FLOCKNOTE REFLECTION - 25 AUGUST 2021 - St Romuald

    Greetings to everyone!  I am writing this reflection on my last night in the Boston area visiting my sister Kimberley and her husband Mark.  I have had such a wonderful time visiting them, being here in New England for the mission appeal I had in Rhode Island this past weekend.  When my sister and brother-in-law picked me up at the South Boston train station last Thursday evening, they mentioned that Hurricane Henri was scheduled to hit this weekend.  Little did I know that it would hit right on the Rhode Island coast on Sunday morning where I was scheduled to celebrate the Masses at two parishes that very weekend.  Fortunately, it was not as destructive as it could have been.  It moved to the west rather quickly and was down graded to a tropical storm. There were a lot of trees down and the electricity in the town went out, but it could have been much worse.  I made it back to my sister’s house in Massachusetts late Sunday afternoon without any problems. 

Saturday evening, I celebrated Mass at the quaint little chapel of St Romuald built in 1903 just two blocks from the beach in the coastal town of Matunuck, Rhode Island.  I had never heard of St Romuald before, so I looked him up and found a very interesting history.  All of you know how much I love learning about the saints!   St Romuald (951 - 1027), born in the town of Ravenna in northeastern Italy, founded the Camaldolese monastic order.  He spent a lot of his life traveling around Italy founding and reforming monasteries and hermitages.  His monastic order has monasteries that are functioning to this day.  Of the several monasteries located in the United States, two are located in the towns of Big Sur and Berkeley in California.  The rule of St Romuald that governs his monasteries integrated several rules of monasticism that existed in his day.  Here is a wonderful quote from St Romuald: “It is better to pray one psalm with devotion and compunction than to pray one hundred psalms with distraction.”

As I am writing this reflection on Monday evening, I will be leaving on the train on Tuesday afternoon, going through Chicago where I will have a layover on Wednesday, and then arriving in Jackson on Thursday.  I look forward to spending Wednesday exploring some of the familiar sites of my hometown of Chicago.  In addition, I look forward to seeing all of you when I get back to Jackson. Have a blessed week everyone! I hope to see all of you at one of the Masses this weekend.    

Father Lincoln

Prayer for Diocese of Jackson Finance Council Meeting - 31 AUGUST 2021

Lord, we ask for the Holy Spirit to be with us today at our Diocesan Finance Council meeting.  We come to you in the midst of many challenges: of the tropical storm that passed through our Diocese yesterday, of the pandemic which still is afflicting our society, of the many tension and divisions that affect our society.  We thank you for the men and women of our Finance Council who have devoted their gifts and talents to help our Diocese. Guide our hearts and our minds in the spirit of fairness, right thought and speech. Impart your wisdom upon our activities so that our affairs may reach a successful conclusion. We thank you Lord for being our source of guidance today.  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  AMEN. 

3 September 2021 - Friday of the 22nd week in Ordinary Time - St Gregory the Great - Colossians 1:15-20

     This is our third reading from Paul’s letter to the Colossians that we are hearing in daily Mass, yet we are still in the first chapter of this letter.  I mentioned earlier in the week that Paul was addressing a heresy that was rampant in the Christian community in Colossae, which put the cosmic power of God in a more important place that Jesus Christ, the Son.  This passage we hear today is a response to that heresy.  It is perhaps taken from an early Church hymn which extols the supremacy of Christ.  It addresses the supremacy of Christ in both creation and in our redemption.

      As we hear Paul’s beautiful writing today, we honor a saint who perhaps is most associated with the beautiful Gregorian chants that are named after him: Pope Gregory the Great, who served as pope from 590 until 604.  With “the Great” attached to his name, we know the high esteem in which he is held in the Church.  Gregory the Great came from noble Roman family, but Gregory lived in an era in which the glory days of Rome were far behind.  After serving as a civil servant in the city of Rome, including as the prefect of that city, he later served the Church in different positions before being named Pope.  We think of the challenges the Church faces today, but Gregory himself led the Church in a time of plague, war, and famine.  Besides the liturgical reforms and the plain song chant that characterized his papacy, he also helped strengthen the system of monasticism and sent the first missionaries to the British Isles.  As we honor Gregory the Great and celebrate his great accomplishments that came in some very challenging times, may we unite our prayer with his prayers and intercession.  

2 September 2021 - Thursday of the 22nd week in Ordinary Time - French Martyrs of September - Psalm 98 - Colossians 1:9-14

      Most of you know how much I love learning about the saints.  When I converted to Catholicism, I was just fascinated by the saints throughout history and the many different ways they lived out their Catholic faith.  Even though I feel connect with the saints and am always looking up the saints of the day, not only those famous saints of the day that are recognized in our Church’s liturgical calendar, but also those saints who are not as well-known by the faithful.  Today is a group of saints who I had never heard of before.  In different periods of history, especially where there is great political upheaval, such as in the Spanish Civil War or World War II, there were many consecrated religious or ordained clergy who were persecuted and put to death for the faith.  Today, we commemorate the September Martyrs who were put to death in connection with the French Revolution on the dates September 2 and 3, 1792.  In response to their refusal to take an oath in support of the civil constitution of the clergy, an act which the Vatican condemned because it put Catholic priests and professed religious under the authority and control of the French government, these priests and religious brothers and sisters were imprisoned in a Carmelite convent and then massacred in the space of two days by revolutionary mobs.  These included 3 bishops, 127 priests, 56 brothers and nuns, and 5 lay people, 191 people in total. For this act of martyrdom and for the way they stood up for the faith, they were beatified in 1926 by Pope Pius XI.

     The psalm today declares that the Lord has made known his salvation.  Yes, we put our trust and confidence in God, in the salvation we receive as a freely given gift as disciples of Christ.  However, that does not mean that our journey of faith is going to be easy or that we are called upon to stand up for our faith and to make sacrifices for our faith.  Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians that we hear in our first reading during a time of incarceration.  Even in his time in prison, Paul gave thanks for the joys of his faith and the blessings he had received from God.  May the witness of the martyrs of our faith encourage us during the difficult times of our own journeys.  

