Prayers of the faithful - Wednesday of the 33rd week of Ordinary Time - 22 November 2023

Lord Jesus - you call us to repentance. 

Christ Jesus - you forgive us our sins.   

Lord Jesus - you will come again in glory. 

Priest: We present our prayers to our heavenly Father with humble hearts: 

1.  For our Church leaders and our governmental leaders - may they lead us away from division and violence to unity and reconciliation.  

2. For those making new commitments in their lives: that God will fill with hope those getting married, becoming new parents, making religious profession, or entering new careers. That God will guide them through all the joys and sorrows of life’s journey. 

3. For all who are struggling in life and for all who have little hope: that God will open new opportunities and give them encouragement on their journey. 

4. That God will guide those who have fled violence, famine, or natural disasters, that he will keep them safe from harm, and lead them to places of safety. 

6. For the repose of the souls of the faithful departed. For their entry into eternal life. We remember those names inscribed in our book of remembrance. 

7. For healing for the sick in body, mind, and spirit. 

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

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

22 November 2023 – Wednesday of 33rd week in Ordinary Time – Luke 19:11 -28

     Today, we hear a parable from Luke’s Gospel in which each of the servants receives a coin. Scripture scholars estimate the values of these coins to be approximately three months of wages. Those who invested the coin and used what the king had given them are to be rewarded, but the servant who kept the coin hidden is to be punished. The end of the parable states that Jesus continued on his journey to Jerusalem. This is where Jesus will meet his death on the cross. However, Jerusalem is also the place of resurrection and salvation as well. 

      Our parable is about a king, which is interesting because this upcoming Sunday we will celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King, the last Sunday of our liturgical year. We are getting close to the start of the Advent as well. As disciples of Christ, we all live out of faith, but we do so in different ways. The Lord asks us to strive toward perfection, but due to our human failings, we will not reach that perfection. Thus, we are to ask pardon and forgiveness of God and of our brothers and sisters. Sometimes life can be challenging and difficult, particularly when we lose a loved one or when we go through sufferings on our journey or when we are battling an addiction. However, we are always called to do our best and to continue on our journey. How are we using the gifts God gives us? We never know when our journey on earth will come to an end. 

Prayers of the faithful - feast of the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple - 21 November 2023

Lord Jesus - you were born of the Virgin Mary - Lord have mercy. 

Christ Jesus - you are our Good Shepherd - Christ have mercy. 

Lord Jesus - you guide us on our journey of faith - Lord have mercy.  

Prayers of the faithful:

Priest:  Let us join our prayers with the prayers of the Blessed Mother Mary as we present our petitions to God: 

Our response is: Lord, hear our prayer.

1. May all Christians follow Mary's example of humility and service, especially those who are positions of Church leadership.  

2. That our Church may reflect our devotion to Mary. That we may faithfully bring forth Jesus in our world. 

3. May all the nations of the world experience justice, wholeness, healing and peace. May we work for those values in our words and our actions. 

4. For the sick, the poor, the persecuted, and the abandoned, that they may be consoled by our Mother's powerful protection.

5. For all the repose of the souls of the faithful departed, especially our deceased family members, our loved ones, and the souls in purgatory.  

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

Priest: Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, hear the prayers of your people, gathered to honor the most holy Mother of your Son, our Savior, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

21 November 2023 - Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Tuesday of the 33rd week in Ordinary Time - Luke 19:1-10

    How often do we go out on a limb for our faith?  How often do we make an extraordinary effort to search for God in our lives and to find the ways he is present to us?  Today, in the familiar story of Zacchaeus, we see Zacchaeus climb a tree and go out on a limb in order to find God in his life. He responds to Jesus calling out to him by conversion and repentance, by offering to give half of his possessions to the poor, by willing to make amends to those whom he wronged as a chief tax collector. 

      As we hear about Zacchaeus and his leap of faith today, we celebrate Mary and her presentation in the Temple. Tradition has passed down that Mary was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem when she was a young girl.  She must have spent a great deal of time in the Temple preparing for her eventual role as the mother of our Lord and the mother of the Church.  

       Although Mary probably spent much time in the Temple and in the study of Jewish Scripture and Tradition, she also probably spent a lot of time with St. Anne and St. Joachim, her mother and father.  We can imagine Mary growing up in a loving family who exposed her to the reality of life around her, including the sufferings of the poor. Mary was full of grace, but I also imagine that her parents and her upbringing fostered and encouraged her empathy and compassion, her generosity and humble nature, and her mercy and forgiveness. 

       May Mary’s example encourage us on our own journeys of faith. It's easy to have a cynical and sarcastic view of the world. Many in our society place their faith in trust in wealth and riches, thinking that those things will bring them redemption and happiness. May the Virgin Mary be an example of Christian love and virtue for us in how we should live our lives of faith, to combat the skepticism, sarcasm, and cynicism of our modern secular world.

11 November 2023 - prayers of the faithful - Saturday of the 31st week in ORDINARY TIME

Lord Jesus - You call us to be missionary in spirit. 

Christ Jesus - You bring us hope. 

Lord Jesus - You bring us the message of your Good News. 

With hope and faith, let us bring our prayers to our heavenly Father: 

1. For Pope Francis: that God will help him lead the Church to greater service, love, and compassion. 

2.  We pray that all Christians may cooperate and collaborate together to proclaim the Gospel and to work for peace and justice.  

3. For peace in those places torn apart by war, especially in Ukraine and in the Holy Land. 

4. For our elected officials, that the Holy Spirit will guide them in addressing issues of violence, injustice, and poverty, and to work more diligently for those who are oppressed or forgotten by society. 

