Do Not Be Afraid
God's Promise and Purposes
Dear Saints,
We have some important announcements for you this week:
Masses in the church have resumed. Check out our new webpage for everything you need to know.
Yes, there are two 9:00am Sunday Masses this week. One will be a drive-in Mass (Walmart) and one will be in the church.
The Outside Confessional schedule changes this week. Check it out before you come.
Feel free to be in touch with me with any questions or concerns.
We’re back to tempus per annum (Ordinary Time) this Sunday. Well, we’ve been in this post-Pentecost season for a couple of weeks, but our Sundays have been taken up with Easter-overflow themes (Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi).
One of the problems with seeing this period as Ordinary Time is that it can lull us into a routine, pacifying, Sunday-to-Sunday religion. What do I mean? Let’s look at this weekend’s Gospel to find out.
We read in Matthew’s Gospel, "Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
When we bend this promise to our own purposes we make it mundane. The whole thing can have a pacifying effect: God affirms us as we are, so nothing else matters. This kind of Catholicism is no Catholicism at all.
No, when Jesus speaks of the Father’s love he’s not cultivating complacency. The tenth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel has Jesus sending out the 12 Apostles to announce the coming Kingdom of God. Reading the passage in its context, then, Jesus is saying that when we live for God and his purposes we have nothing to fear. Going on mission with Jesus is to be our life's only concern.
This weekend, as I celebrate ten years of priestly life and service, I thank God for having used my “yes” to help others hear and heed this call on their lives. It is a blessing beyond my deserving to serve you as a priest of Jesus Christ, and to bring God’s Fatherly blessing to life here at OLMC. I want to thank in a particular way the men of our community, who never cease to encourage and inspire me. This Father’s Day I give thanks to God for you, and am glad that we’re in this thing together.
I love you, my friends. Be assured of my prayers for you and yours.
Christ's Peace,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Sending Of The Twelve
Duccio di Buoninsegna, ca. 1308