Celebrating 100 years
- Clustered Worship Sites:
Christ the King
St. Salome
St. Thomas the Apostle - Individual Worship Sites:
St. Cecilia
St. Margaret Mary - Irondequoit Catholic Communities:
Regional Mass Schedule
Regional Calendars
Irondequoit Senior Ministries
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Cycle B
B193: John the Baptist had a unique calling (today's Gospel, Jn 1:6-8, 19-28), a desert-located career that would not be my choice. What does his calling have to do with someone from Omaha?
In religious education we emphasize the need to focus on the only goal that matters, by asking the basic question: "Why did God make me?" And the answer from our catechism (as every kid knows) is "God made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this life, and to be happy with him in the next." That is our "goal." As we tell our RCIA candidates and anyone engaged in Adult Education, our entire life is one continuing spiritual journey leading to eternal life with God.
John the Baptist tells us in today's gospel that he (John) is "a voice in the desert, crying out, 'make straight the way of the Lord.'" That describes our individual spiritual journey, making the way of the Lord into our hearts be smooth, not a series of obstacles. That also describes our communal spiritual journey, making our way to the Lord together in Sacramental worship and by loving our neighbor. Now it is our turn and our responsibility to be a voice like John the Baptist, calling others to "make straight the way of the Lord," encouraging and inviting others into a close relationship with Jesus the Lord.
Our "desert" is simply that challenging, everyday place from where we continue our journey towards the Oasis which we know is there. We are not alone on this journey. As Catholics, we are blessed to be able to find this very sacred Oasis every single day, and to be nourished with the life-giving food and drink it provides to those who believe in the Real Presence.
Know Your Catechism! It has been said that no one goes to heaven alone; you have to take someone with you! When is the last time you shared your faith story (CCC #904-906)? Are you smoothing the way for the Lord (CCC #2044)? Do you understand what "Christian Witness" really means (CCC 2472)? The fullness of truth has been entrusted to the teaching office of the Catholic Church. Do I listen to and humbly follow those teachings (CCC #851) - and also pass them on?
Like a bride bedecked
When Lady Diana Spencer was preparing for her wedding to the Prince of Wales, every effort was made by designers David and Elizabeth Emanuel, and, in fact, by all the planners of the wedding, to prevent the design of the bride's dress from being revealed before the ceremony on July 29, 1981. Of course, the other dressmakers of Britain did their best to learn the secret in advance. The sooner they could start making copies, the quicker they could sell them to other prospective brides who would want to be married in gowns "just like Lady Di's." Fortunately, the secret was perfectly kept. Only at 5:30 AM on the wedding day did Buckingham Palace release to the news media a sketch of the wedding dress.
Probably the real purpose behind our custom of not letting a groom see his bride in her wedding dress before they reach the church, is that he may behold his chosen one in that moment at the absolute peak of her beauty.
How pleased Charles must have been when he saw his bride, her natural handsomeness enhanced by this rich and dazzling garment. Perhaps he even thought of the familiar words of the psalm, "All glorious is the king's daughter as she enters; her raiment is threaded with spun gold" (45:54).
But the Church has always seen the festal dress of a bride and groom as something more than device to please the eyes of the marrying couple. It is rather a symbol of the beauty of the souls of those who take each other in marriage. Or, if these souls are perhaps not yet perfect, their garb should at least remind them, "As you have clothed your bodies in loveliness, now clothe your souls in grace."
"... He has clothed me with a robe of salvation ... like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, like a bride bedecked with her jewels." (Isaiah, 61:10-11.) Today's first reading.
-Father Robert F. McNamara
Q. 349: Both Isaiah and Jesus felt the “spirit of the Lord God” upon them. Yet centuries have passed without solving the problem of injustice. Is the passage (First Reading) relevant today?
A friend (Rev. Mickey Anders) once pointed me to a website that asks for your solutions or opinions on “how to fix the world.” They have some interesting remedies, ranging all over the spectrum - - from “how to prevent tailgating” to “how to solve world hunger.” Like most inventions or pregnant ideas, there is usually something missing; but what is not omitted is the problem that led to the quest for a solution.
In our First Reading today (Is 61:1-2, 10-11) the “problem” is clearly stated. Far too many people are poor and brokenhearted, and many are prisoners (both spiritually and physically). Social injustice and lack of brotherly love are at the root of the problem, caused and aggravated by an unfaithfulness to God’s expressed will for his people. This problem seems to appear in every generation, because even Jesus tells us that we will always have the poor with us (Mt 26:11). But the “solution” is also clearly stated by Isaiah. Unlike the “fix the world” website suggestions, which are more like dreams without a chance of fulfillment, the Prophet Isaiah points to the “core” of the matter: justice and love.
Our God is a God of mercy and love; he is also a God of justice. In His divine plan, justice and love go hand in hand and are almost synonymous. You see this clearly in the Commandments and Beatitudes, and in the “last judgment” scenes from scripture. You cannot have one without the other. And God calls us to be his disciples, the instruments of his love and justice.
You will know that the “spirit of the Lord is upon you” when you treat everyone equally; when you speak out against social injustice; when you denounce cultural immorality; when you obey God’s chosen representatives (the Catholic bishops); and when you engage regularly in the well-known trilogy of prayer-almsgiving-fasting.
KNOW YOUR CATECHISM! Jesus Christ made this scripture above from Isaiah his inaugural address, proclaiming the Good News (CCC #714). It is because he embraced our death that he can now communicate his own Spirit of life to us (CCC #713). Isaiah (and Jesus) use the language of “promise” (CCC #715), and his mission becomes the mission of the Church – you and me (CCC #730), his instruments for transforming the world. Our empowerment comes from our Baptism and Confirmation.
