Saturday, June 30, 2018

8 de julio de 2018 – decimocuarto domingo del tiempo ordinario – Marcos 6, 1-6; 2 corintios 12:7-10


        El domingo pasado, escuchamos el Evangelio sobre dos personas de fe en la presencia de Jesús. Había una mujer; ella estaba sufriendo con una hemorragia para doce años.  Ella tenía mucha fe en el poder y la autoridad de Jesús. Esta mujer conocía que Jesucristo tenía el poder de curar sus enfermedades con el toque de su manto.  También, había un jefe de la sinagoga; él tenía una hija enferma.  
Cuando ella se murió, Jesús levantó la niña.  Jesús dijo a estas dos persona que por el camino de su fe, la sanación podían entrar en sus vidas.  Estos ejemplos de fe estaban conmigo cuando escuchaba sobre la visita de Jesús a su pueblo en el Evangelio de hoy.  En lugar de tener confianza en Cristo, ellos tenían mucha dudas.  Al fin de este encuentro en el Evangelio de hoy, Jesús lamentaba la falta de la fe de la muchedumbre.
       Nuestra fe empieza con la gracia de Dios, con el don de Dios.  Nuestra fe no es algo que podemos iniciar por nosotros mismos.  Pero, no es fe verdadera si la guardamos escondida, si no queremos utilizarla o tener riesgos con nuestra fe. Hay una oración tradicional de San Ignacio de Loyola del siglo decimosexto que habla sobre nuestra fe:

“Tome, Señor, y reciba toda mi libertad,
mi memoria, mi entendimiento y toda mi
voluntad, todo mi haber y mi poseer, 
Usted me lo dio, a Usted, Señor, lo torno.
Todo es suyo.
Disponga a toda su voluntad,
déme su amor y su gracia
que ésta me basta.”

      Recibimos tanto de Dios – recibimos nuestra fe de Dios.  Pero si no devolvemos esta fe a Dios – si no ponemos esta fe al servicio de Dios – no es la fe verdadera.
      Cuando San Pablo predicaba la palabra de Dios a los gentiles, él competía con otras religiones en el reino romano.  Los corintios tenían un templo edificado en honor de los dioses paganos.  La ciudad de Corinto era un centro de poder económico y político, y el centro de un campeonato atlético cada dos años.  Pablo no tenía las ganas de alardear de sus conocimientos y de su relación con Jesucristo, del poder que tenía en la Iglesia.  D. En lugar de eso, Pablo podía decir que quería alardear de sus debilidades, porque en sus debilidades él puede dar vida al poder de Cristo en su alma.  Vivimos en la realidad de la muerte y la resurrección de Cristo diariamente en nuestro camino como sus seguidores.  Si damos permiso a Cristo para vivir en nosotros, si damos permiso a nosotros mismos para tener fe en él, podemos dejar una senda del mensaje de la muerte y la resurrección de Jesucristo donde caminamos.  Nuestra fe, nuestra vida que tenemos en Cristo, el poder de Cristo que brilla en nuestras debilidades y defectos, tendremos vida más allá de nuestras capacidades.  Entonces nuestra fe tocará unas vidas que no nos daremos cuenta, y nuestra fe irá a los lugares que nosotros mismos no vamos.  Nuestra fe tendrá su propia vida.  Aún si no rendimos a Cristo, si no unimos con El, no podemos ser seguidor verdadero en su plenitud.  

Friday, June 29, 2018

Day 8 - Religious Freedom Week 2018 - the Dignity of all people


Prayer - May we work to build a culture that recognizes and respects the dignity of all people.

Reflection -  Religious freedom is for everyone.  Religious freedom is rooted in human nature, and therefore it is a fundamental human right.  When we speak up for religious freedom, we do so not only for ourselves, but because we are called to defend the dignity of every individual and community that seeks the truth about God, including Muslims, Jews, and others who do not share our Catholic Christian faith.

Call to Action:  Religious freedom is about preserving space to worship and serve.  Celebrate religious freedom by gathering with friends and parishioners to discuss how your parish community can serve others. 

Day 7 - Religious Freedom Week 2018 - celebrating Catholic Schools


Prayer:  May Catholic schools have the freedom to teach and bear witness to the truth about God and creation.

Reflection:   Education is a central aspect of the Church’s mission.  One of the Spiritual Works of Mercy is to teach.  In the U.S., Catholic schools have played an important role in offering hope in impoverished rural and urban areas.  Catholic schools have been significant anchor institutions in many neighborhoods and towns; thus, they benefit even those who are not their students.  Catholic leaders played a leading role in ensuring that African-American children could have access to quality education.  Education is what Catholics do, and it is difficult to imagine an America without Catholic schools.  Catholic schools need the space and the freedom to operate in accordance with Catholic convictions if they are to continue to be a source of vitality for our society.

Call to Action:  Schools that operate in accordance with Church teaching about marriage as the life-long union between one man and one woman face significant pressure to change their policies.  When Solicitor General Donald Verrilli argued before the Supreme Court in favor of marriage redefinition, he acknowledged that religious institutions, including schools, could lose their tax-exempt status. The First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) is a direct response to this threat.  FADA would protect the tax-exempt status of non-profit entities, including schools. We need to advocate in defense of FADA.  

