7/26/2024 What will you bring to the table?Dear Parish Family, Today’s gospel is one of the first gospels I remember hearing as a child, as I was preparing to make my first communion. At a first quick glance of this gospel, it's just the great miracle of the multiplication of the bread. Very appropriate in connection to communion; all are fed by our Lord. Thinking back now and looking deeper, I see that it is also very much a message of how we are all meant to contribute to our Eucharistic celebration. When I heard this gospel as a child, I remember thinking how special and brave this boy was who brought his loaves of bread and fishes to contribute to the meal of thousands. As an adult, I also see Philip’s point of the enormity of the challenge. How to feed so many? Who could afford such a task? And here is the young naive boy who somehow thinks 5 loaves and 2 fishes could possibly make a difference. But that is just the thing! We see as man sees, not as God sees. To a young child some of life’s problems always have the most simple fixes. A typical child's response is just do it, it's not that hard. This is the invitation to us too, how will we contribute to the communion meal? Are we willing to bring what we have? To allow God to bless it and break it and use it to feed the many. We are all called to be active participants of the Eucharistic meal. ![]() We all have something to bring; Bring it all to our Lord, the good (joys, time, talent and treasure), bad and ugly (struggles, fears, weakness, burdens and yes, even our sinfulness), because our Lord will transform it all! To the point that there will be baskets full of blessings left over. Blessings, Tere Delgado Faith Formation Minister 7/19/2024 Rest a WhileHi Everyone! We often yearn for rest and it makes plenty of sense. Without proper rest, we are unable to work efficiently or have a clear head to make important decisions. A lifestyle that is too busy can lead to exhaustion and anxiety. I know this is common sense, but I only mention it because Jesus also understood the importance of rest when it comes to discipleship. In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus directly tells his Apostles to rest. With the great success of their ministry, and with hoards of people who have become interested in Jesus and his message, Jesus doesn’t ask his Apostles to work overtime, but rather, he asks them to rest. Why would he tell them to rest after such great success? Why wouldn’t Jesus ask the Apostles to take advantage of the opportunity to save more souls, while interest is at an all-time high? I think the answer to these questions is quite simple. We need to be nourished to help feed others and rest in the Lord is necessary to continue our mission. Jesus and his Apostles may not have gotten a lot of rest in this passage, but they did get some. And I assume that the little rest that they received helped them to thrive in their ministry and boost their energy. Our God knows us, His apostles, so well, and he knows that they need to be nourished to spread the good news. He is not reckless. He cares for those who He commissioned. This is no different for us. Rest in crucial when it comes to discipleship. Burnout can be a factor when it comes to bringing people to God. Whether the burnout is from work, family or current events, it is absolutely necessary for us to create time to rest in the presence of our God. ![]() It will help us to see with more clarity and to act with more love and vigor. God Bless, Brett Becker Youth and Young Adult Minister Dear Friends, In this weekend’s gospel from Mark, we hear Jesus send his apostles out, two by two, to preach and to heal and to drive out demons. He was quite clear that they should take nothing for the journey but sandals and a walking stick — no food, no sack, no money, no extra clothing. Jesus knew that he had equipped them well to do what he was sending them to do — and do it well they did! I think we are well aware that we also are sent to proclaim good news. If you’re like me, that assignment may cause some discomfort. Knowing our weaknesses as we do, we may be tempted to wonder if the Lord really knows what he is doing, entrusting this work to us (or to others we may know who “rub us the wrong way”). The second reading this weekend reassures us (or at least neutralizes any excuses or exemptions) that we are actually who God has in mind, just as we are. Writing to the community at Ephesus, St. Paul says: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. Note the use of the past tense: “who has blessed” and “as he chose us in him.” Note also for what he chose us: “To be holy and without blemish before him.” It can take a big leap of faith and trust to believe that I will ever be “holy and without blemish.” But God assures us in Isaiah 55:11, “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but shall do what pleases me achieving the end for which I sent it.” That is reassuring if we worry that we will somehow mess up God’s plan in our clumsy efforts to cooperate with it. And as for the good news we are to share, how about this, also from the second reading: In [Jesus] we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us. And, if that weren’t enough, in Confirmation, we were “... sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession, to the praise of his glory.” To paraphrase a slogan