11/1/2014 – All Saints Day – Matthew 5:1-10

        Every year, on the first day of November, our holy Catholic Church celebrates All Saints’ Day.  We honor all those members of the community of saints, both the well-known, officially recognized saints of our Catholic Church, and those were are not officially recognized and not well-known.  In fact, our English word for saint means “holy.”  In the past decade, it seems like there has been a renewed interest in the saints. One of my favorite books by a Catholic author is My Life With the Saints by Jesuit priest Father James Martin, in which he writes about how various saints have influences and intersected with his life.  While we have information about many Saints, and we honor them on specific days, saints like St Ignatius of Loyola and St Teresa of Avila, there are many unknown or unsung Saints, holy men and women whose stories are not well-known and famous.  Even though in the Apostles Creed that we pray at the beginning of the rosary we profess that we believe in the communion of saints, we might not be sure of what that means.  Part of this reality of the communion of saints is the way that it prays for us.  Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church from the Second Vatican Council, asserts that being more closely united to Christ, those saints who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness.  They add nobility to our worship.  They never cease to intercede with the Father for us.  For their care and concern, our weaknesses are greatly helped. 

       I don’t know about you, but I find it very interesting that we hear the Beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew each year on Saints Day.  Even though the Beatitudes are a very familiar part of what Jesus teaches us in the Gospel in how we should live out our faith, perhaps we still have a hard time understanding the teaching that is behind the Beatitudes.  If you think about what our secular society sees as a blessing or happiness in our lives, you might names things such as riches and material wealth, popularity and power, fame and intelligence, athletic ability and style.  Those considered blessed by Jesus would not be seen as such in our secular world: the poor in spirit, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and those who mourn.  In fact, some might see the Beatitudes as representing some kind of hardship, heavy load, or deep self-discipline that we would need to live.  The values of the Beatitudes encompass different Christian virtues and Gospel values that the saints lived out in their lives.  The poor in spirit are those who live in humility,  who place their reliance on God, who put their faith in God and not in the fleeting values of the world.  And then we have the merciful, those who show love, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness to others, even when it seems impossible to do so, even when it would be so much easier to strike out in anger and frustration, even when others would seek revenge or vengeance.  When we see those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, we see men and women who seek to bring justice and peace into our world, who are willing to stand up for the values of our faith even when it means that we will suffer greatly for it.  Jesus sees those holy men and women who live out the values of the Gospel as being truly blessed. 

       We celebrate the Community of Saints as a very real part of our lives of faith.  We think of the great saints of our Church: the missionary spirit of Jean de Brebeuf, the compassion and mercy of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the courage of Joan of Arc, the theological wisdom of Thomas Aquinas, the thirst for justice of Martin de Porres, the love of nature and love of animals of Francis of Assisi.   But think of those members of our Community of Saints who are less famous and who are not officially named as such by the Church. Think of the little grandmothers who went to mass each day and raised their children and grandchildren in the faith.  Think of the fathers and grandfathers who worked out in the fields and in the factories each day to provide for their families, who lived out the values of the Gospel in their lives each day, who instilled those values in their family members by their example.  All of us can name loved ones and family members who influenced our lives of faith and who are now members of the community of Saints.  In celebrating All Saints Day today, we also celebrate the importance of community in our lives of faith.  Our personal relationship with God is indeed very important, but our journey in life and our journey in faith take place in community, and it is in community that we live out our faith and the values of the Gospel.  Our faith community helps us and encourages us on our journey.   Our faith community helps educate us and nurture us.  And the Community of Saints not only helps us through its witness, but through the prayers and friendship its members provide to us as well. 

Trunk or Treat - St James Fall Fest - Gru and the Minions

We dressed up as character from Despicable Me - Gru and the Minions.  

Scenes from our Fall Fest - Trunk or Treat - St James Catholic Church - Tupelo Mississippi

Fancy the English Bulldog dressed up as a minion for Halloween

Our parish office manager has an English Bulldog named Fancy.  (You don't have to ask - she is a big Mississippi State Bulldog fan!)  Fancy - the bulldog - dressed up as a minion for Halloween at our parish's Fall Festival - pink toenails and all!  She was a hit at the Fall Fest.  

