Meeting Time for Religious Education Classes. During last weekend’s Masses as I introduced the new Mass schedule for September through May, I left out of my “diatribe” the actual time of the religious education classes...Mrs. Bonner kindly reminded me of that oversight. So to be clear, religious education classes will meet from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., offering parents one half hour either after the 8:00 a.m. Mass or before the 11:00 Mass for travel time. This should eliminate the rush out of our parking lot and the rush into Henry James Middle School parking lot and make the Mass and religious education experience less hectic.
Stephen and Peter Sok are doing well even in these difficult times after the untimely death of Elly Sok during little Peter’s birth. I know many people in our parish have asked me if there is anything that they (we) can do to help Stephen and Peter out during this sad time. I met with Stephen this past week to see how we might be of assistance. As it stands right now, they seem to be pretty well set with items for a newborn and even have a pretty good cadre of babysitters—family and close friends who are helping out. I am sure that some of this will change as time goes on and individuals return to “normal,” everyday living. I did speak with Stephen on a host of topics and there are some items he could use in the near future. I am sure we will be able to assist him as time and needs warrant. I will keep you abreast of the situation. However, Stephen did say that he depends on the prayers of others and that “he feels our prayers and benefits from them.” Let us keep Stephen and little Peter in our prayers and thoughts and always remember that prayer is the most powerful tool we have at our disposal—it can transform others and ourselves. Amen!
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. In today’s first reading from Jeremiah God warns the shepherds who “mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture” that He will punish those charged with caring for His flock and who do otherwise. Woe! to those who mislead and scatter them with falsehoods, untruths and wrong teachings. This warning calls the religious leaders of the day to preach the word of God and not their own ideals, and to care for the flock with the compassion and love of God, by incorporating the laws of God with mercy and hope. This Godly message must be understood by today’s “shepherds.” The teachings of God, given to us by Christ, are to be handed down to new generations of faithful, without alteration, yet with the compassion poured out by the Holy Spirit. Other gospel mes-sages dove-tail with this theme—we are warned not to bur-den the faithful with laws which are unforgiveable, but rather we are called to infuse the law of God with the Mercy of the Holy Spirit. This is the belief of our Church. This is also the reason why the Church of Rome, with its unbroken Apostolic succession of popes—from Peter to Benedict XVI—defends without compromise or abandonment or embarrassment, the teachings of Christ.
Today’s shepherds are called as those of the past are to be faithful to the Word of God and to the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ. Today’s chief shepherd, Benedict the XVI, the vicar of Christ, is called to defend the sacred teachings of the Lord and to have His Church on earth be faithful to the ways of Christ even, and in spite of, the worldly demands to amend those teachings to meet the desires of the new world.
For some in the modern world the ways of Christ—and the ways of the Catholic Church—are thought of as “old fashion” or “out of step” with technology, medical advancements, or “enlightened” thoughts of today’s new “prophets.” But God’s warning to today’s shepherds, the Church, is not simply to be understood in terms of medical issues but is to be grasped by all shepherds and all the flock in terms of the very ways in which we lead and live our lives. From the day-to-day activities of life—the way we treat those who have less or act differently to us, to the way we treat the gift of the earth which God has given to us so that we may be stewards for future generations, to the way we treat the sacredness of human life and the ways in which we understand and live out our right relationships with others and with God.
The warning of today’s first reading is also meant for all the shepherds of the faith—for all those who have heard the Word of God and then make the decision on how to incorporate, or not, His Word into our daily actions and our very being: the way we act out our faith as witnesses to Christ so that others may see in us what they need to see in Christ. Are we His light in this World? Does our spouse see in our loving relationship the Love that God has for His Church and His people? Do our children feel the forgiving and nurturing Love of God in our homes? Can the world feel the compassion and mercy of the Creator of all peoples in the way we express our hopes and desires and in the way we actually live out the great prayer of Christ, the Our Father? On a given Sunday morning, would a stranger devoid of any ex-perience of Catholic Church, recognize the sacredness of our actions at Mass by the way we hold Sunday as different from all other days? By the way we come to, pray at, and worship the Lord of all lords at Mass…and in how we “go in peace” at the end of this holy celebration?
when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David;
as king he shall reign and govern wisely, he shall
do what is just and right in the land. In his days
Judah shall be saved, Israel shall dwell in security.”
“ Woe to us, too!” For we are all called to be shep-herds for the Lord our God. We, members of the One body of Christ, in the Sacramental Church, are called to be the outward sign of Christ in this world: Love. Hope. Charity. Forgiveness…we are all called to live and be these virtues in the world. And the greatest gift of all from this Wondrous God is that He offers these gifts to us in and through the Eucharist and other sacraments of the Church so that we will be given the sufficient graces of God to overcome our human frailties and be His presence to the world. The Woe! of this warning is not meant to be seen or felt in the nega-tive but rather is another sign of God’s Love, a Love which continuously calls us to goodness and continuously gives us His sufficient grace to be the potential He has placed in each one of us. From Woe! to Wow! in One, Good God.Peace,
Father Michael
