Above: Brother Ralph Neumann (Holy Rosary Community) finds the baby hidden in his slice of king cake during a Mardi Gras celebration at Casa Tuesday on Feb. 16.
Above: Brother Ralph celebrates finding the baby in his king cake with Aspirant Norman.
Above: Sister Gretchen slices a piece of king cake. See more photos on our Flickr set.
Mass: Monday, February 15, 2010
First Reading: Jas 1:1-11
Responsorial: Psalm 119:67, 68, 71, 72, 75, 76
Gospel: Mk 8:11-13
Do you ever wish that life was like an interstate highway? Gliding along at a decent speed taking in the beauty around you, and God giving you clearly marked, well lighted signs along the way that tell you exactly what to expect, when to expect it, and which way to turn when you get there.
We pray, we meditate, we may even fast. We seek God’s guidance and all we ask in return is a giant flashing neon arrow from heaven saying “DO THIS” “GO HERE” “THIS IS WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO”
This is what the Pharisees want in today’s Gospel: Proof. They don’t want to have to trust God. They want God to accept their doubt and give heed to their human desires. And Jesus says “NO”
James warns us against this in the first reading too. He says that when times get rough, and they will, we should not have doubt. That is not the time to ask God for an obvious sign. It is instead, the time to ask God for the wisdom and perseverance to see the small subtle signs that are all around us. God comes softly, and he ALWAYS answers our prayers. But if we’re gliding along, letting the scenery pass us by and only looking for the big, directional signs, we’ll miss all the little ways that God reveals himself to us along the way.
Like St. James says, we must persevere in our faith, if we ask God simply to give us what we need in order to show us the way, he will.
We don’t need neon signs; we need faith, perseverance, and trust in God’s love for us.
The General Administration of the Society of Mary gathered at the Marianist Residence with San Antonio-area membership on Sat., Feb. 13.
Members of the General Administration began with a brief presentation highlighting current issues that face the Society of Mary throughout the world.
Following their presentation, first vespers was celebrated at the chapel of the Marianist residence with Brother Bob Jones as the organist and Aspirant Andrew Caruso as cantor.
A social and dinner—featuring a memorable dessert of Texas-sized strawberries dipped in chocolate (check out the photo)—concluded the evening.
This trip to San Antonio is part of their international visitation of Marianist communities throughout the world.
More photos on our Flickr set.
Rev. Manuel Cortés (center), S.M., superior general of the Society of Mary, prepares a breakfast plate with Aspirant Norman Capinpin (left) at the Woodlawn Marianist Community on Sat. Feb. 13, while Brother Mike Sullivan (right) loiters in line.
Cortés, along with the rest of the members of the general administration, is in San Antonio this weekend as part of their international visitation of Marianist communities throughout the world.
Saturday Mass and brunch is a joint effort shared each week by the Casa María and Woodlawn Marianist communities, with each one alternating as host.
Mass: Friday, February 12, 2010
First Reading: Sir 47:2-11
Responsorial: Psalm 18:31, 47 and 50, 51
Gospel: Mk 6:14-29
Sometimes I got bogged down in the stories of the Old Testament. It often seems to be same story told over and over and over again:
“God speaks through the prophet, the people repent, God promises to reign prosperity upon the people forever if they remain faithful to him, the people do good for a while, then they turn their backs on God, God get’s angry and promises them only tragedy until they repent, they don’t, Israel get’s plundered, God speaks through the prophet, the people repent. And the cycle starts over.
The easy assumption to make is that God is vengeful and punishes us when we do wrong.
But I think the message is much more profound than that. We need to remmeber that as many times as the Israelites got it wrong, God forgave them and let them try to make it right again. In the dark times, I wonder, was God really saying “You’ve done wrong and now you have to suffer!” so much as he was saying “Come back! Come back! You’ve wandered away from me and I can’t help you unless you come back to me!
In our lives we experience Spiritual Highs and Spiritual Lows. At times we feel very close to God, but at others we seem to have fallen away and God appears to be very distant. Perhaps, at those times, we’ve lost track of what it really important, we’ve taken our trust from God and placed in the hands of something, or someone else. Then things start to go wrong. We feel like God is punishing us.
He isn’t.
We have simply wandered away and he can’t help us unless we come back. We learn of our total dependence upon God. At these times, through all the muck, we hopefully hear God saying “Trust Me, look HERE, come back, and we’ll get through this together.
As many times as we screw it up, God will call us back and forgive us. And through his Grace, we may just get it right for once.
The new Dell 1125 multifunction 4-in-1 printer
Without a functioning printer for over three weeks and a working fax machine for longer than some brothers care to remember, Casa María installed its new 4-in-1 Dell 1125 multifunction printer + scanner + copier + fax on Thurs., Feb. 11—the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
“How appropriate it is to welcome this addition on a feast of our Blessed Mother,” said Brother Dennis as he installed the machine in the office.
Thanks to a sweet deal arranged through the university’s IT department, this ‘machine-on-a-mission’ comes with a four year warranty, “enough to see through the transition of our provincial leadership, the graduation of an incoming freshmen class at our two schools, and, God-willing, four more classes of aspirants,” mused the head of the community’s office of temporalities.
The first page printed on the machine—a Windows Printer Test Page—arrived at 3:20 p.m., followed by the first fax at 3:33 p.m. from Joanne Sanchez, manager of operations at the Marianist Residence.
The new machine replaces the broken hp LaserJet 5M and some old fax machine which never really worked correctly since it was brought over from the Provincial Offices in St. Louis, Missouri, a few years ago.
Goodbye, broken printer and fax
Rev. Andre Fetis and Aspirant Andrew Caruso share Valentine’s Day desserts with St. Mary’s students at Casa Tuesday
With vespers that featured Hawaiian instruments, a meal blessing led in French, Tex-Mex tacos for supper and mini-cheesecakes for dessert, Casa Tuesday captured an eclectic spirit on Feb. 9.
Rev. Andre Fetis plays the ipu heke while Norman plays the ‘ukulele
More photos on our Flickr set.
Casa Maria Marianists 