World Mission Sunday

10-20-2019Weekly Reflection+Bishop William Patrick Callahan

My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

May the Lord give you peace.

This year, Oct. 20th marks a very special World Mission Sunday: our annual, worldwide, Eucharistic celebration of our shared call to mission. It takes place during an Extraordinary Missionary Month, called for by Pope Francis in honor of the 100th anniversary of Pope Benedict XV's apostolic letter Maximum Illud, which emphasizes our missionary call to proclaim the Gospel.

During October, Pope Francis invites us – all baptized Christians – to a personal encounter with Jesus Christ through prayer, meditation on the word of God and pilgrimage. Pope Francis reminds us that we are each "Baptized and Sent"; "Church of Christ on Mission in the World."

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A closer look at gratitude

10-13-2019Weekly ReflectionFather Prince Raja

During the Ordinary Time of the year, for Sunday liturgy we normally listen to a particular Gospel. This year we are listening to the Gospel of Luke. The first reading is selected from the Old Testament in such a way as to correspond to the gospel text, while the 2nd reading from the Epistles follows its own sequence. Today, the first reading and the gospel text have extraordinary similarities. Both are stories about lepers being healed; in both stories there are expressions of gratitude; and both are about outsiders!

Let us begin by looking at some of the interesting details in the gospel text of today so as to appreciate the context of the story, and then we can reflect a little deeper on the theme of gratitude.

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The Spirituality of Daily life

10-06-2019Weekly ReflectionFather Prince Raja

The Liturgy of the Word on this 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time invites us to reflect on the sacredness ofour daily lives. It calls us to find God in our faithfulness to daily duties. The readings invite us to live by faith.

The first reading is from Prophet Habakkuk (1:2-3; 2:2-4). This book was written during a very difficulttime in the history of Israel(7th Cent BC), just before the Babylonian Exile (598 BC). One of the central themesin this book of Habakkuk can be summarized in the lines that we heard read in the first reading of today: “Theupright man (the just) will live by his faithfulness” (Hab 2:4). And in the gospel today, Jesus suggests that wecan merit the Kingdom of God by the fulfillment of our ordinary, daily duties done with a little faith, even if thatfaith is only as big as a mustard seed. It is faith that converts ordinary things of daily life into extraordinarysigns of the Kingdom of God. Jesus says, “When you have done all you have been told to do, say, “We aremerely servants: we have done no more than our duty” (Lk 17:10).

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