1 September 2021 - Wednesday of the 22nd week in Ordinary Time - Colossians 1:1-8

     It is the first day of the month of September.  Today we start first readings in our daily Masses from Paul’s letter to the Colossians.  This letter is addressed to Christians who were living in the city of Colossae, located on the west coast of the present-day country of Turkey.  The letter to the Colossians is closely related to the letter to Philemon and the letter to the Ephesians, as all three letters were written by St Paul while he was imprisoned in the city of Rome.  Several hundred years before this letter was written, Colossae was a major city located on an important trade route, but by the time the letter was written, the city’s importance had declined greatly.  Paul was writing this letter to address a heresy which many members in this young Christian community had embraced.  The topic of the letter is very much centered on the identity of Christ, rather than the cosmic powers of the universe which had become the center of the faith of the Colossians.  I remember in my Christology class in seminary studying the different types of heresies that came up in the history of Christianity, many of them in the early centuries of the Church.  Many of us in the modern world think that we have moved beyond these heresies, but if we look closely enough, many of them are at work in our world today and many of them get embraced by the Christian faithful.  Paul addresses this letter to "the holy ones and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.”  This reminds us of who all of us should aspire to be.  Paul gives thanks for the Colossians in the name of God the Father and of his son, our Lord Jesus Christ.  Thanksgiving and gratitude are hallmarks of the greetings Paul includes in his letters to the various Christian communities.  We should emulate this same thankfulness and gratitude for our brothers and sisters in Christ.  As we hear the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Colossians today, may we give thanks to those who have passed down the faith to us, for those who have kept us on the right track on our journey of faith, for those who have helped us grow in the faith.  

31 August 2021 - Tuesday of the 22nd week in Ordinary Time - 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-6, 9-11

       Today we have our final reading in our daily Mass from Paul’s 1st letter to the Thessalonians.  The Lord’s final coming is a theme we hear today.  As far as the Lord’s final coming is concerned, we are not to speculate as to the day and time, because it will come to us like a thief in the night.  Throughout history, and even in our own day, we have had people speculate as to when the end times would come.  I am sure a lot of us adults will remember Y2K at the turn of the millennium.  Remember how the computers were all going to crash, we would not be able to get any money in the bank, and people were hoarding huge amounts of food and water in their garages?  If we are truly children of the light, if we are truly living out our discipleship in Christ, then we do not need be concerned as to when the end times or the final coming of the Lord will come, because we as children of light will be prepared whenever that will come.  We can all procrastinate and put things off.  Some do that worse than others.  But we know there are dire consequences when we are not prepared.  Paul and the early followers of Jesus all assumed that this would come in their lifetime.  However, because we are almost 2,000 years after this letter was written, we should not take Paul’s advice lightly.  We should always be prepared on our journey of faith.  

Prayers of the faithful - ST MONICA - 21st week in ORDINARY TIME - 27 AUGUST 2021

Lord Jesus - you are our hope.

Christ Jesus - you are our strength.

Lord Jesus - you are our Savior.

We present our prayers to our heavenly Father.

1. We pray for a deeper commitment to the stewardship of our planet. May we find ways to secure the earth and her resources for our children and future generations.

2. For all who are in special need. For those who suffer from anxiety or worry. For those who struggle through illness, death or grief.  For all those afflicted with the COVID-19 virus right now. 

3. For the grace of true conversion, that we in the Church may address the needs of our world, not only with words, but with determination and action.

4. May we turn away from self-righteous attitudes. We pray, Lord, that you free us from the need to control, from pride and selfishness. May we learn to serve others with love, patience and humility.

5. For the repose of the souls of the faithful departed.  For the souls of those in a process of purification in purgatory.  For their entry into eternal life.  

6. For those prayers we hold in our hearts today.  

Heavenly Father, we present our prayers this morning through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever. AMEN.  

29 de agosto de 2021 - el vigésimo segundo domingo del tiempo ordinario - Santiago 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27

      Hoy, comenzamos a escuchar la carta de Santiago en la segunda lecturas en la misa dominical.  Escucharemos las lecturas de la carta de Santiago en las misas dominicales cinco semanas seguidas. La Carta de Santiago fue escrita para desafiar a los creyentes que dijeron que tenían fe, pero que no vivieron la fe con sus acciones. Hoy, escuchamos un versículo famoso del primer capítulo de Santiago, que nos anima a "poner en práctica esa palabra y no se limiten a escucharla.”

    Antes de decirnos que necesitamos poner en práctica la palabra de Dios en nuestra vida, no solo escuchar la palabra de Dios, la Carta de Santiago nos dice que acojamos con humildad la palabra que ha sido plantada en nosotros y que puede salvar nuestra alma.  Santiago no quiere que solo escuchemos la palabra; quiere que creamos en la palabra de Dios y hagamos lo que dice. Alguien que "sólo" escucha la palabra es alguien que asiste a la misa en la iglesia, escucha las lecturas de la Biblia y la homilía, pero no se ve afectado por ello.  Esto no es oír con fe. Esto no es escuchar con arrepentimiento y los frutos del arrepentimiento. Esto es solo oír.

      Santiago quiere que nos demos cuenta de que la verdadera fe en Jesús, una fe que siempre se produce a través de la gracia de Dios, SIEMPRE conducirá a la acción en la vida de fe.  La verdadera fe es una fe activa. La carta de Santiago nos da un ejemplo que está excluido de la lectura de hoy, ya que afirma: "El que escucha la palabra y no la practica es como aquel hombre que se miraba en el espejo, pero apenas se miraba, se iba y se olvidaba de cómo era."  Entonces, nos miramos en el espejo por la mañana y vemos una mancha en nuestra cara, un desgarrón en nuestra camisa o un hilo colgando de nuestra ropa, simplemente no nos vamos, lo arreglamos.  La palabra de Dios es como el espejo que miramos cuando nos vestimos.  La palabra de Dios nos muestra lo que es verdad sobre nosotros mismos. Cuando vemos que no estamos viviendo nuestra verdadera identidad como discípulos de Cristo, deberíamos querer abordarlo.

