Let All The Earth Cry Out With Joy

Dear Parishioners,

The theme of today’s readings is JOY. Isaiah tells us to rejoice and exult with Jerusalem (Isaiah 66:10-14c); the psalm response tells us, “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy;” and the gospel (Luke 10:1-12, 17-20) shows the seventy-two returning to Jesus jubilant from their missionary work. It has been said that joy (not pleasure or excitement), is the unmistakable sign of God’s presence. People who have a good relationship with God so very often exude that joy in their demeanor and dealings with other people. However, lest we become too caught up in our successes in life that bring us natural joy, Jesus reminds us that the greatest joy is that our names are inscribed in heaven.

- Fr. Carl

Let Freedom Ring

St. Paul tells the Galatians “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery!” (Galatians 5:1, 13-18) In just a few days, we celebrate the birthday of our nation. Let freedom ring!

Let it ring celebrating the good gift these United States are to all of us. With all of our challenges, we are still the envy of the world. For many reasons, not the least of which, is the right to elect our own government, and then when voters choose to transition to a new government, we do so without armed conflict. The freedom we know as citizens ought to cause us as Christian believers to thank God once again for the freedom first found in Jesus Christ.

Let freedom ring most of all by living out God’s generous love given to others. No one can compel another to believe. But by our lives lived in love, we show others Christ’s way and Christ’s love and the awesome freedom Christ gives to all who follow him. Reject anything in your life that would enslave your soul or another and in its place, let Christ’s freedom ring out from your life and in so doing become God’s good gift of freedom to others.

- Deacon Robert

God’s Beloved Family

We who are clothed with Christ are family. Saint Paul says we “are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” God has written all of us into God’s estate plan and wants to lavish on us all the wealth of His love.

Clothed with Christ, we are heirs with Christ, God’s beloved family. Look around… see Christ in your brothers and sisters… and understand the good news, that by God’s grace, we are all clothed with Christ.

- Deacon Robert

Humility, the Mother of All Virtues

Dear Parishioners,

The greatest king of Israel, a law abiding Pharisee, and a well-known sinful woman come together this week to teach us about sin, humility, and forgiveness (2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13; Galatians 2:16, 19-21; Luke 7:36 - 8:3). We see the great King David revealed to be a murderer and an adulterer. He who was so powerful and blessed by God succumbed to temptation, sinned, and then sinned even more severely. However, when his evil deeds came to light, he humbly repented and discovered, to his great relief, that God had forgiven him.

The Pharisee’s sin was slight in comparison to David’s. He omitted the usual hospitality of having his guest’s feed washed and judged Jesus not to be a prophet. Furthermore, in his pride, the first of the capital sins, he judged the woman. Only God judges. When we judge, we put ourselves in the place of God.

We don’t know for sure what the woman’s sin was, but we can make a good guess. She knew what she had done and humbled herself in repentance for her sins, and showed her love for God by washing, drying, and perfuming our Lord’s feet. Of the king, the Pharisee, and the woman, she outshines the other two, for humility, the mother of all virtues, is the first step to the greatest – LOVE.

- Father Carl

God Does Not Abandon You

Dear Parishioners,

So many of the things that populate our daily schedules are routine. We rise in the morning, have breakfast, bathe, dress, go to our job, perhaps volunteer or meet a friend for lunch. In moments of leisure, we may read a book, watch a baseball game, play a few hands of bridge, or turn up soil in our gardens. Errands get notched here and there in the day’s schedule like going to the dry cleaners, grocery store, gas station… and attend church? You know the drill… things to do, people to see, day after day. Nothing much here that would be considered life and death issues.

But there are days that none of us welcome. Days when we learn of a friend’s sudden passing, the news of a neighbor’s loss of work, the awareness that health has suddenly taken a turn for the worse, or that a child has lost his or her way.

Our scripture stories today tell us that God does not abandon us in those moments of darkness (Luke 7:11-17). In fact, the stories tell us quite the opposite… when darkness shows up and hope seems to move out, God moves in, because God has never moved out! God is with us, reminding us, as Paul wrote the Romans long ago, “neither life nor death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When our resources are totally gone, God’s resources are just beginning.

- Deacon Robert

Solemnity of Corpus Christi (“The Body of Christ”)

Dear Parishioners,

Our current celebration of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ), was started in the 1270s. It was originally set on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. Why Thursday? Because it was on Holy Thursday that Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper. However, after the Second Vatican Council, some Bishops’ Conferences around the world transferred the feast to the following Sunday, and the United States was one of them. Still some countries maintain the feast on Thursday and have wonderful processions in honor of the Blessed Sacrament.

St. Thomas Aquinas composed many of the hymns for this feast: Adoro Te Devote, Pange Lingua, and Humbly We Adore You. While it is a wonderful tradition to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, it is more important to receive Him at Mass. After all, Jesus tells us, “I am the living bread come down from heaven…, if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.” (John 6:51-52). That’s the best reason to celebrate this feast and the Eucharist as we give thanks and praise to God.

- Fr. Carl

The Most Holy Trinity

Dear Parishioners,

God reveals himself to us in a Trinity, as a gracious Father, giving Son, and guiding Holy Spirit. Jesus is a perfect revelation of God, the presence of God in human form. Jesus became for us the interpreter of who God is, just as the Holy Spirit now interprets for us ways we are to follow Jesus in our day.

The Spirit not only reveals the full nature of Jesus to us, but the Spirit becomes our Advocate saying to others that we belong to God. Today, the Spirit vouches for us, claims us as belonging to Christ, and helps us define who we are as followers of Christ.

- Deacon Robert

“Faith is a gift, it is the Father who
gifts it. We must continue on this path. But
if we travel this path, it is always with our
own baggage – because we are all sinners
and we all always have things that are wrong.
But the Lord will forgive us if we ask for
forgiveness, and so we should always press
onwards, without being discouraged.”
- Pope Francis