Mass Schedule for December 31 and January 1

Mass schedule for St James Catholic Church in Tupelo for the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.  This is a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics.  It is a great way to start the New Year, asking for the prayers and intercessions of the Blessed Mother for us all.

Vigil masses - December 31
5:00 pm in Tupelo.
7:00 pm at St Thomas in Saltillo.
9:00 pm in Tupelo in Spanish.

New Year's Day mass - January 1
9:00 am in Tupelo.

Reflections on the New Year and the close of 2014

This wooden cross carved by a chainsaw from a fallen tree on our parish grounds really symbolizes the year of 2014 for me. It is a symbol of hope and the life we have in Christ. It is a symbol of survival and resilience and the ability to find a blessing in the midst of struggle and turmoil. It is a symbol of how the community of Tupelo came together to recover from the tornado that did so much damage in our community, of how our parishioners and so many other came to help our parish in our time of need. A blessed New Year to everyone. And on this New Year, the message of peace that Pope Francis will pray on January 1 gives us hope as well. His theme this year is “Slaves no more, but brothers and sisters.” The pope asks: Do you recognize your brothers and sisters around the world as made in the image and likeness of God, as having equal dignity? For the 2015 World Day of Peace on January 1, the Pope challenges each one to us to recognize every other person as a brother or sister with God-given dignity. Such recognition, Pope Francis says, will lead to peace. To that I say: AMEN! Thank you Pope Francis for giving us so much hope and for challenging us to grow in our faith, to truly be disciples of Christ.

1/1/2015 – The Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God – Luke 2:16-21

      During our Advent and Christmas season, we have had several important celebrations dedicated to the Our Blessed Mother.  We celebrated the Immaculate Conception of Mary on December 8, Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12, and today Mary as the Theotokos - the God-Bearer – the Mother of God.  The fact that two of these three celebrations are Holy Days of Obligation for us says a great deal about Mary’s role in our life of faith. 

       Recently, someone asked me: How do we really know what God is calling us to in our lives?  How do we discern the will of God for us?  That's a good question, isn’t it?  And the answer isn't so simple or straight-forward.  Being devoted to the Eucharist, studying and meditating on God’s holy word in Scripture, developing a life of prayer and a manner of listening to God, fully participating in a parish faith community, and having the help and guidance of a spiritual director: all of these things can help us to discern God’s will for us in our lives.  And then we have Mary as an example for us: Mary as the Mother of God, Mary as our Mother, of how she discerned God’s will for herself in her life.   

        It is appropriate that since we are in the middle of the Christmas season, our Gospel reading today is a part of Jesus' birth narrative.  The angel revealed to the shepherds watching over their flock that a savior had been born who is Christ and Lord.  The shepherds heard the angel singing with the heavenly host – “Glory to God in the highest.”  The shepherds told all of these things to Mary.  And what did she do?  She pondered these things in her heart.  In fact, during a lot of what described about Mary in Scripture, she is always taking time to reflect and discern and ponder.  At the Annunciation, at the moment the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary the upcoming of Jesus, she responded to God with a “yes”.  But throughout the moments of life in which she accompanied her son Jesus: through his presentation as a child in the Temple and his finding as a youth in the Temple, through his years growing up and his earthly ministry, through his miracles and healings, and through his painful journey to the cross, we can imagine Mary taking in all of these things into her heart and continuing to responding with a “yes” to God.

       Mary and the saints have always had a big role in our faith ever since the days of the early Church, but in the last ten years, we have seen a renaissance of interest in and appreciation for Mary and the saints, for the models of faith they provide for us and for their prayers and intercessions that help us on our journey. And for all of us, we need to follow Mary’s example, not just of reflecting upon the will of God and pondering things in her heart, but of responding and acting upon that will.

