Congratulations: Congrats to Liam and Layla. They were baptized last week. Here is a picture of Pat Durbin welcoming Layla into the Catholic Community with a sign of the cross on her forehead.
Gospel: Praying and worshiping in harmony is paramount to Catholicism. We gather together every Sunday because we believe it is more pleasing to Jesus to pray and worship together as one family of God. That is the main argument for attending Mass as opposed to “me, and nature, and God.” Yes, everyone should have a personal relationship with God outside of the gathering at Mass every Sunday, but that should never take the place of gathering together, as one family of God, to pray and worship. (Please read the Homily below).
Confirmation: Please let me know if anyone would like to be confirmed around Easter Time. I have one person so far and three or four in mind that I need to ask.
Around the Mission: I flew to Goodnews Bay for the first time on Wednesday, January 12, 2011. It was a beautiful clear day. I climbed up to 6,000 feet and about 20 miles out started my descent. It took my awhile to find Goodnews because the runway was hard to see in the snow. But, good news, I found Goodnews. I was also able to fly to King Salmon/Naknek on Saturday. It was about a negative 15 degrees Fahrenheit with the chill factor. I fly to Anchorage on Penair Monday, January 17, and will return on Thursday.
Here is a picture of Goodnews Bay I took after I found it.
Prayers: Please keep Pat Durbin in your prayers as he will be going to Anchorage this week for a Doctor’s appointment. Also, please keep the family of Emily Ruby Olson in your prayers. Emily two weeks ago and the family will be gathering in Dillingham and Clarks Point on Monday, January 17.
Have a wonderful week and see you Sunday...Fr. Scott
Homily: 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 23, 2011, Isaiah 8:23--9:3; 1 Corinthians 1: 10-13 & 17; Matthew 4:12-23
In the reading from Corinthians, Saint Paul is giving us telling us about one of the first Christian communities ever established, Corinth. The community of Corinth was having trouble united…living in harmony together. Some wanted to follow Paul, some Apollos, and some Kephas. Paul basically says that for the good of all people, Jesus Christ us our leader. Jesus unites us. Jesus helps us to live in Harmony. The gospel tells us that to live in harmony is to live in light.
Corinth was having trouble uniting and living in harmony. You might say they were living in disharmony. Today, many of us live in disharmony. To live in disharmony is to live in darkness.
Here are several examples of living in disharmony or darkness today: warfare, violence in our homes, religious, sexual, or racial prejudice, extreme poverty and injustice, loneliness, life without love, the sense that God is distant or that life in meaningless, being guilt ridden, the inability to forgive, addiction. These are all forms of disharmony or living in darkness.
The readings challenge us to live in harmony. We live in harmony by seeking out the light. How powerful are we when we work in harmony together.
Saint Athanasius says, “Consider the example of our soul. It moves our senses according to their several functions so that in the presence of a single object they all act simultaneously: the eye sees, the ear hears, the had touches, the nose smells, the tongue tastes, and often the other parts of the body act as well, for example, the feet may walk.
Think of a musician tuning his lyre. By his skill he adjusts high notes to low and intermediate notes to the rest, and produces a series of harmonies. So too the wisdom of God holds the world like a lyre and joins things in the air to those on earth, and things in heaven to those in the air, and brings each part into harmony with the whole.
What does it look like to be united and to work in harmony? Think of Hurricane Katrina. That was God’s people working in harmony together. Since there are different times zones around the world, when religious and laity pray the Liturgy of the Hours, it is like a constant river of prayer going to our Heavenly Father.” Praying in harmony gets God’s attention.
Are there advantages to living in perfect harmony? Saint Ignatius said, “If you live in harmony God will listen to you and see from your good works that you are members of his Son. “It is an advantage to you to live in perfect unity, so that at all times you may share in God.”
God has adopted us. He unites all people; He made each of us special. We each have something that nobody else has to contribute. Janitors, fishermen, politicians, mill workers, police, accountants…it takes all of our gifts to build up God’s Kingdom. Each on of us, working together with God, allows love to flourish, brings us peace, and gives us hope for eternal life. When we work in harmony together, we can move mountains (522 Words)!
First Reading: Isaiah 8:23--9:3
First he degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the end he has glorified the seaward road, the land West of the Jordan, the District of the Gentiles. Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness; for there is no gloom where but now there was distress. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, As they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as men make merry when dividing spoils. For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, And the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1: 10-13 & 17
I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose. For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by Chloe's people, that there are rivalries among you. I mean that each of you is saying, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Kephas," or "I belong to Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.
Gospel: Matthew 4:12-17 short form or Matthew 4:12-23 for long form.
When he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen." From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
No comments:
Post a Comment