Dear Parish Family,
“I want to become a saint; it will not be easy at all. I have a lot of wood to chop, and it is as hard as stone. I should have started sooner, while it was not so difficult; but, in any case, better late than never.” ~St. Zelie Martin
A link to today’s Mass can be found here: https://youtu.be/d1E0J8kMSTs
The Parish Office is closed tomorrow. Please call Tuesday – Thursday, 8:30 – 4:00, to make Mass reservations for next weekend. 601-856-2054
God bless,
Pam
Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1
Brothers and
sisters:
It is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other
by the freeborn woman. The son of the slave woman was born naturally, the son
of the freeborn through a promise. Now this is an allegory. These women
represent two covenants. One was from Mount Sinai, bearing children for
slavery; this is Hagar.
But the Jerusalem above is freeborn, and she is our mother.
For it is written:
Rejoice, you barren one who bore no children;
break forth and shout, you who were not in labor;
for more numerous are the children of the deserted one
than of her who has a husband.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are children not of the slave woman but of
the freeborn woman. For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not
submit again to the yoke of slavery.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 113:1-2, 3-4, 5, 6-7
R. Blessed be
the name of the Lord forever.
Praise, you servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.
Blessed be the name of the LORD
both now and forever.
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.
From the rising to the setting of the sun
is the name of the LORD to be praised.
High above all nations is the LORD;
above the heavens is his glory.
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.
Who is like the LORD, our God,
who looks upon the heavens and the earth below?
He raises up the lowly from the dust;
from the dunghill he lifts up the poor.
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.
Gospel: Luke 11:29-32
While still more
people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil
generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of
Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be
to this generation. At the judgment
the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will
condemn them,
because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and
there is something greater than Solomon here. At the judgment the men of
Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the
preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah
here.”
Homily
A homeowner was making the Saturday trip to the town dump. As he was tossing his bags of trash into the designated bin, he noticed a pile of tangled vines and plants off to the side. A dot of red caught his eye. In the mass of knotted and torn branches a tiny rosebud was struggling its way upward. The rosebush apparently had been thrown away by a would-be gardener who could not make it grow and had lost patience with it. The man smiled at the persistence of the little bud and went on his way.
When he returned to the dump the following Saturday, there was the rose, a little taller, a little straighter, still trying to bloom. He pulled on his gloves and dug out the struggling bush. He brought it home and replanted it in his own garden. Within days a beautiful rose bloomed. Before long, the whole bush came alive. In fact, that one bush became the showplace of his garden – and each year the bush seemed to have one especially long stem with an exquisite red rose on it.
The rose — and the gardener who rescued it — are signs of God’s loving creativity in our midst. As the gardener knows and Jesus teaches in today’s Gospel, the signs of God’s grace are all around us: in experiences of great joy and times we are in the dumps, from the first buds of spring to the goodnight hugs from our children. And yet, we are often too overwhelmed by the demands and expectations made of us to realize those signs of God’s love around us.
Today may we recognize anew the signs of God’s loving providence around us, to realize that our very lives are dependent on the breath of God blowing within us, life given to us by a God whose love is limitless, unconditional and eternal.
Open our eyes and humble our spirits, Lord God, to recognize the signs of your love, justice and forgiveness in our midst. May we, in turn, become effective signs of your compassionate presence in our midst, your call to reconciliation, your spirit of peace and mercy in the Ninevehs of our homes and schools and workplaces.
My Jesus, I believe that You are present
in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,
I ask You to come spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You, trusting that you are already there and I unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