Day 6 - Religious Freedom Week 2018 - Religious Freedom for nurses, doctors, therapists, and ministers in their work and service


Prayer:  May nurses, doctors, therapists, and all ministers of healing be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in their imitation of Christ's compassion and care for the sick.

Reflection:  Acts of healing were central to the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ.  Christians have over centuries developed healthcare ministries dedicated to the study and practice of medicine. Hospitals as we know them today were first put into place by the Church.  Today, orders like the Little Sisters of the Poor serve elderly low-income Americans of all backgrounds, yet the Little Sisters' work is at risk because of lawsuits brought by the states of California and Pennsylvania against the expanded religious and moral exemption to the HHS mandate.  In New York, Catholic medical professionals have been forced to violate their consciences and participate in abortions.  It is unthinkable that we would undermine our mission to heal by destroying innocent life and harming the persons for whom we are called to care.

Call to Action: Human Life Action advocates for pro-life and conscience protection legislation.  Sign up to receive action alerts from Human Life Action today. If you have already contacted your representatives in Congress to support conscience protection, consider writing a short letter to the editor of your local newspaper, urging support for conscience protection for medical professionals.

Day 5 - Religious Freedom Week 2018 - Religious freedom for migrants and refugees


Prayer:  May the Lord protect all migrants and refugees, 
and may all those who work with people on the move be free to serve.

Reflection:  The Church seeks to serve the unique needs of "people on the move," from providing for basic needs, to assisting with resettlement, to offering legal services to help newcomers navigate the system of their host country.  The Church provides exceptional service in this area and plays an indispensable role in our nation's immigration and refugee resettlement system.  In recent years, Christian services have faced legal attacks, because the Church refuses to facilitate abortions for the children who come under our care.  Groups like the ACLU set up a perverse dilemma, trying to force the Church to choose between unborn children and migrant children.  By defending religious freedom, we are saying that we refuse to make such a choice.

Call to Action:  The USCCB's Justice for Immigrants Campaign is an effort to unite and mobilize a growing network of Catholic entities and people of goodwill in support of immigration reform.  To learn more about the Church's work with migrants and refugees, get news, resources, and action alerts from Justice for Immigrants at justiceforimmigrants.org

Day 4 - Religious Freedom Week 2018 - Prayer and awareness for our religious persecution of Christians in the Middle East


Prayer:  For our sisters and brothers in the Middle East:  through the intercession of the Apostles, who established these most ancient churches, may Christians and all religious minorities would be freed from violent persecution.

Reflection:  In July 2015, Pope Francis said, "Today we are dismayed to see how in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world many of our brothers and sisters are persecuted, tortured and killed for their faith in Jesus….  [I]n this third world war, waged piecemeal, which we are now experiencing, a form of genocide – I insist on the word – is taking place, and it must end."  Today, Christians are among those religious minorities who are persecuted, despite their having been critical to the vitality and pluralism of the region since the earliest days of Christianity.

Call to Action: The Church in the United States stands in solidarity with Christians in the Middle East. Consider joining efforts to support Middle East Christians with a donation to the Knights of Columbus, Catholic Relief Services, the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, or the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher.   

Day 3 - Religious Freedom Week - the courage to bear witness to the truth of the Gospel


Prayer:  May the Holy Spirit give us the courage to bear witness to the truth of the gospel, even in the face of social and legal pressure.

Reflection:  All baptized Christians are called to share the joy of the Gospel with others.  When some of our co-workers, neighbors, and even family members don’t share our faith and perhaps do not practice any faith, we might be hesitant to talk about our faith. But, in a culture filled with so much junk, people are hungry for solid food.  When we encounter Jesus Christ, we come to know the bread of life, the truth in which restless hearts can rest.  We are able to share the love of Christ with our neighbors by helping them to encounter Jesus.

Call to Action:  Pope Francis teaches: "The Holy Spirit also grants the courage to proclaim the newness of the Gospel with boldness in every time and place, even when it meets with opposition" (Evangelii gaudium, 259).  Let's take this week to exercise our freedom by sharing our faith in Jesus Christ or to talk about religious freedom with others.  

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

1 de julio de 2018 – El decimotercero domingo del tiempo ordinario – Marcos 5:21-43; 2 Corintios 8: 7, 9, 13-15


