#iGiveCatholic campaign - to repave our parish parking lot - St James - Tupelo

Mary Woodward and I checked out our church parking lot today - definitely needs repaving.  We are hoping to raise money through the #iGiveCatholic campaign today to repave our parking lot.  If you unable to give online before midnight on Tuesday, November 29,  you may drop off a check to the church office.  Thanks.  Blessings to all of you.  

12/1/2016 - Thursday of the 1st week in Advent - Isaiah 26:1-6, Matthew 9:27-31

     God is like the eternal rock, like a strong city with walls and ramparts that protects its citizens.  God humbles the arrogant and the haughty, but offers protection to the humble of heart.  I think we all can relate to the image of building our lives upon a solid foundation, of being strong and firm in the values of our faith.  There are times where we to give up or run away.  But God is with us every step of the way.  He will not abandone us.  If we have faith in that strong foundation, we will be able to stand firm. Here in the US, when a building is 100 years old it is considered pretty old.  If it is 200 years old, it would be consider ancient.  Many areas of our country don’t have a lot of of older buildings.  But, when I walk the Camino in Spain, I often visit churches that are 800, 900, 1000 years old.  It amazes me how solid those structures are, how they have stood up throughout the centuries through wars and revolutions and natural disasters.   Our Church and our Catholic faith has stood firm through a lot of different wars and movements.  The season we started this week, Advent, comes from a Latin word - “Adventus”  -  which means coming.  We prepare throughout the four weeks of Advent for the Nativity of the Lord at Christmas time.  We stand firm in our faith, looking into our hearts at the ways we need to renew and change.  This is a preparatory season in which we look forward to something greater than ourselves.  Let us ask Christ to accompany us on our Advent journey, to help us change and reform our lives, to be firm in our faith.  

12/2/2016 - Friday of the 1st week in Advent - Isaiah 26:1-6, Matthew 9:27-31

       The prophet Isaiah has vision of a world turned upside down - the deaf will hear the words of a book and the arid land of Lebanon will be turned into an bountiful orchard and a forest.  It is a world in which the arrogant and the tyrant will not have a place.  We place our trust and hope in the Lord, in his justice, love, and mercy that are embodied in this vision that Isaiah has.  And yet, as we follow God’s path for us in life, as we try to proclaim God’s justice and mercy, we may encounter opposition, hostility, or violence.  Maryknoll Sister Ita Ford wrote this in a letter to her niece.  Sister Ita was serving as a religious sister in the war-torn country of El Salvador at the time.  “I hope you come to find that which gives life a deep meaning for you.  Something worth living for — maybe even worth dying for, something that energizes you, enables you to keep moving ahead.  I can’t tell you what it might be — that’s for you to find, to choose, to love.  I can just encourage you to start looking and support you in the search.”   What a message of hope and love.  That letter was written in 1980.  On today’s date of that year - December 2, 1980 - Sister Ita along with lay missionary Jean Donovan, Maryknoll Sister Maura Clarke, and Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, were savagely murdered as martyrs, victimized for the Good News of Jesus Christ that they proclaimed.   We have hope in Christ’s message of healing, mercy, and justice, but that is not always the way of the world.  Yet, that is where we tenaciously place our hope.  That is what we dream of.  During this Advent journey, in whatever reality we are facing, may we never lose hope in the values we are to proclaim.  

11/28/2016 - Monday of the first week of Advent - Matthew 8:5-11

     Right before we receive communion during mass we profess the following: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;  only say the word and my soul will be healed.”  I remember when this wording came in the new translation of the mass back in Advent of 2011, with this wording seeming a little strange compared to what we previously stated.  However, it has become commonplace and habit for us to say these words in the mass, hasn’t it?  I always think of the centurion in today’s Gospel when I say those words, of how he was pleading with Jesus to have his servant healed. I love Jesus’ reaction to the centurion’s pleading.  Rather than being disturbed or perturbed, Jesus is amazed, he says that nowhere in Israel has he seen such faith. It is as if Jesus has just witnessed a miraculous event - what a delightful reaction. This pagan, this non-Jew, sees Jesus for who he is.  May we have that same sense of awe and wonder when the Lord is born in our world and in our hearts at Christmastime.  

