5 August - homily for the memorial of the dedication of the St Mary Major Basilica - homily for Wednesday of the 18th week in Ordinary Time Year II - Jeremiah 31:1-7

Today, we celebrate the dedication of the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome, one of the four major basilicas in the holy city. It might seem strange that we dedicate an important feast day in our Church to a building, especially since the emphasis after the Second Vatican Council has been about how the Church is more than a building, how the people themselves are the Church, the Body of Christ. Yet, this basilica is an important center of worship of our faith. This basilica is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The original basilica dates back to the 4th century, with the current building dating from the 5th century, right after the Council of Ephesus declared Mary to be the “Theotokos,” the God bearer, the Mother of God. My first assignment as pastor was at St Mary Catholic Church in Yazoo City, a parish that was founded prior to the Civil War and that had a beautiful church building built in 1907, so I feel a deep emotional connection to the feast we celebrate today. 

The prophet Jeremiah delivers a message from God today: “With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you.” God tells the people he will restore them, that they will be rebuilt. God gives the people a powerful passage of restoration, of unconditional love and consolation. God promises to bring the Israelites out of their Babylonian exile, back to their homeland, to restore their relationship as God’s chosen people. No matter how broken we may feel, God can restore us and bring us back to hope and healing. 

5 August 2026 - prayers of the faithful for Wednesday of the 18th week in Ordinary Time

Lord Jesus - you call us to forgiveness. 

Christ Jesus - you are the word of God. 

Lord Jesus - you call us to holiness. 

Priest: We now present our prayers to our heavenly Father. 

1. That the Church rededicate herself to living and proclaiming Christ's love and compassion to the world.  

2 For those living in confusion, ignorance or doubt. May they be filled with the light of Christ. 

3 May we encourage and support one another by devoting ourselves to God’s Word, to the breaking of the bread, and to prayer.  

4 For those who need to see the concrete evidence of divine mystery. May God help us to be aware of his mystery so as to continue to grow in our own lives of faith.  

5. For the grace to face the trials and difficulties of life with confidence and hope. 

6.  For the sick and afflicted. For healing and wholeness. 

7. For the repose of the souls of the faithful departed.

8. For the prayers we hold in the silence of our hearts. 

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

4 August 2026 - prayers of the faithful for Tuesday of the 18th week in Ordinary Time

Lord Jesus - you bring us hope. 

Christ Jesus - you are our savior and our redeemer. 

Lord Jesus - you are seated at the right hand of the father. 

Priest: May the prayers of our hearts be directed by the will of God as we pray for our needs, the needs of the Church, and the needs of the world: 

1. That the Lord may watch over the holy Church and care for her. 

2. That the Lord may preserve harmony amongst the people of the world. 

3. That the Lord may grant relief to those who are oppressed and for those who on the margins. 

4. For our community of faith, that the Lord may receive us as a sacrifice acceptable to him. 

5. For all of us assembled here today to worship in faith, that we may work together in our proclamation of God's kingdom. 

6. For the faithful departed. For their entry into eternal life. For the souls in purgatory. 

7. For the prayers we hold in the silence of our hearts. 

Priest: O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church today, made through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever. AMEN. 

4 August 2026 - St John Vianney - homily for Tuesday of the the 18th week in Ordinary Time Year II - Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22

We celebrate John Vianney today. Born in 1786, just a few years before the start of the French Revolution, John Vianney experienced many obstacles in following his faith and becoming a priest. He had very little formal schooling and struggled through his seminary studies, barely receiving a passing grade.  He was put in a parish in a rural area of France, where the Bishop thought he would do the least harm, since he seemed so ill equipped for the priesthood. When he arrived at his parish, the people were very indifferent to following the practices of the faith. Through fasting and prayer, he endured these obstacles that faced him and grew in his abilities and wisdom. He became well-known for his preaching, for his compassion and zeal as a confessor, and for his wisdom as a spiritual director. As his reputation grew, more than 300 people visited him each day from all over France to hear him preach and to go to the sacrament of reconciliation with him.

He died in 1859 and was canonized a saint in 1925 by Pope Pius XI, who made John Vianney the patron saint of parish priests in 1929.  Pope John Paul II visited the French village of Ars in 1986 in connection with the 200th anniversary of John Vianney’s birth, calling him “a sign of courage for those who today experience the grace of being called to the priesthood.”  On the 150th anniversary of his death, Pope Benedict XVI declared the Year of the Priest. On the 160th anniversary of John Vianney’s death, Pope Francis wrote a letter to his priests. Pope Francis commended the “countless priests (who) make of their lives a work of mercy in areas or situations that are often hostile, isolated or ignored, even at the risk of their lives.” To persevere in the priesthood, Pope Francis called his priests to the virtue of gratitude, stating: “Only if we are able to contemplate and feel genuine gratitude for all those ways we have experienced God’s love, generosity, solidarity and trust, as well as his forgiveness, patience, forbearance and compassion, will we allow the Spirit to grant us the freshness that can renew our life and mission.” This is good advice not only for priests, but for all the faithful. We all need models of faith. The faith of St John Vianney calls out to all of us today. 

The prophet Jeremiah offers a brutally honest message of divine healing and restoration. It contrasts the raw reality of profound suffering of the people, with their seemingly incurable wounds. God gives a promise of restoration, vowing to heal their brokenness and to draw them closer to him. God’s love and mercy is greater than any human betrayal and transgressions. God will rebuild his people from the ruins. God always seeks out the lost. He promises to heal those who seem incurable. He will reconcile his people to himself. 

Bulletin Reflection - 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2 August 2026

It is hard to believe that it is August already. Doesn’t it seem like summer just started? We are all so busy all the time that the summer just speeds by. In two weekends, we will celebrate our 60th anniversary at Holy Savior. We hope that you plan on being at the anniversary Mass with Bishop Kopacz on Sunday, August 16, at 10:30 am. We give thanks for our parish and for the dedication of so many members throughout the years. Our prayers are with our students and families as the new school year begins. We are also looking forward to the new year of religious education starting up. Blessings to all of you this week in the midst of our busy lives. Father Lincoln. 

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.