         We start a new year today, which is seen as a time of new beginnings, a time of looking at our lives and making resolutions on how we want to make changes or improve.  Mary is a good guide for us to have as we enter the new year, to help us make resolutions and promises that will help us on our journey of faith. And as Mary is known as the Queen of Peace, it is also appropriate that this is the day that Pope announces a special prayer for peace to set the tone for the new year. In fact, back in 1968, Pope Paul VI stated: “The world must be educated to love Peace, to build it up and defend it."  I remember being in St Peter’s Square on January 1, 2011 to hear Pope Benedict’s prayer for peace.  That year, Pope Benedict made note of the importance of religious freedom as an essential foundation for world peace.   The Vatican announced this year’s theme for peace for January 1, 2015: “Slaves no more, but brothers and sisters.” Pope Francis wants to draw attention to the way the dignity of many is violated throughout the world through the exploitation of workers or enslavement, through human trafficking, through the plight of the migrant.  This year, Pope Francis challenges us to recognize every person as our brother and sister with a God-given dignity, proclaiming this is essential to peace.  
       Mary, Mother of God – we honor you today.  And we pray that you always accompany us with your motherly love and your heart-felt prayers for us.  We pray for the New Year of 2015.  We pray that you be with us, Mary, every step of the way.   

12/30/2014 – The Sixth Day of the Octave of Christmas – Luke 2:36-40

      Today, we hear the last part of the Gospel that we heard on Sunday on the Feast of the Holy Family.  The prophetess Anna is described as an elderly widow who spends every moment she can in the Temple. Her prayer life, her fasting, and her communion with God became the focus of her whole life.  She sees Jesus and his parents in the Temple and she is overcome with joy. Anna sees what others cannot see.  She sees the redemption of Israel. Through the lens of our faith, we’re also called to see things that others cannot see. Those who do not follow the Way of Jesus often do not see things that we do. Anna fulfilled her calling from God through the course of many years.  So many in our modern world who struggle with patience; they lose faith or hope if something does not happen immediately or does not go in the expected way.  In Anna, we see a woman whose quiet patience and persistence kept her coming to the Temple day after day, to wait for the Messiah until he appeared and to be there when he did come.  I remember the last time I started the Camino, a walk of four weeks with a group of three others.   From the first day of our hiking, I realized that our goals and our hiking styles were very different.  It was starting out very differently from what I expected.  In those first few days on the Camino, I thought: Maybe this was not a good idea.  Maybe this is going to be a very long Camino.  However, when we all found our ground and learned to be patient with ourselves and with each other, we grew to really appreciate our Camino experience together and learn a great deal from each other.  How can we be more patient and persistent in our lives of faith like the prophetess Anna?

Cross from Argentina -

A former parishioner of mine brought me this crucifix back when she traveled to Argentina to visit her daughter.  I call it the Cross of Pope Francis.   It is very simple and humble, carved from a section of a tree branch.  What a great gift. 

Secret Santa

Santa was very generous to us this year.  A “Secret Santa” in our parish got us some new furniture for the rectory’s living room.  The group of young couples who meets that for Sunday school will be very happy.  I am very grateful and appreciative as well. 

The liturgy committee did a great job of decorating our church for Christmas. St James Catholic Church - Tupelo, Mississippi

Quote from St John of the Cross

Christ on his cross - 

drawing by St John of the Cross

Another great quote from St John of the Cross that I quoted in my Christmas Eve homily: "Our endurance of the darkness prepares us for great light." Whatever ups and downs we are going through in our lives, may we feel the light of Christ in our lives this Christmas season. May his light bring us hope and strength through any darkness we are going through. And may we be that light for others.

Little cat feet running across the cement - I wonder who the little kitty cat culprit is?

Paving our parking lot - members of our Hispanic community - thank you for your help and generosity and for showing us the spirit of Christmas - St James Catholic Church - Tupelo, Mississippi

