Keep your faith in front of you at work, home, on your phone - Choose a Catholic site for your home page

Most people who use a computer at work use a web browser.    To keep your faith front and center why not choose a Catholic web site as your home page.   You can make it Ss. Francis and Clare home page or you can choose one of your own favorite web sites.   I have a list on the right hand side of my blog listing some favorite web sites.    I have Catholic Exchange set as my home page.    I like this site as it has a daily blog usually commenting on current culture & faith.   It also has the daily Mass readings, Liturgy of the Hours, Words of Encouragement, Pope Benedicts’ Day, Quote of the Day, Homily of the Day, Saint of the day, and daily news updates.  By keeping this as my home page I am able to go back to it for reading daily prayer, Mass readings, and topics.  There is even an option to subscribe summary of daily or weekly headlines.  You can peruse the list of Catholic web sites to the right side of my blog if you want some options to look at.    If you have an option to suggest please add a comment.  

Choices: Chocolate or Vanilla? God or gods of other nations? Choose Wisely!

In Father Vince’s homily this Sunday, August 26, 2012, he asked us about many choices: chocolate or vanilla; IU or Purdue; school or vacation to name a few.  He made the point that we have many choices in our life, but the most important one is our choice to follow God.  

The Sunday readings presented many choices. Joshua asked the tribes of Israel whether they will follow the gods of other nations or the LORD, the God of Israel.  They made the right choice, “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD”, Jos 24:15.   St. Paul challenged the men of Ephesus to choose to be Christian husbands by loving their wives, “even as Christ loved the church handing himself over for her to sanctify her”, Eph 5:25, as opposed to the Roman pagan culture treating wives with abuse, infidelity, and very little love.  In Mark’s Gospel, many of Jesus disciples’ chose not to follow him because they could not to accept His teaching on eating his body and blood to gain eternal life.  Peter made the better choice by continuing to follow Jesus and professing, “You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God”, Jn 68-69.  

Joshua and Peter are strong examples of our faith in making the most important decision, choosing to follow God.  May their witness inspire you to follow the same path and to choose wisely to “serve the LORD”.

Feast of St. Monica - Persevering in prayer

Today is the feast of St. Monica. She prayed for conversion of her son, St. Augustine, to return to the faith and give up his immoral ways.   Her persevering prayers resulted in her seeing her son convert to the faith, as well as her husband and mother-in-law.  Her son, Augustine, become one of the great Doctors of the Church.  She did not live to see this during her life on earth, as Augustine converted shortly before her death.   Sometimes we don’t see immediately God’s answers to prayer.  The key thing is to trust in prayer and put faith in God. I heard a good story on Catholic radio on how to help your loved ones who may be away from the faith.  It is to take them with you to Mass with you.    This may seem extremely difficult given their estrangement from the faith, but if you bring them spiritually with you prayer it can help you and them both.  If you have family members who have left the faith Saint Monica is a powerful intercessor of prayer and a model for us to follow.

Catholic Radio - A great way to inform you faith & make rush hour more pleasant

Did you know that the Indianapolis area has a Catholic Radio station? Just tune into fm 89.1 (or if on the Northside of Indy 90.1)  Catholic Radio Indy has been around since 2004 and it is a great way to make the rush hour drive a bit more tolerable and also learn about your faith.  There’s some great programming during the drive times.   Check out www.catholicradioindy.org for more information and programming.   If the fm signal is not that good in your area there are alternative ways to listen.   If so you can tune into ETWN Radio on Sirius radio.  You won’t get the local programming, but will hear most of the same content.  You can also listen to the program by steaming from the website.  There is also a great app, iCatholicFM, that you can download for free and listen on your iPhone.  The station has daily Mass at 8 am and 12 noon, the prayers of the Rosary, and Divine Mercy Chaplet.  There are also some great shows for learning about the Catholic faith, including Sonrise Morning Show, Open Line, Catholic Answers, and the Doctor is in.   

