Pastoral Messages from Fr. Rick 2/5/23

Proposed Legislation Threatens Seal of Confessional.

Please read this letter from Bishop Solis and write your Representative.  (For easy access, click on these links from our website).

https://www.dioslc.org/landing-pages/call-to-action

Also, see the related article in the Intermountain Catholic

http://icatholic.org/article/proposed-legislation-threatens-seal-of-confessional-48916851

St. Christopher’s Library:  Come on in and browse during our social hour after the Sunday Mass.   Books are organized by category, plainly marked on the shelves.  “Do not let a day go by without some spiritual reading.”- St. John Bosco

Hospitality:  Remember that we are a ‘Hospitality Parish’ with a major outreach to our many visitors. Please sign up to help host our Sunday morning Coffee and Muffin gathering. It WOULD BE REALLY WONDERFUL TO HAVE AT LEASET ONE MORE TEAM.  Sign up list is in the gathering space.

Homily Reflection

‘Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless;
clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!’  Is. 58

‘I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of Spirit and power so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.’ 1 Cor. 2:3-5

“You are the salt of the earth.  But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?  It is no longer good for anything…”  Mt. 5:13               →

This past week I heard a news story about some of the latest attempts to address the increasingly chronic problem of homelessness.  Since summer of 2022 the nearly $10 million doled out by the legislature to eight cities across the state has been overwhelmingly spent funding police. More than $8.68 million or 91% of the funds went to public safety expenditures.  Of course, this is an enormously complicated problem and in areas with constant emergencies of many kinds, the police are most likely the first responders who can only try to mitigate any situation.  The larger point is that American cities are still dealing with symptoms, not root causes.  The root causes require everyone to rethink how we organize our society and what rules of behavior and common respect can be agreed upon.

In the Bible God’s Chosen People are a very interdependent group who are trying to follow the same God and the same rules.  In America we tend to strive for as much INdependence as possible. AND as we become less religious, we all like to make up our own rules or at least bend them a lot.  It’s not working.  As St. Paul says above, ‘our faith must rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.’ As Isaiah implies above, if we start with God’s wisdom and THEN call on the Lord for help, the Lord will answer and say, “Here I am!”  Whether the problem be homelessness or anything else.

I was talking to a priest friend earlier in the week and a Scripture commentary he had read suggested that salt does not actually lose its taste.  Rather, it gets adulterated or diluted by some other substance.  Too much water with the potatoes or too many potatoes in the water will dilute or adulterate the impact of one tablespoon of salt.  God promises to answer our calls for justice.  What types of human wisdom have adulterated the wisdom of God?  How do we reconnect with the only source for root cause solutions?  How prepared are we to change?

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The answer to EVERYTHING.  If strong marriages are the key to healthy and holy families and families are the basic cell of society, how can we continue to strengthen marriages?  How can we ensure that children are conceived to couples who are ready and anxious to be parents?

Check out this free sex talkhttps://tobinstitute.kartra.com/page/YjD233

Please consider the Banquet of Love retreat videos offered by our Diocesehttps://www.dioslc.org/offices/marriage-and-family/banquet-of-love