From the desk of our Pastor…
Last weekend I was impacted like many others by the “miming of the Passion According to St. Matthew”. Something amazing and powerful happens when one puts the “Word of God” together with the movement of human beings! The truth of God’s love for us and the power how God reaches out into our human condition becomes clear. Many parishioners said to me they were deeply moved, even to tears, by the force of the Passion according to St. Matthew.
As Catholics we should not be surprised by the force of this experience. When we pray we usually use “Word” and “Sacrament” together. The Liturgy of the Word is the first half of the Mass. The Liturgy of the Eucharist is the second half of the Mass. Even in our Church worship space the circles of stained glass in the east church windows present in art form the words of our creed. The circles of stain glass in the west church windows present the seven sacraments of our Christian tradition.
This Easter it occurs to me that the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus is the supreme example of Word and Sacrament working together to impact all of us—and in fact bring about our rescue from the annihilation of sin and death. What do I mean by this? Jesus certainly used words. After all he was called “rabbi” or “teacher” by his disciples. The Gospel of John author even goes so far as to say that Jesus is “the Word of God made flesh”!
But as we all have celebrated this Holy Week, Jesus did more than teach with words. God’s love for us was expressed by his literally teaching and saving us with his body and blood. In Jesus the Word and the Sacrament of God came together. As a result the greatness and perfection that is God and our wounded injured lives and world are taken out of a dead end journey. A way to eternal union with the life of God is opened to us. Jesus, who taught us with his words as well as with his Body and Blood, breathes God’s life into us and raises us up. May be this is why last weekend’s experience was so powerful. The mime actors used their bodies to make the words of Jesus’ Passion for us come alive!
Happy Easter Everyone! Fr. Kevin
READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Mar 24: Acts 2:14, 22-33·Mt 28:8-15
Mar 25: Acts 2:36-41·Jn 20:11-18
Mar 26: Acts 3:1-10·Lk 24:13-35
Mar 27: Acts 3:11-26·Lk 24:35-48
Mar 28: Acts 4:1-12·Jn 21:1-14
Mar 29: Acts 4:13-21·Mk 16:9-15
.Jesus Teaches Us By Example
I am aware that most people dream about wonderful things happening in their lives. Most people work very had to
make good things happen and work hard to avoid circumstances that injure or damage their lives. Jesus is no different than us or the rest of humanity. He understood himself as sent on a mission by his Father. Every breath he took and every beat of his heart was in service of his Father’s will. He knew that he fit into the unfolding of God’s Kingdom in a way that was unique and irreplaceable. He also knew that every other human being also had a unique and irreplaceable purpose to their lives too. For this reason his love and respect for every human being had no bounds.
Jesus recognized as an appropriate reality the enthusiastic greeting of the people who welcomed him to Jerusalem as a conquering hero and savior of the people. All that was said and done by way of welcome was true to who he is before God and humankind. He merits all the acclaim and more.
But Jesus also recognized that what would happen to him soon after by way of accusation, being a scapegoat, suffering and death would also be appropriate to the nature of his mission. All of us want to ride into Jerusalem in all glory and be applauded all along the way. As we ride along deeper into the city and the mission of our lives we assume that the ride means we reach greater heights of happiness, power and honor. But most human lives are quite hard and the lives are often NOT FAIR! Bad things do happen to good people. Are we to become cynics and loose hope “for tomorrow we die?”
The “Passion of Our Lord” that is proclaimed this weekend, challenges us to GET REAL! God does love us. God did not ever abandon His Son—BUT the Son went through some horrible events in his life—events that are still familiar 2,000 years after St. Matthew wrote his gospel. Human life and the circumstances human beings find themselves in haven’t changed all that much. Jesus never gave up on his Father’s love for him and endured even the cross to show that God could be trusted in even the most horrible circumstances of our individual lives.
For this reason Jesus becomes for us: THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE! He teaches us by example what it is like to live an authentic human life. The more we honor the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the more we get in touch with the “passion” in our own lives.
READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Mar 17: Is 42:1-7·Jn 12:1-11
Mar 18: Is 49:1-6·Jn 13:21-33,36-38
Mar 19: Is 50:4-9a·Mt 26:14-25
Mar 20: Ex 12:1-8,11-14·1Cor 11:23-26·Jn 13:1-15
Mar 21: Is 52:13-53:12·Heb 4:14-16;5:7-9·Jn 18:1-19:42
Mar 22: Ex 14:15-15:15:1·Rom 6:3-11·Mt 28:1-10
READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Feb 11: Lv 19:1-2,11-18·Mt 25:31-46
Feb 12: Is 55:10-11·Mt 6:7-15
Feb 13: Jon 3:1-10·Lk 11:29-32
Feb 14: Est C:12,14-16,23-25, Mt 7:7-12
Feb 15: Ez 18:21-28·Mt 5:20-26
Feb 16: Dt 26:16-29·Mt 5:43-48
This is the theme for the 2008 Catholic Appeal. The Annual Catholic Appeal is not a second collection; it is an annual campaign to fund many vital ministries throughout our Archdiocese. Some of the programs & ministries that are funded by the appeal include Evangelization, Hispanic Ministry, Catholic Education, The St. Paul Seminary, & Faith Formation.
God is the giver of all good gifts. Everything we have comes from God.
If we believe what Archbishop Flynn said, “The Church is the presence of Jesus Christ in the world.” Then we would want the church to extend itself & help as many people as possible.
The Archdiocese has worked in the past, & is working always, to become a better steward of these gifts. They use these gifts under good advice of the Finance Councils & under good advice of collaborators in the area of Administration. The Archdiocese uses these gifts knowing that they are accountable for how they are stewarded.
The Archdiocese has set our parish goal as $51,970. How do we attain our goal? How much should you give? You might consider giving 1% of your total giving to support the Archdiocese. The diocesan average gift for last year was $119 representing then an annual income of $11,900. How does your income compare to your gift?
You may mail your pledge envelope to the parish, or the Resource Development Office 328 Kellogg Blvd. W St. Paul, MN 55102. For your gift they will accept Checks, Credit Cards, Auto-bank Withdrawal &/or Stock.
“I will not offer to the Lord sacrifices which cost me nothing”
2 Samuel 24:24
My friends the season of Lent is upon us. It can be the beginning of personal, spiritual renewal. It is a time for fasting, prayer, & almsgiving. The Church emphasizes that Lent is a period of joyful renewal. Anyone who has ever prepared for a major joyful event (wedding, vacation, birth) knows that half the joy comes in the preparation itself. The work of preparing can be taxing in some ways but it can also give new life & energy.
Let us begin with a personal inventory of our attitudes & feelings about our relationships with God & others. Let this Lenten season be a time of repentance, renewal, grace, & healing among all of God’s people.
Fr. Kevin
Readings this week:
Feb 4: 2 Sm 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13·Mk 5:1-20
Feb 5: 2 Sm 18:9-10,14b, 24-25a,30-19:3·Mk 5:21-43
Feb 6: Jl 2:12-18·2 Cor 5:20-6:2·Mt 6:1-6,16-18
Feb 7: Dt 30:15-20·Lk 9:22-25
Feb 8: Is 58:1-9a·Mt 9:14-15
Feb 9: Is 58:9b-14·Lk 5:27-32
Readings this week:
Jan 14: 1 Sm 1:1-8×Mk 1:14-20
Jan 15: 1 Sm 1:9-20×Mk 1:21-28
Jan 16: 1 Sm 1:21-28×Mk 1:29-39
Jan 17: 1 Sm 4:1-11×Mk 1:40-45
Jan 18: 1 Sm 8:4-7, 10-22a×Mk 2:1-12
Jan 19: 1 Sm 9:1-4,17-19; 10:1a×Mk 2:13-17
Epiphany: God Manifested Everywhere!
Two little boys, ages 8 and 10, are excessively mischievous. They are always getting into trouble and their parents know all about it. If any mischief occurs in their town, the two boys are probably involved.
The boys' mother heard that a preacher in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The preacher agreed, but he asked to see them individually. So the mother sent the 8 year old first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the preacher in the afternoon.
The preacher, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, "Do you know where God is, son?" The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open. So the preacher repeated the question in an even sterner tone, "Where is God?!" Again, the boy made no attempt to answer. The preacher raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed, "Where is God?!"
The boy screamed & bolted from the room, ran directly home & dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him. When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, "What happened?" The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied, "We are in BIG trouble this time. GOD is missing, and they think we did it!"
The Epiphany of the Lord speaks to the idea that the incarnation of God in the coming of Jesus Christ was an event which changed the relationship of God with every human being. When people experience their true humanity they experience a bit more the Christ within them and around them in the universe. Access to God isn’t missing from anyone’s life. Only our conscious contact with God may be weak or missing. St. Augustine: The glory of God is manifested in a human being—fully alive!