One of my favorite shows is Catholic Answers.   It’s usually on between 6 pm to 8 pm.  It seems like I learn something new or interesting to enhance my faith every week.  A good example this week was a guest, Mary Healy, who is the author of the commentary on the Gospel of Mark in the series Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture.  She was answering listeners questions regarding the role of women in the New Testament and gave some interesting insight given the historical context of the time. She pointed out that treatment of women by Jesus was very respectful given the culture at the time. In listening I found out about the commentary series that not only provided Mary’s insights into the Biblical text, but also included the Church fathers interpretations.   It was a practical series of commentaries that wasn’t too technical, but also not too light.  The endorsements were very favorable for this series as an excellent resource for priests and deacons in helping to develop homilies as well as for the Catholic lay person who wants to understand scripture at a deeper level.  I also found a good blog associated with the site, Speaking of Scripture, that gave weekly insight into the Sunday Scripture readings.  A double dose of help for a new deacon!  Pretty good time spent for the 20 minute drive home.

One thing x 2: Don’t wait for the green light to form your life in Christ

In Matthew Kelly’s Rediscovering Catholicism he recommends focusing on “One thing” that you take away from the  Homily at  Sunday Mass for the week and writing it in your Mass journal.    This weeks’ homily continuing in John’s bread of life discourse, Chapter 6, both Fr. Vince and Fr. Anto gave us some good food for life!   Since served two Masses I received a double dose of “one thing”.  

Fr. Anto focused on getting more Life in your life and it’s the presence of God in the Eucharist that we can receive weekly and even daily.  The red candle burning outside the chapel is the sign of the living presence of Christ in the tabernacle.  Instead of searching for life in other places; the bar, parties, movies, come to receive Christ in the Eucharist and he will fill your life with Life. 

Fr. Vince offered to image of forming your life in Christ becoming one in Him through the image of two pieces of clay. When we receive Christ in the Eucharist, we can become one with him.    By following the way Christ calls us to live, following the law of Love of God and your neighbor, we can receive Him weekly and be formed in His image.  Forming ourselves in Christ will lead us to eternal life.

What was the “one thing” that you took away from the Homily this week?  Add a comment and share with others!

Stay connected with your faith while on the go : Apps for daily Mass readings

Like many of us I am on the go quite a bit and don’t always have access to a hard copy of the Bible or Daily Missal to keep up with daily Mass readings.   I usually do have my iPhone most of the time.   There are some great apps for the iPhone (and for Android as well) that help me in keeping connected to daily Scripture readings.    One resource that is no cost is The Catholic Directory.  This is an app that will help you find a church anywhere you are located at.  This is a great resource if you are on vacation and want to find a church to attend Mass or are traveling on business and need to find a place to find solace of a daily Mass or chapel to get some peace and quiet with our Lord. This app also has the daily Mass readings.

Another no cost app is Catholic Calendar by Universalis.  This app has a reflection for the day, the daily Mass readings, and Liturgy of the Hours.   You’ll need Internet access to be able to connect to the site, but there is a paid version if you would like to download all of the texts to your phone.

Another app that I use almost daily is iMissal, which costs $4.99 but is well worth it.   It has the daily Mass readings, the order of Mass, daily bible verses, prayers for all occasions, and news feed on Catholic related news.  This app also will have audio of the daily Mass readings (downloaded from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops web site).   This is probably something that I use the most for this app.   I usually start my day off with exercise in the morning and walk or run in the neighborhood and listen to the daily readings.  Sometimes I will listen to them several times in preparation for reading at Mass. I will also use the audio to listen to the Sunday readings several times throughout the week as well. After exercising I may also read the readings in iMissal as well while eating breakfast. Listening as well as reading the text multiple times really helps me to prepare for Sunday Mass, especially if I am preaching. Click on highlighted text if you want some background on iMissal and also agreat video on the new Roman Missal.

