Body (of Christ) Building
faith and disaffiliation
Announcements for September 25, 2021:
Join us for the OLMC School Annual Pig Roast on Friday, October 1 in the school parking lot. The evening begins with a rosary at 5:45pm, and is followed by food and fellowship from 6:00 to 9:00pm.
There will be a recollection for moms on Tuesday, September 28th from 11:00am to 1:00pm in the church.
Training for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion will be held on Thursday, September 30th at 6:30pm. All Eucharistic Ministers and anyone who would like to serve in this capacity are encouraged to attend. Our training will also be streamed live and recorded for those unable to make it.
Visit our Parishioner Portal for up-to-date announcements.
Dear Saints,
In our Gospel passage this weekend, Jesus has tough words for those who scandalize others:
Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
(Little ones means those whose faith is relatively immature and not simply young people.)
What I find most remarkable here is that Jesus doesn't say anything about the fault of the one who falls away from faith in him. He says, rather, that the one who causes it to happen receives the harshest punishment.
This is important for at least a couple of reasons:
We must be slow to pin blame on people who fall away from Christ and his Church.
As visible members of the Body of Christ, we can be the reason for someone's disaffiliation with the Church.
(I take up the topic of faith and disaffiliation in my pastor's note this week. Let me know what you think!)
The punishment is especially severe (something worse than drowning at sea by millstone!) because, as disciples of Jesus, our greatest work is to lead others to trust and follow him. Our greatest failure, then, is to cause others to lose faith.
In an exhortation that helps the rubber hit the road, Saint Paul writes (Ephesians 4.29) "Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear."
I look forward to sharing - both hearing and speaking - some grace-giving words with you this weekend as we build up the Body of Christ together!
Christ's Peace,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
The Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
A Millstone in Capernaum, the town of Jesus