The King's Corner

Yesterday CTK had an opportunity to comment on the Synod by answering any number of questions posed in preparation for that meeting.  Minister Robin Meyers makes a relevant argument in his book: “Saving God From Religion.” (begin) “Today we hear preachers who mouth platitudes about justice but do not follow through by tsking any moral action, lest they offend someone in the congregation. They do not organize, they do not protest, hey do not create the non-violent tension that forced a crisis of conscience by shining light on injustice.  Perhaps what is most insidious, however, is that they make an artificial distinction between partisan politics and the politics of the gospel. This is the illusion of separation Again. “Our message is religious, not political,” they say.  “We save souls, not the world, they remind us…I know of no pastor who has not heard: “Leave politics out of the pulpit.”  If this means avoiding partisan politics, as in telling people whom to vote for, or whose candid

 

Minister Robin R. Meyers offers an important perspective in his 2020 book “Saving God From Religion: A Minister’s Search for Faith in a Skeptical Age.”  He wrote: “Because churches today advertise prayer as the answer for everything (pray harder, pray more often, pray ‘without ceasing’), this is a radical idea.  Jeremiah even suggests that if worship is substituted for justice, the Temple itself will be destroyed (Jeremiah 7:5-7).  Perhaps this is now the fate of the church?   For saying this, Jeremiah was almost killed by his contemporaries, foreshadowing the fate of another Jewish prophet named Jesus.  The message is exactly the same: participation in empty ritual without personal and social transformation is a mockery of prayer.  To have expressed a good thought is not the same thing as to have done a good deed – even though we have been seduced into thinking so…” (end) Lent is about prayer, fasting and giving.  We should focus on all three, especially the latter.  When we do, ther

What follows are rather blunt answers to the Synod question:  Who are those who seem further apart?  (1) In general and nationwide, Catholic Republicans versus Catholic Democrats as evidenced by Catholic Fox News viewers versus Catholic MSNBC viewers, for example, who seek news and information in support of their positions and beliefs – be they political, ethical, or religious.  Also, likely many viewers of EWTN, the Catholic network characterized by Pope Francis as doing “work of the devil” through its unrelenting criticism of his papacy by serving as a platform for his most ardent and vocal and divisive critics. (2) Those Catholics who aggressively and publicly criticize and demean Pope Francis for his stance on, for example, LGBTQ issues, the Latin Mass, and his unwillingness to judge.  (3) Those who do not agree with the USCCB 2007 conclusions and statements presented in “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship – A call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of

 SHROVE TUESDAY – March 1st  Confessions 3 PM to 6 PM Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022 Masses & Ashes 8:30 AM, 12:00 Noon, 5:30 PM Word Service & Ashes 7:00 PM click Lenten Resources to plan your Lenten Journey

  February 27, 2022, Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL: Ashes will be blessed and distributed at the Masses on Ash Wednesday at 8:30 AM. 12 noon and 5:30 PM, and also at a Word Service at 7 PM. Packets of blessed Ashes will be available to be picked up at the sanctuary step after the 8:30 AM Mass and throughout the day for those who must still be cautious of gathering in crowds. LENT: March 2nd – April 14th: The annual Season of Lent is one with which we are all familiar with its penitential character of being a time to “give up” and go without. As children, it usually meant no candy or ice cream, or no Saturday outings to the movies or other shows until Easter. While that sort of sacrifice is not inappropriate for children, nor in expanded ways for adults, it can amount to being just self-imposed hardship that is easily abandoned before 40 days are over if we don’t remind ourselves of the reason why we embrace this sort of self-denial! Indeed, Lent has

Here are my answers to the Synod question about "COMPANIONS ON THE JOURNEY."  In the Church and in society we are side by side on the same road. In our local Church, who are those who “walk together”?  (1) Those who truthfully and faithfully follow Jesus and understand him as our Christ. (2) Those who acknowledge we “walk together” with those of other faiths and not just with Catholics.   (3) Those who seek and work for the common good and live out the words of the Lord’s Prayer such as: “They Kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven” all the while not being deterred by evil that separates those who should walk together through compromise, accommodation, kindness, and trust.

First reading:  Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire. You have stored up treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter. You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous one; he offers you no resistance. (James 5:1-6) Gospel reading:  Jesus said to his disciples: “Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward. “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 h

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Beloved: Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit”– you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears. Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.” But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin. (James 4:13-17) James sheds “new” light on the topic of sin: “So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin.”  Ouch!  It’s no wonder we are all sinners.  We all know there are things we should do today and not put off until tomorrow, but we do even if “tomorrow” is distant and we falsely promise or kid ourselves that we will do what is demanded, or commanded, of us.  