This week I heard several people talk about iMissal so I know it must be a popular app for helping people to connect with the faith.    Mark Prince is one of the users of iMissal I asked him for some feedback on how this app helps with his faith:

“I am a big Apple fan and love their products.  With my career change a few years ago, I felt that my connection to my faith and church being strained. I am on always on the go, on an airplane, staying in a hotel, always on the road, go, go, go.  As much as I would like to tell you that I was traveling with my Bible, I wasn’t.  I had heard that the Bible was coming out as app.  When I went to the app store, I searched Catholic Bible.  I was excited to see not only the Catholic Bible pop up, but the iMissal.  The iMissal keeps me focused to what is important.  I realized that attending Mass, centers me to my faith, but simply put, makes me happy.   Being on the road, catching flights, in meetings all day doesn’t allow me to attend Mass everyday.  But I have found that the iMissal app allows me to follow the Mass calendar, reading, the Gospel, prayers, and my Daily Bread really helps me stay centered.  If I am having a stressful day I will go to my iPhone and pull My Daily Bread and will scroll through Verses that brings peace and centers me back to what is important.  It’s my favorite app and I would highly recommend it.”

I appreciate Mark sharing this and I hope you will find this app along with the others mentioned as resources to spend time with our Lord Jesus every day.  If you have any apps you use please share in comments.

Mary's Assumption and saying yes

In reflecting on the Assumption of Mary and listening to Father Anto’s and Fr. Vince’s homilies a common theme came out on why this Feast celebrating Mary’s body and soul being assumed into heaven since the first centuries of the Church.  The theme that became apparent was she listened to God’s will in her life and said yes.   In doing so she was the perfect model of the first disciple of Jesus.  In following the will of God perfectly in her life it’s fitting that she be assumed to be with her Son both body and soul.   She has been referred to as the new Eve.    Our first human parents, Adam and Eve, suffered death due to them saying no, and thus suffered death due to corruption of sin.   With Mary as the new Eve, she was conceived without life and lived a sinless life, Thus when she fell asleep in this life, she was taken both body and soul into heaven, because she was already perfected.   May we all look to Mary as a model for all of us to emulate and seek to listen to God’s will and say yes to where God is calling us in our lives.  

Feast of St. Maximillian Kolbe, August 14th

Today is the Feast day of St. Maximillian Kolbe.  Saint Maximilian is a modern day saint who lived during the 20^th century.  He died giving his life in place of a Jewish father who was condemned to die at Auschwitz death camp in Poland during World War II.   He was left to die in a starvation bunker and his life was eventually ended by lethal injection.     For this he is called upon as the patron of prisoners and those with chemical dependencies.    In addition he founded the Militia of Immaculata in October of 1917 a movement dedicated to Marian consecration.     A center for the movement and evangelization was establish near Warsaw Poland, his home country, and eventually expanded to 900 friars, becoming the largest Catholic religious house in the world.  The friars at the center used modern communications to spread the message and had a newspaper with a circulation of over 1 million.  There was also a radio station and plans for a movie studio as well.  For this Saint Maximilian is considered the patron of journalists and the media communications, as well as families, the pro-life movement.    If you are in the Chicago area you can visit the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe.   This site also has details about the life of St. Maximillian.   Catholic Radio Indy, FM 89.1 and 90.09, has taken on St. Maximillian as their patron saint.   This station is a great way to learn about Catholic faith and help with daily prayer.  St. Maximillain, pray for us!

Spending time daily with Christ in Scripture

A good way to spend time daily with Christ is through reading of Scripture.   The Sunday or daily Mass readings are a great resource and are a great way to prepare for Mass.   If you have a Bible at home you most likely have what you need to find the readings. The Bible used for the readings for the Mass in the US is the NAB (New American Bible) and that is most likely the version that most people have at home. If you don’t have one and are purchasing one you may find the NABRE, which was released within the past year.   There are several other Catholic Bible versions in English, but I will leave that for another post.   In the back of most Catholic Bibles there is a listing of the readings for Sunday Mass.  There are three cycles of Sunday readings: A, B, and C.  In 2012 we are in year B.  Some Bibles also contain a listing of the weekday readings as well of which there are two: cycles II and I.  We are currently following cycle II.   There is usually a table that shows by year what cycle the Sunday and weekdays readings are.  Once you locate the table all you have to do is look up the readings and you are ready to go!   This may seem like a lot of work, but it will help you to become familiar with where the books of the Bible are located.  A benefit of looking up the readings in the Bible is that you can see the text prior and after.  If you want to dig a little deeper into the passage this gives you all you need to do so.  There are also footnotes provided with some background on meaning of the sections.  

