20 October 2024 - World Mission Sunday - Prayers of the faithful - Prison ministry

Introduction: Today we celebrate World Mission Sunday, a day in which we bring to mind the missionaries who preach and live the Gospel, especially to those who have not heard it or who have not understood it. May all of us feel the call from God to be a missionary of Christ’s Gospel message. 

Lord Jesus - your work is done in faithfulness. 

Christ Jesus - all the earth is full of your love. 

Lord Jesus - you are our help and our shield. 

Priest: As we approach your grace in our prayers today, we present our needs, the needs of the Church, and the needs of the world: 

1. That we in the Church may obey Christ’s command to serve others by reaching out to those in need. We pray to the Lord. 

2. That we may live responsibly on planet earth, being good stewards of God’s creation. We pray to the Lord. 

3. For all missionaries, that they know the support of the faithful by our generosity and our willingness to collaborate with them. We pray for a missionary spirit for all of here at CMCF. We pray to the Lord. 

4. For nuns and monks in consecrated religious communities. For all who volunteer in our Catholic community of St Michael the Archangel. For all who offer their lives to serve others in valuable and necessary ways. We pray to the Lord. 

5. For all families, especially those suffering from division, that they put aside their anger and their disagreements and strive toward mutual support. We pray to the Lord. 

6. For our loved ones and family members who have died, for their entry into eternal life. We pray to the Lord. 

7. That in commemoration of respect life month, we would all proclaim the Gospel of Life in the way we live out our lives of faith each day, we pray to the Lord. 

8. For the prayers we hold in the silence of our hearts today. We pray to the Lord. 

Priest: Heavenly Father, hear the needs we voice today. Grant them according to your will. We make our prayers through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever. AMEN. 

31 October 2024 - Thursday of 30th week in Ordinary Time - Luke 13:31-35

The Pharisees think they have all the answers. As a consequence, they are always criticizing Jesus and trying to bring him down. In tryin to entrap him, they are not open to the wisdom and goodness of his ministry and teachings. As Jesus says, the Pharisees reject the prophets that God sends them. They are unwilling to see the signs of God around them. Pope Francis, in an interview with America Magazine in the first years of his papacy, had this to say about the openness we need to have for God in our lives: “If one has the answers to all the questions - that is the proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself. The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt. You must leave room for the Lord, not for our certainties; we must be humble.” As we search for God in our lives, are we concentrating so much on the answers we think we have, that we aren’t open to hear God’s voice as it comes to us in unexpected ways?  We are called to be open to mystery, ambiguity, and uncertainty on our journey of faith. We are called to be open to truly listening not only to God, but to our brothers and sisters, to their experiences and their journeys. We must realize that we do not always have all of the answers. 

30 October 2024 - homily for Wednesday of the 30th week of Ordinary Time - Luke 13:22-30

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

God calls us to delve deeper into the rich teachings of our faith traditions. Our Catholic moral teachings contain a great richness for us. Through the Beatitudes and the Ten Commandments, through the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, we can learn so much about our faith. We need to continuously form our conscience and grow in our faith so that we can continue to make the right decisions that our faith demands from us. And we are marking an end to the month of October, a month that honors the blessed Virgin Mary and her role in the history of salvation, a month that calls us to specifically look at how the respect for all human life is an important part of our Catholic faith, a month that calls us to recognize our call to be missionaries throughout the world. The Church gives us a lot to reflect upon on our journey of faith. 

We heard about the question that someone in the crowd shouted out to Jesus in today’s Gospel. Perhaps the question we should be asking is not how many will be eventually saved, but rather how God is calling us to live according to his will here on earth. Perhaps we need to ask ourselves how we are incorporating his love and mercy into our lives in serving God and our brothers and sisters. 

Prayers of the faithful - 30 October 2023 - Wednesday of the 30th week in Ordinary Time

Lord Jesus - you call us to be people of prayer. 

Christ Jesus - you proclaim the justice of God’s kingdom. 

Lord Jesus - you bring us hope. 

Priest: We now present our prayers to our heavenly Father: 

1. For our Church leaders and governmental leaders, that they may exercise wisdom and prudence in their leadership.  

2. For our first responders, for the men and women in the military, for our military veterans, and for our medical professionals. 

3. For those who hunger for food, for those who hunger for meaning in life, for those who hunger for justice and righteousness, that their hunger may be fulfilled.  

4. For all who live amidst civil unrest, conflict, war or violence, that God will break these destructive cycles, healing the divisions that exist within the community and protecting the innocent.

5. That God will renew and strengthen all who work to advance the good of society, protect them from harm, and help them to use their gifts and talents fully. 

6. For respect life month in the month of October, that we may grow in our respect for human life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death. 

7. For the prayers we hold in the silence of our hearts. 

Priest: We present our prayers through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever.  AMEN.  

 

Prayers of the faithful - 29 October 2023 - Tuesday of the 30th week in Ordinary Time

Lord Jesus - you bring us hope in our faith. 

Christ Jesus - you are the beloved son of the Father. 

Lord Jesus - you are our savior and our redeemer. 

Priest: With humble hearts, we present our prayers to our heavenly Father: 

1. For our Church leaders and our governmental leaders, that God will lead them in guide them in their leadership challenges and in the difficult decisions they have to make. 

