A Share in God's Kingdom

07-26-2020Weekly Reflection

Today concludes a three-week series of Gospel texts in which we have listened to a total of seven parables about the Kingdom. The believer is asked to consider the request that God made of Solomon in today’s first reading: “Ask something of me and I will give it to you” (1 Kings 3:5). Today’s parables about the treasure buried in the field and the pearl of great price should prompt us to answer, “A share in your kingdom, O God!” Today we discover that the kingdom of God is beyond value, a priceless treasure. Unfortunately, our culture bombards us with things that it believes are priceless treasures—the bigger and better SUVs, anti-aging and anti-balding creams and salves, miracle diets, and so much more. Having a share in God’s kingdom and helping to bring about that kingdom are the greatest treasures that we can ever hope to gain.

Good Seeds

07-19-2020Weekly Reflection

Today Jesus continues to speak to his followers using parables. What a rich treasure we are given today in three parables about the kingdom of heaven! The kingdom is likened to a man sowing good seed in his field, a mustard seed, and yeast mixed with flour. As they did last week, today the disciples press Jesus for an interpretation of one of the parables—the parable of the man sowing good seed. Lest we think that these parables are simply amusing little anecdotes, Jesus’ interpretation should be seen for what it is—a warning. Wailing and grinding of teeth in a fiery furnace await those who are children of the evil one. This parable points to the struggle for today’s believer. Sometimes, through sin, we sow weeds and prevent the love of Christ from blossoming. Let today’s Gospel help put us back on track. Let us recommit ourselves to preparing for the last days, the harvest, by blossoming as the good seeds we were created in love to be.

God's Words

07-12-2020Weekly Reflection

Each day we are bombarded with thousands of words. From the moment our clock radios click on in the morning, until the last moment of the day when the television is turned off or someone bids us “good-night,” our life is filled with words. Some words that we hear bring news that leaves us feeling low. Some words lift our spirits. Many of the words we hear are trying to get us to buy something. Some words are hurtful. Today the Church focuses our attention on hearing the word of God. Are God’s words just more of the same— part of the endless stream of words that flow into our ears each day? The challenge today is to allow God’s word to inspire us in new ways so that our outlook and attitudes align themselves more closely with the heart and mind of Christ Jesus.

Share the Burden

07-05-2020Weekly Reflection

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). These words of our Savior seem to be in stark contrast to the previous chapter from the same Gospel, when we were told that if we do not take up our crosses, we are not worthy of Christ. Connecting these two messages might help us on our faith journeys. Being a follower of Christ surely means that we must embrace the cross, in its mystery of both suffering and triumph. This is something that we need not do alone, for the burden is often too heavy for us to carry by ourselves. Who, then, do we turn to? We can turn to the Body of Christ—the community of disciples gathered for worship. When we find the burden too heavy, let us remember that we can share that burden with our Christian sisters and brothers, who can help bring us rest.

Christian Hospitality

06-28-2020Weekly Reflection

Day in and day out, we are required to make judgment calls informed by tough, durable, serviceable Christian love. We do what we can do, and God takes notice. God is in charge of rewards, and a glass of water will do when that is what we have to offer with a glad and open heart.

Paul gives us a clear theology for the missionary work we do whenever anybody is close at hand. He reminds us that our work, our ministry, is carried on in concert with Christ. We have been baptized into his death and life. In any given moment both life and death are there, a kind of play of shadow and light. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell where shadow leaves off and light begins. God will take care of that, too.

Enthusiasm and Grammar

06-21-2020Weekly Reflection

There is a good reason that the writings of St. Paul don’t show up as examples in grammar textbooks. Today’s reading is a case in point. It begins with one of those long Pauline run on sentences that leave lectors gasping for breath. So what? Take a closer look at how Paul’s fervor for his subject matter derails the grammar. There is something admirable about being so caught up in his convictions that the words cannot come fast enough to express them, much less in an orderly fashion. Scripture scholars usually take this grammatical ineptness as a sign of a passage’s early importance in the Christian community, something they were so ardent about that their language never got refined.

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Food From Heaven

06-14-2020Weekly Reflection

God sustained the people of Israel for forty years in the desert with manna sent down from heaven, and Moses doesn’t want them to forget it. God brought forth water from stone for them to drink, and Moses doesn’t want them to forget this, either. And Moses tells them—twice—that the food that God sent was a food that neither they nor their ancestors before them had ever experienced before. Jesus too speaks of food that came down from heaven, food that the Jewish people had never experienced before. Recalling the manna in the desert, Jesus doesn’t want them to forget it either, explaining that he is the food and drink of eternal life. And Paul reiterates to the Corinthians and to all of us that in the bread and in the cup, we share in the body and blood of Christ.