       Al escuchar esta carta de Santiago, este sábado de fin de semana conmemoramos la fiesta de San Agustín.  La poeta Mary Oliver dice eso sobre San Agustín: “Las cosas toman su tiempo. No te preocupes. ¿Cuántos caminos siguió San Agustín antes de convertirse en San Agustín?  San Agustín, nacido en el norte de África en el siglo IV, es uno de los teólogos más influyentes en la historia de la Iglesia.  Sin embargo, si sabes algo sobre san Agustín y su vida, sabes que  la palabra de Dios lo transformó y se convirtió en hacedor de la palabra de Dios. Se convirtió en el san Agustín que conocemos y veneramos hoy.  Cuando era joven, Agustín no caminaba como discípulo de Cristo.  Estaba afuera del camino de fe.  Buscaba significado en todas partes, a menudo en lugares no muy buenos. No solo en las fiestas y en las mujeres, sino en las filosofías paganas, solo para descartar una filosofía cuando descubrió una nueva. Su camino cambiaba mucho.  Siguió la filosofía maniquea durante 9 años, y luego se alejó de ella cuando ya no satisfizo su búsqueda.  Enseñando retórica en Milán en Italia en ese momento, escuchó la predicación de la palabra de Dios de San Ambrosio, el obispo de Milán.  Ambrosio llevó a Agustín a una nueva comprensión de la Biblia y de la fe cristiana. Agustín escuchó a Dios diciéndole que tomara la Biblia y la leyera. Abrió una Biblia y leyó este pasaje de la carta de Pablo a los Romanos: “No en juerga y borrachera, no en exceso sexual y lujuria, no en riñas y celos. Más bien, vístanse de nuestro Señor Jesucristo y no hagan provisión para los deseos de la carne ”. (Romanos 13: 13-14).  Agustín sabía que necesitaba vivir ese mensaje en su vida. Un año después, fue bautizado cristiano por San Ambrosio.  El tenía un cambio en su vida muy profundo.  Nunca jamas buscaba el significado en en las fiestas y las placeres carnales de este mundo. El no buscaba el significado en las filosofías paganas. Reflexionando sobre sus experiencias, Agustín escribió esto: “Nos has hecho para ti, Señor; nuestros corazones están inquietos hasta que descansen en ti.”

      ¿Qué podemos hacer no solo para escuchar la palabra de Dios, sino para poner en práctica la palabra? Cada día, podemos oír y leer la Biblia y escuchar la palabra de Dios tal como nos la presenta la santa Iglesia. Sin embargo, debemos ser persona de acción en la vida de fe. En nuestra fe, necesitamos ayudar a los pobres y visitar a los enfermos y los solitarios. Debemos ser evangelizadores de fe cristiana.  Podemos ayudar en los ministerios en la iglesia y enseñar y ayudar en el programa de doctrina religiosa.  Es importante para vivir la fe y poner la fe en acción.  

29 August 2021 - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - James1:17-18, 21b-22, 27

     For four Sundays this year, concluding with last Sunday’s Mass celebration, we heard from the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel.  In those Gospel readings, we heard of Jesus feeding the hungry crowd with the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, we heard of Jesus telling the crowd that he is the bread of life who has come down from heaven, that we are to receive his body and blood as nourishment in order for us to have eternal life. Those words from John’s Gospel are so important to us as Catholics, as they are integral to what we believe about the Eucharist.  For us, the Eucharist is not just about what we receive, but the Eucharist is a way of life as we the members of the Church make up the Body of Christ here on earth. 

      Today, we will start hearing from the letter of James in our second readings, which we will also hear in our Sunday Masses five weeks in a row. The Letter of James was written to challenge believers who said they had faith, yet who did not live out their faith by their actions. We hear a famous verse from the first chapter of James today, which encourages us to “be doers of the word, not hearers only.”  In a couple of weeks, we will hear a statement in James which is at the center of much discussion in the Christian world, which tells us that ‘faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”  

     Just prior to telling us that we are to be doers of God’s word, not just hearers of his word, the Letter of James tells us to humbly welcome the word that has been planted in us and that is able to save our soul.  James doesn’t want us to only hear the word; he wants us to believe God’s word and do what it says. Someone who “only” hears the word is someone who attends church, hears the Bible readings and the homily, but is completely unaffected by it. This is not hearing with faith. This is not hearing with repentance and the fruits of repentance. This is hearing only.

      James wants us to realize that true faith in Jesus, a faith that always comes about through God’s grace, will ALWAYS lead to action. True faith is an active faith.  James gives us an example that is excluded from today’s reading, as he states: “if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror.  He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like.”  So, we look in the mirror in the morning, and we see a smudge on our face, a tear on our shirt, or a thread hanging off our clothing, we just don’t go away, we fix it, right?  God’s word is like the mirror that we look at when we get dressed.  God’s word shows us what is true about ourselves.  When we see that we are not living out our true identity as a disciple of Christ, we should want to address it.  

      As we hear this letter of James, this weekend on Saturday we commemorate the feast day of St Augustine.  One of my favorite poets is the American poet Mary Oliver.  She says about St Augustine: “Things take the time they take. Don't worry. How many roads did St. Augustine follow before he became St. Augustine?” St Augustine of Hippo, born in northern Africa in the middle of 4th century, is one of the most influential theologians in the history of Christianity.  Yet, if you know anything about St Augustine and his life, you know that it is how God’s word transformed him, how he became a doer of God’s word, is how he became the St Augustine that we know and revere today.  His life as a young man was characterized by living a not very moral life.  He was searching for meaning everywhere, often in not very good places.  Not only in partying and womanizing, but in following a certain philosophy, only to discard that philosophy when he discovered a new one.  He followed the Manichean philosophy for 9 years, and then drifted away from that when it no longer satisfied his search.  Teaching rhetoric in Milan at the time, he happened to hear the preaching of St Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan.  Ambrose led Augustine to a new understanding of the Bible and of the Christian faith.  Augustine heard God telling him to pick up the Bible and to read it.  He opened up a Bible and read this passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans:  “Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual excess and lust, not in quarreling and jealousy. Rather, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.” (Romans 13: 13-14).  Augustine knew that he needed to live that message out in his life.  A year later, he was baptized a Christian by St Ambrose and there was no turning back in the life of St Augustine as a disciple of Christ - no turning back ever.  No more looking for meaning in parties and in the ephemeral pleasures of this world.  No more going from one philosophy to another.  Reflecting upon his experiences, Augustine wrote this: “You have made us for yourself, Lord; our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

      What can we do in our lives to not just hear God’s word, but to be a doer of the word?  Well, I would like to suggest a few things.  Pray and read the Bible and listen to God’s word as it is presented to us by the holy Church.  However, also be a person of action.  Reach out to the poor, the sick, and the lonely.   Evangelize others out of your faith.  Volunteer in a ministry at church.  Teach or help out in our religious education program.  Don’t just ask what your Church and your faith can do for you.  Be a servant just as Christ was a servant - put your faith into action.  