      En las lecturas de hoy, escuchamos unas lecciones que podemos adaptar en nuestra vida de fe.  En los consejos de San Pablo que escuchamos hoy en su segunda carta a los corintios, el dice a los corintios que ellos deben se distinguen en todo – en su fe, en sus palabras, en su sabiduría, en su diligencia.  Es verdad, deseamos la plenitud de fe, no solo una imagen de fe o un facsímil.  Deseamos a vivir nuestra fe como un abrazo de Dios, sin limitaciones, sin restricciones.  Tenemos nuestra fe para la misa, para el altar, y para nuestras alabanzas a Dios.  Pero nuestra fe es para todos los aspectos de nuestra vida – en la escuela, en la oficina, en nuestro trabajo, en las carreteras, en los supermercados, en los parques. 
       En el Evangelio de hoy, hay dos milagros de sanación de las manos de Jesús: hay una mujer con una hemorragia y la resurrección de la hija de Jairo – la hija de un jefe de la sinagoga.  Hay una lección que podemos aprender en este Evangelio – el poder de Jesucristo en nuestra vida depende de nuestra fe.  Me edifico mucho la fe y el amor que ustedes y la gente mexicana tienen en nuestra Madre la Virgen María y en el poder curativo de Jesús en sus vidas.  Sí, hay muchos milagros pequeños que manifiestan en nuestras vidas diarias, pero si no tenemos la fe para reconocerlos, en verdad estos milagros no pueden transformar nuestra vida o la vida de nuestro prójimo.
        Pero, necesitamos reconocer que a veces pedimos algo a Dios con mucha fe y mucha confianza, y Dios no nos da lo que pedimos.  Dios puede contestar nuestras oraciones en una manera muy diferente de nuestras expectativas, y no reconocemos su respuesta.  Necesitamos perseverancia en nuestras oraciones y en nuestra vida de fe.
        La sanación de nuestros dolores y enfermedades, el entusiasmo de nuestra fe, y los milagros que tenemos cada día: en verdad, Dios está con nosotros.  

Monday, June 25, 2018

Day 2 - RELIGIOUS FREEDOM WEEK - Prayers for children who are waiting placement in foster care and adoption

PRAYER:  We pray for the children who are waiting to be placed may find a loving home.  We pray for caregivers who selflessly serve those children.  We pray that the children and their caregivers find strength and support from the Church.
Reflection from the USCCB:  
The opioid crisis is putting a strain on the foster care system.  Yet while more children are waiting to be placed in families, faith-based child welfare providers are being targeted for closures because of their religious convictions.  Catholic Charities in Illinois provided these services.  They excelled at recruiting families to serve as foster parents because they could go directly into churches and invite Catholics to serve in this way.  The number of children in need is going up.  The number of families willing to take the children into their homes is going down.  And in places like Illinois, Massachusetts, California, and D.C., the service providers who have a track record of excellence in recruiting and assisting foster families are being shut down. Intolerance for religious views has real consequences, and in this case, it is vulnerable children who have suffered.  Let's pray and act to keep kids first.

Action:  The federal Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act (H.R. 1881 / S. 811) would protect the religious liberty of child welfare service providers, including adoption and foster care agencies.  Similar legislation has been introduced and passed in several states.  Contact your U.S. senators and representatives and ask them to cosponsor the federal Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act.  Check out the USCCB action alert center for more information.   

Friday, June 22, 2018

Prayer for religious liberty - Serving Others in God's Love - Religious Freedom Week - June 22-29 2018


Prayer for religious liberty

Almighty God, Father of all the nations of the world, for freedom you have set us free in your son Christ Jesus. We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty; it is the foundation of human rights, justice, and the common good. We pray that you grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect and promote our liberties and our freedom.

By your grace, may we have the courage to defend our religious liberties, for ourselves, for future generations, and for all those who live in this blessed land and throughout the world. We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness, and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

8 July 2018 - 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle B - Mark 6:1-6


   When we hear our Gospel readings each Sunday during our liturgies, we often hear the story of people of great faith.  Last Sunday, we heard about a synagogue official who had faith in Jesus’ ability to cure his daughter who was at the point of death and about a woman who had suffered from hemorrhages for 12 long years who had faith that Jesus could cure her with just his touch.  Yet, today, we hear Jesus bemoaning the lack of faith of the people in his native town, of those who questioned his authority and did not believe what was right before their very eyes. 
      Faith has been one of the obvious themes in our Sunday readings these past few weeks.  Faith has been explicitly mentioned in these readings again and again.  When we think about the reality of faith in our own lives, we might think about how tough it is to reconcile our faith and the values of our faith with the reality of the world today. But God indeed speaks to us in the midst of our reality.  The German Jesuit priest Karl Rahner, who died in 1984, was one of the most influential Catholic theologians of the 20th century, having had a great influence on the Second Vatican Council.  Rahner speaks about the mysticism that is present in our everyday lives, that our more explicit Christian faith is born in the everyday, seemingly ordinary moments that make up the majority of our days here on earth.  We find God in profound, remarkable experiences, but we also find God in the ordinary aspects of life.  Rahner writes:  “The simple and honestly accepted everyday life contains in itself the eternal and the silent mystery, which we call God and his secret grace, especially when this life remains the everyday…Wherever people are, there they are creatures who unlock the hidden depths of reality in their free, responsible actions.” Our Catholic faith helps us recognize more explicitly the experiences we have of God.  To Rahner, the prayer of our everyday lives exists in our immense longings, in the call of holiness that we hear within our souls.  
      Yet, sometimes the complex, confusing reality of our lives keeps us from God, from seeing him.  The people of Jesus’ native town did not understand what was unfolding before their eyes.  In response, they did not have the courage to continue down the road of faith.  We are called to be courageous right now, to not only continue on our journey of faith, but to be witnesses to the world.  Recently, I read a book about St Junipero Serra, one of my favorite saints.  Serra was born on the island of Mallorca off the coast of mainland Spain in the early 18th century.  His family were poor peasant farmers - they would have been the equivalent of share croppers in the Mississippi Delta.  In fact, while he was growing up, there were great periods of famine on the island where large percentages of the population there died.  He grew up with a strong, humble faith and became a novice in the Franciscan order as a teenager.  Serra spent his early years as a Franciscan priest as a respected theologian and professor, but he felt God calling him to be a missionary, to bring the Gospel of Christ to those who had not yet received it.  He traveled to Mexico on a ship, a voyage in which many of his fellow passengers died of illnesses such as scurvy.  Walking on foot from the coast of Mexico to Mexico City, he got a very badly infected leg that never again healed - he was in agony and pain the rest of his life.  After serving at a mission and teaching at a school in Mexico City for 18 years, at the age of 53, Serra became the head of the missions in California after the expulsion of the Jesuits.  San Diego, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Carmel, San Gabriel, San Juan Capistrano, San Luis Obispo - these are some of the 13 missions that he founded before his death.  The faith of this humble Franciscan, his belief in his Lord Jesus Christ, propelled him to have a huge influence on the development of the Catholic faith in our country and in the founding of the state of California.  He died in 1784 at the age of 70 at Mission St Charles Borromeo in Carmel, where he is buried.  Pope Francis canonized Father Serra in 2015 at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC on his visit to the United States.  Pope Francis praised Serra for his mission work, for the way he sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it.  Father Serra’s feast day is on July 1.  
       Father Serra used this motto in his work in the missions: “Always look forward and never turn back.”  We are to have hope and faith in the future, knowing that whatever reality we need to face in our lives of faith, God will be there at our side.  He will be there as we proclaim the Gospel to the world.  May we see the way God is present to us, to the ways he calls us to the faith. 

