Town Hall Meeting: Fr. Scot Medlock, Vicar of Clergy, will be visiting us from Anchorage, Thursday, May 19, 2011. He wants to assess our needs as a parish mission in order to better evaluate who will be replacing me as pastor. The plan is to gather at Holy Rosary Parish at 5:30 PM (unless otherwise announced). Please bring you favorite dish for a potluck afterward. All are invited to this important informative meeting!
Confirmation: Confirmation will be May 28 at noon at Saint Theresa and May 29 at 12:30 at Holy Rosary. Please bring your favorite dish for a Potluck afterward.
First Communion: Our first communion celebration will be May 28 at Saint Theresa and May 29 at Holy Rosary. Our Archbishop and Deacon Harry Moore will be present to celebrate with us.
My Mistake Gospel: I published the readings and homily for week 5 of Easter last week for week 4. I have made the correction. So you may see the same homily and readings this week as you saw last week.
Around the Mission: I made my first Beach Landing at Protection Point this last week. It took me two flights out there. I finally got a low tide and was able to watch John Bouker land first. I then did a touch and go on the beach. I also flew to Clarks Point and King Salmon as well as Levelock and Koligonek for some practice GPS approaches.
Have a wonderful week...Fr. Scott
Homily and Readings
5th Easter Sun A DLG 2011, Spiritual House, Acts 6:1-7; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12
There have been many times in my life where I felt out of place. While employed for one airline I felt that my moral standards and ethics where being eroded. I found myself falling into the things that those around me were doing, such as stretching the truth a bit, swearing, thinking bad things about others, running out of patience, laughing at dirty jokes…those kinds of things. I would struggle with the fact that I was a Christian. But in fact, I was a Christian being formed by non-Christians.
Being formed was something that I thought much about. Believe it…society forms us. We may think being formed is like brain washing, well, in a way it is. We grow up with outside influences that help make us the people we are.
When I went into the seminary, they said they were going to reform me. I basically said, “What are you talking about? You are going to brain wash me?” It was then I realized that they were talking about something very different. The seminary told me that everyone is formed by society. Not everybody is formed by Jesus.
We go to church; we believe in God, but sometimes the society around us tends to form us more than our spiritual family. The readings are about being formed by Jesus.
At first, those first Christians in 1 Peter were displaced socially as well as spiritually. But they found a spiritual home. The author of the second reading tries to give them a sense of belonging. They are not lost or wondering or misplaced…they belong to a single spiritual house with Jesus at the center, as the cornerstone.
A spiritual house helped to form those early Christians. They learned to act and live like Jesus. Like those early Christians, we too have a spiritual house where we belong and where Jesus forms us.
Our Church is spiritual household? The reading from Acts tells us what can happen in a spiritual household. For awhile, the widows in the village started getting less food than everyone else.
The spiritual household remedied this situation. They put their heads together. They came up with a just plan. They let the Holy Spirit Guide them. They fixed the situation.
In the gospel, Jesus tells that if we take our formation seriously, if we take our spiritual house sincerely, it will last forever.
How do we, as Christians, fit in when people in our work environments lead us astray by swearing, talking about others negatively, stealing, lying, and cheating? The same with school; How do you who are students integrate your faith, handle being around those who don’t act and think like Jesus.
The readings are about some leaders in our world who are for abortion, who are promiscuous, and who set poor examples for our children. These readings are about our lives. They tell us that if we want to be Christian, we may feel out of place in everyday life.
But we can always feel at home in our spiritual house…where we belong…where Jesus is our teacher and leader.
These reading tell us that there is something better out there. They tell us there is something much stronger. They tell us that you and I belong to a Spiritual house that is greater than anything on this earth. It is a house where Jesus leads us, forms us, and provides for our needs (560 Words).
Acts 6:1-7
At that time, as the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. So the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, "It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table. Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." The proposal was acceptable to the whole community, so they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the holy Spirit, also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them. The word of God continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly; even a large group of priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
1 Peter 2:4-9
Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it says in scripture: "Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame." Therefore, its value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone that will make people stumble, and a rock that will make them fall." They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny. But you are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises" of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
John 14:1-12
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.
Where (I) am going you know the way." Thomas said to him, "Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.
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