27 August 2021 - Friday of 21st week of ordinary time – St Monica - 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

      In today’s reading, we continue to hear excerpts from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians.  Today’s message from Paul is a call to holiness.  Paul encourages us to remain true to our Christian values, to live out the values of our faith in the reality of our lives.  When I was a missionary in Ecuador, I remember Brother Francisco, a brother with the Comboni Missionaries with whom I worked, used to tell the youth there at our mission site that their lives at that present moment were the fruit of how they lived in the past.  He told them that they needed to make decisions in their lives that would bring forth the fruits of their faith in the future.  In our modern world, so many people do what feels good and make choices based upon short-term pleasures.  Yet, today, as we hear this call to holiness, we are called to recognize that we are not called to make decisions just because they are the politically correct things to do, or because we just go with the flow with what everyone else is doing in our society.  It is important to note that the Thessalonians were not coming out of a strong Jewish background, but rather, they had worshipped pagan idols and had followed other practices that were contrary to the values that Jesus taught.  The Thessalonians also fought against so much of what was going on in the secular world around them just as we also do today.

        As we hear this wonderful reading from St Paul today, we celebrate a great saint in our Catholic faith from the 4th century: St Monica.  Born in the present day country of Algeria in northern Africa, Monica’s faith journey is intrinsically linked to the faith journey of her son, St Augustine of Hippo, whose feast day we celebrate tomorrow. Perhaps it is through learning about Monica and her journey that we are able to appreciate St Augustine all the more. In seminary, it seems like St Augustine and Thomas Aquinas are the two philosophers and theologians that stand out amongst all the rest in the history of our Catholic faith.  Many mothers can relate to Monica in that they pray that their children return to the faith that they hold dear much like Monica did until the conversion of her son.  Let our prayers join with Monica’s today in praying for all those who have strayed from the Church to hear her beckoning them back.  May Monica’s devotion and faith, both to the Church and to her son, be a witness to us all. 

17 August 2021 - Tuesday of the 20th week in Ordinary Time - The Queenship of Mary - Psalm 85

     Some years ago, Bishop Latino gave us priests a book for Christmas entitled Behold Your Mother: Priests Speak about Mary, edited by Stephen Rossetti.   It talks about the special relationship that we priests have with Mary.  It really touched my heart to read these reflections by different priests about how they see Mary in their lives and in their priesthood.  We have a lot of different days in the Church in which we honor Mary; I enjoy being able to honor Mary in a special way through our Church’s liturgical celebrations.  Just last Sunday, we celebrated the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary.  This upcoming weekend, on August 22, is the feast of the Queenship of Mary.  

       Today, we celebrate Mary as Our Lady of Knock, an apparition of the Blessed Mary which good place in 1879 in the village of Knock in county Mayo, Ireland.  On August 21 of that year, 15 people of that village saw an apparition of Mary with St Joseph, St John the Evangelist, a lamb, and a cross.  They watched that vision in the pouring rain for two hours.  It is now an important place of pilgrimage where many miraculous healings have occurred.  

      Our psalm today declares: “The Lord speak of peace to his people.” One of the titles assigned to Mary is the Queen of Peace. In the Catholic faith, we see Mary bringing us closer to the values of God’s kingdom, the values of peace, reconciliation, healing, wholeness, and justice.  Mary indeed does all she can through her motherly love for us to guide us to the light of Christ and to help us grow ever closer to her Son.

16 August 2021 - Monday of the 20th week in Ordinary Time - Judge 2:1-11

      Last week, we heard from the book of Joshua in our first readings of daily Mass.  This week, we hear from the book of Judges, which comes directly after the book of Joshua in the Old Testament.   We have four readings from the book of Judges at our daily Masses this week.  But we should not confuse the judges in the Old Testament with the judges we have in our modern society presiding in a court of law.  The judges in Ancient Israel were military leaders and deliverers of the people.  They had different personalities and different characters, but each one of them was called by God to work on his behalf with the people.  But we also hear a familiar story in our reading from Judges today.  After the death of Joshua, the people bread their promise with God.  They begin to serve other pagan gods from the surrounding nations, Being disloyal to God, he no longer defends them and protects them.  They fall into the hands of their enemies.  We who are leaders in the Church are concerned about what is going on in society today.  We see people drifting away from the faith.  We see people using the pandemic as an excuse in not returning to Church, even though they still follow through with their athletic and social activities.  Maybe they were not fully engaged or fully catechized before.  Maybe they never truly made a commitment to their faith before.  The trends are concerning.  Truly, we have a lot to learn from the stories we read in the Old Testament.  

The Assumption of Mary

As we celebrate the Assumption of Mary at Mass this weekend in our Church’s liturgical calendar, we at St Jude Catholic Church thought it would be good to have special prayers after Mass in honor of our Catholic Social Teaching and our call to respect human life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death. This will consist of adoration, the rosary prayer, and benediction at the end of our Masses on Saturday evening (6:00 pm) and Sunday evening (4:00 pm).  

In that context, we want to pray specifically for the reinstatement of the Hyde and Weldon Amendments in the federal spending bill that has been passed in Congress.  The Hyde Amendment prohibits taxpayer funding for abortion. The Weldon Amendment prohibits federal, state or local government funding to agencies and programs that discriminate against health care entities that refuse to participate in abortion.  We pray that these amendments be reinstated in order to better reflect Catholic Social Teaching in our federal budget practices.  We also pray for the Supreme court case regarding the regulation of abortion that is being presented from the state of Mississippi.   

As we honor Mary in a special way on her Assumption and pray for these specific issues, please remember that all of us as Catholics are called to practice the Catholic social teachings of our faith.  These social teachings are an integral part of our Catholic faith. Being pro-life in the true sense of that term is an important part of our identity as Catholics.    

O most holy one, O most lowly one, O Loving Virgin, Mary. You are our Mother, the Maid of fairest love. Queen of all above, pray for us. Virgin ever fair, Mother, hear our prayer. Look upon us, Mary.  Bring to us your treasure, Grace beyond all measure; pray for us. 

Immaculate Virgin, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, we believe in your triumphant assumption into heaven where the angels and saints acclaim you as Queen. We join them in praising you and bless the Lord who raised you above all creatures. With them, we offer you our devotion and love. We are confident that you watch over our daily efforts and needs, and we take comfort from the faith in the coming resurrection. We look to you, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. After this earthly life, show us Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb, O kind, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.  AMEN.

15 de agosto de 2021 - La Asunción de nuestra Madre María – Lucas 1:39-56

     El papa Pío XII proclamó el dogma de la Asunción de María en el año 1950.  El Papa había hecho una encuesta para determinar la opinión de los creyentes sobre la creencia de la Asunción la Virgen María. Pero, en esta época, la esperanza de la gente ha sufrido bastante después de la destrucción de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, la guerra civil en España, la guerra en Corea, y la muerte de los judíos en el holocausto. Había mucho sufrimiento en estas guerras y estos conflictos en el mundo en esta época.  Para mostrar el valor del cuerpo y del espíritu humano, el Papa Pío XII declaró al mundo como dogma de la fe que la madre de Jesucristo fue llevado cuerpo y alma a la vida eterna sin tener ninguna corrupción corporal en la muerte.

