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From the Pastor's Desk: July 12, 2020
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This Sunday offers the first of a series of Jesus’ teachings about the Kingdom of God.
Today we hear one of the most important and helpful parables in the context of the Christian way of life. There are two fundamental aspects of discipleship- holiness and mission. In order to make it our mission, we need to be faithful and ardent disciples. In today’s parable, Jesus helps us to understand both better, instructing us how to be a fruitful follower and an effective evangelist, how to hear God’s Word well and proclaim it well, how to receive God’s grace and how to live in accordance with it.
The Gospel message invites us also to reflect upon why some of the disciples followed Jesus to the end and became saints and many others walked away and even betrayed Him. Why among the students of a poor, inner city school will some kids from down-and-out circumstances go on to become famous surgeons and others end up in jail? Why do some children go on to become great athletes while others with the same coaches and even greater physical coordination and endowments never make it? There are obviously various factors in these disparities, but one of the most basic reasons is because some people are more receptive and more responsive to coaching, to education, and to grace.
Today Jesus Himself gives us an answer to these questions: “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear!” Jesus tells us plain and simple: “Pay attention!” This is all the more important today because so many of us have a spiritual attention deficit disorder. In an age of so many words, of thousands of emails, you-tube videos, text messages, and blogs published every day, we are so bombarded with words that we necessarily begin to become selective listeners. We block out a lot of the verbiage and we only half-listen to much of the rest. And we can take that selective listening especially to the way we hear what is most important of all, the Word of God. Today, Jesus wants us to call our attention to how we listen to Him.
The point of today’s parable is that God wants us all to listen to Him and to receive His word and to respond to Him with the good soil of our souls. To become a saint we do not have to be a spiritual superhero; we simply need to give God permission and correspond to what He wishes to do in and through us. We just need to have good, receptive and responsive soil. If we are going to do that, however, we have to grasp what good soil is. “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear!”
On Tuesday, July 14th, in collaboration with Dynamic Parish, we will invite every parishioner to join us for the Best Summer Ever program based on the Matthew Kelly book, Rediscover Jesus. This extremely inspiring book provides insights and direction to having a more intimate relationship with Christ. This book will challenge everyone to answer some basic questions- “What matters most in your life?...How well do you know Jesus?... Do you know more about the famous and powerful than you know Jesus?” At the end of every one of the 40 chapters are four things to help the chapter crystallize in your response to know Jesus better- 1. Point to Ponder, 2. Verse to Live, 3. Question to Consider, 4. Prayer. This is a terrific opportunity to participate in this program and to invite others to join. Although the book is written from a Catholic view, it is an excellent read for any Christian. Soon you will receive a postcard with a special and personal invitation to join us in this exciting Best Summer Ever Initiative. Books will be available in the church for everyone who needs one.
Traditionally, the month of July honors the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. It is the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, which cleanses us from sin, therefore the Church developed a devotion to Jesus' physical blood and its mystical power, just as it did for His Sacred Heart from which His blood poured out on the Cross. The Precious Blood of Jesus courses through the Church spiritually, giving eternal life to the Body of Christ through the sacraments. Many saints had a devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus, especially St. Catherine of Siena. Devotion to the Precious Blood spread widely through the preaching of Saint Gaspar del Bufalo, who was a 19th-century priest and the founder of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. This devotion was later approved and recommended by the Holy See. (The Catholic Company)
As we continue with summer vacation, I pray that everyone stays safe and healthy and finds time to relax and enjoy each other’s company. Let us also take seriously the invitation to rediscover Jesus together.
With prayers,
Fr. Andy
