Prayers of the faithful - 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 22 September 2024 - prison ministry

Priest - penitential rite

Lord Jesus - your law is perfect.

Christ Jesus - your decrees are trustworthy. 

Lord Jesus - your ordinances are true.

Priest: Let us offer our prayers in confidence today, knowing that God will hear them and answer them according to his will:

1. That our Church leaders may humbly serve their people with wisdom and compassion. We pray to the Lord.

2. For nations torn apart by war or civil unrest. May they seek reconciliation and peace. We pray for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine. We also pray for peace and healing among the men and women here at CMCF. We pray to the Lord.

3. For judges, advocates, and civil servants. For those who uphold the rights of all here in the United States. We pray to the Lord.

4. For our children and youth, that the Lord continue to accompany them in their school activities and studies this school year.  We pray for all the men here at CMCF studying in different programs. We pray to the Lord.

5. That members of our Catholic community of St Michael the Archangel may find joy in God’s commandments and peace in his presence. We pray to the Lord.

6. For those who have died. For their entry into eternal life. For the souls in purgatory. We pray to the Lord.

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

Priest: God of mercy, you will judge us in the last days. Hear the prayers of our hearts today and grant them through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever. Amen.

Prayers of the faithful - 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 22 September 2024

Introduction: As we gather around the table to the Lord today, many we feel God’s love and mercy filling our hearts, calling us to live out the values of the Gospel each day in our daily lives. May the Eucharist we receive at Mass today encourage us to be Eucharistic missionaries in the world.

Priest - penitential rite

Lord Jesus - your law is perfect.

Christ Jesus - your decrees are trustworthy. Lord Jesus - your ordinances are true.

Priest: Let us offer our prayers in confidence today, knowing that God will hear them and answer them according to his will:

1. For all leaders in Christ’s Church, that they may humbly serve with wisdom and compassion. We pray to the Lord.

2. For nations torn apart by war or civil unrest. May they seek reconciliation and peaceful alternatives to violence. We pray for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine. We pray to the Lord.

3. For judges, advocates, and civil servants. For those who uphold the rights of the poor and the oppressed. We pray to the Lord.

4. For our children and youth, that the Lord continue to accompany them in their school activities and studies this school year. We pray to the Lord.

5. That members of our parish community may find joy in God’s commandments and peace in his presence. We pray to the Lord.

6. For the faithful departed. For the entry into eternal life. For the souls in purgatory. We pray to the Lord.

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

Priest: God of mercy, you will judge us in the last days. Hear the prayers of our hearts today and grant them through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever. Amen.

Bulletin reflection - 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 22 September 2024

We have had a very hot and humid summer. I know that all of us are looking for the cooler weather of the autumn season. This Sunday morning is the start of autumn. This upcoming Friday at the Daily Mass, our first reading is from the third chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes. This wisdom book proclaims: “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every thing under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.” The cool weather of the fall will later give way to the colder weather of the winter. The autumn colors of the trees will give way to the barren trees of the winter, then the new life of the spring. Let us welcome the season of autumn this weekend and the seasons of our faith under the direction of the Lord. Father Lincoln.

22 September 2024 - 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - James 3:16-4:3 - Luke 7:1-10

These past few weekends, we have been reflecting on the readings from the Letter of James.  If you have not ever read James in its entirety, I urge you to do so, as it is so instructive in calling us to live out a vibrant, life-giving faith, urging us to be doers of the Word of God in our lives and to bear fruits out of our faith. Even though it was written in Ancient Israel, this letter gives savvy advice and social commentary, so much so that it may seem like it had been written in the modern world specifically for us. 

James sees many different things when he looks at the reality of the Christian community of his day. He sees peacemakers in that community who are working toward unity and solidarity.  But he also sees those who are planting seeds of discord with their jealousies and ambitions. In our secular world we hear a lot of different messages. Often, the message is to desire more, to attack those with whom we disagree, and to want more than what we have. It is good to have ambitions and to strive toward something if our goal is fruitful, constructive, and healthy, but James warns us that if we get caught up in a cycle of bottomless desire, it can never be satisfied. Bitterness can overtake us as individual lives and destroy our community. There are a lot of sins and addictions that people struggle with in our world today, but perhaps our greatest is our greed and the way we covet what is not ours. James directs us to the need to journey as a community in solidarity and unity, where we work together, affirm one another, and encourage one another. 

