Pastor's Corner

Jesus offers us some good advice today in the parable of the weeds and the wheat.  He advises that they be allowed to grow together.  Then at the harvest they may be separated.  Sometimes we have difficulty in determining what is a weed and what is wheat.  I thought my competitive nature in athletics in high school and college was wheat and yet looking back on that time I realize that my behavior wasn’t all that mature.  I downgraded my shyness and quiet nature as a weed but I now realize introversion has its own merits.  May we allow the Lord  redeem that which needs redeeming and may we give God thanks for the wheat we produce.

The “Parable of the Sower” is perhaps not Jesus’ most famous parable, or even his most colorful.  But it is the first of many parables he told about the Kingdom.  The parable begins with an enthusiastic and prodigal farmer who indiscriminately sows on all types of terrain or soil.  Seventy-five percent of what he scatters produces nothing, but the yield of the rest is extraordinary.  In the interpretation of the parable “what is sown” in its telling is finally specified as the people who hear “the word of the kingdom” preached.  Of all these, only those who take the time and make the effort to understand Jesus’ teachings and live by them bear fruit – but the amount they bear is beyond their wildest imagining.  There is no greater fulfillment nor nobler calling than living and working for the Lord’s concerns – the privilege of the baptized in every age.

Although the library is now allowing for curbside pickup of holds my summer reading list will also consist primarily of books from my own bookshelves.  These include:  From Slave to Priest by Caroline Hemmeseth, Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass, The Whites by Richard Price, The  Revenant by Richard Punke, the ninth book of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, Othello by William Shakespeare, and Pattern Recognition by William Gibson.  Have fun with your summer reading.

We are slowly but surely reopening our parish as we move into phase 2 of life in the Covid-19 era. This weekend we will celebrate mass indoors for the first time in more than three months. The masses will be at 5:30 pm on Saturday June 27th and 10 am on Sunday June 28th.  We will be able to accommodate 50 people at each mass. Be sure to register if you plan to attend and practice social distancing and wear a mask. We will begin daily masses on Friday, July 3rd at 9 am. Because the office will be closed that day, we will not have adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. I’m looking forward to seeing more of you as time goes by.

John McMurray defines illusory religion in this way: “Fear not; trust in God and he will see that none of the things you fear will happen to you.” Of real religion he says: “Fear not; the things that you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of.” This weekend we are invited to contemplate the realm of fear in our lives. How much of a hold does fear have on us in this time of pandemic? And in this time of the Black Lives Matter movement we are mindful of the fear that our sisters and brothers of color carry in relation to the society in which they live. May the Lord Jesus strengthen us in the knowledge that we are beloved daughters and sons of God who graciously loves each of us unconditionally. May all of us live in that hope.

As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) we are invited to reflect on how we are changed by this powerful sacrament. This celebration should transform our lives, giving us the experience of reconciliation with God and neighbor, of healing and new life, of union with God and the saints, and of lasting peace.  In this time of pandemic and racial tension in the wake of the tragic death of George Floyd and so many other African Americans we are called to be in communion with those who are suffering at this time.  The Eucharist should propel us forward to nourish those who hunger for peace and justice in our society today.  May we also remember our Guatemalan sister parish Union de las Aldeas Corpus Christi on their feast day. May they know the blessings and love of God as well as our own towards them.  May Christ’s love for us as shown in the Eucharist reach out to embrace all those in need.