Day One - Religious Freedom Week - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops - June 22 2018

PRAY: St Thomas More and St John Fisher, pray for us and for the protection of religious freedom in America and all the countries of the world.

REFLECTION:  On this feast of St Thomas More and St John Fisher, we remember these saints who were martyred in 1535 for standing up for the sanctity of marriage and the freedom of the Church in opposition to England's King Henry VIII.  In our country today, the Church faces challenges to her freedom to serve in healthcare, child welfare services, and education.  While we seek to be faithful to Christ by serving our neighbors, ignoring conscience cannot be the condition placed on people of faith for service in the public square.  Thomas More and John Fisher show us what faithful service looks like.  They loved and served their country.  Yet they rightly recognized that they were being forced to choose between the Church and the king.  They were faithful to the Church.  May their example continue to illuminate the path for us, as we seek to faithfully serve our Church and country.

ACT: What do conscience and religious freedom mean to you?  How does this call you to action?


(Adapted from USCCB website) 

Sunday, June 17, 2018

6 July 2018 - Friday of the 13th week in Ordinary Time - Amos 8:4-6, 9-12


           The message of many of the prophets of ancient proclaimed to the people that they would be judged as a society as to how they treated the poorest and neediest – the least among them.  Usually, the poorest and the neediest included the widows, the orphans, and the strangers living in the land. This week we have been hearing from the prophet Amos.   Amos tells the people that God will punish those who trample the needy and who destroy the poor of the land. The message from the prophet cuts to our hearts today as it did in the time that it was first proclaimed?  Yet, I sometimes wonder what it means to help the poor, to empower them, to give them a hand up rather than a hand down.  When I was a young adult, I joined the Peace Corps and headed to West Africa, I spent years as a missionary working in a soup kitchen in Canada and working in development projects and in education in the jungles of Ecuador. I taught in a school in a poor community in South Texas for a year and at the public high school in Greenville for four years.  Yet, through all of this, I have more questions than answers.  And after living for many years in the Mississippi Delta, I see all the warts and flaws of our social welfare system taken to the extreme, how good intentions destroy many lives and take away human dignity. 
         The Lord hears the cry of the poor.  The Lord calls us to a special love for the poor.  We need to figure out what that means.  And believe me, that is easier said than done. 

5 July 2018 - homily for Thursday of the 13th week in Ordinary Time - Matthew 9:1-8


       A group of friends bring a paralytic to Jesus for healing.  Jesus sees the faith of this group of friends and he forgives the sins of the paralytic.  Notice it is not the faith of the paralytic himself that saves him, but rather the faith of his friends.  Jesus later tells this man to rise, pick up his mat, and to go.  So many people came to Jesus for healing in his day, and so many come to him for healing in our modern world as well.   We are always looking for a cure for something.  Sometimes we look in so many different places for healing in our lives, often times in the places where we should not be looking for help.   Jesus brings healing to many people in Ancient Israel, healing that is often done because of their great faith, such as Jairus and the woman who was suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years.
        We want healing in our lives, just as we want mercy. It can be easy to ask for mercy for ourselves, but it might be harder to understand why others should receive mercy. Instead, we may want justice as we understand justice, justice from our perspective.  Yet Pope Francis has this to say: “Justice on its own is not enough. With mercy and forgiveness, God goes beyond justice, he subsumes it and exceeds it in a higher event in which we experience love, which is at the root of true justice.”  When we are hurting or when we have been wronged, it is natural to seek justice, but God shows us a better way that leads to love.  God had mercy on the paralytic and his friends.  Perhaps if it was just purely justice, there might have been a very different Gospel passage.  Let us pray this week that we can help move our world beyond justice to mercy and forgiveness. May the mercy of God and the wisdom of Pope Francis guide us and lead us.

