Easter

The theme today is Easter.

 1.  Prayer

Lord we lift our hearts to you. As the dawn breaks, may we carry the unity we share into every moment knowing that we are one with the risen Christ. Lord, we lift our eyes to you. As the sunrises, may this moment stay with us, reminding us to look for the beautiful colors of promise in your word. Lord, we lift our prayers to you. As the dew air falls, may we breathe this morning in and know that like the earth, you sustain us, keep us and work within us always. And so, we lift our voices to you. We celebrate the greatest day in history, when Jesus rose from death, defeated darkness and bathed the world in stunning resurrection light. May we ever live to praise you! Amen.

2.  Meditation

https://youtu.be/yobRPCcwcjI?si=sRE5-Xv5haFbSHmg

3.  Song

https://youtu.be/dszpVNJIklM?si=XhM3W_uHs4t2AmhB

4.  Narrative

https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-feast-of-hope-2022-04-17/

Homily offered on Easter Sunday 2019, Father Richard Rohr shared the good news of the resurrection:

The Brazilian writer and journalist Fernando Sabino (1923–2004) wrote, “In the end, everything will be [all right]. If it’s not [all right], it’s not the end.” [1] That’s what today is all about, “Everything will be okay in the end.”

The message of Easter is not primarily a message about Jesus’ body, although we’ve been trained to limit it to this one-time “miracle.” We’ve been educated to expect a lone, risen Jesus saying, “I rose from the dead; look at me!” I’m afraid that’s why many people, even Christians, don’t really seem to get too excited about Easter. If the message doesn’t somehow include us, humans don’t tend to be that interested in theology. Let me share what I think the real message is: Every message about Jesus is a message about all of us, about humanity. Sadly, the Western church that most of us were raised in emphasized the individual resurrection of Jesus. It was a miracle that we could neither prove nor experience, but that we just dared to boldly believe.

But there’s a great secret, at least for Western Christians, hidden in the other half of the universal church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church—in places like Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Egypt—Easter is not usually painted with a solitary Jesus rising from the dead. He’s always surrounded by crowds of people—both haloed and unhaloed. In fact, in traditional icons, he’s pulling people out of Hades. Hades is not the same as hell, although we put the two words together, and so we grew up reciting in the creed that “Jesus descended into hell.”

Instead, Hades is simply the place of the dead. There’s no punishment or judgment involved. It’s just where a soul waits for God. But we neglected that interpretation. So the Eastern Church was probably much closer to the truth that the resurrection is a message about humanity. It’s a message about history. It’s a corporate message, and it includes you and me and everyone else. If that isn’t true, it’s no wonder that we basically lost interest.

Today is the feast of hope, direction, purpose, meaning, and community. We’re all in this together. The cynicism and negativity that our country and many other countries have descended into show a clear example of what happens when people do not have hope. If it’s all hopeless, we individually lose hope too. Easter is an announcement of a common hope. When we sing in the Easter hymn that Christ destroyed death, that means the death of all of us. It’s not just about Jesus; it’s to humanity that God promises, “Life is not ended, it merely changes,” as we say in the funeral liturgy. That’s what happened in Jesus, and that’s what will happen in us. In the end, everything will be all right. History is set on an inherently positive and hopeful tangent.

References:
[1] Translation of Fernando Sabino, No fim dá certo: Se não deu, é porque não chegou ao fim (São Paulo: Record, 1998).

Adapted from Richard Rohr, “Everything Will Be All Right in the End,” homily, April 21, 2019.

5.  Meditation

https://youtu.be/vVtJ5Po7lY8?si=DHbEDtjH3yMqK8tv

6.  Sharing

7.  Prayers and intentions 

We praise you in this Easter season. Change our lives, change our hearts to be messengers of Easter joy and hope. We make our prayer through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord forever. Amen.

8.  Song.

https://youtu.be/_iLscNgnRSU?si=QkZ9axUw_oP-197f

St Joseph Day Celebrating Our Jubilarians 2024 Photos

  

Congratulations to our three CSJAs Patricia Hargest, Paula Simon, and Greta Stokes Tucker, on their 25th anniversary.  Congratulations also to our forever faithful Co-Director of the CSJA board, Sr. Paula Drass, on her 60th anniversary.  

The past in memories

 

News of death announced during a weekday mass  

Triggered wonderful memories amidst the shock  

Made me emotional. I sobbed.  

Images from the past came 

One...during my daughter’s wedding. 

He officiating.

Sincerely expressing his delight

And saying he is happy to see

children grow up before his eyes

Getting married. 

The videographer caught me wiping a tear when I heard him say this.

I did not know he was interested in or noticed them.

Then at his funeral mass.

Our lives when he was with us as pastor

Flashed before my heart not just my eyes  

They filled it.  

