Pastoral Messages from Fr. Rick 5/21/23
Senior Activity Center – Please see the flyers in the gathering space to discover the many activities offered to seniors in our area.
Share the Fun: 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. Sign up list is in the gathering space.
This Week: Annual Collection for Catholic Communication Campaign. If you forgot your donation this week, you may bring it next week. Envelopes are available in the back of the church.
Genuinely Pro-Life Resources Just click on the blue text below. It easy and fun for the whole family!
Theology of the Body for Teens Pro Life BEFORE pregnancy!! https://www.tobpatron.com/tob-for-teens
Family Prayers from Birth to Death | USCCB
●The Truth About Abortion & Women’s Health
This one-page resource from the USCCB dispels many myths claiming restrictions on abortion will limit women’s access to life-saving care. https://www.usccb.org/resources/truth-about-abortion-and-womens-health
●Samaritanus bonus
In 2020, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published the letter Samaritanus bonus (“on the care of persons in the critical and terminal phases of life”). Find this, and other end of life resources here:
https://www.dioslc.org/respect-for-life/end-of-life-concerns
● Visitation Novena – May 22-30
Join the Novena for Life honoring the Feast of the Visitation, May 22-30. Get the full novena text, or sign up to receive email reminders here:
https://www.respectlife.org/visitationhttps://www.respectlife.org/visitation
Homily Reflections – Feast of the Ascension
Acts 1:8 From today’s first reading: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
When did you experience the power of God, even unexpectedly, in your ability to reach out and connect with someone who was much different than yourself? What type of wisdom, counsel or understanding did you share with them?
Ephesians 1:18 From today’s second reading: “May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call…”
This is how the ‘heart’ is defined in the Section on Prayer in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Paragraph 2563: The heart is the dwelling-place where I am, where I live; according to the Semitic or Biblical expression, the heart is the place “to which I withdraw.” The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation: it is the place of covenant. WOW, THAT’S A BIG THOUGHT!!
What instruction have you been given to help you see with this type of ‘vision’? Does having and sharing HOPE require a different type of ‘seeing’ than what is common in our American culture? What is the difference in your opinion between hope and optimism?
Mt. 28:18-20 From today’s Gospel: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
Besides the Ten Commandments (name them now), what commandments did/does God give us? How does the Catholic Church address commandments in the Catechism? If you are a parent or godparent of a baptized child, how have you explained the role of ‘disciple’ to those under your responsibility? How do you model discipleship to them?