If your Bible does not have a the Sunday or daily reading listed don’t fret.  The parish bulletin lists the Sunday readings and the Archdiocese newspaper, the Criterion, has a weekly listing of the Sunday and weekday readings.  The Criterion also has a reflection on the Sunday readings in a column by Monsignor Campion that gives some background on the readings.

Another resource for the Mass readings are a Sunday or Daily Missal.    These contain the all the readings used at Mass for a particular day.   It’s much easier to follow along instead of having to go to multiple books in the Bible.  There are versions of the Missal that have all three Sunday cycles for a complete year and some have all the weekday readings as well.  St. Paul Daily Missal or St. Joseph Missal are a two examples and can be found in most Catholic bookstores.  Also included in the Missal are the prayers for Mass.   There are also some monthly printed publications that have all the Mass readings, plus a reflection, and additional daily prayers, two of which are: Magnificat and Living with Christ.    If you subscribe to these you’ll have access to website resources as well and even an app for iPhone for the Magnificat.  I’ll go into more online resources and phone apps on my next post.

Homily - August 12, 2012 - 19th Sundary Ordinary Time - Cycle B

Readings for the day : 1 Kgs 19:4-8; Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; Eph 4:30-5:2; Jn 6:41-51

Good morning! I hope all of you enjoyed your summer vacation.   With school back in session it looks like there are a few more people here today.    Summer is a time that many of us get away from our normal routine.  Many times it’s going to exciting new places.   It’s also a time that many of us get together with friends and family that we may not have seen for a while either at family or class reunions, or maybe even going back to visit your hometown.   It’s always fun to get together with people you have not seen for a while.  It’s a time to catch up on old memories and also get up to speed with what’s new in peoples lives.  Very often at these gatherings there is someone who may really stand out from what you were used to. I can remember years ago at a family gathering a cousin who I had not seen for years showed up in a brand spanking new Cadillac, wearing a flashy suit, snakeskin boots, and a Rolex watch.   He made a grand entrance and made sure everyone noticed his newfound status in life. This cousin came from very modest family background and his appearance was really out character of what we knew of him.   We were skeptical of where this change came from.  When he wasn’t around we all gathered together in low hushed voices gossiping among ourselves, and speculating where all his good fortune came from, and our thoughts were not that good.  We were murmuring, like the Jews were about Jesus.

In today’s Gospel we hear about the Jews murmuring due to Jesus’ claim of being the bread came down from heaven. This claim is incredible enough to cause skepticism, but to compound this it was considered shameful and divisive in the culture at the time to improve upon your status in the community.   The status you were born into was the status you remained.   The Jews knew Jesus’ father and mother and also backcountry area of Nazareth as a small village of less than two hundred people.  How could Jesus claim he “came down from heaven”?  This goes directly against the grain of what was culturally accepted at the time.

Jesus knows the Jews are murmuring about Him being the bread from heaven.   But he now tells them something even more incredible: Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.  I am the bread of life.   It’s not just the Jews that have access to eternal life, but everyone!    How does this happen?  Through belief in Jesus, by listening to the Father, and the Father drawing them to Jesus. 

Jesus recalls a story familiar to the Jews, the manna that fed their ancestors in the desert.   These were the Israelites that were led out of Egypt by Moses into the desert that we heard about in last weeks’ first reading.   These Jews also murmured, complaining they were better off being in captivity in Egypt as they had food and a place to lay their head.  God provided food through the manna appearing in the desert, but these Jews eventually died. The people knew this story well because it was Scripture they knew and had heard many times. In this short passage Jesus tells the Jews multiple times he is the bread of life that gives them eternal life.   Jesus is really trying to make a point.