Before his funeral mass

When I read the write-up on the program

And came to the name of our parish on the program 

Again, a sinking feeling in my heart I felt

And I cried with sadness.

Thanks, Fr Mike Decewicz for being part

Of the our lives as a young

Growing family.  

Accepting what is

 1.  Prayer

2.  Meditation

https://youtu.be/3YuOMmxbc9M?si=08YRLlNuAHepNjPO

3.  Song

https://youtu.be/9MoLLtZIxdE?si=wcblWPUvZTWdyQu4

4.  Narrative

https://cac.org/accepting-what-is-2021-11-10/

Accepting What Is
Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Father Richard has often said that transformation mostly comes through great love and great suffering. The First Noble Truth of Buddhism shows how accepting the inescapable nature of suffering can lead to greater freedom. Kaira Jewel Lingo, a former Buddhist nun in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village community in France, reflects on coming to terms with the unpredictable challenges of life:

In the Buddha’s most essential teaching of the Four Noble Truths, he shares his discovery that suffering is a part of life, and there is no escape from it. This is the first Noble Truth and acknowledging it can help us to suffer less. If we can accept where we are, and not judge the disruption in our life as wrong or bad, we can touch great freedom. This is because fighting what is doesn’t actually work. As the saying goes, “whatever we resist persists.” . . .

Thay [Thich Nhath Hanh] often said, “A true practitioner isn’t someone who doesn’t suffer, but someone who knows how to handle their suffering.” We could say that the measure of our accomplishment or success is not that our life has no ups and downs, but that we can surf the waves!

This attitude of acceptance is freeing when we apply it not only to our personal suffering but also to the suffering in the world. Once, as a young nun, when I was practicing a classic Plum Village guided meditation, I came to the final exercise, “Breathing in, I dwell in the present moment; breathing out, I know this is a wonderful moment.” Suddenly I found myself stuck when I did this practice, questioning how we could truly affirm it was “a wonderful moment” with all the violence, hatred, inequality, and preventable tragedies that are happening in the present moment all over the world. . . .

I sat in the question of it and began to see that along with all the suffering and pain, there are also many beings that are supporting others in the present moment. There are many hearts of compassion, opening to relieve suffering, to care for others, to teach, to show a different way. There are people who are courageous and standing up for what they believe is right, protecting our oceans, cleaning rivers and beaches, advocating for those who are oppressed. There are those in every corner of the planet who are quietly doing the things no one else wants to do: caring for the forgotten people, places, species, and doing what needs to be done.

When I focused on that other part of the larger picture, I was able to touch that, yes, this present moment is also a wonderful moment. I saw that suffering doesn’t have to disappear in order for beauty to be there. That life is about all of these things. . . . The reality is that there is great terror and pain, and there is great love and great wisdom. They’re all here, coexisting in this moment.

Reference:
Kaira Jewel Lingo, We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons on Moving through Change, Loss, and Disruption (Parallax Press: 2021), 28, 30–31.

5.  Meditation

https://youtu.be/PBQjpvZ9Gy4?si=Mpu4X9tEUIHLXrNyWas 

6.  Sharing

7.  Prayers and Intentions

https://youtu.be/PBQjpvZ9Gy4?si=Mpu4X9tEUIHLXrNyThe Litany of Letting Go

PRIDE + CONTROL
From the belief that I have to “do it all”…
From the fear that if I don’t do it, no one will…
From the belief that my way is the best or only way…
From the temptation to give unsolicited feedback, advice, or correction…
From resistance to accepting the help or ideas of others…
From the tendency to seek inner peace by controlling my outward environment…
Deliver me, Jesus.

BUSYNESS + STRIVING
From the constant urge to be “productive,” even if it means filling my time with unimportant tasks…
From the desire to “keep up’” with those around me…
From the view of busyness as a status symbol…
From the belief that I have to earn rest or wait until I’m completely exhausted to pause…
From all unnecessary pressure or “shoulds”…
Deliver me, Jesus.

PLANNING + PREPARATION
From the insatiable desire to always know what’s coming…
From the fear that if I don’t perfectly plan or prepare, I will endure needless suffering…
From the belief that my plans are better than Yours…
From any suspicion or skepticism of Your infinite love and care for me…
Deliver me, Jesus.

SELF IMAGE + SELF-TALK
From my ruthless inner critic…
From impossible or unreasonable expectations of myself and others…
From the belief that I am lazy or inadequate if I lower or adjust my standards…
From the temptation to equate my work/productivity with my worth…
From false ideas about who I am or who You are…
Deliver me, Jesus.