11/29/2016 - Tuesday of the 1st week of Advent - Matthew 10:21-24

       It is hard to be humble in our modern world.  It is hard to trust. It is hard to be obedient. Yet, today, Jesus proclaims that those who have a humble, child-like trust are the ones who understand the Kingdom of God.  In a world where it is so easy to be cynical, sarcastic, and distrustful, perhaps this message during this first week of Advent can help us to examine the way we approach life.  The Latin word “suscipe” means to receive.  It has its roots in the monastic tradition, where incoming members made a profession.  It is a prayer that places total reliance on God rather than human means.  St Ignatius of Loyola wrote a suscipe that is found toward the end of his spiritual exercises, written in the 16th century.  To me, this suscipe incorporates the spirit of humility, trust, and obedience to God that is found in today’s Gospel: 

Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess, you have given me: I surrender it all to you to be disposed of according to you will. Give me only your love and your grace; with these I will be rich enough and will desire nothing more. Amen. 

11/30/2016 - St Andrew - Wednesday of the first week of Advent - Matthew 4:18-22

What are we called to leave behind?  

Today, we celebrate the feast of St Andrew, the Apostle.  Andrew is traditionally known as the first apostle called by Jesus.  We hear about that call from the Gospel of Matthew today, as Andrew and Peter are called to leave their lives as fishermen to follow Jesus.  In the version of this calling from the Gospel of John, Andrew and another disciple of John the Baptist are walking along the Jordan River when they hear John the Baptist call Jesus “the Lamb of God.”   Jesus saw Andrew and the other disciple following him, so he asked them, “What are you looking for?”, and then proceeds to invite them over to where he is staying.  Andrew then invites his brother Peter to see Jesus for himself.   In asking Andrew what he is looking for, he is looking deeply in his soul, asking him to delve into his purpose in life, asking him if he is willing to give his life entirely to God.   Jesus lights a spark in Andrew, a spark that grows into a life of discipleship. Tradition passes down that Andrew was a missionary in the countries of Ukraine and Georgia, and that he was martyred as a missionary in Greece.  Andrew and Peter and the other disciples left their old lives behind to become new creations as disciples of Christ, making many sacrifices for the faith.  What is the Lord asking us to leave behind this Advent season as we prepare for Christ’s birth into the world?   

Quote from Mary Oliver - quoted in my homily for the first Sunday of Advent - November 27, 2016

27 de noviembre de 2016 - primer domingo de adviento - Isaías 2:1-5, Mateo 24:37-44

       El profeta Isaías tiene una visión de todas las naciones reunidas en el monte Sión.  Isaías espera que un día el pacto entre Dios y su pueblo Israel se extenderá a todas las naciones. En esta visión, todos los pueblos vivirán en la paz y el armonía con Dios y entre sus semejantes.  En la época de Isaías tuvo - ocho siglos antes del nacimiento de Cristo -  el pueblo judío se dividió entre el reino del norte de Israel y el reino del sur de Judá. Israel ya estaba bajo el dominio de los asirios, mientras que Judá en el norte y su capital Jerusalén estaban en peligro de su enemigo Babilonia.  En esta visión de la paz, el Señor mediará las disputas entre las naciones y las naciones golpean sus espadas en arados.  Según Isaías, esta visión de la salvación se ofrecerá a todas las naciones -no sólo a los judíos- es una visión radical para los judíos de la época de Isaías y la época de Jesucristo también. En nuestro mundo moderno y en nuestra sociedad, a visión de paz y armonía es radical también.  En su poema "Evidencia", la poeta María Oliver nos desafía: "Guarda algo en tu corazón por lo inimaginable." Sí, es cierto, los límites son importantes para nosotros en nuestro camino, pero También es importante para nosotros como discípulos de Cristo para soñar lo inimaginable, como el Hijo de Dios que vendrá al mundo como un bebé en ese humilde pesebre en Belén en la mañana de Navidad.

     El salmo dice hoy: “Vayamos con alegría al encuentro del Señor.”  Los peregrinos judíos cantaban este himno cuando viajaban en su peregrinación a Jerusalén, la ciudad de su templo sagrado, el hogar de Dios aquí en la tierra. Mientras cantamos esas palabras hoy en nuestro salmo, cuando comenzamos nuestras preparaciones en este primer domingo de adviento, estamos llamados a mirar ansiosamente hacia la Navidad, la fiesta de la celebración de Dios encarnado con nosotros.