The main focus of the Gospel today is that Jesus is the bread of life and if we believe in him we will have eternal life. This bread he feeds us with is the Eucharist and Scripture, which feed our mind, body, and soul.    The key element here is that we need to believe in him. Most of us hear today have heard this Gospel and know the story of Jesus incarnation, death, and resurrection, but what does it mean to really believe in Jesus?  As In preparing the homily I ran across something that seemed to hit it on the nail head: Belief in Jesus is not merely an intellectual exercise but a complete reorientation of one’s life and a personal relationship with Him.   Amen, Amen, Belief in Jesus is not merely an intellectual exercise but a complete reorientation of one’s life and a personal relationship with Him.

WOW.   This definition of belief sounds pretty daunting when you first here it.   It did to me ten years ago.  But when I read it sounded like the experience I went through after I made the time to attend a Christ Renews His Parish retreat.   As a result of the retreat I was drawn to make Christ top priority in my life.    Christ was always present in my life, but between my work, family responsibilities, recreation, and personal goals Christ wasn’t always at the top of my list. I finally listened to God’s calling and re-oriented my life and made Christ the center of it.   That was the first part of the believing in Jesus.   The next part was developing the personal relationship with Christ.  This is something that I’m continually working on but the foundation for this was making time each day to be with Christ in prayer and reading scripture.  In addition I spent a great deal of time learning about the Catholic faith.  As an adult I did not spend a lot of time focusing on this, as most of my learning ended at confirmation.  I discovered a wealth of resources: great Catholic books, radio programs, websites, DVD’s, CD’s, and podcasts.  I listened to many audio media resources while on the go commuting to work, working out in the yard, and exercising.   I’ll be posting some of these resources on my blog if you are interested in them.

We are truly blessed in our community at here at Saints Francis and Clare, as there are many resources that can aid in our believing in Jesus.   One of them was a gift from our parish that many of your received last year, Rediscovering Catholicism.   Who hear received a copy of this book?  Now the tough question, how many of you have read or are reading it?  If you have not started I’d encourage you to take time to read just 5 pages a day.  If you did not receive a copy there are some available in the Narthex of our parish.   If you want to get a jumpstart definitely read the preface, Chapter 13 on prayer, and Chapter 15 on the Bible. This is a great resource as it really helps to focus essential elements to believe in Jesus.  It will be a great preparation for Pope Benedict’s Year of Faith starting in October.

In today’s Gospel Jesus told us: “Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me”.   A great way to do this is through daily prayer and scripture reading.  If you’re not familiar with the Bible a good way to get started is to read the Sunday Mass readings for the upcoming Sunday or if you are really ambitious the daily Mass reading.  If you do this over three years will cover a majority of the books in Bible.  You will also get a lot more out of Mass having read the readings before.  The bulletin lists the Sunday reading, and the parish website has a link to the Sunday & daily Mass readings on US Conference of Catholic Bishops website. If you are on the go there are even podcasts you can download to play on your iPod or MP3 players. Wednesday night Bible study can also place to learn about Scripture.

Prayer is another way to listen to the Father.  Prayer is something that you can do in many forms and there is no specific way you have to pray.   It does not have to be complicated or formal.   It can be as simple as taking a few minutes at a time that’s good for you each day to say thanks to God for blessings, asking for help with your needs or those of others, and maybe evening listening quietly to where he is calling you.  The main thing is to do it daily.   If you want to develop a personal relationship with someone you need to talk to and be with him or her daily.

Today’s good news is that if we believe Jesus is the bread of life we can have eternal life.   Through placing Christ first in our lives and growing in your personal relationship with Him may your belief grow stronger each day.   May God bless each and every one of you all. 

