St. Mary Parish

Sunday, October 21

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:42:00 GMT

101 Questions about the Mass

Do you really know what's going on during Mass? Click here to download an Adobe Acrobat PDF document that contains 101 questions and answers pertaining to the Mass.

Lifting Holy Hands

In our first reading today, taken from Exodus 17:8-13, Israel had the better of the fight against its adversary, Amalek, as long as Moses’ hands were outstretched in the form of a cross. This posture of prayer, known as the orans, was a popular figure painted on the ancient walls of the Christian catacombs.

The man whom Moses commanded to go out and fight Amalek was Joshua: “So Joshua did as Moses told him: he engaged Amalek in battle” (v. 10). Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name: Joshua, which means “God saves” (See Matthew 1:21).

Here, in the second book of the Bible, foreshadowings of Jesus and the victory of his Holy Cross are provided for our instruction. This is why St. Paul says in our second reading: “from infancy, you have known the Sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). In this passage, Paul speaks solely of the Old Testament, for the New Testament had not yet come into existence. The prophecies and foreshadows of Jesus were – and still are – numerous and powerful.

As Joshua “mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword,” so Jesus battled Satan not with the sword, but with sacrificial love nailed to the Cross. By his perseverance on Calvary, Jesus’ outstretched arms won eternal life for all who obey him in faith.

In the Gospel (Luke 18:1-8), Jesus “told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.” As our head and model, Jesus has paved the way. Prayer was not a peripheral activity for our Master. Throughout his Gospel, Luke shows Jesus praying more than he speaks of prayer. Biblical scholars often refer to the Gospel of Luke as the Gospel of Prayer (See Lk 3:21; 6:12-16; 9:18-20).

So, why should we persevere in prayer? The answer is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

For we have not been commanded to work, to keep watch and to fast constantly, but it has been laid down that we are to pray without ceasing. This tireless fervor can come only from love. Against our dullness and laziness, the battle of prayer is that of humble, trusting, & persevering love. (#2742)

In one of his Fourth Century homilies, the famous bishop of Constantinople, St. John Chrysostom said: “It is possible to offer fervent prayer even while walking in public or strolling alone, or seated in your shop… while buying or selling… or even while cooking.”

Seventeen centuries later, these words are as relevant as ever to us, as are those of today’s Gospel. Joshua desires to win the battle over sin in our lives. It’s time for us to imitate Moses, to lift our holy hands in prayer and to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

If you would like to access and read the Scripture readings for the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, please click here to access them on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' website.

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Sunday, October 14

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:33:00 GMT

Champtions of Faith - Baseball Edition - on DVD

Watch a groundbreaking film that showcases the intersection of sports and Catholic faith in Major League Baseball by profiling many of the most accomplished and devout figures in the game both on and off the field. Major League baseball champions Mike Piazza, David Eckstein, Jeff Suppan, Mike Sweeney, Jack McKeon and Rich Donnelly lead an All-Star line-up in this moving and uplifting sports special that tells the story of faith in baseball like no other film ever made. Visit http://ChampionsofFaith.com

Saved from Spiritual Leprosy

In the first reading (2 Kings 5:14-17) and the Gospel (Luke 17:11-19), lepers are healed. In the former, the leper is a foreigner, an Assyrian general by the name of Naaman. In the latter, the leper is a Samaritan, a foreigner as well. Both obeyed the command of a man of God (Elisha and Jesus), which resulted in the full healing of their leprosy. Finally, both expressed their sincere gratitude generously. Naaman proclaimed: “I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the LORD!” The Samaritan “returned, glorifying God in a loud voice, and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.”

Leprosy was an illness that, according to the Mosaic Law, excluded its victim from the community (Cf. Lev 13:45-46). It served as a sign that points towards the spiritual leprosy that affects all of us, that of sin.