12/28/2014 – La Fiesta de la Sagrada Familia – Lucas 2, 22-40

       Hoy, celebramos una gran fiesta en nuestra Iglesia, en este primer domingo después del día de Navidad en la temporada navideña.  Celebramos hoy la fiesta de la Sagrada Familia de Jesús, María y José. A lo largo del año pasado, el tema de la familia estaba en el centro de muchas discusiones de la Iglesia, con el Papa Francisco convocando un Sínodo sobre la Familia.  El otoño pasado, un sínodo miró las preguntas y los problemas que enfrenta la familia en nuestro mundo moderno, y el próximo otoño, un sínodo será convocada con el fin de hacer propuestas que aborden específicamente el cuidado pastoral de la familia.  La Iglesia ve con razón a la familia como la unidad tradicional sobre la que se construye la sociedad.  Y la Iglesia ve la realidad de la familia en nuestro mundo, con sus cambios y desafíos.  Las familias y la religión tradicionalmente han sido dos de las cosas que nos unen en la sociedad y que nos ayudan a formar ya que los niños, jóvenes y adultos. Sin embargo, el cardenal Walter Kapser señaló que en los últimos 50 años, la sociedad moderna ha derribado esas cosas que nos unen, con el consumismo y el individualismo se convirtió en los valores más importantes que se abrazan .

         Con todos los desafíos y los obstáculos que enfrentan las familias en el mundo, la fiesta de la Sagrada Familia que celebramos hoy es aún más importante y relevante para nuestro camino de fe.  Vemos muchas personas en nuestra sociedad hoy en una búsqueda para encontrar sentido y significado en su vida, para encontrar satisfacción y felicidad. Ellos busquen en muchos lugares para encontrar esas cosas.  Simeón en el Evangelio de San Lucas estaba en una búsqueda también. Buscaba el Mesías.  Dices tres veces en el Evangelio que el Espíritu Santo guiaba Simeón en esta búsqueda, y que el Espíritu le reveló que no morirá hasta que ve al Mesías con sus propios ojos.  No sabemos cómo el Espíritu Santo le reveló que Jesús era realmente un niño especial, pero en el momento que vio a Jesús y sus padres, él tomó al niño  en sus brazos y pronunció su misión cumplida, diciendo que estaba listo para partir de este mundo.  La búsqueda de Simeón no fue egoísta.  Él vio en Jesús un don para todo el pueblo: una luz que iba a ser revelada a los gentiles y todas las naciones, un Mesías que traería la gloria para el pueblo de Israel.

        Sabemos por nuestra lectura del día de Navidad desde el comienzo del Evangelio de Juan que Jesús es la Palabra de Dios encarnada en el mundo.  Sin embargo, el Evangelio de hoy señala que después de que Jesús y sus padres regresaron a su pueblo de Nazaret, después de haber cumplido con lo que se requería de ellos mediante la presentación de Jesús en el Templo, Jesús creció allí lleno de sabiduría y se fortalecía.  Ayer, tuvimos un bautismo en nuestra parroquia, una ocasión tan alegre para nuestra Iglesia y para nuestras familias. El rito bautismal establece que los padres se supone que son los primeros maestros y los mejores maestros para el niño en los caminos de la fe.  La Iglesia, los familiares, los padrinos, los catequistas y los sacerdotes y los líderes laicos en la Iglesia tienen un papel en la formación de la fe de los niños y jóvenes, sin embargo, pero la responsabilidad principal en la perspectiva de la Iglesia recae en los padres y la familia inmediata.  Y a pesar de que Jesús era el Hijo de Dios, fue influenciado y formado por sus padres, su familia, su comunidad y su medio ambiente.  Hoy la fiesta de la Sagrada Familia nos comunica la importancia de la familia en nuestro desarrollo humano y en el desarrollo de nuestra fe.  Hoy, honramos a nuestras familias a través del ejemplo de la Sagrada Familia.  Quiero cerrar la homilía de hoy con una oración que Francisco escribió en honor del Sínodo de la Familia, que se reunió en el Vaticano en octubre. Es una oración apropiada para tener en nuestros corazones en nuestra celebración de la Sagrada Familia. Oremos:

“Jesús, María y José,

en ustedes contemplamos

el esplendor del amor verdadero,

a ustedes nos dirigimos con confianza.

Sagrada Familia de Nazaret,

haz que también nuestras familias

sean lugares de comunión y cenáculos de oración,

auténticas escuelas del Evangelio

y pequeñas Iglesias domésticas.

