On Sunday Mass, Lunch, At the Movies

Who is Jesus for you? That's the question posed to us, parishioners of St. Paul's Catholic Church, by our parochial vicar/priest Rev. Fr. Jarek in his homily (or sermon) during the 0930 Mass this Sunday morning. My initial reaction at first was why "Jesus for you" instead of "Jesus to you." Then I repeated that question to myself quietly Who is Jesus for you/me? While Fr. Jarek kept on delivering his talks, I was focused on the question. Do I really know or understand the question? Finally, I came up with this: Jesus is the reason why we believers all gather together every Sunday in the church. It is our common belief or faith in Him, (who came down and lived with us and then saved us from our sins by dying on the Cross), that keeps us going to Mass to receive Him a through the Holy Eucharist and worship/proclaim His glory. I hope I made sense to you who read my blog post.

It's about my faith in God and Jesus that keeps me going in life. That's why my Sunday is not complete without going to church, participating in the Mass, with my family. There's an exception I mention here and that is if and when I'am able and capable, and if and when the weather condition permits. If I'm too sickly to attend or participate personally in the church's Mass, I try to find a way to receive Jesus.

My wife and I have been (volunteer) Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers for Holy Communion in our parish for years. I do volunteer as a Lector, too. Today, I did (read) the second reading and the Prayer of the Faithful, as scheduled. My wife did her assignment, doing Host C. The second reading was taken from 1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20, the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians. It speaks about the Spirit in Us. In the Scripture passage, we read..."The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body...Avoid immorality...that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you..." From my New...Saint Joseph SUNDAY MISSAL (Prayerbook and Hymnal for 2012), here's the summary of the reading: The body is made for the Lord. With the price of the Cross, Jesus redeemed all humanity. The Holy Spirit dwells within each person.

 After Mass, my wife, my sis-in-law and my daughter and I ate lunch at a chain restaurant. My sis-in-law has a $25 gift card from this restaurant, given to her as a Christmas gift from one of her friends. My wife and sis-in-law ordered the restaurant's 2 for $20 menu. My daughter had one that has a piece of steak while I had that Ultimate Trio. I loved what I ordered that I ate it all. I was really hungry, you know. I don't mind going back there again. I found out they have that Karaoke Night. (I'd like to try that.)

After lunch, we went home. We hang around in the house for a while. That's when I logged on to my laptop and visited Facebook. I replied to my son's message. So glad to know that he liked my post...and suggested or gave me the idea to subscribe to other bloggers' so "you can build a network by subscribing to their blogs and then encouraging them to subscribe to your's."

After an hour or two, my wife, my daughter, and I thought of watching a movie in a neighboring city, sans my sis-in-law, who went somewhere. My wife wishes to watch that movie about Tintin ( because as you know, our daughter's informal/household name is Tintin). So we did go to the cinema only to find out that the movie  we're to watch no longer is shown there.

After a short discussion with my wife and my daughter regarding what movie to see, we ended up watching a two and a half-hour movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. (I heard and read about it before in the local paper, I mean, the novel which was adapted into a movie with the same title. And  as I recall the author is from Sweden, and has passed away years  ago? I did a wikipedia search recalling the name Lars something. His name is Steig Larsson.)

About the rated R- movie dealing with topics like murder-mystery and corruption, you ask? To me, it's long but fast-paced. I thought it was good! It's worth-seeing. James Bond 007 star Daniel Craig was there in the movie, playing the lead actor as Mikael Blomkvist, as an investigative journalist. Okay, there's this lead actress in the movie that I'm not familiar with. So I did a quick research about her on wikipedia. She's an American TV and film actor Rooney Mara who essayed the role of the girl with the dragon tattoo on her back, as Lisbeth Salander. I love her car-chasing with her bike! She's terrific! There's Christopher Plummer, who starred in The Sound of Music was there. I recalled that Swedish actor who was the lead actor in "God afton, Herr Wallenberg" (Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg).  I saw this movie, years or a decade ago? I had the opportunity to have borrowed this from the library.) Yes, the name is Stellan Skarsgard, a Swedish actor. He's in that film, too.

It was past seven PM when we arrived home. It's good that prior to going to the movies, we turned on some of the lights in the house.

We ate our dinner. I had a small plate of vegetable salad and yogurt, and three-four tablespoons of that cranberry sauce I cooked a couple of days ago and preserved/kept in a plastic jar.

Well, this is all for now, folks. Until next time around. Take care. -chris a. quilpa, 15Jan2012