In our human nature, we are naturally estranged from God. We are spiritual lepers, foreigners to God and his covenant family. As was the case in ancient times, we cannot cure ourselves of our leprosy. The most we can do is cry out: “Jesus… Have pity on us!” (Lk 17:13)

Naaman plunged 7 times in the Jordan and so was healed of his leprosy. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament that Jesus and the Apostles used, the Greek verb translated as “plunged” is the same verb used in the Greek New Testament for baptism: baptizo. St. Irenaeus, the Second Century Bishop of Lyons in Gaul (today, France) makes the connection for us:

“And [Naaman] dipped himself … seven times in the Jordan. It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but this served as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as newborn babes, even as the Lord has declared: 'Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.'” (Fragment, 34)

So it is in Holy Baptism that Jesus extends his healing mercy to every man, woman, and child, whether Jew or Gentile, rich or poor. He then nourishes us with his sacrificial body and blood in the Holy Eucharist to forgive us of our lesser post-baptismal sins. If one sins grievously, there is Confession or Reconciliation. And when one is tremendously ill in body, the Anointing of the Sick, which is yet another means of forgiveness.

In the 7 Sacraments, “the LORD has revealed to the nations his saving power” (Ps 98:2). These powerful gifts demand faithfulness, for the rites are coupled with great responsibility. St. Paul reminds us in the second reading that we must persevere in the new life we’ve received: “if we persevere, we shall also reign with him, but if we deny him he will deny us” (2 Tim 2:12).

If you would like to access and read the Scripture readings for the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, please click here to access them on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' website.

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Sunday, October 7

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 13:01:00 GMT

That Catholic Show

To view short, multimedia video clips on various topics of our Catholic Faith that are entertaining, humorous, & educational, visit ThatCatholicShow.com

Join the Society of St. Vincent de Paul

Recruitment is going on right now! This weekend, after Mass, information tables will be in place outside of the church.

The Just Shall Live by Faith

“The just one, because of his faith, shall live” (Hab 2:4). This is the final verse of today’s first reading, taken from the Book of the Prophet Habakkuk. This line is quoted in three places in the New Testament: Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; and Hebrews 10:38. If the authors of the New Testament were so familiar with this seemingly obscure prophet, then perhaps it is time we familiarize ourselves with the prophets and their messages through our own serious study of the Bible from within the heart of the Church of Christ.

The Liturgy of the Church goes beyond the Mass and the celebration of the other sacraments. It goes on to include the Liturgy of the Hours (i.e. The Divine Office): prayers for various times in the morning, the day, and at night. Most all priests, religious, and seminarians pray this, and it has become a popular source of prayer for many of the lay faithful. The responsorial psalm at Mass today is Psalm 95, which is prayed during the Invitatory, at the very beginning of every day’s prayer. It reminds us of God’s holy majesty and twice calls the people to praise and worship God, warning us to be more faithful than our ancestors were in their journey through the desert wilderness to the Promised Land.

In our second reading, St. Paul exhorts St. Timothy: “Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us” (2 Tim 1:13-14). This rich trust is also called the deposit of faith, and the Catechism tells us what it consists of:

The apostles entrusted the sacred deposit of the faith (the depositum fidei), contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the whole of the Church. (Paragraph 84)

Paul also says to “not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord” (v. 8). We should never be ashamed to pray in public or to give testimony to God and our faith in him, for “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power” (v. 7). We, the Church, have been entrusted with divine truth not so that it may be hidden away, but rather so that it might be made manifest as we bear testimony to the Lord and share his truth with our family, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors.

Due to the immense size of the task set before us, we turn to Jesus – like the apostles did in today’s Gospel – and say to him: “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). In turn, Jesus arouses and sustains our faith by the gift of the Spirit of truth. He guides and corrects our faith by the sacred teaching authority of the Church. He inspires our faith through the holy witness of the saints who have gone before us. Finally, he crowns our faith with the gift of eternal life if we remain united to him until the moment of our death by persevering in that same faith.

If you would like to access and read the Scripture readings for the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, please click here to access them on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' website.

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Sunday, September 30

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:32:00 GMT

Society of St. Vincent de Paul

If you are interested in helping with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, please attend our meeting this Monday evening, Oct 1 at 7 p.m. in the PAC. Or, you may contact Elizabeth Nutt at (979) 836-4218.

Ethics & Integrity Workshops

If you need to attend an Ethics & Integrity Workshop, please register as soon as possible. The next workshop to be held at our parish will be Saturday, Oct. 20 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. To register, please call our parish office at (979) 836-4441.