PEOPLE PLEASING
From the fear of what others will think of me when I am true to myself and to Your call for me…
From the tendency to care more about what others think of me than than what You think of me…
From the desire for affirmation…
From the fear of asking for what I need…
From the fear of setting and maintaining healthy boundaries…
From the fear of letting others down…
From the fear of letting others see my mess...
Deliver me, Jesus.

RESTLESSNESS
From all forms of restlessness…
From any false sense of urgency…
From my love of comfort and fear of the cross…
From the desire to “earn” Your love rather than receive it unconditionally…
From undue attachment to anything other than You…
From fear of what will happen when I surrender all to You...
Deliver me, Jesus.

Jesus, I love You. Help me to love You more. 
Jesus, I trust You. Help me to trust You more.
Jesus, I surrender to You. Help me to surrender more.

Amen. 

7.  Song

https://youtu.be/PGnzqPhEW-Y?si=Ujro4j3CyABVFTnb

https://youtu.be/mu4FHq1fX10?si=kwOZDExkL0P0RJbi

Microwave Expresso Brownies From Brownie Mix

 

Spongy in texture  Chocolatey with coffee undertone  It satisfied my chocolate craving  The basic recipe takes only three ingredients if you count the water  Simple, easy but delicious  

You could add chocolate chips if you want.   In one prep, I added two tbsp cocoa which made the cupcakes less sweet but still good.   I also filled the cupcake liner half full during one prep, which shortened the cooking time to less than two minutes.  

Microwave Expresso Brownies From Brownie Mix

2 cups brownie mix 

3/4 cup water

2 tbsp instant coffee granules 

Mix all the ingredients well.  Line glass or silicone six muffin pan with cupcake paper liner. Distribute batter to paper liner.  

Microwave for 4 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Paula's Prayer Meeting 3/13/2024

 

https://youtu.be/57sGMjPMXME?si=aaRNB6kn2m-aC1Sk

Lent:  a time to embrace what God is doing in you.

You have been saved by grace…

You have God’s life in you.

By God’s grace, you have been lifted into the light of God’s love.

You are a spark of divinity.

This is not from you; it is the gift of God…

You did nothing to deserve this.

This is the first of many gifts God gives you out of boundless love.

You are holy because God is holy.

We are God’s handiwork…

You are unique in all the world.

God loves what God has made.

Those who see clearly, see you as God’s handiwork.

When you see clearly, you see yourself, and all people

As God’s handiwork.

We are created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has

Prepared in advance.

God has a plan for you as a disciple of Christ Jesus.

You are a good work God has prepared in advance.

God will help you do what God has planned for you to do.

Understand that others working near you are also doing God’s work.

Whatever you do, you do in God’s name.

                                                                                    Jeanne Cmolik, CSJ

 

 

Ephesians 2:4-10

Ephesians 2:4-10 NKJV

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

 

Vegetable Sushi Roll

I had to do a Wrap and Roll demo for my Plant-Based Pittsburgh group and the idea of making sushi rolls popped into my head in the early hours of the morning a few days before the event.    I already have the large seaweed sheets which I obtained at the Asian Food Market BOBAE in Monroeville PA.  It is a matter of deciding what to put in the sushi roll and what sauce to accompany it.  

I have never made sushi rolls before.  I was apprehensive and researched how to do it online.  When I tried rolling it, I tried it without a bamboo mat or parchment paper.  It worked!  I also got away with using plain long-grain rice instead of the short-grain or sushi rice most recipes recommend.  The added vinegar helps the long-grain rice get sticky.  Note also that my sushi rolls had the seaweed sheet at the bottom of the rice layer and not vice versa that is why it worked.   If you need to make the latter here is a site to make sushi rolls without a bamboo mat.  

I was conservative with seasoning both the rice and tofu strips with salt since the Yum Yum sauce is pretty salty.  I am watching my salt, but you can season both the rice and tofu strips with salt if you want.

Ingredients

·       2 cups cooked rice (I just used long grain rice.  Several recipes recommend sushi rice). 

·       4 tablespoons vinegar (rice wine vinegar or distilled white vinegar)

·       1 carrot, cut into thin strips

·       1 cucumber, cut into thin strips

·       1 avocado, cut into thin strips

·       Tofu (about 4 oz) drained and cut into strips (optional)

·       2 Seaweed Sheets 

Instructions

1.      In a mixing bowl, add vinegar to cooked rice and mix thoroughly. Set aside.

2.      Cut the vegetables into thin strips. Set aside.

3.      Take one seaweed sheet and spread 1 cup of rice mixture over it in a thin layer with wet hands.

4.     Arrange your fillings along the bottom third of the nori, stacking them on top.  Start rolling it.  Press it so that the roll gets tightened.

