News - September 2021 RSS Feed

Fr. Julius shares about National Migration week and our call as Christians to welcome strangers and migrants, our upcoming celebrations of St. Therese's Feast, and the Annual Bishop's Appeal.

Greetings to you my beloved parishioners! The First reading for this weekend paints a picture of some scheming by evil people against one perceived as the just one. According to these unnamed wicked, the just one’s manner of being opposes theirs, reproaches them for transgressing against the law, and convicts them of violating their training. As such he rouses their ire. Instead of changing their conduct, they plot the downfall of this just one by mocking his high opinion of himself and testing his reliance on God. This, unfortunately, seems to be classical human behavior. How often do we get jealous when we see a brother or sister who is trying to live her or his Christian faith in all sincerity? Some of us even go to the extreme of maligning this seeming righteous brother or sister or even calumniate them because they chose to be different in the practice of their faith. Instead of humbling ourselves and praying to be true to our faith like this brother or sister is we prefer to assassinate their character or look for any weakness with which to undermine their genuineness. We see holy people as threats because they make us more conscious of our own sinfulness. And instead of humbling ourselves and asking God for mercy, we try to justify or rationalize our wrongdoing by painting these holy people as bad or less than they really are...

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world (Gal. 6:14) The above words come from our Gospel acclamation for this weekend. My intention in choosing these words for our reflection is to call attention to suffering in the life of Christ as fundamental to our own embrace of our sufferings. Many people who reject God or in their rejection of organized religion refuse to affiliate with Christianity ask why there is so much suffering in the world if there is a good God. It would seem that by their questioning they hold God responsible for suffering in the world, while exculpating human beings of any responsibility for the evils in the world.

Greetings to you my beloved parishioners, We thank God for the gift of human labor, which beautifies creation and provides for human needs. We pray that the unemployed and underemployed would find gainful and meaningful employment, and that the dignity of workers would everywhere be respected. I wish you all a blessed and restful Labor Day weekend, and safe journeys to all who would be traveling to visit with families and loved ones...