3 July 2018 - homily for memorial of St Thomas the Apostle - John 20:24-29


      “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hand and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”  This statement of Thomas in John’s Gospel is remembered by many of us today as modern disciples of Christ.  In many ways, Thomas’ proclamation is symbolic of how many in the world today view Christianity and all religion.  We demand proof. We need to see. We want something tangible and concrete and visible.  Many in our present day see faith as an excuse to say that one believes in something and want it to be true. Many see faith as a superstition, something that is not real. 
      No one today can see and experience Christ in the way Thomas did in that locked room.  Thomas saw the risen Christ eat, pray, and explain the events of the past week to his group of disciples.  We cannot literally put our fingers in the wounds in his hands and his side like Thomas did.  Christ seemed to know this when he said: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”  We might not see him in a literal the way that Thomas did, but all who believe see Christ somehow in their lives.  They see him for who he is.  We must see him somehow with our own eyes.  Like Thomas and the other disciples, we also become followers of Christ through faith.  Through witnessing Christ’s presence in our lives, we in turn are called to be witnesses ourselves, just as Thomas did in his life when he became a missionary to Syria, Persia, and India.  We can see Thomas as our patron saint, as a saint who helps us believe in the midst of our doubts and insecurities.  Lord, help us in our disbelief.  Help us to take that leap of believing in you. 

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

1 July 2018 – 13th Sunday in Ordinary time – Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24 ; 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-43


     God fashioned us in his own image so that we might have being.  He fashioned us for life, not for death. We hear this message from the book of Wisdom today. It is through this new life we receive from God, from our desire and longing to connect with him, & from the presence of the divine essence we experiences in our lives, that propels us to grow in our relationship with Christ. 
      We hear from the 5th chapter of Mark’s Gospel today. Just prior to this, while the disciples were frightened by a terrible storm, while Jesus himself was asleep in the stern of the boat, Jesus awakened and asked his disciples: "Why are you terrified?  Do you not yet have faith?" That is a question Jesus poses to all of us: Do you not have faith? - because faith is at the heart of Christ’s Good News. But faith is not a nebulous, ambiguous concept; it is connected to a personal relationship with Christ and our interconnected relationship with our brothers and sisters. 
        In our Gospel today, Christ has just traveled to the other side with his disciples on a boat. The crowd gathered there wanted to see what he is all about. A synagogue official comes out of the crowd,falling at Jesus’ feet, pleading for him to heal his daughter.  Another woman appears out of the crowd as well:  she touches Jesus, wanting to be cured, knowing that his touch can save her.  All this takes place in the midst of the community, in the midst of the people.  We as Christians are to be in the midst of the reality of the community, in the midst of the people as well. Pope Francis has told his priests when he first was elected Pope: I want you to be out with the people like Jesus was; I want you to be out there with your flock; I need you to be shepherds that smell like your sheep.  I wish I could invite Pope Francis to spend a few days at St Jude, seeing us ministering to the residents of Whitfield Hospital and to the prisoners at the state prison, having Spanish masses here in our parish, helping out the Carmelite nuns in south Jackson, visiting the children at Vacation Bible School and serving with the youth at their Homework service experience, seeing the different ways we are in the midst of the people, in the midst of their reality. 
     I cannot imagine the bravery of the woman suffering from hemorrhages as she reached out to Jesus in the midst of that busy crowd.  For 12 long years she had been suffering with no help from the doctors.  She had no answers, only frustration and confusion. In fear and trembling, she tells Jesus the truth.  Like this brave woman, we are all called to meet Jesus in our reality.  And community is an important part of that reality.  It is hard to believe I came to Mississippi 18 years ago this summer as a member of the Mississippi Teacher Corps at Ole Miss; I was assigned to teach Spanish at Greenville High School.  In a way, it is a good thing I didn’t know what that reality was all about, as it was often very harsh and challenging.  I remember having taught in Greenville for several weeks when a student came up to me after class.  She spoke to me: “Mr. Dall.  My mom heard that you were Catholic.  We are too. We want to invite you to our church.”  I responded that I have been attending the Catholic parish in town, St Joe. But she responded that there are two Catholic churches in Greenville, that her family attended the other one.  It was not until I arrived at that church the next Sunday that I learned it was the historically African American parish in Greenville.  What happened after mass astounded me.  The priest and so many parishioners came up to me, spoke to me, and welcomed me to their parish, hoping that I would continue to go there.  When they heard I was a teacher and a former lay missionary, they immediately asked me if I would teach religious education there to the youth, if I would help out with the youth group.  I felt so welcomed there, which made a big difference.  Community is an important aspect of our Catholic faith – an essential aspect.   Serving in the community and being a part of the community is a big part of our faith.  We want to be a welcoming parish here at St Jude. We want our visitors and our members to feel welcome here – to feel a part of our community of faith.

      The new evangelization call in our Church us to grow in our faith, to be strong in our faith, and out of that faith, to reach out and evangelize.  As we reflect on our Gospel message today, may we hear and respond to that call. 