Homily - July 29, 2012, Week 17 Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Readings for the day: 2 Kgs 4:42-44, Ps 145:10-11, 15-16, 17-18, Eph 4:1-6, Jn 6:1-15


The one thing I really enjoy about summer is grilling out at home or having a picnic and inviting family or friends over to enjoy the food and company.   Some of my favorite foods on the grill are corn on the cob roasted in the husk, barbecue chicken, and good juicy hamburgers.   The smell of the flavors wafting through the air waiting to cook is part of the experience that makes it enjoyable.  The one thing I learned from my wife over the years is that if you are planning a picnic you need to make sure you have enough food.  Whenever we have these gatherings we’ll call or contact people over and ask them to RSVP to we have enough for a gathering.   It’s very uncomfortable to invite people over and not have enough for them to eat.    But even with best laid plans to prepare and have enough every once in a while you’ll get some people who will show up that either RSVP’ed they were not coming or just showed up as uninvited guests.   Remember cousin Eddie in Christmas Vacation?  All you can say is “Uh, sure we have plenty. Come on in?”   Usually this is a bit uncomfortable and awkward, but things work out. 

But how about bigger problems that your faced with?   The loss of a job after 30 years of dedication to a company you were planning to retire from.    Or you have unemployment benefits running out and no job prospects to replace the income.    You are faced with a serious illness and require a major surgery that’s going to deplete all your retirement savings?  How are you going to get through these?

Jesus and his disciples were faced with a big problem.    They had just returned from Jesus curing some of the sick and were most likely going up the mountain for a respite and a time of prayer.  Jesus and his disciples probably had some provisions to take care of themselves to provide food for the night.   But the word had gotten out about the miraculous cures and the people did not want to leave Jesus alone.   The people came up to the mountains and droves and it said there were five thousand men.  This meant there were probably 10-15 thousand if you counted the woman and children.  Could you imagine going up a mountain with provisions for 13 and having to feed enough people to fill Victory field? 

Jesus shows compassion for people and recognizes the people are hungry.   He knows many have come up the mountains to be healed as they are so desperate and may not have even thought about getting something to eat.   Jesus knows what he is going to do to solve this problem, but he tests the disciples to see if they realize who he is, the Son of God.  They don’t quite know that yet, so they don’t think about coming to Jesus for the answer.   They only think about their human limitations.  Philip states it is going to take more than a half a years wages to feed them all.  Andrew spots a boy with enough food maybe to feed another 20 people.   They did not know totally who Jesus was yet and did not come to him for help.

Jesus responds by having all the people recline in the grass and he gives thanks to God for the loaves and fish he has and then has the disciples distribute to the crowds.  There is not only enough to feed all the crowds but there are 12 baskets of food left over!   Jesus shows that if we come to him for help he can provide in abundance.   He performs this miracle of providing food for the short term fix of physical hunger so he can show the disciples who he is and also as a prelude to the spiritual food he provides in the Eucharist for providing lasting food of eternal life to satisfy our spiritual hunger.    Over the next five weeks the Gospel will be focusing on John’s bread of life discourse.

Jesus teaches us that when we come to him with our problems you’ll be amazed at how he can help.  How can you come to him?  In personal prayer, through the church, and asking friends and family to pray for you and provide help.  How exactly did the miraculous feeding come about we don’t know.  It could have been Jesus actually multiplying the food to feed everyone.   It could have been the people gathered sharing what they have.   We don’t exactly know how.   I’d like to think it was a little of both.  Because Jesus can perform miracle but we are also the body of Christ and can be the hands and feet of Jesus to help others and help in abundance. 

