Our Gospel today tells us the need for us to be prepared on our journey of faith. We are called to be ready for when Jesus comes again, since we do not know the hour or the day. Even with something as simple as writing homilies, for which I am usually writing six or seven or eight homilies a week, I need to stay prepared and organized, or I will get behind and it will be hard to catch up. It is Monday morning as I write this and thankfully, I have written all my homilies for the week.
Speaking of getting ready and being prepared, I am getting ready for a trip to California, which will take me away from Mississippi from August 9 to August 24. This time of the year, I usually go out of the Diocese for several weekends to do mission appeals, where I celebrate Masses at different parishes throughout the country and to tell our missionary story of the Diocese of Jackson. These parishes in turn take up a second collection for our Diocese that helps our mission parishes and schools. For the next two weekends, I will be celebrating Masses at San Gabriel Mission, one of the original California missions founded by Father Junipero Serra in 1771, and Our Lady of Peace, located in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. Reflecting the reality of our Catholic faith here in the United States, both of those parishes have seven Masses each weekend, with more Masses offered in languages other than English, including Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Spanish. I will be able to handle the Spanish and the English without a problem, but they are going to translate my homilies into Tagalog and Vietnamese for the Masses in those languages.
I will miss being with all of you for the weeks I am going to be away, but I am looking forward to visiting some family and friends in California and looking forward to spending some time hiking. Blessings to all of you. Father Lincoln.
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