Fr. Kevin
Readings this week:
Jan 07: 1John 3:22-4:6, Mt 4:13-17, 23-25
Jan0 8: 1 John 4:7-10, Mk 6:34-44
Jan 09: 1 John 4:11-18, Mk 6:45-52
Jan 10: 1 John 4:19-5:4, Lk 4:14-22a
Jan 11: 1 John 5:5-13, Lk 5:12-16
Jan 12: 1 John 5:14-21,John 3:22-30
Readings this week:
Dec 31: 1 Jn 2:18-21 Jn 11:1-18
Jan 1: Num 6:21-27 Gal 4:4-7 Lk 2:16-21
Jan 2: 1 Jn 2:22-28, In 1:19-28
Jan 3: 1 Jn 2:29-3:6, In 1:29-34
Jan 4: 1 Jn 3:7-10 Jn 1:35-42
Jan 5: 1 Jn 3:11-21 Jn 1:43-51
Jan 6: Is 60:1-6 Eph 3:2-3, 5-6 Mt 2:1-12
The Mystery that is God Closes the Gap!
Each year, seven days before we celebrate the birthday of our Lord Jesus, I celebrate a birthday. I completed my 59th year this past Tuesday. I am one of 6 billion human individuals now alive on planet earth. Relative to that great number, all of us are easily “lost in the crowd.” We could each ask ourselves: “Really what difference do I make? What value does my life really have?”
The Hubble Telescope orbits the earth these days and is giving new perspective on the mystery and the vastness of the Universe. Not only am I one in six billion, but the whole of planet earth is just a speck in the vastness that is God’s Creation. Galaxies of all different sizes and shapes, black holes, new stars coming into being and old stars dying: all this is expanding human awareness of our littleness and the mystery of God’s Creation.
From the very beginning of human history all cultures and peoples of our world have been asking “how” and “why” all this is going on! We, as Christians in our Christmas celebration, celebrate the mystery that is God closing the gap between the littleness of ourselves and the awesome mystery that is God. We proclaim that God has come to rescue the human race with all its littleness and vulnerability. The mystery that is God loves us and has rescued us by getting “personally” involved with what it is to be human. The mystery of God has merged with human life in the person of Jesus Christ.
As the scriptures have said: What is really important is not that we love God, but that God loves us and values each human being to the point of allowing us to intimately share in the life of God.
Merry Christmas, everyone! You are valuable because God has first loved you!
Fr. Kevin
Readings this week:
Dec 26: Acts 6:8-10, 7:54-59, Mt 10:17-22
Dec 27: 1 Jn 1:1-4,1 Jn 20:1a, 2-8
Dec 28: 1 Jn 1:5-2:2, Mt 2:13-18
Dec 29: 1 Jn 2:3-11, Lk 2:22-35
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE!
One of the most popular holiday films is It’s a Wonderful Life, starring the late actor Jimmy Stewart. Through its clever story of a man who doubts the value of his own life, the film makes the point that every one of us has an important role to play in this world. The story takes place in the fictional town of Bedford Falls, a typical American small town, where everyone knows everyone else and where people pitch in to help each other. It was in such a small town that Jesus the savior was born. Bethlehem was a small, obscure community, far removed from Jerusalem, the heart of the kingdom of Israel. Yet, in this small town, the king who would change history forever was born without fanfare, or even the modest comforts of an inn.
We tend to associate greatness with wealth and fame. The birth of Jesus in the humble setting of a small town challenges such a stereotype and gives us a hint of what to expect from Jesus’ ministry. Our society is full of examples of seemingly great people who have not lived up to society’s expectations. The antics or even crimes of noted athletes, entertainers, or government leaders serve to prove to us that true greatness or leadership is not a function of wealth or origins but of inner character involving faith and openness to God.
In this holiday season we gather around a table of the “ordinary people” who include the members of our family and friends. We affirm that life is good and that God has gifted us with wonderful things and possibilities. Like a family gathering around a dinner table, we also gather at the Lord’s Table. Here too we bring our struggles, our hopes, our differences, but in the end we find common nourishment in Christ the Son of God born in a manager and raised by ordinary people in an ordinary town. We thank and praise God for bringing the extraordinary out of the ordinary!
May God’s generous goodness fill you with the Peace and Joy that accompany this season.
