The King's Corner

The U.S. and the Holocaust: A new documentary by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein premiered on September 18. According to the release: The U.S. and the Holocaust is a three-part, six hour series that examines America’s response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twentieth century. Americans consider themselves a “nation of immigrants,” but as the catastrophe of the Holocaust unfolded in Europe, the United States proved unwilling to open its doors to more than a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of desperate people seeking refuge. Through riveting firsthand testimony of witnesses and survivors who as children endured persecution, violence and flight as their families tried to escape Hitler, this series delves deeply into the tragic human consequences of public indifference, bureaucratic red tape and restrictive quota laws in America. Did the nation fail to live up to its ideals? This is a history to be reckoned with. I highly recommend everyone view thus eye-

War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.  Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have salvation and power come, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed. For the accuser of our brothers is cast out, who accuses them before our God day and night.  They conquered him by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; love for life did not deter them from death. Therefore, rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them.” (Revelation 12:7-12)

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote in his 2005 book, "To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility." His perspective on happiness follows: Happiness is the ability to say: I lived for certain values and acted on them.  I was part of a family, embracing it and being embraced by it.  I was part of a community, honoring its traditions, sharing its griefs and joys, ready to help others, knowing that they were ready to help me.  I did not only ask what I could take; I asked what I could contribute.   To know that you made a difference, that in this all-too-brief span of years you lifted someone’s spirits, relieved someone’s poverty or loneliness, or brought a moment of grace or justice to the world that would not have happened had it not been for you: these are as close as we get to the meaningfulness of a life, and they are matters of everyday rather than heroic virtue. Machiavelli famously said that it is better to be feared than to be loved.  He was wrong. So, are we happy? 

 

This last part of the U.S. Report focuses on discernment. (begin) The synodal experience has enabled hundreds of thousands of Catholics throughout the United States to re-engage in the simple practice of gathering, praying together, and listening to one another. There was wide acknowledgment from the regions that the call to participate in a synodal time in the Church was initially met with skepticism and suspicion; however, the regions also report that the experience itself dispelled many of the misgivings that participants brought with them to the process. Within a context of pandemic, polarization, and ongoing wounds of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, there has appeared a seed of renewal, “a commitment to re-learn the art of listening and envision a new mission, goals, and priorities – remembering that we are on a pilgrimage together.”  Discernment is a practice of the Church carried on in a spirit of prayer, meditation, and ongoing dialogue. The Spirit is the principal agent of di

U.S. Synod Report continued: (begin) Another enduring wound widely reflected in synodal consultations was the experience that the Church is deeply divided. Participants felt this division as a profound sense of pain and anxiety. “As one participant shared, the divisive political ideologies present in our society have seeped into all aspects of our lives.” Division regarding the celebration of the liturgy was reflected in synodal consultations. “Sadly, celebration of the Eucharist is also experienced as an area of division within the church.”  “The most common issue regarding the liturgy is the celebration of the pre-Conciliar Mass.” The limited access to the 1962 Missal was lamented; many felt that the differences over how to celebrate the liturgy “sometimes reach the level of animosity. People on each side of the issue reported feeling judged by those who differ from them.”  Many regional syntheses cited the perceived lack of unity among the bishops in the United States, and even of s

  Blessing of Animals  Sunday, October 2, 12:00 PM  at the Statue of St Francis of Assisi. Please bring dogs on a leash, and cats safely protected in cat carriers so that the brief blessing ceremony is safe.

 

  September 25, 2022, Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time  A Great Gift: Words of gratitude are due to Joe and Marion Mooney, Terry Daly, Jeanne Dennis, and Deb Journalist for their many efforts to plan  and conduct yet another successful CTK Charitable l Golf Tournament and to Willow Bend Country Club for their  fine hospitality on September 12th. .   All  participants can be very proud of the fact that the finds raised through this annual event are being devoted to charity. A gift of $25,000 from proceeds of the Golf Tournament was presented for use by the CTK  Resources and Financial Assistance Ministry, designated for housing needs especially for  those who are being displaced from long term rentals in the current real estate market  and  often need help with some portion of the  first, last and security deposits required  in order to relocate. Those who turn to the parish for such assistance will be able to be better helped thanks to all who were part of this enjoyable, effectiv

The U.S. National Synthesis for the 2021-2023 Synod has been published.  Everyone should read and reference it.  Here is a part I consider key to the reasons why our Church is in a dark shadow many of the faithful find themselves having to fathom and experience.   (begin) Over the course of the diocesan phase, several enduring wounds emerged. Many of these wounds have been inflicted not only by individual members of the Church but often by the institution itself. “People shared their experiences, their dreams for the Church, and their concerns with openness and courage. Participants appreciated the opportunity to share their stories— including painful stories—without interruption, contradiction, or apologetics. Many expressed that the process and the experience were healing and hopeful, and desperately needed in the Church today.”  Chief among the enduring wounds that afflict the People of God in the United States is the still unfolding effects of the sexual abuse crisis. “Trust in the

Who among us has the preserver otherwise known as wisdom to tell the difference between the truth and lies?  Too many of us rush rashly off the cliff of gullibility and denial.   We hope many of us wear the life preserver we call Jesus Christ who is the truth and the light.  When he throws us his ring, let's grab it. Deacon David Pierce

