Career Transformation Ministry
A side effect of COVID-19 is the displacement of workers. If you are one of the displaced, underutilized, or just looking, consider joining Career Transformation Ministry. We tie your career search with scripture and provide resources like job search strategies in a recession environment, resume reviews, and mock interviews. Career Transformation Ministry meets every Monday at 7:00 pm. Email ctm@sfasat.org to join.
For more information, visit the Career Transformation Ministry page.
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
We Cry “Hosanna!”
My almost constant prayer these days is “Please, Lord, save us!” I learned today that the meaning of the word “Hosanna” is just that. We will hear “Hosanna” multiple times at Mass this weekend. Yes, we will be pleading for help and we will also be showing gratitude for what Jesus has done. Both refer to how we are doing spiritually.
Lent is so different for all of us this year. In many ways, we have been pushed into a desert, a kind of disorientation that leaves us anxious and not sure what will happen next. We walk with Jesus during the next few days, more intentionally focused on how we enter into the passion, death, and resurrection.
Jesus’ journey to the cross begins with a humble entry into Jerusalem. We refer to this Sunday as Palm Sunday. Like Ash Wednesday, we leave church with something tangible, a sacramental, and a reminder of our participation in holy work, the work of the people, Holy Week. We remember what Jesus did for us and we plead to be remembered by Jesus. Please, Lord, save us!
Palm Sunday without palms? Hmmm! What to do? This pandemic is forcing us to think about the essence of things, to explore meanings and to use our creativity to not only “make do” but also to create new understandings, new practices and new ways of participating.
Not everyone in the world has access to palms. In some countries, other types of greenery suffice. Let it be so with us. Choosing our “palms” and displaying them makes the event more meaningful. And the days that follow will include other choices that we make about how we participate in Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil.
These days are filled with opportunities for Spiritual Communion. Yes, we desire to receive Jesus in our being through reception of the Eucharist. That desire is REAL and declares our being in union, in communion. Our display of “palms,” our praise, worship, and gratitude expressed in our homes, the domestic church is also Spiritual Communion. We are all in! We are all together—in new ways!
So we pray: Lord hear us. Lord save us. Please help us, please show us how to create something new. Thank you, God. Thank you for walking with me, for making a new way for me and for my family! Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!
Important Finance Update
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Live in Hope
“I will put my spirit in you that you may live.” These words from the prophet Ezekiel remind us that in the midst of this pandemic God will see us through this. God is with us. God is creating something new in all of us—individually, as families, as the St. Francis parish community, as citizens and neighbors and in our world.
Perhaps we identify with the Babylonians in exile—Ezekiel’s audience. In many ways, we are feeling like we are in exile. We feel grief at the loss of life as we knew it just a few weeks ago. So much has changed and we are slowly realizing how a mysterious virus is affecting every aspect of our lives. We are discovering who we are and are being given the opportunity to create something new.
Some of us are discovering what it means to make a phone call rather than texting. Some of us are appreciating our children’s teachers more. Some of us are learning to pray as a family. Others are reaching out and accompanying others on this journey. People are standing in the street, keeping a safe distance and talking to their neighbors.
At present, we are also experiencing the challenge of being “Church” without being physically together in one place. We miss the Eucharist, YES. We are also discovering that the Spirit is in each of us as Jesus promised at Pentecost. The Spirit is with us through our reception of Baptism and Confirmation. There is no cancelation of the Spirit being in us and with us.
My short prayer, repeated several times each day is familiar to all of us. “Come, Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of your faithful. Renew the face of the earth.” May the Spirit be in each of you that you may live—with hope and altered purpose.
May we be like Lazarus to whom Jesus beckons to new life. May we, like Jesus, be filled with compassion for all who are suffering, working in impossible circumstances and experiencing helplessness. May we be filled with gratitude for all that we have taken for granted.
To Celebrate a Life of Love: Walter Reese Coe
Walter R. Coe, Lt. (USN) Retired, age 95, died March 17, 2020. He was born and raised in Parkersburg, WV.
Walt was beloved by his family and friends and set an excellent example as a devoted husband and father. He was extremely hardworking and sacrificed to put his six children through parochial schools and college. He was affectionate, charming, energetic, funny, and outgoing and prone to initiating conversations with complete strangers.
A veteran of two wars, Walt joined the U.S. Navy as a seaman at age 17 during the summer before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He moved up through seven enlisted ranks with extraordinary speed, rising to Chief Petty Office by the time he was 21 years old. Upon joining the service, he was trained in aircraft mechanics, and during WWII served at multiple locations in the Pacific theater, including on Guadalcanal Island. Following the war, in 1946, he was selected to serve on the original Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Team as Chief of Maintenance. In 1949, he was assigned to the Naval Attaché staff in Seoul, Korea, one year prior to the beginning of the Korean War. Following the invasion of Seoul and evacuation to Japan, he flew 37 unarmed reconnaissance missions over Korea as an observer with the newly formed Air Force Mosquito Squadron and was awarded the Air Medal and three Oak Leaf Clusters. In 1954, Walt was honored for saving lives on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Bennington following a tragic boiler explosion the prior year that killed 102 men and injured dozens of others. Walt attended OTS in 1957, and the following year, as an officer, he was assigned for four and a half years to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to help organize the Research and Development Center in Pomona, NJ. Walt retired from the US Navy in 1963, with 22 years of service, and retired at the rank of Lieutenant.
