[Sundaycommunity] Memorial Mass for Rita Shaughnessy Sunday July 20th!

Wed Jul 16 20:56:38 PDT 2025

RITA Shaughnessy is a GOOD MEMBER of our community - I  was often giving a call to BRIAN, who has the same birthday as mine (!), MAY 26.  It was an amazing Good Fortune that we have the same birthdays, and Rita was one of the  MANY Ways that we celebrated this "BEING in OUR LIVES".
She was always so hopeful, so very much a PRAGMATIC Person, one who was always there.  I LOVED HER FOR HER WAYS, yes I did!
I loved her for her ways of "BEING there", for BRIAN, for me, and for the WHOLE community,

Mary Lou Jorgensen-Bacher
Keeper of the Flame 

    On Wednesday, July 16, 2025 at 09:08:23 p.m. EDT, Tina Neves via Sundaycommunity <sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:  

 Thank you Arthur, good reflection!Also Rita was a meditator part of my group which, I believe, helped her to feel that she has done her part...and knew how to surrender...BlessingsTina
On Wed, Jul 16, 2025 at 7:35 PM Arthur Blomme via Sundaycommunity <sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:

Friends

As is our tradition in the non summer months I have prepared a short reflection for our Mass on Sunday July 20 held in memory of Rita Shaughnessy

Mary and Martha

In the Gospel story of Mary and Martha I am sympathetic to the lack of fairness experienced by Martha when she says. ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.’ 

We now know that primates share some moral emotions with us humans. Fairness is one such emotion. 

In a demonstration video on YouTube two Reese monkeys are given treats. One is given a cucumber and the other is given a much preferred treat, a grape. After a couple of repetitions the monkey receiving the cucumber throws the cucumber back at the researcher. The monkey gets angry because he feels he is not being treated fairly. He is being cheated out of the grape. The success of beings living in the community is dependent on moral checks to our behavior and these emotions are ingrained into our biology. 

In the story of Martha and Mary I too am incensed by the lack of fairness in Mary's failure to contribute a fair share of the work. Jesus's response is at first surprising. Rather than encouraging Mary to share with Martha the work of preparing the meal , he praises the status quo of inequality in this situation. Jesus is calling us to a higher level of being. He is calling us to transcend our biological urge to seek fairness and be angered by cheating. While still recognizing the importance of fairness we are called to rise above our emotional response, We are called to transcend and include. 

Life is not fair. The different paths we take in life are not equal and fair. According to St. Paul, in Corinthians 1:12, each of our unique paths is necessary and valuable. Just as a body has many parts, each with its own function, the Body of Christ is made up of many members with different gifts and roles. No single part is sufficient on its own, and each is necessary for the body to function properly.  We all contribute in different ways to the whole and we are each intrinsically valuable. 

Rita was a person that took responsibility for her own health and had the discipline to govern her life accordingly. . We often had conversations about diet and exercise and ways that we could enhance our health to live a long and fruitful life. 

Rita reached out to me when she discovered the rapid onset of this turbo cancer. Her words remain etched in my heart. “Why me? It's just not fair. I tried to do everything right“.

When Jesus was on the cross he too despaired saying "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" . It is part of our nature to respond with emotion when confronted with the unfairness of life. In the end, Rita, as did Jesus, submitted to the higher logic of the father, “Thy will be done”.

Art Blomme

 On 7/9/25 15:37, Rose Anderson via Sundaycommunity wrote:

Friends,

As discussed on June 29th, we are dedicating our next  to remember Rita Shaughnessy who died suddenly on July 18, 2024 shortly after being diagnosed with a late stage cancer. Her sudden passing was an enormous shock to everyone, including her family.

Some members of our community were able to attend her funeral; however, for many of us there was no designated opportunity to mourn and share our grief. We have therefore decided to dedicate the next Mass to the memory of Rita. We hope to have Brian Shaughnessy, and perhaps some members of his family, join us.

We are fortunate to have Fr. Prakash celebrating with us that day. He has shown great sensitivity in situations of grief and loss. At the same time, he is a busy man who frequently has other commitments after our Mass. This means we need to exercise self-restraint in our participation.

There will be two opportunities for community members to speak: during the intercessions and after Mass for a time of sharing. Before July 20th, please think about what you would like to share with the community and summarize your thoughts in two or three sentences, to ensure that everyone who wishes to speak will have an opportunity. 

Art is the planner for that day and I am supporting him.

Thank you for your thoughtful participation.

Roswita

  ________________________________________

Sundaycommunity mailing list
To send message: sundaycommunity at integralshift.ca
To manage Subscription: https://sundaycommunity.integralshift.ca
To Unsubscribe send email to: sundaycommunity-unsubscribe at integralshift.ca
To Subscribe send email to: sundaycommunity-subscribe at integralshift.ca
Link for Zoom mass Sundays 11AM EST: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83018087848?pwd=Yjh4VnV6QXE2MFRzbEZwWUpacmJ5UT09

 ________________________________________

Sundaycommunity mailing list
To send message: sundaycommunity at integralshift.ca
To manage Subscription: https://sundaycommunity.integralshift.ca
To Unsubscribe send email to: sundaycommunity-unsubscribe at integralshift.ca
To Subscribe send email to: sundaycommunity-subscribe at integralshift.ca
Link for Zoom mass Sundays 11AM EST: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83018087848?pwd=Yjh4VnV6QXE2MFRzbEZwWUpacmJ5UT09

________________________________________

Sundaycommunity mailing list
To send message: sundaycommunity at integralshift.ca
To manage Subscription: https://sundaycommunity.integralshift.ca
To Unsubscribe send email to: sundaycommunity-unsubscribe at integralshift.ca
To Subscribe send email to: sundaycommunity-subscribe at integralshift.ca
Link for Zoom mass Sundays 11AM EST: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83018087848?pwd=Yjh4VnV6QXE2MFRzbEZwWUpacmJ5UT09

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.integralshift.ca/pipermail/sundaycommunity-integralshift.ca/attachments/20250717/ee14edbf/attachment.htm>