     Hoy en nuestro mundo moderno, en mucho sentidos, no valoramos el cuerpo humano. No valoramos el espíritu humano.   En verdad, nos gastamos millones de dólares en cosméticos, dietas y ejercicios para hacer el cuerpo más atractivo, pero en una manera superficial.  Ahora en nuestra sociedad, el cuerpo no está honrado como la vasija terrestre del nuestro alma inmortal.   Muchas personas en nuestra sociedad piensan que es un derecho humano para tener un aborto, no importa la dignidad de cada ser humano y los mandamientos de Dios.  Para mucha gente, el cuerpo sirve para dar la satisfacción en cualquiera manera disponible.

     El Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica nos explica que “La Asunción de la Santísima Virgen (María) constituye una participación singular en la Resurrección de su Hijo y una anticipación de la resurrección de los demás cristianos” (#966).  La importancia de la Asunción para nosotros como seres humanos es en la relación que hay entre la Resurrección de Cristo y nuestra resurrección.  La presencia de María, un ser humano como nosotros, quien se en cuerpo y alma ya está glorificada en los cielos es una anticipación de nuestra propia resurrección.

     El Papa Juan Pablo Segundo escribió que “María Santísima nos muestra el destino final de quienes oyen la Palabra de Dios y la cumplen.   Nos estimula a elevar nuestra mirada a las alturas, donde se encuentra Cristo, sentado a la derecha del Padre, y donde está también María, la humilde esclava de Nazaret, ya en la gloria celestial”

     El misterio de la Asunción de la Bendita Virgen María al cielo nos invita a reflexionar sobre el sentido de nuestra vida aquí en la tierra y sobre la Vida Eterna que tenemos junto con la Santísima Trinidad, con nuestra Madre la Virgen María, con los ángeles y con la comunidad de los santos.   Sabemos que nuestra Madre María ya está en el cielo glorioso en cuerpo y alma. Con este conocimiento, con sus oraciones y sus intercesiones, nos renovamos la esperanza en nuestra futura vida en Cristo.

12 August 2021 - prayers of the faithful - 19th week in Ordinary Time

Lord Jesus - you call us to forgiveness. 

Christ Jesus - you are the word of God. 

Lord Jesus - you call us to holiness. 

We present our prayers to our heavenly Father. 

1. That the Church rededicate herself to living and proclaiming Christ's mercy.  

2 For those living in confusion, ignorance or doubt; may they be filled with the truth and the light of Christ. 

3 Like the Apostles of old, may we, too, encourage and support one another by devoting ourselves to your Word, to our communal life, to the breaking of the bread, and to prayer.  

4 For those who need to see the concrete evidence of divine mystery,  help us to be aware of your mystery so as to continue to grow in our own lives.  

5 Help our Diocese be a fitting and revelatory sign of the presence of Christ in the world. 

6 For the grace to face the trials and difficulties of life with the confidence and certainty that comes from the Resurrection. 

7 For all those who are sick or shut in and for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed.

We present these prayers thru your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever.  AMEN.  

prayers of the faithful - 12 August 2021 - 19th week of Ordinary Time

Lord Jesus - you call us to forgiveness.

Christ Jesus - you are the word of God.

Lord Jesus - you call us to holiness.

We present our prayers to our heavenly Father.

1. That the Church rededicate herself to living and proclaiming Christ's mercy.  

2 For those living in confusion, ignorance or doubt; may they be filled with the truth and the light of Christ.

3 Like the Apostles of old, may we, too, encourage and support one another by devoting ourselves to your Word, to our communal life, to the breaking of the bread, and to prayer.  

4 For those who need to see the concrete evidence of divine mystery,  help us to be aware of your mystery so as to continue to grow in our own lives.  

5 Help our Diocese be a fitting and revelatory sign of the presence of Christ in the world.

6 For the grace to face the trials and difficulties of life with the confidence and certainty that comes from the Resurrection.

7 For all those who are sick or shut in and for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed.

We present these prayers thru your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever.  AMEN.

Reflection on the Assumption of Mary - 15 August 2021

        I love that we are celebrating the Assumption of Mary at our Masses this weekend, honoring her on a special way in this joyful liturgical celebration.  We honor Mary in many different ways in our Catholic faith.  Author Marina Warner talks about a special devotion to Mary in honor of her Assumption as early as the 10th century, when herbs such as periwinkle, verbena, and thyme were brought to the Church and laid at the altar, where they were incensed and blessed, symbolizing Mary’s victory over death.  These blessed herbs were gathered in a sheaf which the faithful brought back to their homes and were used to ward off illness, disaster and weather.  This tradition still exists in northern Italy.

          Reflecting upon the solemnity of Mary’s assumption that is always celebrated in the middle of August, I thought of other celebrations of Mary we have close to this date.  In the beginning of August, we celebrated the feast of the dedication of the basilica of St Mary Major, a major place of worship dedicated to Mary in the city of Rome.  Then, a month from today, we will honor Mary as the Sorrowful Mother, as the Mother of Jesus who kept vigil with her son as he carried his cross, who never left her son's side and who maintained her faith and confidence in him and his mission, pondering all those sorrows and sufferings in her heart. Last month on July 16, we celebrated Our Lady of Mount Carmel with our Carmelite nuns here in Jackson. I also thought about a conversation I had with one of the passengers on my flight back from California when I was back there for a mission appeal a few weeks ago.  He was very excited to tell me about his two pilgrimages to Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he stayed in the home of one of the visionaries of the Marian apparition there.  He even gave me as a gift a rosary that had been present during one of the apparitions. He told me about a book he read on Our Lady of Kibeho, an apparition of Mary from Rwanda in Africa, urging me to read that book.  Meeting him on the plane was certainly a gift from the Holy Spirit and a gift from our Blessed Mother.  

      The Catholic faithful have a loving devotion to Mary, honoring her not only Jesus’ mother, but the mother of our Church and the mother of our Lord.  Mary, the young woman who sang a song of hope and joy in the Magnificat in response to the gracious greeting that she received from her cousin Elizabeth, is our mother who listens to our prayers, who unites our prayers to hers, who presents those prayers to her son with a mother’s love and compassion. 