      Nuestra vida es complicada. Complicada y llena de muchas cosas.  Pero como dice Jesucristo en este primer domingo de nuestro camino de adviento, necesitamos estar siempre alerta en medio de nuestra vida muy complicada, listos para la vida eterna, listos para el día cuando Jesús volverá.  En el Evangelio, el hombre que trabaja en el campo y la mujer que trabaja en el molino no subirán con Cristo a la vida eterna, porque no dejarán su trabajo.  Es cierto que el trabajo y muchas otras cosas que ocupan nuestras vidas son importantes.  Necesitamos sobrevivir y contribuir a la sociedad, pero hay algo más importante que todo eso: la venida del Hijo del Hombre.  Dios volverá de improviso. Necesitamos estar preparados para él en todo momento. Estamos en medio de nuestra temporada de adviento y navidad.  Estamos ocupados en muchas cosas. No importa que estamos ocupados con muchas cosas, nuestro trabajo esta temporada de adviento es mantener nuestra vida diaria centrada en Cristo.

Suscipe of St Ignatius of Loyola

When I served as spiritual advisor at the men's retreat at our parish in Tupelo last weekend, traveling to St Bernard Benedictine Abbey in Cullman, Alabama.  I quoted the suscipe of St Ignatius of Loyola.  I found this image of the suscipe on the internet.  I love this prayer.  

11/27/2016 - 1st Sunday of Advent - Isaiah 2:1-5, Matthew 24:37-44

     The prophet Isaiah has a vision of all the nations gathering together on Mount Zion.  Isaiah looks forward to a time when the covenant between God and his people will be extended to all. This is a vision of everyone living in peace and harmony with God and with their fellow human beings. At the time Isaiah had this vision in the late 8th century BC, the Jewish people were divided between the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Israel was already under Assyrian rule, while Judah and its capital city of Jerusalem were in danger of being conquered by Babylon. In this vision of peace, the Lord will mediate the disputes that exist amongst the nations, as the nations beat their swords into plowshares, leaving behind war and violence. Isaiah’s vision of salvation being offered to all the nations - not just the Jews - would have been radical and unheard-of to the Jews of the 8th century BC as well as the Jews of Jesus day. We might think that this vision of the world is unrealistic in our own day as well.  In her poem “Evidence,” poet Mary Oliver challenges us: “Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.”  Yes, certain boundaries and limits are important for us to have in our journey through life, without a doubt, but it is also important for us as disciples of Christ, to be able to dream the unimaginable, such as the Son of God who will come to us as a little baby in that humble stable in Bethlehem on Christmas morning. 

     Our psalmist sings today, “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.” Jewish pilgrims used to sing this hymn at they journeyed on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the site of their holy Temple, the dwelling place of God here on earth. As we sing those words today in our psalm, as we start our preparations on this first Sunday of Advent, we’re called to look longingly toward Christmas, the feast of the celebration of God made incarnate with us.  

     I know that a lot of us have read books by Matthew Kelly, the well-known Catholic lay evangelist and best-selling author.  I think that a few years back many in the parish were reading the Rediscover Catholicism book.  He has a new book out called Resisting Happiness.  We are going to have copies for parishioners later after Christmas. As I was thinking about today’s passage from Isaiah with its image of pilgrimage, of the nations making pilgrimage to Jerusalem, one of the chapters in Kelly’s book caught my eye, entitled: “Are You a Pilgrim or a Tourist?”  We Catholics are a pilgrim people in general, journeying here on earth to the eternal life we will have in Christ.  We also go on pilgrimage at different times in our lives. We’ve had parishioners go to Rome or the Holy Land. Some of our Hispanic parishioners went to visit the Holy Door in Alabama at the ETWN headquarters at the end of the Year of Mercy.   And I just made my plane reservations to go back to Spain on pilgrimage in January - those of you that know me know that this is one of my passions on my journey of faith. Think about how we would approach life if we are in “tourist mode.”  A tourist wants everything as he has planned and imagined it. He wants to cram everything into a planned out schedule.  A tourist demands prompt attention and service to his every need.  A tourist focuses on himself and shoves past others.  A tourist goes sightseeing and counts the cost. But, pilgrims are very different from tourists.  A pilgrim looks for signs and symbols on the journey, seeing the spiritual aspect of it every step of the way.  A pilgrim tries to see God in all of the experience, both the planned and the unexpected surprises, both in joys and the challenges.  A pilgrim has a focus not only on himself, but also on others, on service to others.  A pilgrim focuses as much on the journey as the destination.  Our journey of faith is a pilgrimage, a sacred journey.  Our journey of Advent is a special pilgrimage, too.  