Walt moved his family to San Antonio, Texas and commenced a second career with Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, starting out as a store manager and retiring after 20 years as District Marketing Manager. For several years during this period, he also served on the Board of Directors of the Better Business Bureau of San Antonio.
Upon retirement from Firestone, Walt became a Blue and Gold officer for the U.S. Naval Academy. He served for seven years, recruiting and counseling Naval Academy candidates and helping at career events. He also served as president of the Shavano Heights Homeowner’s Association for five years, and later spearheaded many neighborhood projects.
Walter was predeceased by his parents, William and Dixie Counts Coe and eight of his siblings. He is survived by his beloved wife of 68 years, Dolores Jablonski Coe, whom he met while stationed at the American Embassy in Seoul, Korea. Walt is also survived by five children: Dr. Jeffrey D. Coe (Marlene) of Monte Sereno, CA, William R. Coe (Cindi) of Charlotte, NC, Monica J. Coe of San Antonio, TX, Michele Coe-Walker (James Walker) of McKinney, TX, James S. Coe of Atlanta, GA and 11 grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Kay Tolley, of Chesapeake, VA as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Music for Healing, Hope, and Peace
A YouTube playlist of songs by Catholic composers to help in this time of uncertainty.
This is a playlist. Press play to listen to it straight through, or select the playlist icon (in the upper right) to select individual songs. Currently there are 14 songs. (We may add to it later.)
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Open the Eyes of Our Heart
It is no secret that I am a huge Star Wars fan. In A New Hope, the wise Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi is teaching the young Luke Skywalker the ways of the Force, a mysterious energy field created by all living things in the Star Wars universe. As part of Luke’s training, Obi-Wan makes him wear a helmet, and Luke is quick to complain that he cannot see with the blast shield down. Obi-Wan responds, “Your eyes can deceive you; don’t trust them.” Once Luke begins trusting his feelings rather than his eyesight, he is able to overcome the challenge.
Likewise, God has to tell Samuel not to rely on his sight when he sends him to anoint his chosen king. When Samuel arrives in Bethlehem, he encounters Eliab, the eldest son of Jesse, and immediately assumes, based on Eliab’s looks, that he is the king he is searching for. God, however, interjects, saying, “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance, but the LORD looks into the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Samuel meets seven other sons of Jesse before finding and anointing the youngest and least likely choice, David.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus heals a man blind from birth. Pope Francis walks us through the blind man’s transition from spiritual blindness.
The path of the blind man… is a gradual process that begins with knowing Jesus’ name. He does not know anything else about him. In fact, he says: “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes” (John 9:11). In response to the pressing questions of the doctors of the law he first says that Jesus is a prophet (John 9:17) and then a man close to God (John 9:31). After he is thrown out of the Temple, excluded from society, Jesus finds him again and “opens his eyes” a second time, revealing to him his true identity: “I am the Messiah,” he tells him. At this point, the man who was blind exclaims: “I do believe, Lord!” (John 9:38), and prostrates himself before Jesus.
This is a passage of the Gospel that gives us a glimpse of the drama of the interior blindness of many people. And we glimpse our own interior blindness too because we sometimes have moments of such blindness. …Let us open ourselves to the light of the Lord, he awaits us always in order to enable us to see better, to give us more light, to forgive us. Let us not forget this!
Pope Francis, March 30, 2014
What are the things in our life that make us blind to the needs of others, especially during these uncertain times? Do we spend too much time looking inward thinking about our own desires? Do we spend so much time staring down at a screen that we never look up at the people around us? Do feelings of fear or panic stoked by the media or even our own mind make us want to close our eyes to avoid difficult conversations or situations? Does pride or arrogance blur reality and trick us into thinking that we are immune to certain dangers or that we do not need to rely on helping hands? Do we let anger blind us and cut off opportunities for reconciliation and forgiveness?
Let us, like Luke and Samuel, take that sometimes uncomfortable step of using our feelings, our heart to see, rather than solely our eyes. Only then, after we have taken that step, can we truly embark on a path from spiritual blindness like the man in the Gospel and “live as children of light… [producing] every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:8-9).
As we continue on our very unique 2020 Lenten journey, let us pray that God opens the eyes of our heart so that we can see as He sees.
By Kenneth Caruthers, Director of Communication
To Celebrate a Life of Love: Alicia Ramírez Méndez Bullock, M.D.
