, family , faith or culture would make the day more meaningful for you ?
Consider your intentions What qualities do you want to develop ? What habits do you want to break ? How do you want to feel when the day is over ?
How to prepare for 24/6 A little think ahead will help you get more our of the day.
Plan your first Tech Shabbat Look at your calendar and plan what weekend day or (weekday) you are going to start. Mark down several weeks in a row. The power and beauty of this practice comes with it's regularity. In time you will look forward to it each week, Look at the list of things you want to do more of. Plan to fill your screen free day with activities from that list. You can even print the list, post it on your fridge, and reference it throughout the day. Or fill the day with doing nothing, if that's what you need and want. Invite anyone you want to join you for a meal, an activity, or the whole day. Tell people in your life you are planning to do this. Don't come from a place of apology, but a place of strength and excitement. If they express concern or curiosity, invite them to a Tech Sabbath dinner so they can experience it with you.
HELLO,
I think we have a good and valuable Parish Community. We do so many things and we do them well. Some examples; Liturgy, Music Ministry, Lay Lead Liturgy Team, A Lay Lead Leadership Team, An Adult Spirituality Team, Hospitality, Social Justice. We have activities that impact in so many different areas.
I have been told by other people within CACINA that we offer the most complete and best example of what a CACINA parish should be.
We have a lot to offer and the Communications team is asking for your assistance to get the word out .
Not asking you to join a Ministry Team or an AD HOC Committee. Asking to keep your eyes and ears open. WHY ??
Is there a Festival in your neighborhood ? A Community Yard Sale ? Maybe a Sports Tournament ? Or some type of community event that will be attracting groups of people, a gathering of people in one place at one time or maybe over a period of days.
What I am asking is for you to notify me of these events. Gather some information and see if this would be appropriate for us to be present..
If you are willing to be a part of our “EYES AND EARS” Group please let me know
THANKS
CHARLIE
ERNST
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TIME
TO PLANT A NEW HABIT
Back when so many of us in this country were farmers, when more
of us lived in the country than in cities, we understood in our very bones
that spring was the season for planting.
Some of us still sense this when the weather warms and the days grow longer. We
plant vegetable gardens or create container gardens in our small city spaces.
Spring breezes inspire us to dig in the dirt and begin our own little kingdoms
of beauty.
Might we apply more broadly this metaphor of planting? Can we
allow spring to inspire us to plant habits that can produce good work and
well-being later on?
What seeds would you like to plant?
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More intentional physical activity
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More cooking from scratch
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More time with people who are important to you
·
More quiet time for prayers of gratitude
·
More energy on your gifts than on daily trivia
·
More of your talent going outward to help others
·
More giving up what is not important
******** Two words that are BLUE highlighted are links that lead to other articles from the archives that are similar themes
Poem by Ilya Kaminsky. Published by Padraig OTuama in Poetry Unbound.
Ilya is a deaf man , a refugee from Odessa who sought asylum in the US after the Russian invasion of the Ukraine . Padraig describes this as a "Devastating poem about complicity"
< Excerpted from the Catholic Worker April 2023>
· Receiving
books being discarded by current owners
· identifying
requirements for books by groups both domestic & international who have
limited resources for acquiring books
· Sorting
& building shipments based on requirements
· Shipping
to needy groups for delivery to end users
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Jesus as Prophet
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THE STORY OF PAULS CONVERSION
STORY FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS
“On
that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky
suddenly shone around me.
I fell to
the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting
me?’
I replied,
‘Who are you, sir?’
And he said to me, ‘I
am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.’
My
companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one
who spoke to me.
I asked,
‘What shall I do, sir?’ The Lord answered me, ‘Get up and go
into Damascus,
and there
you will be told about everything appointed
for you to do.’
Since I
could see nothing because of the brightness of that light, I was led by hand by my companions and
entered Damascus. (Acts 22:6-11)
There is an
old parlor trick played by good teachers when it comes to this passage in Acts
(or the earlier account of Paul’s conversion in Acts 9:1-22). It is
to ask one’s students a simple question: What is the name of Paul’s horse? The answer: There is no horse. We’ve been so conditioned by
famous paintings of the biblical scene of Paul’s conversion from Michelangelo
to Caravaggio to Peter Paul Rubens that show him toppling from his steed that
we don’t notice the scriptural accounts never mention Paul on horseback. We’ve
included the horse into the scene as a kind of religious Mandela Effect, where we remember something
that was never there in the telling.
There’s another group in the telling of this story, though, that isn’t
often remembered but should be present to our imaginations: the early Christian
community that Paul had been persecuting until the day of his conversion. Where
are they in this story? It is Paul alone who hears Jesus speaking in both
accounts in Acts; when he arrives in Damascus and meets the Christian community
there, they have to take his word for it that Jesus appeared to him and called
him to conversion. We learn in Acts that Paul has a reputation for
“breathing murderous threats” against Christians, imprisoning them and
delivering them to Jerusalem to be punished or killed. We can imagine what the
Christian community’s first impulse must have been when their greatest
persecutor came before them, blind and weak, to claim that their Lord has
chosen him, too, to be an apostle.