Sagrada Familia de Nazaret,

que nunca más en las familias se vivan experiencias

de violencia, cerrazón y división:

que todo el que haya sido herido o escandalizado

conozca pronto el consuelo y la sanación.

Sagrada Familia de Nazaret,

que el próximo Sínodo de los Obispos

pueda despertar en todos la conciencia

del carácter sagrado e inviolable de la familia,

su belleza en el proyecto de Dios.

Jesús, María y José, 
escuchen y atiendan nuestra súplica. Amén.

12/28/2014 – The Feast of the Holy Family – Luke 2:22-40

      Today, we mark a great feast in our Church, on this first Sunday after Christmas Day as we continue to celebrate the Christmas season.  Today, as we continue our celebration of the joyful Christmas season, which will last two more weeks, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.  Throughout the past year, the topic of the family has been at the forefront of our Church discussions, with Pope Francis convening a Synod on the Family.  Last fall, a Synod was convened looking the questions and issues facing the family in our modern world, and next fall, a Synod will be convened in order to make proposals that will specifically address our Church’s pastoral care of the family.   The Church rightfully sees the family as the traditional unit upon which society is built.  And the Church sees the family reality the family is facing right now, with all sorts of changes and challenges.  Families and religion have traditionally been two of the things that bind us together in society and that help form us as children, youth, and adults.  Yet, Cardinal Walter Kapser from Germany has noted that in the past 50 or 60 years, modern society has been more about breaking down those things that bind us together, with consumerism and individualism becoming the more important values that are being embraced.

       With all the challenges and obstacles families face in the world, the feast of the Holy Family that we celebrate today becomes even more important and relevant to our journey of faith.  We see many people in our society today on a quest for finding meaning and significance in their lives, for finding fulfillment and happiness.  And they are looking in a lot of places to find those things. Simeon in today’s Gospel reading from Luke was on a quest as well.  He was looking for the Messiah.  Three different times in the Gospel, it says that the Holy Spirit was guiding Simeon in this quest, and that the Spirit revealed to him that he shall not die until he sees the Messiah with his own eyes.  We don’t know how the Holy Spirit revealed to him that the Jesus was indeed a very special child, but at the moment he saw Jesus and his parents, he took the child Jesus into his arms and pronounced his quest accomplished, saying that he was ready to depart from this world.   But Simeon’s focus and quest was not self-centered or narrow-minded.  He saw in Jesus a gift for all the people: a light that would be revealed to the Gentiles and all the nations, a Messiah who would bring glory to the people of Israel.

         We know from our reading on Christmas day from the beginning of John’s Gospel that Jesus is the Word of God made incarnate in our world. Yet, today’s Gospel points out that after Jesus and his parents returned to their home town of Nazareth, after they had fulfilled what was required of them by presenting Jesus in the Temple, Jesus grew up there filled with wisdom and became strong.  Saturday evening I had a baptism in our parish, which is such a joyful occasion for our Church and for our families.  The baptismal rite states that the parents are supposed to the first teachers and the best of teachers to the child in the ways of the faith.   The Church family, the friends and loved ones, the godparents, the catechists and the priests and the lay leaders in the Church have a role in shaping the faith of the children and youth, yet the primary responsibility in the eyes of the Church falls to the parents and the immediate family.   And even though Jesus was Son of God,  he was influenced and formed by his parents, by his family, his community, and the environment.

F. And that is what is brought to our attention today on the feast of the Holy Family: the importance of the family in our human development and in the development of our faith.  Any of us who are priests or consecrated sister or brothers or lay leaders in the Church can attest to the way our parents and our upbringing had an affect on our vocations to serve in the Church.  Today, we honor our families through the example of the Holy Family.   I want to close today’s homily with a pray that Pope Francis wrote in honor of the Synod on the Family that convened at the Vatican last fall.  It is a fitting prayer to have in our hearts as we celebrate the Holy Family today.    Let us pray:

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

in you we contemplate

the splendor of true love,

to you we turn with trust.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

grant that our families too

may be places of communion and prayer,

authentic schools of the Gospel

and small domestic Churches.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

may families never again

experience violence, rejection and division:

may all who have been hurt or scandalized

find ready comfort and healing.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

may the approaching Synod of Bishops

make us once more mindful

of the sacredness and inviolability of the family,

and its beauty in God’s plan.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

graciously hear our prayer.