Beloved: I exhort the presbyters among you, as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christ and one who has a share in the glory to be revealed. Tend the flock of God in your midst, overseeing not by constraint but willingly, as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly. Do not lord it over those assigned to you, but be examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. (1 Peter 5:1-4)   This first letter from Peter has a loud ring to it to be heard by the presbyters among us – our priests.  Consider, “In the early Church a member of a group (usually of priests) who advised a bishop. Together they formed the presbytery, which, under a bishop, was the governing body of a community. The presbyter having no official duties, he was often commissioned by the bishop to teach, celebrate Mass, and baptize. Presbyters were usually of advanced age and, like a bishop, chosen by the people. Their rank was above t

 

  We don't have to wear hoods to be racists, or on occasion(s) exhibit racist behavior.  St. Peter may not look like we envision, or on the day we appear to enter heaven, Peter may have his colleague stand in for him.  It's time for us to do some soul-searching.  Otherwise, our souls may encounter the unexpected, and we might pay a steep price for our failures to love our neighbors. Deacon David Pierce

A shipwrecked man cast upon a beach fell asleep after his struggle with the waves. When he woke up, he bitterly reproached the sea for its treachery in enticing men with its smooth and smiling surface, and then, when they were well embarked, turning in fury upon them and sending both ship and sailors to destruction. The sea arose in the form of a woman, and replied, “Lay not the blame on me, O sailor, but on the winds.  By nature, I am as calm and safe as the land itself, but the winds fall upon me with their gusts and gales, and they lash me into a fury that is not natural to me.” This is one of Aesop’s Fables. It reminds us that most of us by nature are calm and safe, but the winds of envy, anger, hate, lust, and especially fear can and do fall upon us to lash us into a fury.  Those are the gusts and gales none of us can escape.  We then become broken, shipwrecked, and lost blaming others for our own self-inflicted and foolish spiritual and even physical destruction.

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you realize that we will be judged more strictly, for we all fall short in many respects. If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide their whole bodies. It is the same with ships: even though they are so large and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot’s inclination wishes. In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions. Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. The tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a world of malice, defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our lives on fire, itself set on fire by Gehenna. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restles

  February 20, 2022, of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time March 2nd is ASH WEDNESDAY: Masses with the distribution of Ashes will be celebrated at 8:30 AM, 12 noon, and 5:30 PM. A Word Service with Blessing and Distribution of Ashes will take place at 7 PM for those whose work or school schedules would prevent them from participating in the Masses.  March 1st is SHROVE TUESDAY: A day to confess and get absolved or “shriven” as it was called in old English. Indeed, the Ashes we receive on Ash Wednesday are an outward sign of our sincere commitment to repent of our sins and do penance for them. The acknowledgment of sin thus rightly precedes the reception of Ashes, and the penance follows for 40 days! Confessions of Shrove Tuesday will be held from 3 PM to 6 PM in the Church; It is the best way to start Lent off right and thus to make it a good one! Why Participate in the Synodal Dialogue Session Next Sunday? The Introductory Documents to the Synodal process issued by the Va

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So, also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed, someone might say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble. Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works. Thus, the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousne

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My brothers and sisters, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor person with shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here, please,” while you say to the poor one, “Stand there,” or “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom that he promised to those who love him? But you dishonored the poor.  Are not the rich oppressing you? And do they themselves not haul you off to court? Is it not they who blaspheme the noble name that was invoked over you? However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you commit si

Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger for anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like. But the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts; such a one shall be blessed in what he does. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, his religion is vain. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1:19-27

Blessed is he who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proven he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him. No one experiencing temptation should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God is not subject to temptation to evil, and he himself tempts no one. Rather, each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire. Then desire conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity, it gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters: all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change. He willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. (James 1:12-18) What is desire?  Envy leading to temptation to satisfy that desire, whatever it might be.  Therein lies the danger due to the presence of evil that lures and entices us. We are tempted to deadly sin that may be

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings. Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  But if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and he will be given it. But he should ask in faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, since he is a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways. The brother in lowly circumstances should take pride in high standing, and the rich one in his lowliness, for he will pass away “like the flower of the field.” For the sun comes up with its scorching heat and dries up the grass, its flower droops, and the bea

 

Here's a thoughtful Non Sequitur comic from 2000 that is relevant to 2022 and beyond. With extremism being a threat to our nation, as well as the world, this comic strip is a reminder of the effects of extremism, especially political and religious extremism.  Perhaps we should tattoo "162020" on our arms? Deacon David Pierce