5. For healing and forgiveness in our families and in our communities. 

6. For healing for the sick. 

7. For the faithful departed, for their entry into eternal life, especially for those names inscribed in our book of remembrance.  

8. For the prayers we hold in the silence of our heart:

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

11 November 2023 - Saturday of the 31st week in Ordinary Time - St Martin of Tours - psalm 145

     St. Martin of Tours (316 - 397) lived in the 4th century, but he remains a very popular saint to this day. He was born of pagan parents and was forced to serve in the military at a very young age. He left military service as an adult, having heard the call to serve Christ in a special way in service to the Church. A famous recollection about Martin recounts how he as a soldier met a beggar on the road, how all he had on him was he weapon and his cloak. He cut his cloak in half and gave the other half to this poor man. It was a strange sight to see Martin only wearing half a cloak, but he knew he did the right thing. Martin later became the Bishop of Tours. He worked hard during his lifetime not only fighting the heresies in the Church, but also in trying to bring the heretics back into the flock.

     Another story of Martin’s compassion and mercy is told about the Bishop Ithacus, who was putting heretics to death. Martin objected to this practice, saying that excommunication was sufficient. Martin asked the emperor to spare the life of a man who was accused of heresy. In his anger, Bishop Ithacus accused Martin of the same heresy. Martin’s life was spared, but the other man was executed for his heretical views. Martin tried to cooperate and collaborate with the Bishop on other matters, but also remembered with remorse this man who was executed based on the Bishop’s lack of mercy.

      Our psalm states today: Every day will I bless you, Lord, and I will praise your name forever and ever.  We not only praise the Lord with our words and our thoughts, but also in our actions, our mercy, and our forgiveness.  St Martin of Tours lived out the values expressed in the psalm in his everyday life.  St Martin of Tours, in your mercy and compassion, pray for us.

19 November 2023 – homily for Sunday of 33rd week in Ordinary Time – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, Matthew 25:14-30

      In a letter to the community he founded at the bustling Greek seaport of Thessalonica, Paul writes: You know that the Day of the Lord will certainly come like a thief in the night.  People will say “peace and security,” but suddenly, disaster will come.  And the people will not escape. 

     The members of that community had converted to the Way of Jesus from pagan religions. They put aside all the other messages they heard in the world, choosing to follow Jesus. Paul had to leave that community abruptly, but he was still concerned for their welfare. His letter  encouraged them and advised in the midst of persecution. Paul told them that the Lord’s Second Coming would come at an unexpected and unannounced time, so they needed to be ready.

       Even though Paul wrote those words in the middle of the first century, they still speak to us today.  Back on November 16, 1989, eight Catholics were killed for their faith in the Central American country of El Salvador.  Since the early days of the Church, martyrs have had a special place in the community of saints. As we honor and remember these martyrs from El Salvador, we might wonder: How do their lives and stories affect us here in Mississippi? These killings took place at the height of El Salvador's civil war. That country’s military forces were ordered to kill Jesuit Father Ignacio Ellacuría, the rector of the University of Central America, and to leave no witnesses. They killed him along with five other priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter who were all present at the residence on that day.

       The military forces wanted to kill this Catholic priest and leave no witnesses out of fear of the message that he proclaimed, a message that reached out in love and faith to a country torn apart by civil war.  That message cut to the heart of the poverty and the oppression that afflicted the majority of the population there. Father Ellacuría asked where the justice was in their country, who the military attacked the poor and the marginalized of their own country.  These Jesuit priests asked those questions, making those in power very nervous. As a result, action was taken to destroy these priests and the Gospel message they brought to the world. That is why it is important for us to remember how they died for the faith. 

          It is without a doubt an inspiring story, but what is the connection to us? We think of all the justice issues we are grappling with as a society. Many of the big cities of our country have seen an increase in violence and crime. Our own city of Jackson has a crime level and a broken apart water system and road system that should not exist here in the United States. We can respond to our reality and the reality of our neighbors out of fear and anger. Our we can respond as children of the light, as Paul calls the Thessalonians. These issues that face our local community, our country, and our world are very complicated, but burying our heads in the sand and not taking action is not what our faith calls us to do. 

      The Jesuits have said that the lives and the loss of these martyrs in El Salvador have influenced the Jesuit community in the United States and throughout the world, calling them to think about what it means to be disciples of Christ, what it means to be a Catholic community. It calls us to think about what it means to address issues of social justice in our Church. As I think of how Paul challenged the Thessalonians to be ready for the second coming of Jesus, I think of how death came to the Jesuit martyrs violently and suddenly like a thief in the night. Yet, by their work, their lives, and their witness, they were prepared for the eternal life to come. What about us? 

       Last week, the story of the ten maidens waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom was about constant readiness for the final coming of Christ, as the five wise maidens were prepared and ready to keep their lamps lit, but the five foolish maidens made no such plans or provisions to be ready.  Our parable today tells us about the master who leaves his property with his servants to administer while he is away. Two manage his property prudently and wisely. One does not.  

I think of how we ended our time with the pandemic and so much of our world had changed. Even the reality of our Catholic Church and our parishes has changed. This past summer I visited five different parishes for mission appeals, and as I told our story about our mission Diocese of Jackson, I heard a lot of stories about their reality from the priests and the laity. We here in our parishes are trying to boost our programs of religious education, our outreach in works of charity and mercy, and our evangelization within our parish and beyond.  None of us can take our faith for granted. We all need to do our part in brining new life to our parish, of helping our parish grow and flourish, in helping each one of us on our journey of faith, both as individuals and as a community. 

   Just as Paul encouraged his communities, we need to hear this same message of encouragement in the midst of our reality: to continue to live out our faith with joy and conviction.  To be ready.   And to always be prepared.