11/2/2014 – Todos los Fieles Difuntos - Romanos 5:5-11, Salmo 23:1-6, Juan 6:37-40

      Trabajaba como misionero en Ecuador desde hace un año cuando mi padre falleció.  En ese momento, trabajaba en una aldea muy remota que no tenía teléfono.  Mi hermana en Los Angeles llamó a la casa provincial de nuestra congregación misionera en la ciudad de Quito para notificarme. Finalmente recibí la noticia a través de una radio de banda ciudadana, un mensaje que tenía que pasar por muchas diferentes sacerdotes misioneros a fin de que al fin me alcanzó en la selva.  En tres días de viaje, llegué al funeral en California.  Este viaje tenía mucho significado para mi.  Sin embargo, ya que mi padre fue enterrado en Chicago, y el funeral fue en el sur de California, no fue capaz de ir a su tumba en el cementerio, hasta dos años más tarde, cuando terminé mi trabajo de tres años en Ecuador como misionero y regresé una vez más a los Estados Unidos.  Puse una pequeña cruz de madera en su tumba en el Cementerio Rose Hill en Chicago que mis estudiantes en Ecuador construyeron, junta con un rosario que conseguí en Ecuador.  Era importante para mí que le honré de esa manera.  Creo que todos nosotros queremos recordar, conmemorar, y orar por nuestros fieles difuntos de una manera especial, que es la razón de que la celebración de los dos días de Todos los Santos y Día de los Fieles Difuntos es una fiesta tan popular para el fieles católicos.

       Pablo habla acerca de la virtud de esperanza en su carta a los Romanos. Pablo explica que esta esperanza que tenemos no nos va a decepcionar, ya que Dios por el Espíritu Santo colocó esta esperanza en nuestros corazones.  El Papa Francisco dice que las dos grandes fiestas que celebramos este fin de semana - Todos los Santos y Día de los Difuntos - son celebraciones de la esperanza.  Las celebraciones de estos días son para llevar la esperanza en nuestros corazones - para ser levadura para nuestros espíritus al igual que nosotros somos levadura en el mundo.  Todos nosotros pasamos por momentos difíciles en nuestras vidas, como el momento en que nosotros perdemos a un ser querido, pero con la esperanza que hay en nuestros corazones y en nuestra fe, seguimos adelante y ponemos nuestros ojos en las verdades eternas – en eso, tenemos la esperanza en nuestra fe.  Hoy, el Día de los Difuntos, es un día de esperanza porque sabemos que nuestros hermanos que murieron en el amor de Cristo están en la vida eterna con Él.  Ponemos nuestra esperanza en la vida eterna para nosotros mismos.  Ponemos nuestra esperanza de que algún día nosotros también estaremos en los brazos amorosos de Jesucristo, el Buen Pastor quien cantamos sobre en el Salmo 23, quien llevará nuestras almas al descanso eterno y refrigerio.

        Desde los primeros siglos después de la muerte y la resurrección de Cristo, la Iglesia ofrecía las oraciones y la misa por las almas de los fieles difuntos en el purgatorio.  En el momento de su muerte, aquellas almas que no fueron limpiados por completo de sus pecados pasados ​​ni habían expiados por completo por sus transgresiones pasadas, y por lo tanto no estaban listos para la unificación con Dios en la vida eterna.  Los fieles aquí en la tierra ayudan a estas almas en el Purgatorio en la consecución de la vida eterna con Dios a través de nuestras oraciones, nuestras buenas obras y la ofrenda de la misa.

       Utilizamos las fiestas Todos los Santos y los Fieles Difuntos para empezar nuestra conmemoración del mes de noviembre del mes de la memoria, en el que en la Iglesia tradicionalmente recordamos a los que han entrado en la vida eterna con nuestro Señor.  Este acto de recordar no es sólo un nostálgico mirando hacia atrás, sino más bien una forma de construir y mantener nuestra santa comunidad, de hacer el amor y la misericordia y la bondad de Dios presente en nuestras vidas.   Nos recuerda de esta manera cada vez que celebramos la Eucaristía como comunidad.  Y el recuerdo de este fin de semana adquiere una importancia adicional al recordar las almas de los fieles difuntos.

     La promesa de la vida eterna que Jesús nos presenta en el Evangelio de hoy nos da esperanza y aliento, especialmente durante los gozos y los desafíos de nuestro propio viaje.  Tenemos la llamada de tener esta esperanza presente en nuestras oraciones y adoración hoy en nuestra conmemoración de la fiesta de los fieles difuntos.