We can be witnesses for the faith in simple ways. Several years ago, I went to California on a mission appeal. Flying back to Jackson, I was waiting to board my flight at John Wayne airport in Orange County.  I got to talking to a lady next to me who was flying back to Alabama. I told her I was a Catholic priest in Mississippi. Unbeknownst to me, there was a man seated behind me who overheard that conversation. As we boarded the plane, which was almost completely full, wouldn’t you know that I ended up in the same row as that man on the plane. He told me he was so excited that he was going to seated with a priest. Usually I am not chatty at all on a plane. I love to read; I usually read the entire flight.  But I could sense that this man wanted to talk to me. We ended up chatting the entire flight. He was so on fire with his Catholic faith, so excited to tell me about his two pilgrimages to Our Lady of Medjugorje in Bosnia and his devotion to St Michael the Archangel. He told me about the different struggles he has had on his journey of faith. He also urged me to read a book on Our Lady of Kibeho, an apparition of the Blessed Mother that took place in Rwanda, Africa in the 1980s. We exchanged phone numbers, and we have kept in touch through texts and emails ever since. Both of us feel that the Holy Spirit brought us together to help each other on our journey of faith.  

Many things that happen on our journey of faith are made possible by God’s grace and the work of the Holy Spirit. If we are not open to God’s grace interacting in our lives, none of this will be possible. And we have to be open to respond to God’s grace, to take action, to be on fire with faith.

 

20 September 2024 - Friday of the 24th week in Ordinary Time - 1 Corinthians 15:12-20

At the end of the Nicene Creed, which we profess at our weekend Masses, we proclaim, “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul addresses the resurrection of the dead, which many Corinthians have trouble believing. In a well crafted-argument, Paul claims that Christ’s resurrection is the proof of the resurrection of all of us. Christ’s resurrection is at the foundation of our faith. Paul and the apostles claim Christ’s resurrection as the first-fruits, not only heralding the resurrection of all Christians, but the cause of our resurrection as well. It was a custom of the ancient Jews to offer the first sheaf of the harvest to God in acknowledgment of the whole harvest as a gift from God, a gift to be used by his people in love and service. In this spirit, Christ can be seen as the first sheaf of the great harvest in which God gathers us into eternal life to be with him forever.  May we pray for the faithful departed, for their entry into eternal life, that they be included in the great harvest of the Lord.  

19 September 2024 - St Januarius - Thursday of the 24th week of Ordinary Time - Luke 7:36-50

Today, we celebrate the feast day of St Januarius, the Bishop of Naples who died in the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century. Traditionally, on this day and on two other occasions each year, the blood of St Januarius, which is kept in a glass container, liquifies. According to recorded documentation, this miracle has taken place since at least the year 1389. The Church believes that the miracle takes place in response to the dedication and prayers of the faithful. When the miracle occurs, the mass of reddish dried blood, adhering to one side of the glass container, turns into completely liquid blood, covering the glass from side to side.

As we celebrate St Januarius today, our Gospel depicts Jesus’ interaction with two different individuals. First we have Simon the Pharisee, who magnifies the faults of others. That is such an easy way to go through life: looking at our family, friends, and co-workers, seeing their faults, pointing them out, and feeling superior to them. Simon is arrogant; he finds fault in a woman who comes to Jesus, but he minimizes his own faults. By contrast, the woman in the Gospel recognizes her own sinfulness. She knows she has problems. She wants Jesus to find it in his heart to forgive her and to help her change. She has a worshipful appreciation of Jesus as he forgives her and heals her. God wants all of us to have this same worshipful appreciation for Jesus as he reaches out to us in his teachings and in his proclamation of God's kingdom, as we receive inner healing from our relationship with him. Jesus responds to Simon’s retort against this woman as her sins have been forgiven her and as she is showing great love. God wants us to recognize that there is a connection to the forgiveness of our sins and to the compassion and love that we give in response – that is what God is calling us to do. 

 

18 September 2024 - Wednesday of the 24th week in Ordinary time - 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13

We hear the very profound reading from the 13th Chapter of St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians today, a reading that is often heard at weddings, with its reflection on the different aspects of love. Paul states that we can have the faith to move a mountain or we can give away all we have in charity, but if we do so without love in our hearts, then it is all meaningless. Before his conversion, Paul had great faith and zeal. However, it was not until Paul was shaken up by God’s love that he was made capable of fulfilling God’s will in his life. Until he gave his heart over to Christ, he was not “Paul” as we know him today, the great evangelizer and Church Father.  

In his weekly general audience in February 2013, Pope Benedict XVI stated that the first chapter of Genesis reveals the fundamental truth about reality: that the world is not the result of chaos, but is born of and continually supported by God's love. The creation story shows that everything God creates is "beautiful and good, filled with wisdom and love; God's creative action brings order, leads to harmony and gives beauty.”  When humanity rebelled against God and the harmony in nature, Christ was sent into the world so that we could return to this love. As we witness a lot of environmental destruction in the world today, we may wonder where all this is going, if we are truly following God’s will for us as the human race in harmony and unity with all of God’s creation. We are called back to the path that Christ forged here on earth. We are called back to the path of St Paul, to the love of Christ that so captured his soul. What do we have to do to get back on that path?