I Must Confess

At the Easter Vigil, just before adult converts receive their baptism, they profess the Creed, a word taken from the Latin Credo: “I believe.” This confession is ancient… so ancient that St. Paul mentions it in his First Epistle to Timothy, which is read aloud to us in today’s second reading: “Compete well for the faith! Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Tim 6:12). Every Sunday, we renew our own confession as we pray the Nicene Creed right after listening to the homily.

The command of St. Paul to St. Timothy then is the same command for us today: “keep the commandment without stain or reproach” (6:14). As we leave the church when Mass concludes, we are to hold fast to our confession of faith, to bear witness to the “King of Kings and Lord of lords” (6:15) to whom we professed our allegiance within the Sacred Liturgy.

In the responsorial psalm, we hear: “Blessed he who keeps faith forever” (Ps 146:6). Notice that it doesn’t say: “Blessed is he who keeps faith only on Sundays.” We’re given the title, “the lay faithful” for good reason.

So, what does this look like, practically speaking? Paul doesn’t speak solely in lofty terms, but instead, gets right down to it: “pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness” (1 Tim 6:11). Our faith takes on flesh in daily prayer, acts of faith, righteous living, and being patient, gentle, & loving with others.

Unfortunately, our churches are often filled with more women than men. The increasing phenomenon of an absence of men in religious activities is due to several reasons including the feminization of the hymns we sing and pray. An antidote to this problem is found in St. Paul’s command: “Compete well for the faith” (1 Tim 6:12). He gives us a role model when persevering in the faith: “Christ Jesus, who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate for the noble confession” (6:13).

Competition, bold testimony, facing death, courage – these are the images St. Paul uses when en-couraging others to boldly follow Jesus. Catholicism is a sport with eternal rewards, a life that entails perseverance in courageous witness, a form of holy competition. These qualities of our religion are attractive to a masculine outlook on life. As they are proclaimed, men discover in Christ their true masculine identity.

The Second Vatican Council proclaimed: “Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and his love, fully reveals man to man himself & makes his supreme calling clear” (Gaudium et Spes, n. 22). Christ reveals to each of us – whether male or female – our supreme calling as human creatures.

If you would like to access and read the Scripture readings for the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, please click here to access them on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' website.

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Sunday, September 23

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:24:00 GMT

Junior High Youth Group Kick-Off!

If you're in Junior High, come join us next Sunday, September 30 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Hohlt Park on the north end of town off Business 36. We'll be playing volleyball and serving up hot dogs on the grill! Bring your friends... and call Fr. Borruel at 836-4441 if you have any questions.

Want a Refresher in Your Catholic Faith?

Parishioners are welcome to drop in and listen on R.C.I.A. sessions in the Religious Education Center Building on Sunday evenings between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. We have more than a few people attending who are not Catholic - come and say "hi" to them and welcome them to our parish... you wouldn't believe what that kind of hospitality means to these brave souls who are inquiring into the Catholic Faith.

Choose Your Master

Today’s second reading answers the longing of the human heart that asks: Is there a God? Is sin a myth or a reality? If so, how do we become reconciled with this God? Is this God a personal, loving God, or is he disinterested or impersonal? Is there only one God, or are there a plurality of Gods? Is there such a thing as objective truth, or is truth an illusion and all is relative?

Saint Paul says that God “wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:4-6). So many questions of the human heart find an answer in this one small, simple passage taken from Paul’s 1st Letter to Timothy.

As members of the human race, we are born poor, without the saving grace of God. We are among dust, seated in the dunghill of our sin. In today’s Psalm, we sing: “He raises up the lowly from the dust; from the dunghill he lifts up the poor to seat them with princes” (Psalm 113:7-8). In Christ, we are ransomed from our sinful depravity and seated with the heavenly court. He alone reconciles us to God, for there is no other savior, no other path of salvation, no other way.

When our souls are filled with the supernatural life of God first in baptism, then subsequently through the other sacraments, we are joined to Christ so intimately that Paul calls us “the body of Christ” (1 Cor 12:27). We are given the profound privilege of participating in Christ’s work of reconciling men with God. We offer “prayers … for everyone … in all devotion and dignity,” for “this is good and pleasing to God our savior” (1 Tim 2:1-3). We become evangelizers who intercede for the salvation of souls through prayer and apostolic works.