11/2/2014 – All Souls Day – Romans 5:5-11, Psalm 23:1-6, John 6:37-40

       I was a missionary in Ecuador for about a year when my dad passed away.  At the time, I was serving at a very remote mission site that had no telephone at all.  My sister contacted the provincial house of our missionary order in the capital city of Quito to notify me.  I finally got the news via a CB radio, a message that had to pass through many different missionary priests in order for it to finally reach me in the jungle.  It took me several days of travel, but I was able to make it back for the funeral, which really meant a lot to me. However, since my dad was buried in Chicago, and the funeral was in southern California, I was not able to go to his gravesite until several years later when I had completed my term as a missionary and returned once again to the United States.  I placed a small wooden cross at his gravesite in Rosehill that my students in Ecuador had made, as well as a rosary that I had gotten in Ecuador.  It was important to me to honor him in that way, and to remember him as I continued on my journey as a missionary.  I think all of us want to remember, honor, commemorate, and pray for our deceased loved ones in a special way, which is reason that the two day celebration of All Saints Day and All Souls Day is such a popular festival for the Catholic faithful.

      Paul speaks about the virtue hope in his letter to the Romans.  Paul said that this hope we have will not disappoint us, because it has been poured into our hearts by God through the Holy Spirit.  Pope Francis says that the two great feasts that we celebrate this weekend – All Saints Day and All Souls Day – are celebrations of hope.  The celebrations of these days are to bring hope into our hearts – to be a leaven to our spirits just as we are to be leaven in the world.  We all go through difficult moments in our lives, such as the time in which we lose a loved one, but with the hope that is in our hearts and in our faith, we press forward and we keep on eyes focused on those eternal truths that matter, we keep focused on what awaits us.  Today, All Souls Day, is a day of hope because we know that our brothers and sisters who died in the love of Christ are in eternal life with him.   We place our hope in that eternal life for ourselves.  We place our hope that one day we, too, will be in the loving arms of Jesus, the Good Shepherd whom we sang about in Psalm 23, that he will lead our souls to eternal rest and refreshment.

      Since those first centuries after the death and resurrection of Christ, the Church has consistently encouraged the offering of prayers and Mass for the souls of the faithful departed in Purgatory.   At the time of their death, those souls were not cleansed completely of their past sins nor had they atoned completely for their past transgressions, and thus were not ready for unification with God.  The faithful here on earth assist these souls in Purgatory in attaining eternal life with the divine through our prayers, our good works and the offering up of Mass.

       We use All Saints Day and All Souls Day to start our commemoration of November of a month of remembrance, in which we in the Church traditionally remember those who have entered eternal life with our Lord. This act of remembering is not just a nostalgic looking back, but rather a way of building up and maintaining our holy community, of making the love and mercy and goodness of God present in our lives.  We remember in this way each time we celebrate the Eucharist as a community. And this weekend’s remembrance takes on additional significance as we remember the souls of the faithful departed.

        In the opening prayer that we use for the wake service at the death of a loved one, the priests exclaims that we the faithful believe that all the ties of friendship, love and affection that knit us together as one throughout our lives do not unravel with our earthly death.  Our loved ones are still united with us in their eternal life, where they offer up prayers and intercessions for us, and we in return offer prayers for them.  We have our altar cloth at St James where we write down the names of our loved ones and remember them during the entire month of November.   Remembering and being connected to our deceased loved ones and to those who passed down the faith to us throughout history is an important part of what we celebrate in these two feasts in the Church this weekend. When we went out to the cemetery at St Thomas in Tupelo this weekend, we see those mothers and fathers of the early Catholic community here in the Tupelo area who were pioneers of Catholicism in Northeast Mississippi.  Often they had to travel far to attend mass, often they had to bring in priests from the Benedictine monastery in Alabama, but living out their Catholic faith was an important part of their lives that they would not give up.  When I blessed the graves in historic Glenwood cemetery in Yazoo City, we always started at the graves of the priests and nuns buried there, some of whom died in the yellow fever epidemics that struck the Mississippi in the 19^th century.   In is important for us to remember and to pray for those to whom we are connected in our families and our lives of faith, to offer thanksgiving and blessings to them for their faith and their example. 