Rev. Kevin Clinton
Readings this week:
Dec 17: Gn 49:2, 8-10·Mt 1:1-17
Dec 18: Jer 23:5-8·Mt 1:18-25
Dec 19: Jgs 13:2-7 24-25a·Lk 1:5-25
Dec 20: Is 7:10-14·Lk 1:26-38
Dec 2:8-14·Lk 1:39-45
Dec 22: 1 Sm·1:24-281: Sg 2
Searching for the Light of God in a Dark World
Advent Sundays play with tensions: light & darkness, now & the end, our individual lives & cosmic sized events. There is always the tension of anticipation, usually presented in layers:
first, the Jewish prophets hoping for the day of the Messiah,
second, the Baptizer announcing an imminent new gesture from God, and
third, Jesus’ preaching about an end to present history.
Our lives exist between individual choices and cosmic events. In Isaiah we hear the famous visionary promise: They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Yet Paul’s focus is on personal behavior: Let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness. And Jesus provides a delightfully ambiguous command, “Stay awake!”
As Christians of the Catholic tradition we do not have all the answers. We are on a journey surrounded by the “mystery of God” and to what wonderful conclusion that mystery will bring us---we do not exactly know. Our journey involves searching for the light of God in a dark world. We are to be awake to the promise of God coming at an unknown end time and at the same time be awake to the imminent real presence of God in our here and now. This Advent season wakes us up to the mysteries of life that we journey through.
Rev. Kevin Clinton
Readings this week:
Dec 3: Is 4:2-6; Mt 8:5-11
Dec 4: Is 11:1-10; Lk 10:21-24
Dec 5: Is 25:6-10a;Mt 15:29-37
Dec 6: Is 26:1-6; Mt 7:21, 24-27
Dec 7: Is 29:17-24; Mt 9:27-31
Dec 8: Gn 3:9-15, 20; Lk 1:26-38
Earlier this fall Sarah Mueller left our school and took a job with the MN Council of Catholic Bishops. Since that time Serene Bachman has been our interim principal. The search for a new principal has begun and a Principal Search Task force has been named. Below is the task force membership, their objectives, and tentative schedule.
Members:
* Anita Aase—former chair of the School Advisory Board
* Paul Flick—parishioner and retired public school principal from New Prague
* Peter Guzulaitis—Parish Administrator
* Sr. Ginny Heldorfer—Parish Pastoral Minister with experience as parochial school teacher and principal
* Kathy McNamara—St. Wenceslaus School teacher with years experience with both our school and parish
* Virgil Pint—at-large member of the Parish Coordinating Council with experience as a parochial school teacher and principal
* Fr. Kevin Clinton—Pastor
Purpose: to engage in a search to recommend the best possible candidate to the Pastor for the position of Principal for St. Wenceslaus School
Steps for Taskforce in arriving at consensus with Tentative Schedule to achieve purpose:
* Ponder the Past—where is the school’s life at here and now [November] Note posting that the position is open will happen in early December.
* Fast Forward to the Future—Taskforce anticipates and comes to agreement on what the school’s needs are for the future. [December]
* Consider Cooperation—What abilities should the candidate of choice have to complement and enhance the current school teams performance? [December]
* Contemplate the Candidate: Create open ended interview questions, use real world scenarios, question over time. [Note that interested candidates may be contacting us in December, January and thereafter. The interviews will probably not happen until late January after Catholic Schools Week.]
*Sometime in late January and throughout February the Taskforce should be arriving at a consensus to recommend a candidate(s) to the Pastor to serve as Principal of St. Wenceslaus School. If more interviews need to happen, the process will go beyond February.
Throughout this process the Taskforce asks faculty, parish staff and the parish to pray for a wise and effective discernment about who should fill this important position in our parish’s life. Those who have things to say to a member of the Taskforce are encouraged to contact a Taskforce member to express their perspective and input.
Rev. Kevin Clinton
Readings this week:
Nov 26:Dn 1:1-6,8-20·Lk 23:35-43
Nov 27:Dn 2:31-45·Lk 21:5-11
Nov 28:Dn 5:1-6,13-14,16-17,23-28: Lk 21:12-19
Nov 29:Dn 6:12-28·Lk 21:20-28
Nov 30:Rom 10:9-18·Mt 4:18-22
Dec 1: Dn 7:15-27·Lk 21:34-36
We can do this if we act in faith and act in unison.
—after all, we have been a community of faith for 150 years!
