2 August 2026 - homily for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time year A - Isaiah 55:1-3

Come you who are thirsty, come to the water. You don’t need to bring money. There is no cost. Come, I will renew you with my covenant, says the Lord. 

These words come from the 55th chapter of Isaiah. The prophet brings a message from God to bring comfort to the people of Israel in the midst of their exile in Babylon. They were physically separated from the promised land that God gave them. They were separated from their worship of God in the Temple in Jerusalem. Spiritually, they felt depleted. God promises to renew them and to restore the promises of his covenant with them. 

Water was a powerful metaphor for the people of Israel. They live in a dry land. Today, the country of Israel has such a scarcity of water that they get 80% of their drinking water from desalination plants, which extracts treated water from the salt water taken from the sea, a very complex and expensive process. With the problems the city of Jackson has had with its drinking water for a very long time, perhaps we who live in the Jackson metro area do not take water for granted anymore. I have told you how for the four years total that I lived in Ecuador and Guinea West Africa that I had to get water from a river or from a well, water that had to be filtered and treated in order for me to use it. During those years, I had to take a bath with a wash clothe and a small bucket of water from the river or from the well. To this day, every time I take a shower, I appreciate that luxury and say a prayer of thanksgiving to God, because I appreciate the gift of water that God gives to us. 

Hearing this invitation from Isaiah to come to the water, how do we answer on a practical level in our lives, especially those of us who are practicing Catholics and practicing disciples of Christ? How do we come to the water and how do we receive it? To approach these waters each day, it starts with us cooperating with God’s grace. 

On Friday, we celebrated the feast day of St Ignatius of Loyola. Today, we celebrate one of the men who was one of the original founders of the Jesuit religious order with St Ignatius: St Peter Faber. I thought of Peter Faber when I thought about us cooperating with God’s grace in our lives in today’s reading from Isaiah. Born in 1506 in the Savoy region of Europe in the western Alps mountain range, Peter Faber tended his father’s flock as a shepherd during his youth. He had little formal schooling while group up since he can from a humble family. He traveled to Paris to study to be a priest, where he became friends with St Ignatius and Francis Xavier. Even though he lacked formal schooling, he had a brilliant mind. He served as a Latin tutor to Ignatius during their time in the university. He was a very astute spiritual advisor. Ignatius considered Peter Faber the best director of his spiritual exercises. In a time of great tension between Protestants and Catholic during the Reformation, Faber worked toward dialogue and patience. He spent a lot of his ministry in Europe promoting parish missions and Catholic renewal.  He died of a fever in 1546 at the young age of 40. Pope Francis, who was also a member of the Jesuits, was a great admirer of Peter Faber, canonizing him as a saint in 2013. 

As a spiritual director, Peter Faber advised others to consecrate themselves to whatever small tasks that they could accomplish using the smallest, most immediate grace that God provided provided. He believed that the Lord would make up for human shortcomings to accomplish extraordinary things. 

One final thought about today’s message from Isaiah. As Isaiah invites those who are spiritually hungry and thirsty to come and drink and eat well of the rich fare, this foreshadows Jesus miraculous feeing of the multitude with the multiplication of the loaves and the fish at the Eucharist, which we hear of in today’s Gospel, as well as Jesus offering himself up as the bread of life in the Last Supper with his apostles. The eucharist is seen as the fulfillment of this spiritual food and drink that God offers through Isaiah. 

As I wrote this homily last Sunday evening, I thought about the week I had just finished, how I celebrated Mass that week the Eucharist on 11 different occasions outside of the Masses at my home parishes in Clinton and Raymond. The Eucharist is at the center of so much that I do as a priest. Is still ask myself: outside of these liturgies, how am I living out the spirit of the Eucharist in all that I do each day? It is important for us to see ourselves as Eucharistic missionaries who bring the Eucharistic spirit to others. 

2 August 2026 - prayers of the faithful for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time CYCLE A - prison ministry

Lord Jesus - you give living water to those who thirst. 

Christ Jesus - you feed the hungry. 

Lord Jesus - you bring light to those in darkness. 

Priest: With faith and hope in the Lord, we now present our prayers for our needs, the needs of the Church, and the needs of the world: 

1) That the Catholic Church and its leaders may faithfully lead all to Christ who alone can satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst. We pray to the Lord. 

2) That our governmental officials may work together to prioritize the needs of the most needy and the most vulnerable. We pray to the Lord. 

3) For all those who have jobs here at CMCF. May we see our jobs here as a vocation in which we can serve God and his people, no matter what that job may be. We pray to the Lord. 

4) For farmers and gardeners. We give thanks for all who bring us the food we need to sustain us in life. For a bountiful harvest this year. We give thanks for all who work here in the garden project at CMCF. We pray to the Lord. 

