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Monday – Feast of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr Gospel – John 12:24-26 Service with a Smile Zucchini Five years ago we hit the ‘garden jackpot’.   We had 3 zucchini plants in our garden that year!   3 plants grown from 3 quite tiny seeds, each one barely a half-inch long.   And yet, from those 3 plants, we made 40 loaves of zucchini bread, 2 dozen zucchini lemon cookies, 4 dozen zucchini chocolate muffins, and 1 zucchini blueberry cake.   And that doesn’t include the 5 zucchinis still waiting to be cut up, much less the many that were still on the vine.   Such little seeds!   Such an abundance of life and productivity!   Side note – this year in Tennessee, the harvest was rather underwhelming!   But the baking shall continue!!! We are all a bit like the seeds in today’s Gospel.   The life, the real life, lies inside the seed.   And, in order for the life to germinate and grow, the seed has to die, to break open and let the life...
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  19 th Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings: 1Kings 19:4-8, Matthew14:22-33 Stillness Mass with Apostolic Nuncio, Cardinal Christophe Pierre A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God for help.   Soon a man in a rowboat came by and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, “Jump in, I can save you.”   The stranded fellow shouted back, “No, it’s OK, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me.”   So the rowboat went on. Then a motorboat came by. “The fellow in the motorboat shouted, “Jump in, I can save you.” To this the stranded man said, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith.” So the motorboat went on. Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down, “Grab this rope and I will lift you to safety.” To this the stranded man again replied, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith.”   So the helicopter reluctantly flew away. Soon the water rose above the ro...
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  Saturday – 18 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 17:14-20 What’s The Plan? Rainbow, Jordan River / Tennessee   Back when I was serving at SRB not only as a Deacon but also as Pastoral Associate, Ginger and I developed a set plan to start the day. One simple question!   What’s the plan?   A relatively simple question that helps us focus on the day – its schedule, its meetings and what we need to do!   Did we accomplish everything on our list?   Absolutely not!   But we had a good idea of what to expect and how to plan for it!   Yeah right!   Like that ever happens!   Emergencies happen!   The unexpected happens!   Count on it!   Even today, with our morning cup of coffee/tea, we ask the same question – what’s the plan!!!   If only LIFE was that simple!   If only we really knew how the day would really unfold!   And so on a daily basis, perhaps even hourly, we ask God the same question! ...
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