Yet the community in Damascus does not exact revenge on Paul. They
believe what they have not seen—that somehow Jesus the Lord has chosen the
least likely of all people as his instrument. And something more must have
happened, something not mentioned in the scriptural text but surely necessary
for the future of Paul’s ministry and of the Christian community: At some point
they had to forgive him. We know from
elsewhere in Scripture that Paul and his new community did not choose to “go
along to get along,” because Paul later argues with Peter (“opposed him to his
face,” Paul claims in the Letter to the Galatians) over unclean foods. And we
know from Paul’s elevated place among the early communities that he was
accepted as a leader and a teacher. That process, as we all know from our own
lives, is not an uncomplicated one. Was the greatest moment of God’s grace in
the story of Paul’s conversion not Jesus’ appearance to Paul? Maybe instead it
is the moment not mentioned—when those whom Paul treated the worst said “we
forgive you” and accepted him into the fold. Hard to imagine; harder to do. But
look at the great works that came after.
Hello to all,
The Adult Spirituality Team has selected the CS Lewis Book “ A Grief Observed “ as our Lenten Reflection. The book is Free on Line. Below is a direct link to a PDF version.
A Grief Observed. (samizdat.qc.ca)
A second way would
be to have an actual copy of the book. If you are interested in this
option, please contact Alice Jo Weaver and she will give you a copy (no
charge)
We are planning
to have a discussion of the Book along with Hospitality time after Mass on Sunday April 16th. It
is a short read ( 70+ pages) well worth the time .
Below is a
brief review:
At the time, CS Lewis described his marriage in
1956 to the American poet Helen ("H") Joy Davidman as "a pure
matter of friendship and expediency", primarily intended to keep her and her
two sons in the country; a confirmed bachelor, he later wrote: "I never
expected to have, in my 60s, the happiness that passed me by in my 20s."
But Joy was already ill, and
their relationship was conducted in the shadow of cancer: for Lewis the four years
following their wedding brought intensely personal experiences both of the
miraculous, and of despair.
First published in 1961
under the pseudonym NW Clerk, Lewis's account of his mourning for Joy is in
many ways the trial by fire of the faith he urbanely expounded in The Problem of Pain: an intimate, anguished account of
a man grappling with the mysteries of faith and love. The ferocious and
uncanting intellect that thrived in love denies Lewis the traditional
consolations of mourning: he is tormented by the thought that suffering in life
offers no guarantee of peace in death; that the mere act of remembering is one
of overwriting – his own selective memories falling "like the small flakes
that come when it is going to snow all night".
Office
of the Presiding Bishop
December 22,
2022
My Sisters and Brothers,
Christmas is the season that demonstrate God
is present in us and in the world, working for our healing and
growth, our direction and our comfort, our reconciliation, and our redemption. This is the fundamental
Christmas message that was to those
who came before us and most especially to us in this time of unrest.
New life is breathed into our hearts at
Christmas, infusing faith and genuine hope, and love so we may start afresh.
We are once again called
to believe in God who first
believed in us; enough to send God’s son Jesus to be born as one of us, showing
us how to be centered in God and that we too can be perfect just like Jesus.
What a gift to humanity. It is this gift that began the well-known and much
advertised tradition of gift giving. Also, the message of Christmas is one of love,
peace, and goodwill to all.
It is no secret that we face many threats and
challenges daily, enough to cause the best and most resilient to question
God’s presence. The Christmas message frees us from all those anxieties and fears, transforming them into optimistic and hope-filled expressions of a better
tomorrow. Let us summon our resolve to be confident in the power of God
to change the world through
Jesus born in that Bethlehem
stable.
In the comforting words of the angels
to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid;
for see I am bringing you good news of
great joy for all peoples to you is born this day in the city of David, a
Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord….”
Jesus is the light of
the world every day of the year. As our gift of love, let us
be the extension of that
light and love to all those we encounter.
A very blessed Christmas and a New Year filled
with love and peace to our CACINA family
and to the whole world.
Your Servant in Christ
Presiding Bishop CACINA
+ Michael Theogene
Presiding Bishop CACINA
Petronila is 54 years old, married and has eight children who are now adult age. For the past years, she and her husband have run a small family farm to earn a living. They grow rice plants. They have been in this livelihood for many years to support the family. Now, she asks for a loan of PHP 10,000 through Kiva’s lending partner, CEVI-Philippines, for additional capital to buy fertilizer for their plants.
Picture N/A: Myrna's story- PHILLIPHINES Myrna has four children. She is a very hard working entrepreneur. She is 51 years old and has two children who are in school. Myrna has a rice retail business in the Philippines. She requested a PHP 15,000 loan through NWTF to purchase more sacks of rice to be sell. She has been in this business for 2 years. In the future, Myrna would like to save enough money so she could afford to send her children to college.
Picture N/A:Emad's story- JORDAN
Emad is doing what he loves and that is why it is hard for him to let go. Machinery rental has been his business for as long as most of the people of the town can remember. When he entered the business, there was only him in the market. With a little help, he set up a store that houses all the machinery. He knows each one thoroughly. This makes him the man to ask for help with machinery. A loan will help him get new machines and recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
Picture N/A: Divina's story -
PHILLIPHINES
Divina is 43 years old and
married with two children in school. Divina works very hard to provide for
them. Divina runs a general store in the
Philippines and requested a PHP 20,000 loan through NWTF to buy items to sell
like canned goods, junk food, etc., to sell in her general store. Divina has been in this business for 4 years
and sells a variety of items. In the
future Divina would like to save enough money so she could afford to send her
children to college.
Georginia is a modest and enterprising married woman. She has a
very good understanding and much experience of the general store business. She
has one of her own which she has been running for many years. Her store is
located in an excellent spot that is easy to find and where many people always
come to buy her goods every day. Running
her business has made Georginia become more independent because she can be
responsible for herself and she can also help to support her family's everyday
income.
