~~~SisterSea~~~

Please Note: Our community only meets every two weeks.  So although it is the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we celebrated our Christmas liturgy.  Therefore, the following Readings are those for Christmas. First Reading:   Isaiah 9:2-7 Responsorial Psalm:   Psalm 98 Second Reading:   Titus 2:11-14 Gospel:   Luke 2:1-14 Over the past month, there has been so much hype about the so-called Mayan Prophecy─ so much speculation on whether the Mayans got it right or wrong or is modern science smarter than so-called primitive superstition.   Then there are people who wish to eliminate the religious aspects of Christmas and emphasize the more generalized and I might add, commercial, aspect.   What the Mayan calendar represents is a religious cycle─ a cycle’s end always precedes a new beginning.   For us, Advent and the season of Christmas are the beginning parts of our Christian religious cycle.   When we eliminate the religious aspec...

12 December 2012 First Reading: Luke 1:46-55 Psalm:   Adapted from the poem Great Mother's Words by Rita Adan Gospel Reading: John: 15: 9-12 Today’s homily is a bit different.   It does not address the readings directly.   Rather, I want to talk about the love in action that Our Lady demonstrates.   If we look at the three most famous and celebrated appearances of our Blessed Mother, we begin to see a pattern. When she appeared to Bernadette, France had fallen on hard times.   Bernadette was the eldest of four surviving children of a miller and his wife.   Her family like the country had also fallen on hard times and would have been homeless if one of her mother’s relatives had not let them live for free in a one-room basement, nicknamed "the dungeon." Our Lady appeared to three peasant children in Portugal during a time of internal and external political turmoil.   We know that times of turmoil always have a detrimental effect on t...

First Reading: First Kings 17:10-16 Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 146:7, 8-9, 9-10 Second Reading: Hebrews 9:24-28 Gospel: Mark 12:38-44 or 12:41-44 Shared Homily Starter As I pondered the readings for today, two words came immediately to mind: sacrifice and generosity.   But as I thought about these words, altruism seemed to be the word that actually conveyed the meaning of the readings.   Altruism consists of sacrificing something for someone else with no expectation of any direct or indirect compensation or benefits. In the first reading, we are told that when Elijah asked the widow for a piece of bread, she tells him that she only has a handful of meal and a little oil.   She is going to make the last meal for her son and herself with it.   Still, she shares it with Elijah.   Now, you may think that she shared what she had with Elijah for gain; that she did it because Elijah promised her that God would ensure that the meal and the oil woul...

Shared Homily Starter   - 14 October 2012 First Reading: Wisdom of Solomon 7:7-11 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 90 Second Reading: The Letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews 4:12-13 Gospel: Mark 10:17-30 Today's First reading talks about the value of wisdom; how King Solomon prayed for understanding and God graced him with the Spirit of Wisdom.    The story of the two women claiming to be the mother of a baby and Solomon's wise ploy to determine the baby's true mother always came to mind when I thought of Solomon and Wisdom. But last week, when I was here for Ric's thanksgiving service, Ric spoke of the value of the present moment.   After listening, I began to expand my thinking on wisdom.   What I mean is, that instead of praying for understanding or wisdom to come to us in some future time, we should be awake to the wisdom that is given to us in the moments of our every day lives.   Let me give you an example, two weeks ago at our First Natio...

30 September 2012 First Reading:   Numbers 11:25-29 Responsorial Psalm:   Psalm 19 Second Reading:    James 5:1-6 Gospel:   Mark 8:27-35 When I first looked at today’s readings, I was a bit taken aback because my first thoughts were of our Church.  Then, for my course at school, I had to research the new immigration and refugee law.  This caused me to look at the readings in a broader light.  I found that the readings really spoke to both of these issues.  I’m not going to say a lot today but I want to give you few things to think about. In the first reading, Moses had called a meeting of the elders.  At that meeting God endowed the elders with the Spirit and they were given the gift of prophesy, which would better be understood in this instance, as the gift of preaching.  Joshua is upset because the elders Eldad and Medad, had not gone to the meeting, yet he finds them preaching in the camp.   H...

Blessing of the Animals – Thurs., Oct. 4 th , 2012 6:00 pm Vancouver Catholic Worker’s Samaritan House 1143 E. Pender St. , Vancouver The blessing of each animal, by name, means that health, healing and life are being mediated from God for the benefit of the animal in its relationship with its human partners.   The blessing is not to reinforce the separation of human animals and other animals. Instead, we are reinforcing our common kinship by blessing ALL animals--human and otherwise. All are welcome whether they have no legs or many . Your Hostess:  Roni Marie Your Host:  Derv Marie

First Reading: Isaiah 50:5-9 Responsorial Psalm: P salm 116 Second Reading: James 2:14-18 Gospel: Mark 8:27-35   “You are judging by human standards rather than by God’s.”    “You are judging by human standards rather than by God’s.”   This is the phrase that kept drumming within me as I was thinking about today’s homily. We can’t possibly know the mind of God.   But we do have some clues.   The Psalm tells us that God listens, saves lives, and protects.   We hear in this reading that our God is a God of justice and mercy.   The Psalmist tells us God is gracious.   Just looking at a sampling of the synonyms for gracious informs us that God is approachable, beneficent, compassionate, kind, loving, merciful and tender.   But we like the Psalmist must walk before our God in the land of the living. “You are judging by human standards rather t...

First Reading: Jeremiah 22:13-19 Responsorial Psalm: 72:1-4, 11-14, 18 Second Reading: I Corinthians 12:12-26 Gospel: Matthew 25:31-4 0 For days, I was puzzling over how to weave these three readings together.   I had no one to blame but myself because I chose them from a list of suggested Labour Day readings.   Trusting in the Spirit, once I made the choices, I thought it best not to change them.   Still, I struggled with how to weave them together.   Finally, I gave up and began to look at each one separately and see what the Spirit would knit together for me. What came to me was that each of the readings looked at labour differently.   In the first reading, Jeremiah lets us know that God holds a dim view of those who reap benefits from injustice and inequity.   The injustice that Jeremiah describes is strikingly similar to what is going on today, in our world and in this very neighbourhood.   In our neighbourhood, developers are bui...

First Reading:         Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 34:15-22 Second Reading:      Ephesians 6:10-20 Gospel Reading:      John 6:56-69 The passage reading from Ephesians that we heard today is often interpreted in terms of spiritual warfare but I think it would be better understood as Paul telling us that God's way, in light of the teaching of Jesus Christ, is spiritual peace-fare.   To be strong in the Lord is to surrender to God's grace.   The whole armour of our God is love and justice.   The Word of God is a living word and must be understood in terms of our lived experiences.   As we can see today, when things look so hopeless, our elected leaders are abandoning social structures that promote the common good to entities that are not blood and flesh but are transnational economic interests that are exploiting human as well as natural resources.   In the United ...