A WORD FROM OUR PASTOR
The Lord who cares and feeds us: The central theme of today’s readings is that God takes care of our physical and spiritual needs if we put our trust in Him. He shares with us Jesus as our Savior and spiritual food, in Word and in Eucharist, thus preparing us for the Heavenly banquet, and challenges us to share our blessings with others. In today’s Gospel, Jesus demonstrates God’s caring love for us by feeding the people, spiritually by his preaching and physically by the miraculous multiplication of five loaves and two fish, which the apostles had brought for their lunch and which they gave Jesus to feed the people. This miracle shows the Divinity of Jesus, the providing care of God and the compassion of Jesus for the crowd. We need to be “Eucharistic ministers:” We too, can perform miracles in our own time and place, by imitating the four “Eucharistic actions” of Jesus: take humbly and generously what God gives us, bless it by offering it to others in God’s love, break away from our own needs and selfish interests for the sake of others, give with joy-filled gratitude to God who has blessed us with so much.
Reconciler: John Marie Vianney, was born May 8, 1786 in France and was baptized the same day. John was raised in a Catholic home. In 1790, when the anticlerical Terror phase of the French Revolution forced priests to work in secrecy or face execution, young Vianney believed the priests were heroes. He continued to believe in the bravery of priests and received his First Communion catechism instructions in private by two nuns who lost their convents to the Revolution. When he was 20-years-old, John was allowed to leave the family farm to learn at a "prsbytery-school" in Écully. There he learned math, history, geography and Latin. He attended a minor seminary, Abbe Balley, in 1812 and was eventually ordained a deacon in June 1815. He joined his heroes as a priest August 12, 1815. Fr. Vianney spent much time in confession. He spent 11 to twelve hours each day working to reconcile people with God. In the summer months, he often worked 16-hour days and refused to retire. His fame spread until people began to travel to him in 1827. Within thirty years, it is said he received up to 20,000 pilgrims each year. Vianney died in 1859 and left behind a legacy of faith and was viewed as the champion of the poor. As the Church honors this great saint let us seek his intercession that we too have the same zeal for God
“I’ll pay it for you.” In 1930, during the Great Depression, a man named Golden Rule Jones was mayor of Toledo, Ohio. During his term of office, he sometimes sat as the presiding judge in night court. One night a man was brought in for stealing money from a grocery store. His defense was that he needed the money for food and that he was simply a victim of hard times. Nevertheless, Golden Rule Jones found him guilty. “You did not steal from society.” he said. “You stole from a private citizen and you broke the law. I’m fining you ten dollars. However,” and he reached for his wallet, “I’ll pay it for you.” Next he instructed the bailiff to pass the hat around the courtroom. “I’m fining everybody here at least fifty cents. You’re all guilty of being members of a society that made it necessary for this man to steal. The collection will go to the defendant.”
The pastor and the faithful: A nervous young priest, concluding his first sermon, told the flock, “For my text next Sunday, I will take the words, “And they fed five men with five thousand loaves of bread and two thousand fishes.” A member of the flock raised his hand and said, “That’s not much of a trick. I could do that.” The priest didn’t respond. However, the next Sunday he decided to repeat the text. This time he did it properly, “And they fed five thousand men with five loaves of bread and two fishes.” Smiling, the priest said to the noisy man, “Could you do that, Mr. Perkins?” The member of the flock said, “I sure could.” “How would you do it?” asked the minister. “With all the food I had left over from last Sunday!”
God's blessings
Fr. Suneesh Mathew
Psalm 16: You Are My Inheritance O Lord
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