News - October 2021 RSS Feed

In every report on Whatsoever You Do Outreach, we thank you for your generosity. But hearing today’s Gospel proclaimed and hearing the words – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – we are reminded to tell you that by your generosity you are doing just that, loving your neighbor as yourself...

November is here again. We are gradually approaching the end of our calendar year. November also brings us close to the end of this liturgical year, with the celebration of Our Lord Jesus Christ the Universal King. On November 1st we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. This is the church of all known and unknown saints who have been through the great tribulation and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14). This is the Church Triumphant. They now enjoy the beatific vision. Their heroic life is both inspiration and challenge for us, the Church Militant, as we journey on our pilgrimage through life. On November 2nd we commemorate, and remember in our prayers the souls of our departed brothers and sisters, whom the Lord has called back home...

The request of blind Bartimaeus was simple but direct: “Master, I want to see.” He had no time for stories, but went straight to the heart of his desire. He gives us an example for our own prayers – be simple, but straight to the point! Like Bartimaeus, we all have desires that have been planted in our hearts by God. And we are all crying out to Jesus to be the fulfillment of our desires...

This weekend’s Second Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews suggests that it is Jesus’ human experience of suffering that puts him in full solidarity with the rest of humanity, and especially qualifies him as mediator. Because Jesus felt hunger, he is able to relate to our struggle with our own hunger or the hunger of our world; because Jesus felt rejection, especially from his own people, he is able to relate with us when we cry to him about how rejected, unloved, and unwanted we feel. We certainly have a God who does not stand aloof or apart from our experiences; he enters into the very depth of our mess and becomes one like us in everything, though without sin. There was a saying that stuck with me when I was studying to become a healthcare chaplain: “you do not heal what you do not feel.” This saying seems to suggest that unless one has felt hurt one couldn’t really understand how another who is hurting feels.

We have given up everything and followed you… Peter’s question to our Lord in the latter part of our Gospel reading for this weekend echoes a series of questions that many of us might have asked when a request is made of our time, talent or resources. It is not difficult to hear people ask, “what is in it for me?” You invite me to help out at the food pantry, what do I gain from it? Will my children acquire service hours by helping at a parish event? Would participating in a retreat be worth my time? What would I benefit from hours of work on a parish project, or serving in a committee? How would my life be improved by coming to Mass every weekend, or even daily? What is in it for me? These questions, as common as they are, express the human desire for validation...

I want to first express my gratitude to all our parishioners for your participation in the events marking our celebration of the feast day of our heavenly big sister, St. Thérèse, the Little Flower of Jesus. Thank you also to members of our Accompaniment team led by Kerry Wallace, our parish staff, and the Knights of Columbus of our council for their work in making the feast a memorable one. May St. Thérèse continue to intercede for us all, and for our parish, and bring us roses of answered prayers from God’s garden in heaven. Amen...