Your parish leadership has been working very hard to understand the needs and challenges of our parish. We have done our best to listen and communicate with as many people as we can. We have made significant progress in balancing our parish budget but the past year’s solutions were creative temporary solutions in response to being in a financial crisis.
We thank you for supporting our efforts this past year to meet the needs and challenges of the parish’s mission. However, we cannot live in a crisis mode year after year. We must live within our means and use our common resources justly in service of the common good. We must change our behavior so that in the long term, we can easily pay our bills and go from year to year with reasonable income and reasonable expenses.
If we act collectively, the economics of our parish will turnaround immediately! We have 1400 households. If the majority of those households express their gratefulness to God
by increasing their financial stewardship, then the challenges to operate the parish are easily met.
How much should each household increase their gift to the mission of the parish? That is a private matter that should be prayerfully decided by each home. All registered households will receive a mailing this week. There is a suggested weekly offering chart in the mailing. Note: the United States Council of Catholic Bishops suggest a “biblical norm” of 5% of one’s gross income be given to one’s faith community. If 5% were
the norm for all 1400 households of St. Wenceslaus Parish, then all current parish ministries, services and activities would be funded many times over and all fundraisers and capital campaigns would be totally unnecessary.
Two things are necessary for us to be successful in supporting the operations of our parish:
1. We must see the abundant gifts that God has given us in such a way that our giving is an act of faith. It is a way of how we say “thank you” to God. By expressing our gratitude, we give to the operations of our parish.
2. We must act together, as a community—meaning everyone does something. This is not a time to “pass the buck.” When we consistently act collectively, our parish will be on the right track. We will live within our means and the common resources will comfortably serve the needs of the common good.
I will pray about my personal response to the parish’s needs and this week, I ask everyone to seriously look at what they can do in being good stewards of the abundant gift’s God has given each member of St. Wenceslaus Parish. The faith community, of which you are a part, needs you to act in faith and in unison.
Rev. Kevin Clinton
Readings this week
Nov 19: Mc 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-63·Lk 18:35-43
Nov 20: 2 Mc 6:18-31·Lk 19:1-10
Nov 21: 2 Mc 7:1,20-31·Lk 19:11-28
Nov 22: 1 Mc 2:15-29·Lk 19:41-44
Nov 23: 1 Mc 4:36-37,52-59Lk 19:45-48
Nov 24: 1 Mc 6:1-13·Lk 20:27-40
Today’s Gospel: Trusting Jesus to get us where we need to be!
Woody Allen is reputed to have said “I’m not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
Most people don’t like to talk about death. They use buzz words like “passed on,” or “passed away.” Americans, especially, are probably the most averse to claiming death, and this has created a multi-billion dollar funeral industry, to make every dead person look, well, you know, “not so dead.”
What happens when you die? This is the question asked since homo sapiens began to walk upright and exhibit a marked level of spiritual sophistication.
In the past 30 years or so people have told about para-psychological experiences with life after death. A number of them, who have been resuscitated on the operating table after being declared clinically dead, describe having seen a bright light and feeling a deep sense of peace. Unbelievers scoff at this, of course, but they cannot deny, nor can they explain, the universal expressions of life after death.
Jesus never defined life after death. He preached more about life now, and taught that the quality of life after we die is directly related to how we lived here on earth. Certainly, in the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes, he makes specific references to eternal rewards, and elsewhere spoke of himself as “the resurrection and the life.” But he does not describe what resurrection or heaven is like, and St. Paul struggled to express its meaning. (So much for harps, clouds and getting angel wings.)
So we are all left only with faith, to imagine what heaven and resurrection will be like. It is our relationship with Christ that gets us to where we need to be. We, who are faithful believers in Christ, do not have to worry, like Woody Allen, about “being there,” when the hour of death arrives. When we die, we die with Christ, only to rise with Him to the place prepared for us!
Rev. Kevin Clinton
Readings this week
Nov 12: Wis 1:1-7; Lk 17:1-6
Nov 13: Wis 2:23-3:9; Lk 17:7-10
Nov 14: Wis 6:1-11; Lk 17:11-19
Nov 15: Wis 7:22-8:1; Lk 17:20-25
Nov 16: Wis 13:1-9; Lk 17:26-37
Nov 17: Wis 18:14-16; 19:6-9; Lk 18:1-8
Nov. 18:2 Mc 7:1-2, 9-14, 2 Thes 2:16-3:5, Lk 20: 27-38
Seeing the Harvest Come In!