The Gospel parable taken from Luke 16:1-13 can be summed up in the final verse, which says, “You cannot serve both God and mammon.” Mammon is the Greek transliteration of a Hebrew or Aramaic word that means literally: “that in which one trusts.” It was a word used to denote monetary wealth. Jesus specifically uses this term to emphasize that trust is to be placed not in the passing wealth of the here and now but rather in the God who is the purpose for our existence.

Between this Sunday and the next, will you spend your time serving your monetary savings, your luxury car, the many and various things you’ve acquired, the large house you don’t really need, or the frivolous electronic devices that steal your time and numb you from reality? Or, will your time be invested in a personal, vital, and living relationship with your savior, Jesus Christ and in serving him? Let us follow the example of St. Paul who summarized life’s meaning with: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).

If you would like to access and read the Scripture readings for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, please click here to access them on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' website.

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Sunday, September 16

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:36:00 GMT

Check Out a Great New Catholic Website

MyCatholic.com is a great Catholic homepage for your Internet web browser.

Our Annual Hispanic Festival

is going on this weekend! It begins with a dance at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Saturday night from 8:00 p.m. 'til midnight with only a $10 cover charge. It will continue with a festival in the Parish Activity Center on Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Come on out and enjoy the great food, fellowship, and fun! Bring your friends.

To Save Sinners

Today, we read from the Book of Exodus, which tells of a conversation God had with Moses just after Israel committed the grave sin of idolatry. To be specific, Israel created a golden calf and worshipped it. Why? They had just been delivered from Egypt, & Egyptians worshipped cattle as gods much like Hindus do today. The Israelites had become entrenched in Egypt’s idolatry during the 430 years they lived there.

God began to speak to Moses as if he wanted nothing to do with Israel: “Go down at once to your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt … Let me alone, then, that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then, I will make of you a great nation” (Exodus 32:7,10). This sounds like one parent saying to the other: “Your child is so unruly!”

If I were Moses, I would have said, “Sounds great! Let’s get started with this new People of Moses thing.” Instead, Moses acted as a selfless mediator for Israel. He reminded God of just who Israel belonged to and who it was that brought Israel out of Egypt: “Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt?”

Moses then pinned God in a corner by reminding him of his covenant with Israel, to multiply them and give them the Promised Land. Surely God couldn’t go against his immutable promise. “So the Lord relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people” (v. 14). Did God really need to be reminded of his prior covenant? Did Moses really corner God? Or, was God teaching Moses an important lesson?

Moses was led to decide between his own glory and the good of his kinsmen. God taught him how to be a selfless mediator. He was led to the important truth that God is always faithful to his promises. In his merciful foreknowledge, God entered into a covenant long ago with Israel, which eventually saved Israel from its own destruction.

As the New Moses, Jesus serves as the ultimate mediator on our behalf before the throne of God. The New Covenant, made in the blood of Jesus, saves us from our eternal destruction. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).

The Church’s mission is the same mission of Jesus extended through time: to save sinners. So let us imitate Jesus who in today’s Gospel is found among sinners so as to save them, to bring them into the fold of the flock. If we don’t leave our comfortable cliques to get to personally know and invite sinners to salvation in Christ Jesus, who will? Being Catholic is not a private privilege we keep to ourselves. Rather, it’s an invaluable gift that is to be shared liberally!

If you would like to access and read the Scripture readings for the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, please click here to access them on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' website.

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Sunday, September 9

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 23:11:00 GMT

Our Annual Polish Heritage Festival..

..will be held on Sunday, October 28th this fall, so be sure to mark your calendars! Right now, we're in need of donations of non-perishable food items for the food booth. You may bring them to the parish office or drop them off in the back of the church. The deadline for food items is October 8.

Three Music Groups Are Being Formed

Our parish Director of Music Ministry, Jason Phillips, is the person to talk to. Please call him at (979) 836-9329. The three groups are a Children's Choir, a Handbell Choir, and a Brass Ensemble. Each group will begin rehearsals in September.