29 June 2018 - Solemnity of St Peter and St Paul - Matthew 16:13-19; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18; Act 12:1-11


     Today’s solemnity celebrates two men who shaped the Early Church and the development of Christianity.  Peter and Paul were entrusted with the mission of the Church in the different corners of the world.  The preface for today’s mass highlights their different styles and callings: Peter as foremost in confessing the faith, Paul as an outstanding preacher, Peter as establishing the Early Church from the remnant of Israel, but Paul bringing the Gentiles into Christ’s flock.  Yet, “each in a different way gathered together the one family of Christ, (they are) revered together throughout the world, (sharing) one Martyr’s crown.”  
     The readings today highlight the courage and testimony of these two men: of Peter being arrested and brought to trial by King Herod, of Peter witnessing to Christ his belief in him as the Savior, and of Paul looking back at his life, confident that of his following his call to preach Christ’s Gospel to the world. 
       We can see Peter as representing the part of the Church that gives it stability, with its traditions handed down from that first group of Jewish disciples who helped Jesus in his ministry. Peter as the first Pope helped establish the structures that would preserve these traditions, bringing the Church consistency and solidarity.  Today, Peter is represented by the Pope in our modern Church.  Peter made sure that the Early Church survived and did not disintegrate.  
       Paul represents the prophetic and missionary role of the Church, the part that pushes our boundaries further out, that addresses social and justice concerns, that creatively communicates the Church’s message.  The spirit of Paul renews the Church and brings the Church to different times in history and different cultures.  The spirit that Paul brings to the Church interprets the signs of the times and dialogues with the world.  The spirit of Paul utilizes new technology and responds to the new ideas that surface in the world.  In the spirit of Paul, the Church remains relevant to the world today and continues to evangelize in the reality of the world.                                  
         As we celebrate this feast today, let us hear the call to remain faithful to the traditions which have been passed down to us over the many centuries of the history of the Church.  At the same time, let us be ready to make the necessary changes and adaptations to effectively communicate the message of Christ to all those who are hungering and searching for the truth. 

28 June 2018 - Thursday of the 12th week in Ordinary Time - Matthew 7:21-29


     When I first walked the Camino in Spain in 2003, the economy there was very strong.  A lot of people there were building new houses or buying a second or a third house as an investment, assured that the price of the house was going to rise.  They thought it was a sure thing, that they were building their lives upon a solid rock.  Well, we know what happened next.  The housing market and the stock market collapsed in the US and throughout the world.  Things were bad in the US, but even worse elsewhere.  Countries like Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, and Greece had economic tragedies unlike anything seen like the Great Depression. When I walked the Camino in 2012, and again in 2015, 2016, and 2017, I walked through a very strange town that had hundreds of houses and town houses and a large golf course, but almost all of those units had been abandoned and had not been finished, and of those that had been completed, most were unoccupied and unsold.  During the housing boom in Spain, all of these house seemed like the best investment possible, but now it certainly did not seem like a good idea at all.
       Are our lives built on a strong faith?  What is exposed in our hearts when we suffer a trial or a storm in our lives?  Sometimes those times of challenge and suffering can bring us closer to Christ.  Sometimes our lives can fall apart and our faith can collapse.  We may see a need for security or protection, but do we turn to God in those times, or do we go to other things?  Is our house built on solid rock or does it collapse when the going gets tough. 

27 June 2018 - Reflection for Wednesday of the 12th week in Ordinary Time - Matthew 7:15-20


    Jesus warns us to beware of the false prophets in our midst.  Yet, is it that easy to distinguish a false prophet from one of God’s holy messengers?  Last Sunday, we celebrated the solemnity of the nativity of John the Baptist.  He was a true prophet, recognized as such from the time of his birth.  We know that he was asked by God to make the ultimate sacrifice for his faith – as a martyr, he was beheaded for speaking the truth.  Speaking the truth is one of the signs of a true prophet.  Speaking the truth sometimes means that the prophet challenges the people, that he pushes them beyond complacency and beyond their comfort zone, that his message contains words that the people do not want to hear.  A false prophet can disguise himself, to clothe himself in righteousness, to use that righteousness to spread lies and rumors and to proclaim a message that is not the Word of God. Jesus says that prophets can come disguised as sheep, but deep inside they can really be wolves who want to destroy and tear down, rather than lift up and build.  Indeed, Jesus says that we will know the false prophets by their lack of fruits.  Maybe we need to ask ourselves: Do we know the word of God and the teachings of the Church well enough to know when we are in the presence of a false prophet, to distinguish those false prophecies from a message God wants us to hear?   And a lot of this is our responsibility.  We are called to properly inform our consciences as we journey in faith rather than to make judgments on things of which we are ignorant.