Grace and Eternal Life

06-07-2020Weekly Reflection

Moses is a man after our own hearts, for haven’t we all dealt with more than our share of stiffnecked people? Indeed, haven’t we all gotten a little stiff-necked ourselves at times? Complaining . . . impatient . . . quick to anger. How lucky for Moses—how lucky for all of us—that God is exactly the opposite! And we don’t even have to guess about it. The Lord tells us so directly. Accordingly, Moses does what we all need to do. Even with the tablets in hand, he bows down and asks for God’s forgiveness and grace. Encouraging us to live together in peace—and in God’s favor—the Apostle Paul knows all about this grace, joyfully invoking Christ’s grace on us along with God’s love and the Holy Spirit’s. “Rejoice,” he says. And when it comes to rejoicing, John offers us the gladdest words of all: the assurance of eternal life through Jesus.

The Richness of the Spirit

05-31-2020Weekly Reflection

Students, and most adults recalling their school days, are familiar with the phrase “compare and contrast” that shows up from time to time on tests. Today we hear two different accounts of the giving of the Holy Spirit to the church. Let’s contrast, then compare. Luke’s account from Acts is filled with arresting details: the mighty wind from heaven, the tongues of flame, the miracle of different languages. John’s account seems timid: fearful disciples, the wounded Christ, the expelling of breath from his risen body, not from the sky. Our literal, modern minds wonder which way it happened; our noisy culture probably makes us prefer the former. But if we compare the two, we find that the dazzling richness of the Spirit fills both accounts, for it is the very breath of the risen Christ, ascended to the sky in Luke, that appears to his disciples in John and sends his followers forth to carry on his mission of forgiving sin and proclaiming the mighty acts of God.

05-24-2020Weekly Reflection

There is a delightful character in the original Dr. Dolittle Tales called the “Pushmi-Pullyu.” It is a beast with two identical halves, with a head at each end. No matter which direction the beast walks, one end is the “push me” and the other is the “pull you.” Today’s feast is a bit like that in the life of the church. In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, it is the ascension of Christ that calls for the Holy Spirit, which consequently sends or “pushes” the church out on its mission. This is the message that we hear from the angels today as they tell the friends of Jesus not to look up into the clouds, but to get busy. It is the message of Jesus himself in Matthew’s Gospel, as he sends them out to baptize. He also tells them, “I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). And it is this message, confident in faith that Jesus has ascended to shouts of joy, that “pulls” us along to our final destiny. The life of the faithful disciple, sent into the world on mission, will one day know the same risen, ascended glory.

Welcome Back to St. George's Weekend Masses Starting May 30 & 31

05-19-2020Pastor's LetterRev. Msgr. Domenico C. Pinti

We welcome our parishioners back beginning Pentecost Weekend (May 30-31). It is a gift to receive the sacraments.

Through the Diocesan Guidelines, the Center for Disease Control, for public safety, the common good and with a delicate balance, St. George will be observing the following guidelines. Please note that guidelines can be changed at any time to ensure reasonable safety of our parishioners, ministers and priests.

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The Reason for Our Hope

05-17-2020Weekly Reflection

“What is the reason for your hope?” Imagine somebody coming up to you and asking you that question. Not “What are you hoping for?” or “What are you hoping to do?” No, this isn’t about our desires for possessions or aspirations for life, it’s “Why do you hope?” Peter today tells us that we ought to be ready to give an answer to this question. Truth be told, few of us spend much time thinking about why we hope. Luckily, the scriptures today give us our answers. We hope because Christ suffered for us, in order that we might come to God. We hope because we know that, in the Spirit, God grants us another Advocate through Christ to remain with us always. No matter what we might hope for, whatever we might hope to do, we must always first know and proclaim the reason for our hope: the presence of God in Christ, with us through the power of the Spirit.

Vocation

05-10-2020Weekly Reflection

Roman Catholics in the United States spend a good deal of time speaking of “vocation” and the manner in which each of us discerns our vocation for life. In today’s apostolic letter, however, Peter gives us the “cornerstone” of our vocation, the description of what each of us is called to first and foremost by our baptism. He describes our vocation as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of [God’s] own, so that you may announce the praises” of Christ, who called us out of darkness into light (1 Peter 2:9). All of us, no matter what path our life’s vocation may take us down, have been chosen by God, made holy, and anointed as priests in the high priesthood of Christ through baptism. All of this, so that we may announce the praises of Christ. Vocation is given for proclamation at home, in the workplace— wherever life takes us—in service, in word, and in sacrament.

In Need of a Shepard

05-03-2020Weekly Reflection

For a while it was very fashionable to own pigs as pets. The publicity surrounding these creatures informed us that they were—contrary to their popular image—very clean animals, and also quite smart. Sad to say, sheep will most likely never enjoy this sort of domestic vogue. They are neither clean nor smart and are largely defenseless when left on their own, even in large numbers. The biblical image of us as the flock of sheep is not a particularly flattering one. Sheep without a shepherd are truly sad, because they most likely will perish either from their inability to fend for themselves or from their lack of defenses against predators. Placing ourselves in the heart of this unflattering image can reinforce our faith. Until we come to a profound realization of how much we need a shepherd, we cannot appreciate how deeply blessed we are to have been given a Shepherd, one who laid down his life for us and was raised to life eternal in the Spirit, so he might guide us and we might follow him in faith forever.