          The real meaning of Mary’s Assumption up to the heavens is not just found in what literally occurred in that event, but also in the divine mystery that the Assumption of Mary represents in our faith.   At the heart of our celebration today is the love and honor we bestow upon our Blessed Mother for the way she accompanies us with so much love and tenderness on our journey of faith.

Flocknote reflection for 11 August 2021 - Reflection of St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross and St Maximilian Kolbe

     This week we commemorate two martyrs from the faith from the Second World War. St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891 - 1942), also known by her given name of Edith Stein, was a Carmelite nun who grew up in a Jewish family in Germany who converted to Catholicism after living many years as an atheist. St Maximilian Kolbe (1894 - 1941) was a Franciscan priest from Poland who had founded a large monastery there and who ran a popular Catholic printing press.  Both of them were put to death in the Auschwitz concentration camp. We commemorated St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross on Monday, August 9. St Kolbe has his feast day this Saturday, August 14. Since we are reading the Bread of Life Discourse from the sixth Chapter of John's Gospel in our Sunday mass celebrations these past weeks, here are two wonderful quotes from these saints regarding the Eucharist.

St. Maximilian Kolbe: "You come to me and unite yourself intimately to me under the form of nourishment. Your blood now runs in mine, Your soul, Incarnate God, penetrates mine, giving courage and support. What miracles! Who would have ever imagined such!"

St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - "'And the Word became flesh.’  That truth became a reality in the manger at Bethlehem. But it was to be fulfilled in yet another form: 'Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life.' The Savior, who knows that we are human beings and will remain human beings who have to struggle daily with weaknesses, comes to our assistance in a truly divine manner. Just as the human body is in need of daily bread, so also does the divine life in us require constant nourishment.”

Have a good week everyone.  We look forward to celebrating the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary at our Masses this upcoming weekend.  We hope you will join us either in person or virtually.  Father Lincoln.  

15 August 2021 - homily for the Assumption of Mary - Luke 1:39-56

    We honor Mary in so many different ways in our Catholic faith.  The way we honor Mary is reflected in different cultures and eras in history.  In her book on the devotions that the Christian faithful have to our Blessed Mother, author Marina Warner has this to say regarding an ancient tradition that honored Mary on the feast of her Assumption:  “As early as the tenth century, the intimate association between the aromas of herbs and flowers and the victory of Mary over death was celebrated in the ritual of the feast of the Assumption. Medicinal herbs and plants were brought to church on that day. Periwinkle, verbena, thyme, and many other ingredients of the herbalist's art were laid on the altar, to be incensed and blessed. Then they were bound into a sheaf and kept all year to ward off illness and disaster and death. But the ceremony was abolished in England at the Reformation, and is extinct everywhere now except in some towns of northern Italy."

       As I write this homily in Mary for the feast of the Assumption in the middle of August, I think about how earlier in the month, our Church’s liturgical calendar honors of the Dedication of the Basilica of St Mary Major on August 5; this is the major basilica dedicated to Mary’s honor in the holy city of Rome.  Then, a month from today, we honor Mary as the Sorrowful Mother, as the Mother of Jesus who kept vigil with her son as he carried his cross, who never left her son and who kept faith and confidence in him and his mission, pondering all those sorrows and sufferings in her heart. Just last month on July 16, we celebrated Our Lady of Mount Carmel with our Carmelites nuns here in Jackson.  When I was on the plane flying back from the mission appeal in California at the end of July, I sat next to a man who had overheard me telling another passenger in the airport terminal that I was a Catholic.  During the flight, he told me about how his two pilgrimages to apparitions of Mary in Medjugorje had so affected his life of faith.  He also told me about a book he read on Our Lady of Kibeho, an apparition of Mary from Rwanda in Africa, urging me to read that book.  

      The Catholic faithful have such a deep and loving devotion to Mary because she is not only Jesus’ mother, but the mother of our Church and the mother of our Lord.  Mary, the young woman who sang a song of hope and joy in the Magnificat in response to the gracious greeting that she receives from her cousin Elizabeth,  is our mother who listens to our prayers, who unites our prayers to hers, who presents those prayers to her son with a mother’s love and compassion.  Like the ritual described by author Marina Warner from England in the 10th century, we honor Mary in so many different ways with flowers and lit candles. 

        When we look back at when the Assumption was declared as a dogma of our faith in 1950 by Pope Pius XII, it came in the midst of a very tumultuous 20th century.  The world had experienced the Russian revolution, the Spanish Civil War, two world wars, the Holocaust, and the start of the Korean War.  By declaring the Assumption of Mary into heaven body and soul, Pope Pius XII was responding to the requests of the faithful, but at the same time, he reaffirmed the dignity of the human body and the sacredness of our human journey.  

        The real meaning of the Assumption of Mary is not just found in what literally occurred in that event, but also in the divine mystery that the Assumption of Mary represents in our faith.  In our world of cell phones, technology, and computers, of fast comfortable travel throughout the world, of space exploration and man landing on the moon being almost two decades away when the Assumption was declared in 1950, we can sometimes take for granted the way we currently see the world and the universe and our place within that reality.  It is noteworthy that preeminent Swiss psychologist Carl Jung considered the Assumption to be the most important religious declaration of the twentieth century.  There is a theology and a tradition in the solemnity we celebrate today, to be sure, but at the heart of our celebration today is the love and honor we bestow upon our Blessed Mother and for the way she accompanies us with so much love and tenderness on our journey of faith.

prayers of the faithful - 11 August 2021 - 19th week in Ordinary Time

Lord Jesus - you call us to holiness. 

Christ Jesus - you help us grow in our faith. 

Lord Jesus - you are the son of the Father. 

PRESIDER:   God is faithful to us from generation to generation.  We therefore present our concerns before God the Most High. 

1.  For the Church: that our profession of Jesus as the Christ may be manifest through giving our lives in service for others and in allowing God to raise us to new life. 

2.  For all Christians - may we find refuge and consolation in the cross of Christ. 

3.  For all who spend their lives serving others; emergency personnel, aid workers, missionaries, and members of the military: that God will guide them each day and protect them from harm. 

4.  For all who are burdened with illness and lack of hope, facing daily challenges of health and despair.  For all who are sick with the COVID-19 virus.  

5. For the repose of the souls of the faithful departed.  

Father, we thank you for making us members of your family. As you hear our prayers, may we extend your goodness to all our brothers and sisters. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

prayers of the faithful - St Lawrence - 10 AUGUST 2021

 You bring us the fullness of life. 

You emptied yourself in your death on the cross

You rose from the dead and you lives forever  

The martyr St Lawrence trusted in your word.  In that same spirit of trust, we bring our prayers to you.