26 June 2018 - Tuesday of the 12th week in Ordinary Time - Matthew 7:6, 12-14

        Jesus tells us we should enter through the narrow gate, for the wide gate is the one that leads us to destruction.  As I thought about this verse, I reflected up the criticism that our Church often receives.  It seems like in the eyes of the secular world, we are often a prime target.  But, we need to realize that bringing God’s love into the world doesn’t mean that what we say and what we do are always going to be politically correct.  Standing up for what we perceive to be the truth is not always easy and comfortable.  While we see so many in our society trying to go through the wide door, what sense does that make of the narrow door that Jesus mentions in today’s Gospel? As a parish, we try to reach out to the sick and the shut-in, to the poor and the lonely, to the prisoner and those at the state hospital, to the children and the youth.  Sure, we could always do more, but there are only so many hours in the day as well.  We try to live out our faith as best we can, and that is always a huge challenge.
         All of us need to look into our hearts to see how we are living out the Gospel in a way that God is calling us to do so.  But if we believe that the Gospel of Life calls us to be against abortion and against capital punishment, that puts us out of line with our society as it tries to look for the easiest and most convenient way out.  If we say we define marriage between a man and a woman in our Church, it is not because we are lashing out at certain groups or individuals in society, but rather it is because we believe that that marriage is a sacrament between a man and a woman who are united before God in a special, holy way.  Standing up for the freedom to practice our faith may not be the politically correct thing to do; it may not be the easy way out; and it may not be the entrance through the wide door of our secular world.  But, for standing up for our rights to practice our faith, we do so because we believe it is the right thing to do.  Maybe it will come down to some of us priests and some of us lay Catholics going to prison because our society has turned so far away from Jesus and his teachings.  Maybe it will come down to that sooner rather than later.  That will be the price our generation will have to pay for living out our faith.  In the 1960s, it was the hippies and the flower children who were seen as counter-cultural and on the fringes of society.  Now the Catholic Church, the priests, and the nuns are the ones who are counter-cultural.   My, how things change. 

Celebrating 10 years as a priest









I was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Jackson (in the state of Mississippi) on May 31, 2008.  It is hard to believe it has been 10 years.  On June 1, 2018, I celebrated my 10 years as a priest with mass and a luncheon at my current parish, St Jude Catholic Church in Pearl, Mississippi.  It was a great day to be with parishioners old and new, to celebrate 10 years as a priest.  

Photos of downtown Yazoo City Mississippi












I lived in Yazoo City for several years, where I served as the pastor of the Catholic community there. I loved Yazoo City.  The downtown area has been renewed and refurbished, but below the painted surface, there is also a lot of decay and ruin.  It is still an interesting downtown area in this historic Delta town.  It is a town full of wonderful people and a lot of history.  

quote from Pope Francis - two disciples on the Road to Emmaus

I saw this quote from Pope Francis in the Knights of Columbus Chaplain's report that I receive.  I really like this quote a lot: 

"The two disciples left Jerusalem.... The are scandalized by the failure of the Messiah in whom they had hoped and whom now appeared utterly vanquished....So they set off on the road alone, with their disappointment....We need a Church capable of meeting them on the way.  We need a Church capable of entering into their conversation...able to dialogue with those disciples who, having left Jerusalem behind, are wandering aimlessly, alone, with their own disappointment, disillusioned by a Christianity now considered barren, fruitless soil, incapable of generating meaning."  


Monday, June 11, 2018

24 de junio de 2018 – homilia de la Natividad de Juan Bautista – la Semana de Libertad Religiosa - Lucas 1,57-66, 80


       Hoy es el 24 de junio, el día de la natividad de Juan Bautista.  Desde las noticias que su madre Isabel y su padre Zacarías recibieron, desde la visita de María a su prima Isabel cuando ellas estaban embarazadas, estaba anunciado al mundo que Juan tendría un papel muy especial en la historia de salvación.  Zacarías estaba mudo por el poder de Dios cuando tenía dudas sobre la voluntad de Dios en la vida de su familia.  Dios restauró la voz de Zacarías cuando él puso el nombre de Juan a su hijo según la voluntad de Dios.  Los amigos y los vecinos de Isabel y Zacarías no pueden creer en la realidad del nacimiento de Juan – ellos reconocen que es algo muy especial.  Juan tenía una personalidad muy travieso y muy fogoso, pero él puso su energía en servicio a Dios, para ser profeta para Dios y para preparar el camino de Jesús. 
         Nosotros, los sacerdotes, tenemos el mandato de los obispos este fin de semana para predicar la palabra de Dios sobre la importancia de la libertad religiosa que tenemos en nuestro país en el contexto de la solemnidad de la natividad de Juan Bautista.  Juan trabajaba en el servicio de Dios como su profeta, para preparar el camino de Jesús en la mitad del poder del reino romano. Herodes tenían miedo de Juan Bautista y de su mensaje – Juan fue a la cárcel y a su muerte por la consecuencia de su predicación de su llamada de Dios.  Herodes no quería escuchar a la verdad religiosa en las palabras de Juan Bautista.  Hoy, en nuestro país, tenemos desafíos sobre nuestra libertad religiosa.  La fortaleza, la diligencia, y la honradez de Juan Bautista son ejemplos muy buenos para nosotros con nuestros desafíos. 
        Durante la Semana de la Libertad Religiosa, nosotros los fieles debemos emprender la oración, la educación y la acción en apoyo de la libertad religiosa. Juan el Bautista pagó con su vida mientras hablaba las verdades de nuestra fe. El viernes pasado, celebramos la fiesta de San Juan Fisher y Santo Tomás More, ambos decapitados por el Rey Enrique VIII en el siglo XVI en Inglaterra. Al igual que el rey Herodes con Juan el Bautista, Enrique VIII no quería que More y Fisher dijeran la verdad sobre la Iglesia y sobre el vínculo sagrado del matrimonio que Enrique VIII quería romper con su esposa Catalina de Aragón de España. More era abogado y canciller de Inglaterra.  Fisher era un obispo inglés en la Iglesia Católica. En su papel de mantener su libertad religiosa, ambos perdieron la vida y se convirtieron en mártires por la fe.
         Los obispos han llamado a la libertad religiosa "nuestra primera y más preciada libertad". La libertad religiosa era importante para los padres fundadores de nuestro país: fue el tema de la primera enmienda a la Constitución de los EE. UU. En muchos sentidos, la libertad religiosa es la base de todas las libertades que disfrutamos en nuestro país, porque si nosotros los estadounidenses no somos libres de formar y seguir nuestras conciencias en nuestra fe religiosa y elegir la forma en que vivimos nuestra fe cada día, entonces, ¿cómo podremos vivir en libertad en el sentido de esa palabra? Cuando nuestro gobierno nos pide que hagamos algo que está en contra de las santas enseñanzas de Dios, entonces las tradiciones de la libertad de nuestro país está destruida.
         Hoy, en la celebración de la natividad de Juan Bautista, reconocemos que nuestra libertad religiosa no es nuestra invención, no es algo que el gobierno puede darnos o quitar como su capricho.  La libertad religiosa es un don de Dios, un gracia de Dios.  Nuestra país tiene la libertad religiosa como nuestra fundación – es una insistencia de nosotros como católicos y como norte americanos.  Como la insistencia de Juan Bautista en Israel, afirmamos nuestro derechos como creyentes y seguidores de Jesucristo.  