6.     Cut the roll into rounds using a serrated knife.

7.      Eat by dipping in soy sauce or Yum Yum sauce (recipe below)

 

Yum Yum Sauce

• 3/4 cup cashew vegan mayo (see recipes for vegan mayo below) 
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder•     
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2-3 teaspoons maple syrup or to taste 
• 1/2 teaspoon Sriracha
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl using a whisk or fork.

Vegan Mayo Recipes

Cashew Vegan Mayo

https://simpleveganblog.com/vegan-mayo-oil-free/

• 1 cup raw unsalted cashews (150 g)
• 1/2 cup water (125 ml)
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp sea salt or to taste

1. Soak cashews in hot water for at least 20 minutes or in warm water overnight.
2. Drain and rinse the cashews and add them to a blender with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth.
3. You can serve it immediately, although I prefer to eat it cold.
4. Keep the mayo in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 day

Silken Tofu Mayo

• 1 pkg silken tofu, drained.
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp Dijon
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 tsp vinegar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Black pepper to taste
• 1-2 tsp maple syrup or to taste

Place the ingredients in a blender and mix till smooth.

Tofu-Based Garlicky Mayo

• 8 oz silken tofu
• 2 tablespoons raw cashews
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 3 tsp spicy brown mustard or Dijon or other type
• 1 tsp maple syrup (optional)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced         
• 1/2 tsp onion powder        
• 1/4 tsp salt                      
• black pepper to taste                 
• 1/8 tsp paprika               
• 1 tsp white vinegar          

                               

Blend in a small blender till smooth.  Double the recipe if you are using a big blender.

Fr Thom Miller's Sermon 2/29/2024 depth from crucifixion and failures

Focus on depth from crucifixion and failures

1.  Prayer

How to Give God Glory with Your Flaws and Scars - Counting My Blessings

His grace is enough to give us everything we need to glorify Him … even with our flaws and scars.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

2 Corinthians 12:10 (MSG)

2.    Meditation

https://youtu.be/mE5kA4IroSE?si=5wvPil0brgTemT8d

3  Song

https://youtu.be/9f2FXxDVO6w?si=aNcD_VIiJXma7NET

4.  Narrative

Fr Thom Miller sermon during Mass at St. Susana Church 2/29/2024. 

Depth from Crucifixion and Failures 

If we look at our lives and ask ourselves what has made us deep?  What has helped us to understand the deeper things in life? If we are honest, we will have to admit that what made us deep we're not our successes or achievements.  These brought us glory but not depth or character.

What brought us depth and character are the very things we are often ashamed to talk about, namely our inferiorities - getting picked last on the school team, being bullied on the playground, some physical inadequacy, our mother's weight problem,  our dad's alcoholism,  an abuse inflicted upon us that we were so powerless to stop,  a slow-wittedness the perpetually left us out of the inner circle,  our failure to achieve what we'd like to in life,  a pain about our sexual orientation,  an addiction we can't master,  and many, many other small and big wounds and bruises that helped shape our soul.

 Depth never comes out of our successes but only out of our inferiorities and failures.  And these, our scars, give us character.  Our souls are like huge stones in the riverbed; they may do nothing but stay still and held their ground but the river has to take them into account and alter its flow because of them and it's precisely this which gives the river (and a face) some character.

This truth lies at the very heart of Jesus’ life and message.   When the disciples can't fathom or accept the crucifixion, he asked them: “Wasn't it necessary?”  Isn't there a necessary connection between the humiliation of Good Friday and the glory of Easter Sunday?  Isn't there an intrinsic connection between going through a certain kind of suffering and reaching a certain kind of depth?

Indeed, Jesus struggled in the garden of Gethsemane, his asking God three times to spare him from the pain and humiliation of being crucified, was precisely his own reluctance to accept that a certain kind of depth can only be arrived at by journeying through a certain kind of humiliation.   And in his case, he wasn't just going to be picked on by the playground bully, he was going to be hung naked before the whole world.  But that was the only route to Easter Sunday, and he had the moral intelligence to see it.

And what the crucifixion produced is moral wisdom.  That's why the cross of Christ is the single most revolutionary moral event that has ever happened on this planet.   What the cross of Christ does, is rip away the veil the separate us from seeing inside the holy of holies.

And our own crosses and humiliations can do that for us too.   They can rip away a blindness and wake us up moral.  Awake.   Ready.   Christ like.

5.  Meditation

https://youtu.be/Unbi1YfQfBU?si=6H0aOMgpFRTikJBu

6.  Sharing

7.  Prayer and Intention

The scars of worry, guilt, shame, rejection, and loneliness … help us love hurting people in a broken world. God can help us use our flaws and scars to love the people around us who are struggling and in pain. Not on our own. Well, at least not on my own… But with God’s grace.

8.  Song

https://youtu.be/kZBudCYndA0?si=L5E0gs07Xg6_R-W-