  February 13, 2022, Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time   SYNOD DIALOGUE SESSION: All parishioners are invited to participate in the dialogue session to be held following the 10:30 AM Mass on Sunday, February 27th, in the Parish Hall. The session is part of the preparation for the World-Wide Synod of Bishops to be held in Rome in 2023 and the means for all members of the church to participate in the synod. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend; questions to be contemplated and answered prior to the session are available at the entrances to the church

 

In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, Jesus summoned the disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a great distance.” His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven.” He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and ordered them distributed also. They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets. There were about four thousand people. He dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disc

Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd.  He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”) And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.  He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. They were exceedingly astonished, and they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” (Mark 7:31-37)

Jesus went to the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice. Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”  She replied and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. (Mark 7:24-30) What a reading!  Why would Jesus call this Greek woman a “dog?”  The word “dog” was sometimes used as a Jewish term of contempt for Gentiles, and the woman was a Gentile.  “Do not give to dogs what is holy” is found in Matthew (7:6); Philippians (3:2); and Rev

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Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”  When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) “But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within, and they defile.” (Mark 7:14-23) Can Jesus be any clearer?! Has any Jesus warning been more compelling and relevant for the time in which we now live?  

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.) So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” He went on to say, “How well you have set a

Once there was a man who wanted to know God’s will on a particular matter.  He took his Bible, opened it at random, and dropped his index finger onto the page, assuming that the verse on which it landed would tell him what to do. But much to his chagrin, his finger fell on Matthew 27:5 which reports that Judas went out and hanged himself.  The man thought he had better try again.  This time his finger came to rest on the admonition of Luke 10:37, “Go and do likewise.”   When he followed the same method a third time, his finger fell on these words of John 13:27, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment at

From Father Richard Rohr Meditations and a natural follow-up to my blog yesterday. (begin) Father Richard understands Jesus’ eating habits as a model for the kind of “open table” fellowship we might practice as Christians: God’s major problem in liberating humanity has become apparent to me as I consider the undying recurrence of hatred of the other, century after century, in culture after culture and religion after religion. Can you think of an era or nation or culture that did not oppose otherness? I doubt there has ever been such a sustained group. There have been enlightened individuals, thank God, but seldom established groups—not even in churches, I’m sorry to say. The Christian Eucharist was supposed to model equality and inclusivity, but we turned the Holy Meal into an exclusionary game, a religiously sanctioned declaration and division into groups of the worthy and the unworthy—as if we were worthy!

King Herod heard about Jesus, for his fame had become widespread, and people were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him.” Others were saying, “He is Elijah”; still others, “He is a prophet like any of the prophets.” But when Herod learned of it, he said, “It is John whom I beheaded. He has been raised up.” Herod was the one who had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.  Herodias had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee

It's a no-win situation or lose-lose dilemma when we look at the other person as a trespasser, even an enemy, with different threatening beliefs, attitudes, color and/or religion.  Borders are set and enforced through bias, prejudice, and even hatred.  We all have our own borders with some lined with barbed wire.   Who are "them?"  To "them" it is "us."  And vice versa.  How idiotic!  How stupid!  How destructive and antichrist!   Many of us actually serve as guards at our borders with weapons slung on our shoulders and ready to be used.  These weapons include social media that at times can be nuclear and devastating to those wanting to cross over.  Then again, this cartoon makes it clear the border is not approached from either side.  It's a no-man's land with each side in its own trenches and firing volleys of insults and hate-speech. It's far better to be "all-of-us."  We are all in it together whether we acknowledge this reali

Thus says the Lord GOD: Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; And suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who will endure the day of his coming?  And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye. He will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord. Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord, as in the days of old, as in years gone by. (Malachi 3:1-4) Family trees are important.  Who are the sons of Levi? Levi had three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (Genesis 46:11). Kohath's son Amram married Jochebed and was the father of Miriam, Aaron and Moses. The descendants of Aaron had the special role as priests in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and also in Jerusalem’s

Paul Tillich (1886 – 1965) was a German-American Christian existentialist philosopher and Lutheran Protestant theologian.  He said that there is no future of new life, no New Being, no real hope of a new heaven and a new earth without our participation.   He wrote: The word resurrection has for many people the connotation of dead bodies leaving their graves or other fanciful images.  But resurrection means the victory of a new state of things, the New Being born out of death of the Old.  Resurrection is not an event that might happen in some remote future but is the power of the New Being to create life out of death, here and now, today and tomorrow.   Where there is New Being, there is resurrection, namely, the creation into eternity out of every moment of time.  The New Being puts a new mark over the old one.  Out of disintegration and death something is born of eternal significance.  That which is immersed in dissolution emerges in a New Creation.  Resurrection happens now, or it do