5)   For all those who need healing in body, mind or spirit. For continued healing for those who are sick here at CMCF. For those in the infirmary and hospice here. We pray to the Lord. 

6) For all who have entered eternal life with God, especially our deceased family members and loved ones. For the repose of their souls. We pray to the Lord. 

7)   For our personal needs and the intentions we hold in the silence of our hearts today. We pray to the Lord. 

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

2 August 2026 - prayers of the faithful for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time CYCLE A

Introduction: As we gather for Mass today around the altar of the Lord, we hear about the boundless generosity of God in today’s readings. Jesus recognizes the hunger and the thirst of the people. He feeds the hungry crowd by multiplying the loaves and the fish in a miracle that shows them what God’s kingdom is about. May we recognize that Christ not only feeds our physical needs, but that he offers himself to us as the true Bread of Heaven. May we always have open hearts to receive Christ’s abundant grace in lives. 

Lord Jesus - you give living water to those who thirst. 

Christ Jesus - you feed the hungry. 

Lord Jesus - you bring light to those in darkness. 

Priest; With faith and hope in the Lord, we now present our prayers for our needs, the needs of the Church, and the needs of the world. 

1) That the Catholic Church and its leaders may faithfully lead all to Christ who alone can satisfy our spiritual hunger. We pray to the Lord. 

2) That our governmental officials may work together to prioritize the needs of the most needy and the most vulnerable. We pray to the Lord. 

3) For those who are unemployed and looking for work. May God lead all of us to our true vocation in life. We pray to the Lord. 

4) For farmers and gardeners. We give thanks for all who bring us the food we need to sustain us in life. For a bountiful harvest this year. We pray to the Lord. 

5)   For all those suffering or afflicted in body, mind or spirit. For continued healing for those in the hospital, hospice, and nursing home. We pray to the Lord. 

6) For all who have entered eternal life with God, especially our deceased family members and loved ones. For the repose of their souls. We pray to the Lord. 

7)   For our personal needs and the intentions we hold in the silence of our hearts today. We pray to the Lord. 

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

26 de julio de 2026 - homilía por XVII domingo del tiempo ordinario CYCLO A

El sábado, celebramos la fiesta de Santiago el Mayor, uno de los apóstoles de Jesús.  Cuando viajaba a España en el año pasado para caminar por el camino de peregrinación de Santiago, tenía la oportunidad de visitar la ciudad de Segovia, donde yo visitaba la casa del poeta español Antonio Machado, que ahora es museo. En este humilde apartamento, Machado escribió la mayoría de sus poemas famosos.  En uno de los poemas, Machado escribió sobre el estado de su alma. Esto es lo que escribió Machado:

Llamó a mi corazón, un claro día,

con un perfume de jazmín, el viento.

(El viento explicó) -A cambio de este aroma,

todo el aroma de tus rosas quiero.

(Yo respondí) -No tengo rosas; flores

en mi jardín no hay ya, todas han muerto.

(El viento dijo) - Me llevaré los llantos de las fuentes,

las hojas amarillas y los mustios pétalos.

Y el viento huyó... Mi corazón sangraba...

Alma, ¿qué has hecho de tu pobre huerto?

Como escribió Machado, nuestra alma puede ser un hermoso jardín, con flores y un aroma dulce. O nuestra alma puede ser un jardín donde todas las flores están muertas y la tierra está seca.

Hay muchas cosas que podemos reclamar para nuestro tesoro en la vida. Esta parábola de Jesucristo habla sobre los grandes tesoros que podemos encuentran en la vida: tesoros enterrados en un campo tan maravilloso que uno está dispuesto a vender todo para obtenerlo, o una perla que el comerciante finalmente encuentra después de muchos años de búsqueda.  

El reino de Dios es ese tesoro para nosotros. Este tesoro es mucho más valioso que cualquier cosa que podamos obtener en la vida. 

El Señor puede venir a nosotros en un murmullo tranquilo y una brisa tranquila con las buenas noticias de salvación, con un llamado para que lo sigamos, que puede ser tan sutil y hermoso como el olor a jazmín que florece en la noche de verano.  Sin embargo, si hemos descuidado nuestra fe, si el jardín de nuestra alma no ha sido cultivado, es posible que no estemos listos para recibir su mensaje.

Cuando visitaba la ciudad de Roma con el coro de la parroquia de San Ricardo en 2010, visitaba la basílica de San Pablo. Por muchos siglos, los funcionarios de la basílica habían tratado de encontrar el lugar exacto donde estaba enterrada la tumba de San Pablo.  Los funcionarios descartaron un lugar de tierra porque parecía que era roca sólida, por lo que pensaron que no había forma de que la tumba de San Pablo pudiera haber sido enterrado en ese lugar.   Sin embargo, resultó que no era roca, era solo tierra que se había endurecido durante tanto tiempo que era dura como la roca.   Este es el lugar donde finalmente se encontró el tesoro, debajo de ese suelo duro y duro, donde finalmente se encontró la tumba de San Pablo. Al igual que el suelo que puede volverse duro como una roca, nuestros corazones pueden volverse tan duros que podríamos no pensar que este es el lugar donde encontraremos nuestro tesoro, por lo que comenzamos a buscarlo en otros lugares. Pero Jesús nos dice que debemos seguir buscando el tesoro que solo encontraremos en el reino de Dios, ya que este es el único tesoro que vale tan buen precio.  Es el mensaje que Cristo nos da hoy. 

