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Browsing From the desk of Fr. Tharp

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

From the Desk of Father Tharp

Sunday Morning Masses     November 4, 2018          Celebrant: Fr. Schmitz

 

 

 


Daylight Savings Time ends November 4

Remember that next Sunday morning (November 4) we “fall back” one hour to Eastern Standard Time.  Those who forget reveal themselves by arriving an hour early for Masses on Sunday Morning. 

Memorial Sundays at St. Ann and Sacred Heart

The names of those who have been buried from St. Ann this past year will be read at the precept Masses on October 27 & 28 and those mourning and praying for the loved one will come forward and light a candle in his or her memory. 

Next weekend at Sacred Heart, those whose loved ones were buried from Sacred Heart in the past year will be invited to come forward and receive a candle at a special Mass at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 4.  Anyone wishing to pray for their deceased loved ones is invited to attend this special Mass.

The celebration of the Feast of All Saints and All Souls Day (November 2) is not just a time of remembering; it is a time by which through prayer we reinvigorate our hope.  We pray that the Souls of the Faithful Departed will indeed rest in peace, and that through prayer and reception of Holy Communion we may we may live in the anticipation of Resurrection and being reunited with our loved ones.  The Church Militant prays for the Church Penitent in the sure hope that we will be together again as the Church Triumphant.  

All Saints Day  November 1 is a Holyday of Obligation

On Wednesday, October 31, I will have the anticipatory Masses as usual.  St. Ann will have Mass at 5:30 p.m..  Sacred Heart will have Mass at 7:00 p.m.

On November 1, All Saints Day, there will be the 6:30 a.m. Mass at St. Ann, the 7:30 a.m. at Sacred Heart, the 10:00 a.m. Mass with students at St. Ann and the evening 7:00 p.m. Mass at Sacred Heart.  As always feel free to attend the Mass that is most convenient for you.  Your St. Ann or Sacred Heart envelope as always will be returned to your proper parish regardless of where you attend.

Reflection on Scripture

The story of Jesus restoring the sight of Bartimaeus gives us an example of the boldness of faith.  Bartimaeus knew that only Jesus the Son of God, the Savior of the World could restore his vision.  Knowing that Jesus is the “only answer” he refused to shut up and be still.  Sometimes the secular society’s rules of “decorum” must be challenged in the name of faith and truth. 

Contemporary morality rejects absolute good or evil in favor of the etiquette of relativism.  I have heard pundits say that issues like abortion and euthanasia are simply “political issues.”   “If you believe in God, keep it to yourself as your profession of faith may offend the sensitivity of the secular humanist.”  The site seeing public hovering around Jesus thought Bartimaeus to be an annoyance to be silenced.  Bartinaeus like John the Baptist refused to be silenced or dismissed.  He wanted the attention of Jesus and no one else. 

Whose opinion do we care about?   The self-appointed elite of the world?  Or Jesus?   If living the eloquence of faith in Jesus by charity, compassion, and forgiveness upsets the decorum and sensitivity of the select, they are simply hiding from reality.   Bartimaeus may have been an embarrassment to the onlookers, but he was outspoken and worthy of a miracle in the eyes of God.   

Next Weekend: Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dt 6:2-6

Heb 7:23-28

Mk 12:28b-34

Theme:   Jesus makes the Jewish Shema practical.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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