Gospel: The two L's and the two S's are important to our spiritual development. Please see homily and readings below.
Town Hall Meeting: Thank you for the great turn-out for our meeting and for making Fr. Scott the greater fee. welcome. After the meeting, and after talking with Fr. Scott the greater further, I walked away with a very good feeling about the care and love the Archdiocese has for Bristol Bay. We came up with some great ideas to propose to the Archbishop and I am confident that all of you were listened to and understood.
Potluck and Reception: After Mass this week there will be a potluck for those to be confirmed and those receiving First Communion. Please bring your favorite dish.
Archbishop and Deacon to visit: Our Archbishop and Deacon Harry Moore from Saint Michael in Palmer, will be celebrating with us this week-end. They will be arriving on Penair on the first morning flight, Friday, May 27. If you can, let's welcome them at the airport, especially those being confirmed.
Around the Mission: Lance, a Catholic who works for the FAA in our Dillingham Flight Service Station, flew with me to Saint Theresa in King Salmon on Saturday. We all had Mass together (Saturday May 21). I shared with the King Salmon/Naknek parishioners some of the things we talked about at our town hall meeting the evening of May 26th.
Have a wonderful week and please pray for those being confirmed Johanna, Brian, Josh, Anthony, Walter, Daniel, and those receiving First Communion (Katelynn, Alethia, Lotus, Aurora). Also check out my beach landing video by CLICKING HERE. Fr. Scott
Fr. Scott
Homily and Readings:
6th Easter Sun A 2011, Law of Love; Acts 8: 5-8 & 14-17; 1 Peter 3: 15-18; John 14: 15-21
Today I am going to talk about the two L’s and the two S’s: The Law of Love and Sacrificed and Self-Control.
First of all, law is not the enemy of love. Freedom and Joy do not always equal love. Believe it or not, obedience to Jesus’ commands equates to love.
Obedience comes from the Latin Word oboedire, meaning to “listen carefully.” In other words, obedience means to listen to the Holy Spirit’s call in our lives.
The law that we have to listen to is this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That is the law. We are obedient when we follow this law.
Saint Paul says this about the Law of Love, “The law of love is not primarily revealed in what we say, or how we feel, but in what we do.”
This is how we are obedient to the law of love: When we are patient, kind, and gentle with each other. When we forgive each other, tell the truth, and remain faithful.
Saint Paul also tells us what the fruits of the law of love is: The two S’s, sacrifice and Self control. Believe it or not, if it feels good do it, or it healthy to always express your feelings, is not always the ideal thing to do.
For example, if we are angry with our friends or family, abusing them verbally or physically won’t help. If we are sexually attracted to our best friend’s spouse, having an affair will end in tears.
Sacrifice is a way to be obedient to the Law of Love. For example, be alert to the poverty and make a sacrifice some of your time and wealth to help. That is sacrificing for the Law of Love. Ask a married couple what sacrifice is…it is not that easy. A husband and wife sacrifice for the good of the family. That is the Law of Love.
Self-control is an ally of love. It helps us sort out the appropriate time to undertake the appropriate action. The path to happiness is not being free, doing what we want, and always having money to buy things. The path to happiness is being self-controlled.
Self-control is not easy. Ask any professional athlete what it is like to practice everyday. Self-control is restraint exercised over one's own impulses, emotions, or desires.
The main benefit of self-control is being able to be in charge of one’s emotional life rather that it being in charge of us.
Here is an example of self-control: Judy set five easily obtained goals for herself. She promised to say one Hail Mary and one Our Father daily. She vowed, no matter what, to exercise four times a week for one hour. She made certain she ate fruit and vegetables everyday. She made Sunday Mass a priority, not a choice. She decided to start each morning by reading a passage from one of the gospels.
After accomplishing these goals week after week, she felt fantastic. She took control of her emotions. She was content with herself and felt very good about herself. Her self-esteem soared. She was being obedient to the law of love.
This week, may all of us embrace sacrifice and self-control as the doors to an even greater practical experience of the Risen Christ’s Law of Love (570 Words).
Acts 8: 5-8 & 14-17
Thus Philip went down to (the) city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing. For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many possessed people, and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured. There was great joy in that city. Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the holy Spirit.
1 Peter 3: 15-18
But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit.
John 14: 15-21
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him."
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