Yo doy gracias por esta comunidad de fe aquí en nuestra parroquia de San Judas Tadeo. Empezamos esta misa en española con un grupo pequeño en el año 2017. Nueve años después, esta misa tiene muchos frutos. Muchas personas tenía la dedicación y la fe para empezar esta misa y para viajar con nuestro Señor Jesucristo. Yo doy gracias a nuestro Señor Jesucristo por esta bendiciones. 

26 July 2026 - Catholic blessing of the backpacks for the beginning of the school year

Let us pray:

God of wisdom and knowledge, we pray for the beginning of the school year as we bless our students and their backpacks today.  

Bless our teachers and our school administrators, that you affirm therm and their calling, in their sacred vocation to teach our students. Make our schools lively centers of sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom.

We thank you for each student. Lead them in your way, your truth, and your life. Let each classroom they enter be a place of life and light. Give each student good friends and let them be good friends for others. Give them learning opportunities that demand their best efforts.

Bless all of our parents. May they help their children receive a good education. May they give encouragement and support to their children. 

May the angels and saints stand guard and keep watch over our students, teachers, and families, keeping them safe and protected.

Bless these our students and their backpacks. May they always feel the divine love and support of Jesus Christ our Good Shepherd. May they feel the love, support, and prayers of our parish family.   

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN. 

25 July 2026 - Reflection for the Feast of St James - Matthew 20:20-28

On Tuesday, July 22, we celebrated the feast day of St Mary Magdalene, whom Thomas Aquinas named “the apostle to the apostles” for the way she was the first person to witness the resurrected Jesus and to announce the news of his resurrection to the other apostles. Today, July 25, we celebrate the feast day of St James the Greater. To distinguish between the two apostles named James, one was labeled the Greater and the other the Lesser. James the Greater was the son of Zebedee and the brother of John, another of the apostles. It is possible the James’ mother, Mary of Salome, was the mother of the Virgin Mary, so James may have been Jesus’ first cousin. We hear from James’ mother in our Gospel today, as she wants Jesus to put her sons in places of honor when he assumes the throne of his eternal kingdom. 

James became a prominent leader in the Early Church. He was sent to Spain as a missionary, where his tomb has been one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in the world since the early 9th century when his remains were rediscovered by a hermit. The city that developed around his tomb is named after him, Santiago de Compostela.  The pilgrimage of St James is affectionately referred to as the Camino. The first reported appearance of Mary, which happened while she was still alive, took place in the city of Zaragoza, when she appeared to St James to encourage him in the midst of his missionary work in Spain. The site of that appearance is one of the largest churches in Spain, Our Lady of the Pilar. James is recorded as being the first apostle to be put to death as a martyr for the faith, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. More than a half million people will hike the pilgrimage route of St James this year in Spain. Through his witness and through his pilgrimage, James’ evangelization efforts in the modern world still bear a lot of fruit. May we unite our prayers with the prayers of St James the Greater today on his feast day. 

25 July 2026 - prayers of the faithful for the Feast of St James the greater - prison ministry

Lord Jesus, you bring your message of Good News to the world. 

Christ Jesus, you bring new life to your people. 

Lord Jesus, you are the Good Shepherd.  

Priest: As we celebrate the feast day of St James the Apostle today at Mass, we present our prayers to our Heavenly Father: 

1. For the Church and our Church leaders. May our priests and bishops always preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ with integrity and hope.  

2. That our governmental leaders work toward justice, healing, and reconciliation.

3. For all missionaries, peace makers, first responders, and the men and women in the military. May they feel our gratitude and prayers. 

4. That all of us may proclaim the Gospel of life in our words and our actions, respecting human life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.

5. For healing for all who are sick or afflicted in mind, body, and spirit. For patience and understanding for their family members and care givers. For the men and women who are sick here at CMCF. 

6. For the repose of the souls of the faithful departed. For our deceased loved ones and family members. 

7. On the feast day of St James, we pray in a special way for the people of Spain and for all pilgrims, especially pilgrims who are journeying to the holy city of Santiago de Compostela on pilgrimage. 

8. For the prayers we hold in our hearts today.  

Priest: God of love and compassion, you grant rest to the weary and you fill the needs of those who come to you. Hear these our prayers that we make through your son Jesus Christ our Lord for ever and ever. AMEN.