July 2, 1930-March 9, 2020
Originally from Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Alicia was the third of seven children born to Manuel Ramírez and his wife, Marcelina Méndez. A bright and happy child, she started school a year early and later skipped the fourth grade. She excelled scholastically and was admitted to the first medical school class at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan. During her first year of study, she learned that her older brother, First Lt. Pablo Ramírez, a platoon leader and member of the 65th Infantry, had been killed in action in Korea. She graduated second of 50 students, one of eight women, at the age of 24. She moved to the mainland to complete her residency in internal medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. There she met and married another young resident, Allen Bullock, the love of her life. He said he taught her to read ECGs. She laughed and denied it. Devoted and generous parents, they raised three children and instilled in them some of the greatest traits of the greatest generation. Alicia’s interests were varied and included Russian literature, classical music, detective stories, antiquing, and sports. A compulsive note-taker, she was truly a lifelong learner. Storytelling with family and friends and homecomings to Puerto Rico delighted her. A lover of the bargain, her haggling skills were put to use in all of the family’s car purchases. She completed her career as the Medical Director of the VA Outpatient Clinic in Corpus Christi, retiring after her 75th birthday. Soon afterward the couple moved to San Antonio to be closer to family. She and son Allen cared for our father until his death in 2009.
Alicia was preceded in death by her husband Allen; parents, and siblings, Ana, Pablo, and infant brother Manuel. She is survived by her children, Allen, Delia, Wilfred (Annie); granddaughters, Heather and Meredith; siblings, Efraín (Edith) Ramírez, Adelina Ramírez (Reinaldo Alicea), Adelaida Ramírez; niece, Rosa (David) Rodríguez and great-niece Bianca Rodríguez.
Third Sunday of Lent
Thirst
Jesus was waiting for her and asked her for a drink of water. He asks because he is thirsty. A simple, human need opens up a deep conversation with a woman who others ostracized. We all need water. Are we, like Jesus, willing to ask anyone for a drink? Will we receive what they provide?
Jesus initiates the conversation even though he knows it is “unlawful.” He knows that even his disciples disapprove of him talking to this woman. In his desire to know her, a woman who has been cast away by five different men (husbands), he holds out to her an abundance of “living water.” She drops her jar, runs to the village and brings the whole village back to the well.
Jesus’ tenderness in accepting who she was results in her joyful, exuberant sharing of how Jesus knew her and acknowledged her, listened to her and accepted her in spite of her gender, her residency and her community. Many believed because of her!
Jesus also entrusts his thirst to us. We encounter him in order to be filled. Yet he has no bucket or jar but ours. What is our role in fulfilling Jesus’ mission to the thirsty world in which we live?
Like many of you, I thirst for ways of responding to the coronavirus pandemic. Just before writing this reflection, I found this resource that I highly recommend that we read and LIVE! It is “A Faith Response to the Coronavirus.” In it, I am reminded of what Jesus asks of all of us individually and as a faith community.
To Celebrate a Life of Love: Edward Michael Woodruff
June 22, 1935-February 24, 2020
Edward (Ed) Michael Woodruff passed away peacefully at his home in San Antonio, Texas, on February 24, 2020. He was born on June 22, 1935 in New York City to Elizabeth and John Woodruff. Ed married his best friend, Rose McKenna, in 1956, and along with their two young sons made their way to Austin, Texas. After graduating from the University Of Texas School Of Pharmacy, he moved his family to Laredo, Texas, where he opened his own pharmacy and enjoyed taking care of his many patients. Eventually, a new challenge presented itself and he joined the administration team at Mercy Hospital. He always felt grateful for the opportunity to work with the Sisters of Mercy and wonderful health professionals at the hospital.
Ed was a respected and very active member of the Laredo community. He spearheaded many United Way Campaigns and was selected to serve on several advisory boards. In addition, he was dedicated to Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church where he served as a Eucharistic Minister, Lector, and Parish Council Officer. One of his favorite activities was making and serving pancakes to parishioners as a member of the St. Patrick’s Men’s Club. Ed really loved living in Laredo because of the wonderful people that he met, worked with and served with. Laredo was also a great place to raise his four boys. Ed and Rose retired and moved to San Antonio in 2002 to be closer to their children and grandchildren. There they joined Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, a wonderful Christian Community. Ed was a member of the Knights of Columbus Council #15240, where he was very active, involved, and where one of his favorite activities with the Knights was serving at their annual Lenten Fish Fry.
Ed loved his family and was so proud of his children and grandchildren. He was also an avid University of Texas Longhorn fan and supported his Longhorns in good times and in bad. Ed went to the Lord on February 24, 2020 and is survived by Rose, his wife of 63 years and his children; Michael and his wife Kim, Edward and his wife Diana, Jimmy and his wife Terry, and David and his wife Shawna and his ten grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of Sunset North Funeral Home, 910 N. 1604, San Antonio, TX, 78232. You may leave condolences to the family online at www.SunsetNorthFuneralHome.com.
To celebrate Edward’s life, the Holy Rosary will be recited at 10 AM followed by a Mass of Resurrection on March 14, 2020, at Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 4201 De Zavala Road, San Antonio, Texas 78249. Private graveside services will follow at a later date. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the charitable organization of your choice. Charities meaningful to Ed include: Saint Francis of Assisi’s Mobile Loaves & Fishes Ministry and the Saint Vincent de Paul ministry.