1. For the Church, champion of the persecuted, for steadfast faith in time of trial and suffering. 

2. For justice in our communities and in our nations, for humane treatment of prisoners and the accused, for a spirit of unity and healing and respect.

3. For an end to violence, war, and terrorism, for the safety of those who serve and protect us.

4. For those struggling with past hurts and addictions in their lives, for reconciliation and forgiveness.

5. For healing for the sick and shut-ins; for those in the hospice, hospitals, and nursing homes. 

6. For the repose of the souls of the faithful departed and the souls in purgatory, for their eternal life with God.

God of truth, St Lawrence and all your martyrs were faithful until death. Hear the prayers we make in the name of your son Jesus Christ - our Lord forever and ever. AMEN. 

13 August 2021 - Friday of the 19th week of Ordinary Time - Joshua 24:1-13

    On this Friday of the 19th week of Ordinary Time, we hear from the Old Testament of Joshua in our first reading.  Joshua gives advice to the tribes of Israel who are gathered around him.  These are Joshua’s last words and testament to the people. 

    Joshua gives the people a brief history of all that God has done for them  from the earliest times, going back to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.  He reminds that of the land that were given to them, of the rich agricultural lands and towns, all of which were gives from God.  He is reminded them that this came from God, not from their own doing.  

      It is important for us to remember where we came from.  My first name Lincoln has been a name in my dad’s family from the time of the Civil War.  I am in fact the fifth Lincoln in my family.  When I go to Chicago next week to switch trains on my way to the mission appeal in New England, I am going to try to visit the cemetery where one of my ancestors is buried, from whom my first name and middle name come from.  About a year ago was where I first discover where he was buried.  I also want to visit the place where he ran a store in the downtown area of Wheaton, Illinois, just outside of Chicago.  

       Just like it is good to know where we come from in terms of family and ancestry, it is good to know where we come from in the history of faith.  We read stories in the Bible from both the Old and New Testaments because those stories contain our spiritual roots and tell us where we came from.  Let us give thanks today for those who passed down the faith to us, for our spiritual ancestors in the faith.  

10 August 2021 - Tuesday of the 19th week in Ordinary Time - St Lawrence - John 12:24-26

     Lawrence was one of seven deacons who served in the Church in ancient Rome in the first half of the third century.  After the death of Pope Sixtus II, whom Lawrence served as deacon, Lawrence was ordered by the Roman authorities to hand over the treasures of the Church. He distributed as much of his wealth as he could to the poor, so when the Roman authorities came, he presented them the poor, the blind, the suffering, and the lame as the true treasures of the Church.  As a result, Lawrence was imprisoned and was burned to death by the Roman authorities.  Lawrence became a well-recognized martyr in the early Church, having been killed in these Valerian persecutions in the year 258 CE. St Lawrence is honored in our Church’s liturgical calendar today.  On Monday and Saturday of this week, we also commemorate as martyrs for the faith Carmelite nun Edith Stein and Franciscan priest Maximilian Kolbe, Catholics who died in the Auschwitz concentration camp in WWII.  

      Not too long ago, many of us Catholics in the United States thought about martyrs as coming from faraway places such as Africa and the Middle East or as bring from an era in the distant past.  However, with Christians being attacked or persecuted today because of their faith throughout the world and even in our own country, with news of priests being killed or attacked in places like Scotland and France, we cannot take anything for granted anymore. 

     The Gospel today very much exemplifies St Lawrence and his witness of faith, as Jesus tells us about the grain of wheat that enters the ground and dies to produce much fruit.  Like St Lawrence did, to serve Jesus, we must take up our crosses and follow him.

11 August 2021 - Wednesday of the 19th week in Ordinary Time - Psalm 66

      Today, we celebrate St Clare of Assisi, a saint who was born in Italy at the end of the 12th century.  Like St Francis of Assisi, who was her mentor, guide and close friend, Clare came from a very wealthy family, giving all of that up in order to follow Christ with all her being.   Clare was the founder of a monastic religious order for women in the Franciscan tradition called the Order of the Poor Ladies. After her death, the Order was renamed the Order of St Clare. Today, that Order is commonly referred to as the Poor Clares.   Although Clare is remembered for her deep piety and her deep devotion to the Catholic faith, she is also remembered by Church historians as the first woman in the history of the Church to write a rule for her religious community.   This was at a time when most women's communities lived according to the rules that were written by men.  Clare’s motivation in writing this rule was because many of the men and women of the early Franciscan religious communities felt that they could not authentically live out their lives in the spirit of the Gospel under the common rules that had been passed down to them.  In Clare’s rule for her order, she incorporated two fragments that St Francis wrote himself.  One fragment said this: "I, little brother Francis ... beseech you all, my ladies, and counsel you, to live always in this most holy life and poverty." The emphasis was not on habits or cloisters or conformity, but rather on living the Gospel values and the simplicity of Christ’s original message that mattered most to Francis and Clare. 

     I love the message of our psalm today, which asks blessings for the Lord because he has filled our soul with fire.  We are to shout joyfully to the Lord, to sing praises to the glory of his name.  I guess I remember the movie from the 1970s Brother Sun and Sister Moon about the lives of Clare and Francis directed by famous Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli.  It showed Clare and Francis with such a joy and gratitude in their faith, reflected in the message of the psalm.  All of us should strive for a faith that is full of joy.  

12 August 2021 - Thursday of the 19th week in Ordinary Time - Matthew 18:21-19:1

      In today’s Gospel, Christ talks about the importance of forgiving others in our life of faith and the importance of feeling forgiven by God.  In a world that often sees forgiveness as a sign of weakness and revenge as a sign of strength, our Gospel message has a lot it can teach the world. We see this message conveyed in the words of Pope Francis in our modern era.  Pope Francis states: “May the Church be a place of God’s mercy and hope, where all feel welcomed, loved, forgiven, and encouraged to live according to the good life of the Gospel.  And to make others feel welcomed, loved, forgiven, and encouraged, the Church must be with doors wide open so that all may enter.  And we must go out through these doors and proclaim the Gospel.”  Forgiveness often is something that does not come quickly, but that often comes with time and through hard work.  Perhaps we can think of a co-worker or family member or friend with whom we have a ruptured relationship, with whom we need healing and reconciliation.  Let this Gospel message live in all of us. 