I’d like to close with a short personal story of someone who came to the Church for help.   I recently went to St. John’s downtown to assist as deacon for Mass with Fr. Anto.  When I left Mass I encountered a man who looked like he was homeless and asked for help, which is a common encounter downtown.  He told me that he just got a job at the zoo in food service, but would not be getting paid for two weeks and needed some money to buy bus tickets for transportation. He had come to the church as he asked some people where he could get help.  They normally have bus tickets but were out that day.  Well instead of giving him money the Spirit moved me and I took him over to the Indygo office and bought him a two-week bus pass. I had not eaten lunch yet and so I bought lunch for him as well.  We were talking while waiting in line to buy food and he said he needed to find black pants to go with his uniform.  I took him over to the Salvation Army store to find a pair of pants.  While going there he told me he had a place to stay since he now had job and his new job would provide him with food daily.    We didn’t find a pair of slacks and he said he was sure he’d find some place to get them.   I dropped him off and gave him some money to buy the slacks and to buy some food for the night. 

My purpose of telling this story is not to pat myself on the back, but to illustrate that if you come to Jesus things will work out as God provides in abundance.   Jesus can perform miracles and sometimes he can does it through his Church.   Who is his Church?  It’s you and I.  We are the hands and feet of Jesus.    How do we become the hands and feet of Jesus?  By participating in the Eucharist weekly or even daily if possible and becoming Jesus by receiving him and living the way he calls us to live.  By doing so we become the hands and feet of Jesus and can help Him provide in abundance when people come to him.  Thank you and God bless you.

Homily - July 1, 2012 - Homily, 13th Sunday Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Readings for the day:  Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24, Ps 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13, 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15, Mk 5:21-43

 

Over the last four years I did not have a lot of time to read books or see movies with all my studies, but recently my son asked me to see the movie, Hunger Games. I agreed to do so, but only if we both read the book together first.  On June 3^rd I turned in my last paper and I was ready to go! 

Who here has read the book or saw the movie, the Hunger Games?

I can see there are some who have not so I will provide a short summary.  The premise of the story is based on the concept of Roman Gladiators fighting to the death with a few twists.

1)   It’s set in futuristic post revolution nation in North America, which is divided into twelve districts. 

2)   The “gladiators” are teenagers, both boys and girls, with one from each of the districts chosen by lottery annually to compete.

3)   There is only one winner, the one who survives the fighting, and they are richly rewarded and so is their district.

4)   The entire nation views the event live over the television through cameras hidden in the forest.

5)   The Hunger Games are conducted by the ruling dictatorship to show they control all aspects of peoples’ lives.

Like today’s’ Gospel, healings play a crucial role in the story that centers around two characters from the poorest district in the country, named Katnis and Peeta.  Katnis is the female contestant, who volunteers to take the place of her younger sister who was chosen by lottery.  Peeta, is the male contestant, and has shown compassion for Katnis and her family by providing them food.

In preparation for the games Peeta reveals on national television that he has a love interest in Katnis.   This is endearing to the viewers, but also sad as everyone knows that only one contestant survives.

Fast forward to the games and less than half of the competitors are left.  Peeta has helped Katnis survive by keeping the others away from her, which could cost his own life.  Mysteriously a rule change is announced eerily over loud speakers that two can contestants can survive if they are from the same district.  Katnis is filled with hope knowing Peeta has been trying to help her and she immediately rushes through the forest to find him. She does find him by almost stepping on his face as she walks along the rocky creek bed.  He is seriously injured and is hiding under the rocks leaving only his mud-covered face exposed. He’s on the brink of death, week, and can barely move.  Katnis moves him into a cave to nurse him to health.  Knowing the whole nation is watching Katnis appeals to their mercy hoping someone will provide something to heal Peeta.  She will do anything to help him, even sacrifice her life.

Do any of you have someone you love that is suffering from illness or injury?           Are praying for what that person needs?

In today’s Gospel we find two people suffering from illness, the synagogue official, Jairus’ daughter and the women with the hemorrhage.   Both are at a point of desperation. The woman has been ill12 years seeking the help of doctor, which has only left her in worse shape and penniless.  Jairus fears his daughter’s death.

Most of the common folks of the time sought out local people who were known as healers. Somehow the word had gotten out that Jesus was of healer. Could Jesus really be the cure for their ills?

Jesus did have the power to heal both the young girl and the woman.   His healing had a two fold mission: To strengthen his disciples faith by showing them who he was, the Son of God, and also because he truly cared and had compassion.