The fall weather with the dropping leaves and the corn harvest coming in out of the fields is a natural time for us to reflect on what we are doing with the gifts that come into our hands. Much of Jesus teaching urged people to look into the “heart” or “center” of him or herself and discover the goodness God placed there. Here in November, as individuals and as a faith community, we reflect on what our choices or our behavior is doing with the abundance of God’s gifts.
We have in our control—gifts of time, talent or ability, and material resources.
We have personal needs, family needs, our parish has needs as does other communities beyond our parish.
We use our access to these abundant gifts to meet needs!
What we do with the abundance of God’s gifts requires careful personal refection and judgment. It is an act of faith to use God’s gifts well, and not just consume them. But even before we decide what we should do with God’s gifts, we need to confront the temptation and illusion that we can be absolutely “self-reliant” and not need to be rescued by God.
Reality is that none of us are absolutely “self-reliant” and God rescues us over and over again—most of the time we don’t even know or understand it. When we awaken to God’s abundant generosity to our world and our selves, we know it to be absolutely natural for us to become stewards of the gifts on loan to us by a good God. May God help us see what we have and how we may use it well!
Rev. Kevin Clinton
Nov 5:Rom 11:29-36·Lk 14:12-14
Nov 6:Rom 12:5-16ab·Lk 14:15-24
Nov 7:Rom 13:8-10·Lk 14:25-33
Nov 8:Rom 14:7-12·Lk 15:1-10
Nov 9:Ez 47:1-2,8-9,12·Jn 2:13-22
Nov 10:Rom 16:3-9,16,22-27·Lk 16:9-15
The Stewardship of things in our control:
A way of life we are called to!
It is interesting that all of us sometimes look at a glass of milk and see it one-quarter empty and not three-quarters full. Yet the more products we are told we must possess in our consumer USA culture in order to be “happy”, the more we sense something lacking!
What we lack is a clear understanding of what we are in reality—as we stand on the surface of the earth, with each other and before our God—the giver of all good gifts. We are not only consumers of the earth’s material resources—we are also stewards of God’s creation. We have abundant gifts, but we must use our intelligence and our free choices to become stewards of the abundance in our control!
My friends, here in October and November I am asking all of us to reflect on the abundance of God’s gifts we have in our control—gifts of time, talent or ability, and material resources. We have personal needs, family needs, our parish has needs as does other communities beyond our parish. What we do with the abundance of God’s gifts requires careful personal refection and judgment. It is an act of faith to use God’s gifts well, and not just consume them.
Happiness as human beings comes when we are in right relationship with reality around us. For most of us, that means we let go of things in our control, so that others of lesser means and greater need, may receive basic necessities. You and I are not able to change the world by ourselves, but we can become better stewards of what is in our control.
Rev. Kevin Clinton
Readings this week
Oct 29:Rom 8:12-17·Lk 18:9-14
Oct 30:Rom 8:18-25·Lk 13:18-21
Oct 31:Rom 8:26-30·Lk 13:22-30
Nov 1:Rv 7:2-4,9-14·Mt 5:1-12a
Nov 2:Wis 3:1-9·Rom 5:5-11
Nov 3:Rom 11:1-2a11-12,25-29·Lk 14:1,7-11
World Mission Day
“All the churches for all the world”, this is the theme chosen. It invites the local churches of every continent to a shared awareness of the urgent need to relaunch missionary action in the face of the many serious challenges of our time.
In recent decades, especially since the second Vatican Council, great effort has been made to spread the Gospel. This year the Catholic Mission is shining the spotlight primarily on young people involved in Jesus’ mission who are making a difference. There are many young people in Sudan, Sri Lanka and many other places that are working for a better tomorrow.
May World Mission Day be an opportunity to remember in prayer the religious men and women who spared no effort to spread the Gospel and many who sacrificed their own lives.
Let us ask God that their example may inspire new vocations and renewed mission awareness in Christian People everywhere.
Rev. Kevin Clinton
Readings this week
Oct 22:Rom 4:20-25·Lk 12:13-21
Oct 23:Rom 5:12,15b,17-19,20b-21·Lk 12:35-38
Oct 24:Rom 6:12-18·Lk 12:39-48
Oct 25:Rom 6:19-23·Lk 12:49-53
Oct 26:Rom 7:18-25a·Lk 12:54-59
Oct 27:Rom 8:1-11·Lk 13:1-9