     Our lives are complicated for sure.  Complicated and busy.  But as Jesus reminds us today on this first Sunday of our Advent journey,  we need to be alert always in the midst of our busy lives, ready for eternal life, ready for when Jesus comes again. In the Gospel, the man working in the field and the woman working at the mill will be “left", because they won’t leave their work.  True enough – work and many other things that occupy our lives are important.  We make a live and contribute to society.  We provide food and shelter for ourselves and our families.  But there is something more important than all of that: the coming of the Son of Man. God will arrive again unexpectedly. We don't know the time or the hour, so we are prepared for him at all times.  We are in the midst of our hectic holiday season.  In fact, I have been busy this long weekend with many different priestly duties, and I will be going to Ripley for a reconciliation service after my masses on Sunday as well.  No matter, how busy we are, our job this Advent season is to keep our daily life centered on Christ.  

EVIDENCE - Mary Oliver

I am quoting this poem by Mary Oliver in my homily this weekend.  The blogger where I looked up  this poem wrote: "Oh for a church where Mary Oliver is quoted and read."   I friend (former parishioner) quoted this poem, where I got the idea to use it in a homily.  

1

“Where do I live?

 If I had no address, as many people do not,

 I could nevertheless say that I lived in the same town as the lilies of the field,

 and the still waters.

Spring, and all through the neighborhood now there are

strong men tending flowers.

Beauty without purpose is beauty without virtue.

But all beautiful things, inherently, have this function -

to excite the viewers toward sublime thought.

Glory to the world, that good teacher.

Among the swans there is none called the least,

 or the greatest.

I believe in kindness. Also in mischief.

 Also in singing, especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed.

As for the body, it is solid and strong and curious and full of detail;

 it wants to polish itself; it wants to love another body;

it is the only vessel in the world that can hold,

 in a mix of power and sweetness:

words, song, gesture, passion, ideas,

ingenuity, devotion, merriment, vanity, and virtue.

Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.”

2

There are many ways to perish, or to flourish.

How old pain, for example, can stall us at the threshold of function….

Still friends, consider stone, that is without the fret of gravity, and water that is without anxiety. 

And the pine trees that never forget their recipe for renewal. 

And the female wood duck who is looking this way and that way for her children. And the snapping turtle who is looking this way and that way also. This is the world. 

And consider, always, every day, the determination of the grass to grow despite the unending obstacles. 

3 

I ask you again: if you have not been enchanted by this adventure--your life--what would do for you? 

And, where are you, with your ears bagged down as if with packets of sand? Listen. We all have much more listening to do. Tear the sand away. And listen. The river is singing. …

For myself, I have walked in these woods for

More than forty years, and I am the only

thing, it seems, that is about to be used up.

Or, to be less extravagant, will, in the

Foreseeable future, be used up.

First, though, I want to step out into some

fresh morning and look around and hear myself

crying out:  "The house of money is falling! The house of money is falling! The weeds are rising! The weeds are rising!"

bendición - corona de adviento - primer domingo del adviento - 27 de noviembre de 2017

Señor, hoy empezamos nuestro camino del adviento.

Es un camino que nos lleva a la cima del monte

y nos permite mirar la maravilla de la creación.

Oramos por la fe durante nuestro camino del adviento,

una fe que ve a Dios en el bebé en la cuna,

una fe que ve al Salvador en la Eucaristía.

Fortalezca nuestra fe, Señor,

Una fe que está simbolizada por la bendición

de nuestra corona de Adviento y la iluminación de nuestro

primera vela de Adviento hoy.

Cuando llegamos al final de nuestro viaje de Adviento,

Llegaremos a la navidad con alegría. AMÉN.