24 June 2018 - Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist - Religious Freedom Week - Luke 1:57-66, 80


       Today, instead of observing the 12th Sunday of ordinary time, we celebrate the solemnity of the birth of John the Baptist, which falls on today’s date, June 24th.  Ever since John’s mother Elizabeth and his father Zechariah received news about John’s birth, ever since Mary went on that special visit to her cousin Elizabeth while she had Jesus in her own womb, it was announced to the world that John would have a special role in the history of salvation.  God made John’s father mute because Zechariah doubted God’s will; his voice was restored when he names his son John according to God’s will. The friends and neighbors of Elizabeth and Zechariah are astonished at what they see – they know that something special and unique is going on. John himself had a fiery, assertive personality, but he channeled his energy into serving God and speaking out as a prophet who would point the way to Jesus. 
         We are in the middle of Religious Freedom Week as declared by our US Bishops.  We can look at the importance of religious freedom in our country in the context of today’s solemnity of the birth of John the Baptist.  John proclaimed God’s word against the backdrop of a powerful Roman empire.  Herod feared John the Baptist and his message so much so that John was ultimately imprisoned and beheaded for living out his faith according to God’s will.  Herod did not want to hear the truth in the words of John the Baptist.  As we see our religious freedom under attack in our own country right now, perhaps the honesty, diligence, and fortitude by which John the Baptist lived out his faith is a good example for all of us to reflect upon.
      During Religious Freedom Week, we the faithful are to undertake prayer, education, and action in support of religious freedom. John the Baptist paid with his life as he spoke the truths of our faith. Just last Friday, we celebrated the feast of St John Fisher and St Thomas More, both of whom were beheaded by Henry VIII in 16th century England.  Just like King Herod with John the Baptist, Henry VIII did not want More and Fisher to speak the truth about the Church and about the holy bond of matrimony that Henry VIII wanted to break with his wife Catherine of Aragon.  More was a lawyer and chancellor of England, while Fisher was a high ranking English Bishop in the Catholic Church.  For speaking out for religious freedom, both of them lost their lives became martyrs for the faith, 
         The Bishops have called religious freedom “our first, most cherished liberty.”  Religious liberty was important to the founding fathers of our country: it was the topic of the first amendment to the US Constitution.  In many ways, religious liberty is at the foundation of all the liberties we enjoy in our country, for if we Americans are not free to form and follow our consciences in our religious faith and to choose the way we live out our faith each day, then how will we be able to live in freedom in any sense of that word? When our government asks us to do something that is against God’s holy teachings, then the American tradition of liberty is being trampled upon and destroyed.  We saw Dr. Martin Luther King Jr stir up the religious consciousness of our nation during the Civil Rights movement; a stirring of our religious consciousness is happening right now as well. 
         As we recognize Religious Freedom Week, we recognize that our religious freedom is not something that we are inventing for ourselves; it is not something that the government itself can bestow upon us or take away at its whim.  Religious liberty is a grace we receive from God, a gift we receive from Him.  Our country was founded on this concept of religious freedom; it is something we as Americans and as Catholics insist upon.  Just as John the Baptist insisted in ancient Israel, just as Thomas More and John Fisher insisted during the reign of Henry VIII, we assert our rights as believers and followers of Christ. 
         We pray for the intercessions of John the Baptist, for the intercessions of St Thomas More and St John Fisher, of St Peter and St Paul.  We pray for the courage and fortitude that propelled these men to action, to stand up for faith and for freedom.  As we conclude this homily, please pray for me this prayer for religious liberty:


Almighty God, Father of all nations,
For freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).
We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty, the foundation of human rights, justice, and the common good.
Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect and promote our liberties;
By your grace may we have the courage to defend them, for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.
We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness, and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.