Date: August 16th 2007
| Help Our Parish Grow! |
|
A stagnant parish is a dying parish. Jesus commissions every soul at his/her baptism to bring the unsaved into his Church through the gifts of the Spirit he has endowed each baptized soul with... that includes you! The means by which an adult is delivered from sin and brought to eternal life is the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (abbreviated as R.C.I.A.). Please think of who God has placed in your life who needs Christ in their life right now and bring them to R.C.I.A. on Sunday nights at our parish at 6:30 p.m. in the Religious Ed. Building. Call Shaun Terry if you have any questions at (979) 203-4204. |
|
You're Invited to a Going-Away Reception. |
|
Carson and Rebecca Weber are hitting the road on Monday, August 20th for California. Carson will be serving the Diocese of Sacramento as the Director of Evangelization for Bishop William Weigand, and Shaun Terry will replace him as our parish Dir. of Adult Faith Formation & Evangelization. Please come and say goodbye to the Webers in the Parish Activity Center after the 10:30 a.m. Mass this Sunday. |
|
Our Privilege as Prophets |
|
This Sunday, the first reading is taken from Ch. 38 of the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, which recounts the suffering of Jeremiah at the hands of his countrymen because he refused to stop proclaiming the prophetic message given him by God: “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” (Jer 20:9).
In the Gospel, Jesus (the New Jeremiah) tells of the division he is causing due to his ministry: “I have come to set the earth on fire and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Luke 12:49). Just as Jeremiah foretold the destruction of Jerusalem in the early 6th Century B.C. due to Israel’s unfaithfulness, so the New Jeremiah now foretells the destruction of Jerusalem in the 1st Century A.D. due to Israel’s unfaithfulness (See Luke 21:20-24). Jesus dared not withhold his prophetic warning, for it was life-saving, in a very real sense. In just 40 years (one generation), Jerusalem would be judged and destroyed by the Roman imperial troops. Like Jeremiah, Jesus’ message cost him friends, bodily safety, and comfortable living, even though it was true. The second reading is taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews (12:1-4), which exhorts perseverance in the Christian life. “Consider how [Jesus] endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart” (v. 3). As Christ-ians, we look to the Christ as our role model in living the Christian life. If you are baptized, then you have been endowed with the prophetic office! Listen to the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer. Lay people fulfill their prophetic mission by evangelization, that is, the proclamation of Christ by word and the testimony of life. For lay people, this evangelization acquires a specific property and peculiar efficacy because it is accomplished in the ordinary circumstances of the world. This witness of life, however, is not the sole element in the apostolate; the true apostle is on the lookout for occasions of announcing Christ by word, either to unbelievers or to the faithful. (Paragraphs 904-905) Each and every Catholic is called to bear witness to Christ as a prophet, and this continued work will bring the lay apostle hardship in the footsteps of Jesus.
St. Jean Vianney (1786-1859 AD) wrote encouraging words for us in his Catechism on Suffering: We complain of suffering! We should have much more reason to complain of not suffering, since nothing makes us more like Our Lord than carrying His Cross. Oh, what a beautiful union of the soul with Our Lord Jesus Christ by the love and the virtue of His Cross! I do not understand how a Christian can dislike the Cross and fly from it! Does he not at the same time fly from Him who has deigned to be fastened to it, and to die for us? |
|
<< Previous: The Assumption of Mary into Heaven |
| Archive Index | |
Next: Sunday, August 26 >> |
)
Send this message to a friend:
Subscribers to this email list will receive parish news as soon as it is made available as well as the weekly Scripture commentary featured in our parish bulletin.
Subscribe to St. Mary Parish:
Go back to St. Mary Parish Website
Powered by Dada Mail 2.10.12
Copyright © 1999-2006, Simoni Creative.