From the Pastor – 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 16, 2018

From the Pastor – 15 th Sunday of Ordinary Time

“He instructed them to take nothing for the journey.” When Jesus sent his Apostles out, He sent them “two by two,” and He basically commanded them to take nothing on the journey: “no food, no sack, no money in their belts.” The point of the Lord is that all they needed was to trust in God. Jesus more or less says the same thing to us.

As long as we trust in God, our needs will be met. That is easily said, but it is a bit daunting to actually do it. Yet, people have been doing that since Jesus’ time. It is one of the reasons that the Church has thrived for such a long time.

There is a secondary reason for Jesus’ instructions though, one with which we may not be familiar. At that time there was a ruled that you could not enter a temple area with shoes or a moneybag, because you were there to serve the Lord, nothing else and no one else. The Apostles understood that preaching the Gospel and healing in God’s name was holy work. Jesus did not want them to exemplify any other motive either.

One of the foundational elements of stewardship is trusting God. What enables us to be good stewards and to think of giving to God first, of ourselves and what we have, is that we truly believe that God will take care of us. God has a plan for each of us, and it is better than our own plan may be.

Pastoral Pondering

St. Paul tells us that we are to be leaven in the world (Cf. My. 13:33). I have become more and more convinced that this particular Gospel is perhaps more relevant today than even when it was spoken by our Blessed Lord. We have arrived at a point in our nation’s history where there is an incapacity to have respectful debate and discourse. If you disagree with someone, they are vilified as some type of “phobe”. When some people hear things they disagree with, they need a “safe” space to protect themselves. And Christians by and large who try to live the Christian message in daily life are labeled as bigots. There is plenty of name-calling on every side of every issue, or so it seems.

Part of our task as followers of Jesus Christ, is to recognize the inherent dignity of each human being. This includes those we disagree with. This does not mean that we should ignore our strongly held beliefs, but it does mean that we should be able to agree to disagree without making attacks on the other party. It is simply not Christian. If we lose our capacity to have constructive and respectful dialogue, then, to some degree, we lose our humanity, and we lose our Christianity. A good secular example of this was the relationship that developed between two Supreme Court Justices, Antonio Scalia and Ruth Bader-Ginsburg. They were clearly on opposite sides of the ideological aisle, but they were great friends and had mutual respect for each other.

We need to pray for our country. We need to pray for our elected officials. We need to pray for all those who have the ability to influence society. That all involved might return to a deep held respect for each person as beloved children of God — even those that don’t believe they are. As Christians, we should be the promoters of civil discourse. We should fearlessly exercise our religious freedom and be free to voice our opinions. But, we must never lose sight of the fact that we are called first and foremost to make Christ present in our words and actions. We are, in other words, to be a leaven in society and a light to the nations, especially our own.

From the Pastor

By John Putnam May 30, 2025
On this Feast of the Ascension, we celebrate Christ’s triumphant return to the Father after perfectly accomplishing His mission on earth. But we also can also view this Feast as a celebration of the “launch day” of our commissioning as Christ’s disciples. Today’s Gospel draws our attention to the clear instructions that Jesus gave His disciples (and to us) just before ascending to the Father: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." Embracing a stewardship way of life, with its emphasis on the use of time, talent and treasure, helps us to live in such a way that our very lives speak as a witness of the Good News of the Gospel. While we take time to reflect and renew our commitments in these three areas annually as a parish family, it is of great benefit to take some time individually throughout the year to take stock of the commitments we have made — looking at both our strengths and our need for continued growth in each area. On this Feast of our "launch day," take some time to celebrate your victories as Christ’s disciples and renew your commitment to remain faithful to Him and the unique mission He has entrusted to you! © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering In Matthew 28:20 Jesus reminds the apostles, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” I have always taken great strength and consolation from these words. They are foreshadowed in the Old Testament in Isaiah 41:20: “Fear not for I am with you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous hand.” These are words from a God who loves us and who desires our good. A God who desires to make His dwelling with us and to inspire us to live lives worthy of Himself. They are words that help us prepare ourselves to celebrate Pentecost and to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit in us and among us.  Next Saturday evening, we will celebrate the Rite of Confirmation and Reception into Full Communion with our candidates who have been participating in the OCIA process. Please keep them in your prayers and help them find their place within our parish community. In the morning next Saturday, we are privileged to host the diaconate ordination for seven of our diocesan seminarians. As noted previously, one of them, Michael Lugo, will be with us for the summer. This parish is phenomenal in helping these young men find their “ministerial feet” so to speak. And we always welcome the opportunity to be blessed with their enthusiasm and energy. Finally, the Diocese has approved our moving into the construction phase for the rectory project. The prep work has already been done, and the actual building phase should begin in the next few weeks. This weekend, we are making a final push to reach our campaign goal. If you have not done so, we need your help and participation. The goal is doable and, together we can accomplish much. Assuming our fundraising keeps apace our hope is to begin the main-campus project next summer. Between now and then we will be doing some evaluations and, where necessary, value engineering to help us stay on track with the plan.
By John Putnam May 30, 2025
The concept of hospitality is fundamental to a stewardship way of life. When we envision hospitality, we naturally think of offering a sincere and warm welcome — to those new to our parish, for instance. We picture inviting them in and making them feel at home and at ease in our presence, communicating to them that they are highly valued. Today’s Gospel reading from John invites us to think of hospitality in a slightly different way. In it, we hear Jesus speaking this to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” Jesus is asking that we permit the Blessed Trinity to come and dwell within us. This is a stunning request. It tells us that our first and most privileged form of hospitality should be directed towards God Himself. How does one show hospitality to God? How do we make God “at home and at ease” within us? How can we communicate to God that He is “highly valued” by us? Jesus tells us how: we are to keep His word, to follow HIs teachings. To keep His word, we must know His word. This takes discipline and effort on our part. We must make the study of Scripture and Church teaching a priority in our daily lives. If we want our parish to be a place of genuine Christian hospitality, we must be sure that our own hearts are hospitable dwelling places for the Blessed Trinity. Then our smiles and words, our greetings and ministries will radiate with the warmth of God’s love. And our parish family will become at least a little bit like Heaven on earth. This is the simplicity and glory of a stewardship way of life . © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025
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