This weekend we observe Stewardship of Vocations. While everyone has a unique vocation, we are focusing particularly on vocations to the priesthood, the diaconate and religious life. And we are asking all our parishioners to help nurture these vocations from our parish.
“Vocation” comes from the Latin word vocare which means “to call.” In the Catholic context, God is the one who calls people into a certain lifestyle, career or ministry. One who hears the call and freely embraces it is said to have “found their vocation.” Since God is the Creator of all people, He is calling everyone in a particular way. Over the centuries, the Church has developed special esteem for some vocations because of their service to the Church. Among these are marriage, priesthood, diaconate and consecrated religious life.
After many hours of prayerful discernment and creative experimentation, I am excited to share with you the new logo for IHM. Why a new logo? IHM has had various logos over the years, and there is nothing wrong with the most recent one of a blue Jerusalem cross with a background of blue and gray stained glass. But after our Mission Leadership Team discerned a new mission statement for our parish, I thought it would be helpful to have a new logo that expresses that mission more dynamically.
By now we have all noticed the days becoming shorter and the nights cooler. This Sunday is the autumnal equinox, when the length of day and night are equal in both the northern and southern hemispheres. It marks the end of summer and the beginning of fall, at the halfway point between the summer and winter solstice.
This weekend we celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of perpetual adoration of the Eucharist in our parish. So I share with you my prayerful meditation about our Adoration Chapel
The crowds challenged Jesus to show them a sign the day after he fed them and many others with five loaves and two fish. What a difference a day makes! But I won’t criticize them because I sometimes forget the Lord’s blessings and seek more miraculous signs every day to affirm my faith. Thankfully, Jesus anticipated this weakness by giving Himself to us in the Eucharist. “Do this in memory of me,” He said. So we remember Him every week, even every day. While doing so we savor His words: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (John 6:35).
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not just about things that happened 2000 years ago. His wonders and signs continue to happen in our day. Case in point: the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis
Last Monday I visited a dear friend from Steamboat Springs who had just taken the Flight-For-Life helicopter to Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree. Kathy had a meningioma tumor removed from her brain stem a month ago but had to quickly return because of excess fluid buildup in her cranial cavity. As she anticipated another surgery to drain the fluid, she looked at me with a peaceful smile and said, “I’m just so grateful; so grateful that the doctors can do this surgery. Jesus is with me, I know He is. He’s just so sweet.”
For the next seven Sundays (July 14 – August 25) the second reading at Mass will be from St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians. So to help you better appreciate this great letter, I offer you the following introduction which was written by Dr. Tod Warner. It appears in The Word on Fire Bible: Acts, Letters, and Revelation (2022, Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, p. 370-371; Used with permission). You may want to refer back to this introduction as you prepare for Mass over the next seven weeks.
Have you ever heard the saying, “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is,”? It may apply to the letter you received saying you have won the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, or to the email saying you have been gifted a villa in northern Italy. But some people actually use this saying to reject the Christian gospel. It seems too good to be true.
When things go wrong in our lives it is common to blame God. As people share their problems with me, they often say something like, “I don’t know why God is punishing me.” Some also blame God for the illness or death of loved ones as they say, “Oh well, God took them to himself.” As people of faith, how can we understand all the complicated problems we experience, including sickness and death?