Both healing stories have several common elements: asking for Jesus help, having Faith, and the healing “touch” of Jesus.   

The Gospel tells us Jairus asks for help in that, “Seeing Jesus he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him”.  This is a model of prayer.

The human element of touch is also sought in both healings.  Jairus asks, “Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live." The woman said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured."  There is something about our human nature that values the sense of touch.   It’s soothing.  It’s a connection with other who provides comfort. Jesus understands this is a necessary part of human healing.

The most important element of both healings was faith.  Jesus tells the woman, “Daughter, your faith has healed you, go in peace and be cured of your affliction” and Jairus is told, "Do not be afraid; just have faith."  Both of these people had faith, but the crowd did not. Jesus only had people of faith with him when he healed the young girl.  People of faith help to lift you up.

Prayer, Jesus touch, and Faith in Jesus led to the healing of both women.   I think we can learn from them.

In the Hunger Games, there is a healing as well.  As you recall Peeta is on the brink of death, and Katnis appeals for help.  The “Capital” announces the contestants will have the opportunity to obtain what they need to survive by coming to the starting point of the games the next day. To do so risks the life of each contestant.  Katnis exhibits selfless courage and is willing to sacrifice her life.  She succeeds and Peeta is healed.  Katnis displays the virtues of fortitude, faith, hope, and charity, which are signs of the Holy Spirit working within her. But the story really lacks one important element, the explicit presence of God and asking for His help.

Our world today has certainly been blessed through the advances of science and medicine to cure illnesses that were totally unheard of in the times of Jesus. The one problem with all these advances is that many people only look to the modern medicine and don’t turn to God to help with their illnesses.  Their mental or physical healing is taken care of, but their spirit is ignored.  As humans we are both body and soul, and our souls need healing as well.

Fortunately for us our Lord Jesus left us his church and the sacraments to help in healing our soul in dealing with difficulties.  First of all we can rely on prayer, asking Jesus for the help we need to overcome our troubles.  Also requesting prayers through the body of Christ, our family, friends, and faith community can help as well. 

The church also provides Jesus healing presence through the sacraments. The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation. This is the purpose of the two sacraments of healing: Penance and Anointing of the Sick.

In our faith community both of these sacraments are readily available.   The Anointing of the Sick is available once a month after Mass, two times a quarter after daily Mass and once a quarter after Sunday Mass. Of course the sacrament of anointing is available at other times for those who have a more acute need. 

The anointing of the sick is not just for people who are seriously ill or having surgery. It’s also for their caregivers, the grieving, and to help the spiritual struggles of those who are ill. Sometimes we may not be able to be physically or mentally healed, for whatever reason we don’t know. When we are faced with these challenges our spirits need healing. When our spirits are healed it can help us to face anything and it strengthens our faith.  Anointing of the sick incorporates the healing touch of Jesus through the anointing with the oil of the infirm by the priest and the comforting words of our Savior through the prayers of the rite of anointing.

The sacrament of Penance is offered weekly on Saturday mornings after Mass.   Many people suffering from mental & physical distress can have their spirits healed through this sacrament   Its amazing how your spirit is lifted after receiving forgiveness from the priest.  If it has been a while since went to confession don’t worry, Father Vince and Fr. Anto will coach you through.

I’d be remiss if I did not mention the sacrament that is the living presence of Christ available to us daily, the Eucharist. It is the source of what all sacraments flow from. Through the Eucharist we are fed and strengthened from the life of Christ. If you are suffering from any illness, physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual, you may need a spiritual boost.  Why not encounter the healing touch of Jesus and receive him in the Eucharist? You will be amazed how the encounter with Christ will lift your spirits.

In closing the most important thing Jesus taught was having faith in him.  Participating in our faith community and receiving the Sacraments will help to strengthen your faith.  Through prayer, healing touch, and faith in Jesus you can be more fully healed taking care of your soul as well as your body.    May God bless you!