by SFXparish | Jul 22, 2018 | BLOG
“Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the LORD… Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David.” (Jer 23:1;5)
Once Moses and his trusted aide Joshua had died, the next generation of Israelites lost sight of the Lord God and began worshipping the gods of Canaan (Jg 2:10-11). First, God admonished them by not assisting their armies; then God showed his divine mercy by sending them “judges” – Israelites of great and humble faith who shepherded the people with counsel and victory. However, after being led by some unjust judges and hard pressed by their enemies, the Israelites approached the prophet Samuel and demanded a king be set over them (1 Sam 8:5). This insistence caused grief to both Samuel and the Lord God (1 Sam 8:18), for they saw this as a sign of Israel’s waning faith. Still, God instructed Samuel to anoint the Benjaminite Saul as king. Saul eventually displeased the Lord, and Samuel prophesied that Saul’s kingship would be replaced by another – “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Sam 13:13-14). This was of course King David.
God promised David (through the prophet Nathan) that he would establish David’s house forever (2 Sam 7:16) thus promising the coming of the Messiah (Mt 22:41-46). This “anointed one” is Jesus, that “righteous shoot” who comes not only to shepherd Israel but all mankind.
Jesus often warned His disciples against false shepherds – those individuals whose primary concern is their own selfish will (Jn 10:12) or who are even “ravenous wolves” (Mt 7:15)! The first are those who teach not the teachings of Jesus Christ and his Church. The second are those who feed off of the Church to satiate their own physical or material appetites. Thankfully, the Lord sends us many able shepherds while Jesus also promised to be with his Church until the end of the age by leaving His disciples obedience-to-His-teachings as their lasting legacy (Mt 28:20).
To assist us in our reflection on the excerpt (above) from today’s First Reading we adorn our bulletin cover for this 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time with a painting by the great Danish master: Rembrandt van Rijn, entitled David Playing the Harp to Saul (1629). This Northern Baroque work is quite representative of Rembrandt’s impressive use of contrasting light and darkness to portray psychological tension within the biblical narrative. We see David humbly bowed, immersed in his harp playing; painted with no facial features so as to symbolize his insignificance or lack of threat to his king. Saul however sits proudly on his couch, holding his shepherd’s staff and wearing his chain of authority while looking suspiciously at David as a rebel and usurper. Saul has forgotten that any authority he holds has come from God and that his service to God is of greater consequence than the authority – which is in fact just one type of faithful service.
To see how the Lord shepherd’s his people we offer the Canticle of Hannah, Samuel’s mother: “[God] raises the needy from the dust; from the ash heap [he] lifts up the poor, to seat them with nobles and make a glorious throne their heritage” (1 Sam 2:8). Such ones are not only poor in substance, but also poor in spirit (Mt 5:3).
-Steve Guillotte
by SFXparish | Jul 19, 2018 | NEWS
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!
by SFXparish | Jul 19, 2018 | NEWS
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!
by SFXparish | Jul 19, 2018 | NEWS
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.
by SFXparish | Jul 13, 2018 | BLOG
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