12/25/2014 – The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) – mass during the day John 1:1-18

       I really love the Gospel readings that we have in our celebration of Christmas.  I remember my first year as a priest at St Richard as the associate pastor.  I was assigned to preside at a couple of masses on Christmas eve and at the morning mass on Christmas day. Father Mike O’Brien, the pastor, told me that I could use the readings of the midnight mass for the liturgy on Christmas morning if I wanted to.  The readings for the midnight mass are what we expect at Christmas, aren’t they: Mary and Joseph traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem, Jesus being born in a humble manger, the angel announcing Christ’s birth to the shepherds watching their flock at night, and the heavenly hosts singing the Gloria in response to Christ’s birth.  But, I also really love the Gospel reading from the beginning of John that we hear this morning on the mass of Christmas day, and I always choose to preach on that reading during that mass.  John’s Gospel does not describe Christ’s birth with the details of those earthly circumstances that are told in Luke’s account, but rather John looks at Christ’s birth from a more poetic, transcendent perspective.  John’s Gospel has no Joseph or Mary, no angels singing, no shepherds, no manger. 

      In a very profound way, the Gospel of John exclaims: In the beginning was the Word of God.   Jesus is God’s Word embodied.  Jesus is God’s Word incarnate.  Jesus brings life and a relationship with God to all who believe in him. That sums up our Gospel reading in a nutshell from the beginning of John.

      Testimony is a big part of the Gospel today.  It is a big part of the Christmas story.  It is a big part of our story as disciples of Christ.  We heard a lot about John the Baptist during Advent, about how his birth story was intertwined with Jesus’ birth, about how he came to prepare a path for the Lord in his life and in his ministry.  John the Baptist came into the world not as the light itself, but rather to give testimony to the light, so that all might believe through that testimony.  The saints and Mary also guide us to the light of Christ through their example of faith and through their testimony.  St John of the Cross, a 16^th Carmelite priest from Spain, spoke to us during our Advent journey through his feast day that falls during the Advent season of preparation.   John of the Cross once said: Our endurance of the darkness prepares us for great light.  Through times of struggle and darkness and pain in our lives, we can grow closer to God and grow in our faith and grow in our ability to testify to others.  So, like John the Baptist, like the saints who have come before us, all of us as disciples of Christ are to be witness and to give testimony to his light.

        I remember when I was a missionary up in Canada, a Mennonite pastor with whom I was serving in the soup kitchen and food bank asked me how I saw the light of Christ in my life. She asked me to give a reflection on that question at the Christmas Eve mass at her church.  Wow, did that question cause me to ponder and reflect upon many things in my life.  Without the light of Christ leading me and guiding me and giving me strength, being a missionary would have been out of the question.  I definitely saw the light of Christ in my many missionary experiences, probably brighter than I had seen it before.   As followers of Christ, we all experience his light, and those experiences are varied and diverse.  We are called to testify to the way that light shines in our lives.

      The Gospel of John states that the “Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.  But why the Christ child? Why the birth of Christ into the world?  The Jewish people were awaiting a Messiah, a mighty military leader, a powerful political ruler.  Yet, instead they got a vulnerable little child born in a humble manger.  They got a Messiah, that received their Savior, but in a way very different from what they imagined. Through Christ’s ministry and his proclamation of God’s kingdom, he continued to break through their expectations about God and their faith.

        The birth of Christ is not an end. It is not the entire story.  God sent us his Son out of his love for us.  And that love calls out to us.  Christ came to our world as that little baby as one of us to make us part of the story.  So that we could continue his story.

        The last statement in today’s Gospel states that Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, who is at his Father’s side, has revealed his Father to us. The incarnation is all about revelation. We are to take what has been revealed to us, what continues to be revealed to us.  We testify to that revelation.  And we continue our journey as children of the light.