6/6/2014 – Vacation Bible School Mass – Friday of 7th week of Easter – Acts 9:1-19, John 13: 1-17

      Vacation Bible School is always such a fun, spirit filled time for our children and youth to experience God’s love for us in a very special way.  I have seen a lot of Vacation Bible Schools – but I really have never seen anything like the Vacation Bible School we have at St James each June.  I know we have had a lot of fun this week – with the songs, the arts and crafts, the activities, the food, the Bible stories, and even a trip to the Buffalo Park.   Weird Animals – what a great theme we had this year.  We have some weird animals here in the parish as well.  Most of you have met our two parish cats – Blessing and Mary Woodward.  They can be very sweet little animals sometimes, they can be ornery little animals sometimes, and they can be weird little animals.  But, those of you who have visited the office know that we love Mary Woodward and Blessing – they are members of our parish family here just like all of you are.  No matter what – when we are different, when we feel alone and left out, when we are confused and when we don’t understand, when we do something wrong, and when we’re afraid  – God still loves us and he calls us to live as a child of Christ!

      God calls us to always calls us to be Jesus’ disciple.  You probably member that a couple of days before Easter, we have the washing of the feet ceremony in church at the Holy Thursday mass.  Jesus washes the feet of the disciples to show that he is servant – that he came to serve and help others – and we are called to serve others as well.  You can be nice to your little brother and sister.  You can help out your mom and dad around the house.  You can be friendly to someone who is lonely at school.  We can serve others in a lot of simple ways. Right after we had the tornado here in Tupelo, I got a card from a family in Jackson.  The daughter of that family – a teenager in high school – baked some cookies and cupcakes that she sold at school, and she sent us the money to help us in our recovery from the tornado.  That shows me that she understands how Jesus wants her to help others.

     Today you are going to hear about a saint named Martin de Porres.  He lived a long time ago in a country called Peru.  People were really mean to Martin because he looked different than most everyone else in his country.  Martin could have been mean back to them, but instead he tried to be kind and nice to everyone.  Martin even opened up an animal hospital in his sister’s house in order to nurse sick or hurt animals back to health.  He also would carry a broom around with him, so that when he visited a sick person in his house, he would sweep out the dirt from the sick person’s house to show how much he loved him and cared for him.

      I know that you are going to take away a lot of fun memories from your week at Vacation Bible School.  And I know you will always remember the theme of Weird Animals that we had this week.  But also remember the way Jesus want us to be kind to everyone – to reach out and help others out of our love for God.  God love us no matter what.   Even if we are feeling like one of those weird animals, God loves us too.  Let us always remember to share the love of God with others.  AMEN.