Blessing of Advent Wreath - 1st Sunday of Advent - November 27, 2016 - St James Catholic Church, Tupelo, Mississippi

Lord, today we being our Advent journey. 

It is a journey that takes us to the top of the mountain

and allows us to look at the wonder of creation. 

We pray for faith during our Advent journey, 

a faith that sees God in a new-born infant, 

a faith that sees the savior in the Eucharist. 

Strengthen our faith, 

a faith that is symbolized by the blessing 

of our Advent wreath and the lighting of our 

first Advent candle today.  

When we reach the end of our Advent journey, 

let us reach Christmas day with joy.  AMEN.  

11/25/2016 - Friday of the 34th week in Ordinary Time - Luke 21:29-33

      We see signs around us in nature and in the world, and they predict what is going to happen next.  As Jesus says, when we see a fig tree in bloom, we know that summer is drawing near.  There are a lot of people, especially farmers, who rely on the weather predictions made in the Farmer’s Almanac.  This is what is says for this year:  “exceptionally cold, if not downright frigid weather will predominate over parts of the Northern Plains, Great Lakes, Midwest, Ohio Valley, the Middle Atlantic, Northeast, and New England this winter…. shots of very cold weather will periodically reach as far south as Florida and the Gulf Coast.”  Not a lot of consolation for us after a very hot and humid summer, is it?  In fact, when we favorite baseball team, the Chicago Cubs, won this year, there was a cartoon circulating around the internet that showed two devils shivering and freezing in hell, huddled around in warm blanket.  One devil was explaining to the other: “The Cubs are playing the Indians in the World Series this year.”  We see signs here on earth that tell us things, but sometimes we miss the signs of God’s kingdom.  Advent will start this upcoming Sunday, a time of preparation and planning and waiting.  We will prepare for the birth of Jesus.  We will prepare for a life of discipleship.  May we not miss God’s signs that he is sending to communicate to us.  

11/24/2016 - Thanksgiving Day - Thursday of the 34th week in Ordinary Time - Sirach 50: 22-24, Psalm 145, 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

      Thanksgiving is an important national holiday here in the United States. It is a day when we pause from our busy daily lives in order to give thanks for our blessings and for the abundance we have as a nation. We give thanks for our families and friends, for our community, for our unity as a nation. And we give thanks and gratitude not out of a sense of obligation or duty, but because we want to do so out of the goodness of our hearts, because we truly want to give thanks.  In our faith, giving thanks is a way to experience the world.  Giving thanks is a way to open up our hearts.  But giving thanks does not mean that we ignore the realities of our lives and our world. A lot of people struggle with grief, addictions, loneliness, and despair at Thanksgiving time and around the Christmas holidays. We may be reminded today that even though Thanksgiving has its roots in the colonial American colonies even before our nation was formed, Thanksgiving was not declared a national holiday until 1863, being announced a national holiday by President Abraham Lincoln in the midst of our country’s Civil War.  In fact, it was declared a national holiday just several months after the Battle of Gettysburg, with more than 57,000 casualties by some estimates. Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg address on November 19, 1863, just a few days before our first national celebration of thanksgiving. Lincoln expressed grief and compassion in his proclamation at Gettysburg, asking his fellow citizens to commend to the tender care of God all who became “widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged.”

      In Sacred Scripture, thanksgiving is reflected in an attitude of adoration, sacrifice, praise, and offering. Thanksgiving was a grateful language to God as an act of worship.  In our reading from Sirach today, a blessing is given to God for the great things he has done here for us on earth. The psalmist says that he will praise the name of the Lord forever.  Paul, even though he went to prison for the faith, even though he had so many trial and tribulations for the Gospel he proclaimed, is still able to give thanks to God, especially for the blessings he has given us in our Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to the Lord today in the midst of our joys and our sorrows, in the midst of our blessings and our challenges, in the midst of our contentment and our frustrations.  As a country and as individuals, we give thanks.  

Thanksgiving mass - St James Catholic Church in Tupelo Mississippi - Thursday - November 24 - 9:00 am

“And now, bless the God of all, who has done wondrous things on earth.”  Sirach 50:22.    