going around church circles recently, “God does not call the qualified; rather, God qualifies the called.” ![]() There is no question that we are called. We’ve heard it in the readings and in the homilies many times, particularly in recent weeks. Let’s get to it, together — remember, Jesus sent the apostles out two by two! Siempre adelante, Dominic MacAller Worship Minister Dear friends on the journey, When we meet new people at a party, interview for a job, craft a resume, or post on social media, we naturally want to make a good impression, to put our best foot forward, by highlighting our strengths, confidence, accomplishments, and successes, all the good of and in our lives. It is counterintuitive to discuss our weaknesses. In fact, we usually try to hide them. In our current culture, striving for perfection (or even just appearance of), self-reliance, and strength is valued, and we are to hide away weaknesses, failures, and shortcomings. While there is prudence in knowing when and how much to share of ourselves with certain people and in certain situations, Paul offers a different approach in today’s second reading. In his second letter to the Corinthians. Paul talks about his profound revelations and his persistent “thorn in the flesh.” Despite asking God to remove it, he learns that God’s grace is sufficient and that, in fact, strength is found in his weakness. Paul embraces his weaknesses and hardships, seeing them as places where Christ can dwell and his power to shine, affirming that divine strength is perfected in human weakness. This thorn led Paul to deeper faith. Ours may be different from Paul’s but we all have thorns, don’t we? Each of us suffers from different things, in different ways, at different stages in our lives. It may be a physical illness or disability. It may be an emotional wound. It may be external from someone or something else. It could be our internal struggle. Whatever we are suffering from, we can certainly identify with Paul’s “thorn of the flesh.” Paul’s instruction to the Corinthians is a much-needed message for us today. We do not need to be perfect to be loved by God. Our thorns do not keep God away from us. In fact, our thorniness is exactly where God wants to be with us to extend his grace, the only grace that can heal us, refine us and strengthen us. Paul says that by embracing our weaknesses, we allow God’s power to work through us, transforming our challenges into opportunities for more reliance on God, less on ourselves, and a deeper connection with God. When God’s grace transforms our thorns, it can also become strength for others. We can become a source of light and hope for others. I have seen this firsthand in the creation of ministries like our cancer, divorce, bereavement, caregivers, and chronic pain support groups. These were born from a personal experience of the ministry leaders who wanted to shine a light for others. I have also known parishioners to do this on a one-to- one basis, using their own strength to help another person on a similar journey. ![]() This is the kind of boasting that Paul encourages us to do. What can you boast about? Siempre Adelante, Teresa Runyon Pastoral Associate 6/22/2024 When Storm Clouds Gather![]() Dear Parishioners, Today’s gospel reminds me of an often-painful truth: storms and the suffering that accompanies them are often unavoidable. Suffering is part of life. We get sick, we break our arm, we get stung by a bee. All this to say that God allows suffering. In the Psalm, God commands a storm to rise and rattle the sea and its waves. Yet when his people called to him in their distress, he quieted the storm and brought them to their haven. The same is true for us all. When I suffer, to what or whom do I turn? The world offers many remedies, some good and some ill. Yet neither we nor the world and all its powers are in control of nature, of history. For we are God’s story, we are his beloved sons and daughters. When we forget our place thinking the world rests on our shoulders let us remember as God said to Job in our first reading: “Who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb; when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands?” God created the world and possesses supreme authority over it. Yet it is not the same with us. He has given us the freedom of will to choose (when we face storms, squalls, and any myriad of suffering) to run to him or to other things. We are his children not his slaves. We are new creations; from the waters of our baptism, we died with Christ and share in his life. For us, this is new life, where in the face of sin, suffering, doubt, and fear, we might hold our peace close to Jesus. Do we not yet have faith? In the gospel, Jesus was sleeping when the storm came. If we are close to him and seek always the good, we too might rest with him. We need only trust in Jesus and all will be well even in the midst of suffering, pain, disease. This world is not our true home. ![]() We must seek Jesus, seek heaven, seek goodness and all virtue so that when he calls us to our true home, we do not say “Who is this who the wind and sea obey?” But rather, “Here I am my Lord and God. I love you, please, have mercy on me and take me home.” Siempre Adelante, Riley Paolella Parishioner art above- Rembrandt’s With Jesus in the Storm |
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