Gospel: The gospel is about the end-time. Please read the Homily below.
Nativity Narrative Play: Please contact Bernina Venua to get your 4 to 8 year old signed up for the nativity narrative that will be held on Christmas Eve at Holy Rosary Parish during Mass.
Thanksgiving Prayer: Thanksgiving is drawing near. Here are a couple of prayers that one can use for the Thanksgiving dinner blessing:
Prayer 1
Our Father in Heaven,
We give thanks for the pleasure
Of gathering together for this occasion.
We give thanks for this food
Prepared by loving hands.
We give thanks for life,
The freedom to enjoy it all
And all other blessings.
As we partake of this food,
We pray for health and strength
To carry on and try to live as You would have us.
This we ask in the name of Christ, Amen
Prayer 2
Thank you God for all the wonderful blessings,
For our daily meals and for clean drinking water.
Thank you for family, friends, and good health.
Thank for our lives.
Thank you for giving us your only Son Jesus.
On this Thanksgiving, we also give thanks for countless other
things you provide us with on a daily basis.
We pray for those less fortunate than ourselves who may have nothing to eat this day.
Amen.
Prayer 3
Father in Heaven, Creator of all and source of all goodness and love, please look kindly upon us and receive our heartfelt gratitude in this time of giving thanks. Thank you for all the graces and blessings. You have bestowed upon us. Thank you for our food and shelter, our health, the love we have for one another, our family and friends. Dear Lord, in Your infinite generosity, please grant us continued graces and blessing throughout the coming year.
This we ask in the Name of Jesus, Amen
Around the Mission: On Thursday this week I was able to do some practice GPS approaches into New Stuyahok, Koliganek, and Levelock. After flying to Clarks Point on Friday I prayed the Rosary with Louise Gardner then had lunch with the children at the Clarks Point School. Saturday, because of fog, I waited and had Penair fly me to King Salmon and Naknek where I scheduled a house blessing with a parishioner from King Salmon and Had Mass Sunday at 9:00 AM. I then flew back to Dillingham for Mass at 12:30 on Sunday.
It was such a nice day Friday that I walked up to the village of Clarks Point after I landed on the dirt strip. Here are couple pictures I took:
Have a fantastic week and see you Sunday…Fr. Scott
HOMILY
33rd Ord C DLG 2010 End Time, Malachi 3:19-20;2 Thessalonians 3:7-12;Luke 21:5-19
Within 100 years after Jesus’ death, the earliest Christians thought the end of the world was near. We call that the end time or doomsday.
The end time is the final Judgment. The first judgment will be when we die and go to purgatory. The second judgment will be the final judgment or end-time. The final judgment is a general judgment when all are assembled before God and their relationship to God is made public.
A doomsday prophet is a person who predicts this final judgment. For example, because of the higher number of hurricanes, cyclones, and earthquakes this year, the end is near.
During the cold war in the 1960’s, people made bomb shelters in case the Russians nuked us. People were afraid. They were really scared that a nuclear attack would end the world.
Remember President Clinton and Y2K in 1999. Imagine, the entire world shutting down, planes crashing, warheads going off all around the country, and no electricity, water, or food…the end time. One guy I knew bought 30 bags of wheat to store in his basement in preparation for Y2K. The turn of the century is always a great time for doomsday prophets to emerge.
Regardless of whether or not the end time comes in our lifetime there are three realities we live with: (1) the end time will come, we just don’t know when and (2) we will always have war, famine, natural disasters and followers of Jesus will always be persecuted (3) Jesus tells us that we will know, without a doubt, when the end-time is near.
The readings give us advice on how to live our lives knowing that the end time is inevitable.
About doomsday, Jesus tells us not to follow the doomsday prophets. He says, “Awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.” When the end-time is near, we will know it.
Paul, in Thessalonians, gives us advice. Paul believes in teaching by example. By living a good Christian life, Paul felt that others would see his example and follow it. You have heard the saying “like father like son.” Paul believed that his good actions would rub off on others.
Here is the advice he gives us about living with the end time looming over us: Work and earn the food you eat. Do not be lazy. Live in a spirit of harmony and unity with people. Do not let peer pressure sway you from your Christian beliefs. Hostility from others is not an excuse for us to be hostile ourselves. We are to persevere in holiness of life. Leave judgment to the Lord.
The message of the day is not a timetable for disaster. Our message is about happiness while we are living our lives on earth. We do that by putting our faith and hope in Jesus. By anchoring ourselves to Christ in these end times, we can turn a crisis into opportunity.
As we come forward to receive communion, let us take into our hands the anchor of our faith…the body of Christ. It will enable us to endure in hope until the end of time…whenever that may be (524 Words).
Malachi 3:19-20
For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, And the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts. But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays; And you will gambol like calves out of the stall
2 Thessalonians 3:7-12
For you know how one must imitate us. For we did not act in a disorderly way among you, nor did we eat food received free from anyone. On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked, so as not to burden any of you. Not that we do not have the right. Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, so that you might imitate us. In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat. We hear that some are conducting themselves among you in a disorderly way, by not keeping busy but minding the business of others. Such people we instruct and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and to eat their own food.
Luke 21:5-19
While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, he said, "All that you see here--the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?" He answered, "See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.' Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky. "Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.
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