Counsel for Our Love Life

In this Sunday’s responsorial psalm, we are reminded of our own mortality: “You make an end of them in their sleep; the next morning they are like the changing grass, which at dawn springs up anew, but by evening wilts and fades” (Psalm 90:5-6). Our lives are short. So quickly we forget our mortality, our littleness, and the brevity of this earthly life. Our death is inevitable.

The first reading is taken from Wisdom 9:13-18. In our ignorance and mortal frailty, we are in need of “God’s counsel” to know what to do with the few hours granted us in this life. “Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high? And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight, and men learned what was your pleasure, and were saved by Wisdom” (9:17-18).

God’s Wisdom – the Divine Word – became flesh, and through the Holy Gospel, our earthly paths are made straight. For this reason, we stand when the Gospel is read. As those in a courtroom rise for the judge, or as all rise when a person of importance enters the room, so we rise to honor the words of our King, to learn the path we must follow to imitate him in his footsteps.

In today’s Gospel, taken from Luke 14:25-33, Jesus addressed not just the intimate circle of his twelve apostles, but the “great crowds.” To them, to you, to me, he said, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

In the first century, the cross was the equivalent of the torture chamber. Jesus’ audience knew full well what went into the horrific punishment of crucifixion, and he used this image to emphasize the radical commitment of the Christian life. One must be willing to give all, even one’s own life, for the sake of the mission ahead. Family ties, material possessions, secular ambitions, etc. must all be laid at the altar in today’s Mass. Not one aspect of our lives carries greater importance than the goal of our Christian baptism: personal holiness. This holiness is obtained through the sacrifice of self.

In Jesus, we are given a purpose worth dying for. In fact, the Twentieth Century witnessed more martyrs than the previous nineteen centuries combined! If we do not give God the gift of traditional martyrdom, we are still called to the unbloody martyrdom of dying to one’s own self. In losing our life, we gain eternal life. This is the mystery, the paradox, of Christianity. It’s also the fundamental driving force behind the covenant of Holy Matrimony, which is itself an image of the nuptial love between Christ and the Church.

In 197 AD, Tertullian wrote: “It is a love so noble that causes our enemies to put a brand upon us. ‘See,’ they say, ‘how they love one another’” (Apology, 39).

If you would like to access and read the Scripture readings for the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, please click here to access them on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' website.

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Sunday, September 2

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 00:54:00 GMT

Middle School Youth Rally

The Diocese of Austin's Middle School Youth Rally will be held on Saturday, September 15 at St. Jerome Parish in Waco. The theme of the rally is Breaking Free and will go from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cost is $15 per person, which includes food and supplies. Please call Fr. Alberto Borruel at (979) 836-4441 or Mary Kuecker at (979) 836-6954.

The Best Bible Study in Brenham Begins This Week!

Even though we already have many, many people who have registered for the Adventures in Revelation Bible study, we will keep registrations open as long as people wish to register. Please call Shaun Terry at (979) 836-5485 to register yourself or a friend ASAP! For full information on this amazing opportunity, please click here.

Humble Yourself the More

Our salvation consists in being conformed to the image of the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ. Baptism is the beginning of this incredible journey of transformation wherein we put off the old self and grow as sons and daughters of God. This is the purpose of our lives.

The very nature of God – and likewise, our sonship – is selfless, life-giving love. That’s who the Trinity is. The Father eternally pours his life, his love out as a gift to the Son. The Son eternally receives this gift entirely and then gives it right back to the Father. This gift of love is not an impersonal “something,” but someone: the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the bond of love between the Father and the Son. As an eternal communion of love, our Triune God is love (See 1 John 4:8, 16).

The vice of pride is one hundred percent completely at odds with who God is and by extension, who we are called to become. God tells us, time and time again, through his sacred Word, to be humble. Such is the case with the first reading: “My child, conduct your affairs with humility… Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God” (Sir 3:17-18). Yet God does not merely tell us to exercise humility; he actually gives us an example as our model in the person, life, and work of Jesus.

The eternal, selfless, life-giving love of God manifested itself in Jesus. Jesus couldn’t stop doing in time what he had been doing for all of eternity. In Jesus, we see the very eternal nature of God lived out in the flesh. Like a hand that shows its shape in a glove, so the eternal and invisible God made known his intimate self as he loved us in the self-abasing humility of the Cross.