       The promise of eternal life that Jesus gives us in the Gospel today gives us hope and encouragement, especially during the ups and downs of our own journey. May that hope be present in our prayers and worship today. 

10/30/2014 – Thursday of 30th week in Ordinary Time- Luke 13:31-35

      The Pharisees think they have the answers. They are always are criticizing Jesus and trying to bring him down.   They try to entrap him and ensnare, focusing so much on that that they are open to the wisdom and goodness that he is trying to bring to them.  As Jesus says, they reject the prophets that God sends to them, they are unwilling to see the signs that God sends them. Pope Francis, in an interview with America Magazine last year, had this to say about the openness we need to have for God in our lives:  “If one has the answers to all the questions - that is the proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself. The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt. You must leave room for the Lord, not for our certainties; we must be humble.”  As we search for God in our lives, are we concentrating so much on the answers we think we have, that we aren’t open to hear God’s voice as it comes to us in unexpected ways?  We need to be open to mystery, ambiguity, and uncertainty.  We to be open to truly listening not only to God, but to our brothers and sisters, to their lives and their journeys.  No, we don’t always all the answers.  But that’s ok. 

10/31/2014 – Friday of 30th week in Ordinary Time – Luke 14:1-6

         As a priest, I spend a lot of time visiting the sick & the shut-ins, so I can really imagine how Jesus responds the way he does in today’s Gospel, as he goes to the home of a Pharisee on the day of the Sabbath, but right in front of him is a man suffering from dropsy.  From what I understand about that medical condition, the person fills up with excessive fluids, an uncomfortable & painful & dangerous condition.  When Jesus sees this man, he doesn’t think about the rule that prohibits him from performing any work on the Sabbath.  Instead, out of his love & mercy, he sees a man who needs his healing, so Jesus heals him, no questions asked. 

         Often we can get so caught up with our own busy lives, with all the work that needs to be done, with all the chores that need our attention, with our obligations to family and friends.  Do we respond to those around us when they need our love and mercy?  We cannot heal in exactly the same way that Jesus does, but you would be surprised as to how much a smile or a kind word, a prayer or a visit, would bring different forms of healing to someone’s life. 

         Lord, may you bring love and healing into our hearts today, so that we may become instruments of your compassionate love to our busy world.  Be with those who are in need of your love and compassion today, Lord, and may we always be servants of your peace.

10/29/2014 – Wednesday of the 30th week in ordinary time – Luke 13:22-30

        From the crowds, someone shouted out to Jesus, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”  Jesus’ teachings & his proclamation of God’s kingdom attracted a lot of interest from the people of ancient Israel, but it also drew a lot of questions.  The people wanted to know more and more about what God’s kingdom was all about.  Jesus demands that we incorporate the teachings of God’s kingdom into the reality of our daily lives, through the ups and downs of our journey. 

         We all called to dialogue with the modern world and to read the signs of the times, but we are also called to be true to the traditions of our faith and God’s laws and commandments.  In fact, our Catholic moral teachings contain a great richness for us. Through the Beatitudes and the Ten Commandments, through the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, we can learn so much about our faith.  We need to continuously form our conscience and grow in our faith so that we can continue to make the right decisions that our faith demands from us.  We are marking an end to the month of October, a month that honors the blessed Virgin Mary and her role in the history of salvation, a month that calls us to specifically look at how the respect for all human life is an important part of our Catholic faith. 

         So, let’s get back to that question in today’s Gospel.  Perhaps we should not be asking is not how many will be eventually saved, but rather, we could ask ourselves some other questions: How is God calling me to live according to his will here on earth?  How am I incorporating his love and mercy into my life in serving Him and in serving my brothers and sisters?  There are some things to which only God knows the answers. 

Eudora Welty Library - Jackson, Mississippi

I was in Jackson last week for a meeting and parked near the Eudora Welty Library.  Eudora Welty was a beloved resident of Jackson almost her entire life and one of the most honored writers both in Mississippi and in the United States.  It is a great honor for us to have a library named after such an influential writer.

Mass in honor of St Jude

Saturday evening, we had a mass in honor of St Jude with our Hispanic community.  We had a great celebration.  Many members of our community have a great devotion to St Jude and asked me if we could have this mass.  It was a joyful expression of our Catholic faith.  

Blessing

Our parish cat Blessing loves sitting on the copier. What a funny cat!

