Thank you, to all the Men of St. Joseph who put together the recent pancake breakfast in honor of Haley Ketschke. Thanks to Mark Hadley who came up with the idea and organized the men. Thanks also especially to Jeffrey Pereira of Jeffrey’s Pizza who prepared the eggs, sausages, and home fries out of his pizza shop. Also, thank you to all the men who delivered this food to the school, who cooked the pancakes in the school kitchen, and who served in the chow line. It was a great event!
Thank you to all who came out on a hot and muggy 15th of July to donate blood for our parish summer blood drive in our parish parking lot. We had just over 20 donors and 14 units collected. Admittedly, this is a bit low for us, but we are optimistic that we can do better at our next drive in October 2018. Once again, thank you to all who gave for this cause for Life!
Thank you to all who gave to our parish appeal for the diocesan Catholic Charities. This year we collected in donations and pledges a total of $35,035 which was slightly up from last year’s total of $34,720. Thank you to all parishioners and others who gave so generously to this appeal which provides for the needy in our local area.
Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out… “Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” So they went off and preached repentance. (Mk 6:7;11-12)
Christians are ambassadors of Christ and therefore envoys of reconciliation to God (2 Cor 5:20). All reconciliation to God comes about through contrition or man’s repentance. This is certainly why Jesus sent out his Apostles to preach repentance (the forgiveness of sins) to all the nations. Further, Jesus does not tolerate those who treat his ambassadors with discourtesy, obstinacy, or apathy. As noted in our quotation above from Sacred Scripture for this 15th Sunday in Ordinary time, Jesus expects that his messengers will be welcomed and listened too.
Of all messages that could ever be sent, be they between friends, enemies, nations etc. there is no greater message than that which comes from the mouth of God. God’s is an embassy due the utmost respect such that no living creature should dare take upon himself its prevention or disruption. Yet men and demons often do.
When Jesus instructs his Apostles to “shake the dust off” their feet in “testimony” to any place which does not welcome or listen to them, Jesus is instructing His Apostles to give proof of that place’s impurity and self-condemnation. In ancient Israel the Jews would shake the dust from their feet after leaving a land of the Gentiles, i.e. non-Jews. They would thus ritually cast off from their bodies any “residue” from that land of idolatry before passing over to their own land consecrated to the Lord God. Hence, when Jesus instructs his Apostles to shake the dust off their feet, He is commanding them to testify that such a place (city or town) has heard the Word of God but has freely chosen to reject it and to remain bound in the darkness of ignorance and sin. In refusing the gospel of repentance (Mk 1:15) that place (or just as much, that person) has chosen to remain a “gentile” – a captive of the fallen world who will not acknowledge his sins and the great mercy of God.
However, Jesus sends his Apostles to set the captives free (Lk 4:18). Thus we place on our bulletin cover this Sunday a painting from the Spanish Baroque painter, Jusepe de Ribera, entitled, Portrait of a Jesuit Missionary (1638). This oil-on-canvas in the later Tenebrist style was completed about one generation after the life of Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier and at exactly the time the French Jesuit St. Isaac Jogues made his first mission to North America amongst the Huron. Here we see an aged, yet stalwart, yet humble missionary standing upright in the faith. The lion painted by Ribera allows for many interpretations. He is Jesus the Lion of Judah; he is a symbol of the missionary’s courage in the Spirit; he is the natural pagan newly converted and eager for the faith shown by the intensity of his eyes and the baring of his claws (not shown here).
Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord (Ps 118:26). Blameworthy are those who mistreat the messengers of God and squander the message (Mk 12:1-9).
-Steve Guillotte, Director of Pastoral Services
Jesus… came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples… When the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this…” And they took offense at him. (Mk 6:1-2;3)
The ancient Jews were always demanding signs from their prophets (1 Cor 1:22). Sometimes signs were given even when not asked for (Is 7:14). But just as often as the “stiff-necked” people required signs, they frequently rejected the admonitions and counsels of God’s prophets.
Israelite prophets were not like oracles of the Greek cult to which citizens would travel great distances to hear some wisdom at a revered shrine. The Jewish prophets walked amongst the people placing themselves into direct confrontation with those individuals they were sent to advise or forewarn.
Mind you, prophets were not evangelizers as such. They were not sent by God so much to preach and to teach but to caution away from an evil course or to encourage toward a good policy aligned with the will of God. This got the prophets into trouble when their counsel did not align with the will of man! Thus the Israelites often “took offense” at their prophets, rejecting them, exiling them, and even killing them.
For the most part, prophecy has come to completion since all Messianic prophecy pointed to the coming, dying, and rising of Jesus Christ. As to any prophecy about the return of Jesus, Jesus Himself tells us this: only the Father knows for certain (Mt 24:36). Still Catholics are called even today to lead others to God’s mercy while counseling the consequences for rejecting that mercy; while the Blessed Mother, as at Fatima, has been the great prophet of our age.
In order to offer a visual context to today’s Gospel reading for this 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we have placed on our bulletin cover a work by the Russian realist, Ilya Repin, entitled, Prophet (1890). Here we see an unnamed prophet walking among a people who have fallen into paganism and idolatry. Men stand around jeering and waving at the prophet, driving him from their midst while a boy comes up from behind wielding a rock. It is not clear if the prophet is visiting “his native place” (Mk 6:4) but he has spoken God’s word to this ancient city and now he takes his leave as one scorned and unheeded.
Repin began his artistic career as a restorer of religious icons. This experience could be one reason for his several paintings of prophets. Another may be that he saw himself as a Tolstoy of the visual arts, a presenter of realism during the insulated rule of Emperor Alexander III which set the stage for the 1917 Marxist Revolution. Repin, a voice for change who rejected Lenin’s Bolsheviks, eventually moved to Finland where he resided until his death.
While no one can take upon himself (without God’s call) the role of the prophet, we Catholics can surely see some “signs of the times” (Lk 12:54-56). Further, we are to be reminded that Christ cautions us to be on guard and to be prepared for his next and final coming (Mt 24:42-44).
-Steve Guillotte, Director of Pastoral Services