To forgive is divine so it has been said.  That is true, but not too many of us are that divine.  Father Rohr helps us move in the right direction and remind us that we all have a spark of divinity within us.  Making it into a fire is the hard part when we have been trod upon or when someone we love or know has done what we consider to be unforgivable.  Can we reflect God's goodness?  Each of us has to struggle with that answer. (begin) Father Richard Rohr writes of the power of Jesus’ teachings and lived example of forgiveness: Among the most powerful of human experiences is to give or to receive forgiveness. I am told that two-thirds of the teaching of Jesus is directly or indirectly about this mystery of forgiveness: God’s breaking of God’s own rules. That’s not surprising, because forgiveness is probably the only human action that reveals three goodness’s simultaneously! When we forgive, we choose the goodness of the other over their faults, we experience God’s goodness flowing

Refuse no one the good on which he has a claim when it is in your power to do it for him. Say not to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give,” when you can give at once. Plot no evil against your neighbor, against one who lives at peace with you. Quarrel not with a man without cause, with one who has done you no harm. Envy not the lawless man and choose none of his ways: To the LORD the perverse one is an abomination, but with the upright is his friendship. The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, but the dwelling of the just he blesses; When dealing with the arrogant, he is stern, but to the humble he shows kindness. (Proverbs 3:27-34) I’m tempted to touch on politics, but I won’t.  Today’s proverb speaks for itself.  Nevertheless, we all should work to ensure success of the just, and not the wicked.   Plotting no evil against our neighbor can pertain to social media.  Quarreling not with one who has done us no harm should prevent us from “piling on” and

 

Summer is just over (technically) and winter is not that far away (hope it is). The changing seasons remind us about what we will face, not so much for most of us here in this church, but for many people in our community, country and around the world – cold, hardship, hunger. All that accompanies what one has to endure especially when one is poor with little influence on decision making affecting society and their welfare. This reminder is provided through the well-known fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1845 – The Little Match Girl. It’s especially relevant to our first reading from the book of Amos.  On a freezing New Year's Eve, a shivering, bareheaded, and barefoot, poor, young girl tried to sell matches in the street. She crept along trembling with cold and hunger – a very picture of sorrow, the poor little thing! The little maiden walked on with her tiny naked feet, that were quite red and blue from cold. Afraid to go home for failing to sell any matches, she h

The following excerpts are from the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate , Proclaimed by His Holiness Pope Paul VI on October 28, 1965.  I include it here because we are about 57 years later.  Have we been faithful to this proclamation?  Very many of us have not, much to our shame.  There is much anti-Semitism nowadays, and many Christians are participants in that abomination, as many were during the Holocaust. (begin) 1. In our time, when day by day mankind is being drawn closer together, and the ties between different peoples are becoming stronger, the Church examines more closely her relationship to non-Christian religions. In her task of promoting unity and love among men, indeed among nations, she considers above all in this declaration what men have in common and what draws them to fellowship… …The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions [Buddhism and Hinduism] She regards with sincere reverence those

Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources. (Luke 8:1-3) Mary, called Magdalene, had seven demons.  Jesus drove them out, apparently.  Who was this Mary?  Scholar and historian James Carroll provides great insight.  He wrote the article: “Who Was Mary Magdalene? From the writing of the New Testament to the filming of The Da Vinci Code, her image has been repeatedly conscripted, contorted and contradicted.”  It was published in Smithsonian Magazine (June 2006).  It begins: The whole history of western civilization is epitomized in the cult of Mary Magdalene. For many centuries the most obsessively revered of saints, this woman became the embodi

Jesus’ father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them. “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:33-35) Do we act as swords piercing many hearts so that thoughts may be revealed?  In other words, do we have frank conversations with loved ones about their feelings whether good or bad, whether for or against us?  Hot pokers sometimes are needed to pierce cold and hard hearts and to cauterize the anger, even hatred, found within. We can cause the rise or fall of those around us by what we say to them.  Let’s opt for the rise through heart-felt expressions of care, compassion, and love. Jesus was all about rising, and so should we. Deacon David Pierce

With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died.  Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us.”  So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live.” Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.  (Numbers 21:4-9)  

Brothers and sisters: As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit. Now the body is not a single part, but many. Now you are Christ's Body, and individually parts of it. Some people God has designated in the Church to be, first, Apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues. Are all Apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work mighty deeds? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. (1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27-31)

I offer this reflection about today's readings: "A Reflection for Monday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time" by Cecilia González-Andrieu (begin) If I needed a reminder of how astonishingly far from us the biblical times really are, today’s Scripture readings will do. The difficulties these texts pose make me feel like I have entered a disorienting time warp. To my twenty-first century self, little in these texts makes sense; the world they disclose is so different from what I know and value. Let’s be honest: It takes work to not be angry and feel like I just don’t want to read biblical texts like these anymore. It’s also tempting to have the opposite reaction and imagine that uncritical acceptance is somehow what faith requires.

Brothers and sisters: In giving this instruction, I do not praise the fact that your meetings are doing more harm than good. First of all, I hear that when you meet as a Church there are divisions among you, and to a degree I believe it; there have to be factions among you in order that also those who are approved among you may become known. When you meet in one place, then, it is not to eat the Lord's supper, for in eating, each one goes ahead with his own supper, and one goes hungry while another gets drunk. Do you not have houses in which you can eat and drink? Or do you show contempt for the Church of God and make those who have nothing feel ashamed? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I do not praise you. For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my Body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In t

 

  So close, yet so far for most of us, especially in these days of political chaos and division. Deacon David Pierce

 

While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.” (Luke 6:1-5) Good for Jesus!  He went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions.  The priests likely were none too pleased.  Nowadays our priests emphasize sharing and, of course, taking the bread as the Eucharist. Hunger is a worldwide concern.  It’s up to us to do our share by doing more than picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in our ha

The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.  Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.  And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” (Luke 5:33-39) Many of us are “old wineskins.”  We have aged.  I’m one.  However, I have a problem with the claim that pouring “new wine” into m

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