Not My Kingdom
Jesus is rejected in Nazareth
Announcements for July 3, 2021:
The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is just two weeks away! Join us on Sunday, July 18th for a procession and parish celebration following the 11:00am Mass (weather permitting). All are invited to bring a favorite finger food, such as sandwiches, bite-sized hors-d'oeuvres, fruit, cookies, etc. Please contact the rectory with any questions.
Please keep Wade Trainor in your prayers -- he will be ordained a deacon a week from today! We will celebrate with Wade on July 11, when he returns to preach our Sunday Masses.
Our beyond-the-tithe opportunity this month is the diocesan appeal for the Catholic Communication Campaign, Black and Indian Missions, and the Catholic University of America. To learn more about these initiatives or to give online, please visit the Monthly Appeals section of our website.
As always, check out our Parishioner Portal for more announcements.
Dear Saints,
In this weekend's Gospel passage we hear that Jesus "was not able to perform any mighty deed" in his own native place.
This is a remarkable report. The past two chapters of Mark's Gospel have given us a sense of inevitability about the coming of God's kingdom. But here, in his hometown, the triumphal procession of God's King hits a bit of a roadblock.
Many who heard Jesus, Mark writes, took offense at him. Jesus' kith and kin yearned for the days that God would free them from enemy oppression, an age of peace and prosperity for all of Israel. Jesus’ proclamation, however, was not the kind of kingdom announcement they wanted.
In word and deed, Jesus was calling his contemporaries to reimagine, grapple with, and give themselves over to God's rule. Jesus' challenge to Israel was to be Israel at last: to sacrifice their self-concern, and commit totally to God's for-the-other way of life.
This same challenge confronts us today. We who by Christ's death and resurrection have been freed from the oppression of sin and death, we who long for God's "eternal and universal kingdom; a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace,"* likewise know the Way God's kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.
The Way, my friends, doesn't follow our agenda, and it doesn't depend on our wisdom or wherewithal. The way is self-giving love: Through and with and in Christ, allowing him to chart our course, we can rise to meet love's demands, no matter the challenge, no matter the difficulty, no matter the cost.
Thy kingdom, and not my kingdom, come!
Christ's Peace,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
* From the Preface for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Christ Reads from the Prophet Isaiah in the Synagogue
Dečani Monastery, 14th Century