8 August 2021 - 19th Sunday of ORDINARY TIME - Mission appeal at St Benedict Catholic Church - Terra Haute INDIANA - John 6:41-51

     The last couple of weeks we have been hearing from the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel.  We continue to hear from this chapter today.   In the last couple weeks, we’ve heard of Jesus feeding the hungry crowds through the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish. We've heard him talk about how he is the bread of heaven that gives us eternal life.  However, in response, the crowd is murmuring with discontent about how this lowly carpenter's son thinks he can lecture them about having been sent from heaven by God, his father.  Jesus' teachings on the Eucharist in these readings from John’s Gospel give us an opportunity to reflect upon what it means for us to receive Christ as the bread of life in our day-to-day reality and how it can transform our lives.

       The Eucharist unites all of us as Catholics throughout the world, as all of us make up the Body and Blood of Christ in the Church.  In this context, I come to you today as a priest from a missionary diocese in our country, the Diocese of Jackson, located in the state of Mississippi.  When you hear a mission appeal in your parish, you probably anticipate someone talking about the missions in a far away country, but this mission appeal today comes from right here in the United States.  All of you here in the Midwest state of Indiana probably picture Mississippi as being in the heart of the Bible belt in the Deep South - this is a true image. The Diocese of Jackson is very large geographically.  It takes up most of the state of Mississippi, all except the area along the MS Gulf Coast. We are the largest Diocese geographically east of Mississippi River.  However, we have the lowest % of Catholics in any Diocese in the US: 2.3%.  There were priests in our area during the time of the Spanish conquistadors, up until the time the territory of Mississippi was formed prior to it becoming a state.  Our Diocese was established in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI.  Currently we have around 90 parishes and missions, but most are rather small, reflecting the rural nature of our state. Most counties in our Diocese only have only one parish; some don’t have even one parish. 

       I’ve been a Diocesan priest for 13 years. My first assignment as pastor was in the communities of Yazoo City and Belzoni in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, the cotton growing region along the Mississippi River. and the region of one of the highest levels of poverty in our country.  While stationed in the Delta, I served as the priest in 3 parishes an 2 prisons. The territory I served in these two counties in the Delta encompassed about 1,400 sq miles.  However, the population was only about 37,000 people in these two counties combined. A couple of weeks ago, I did a mission appeal in southern California and stayed in the Diocese of Orange - that entire diocese was much smaller than the mission area I covered in those two counties in the Delta. I had a 30 minute drive between two of these parishes in which there was just cotton fields and swamp land, no towns or gas stations or anything like that.  While serving there, one of those counties, Humpheys county, had the highest child poverty rate and lowest median family income of any county in the US.  For the past 4 years, I have been serving as the pastor of St Jude in Pearl, a working class parish in a very rural county, although not far from the city of Jackson.  For the past two years, I have also served as the Vicar General of the Diocese.    

      From my accent, you can probably detect that I am not from Mississippi originally.  Hopefully, you can detect a little bit of a Midwest accent as well. I was born in Chicago, where I lived until I was 12 years old, at which time my family moved to southern California. I came into the Catholic Church as a young adult through the RCIA program.  Right after my conversion to Catholicism, I served as a lay missionary in Canada and Ecuador. That brought me to Diocese of Jackson and the state of Mississippi.  

     I recall how five years ago, in summer of 2016, I was staying with family friends up in Indianapolis trying to rest and recuperate from a bout of pneumonia.  I received a text from a good friend back in Mississippi, telling me that CNN had just reported that two religious sisters who worked in my Diocese had been killed.  Sister Margaret Held of the School Sisters of St Francis from Milwaukee WI & Sr Paula Merrill of Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, KY, had run a medical clinic in Holmes County in central MS, one of the poorest counties in US. Over 1/3 of the residents in rural Holmes county received medical care from their clinic.  They were very beloved members of our Diocese and of the community where they served; all of us were so shocked that they had been murdered by someone who had been suffering from mental illness.  Going to their memorial service at the Cathedral in Jackson the next week with all my fellow priests was a very emotional experience. I thought of these two wonderful religious sisters and their witness of faith to the community as I was preparing for my mission, as they represent the missionary spirit of our Diocese, of bringing the Gospel and love of Christ to the people of Mississippi. 

       I want to thank all of you for the opportunity to share with you our experiences in the Diocese of Jackson.  We are all brothers and sisters in Christ and it is important for us to be in solidarity together in proclaiming God’s kingdom here on earth. Collection. Thank you for your prayers and your support.

prayers of the faithful - 4 August 2021 - 18th week of Ordinary Time

You call us to be peace makers

You call us to respond to God’s call

You call us to be bold in living out our faith

With humble hearts, we present our prayers to our God of love and mercy: 

1. For our pope, our bishop, and all church leaders - may they lead the Church in unity and reconciliation. 

2. For peacemakers - may they heal those wounds and worn-torn places that exist in our world.

3. For a spirit of hope for those who are feeling troubled and downtrodden. 

4. For harmony and tolerance within our families and communities. 

5. For those who are sick and suffering, for those who need healing in mind, body, or spirit.

6. For the repose of the souls of the faithful departed. For their entry into eternal life.  

Heaven Father, we present these prayer to you through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever.  AMEN. 

4 August 2021 - Wednesday of the 18th week of Ordinary Time - St John Vianney - Matthew 15:21-28

     Jesus is approached by a Canaanite woman.  She is desperate to get help for her daughter who is tormented by a demon.  Yet, not being a member of the nation of Israel, Jews do not see her as being included in God’s plan of salvation.  However, ultimately, it is the faith Jesus sees in her that saves her.  

        St John Vianney is the saint we celebrate today.  He is known as the Cure of Ars from the name of the French village where he lived most of his life as a priest.  Born in 1786, John Vianney was a student during the era of the French Revolution; it was a time in which the Catholic faith was being oppressed in France.  Vianney was known as the least capable student in seminary.  He was ordained to the priesthood, even though he failed his final oral exam in seminary.  He was sent to a small French village where it was thought that he would do little harm. In many ways, we can say that John Vianney was judged just as the Canaanite woman was judged by Jewish society.  He led a very strict, devout life as a priest, with his example of faith speaking very loudly to his parishioners.  He became well-known for his preaching, for his compassion as a confessor, and for his spiritual direction.   He really touched the lives of the people.  Vianney had more then 300 people coming to visit him each day from different parts of France.   John Vianney is the patron saint of diocesan priests – he is certainly a great example for those of us who are Diocesan priests. I want to end with a quote from John Vianney himself on a homily he did on happiness.  It contains a good message for us to take away from his spirituality: “My God, I give you my heart, and since you are so good as to give me another day, give me the grace that everything I do will be for your honor and for the salvation of my soul.”