To the first reading taken from the Book of Sirach, the Liturgy pairs Luke 14 wherein Jesus exhorts both the guests and the host (a prominent Pharisee) to humility.

Jesus says, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). That’s a line we all should write on a piece of paper and tape to our bathroom mirrors.

We are not alone in our struggle against pride. There are countless angels and saints present at every Mass who urge us on and who pray for us. Paired with Luke 14 and Sirach 3, the second reading is taken from Hebrews 12, which tells of the true nature of Christian liturgical worship. Probably written as a first-century homily, the homilist says to his congregants, “you have approached… the heavenly Jerusalem and countless angels… and the spirits of the just made perfect.” He doesn’t say, “You will one day approach,” but rather, “You have approached.” There is always more than meets the eye when we’re at Mass. At Mass, we participate in the worship of the angels and saints.

If you would like to access and read the Scripture readings for the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, please click here to access them on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' website.

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Sunday, August 26

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:07:00 GMT

This Is the Final Week to Register!

Click here to learn all about our 11-week Scripture class on the Book of Revelation and to register online.

We Have a New Director of Adult Faith Formation.

Shaun Terry has replaced Carson Weber as our parish Dir. of Adult Faith Formation & Evangelization. Shaun is the father of seven children and has spent the past four years serving at Faith Mission here in Brenham. He is very excited to continue the good work Carson has brought to our parish.

The Heart of Divine Discipline

In the Old Testament, God made many promises to Israel, a nation consisting of twelve tribes. As a God of faithfulness, he would remain true to these promises not just to one or two, but to all twelve tribes.

However, God is not interested solely in Israel. He did not elect (choose) Israel for Israel’s sake. God chose Israel as his covenant people for the sake of the rest of humanity: every nation from the east to the west. Israel was to serve as God’s messenger, to bring every nation to God through sacrificial service.

But something terrible went wrong. It seemed as if God’s plan had gone askew. Israel had committed the terrible sin of idolatry. If you read the First and Second Books of Kings, you will see how every one of the 12 tribes of Israel became idolatrous. No tribe was exempt from taking upon itself the worship of the false gods of Israel’s neighbors. Instead of Israel having converted the nations, the nations converted Israel! (Does this sound familiar in our own age?)

Due to his covenant with Israel, God had to punish Israel’s idolatry with the covenant curses Israel agreed to undergo should it ever forsake its covenant Lord. In the 8th century B.C., 10 of the tribes were conquered by foreign armies and sent into exile. In the 6th century B.C., the other 2 tribes were punished in the very same manner. God would turn his punishment into good, and we are told today just how he would do that.

We are given the words of Isaiah 66:18-21, which tells of how God will gather nations of every language, and in doing so, these nations will bring within them the fugitive Israelites. During the exile, Israelites and Gentiles intermarried, and so their children’s children eventually lost their Israelite identity, even when these descendants were truly part-Israelite. So, when we are told in the Gospel today (Luke 13:22-30) by Jesus that “people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God,” he is telling us how Isaiah’s great prophesy will be fulfilled.

When non-Israelites (Gentiles) enter the Church (which is the kingdom of God) through the sacrament of baptism and recline at table in the Eucharistic liturgy, some of these converts are part-Israelite. Thus, God’s promise to redeem all of Israel finds fulfillment! In order for all 12 tribes to be saved, the Gentiles must be saved, for most of Israel is now Gentile.

God’s discipline, his punishment, is always redemptive because of his loving providence. This is the heart of today’s second reading (Heb 12:5-7, 11-13): “do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom he loves, he disciplines.”

If you would like to access and read the Scripture readings for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, please click here to access them on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' website.

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Sunday, August 19

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 23:30:00 GMT

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?

If you would like to access and read the Scripture readings for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, please click here to access them on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' website.

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The Assumption of Mary into Heaven

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:41:00 GMT

Don't forget to attend tomorrow's Holy Day of Privilege (or, Obligation), which is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15).

To learn more about this awesome Solemnity, click on the following link:

http://www.wf-f.org/Assumption.html

Mass times at St. Mary, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Brenham are as follows:

Tuesday, August 14 - Bilingual Vigil Mass - 6:00 p.m.

Wednesday, August 15 - 7:00 a.m., 12:15 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. (all in English)

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