Visit with our students

Last week, we stopped to have breakfast with our students at Tupelo Christian Preparatory School.  We had a lot of fun visiting our students from our parish.

Rest stop on the Natchez Trace

Earlier this week, I made the 3 1/2 drive from Tupelo to Jackson, where I often go for diocesan meetings.  I usually take the Natchez Trace, a beautiful drive down a road that is truly a national treasure.  Here is a lake that was at a rest stop where I stopped for a while.  What a beautiful Mississippi afternoon.

10/26/2014 – Homilía – El XXX Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario – Éxodo 22, 20-26; Mateo 22, 34-40 –

      Las lecturas de hoy nos enseñan sobre el amor de Dios y sobre su ley.  El amor de Dios y su ley – son dos cosas muy importantes en nuestra camino de fe.  Es interesante.  En el mundo antiguo, siempre un ídolo era al centro del Templo.  Pero, con el pueblo de Israel y los mandamiento y la ley que recibió, era la primera vez que la ley era al centro del Templo – con la ley en la arca de la alianza.   En la montaña de Sión, Moisés recibió la ley y los mandamientos de Dios.  Dios enseña a su pueblo sobre su conducta a su prójimo. – la viuda, el huérfano, los pobres, el extranjero – las persona en los márgenes de la sociedad del mundo antiguo.   Y para nosotros, en nuestro mundo moderno, a veces es difícil para conocer quienes son las personas en los márgenes de nuestra sociedad.

      Los leyes de Dios y la conducta de los seguidores de Cristo son al centro de nuestro Evangelio.  Los fariseos quieren hacer una prueba con Jesús.  Ellos mandan uno de ellos, un doctor de la ley, para preguntar a Jesús por el mandamiento más grande de la Ley de Moisés.  Los escribas tienen un punto de vista muy rígido de su religión y su espiritualidad.   Ellos contaban que hay 613 mandamientos de la ley - 365 prohibiciones y 248 preceptos.  El fariseo quiere conocer si todos los mandamientos tienen el mismo valor, o si hay algunos mandamientos que son más importantes y otros menos importantes, o si hay uno que es el más importante de todos las leyes.

     Según Jesús el más importante de los mandamientos es amar a Dios con todo el corazón, con toda el alma con todo el ser.  Y Jesús nos enseña que el segundo mandamiento es semejante: para amar al prójimo como a uno mismo. En realidad, esta enseñanza de Jesucristo no es algo nuevo;  el nos confirma lo que está expresado en el Antiguo Testamento.  La actualidad de esta enseñanza es profunda y inmensa: que en la realidad de nuestra fe cristiana, no podemos separarnos del amor a Dios, y del amor al nuestro prójimo.  Es una reflexión de la compasión y del amor de nuestro Señor.  En el consejo pastoral, leímos el libro con el titulo – Reconstruido. Es una historia de una parroquia en la ciudad de Baltimore en los Estados Unidos y su camino de fe como comunidad cristiana.   La parroquia en este libro tiene una frase de misión – Ama a Dios.  Ama a su prójimo.  Haz discípulos. Es una frase muy sencilla, y es el centro de nuestro Evangelio hoy.

       Si Dios es amor, si necesitamos tener el amor de Dios y el amor de nuestro prójimo en nuestra vida, necesitamos practicar las obras de caridad y misericordia en nuestra vida también.  Y si hacemos estas obras, podemos abrir las puertas de nuestra vida a Cristo.  Cuando servimos a nuestro prójimo, a los pobres, a los enfermos, a los abandonados, servimos a Jesús mismo.  Y para hacerlo como una comunidad cristiana, como una parroquia, es algo muy importante.  En verdad, la comunidad hispana que tenemos en Tupelo, en nuestra parroquia de Santiago, es una bendición para nuestra parroquia y nuestra diócesis.   Tenemos mucho éxito en la manera que vivimos nuestra fe, pero tenemos mucho trabajo para hacer.  Necesitamos la colaboración y la ayuda de todos ustedes para vivir nuestro papel como una comunidad de discípulos de Cristo.  

