11/1/2023 Mary Castillo
10/28/2023 The Two Greatest CommandmentsDear Parish Family, A moral life is vital when we take upon the responsibility of discipleship. It was one of the many ways we express the impact that our God has had on our lives and probably one of the more meaningful ways, as well. While it may be easy to express that a strong morality is necessary, sometimes it may be hard to decipher what a Catholic moral life may look like (and yes, morality has nuance). How do we know if we really are living a life that Christ commands of us? Simply, we must listen to him, especially in this Sunday’s gospel. The Sadducees were putting Jesus to the test, hoping to catch Him in some type of error. When they asked him, “Which commandment is the greatest?” they were hoping to catch him making a mistake within a nuanced answer. What did Jesus do? He condensed all the commandments into two commandments: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” They tried to catch him within the nuance, but Jesus brilliantly shows the Sadducees what a moral life looks like in a nutshell. Simplifying and clarifying how God wants us to live our lives. He didn’t change or even water down the law, but he made it digestible for all people. Yes, a moral life may seem complex at times, but we must always be conscious of the idea that God is the designer of what morality looks like. God intends for us to live this way, because it is a glimpse of heaven and it helps us acquire a taste for the afterlife, where we love God for all eternity, with all our neighbors that we love. Even within this Gospel, Jesus states that the first commandment is like the second commandment. What does that mean? The best way to love your neighbor, is to love the Lord, your God. They are inseparable. One who is learning to truly love God, will truly learn to love their neighbor (and even their enemy) as well. ![]() Thank you all for being an example of this in our parish and out in the world. You truly are disciples who take your God’s commandment at heart. God Bless, Brett Becker Youth and Young Adult Minister 10/21/2023 Keeping things in their proper perspectiveDear Parish Family, In today's Gospel, the religious leaders of the time plotted to entrap Jesus in his speech. They thought they would trick him into saying something unlawful against the Romans or against the strict Jewish laws by questioning him about the payment of taxes. At the time, Herodians, Jews who collaborated with the Romans, favored the payment of taxes, while the Pharisees taught scrupulous observance of the Mosaic Law and opposed Roman occupation. They wanted Jesus to side with one of them and at the same time expose him to the breaking of either the Roman laws or the Jewish religious laws. In a single question, his opponents asked him to choose between the ideal of a religious life separate from the dominant culture or a life so fully immersed in that culture that religious practice and identity are lost. I want to rephrase this question to something that perhaps you or I could be asked today. Are you Catholic first and American second or American first and Catholic second? How would you respond to this question? Do we follow the laws of the land, or do we only follow the laws of our faith? Can we do both? Jesus did not fall for their tricks. His response is perfect: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Jesus reminds us of the importance of keeping things in their proper perspective. Do we attach ourselves to worldly things at the expense of the love and honor that we owe to God? We are part of this country with many just laws that align very well with our religious beliefs. Yet others, though on the surface seem ideal and extremely popular for the greater society, are unjust and destroy human dignity. As participants of society we have a responsibility to actively participate in the common good, a moral and ethical act that affirms the dignity of each and every human person. ![]() To the best of our ability, we should live a life of a “good participating public citizen” without compromising our faith and our souls. In other words, let us look to do good, and live out our faith in every facet of our lives, at work, school and homes. It is possible to do both. Blessings, Tere Delgado Faith Formation Minister 10/13/2023 There are Hints in the ScripturesDear Friends, It has been mentioned before that there is a link between the First Reading from the Old Testament and the Gospel on any given Sunday. That link is very clear this weekend with the prophet Isaiah describing the feast the Lord himself will provide for all peoples and the Gospel parable where Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven to a wedding feast for the king’s son. Isaiah’s description of the joys and delights that await the faithful on the Lord’s mountain is often proclaimed at funeral masses, and appropriately so – a reminder of what awaits us when we are finally reunited with those we have lost and with the Lord when he will “wipe away the tears from every face” can strengthen our faith and hope when we are grieving a loss. The wedding feast in Jesus’ parable has more complexities. The invited guests twice refuse to come and they come to a bad end after mistreating and killing the king’s servant messengers. (Can this be a reference to the Chosen People rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ?) We know the story. The king sends servants this time out not to the invited guests, but to the main roads to invite everyone they find to the feast. (Is this a prophecy of the universality of the church – where not only the Chosen are invited in but the Gentiles as well; in other words, everyone?) Then comes the part that is mysterious to me: “But when the king came in to meet the guests, he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen.” What are we to make of this? I, for one, have to get beyond my preoccupation with “fairness” and literal-mindedness: How can someone who was drafted into the feast from the highways and byways be expected to be properly dressed for it? And how is it that the other guests, similarly gathered from the great “unwashed herd” are somehow properly dressed? It leads me to think about what the wedding garment symbolizes (if I do succeed in getting past my literal-mindedness). Maybe it is an interior disposition, an attitude of humility and receptivity without any worry about who else was brought in with me? I’ve heard some say that the missing wedding garment is simply love. ![]() In any case, if the feast on the Lord’s mountain is for all peoples as the first reading says, and the proper garment is love, then I guess I’ll have to just depend on God’s mercy and providence to somehow get me there. There are hints in the scriptures that that may be a safe bet. Siempre Adelante, Dominic MacAller Worship Minister |
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