In our first reading on Thanksgiving day, we are called to bless the Lord and to give thanks.  We give thanks on Thanksgiving as individuals and as a nation.  Join us for mass at St James in Tupelo on Thanksgiving morning at our 9:00 am mass as we give thanks.  

Bendigan al Señor, Dios de Israel, porque ha hecho maravillas en toda la tierra. - Sirácides 50:22.  

Tenemos la misa bilingüe en la parroquia de St James en Tupelo por el Día de Acción de Gracias el jueves, el 24 de noviembre, a las 9:00 de la mañana para dar gracias como una comunidad de fe.  

Scenes from St Mary Catholic Church - Yazoo City - Mississippi

I was pastor of St Mary Catholic Church in Yazoo City, Mississippi for a little more than 2 years, from October 2010 to January 2013.  I have very fond memories of this wonderful parish.  I have a great love for the people of Yazoo City, an historic town at the start of the Mississippi Delta.  I was there recently to preside at a funeral, when I took these photos of this beautiful, historic church.  

Beautiful autumn day along the Natchez Trace

Blessing of the Graves - St Thomas Catholic Cemetery - Saltillo, Lee County, Mississippi - All Souls Day - 2016

Altar cloth - month of remembrance - November - prayers for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed

Our parish of St James has this wonderful tradition of an altar cloth during the remembrance with the names of our dearly departed loved ones.  We pray for the repose of the souls of our loved one.  We lift them up to the Lord.  

11/23/2016 - Wednesday of the 34th week in Ordinary Time - Luke 21:12-19

      In today’s Gospel, Jesus warns his disciples that they will indeed suffer for him and through their trials and tribulations, he will be there accompanying them, strengthening them and protecting them.  This is a continuation of yesterday’s Gospel from the 21st chapter of Luke. Jesus warns his disciples about upcoming persecutions and violence that they will have to endure. The members of the Early Church will soon face these things that Jesus warned them about.  Those things will also play out throughout the history of the Church, including in our modern era. Jesus tells them that they will be handed over to prisons and synagogues. Think of how John the Baptist was handed over to King Herod, being put in prison and eventually put to death.  Jesus, too, will be handed over the civil and religious authorities.  Why would Christ’s disciples be worried about being handed over to the synagogues, since they are practicing Jews themselves?  Many of Christ’s followers in the first century found themselves in conflict with the Jewish synagogues and institutions, In the first century, the synagogues were not only places of religious worship, but they also were places of civil administration and places where individuals were held for trial. When I became a priest in 2008, I never dreamed of the open hostility that Christian would face in North America and Europe, of the secularism that is trying to wipe out any influence Christianity has on our society. Perhaps in reading the Sacred Scriptures and studying Church history, we can better understand what we are going through and realize that in many ways history repeats itself.  Maybe we can learn from the challenges and struggles of the past.  

11/21/2016 – Reflection on the Presentation of Mary in the Temple

      Today, we celebrate the presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple, which does not have a direct reference in the Gospels, but can be traced to other first century writings and to tradition in the early Church. Tradition teaches that Mary was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem when she was a young girl.  She must have spent a great deal of time in the Temple preparing for her eventual role as the mother of our Lord and the mother of Church.  We can use our imagination and our understanding of Mary from Scripture and from tradition to reflect upon what her childhood and her journey of faith might have been like before the annunciation.  We can also ask ourselves how we can turn to Mary and ask her to help prepare us for our mission as Christians in our modern world, a task that becomes more and more difficult and our modern secular society becomes a place that is hostile to the values of Christ’s Good News.  

         Although Mary probably spent much time in the Temple and in the study of Jewish Scripture and tradition, she also probably spent a lot of time with St. Anne and St. Joachim, her mother and father, growing up in a loving family who exposed her to the reality of life around her, including the sufferings of the poor. Mary was full of grace, as declared by the Angel Gabriel, but I also imagine that her parents and her upbringing fostered and encouraged her empathy and compassion, her generosity and humility, her hospitality and forgiveness. 

         May the example of the Virgin Mary encourage us as we travel along our own journey of faith. It's so easy to squander those gifts and talents that the Lord gives us, to not want to invest them in the same God wants us to, enabling us to produce results for the kingdom.  May the Virgin Mary be an example of Christian love and virtue for us in how we should live our lives of faith, to encourage us to live a life of faith in service to the Lord.