10/26/2014 – Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Matthew 22:34-40

      “Teacher, which commandment of the law is the greatest?”  Interesting question, isn’t it?  This question takes on greater significance when we learn that there are 613 commandments in the Torah, the first 5 books of the Hebrew Scriptures.   248 of them are positive commands, such as “You shall learn the Torah and teach it” from Deuteronomy 6:7.  365 were of them are prohibitions, such as “You shall not bow down to idols” in Exodus 20:5.  We might wonder how anyone could remember all 613.  Certainly, some were more important than others.  Some of the commandments could be very detailed and involve very specific situations, such as the stipulation that if one finds a bird’s nest with a mother bird sitting on her eggs or her young, one may take the young but must let the mother go.  (Deuteronomy 22:6-7). Before Jesus came along, many of the great teachers in Ancient Israel and the prophets tried to sum up the spirit of the law in the Torah in a way that was easy to remember.  Micah summed it up this way: The Lord requires you to do justice, to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God. 

      We all know how Jesus sums up God’s laws.   He sums it up very succinctly: To love God with you heart and your mind and your soul, and to your love your neighbor as yourself.  Jesus does not disregard the other commandments, but says that on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

       It is important for us as Catholics to study God’s laws and commandments.  The Pharisees, scribes, and many others in Ancient Israel memorized all 613 commandments and could rattle them off one by one. However, applying those commandments in a loving, compassionate way in our lives and in the lives of others – that is something altogether different and something much more difficult to do.  We can look out how Pope Francis approaches being the leader of our Church.  As Pope, he is there to be our spiritual leader and teacher, to lead and guide the faithful as we journey in faith.  But, Pope Francis wants us to never forget what is at the heart of Christ’s Gospel message – love of God and love of our brothers and sisters. Pope Francis recently convened a Synod in Rome to look at issues that are affecting the family throughout the world.  The Synod has made a  lot of news in the last couple of weeks, especially in the difficult issues it has been wrestling with.  In his homily in the mass that closed this year’s session of the Synod, Pope Francis told the people that the word synod meant “journeying together,” something that is important not to forget.   The pope thanked the bishops, pastors, and lay people who came to Rome from every part of the world, who brought the voices of their particular Churches there to help the families in the world walk the path of the Gospel with our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus himself.  When I was speaking to Bishop Kopacz at the Presbyteral Council in Jackson last week, he made some remarks about the Synod.  Bishop Kopacz heard the Pope saying that we have the reality of our Church’s tradition and the reality of the pastoral application of that tradition and of the laws of the Church; the Pope warned of us being too extreme and rigid on either side.  There has to be a balance. And we have to be compassionate and welcoming as a Church as well.  We have the same difficulty when we have a decision to make and try to apply God’s laws to that decision.  Sometimes if we make a rigid, narrow-minded decision, the spirit of the love of God and love of neighbor can be completely lost.

      In the pastoral council of our parish this past week, we finished reading the book Rebuilt, a book about a Catholic parish in Baltimore that tried to reawaken and renew its mission and ministry.   In the appendix of the book, we noted the very simple Mission statement that this parish adopted: Love God – Love others – Make disciples.  Six simple words.  Three simple directives.  Six simple words that reflect the heart of today’s Gospel message. Six simple words that reflect what it means to be Catholic, what it means to be a disciple of Christ: Love God – Love others – Make disciples.  

      Father Burke Masters said some very profound things at the mission we had in September.  I know a lot of us were very edified and inspired by the message he brought us from Pope Francis’ Joy of the Gospel.  I remember him saying that we priests have a lot we try to do here in the parish.  And he called all the parishioners to join in the mission of the parish, to help the priests by reminding us and prodding us and making suggestions to us – to help in the ministry of the parish.  We are going to have parish council elections in a couple of weeks.  That will be a good way for us to continue to choose good parish leaders. It is good to think about how we can get involved in different ministries and services in our parish, to join the Ladies Club or the Knights of Columbus, to be active and to contribute to the life of our parish. That will help foster within us a love of God and love of neighbor, a sense of belonging and a sense of community.

      Pope Francis, in one of his addresses to the papal audience on St Peter’s Square in Rome, noted this challenge contained in today’s Gospel: The love we are to have as disciples of Christ is not sterile sentimentality or something vague.  Rather, it is an acknowledgment of God as the one Lord of life, but, at the same time, it is the acceptance of the other as my true brother or sister.   It is a love that overcomes division, rivalry, misunderstanding, and selfishness. Being a disciple of Christ is never easy.   Bringing this call to love God and love others is not easy either.  But that is what we are called to do.