Connections&
May 28, 2000
SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

• "This is my commandment:  Love one another, as I have loved you...I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father."
  

A great loss
True story:
Wendy Weinstein is the smart, hard-working owner of two hair salons in Philadelphia.  For a long time, she didn't' feel very good about herself because she was, in her own words, a "large woman."  At her peak, she weighed 240 pounds.  She had tried everything -- fad diets, pills, hypnosis, counseling, group therapy, a personal trainer.  But nothing worked.
Two years ago, after watching her favorite aunt die a very painful death due to cancer, Wendy became involved in HopeCuts, an annual fundraiser in which salons across the country offer discount haircuts and manicures and donate all the proceeds to the City of Hope research center.  Wendy and her salons raised more than $2500, the most of any salon in Philadelphia.
Then her imagination kicked in:  What if, in addition to cutting hair, she cut her weight?  She asked one long-time customer to sponsor her.  Her goal:  to lose 20 pounds, slowly and healthfully.  The customer pledged a buck a pound.  So did the next customer she asked, and the next, until 200 friends and clients had pledged to sponsor Wendy in her "battle with the bulge," with the money going to City of Hope.
Wendy followed a sensible eating plan; a personal trainer donated her services to Wendy as well.  By the next HopeCuts fundraiser, Wendy had lost 27 pounds -- her "loss" meant almost $10,000 for the City of Hope.
"It was awesome,"  Wendy says.  "It's easier to do something you're passionate about.  It's not just me I'm working for.  I'm trying to help others too."
[The Philadelphia Inquirer.]
CONNECTION:  To love one another as the Gospel Jesus loves can be a transforming experience -- not only can such love change the lives of those we love, but it can change us as well:  love enables us to experience a profound sense of purpose and wholeness in giving and receiving the kind of complete and total love Christ has for us.  Loving as Christ loved begins by putting aside our own hopes and wants to seek instead the hopes and wants of others;  by caring for and about others with selflessness and understanding, regardless of the sacrifice demanded of us; but always being ready to make the first move to forgive and to heal, not matter how undeserving.  Such love can be overwhelmingly demanding--but such love can be the source of incredible joy and fulfillment, no less than an experience of Easter resurrection.  May we realize the powerful sense of resurrection we can bring about by embracing the spirit of Christ-like love and loving in our own lives.

CAST YOUR STONE HERE --
GROUND BREAKING FOR THE NEW             ST. JOHN PASTORAL CENTRE
Following the 11:00am Mass on June 4, we will break ground for our building project.  You are invited as part of the ground-breaking ceremony, to find a stone or rock, and paint your family or individual names on it and date it.  Once the ground has been broken, those present will throw their stones into the hole, forming part of the foundation of the new Saint John Pastoral Centre.  If you are unable to attend the ground-breaking ceremony, you may leave your stones in a basket at the entrances of the Church, and we will throw the stones into the hole for you.  Come and be present for this historic event!