2. For all who are recovering from natural disasters, especially the hurricanes that hit Florida, North Carolina, and the Southeast: that God will ease their pain, give them strength, and renew their hope. 

3. For all missing children, particularly those caught in human trafficking: that God will free them and reunite them with their families.

4. For an end to violence in families, neighborhoods, and cities: that God will open new ways to resolve differences and protect the life and dignity of each person

5. For all who are sick: that God’s healing love will strengthen them, remove their pain, and restore them to wholeness.

6. For our deceased families members, loved ones, and community members, for their entry into eternal life. For the souls in purgatory. 

7. For the prayers we hold in the deep recesses of our hearts.

Priest: With faith and hope, we present our prayers through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever.  AMEN.

29 October 2024 - Tuesday of the 30th week in ordinary time - Luke 13:18-21

There is so much to learn about God's kingdom, so Jesus teaches us about the kingdom in parables.  The kingdom of God is like a small mustard seed that grows into a large bush that can provide shade and feed many birds. The kingdom of God is like this small seed in our lives, in that it starts out in its smallest beginnings in our human hearts. Our faith can grow in our lives if we open ourselves up to God’s will and God’s holy word. God can transform us from within, in ways we could never imagine. 

Yeast is another image that symbolically describes the kingdom of God. Yeast a powerful agent of change. Without yeast, dough cannot be transformed into a freshly baked loaf of bread when baked in the oven. Without yeast, there is no bread. It is the bread of life that provides us nourishment and stamina, the staple of life for us as human beings. 

Like the yeast that helps bread to rise or a small seed that grows into a large plant, the kingdom of God produces a transformation for those who are open to God’s grace, to those who are willing to receive the new life that Christ offers to us. 

Lord, may we be open to the ways the kingdom of God can transform us. May we increase our zeal and openness to your kingdom, O heavenly Father. May you, O Lord, instill in us a holy desire to live a life of faith that proclaims your kingdom and that announces your glory to all.

27 October 2024 - 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B - Mark 10:46-52

What do we want from Jesus?  What do we want from our faith?  These questions popped into my mind as I thought about our Gospel readings from the last several weeks from the 10th chapter of Mark. People are asking questions of Jesus and wanting different things from him. Two weeks ago, a prosperous young man asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Even though the people of Ancient Israel would have seen his prosperity as a blessing from God, he walks away from his encounter with Jesus in sadness, unwilling to make a leap of faith in order to follow Jesus unconditionally. In last Sunday’s Gospel, James and John asked Jesus to grant them positions of honor when he enters his glory in God's kingdom. In today’s Gospel, Bartimaeus is sitting on the roadside, certainly not in a position of honor or glory. 

Like James and John who want positions of honor in eternal life, like the rich young man who cannot free himself from his possessions, we also can become prisoners to many things in life. Having nice things, or attaining a position of power, or fitting into the value system of our modern secular world: all those things are not intrinsically bad in themselves. Yet, these things can seduce us and entice us away from God. 

We can learn so much from what Bartimaeus asks of Jesus. My good friend Sister Paulinus Oakes, a Sister of Mercy who was a legend in our Diocese of Jackson for many decades, gave me a book when I first started my priesthood by Jesuit priest Father Paul Coutinho from India, entitled How Big is Your God? I find myself going back and rereading the short chapters in this book from time to time. In one chapter, Father Coutinho states that God is fundamentally an experience, not a theology. This makes sense, but many Christians approach God as a theological construct or idea rather than an experience or relationship in their lives. We can approach our faith as a set of rules and commandments, rather than a personal experience with the living Christ. For Bartimaeus, God is an experience in his life. He reaches out to Jesus without any constraints or embarrassment, as he shouts out to him from the side of the road: “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me, have mercy on me!” 

And what do the disciples try to do?  Rather than encourage Bartimaeus or recognize his great faith in Jesus’ power to heal, they try to restrain him and silence him. But Bartimaeus is tenacious; he won't back down, as he keeps calling out, “Son of David, have pity on me!” Bartimaeus is also shrewd; he knows that in the code of honor in Ancient Israel, it would be difficult for Jesus to accept the honor Bartimaeus bestowed upon him by calling him Messiah without rewarding Bartimaeus in some way. We recall how the rich young man was unable to give up his possessions in order to follow Jesus unconditionally, yet Bartimaeus throws off his cloak with joy in order to follow Jesus with his newly gained sight, even though this cloak is probably his only worldly possession. Not only has Bartimaeus gained his physical sight, but his sight of faith has been renewed and energized – he can now follow Jesus wholeheartedly as his disciple. 

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung states that reality is that which affects us. In other words, whatever affects us in our lives is real to us. Bartimaeus had faith in God. He had faith in God's power to heal and to be a real presence in his life. God affects Bartimaeus' life: God motivates him, touches him, opens up infinite possibilities for him.  Thus, for Bartimaeus, God is VERY REAL!

What about us? Does our faith and our relationship with Jesus make God a reality in our lives? As we hear the story of Bartimaeus today, we might ask ourselves if there is anything we need to ask of God, if there is anything we need to do in order to make God a much more real presence for us. It’s good for us to reflect upon the reality of God in our lives as we think about how God is asking us to use our talents, gifts, and treasures.