From the Desk of Father Tharp

 Vote!

The Catholic Church (to my knowledge) has no stated moral position on the obligation or duty of a member of a free society to exercise his or her right to vote.  If however you believe as I do, that this great nation has been blessed by God in countless ways; then in gratitude to God we ought to be willing to inconvenience ourselves enough to exercise the right to vote.  The privilege of voting has been paid for by the blood of heroes.  We should all make the effort to say “thank you” for our gift of freedom and exercise our civic duty.

For more insight click on: USCCB.org:   The drop down menu under heading “Issues and Actions” will allow you to click on “Faithful Citizenship.”  This is a very insightful commentary by the American Catholic Bishops.

Financial report for Sacred Heart

We will distribute the financial report for fiscal year 2017/2018 for Sacred Heart at the precept Masses on November 17 & 18.  Thanks to all for your continued extraordinary generosity.

Financial report for St. Ann

We will distribute the financial report for fiscal year 2017/2018 for St. Ann at the precept Masses on November 24 & 25.  Thanks to all for your continued extraordinary generosity.

Campaign for Human Development

The special collection for this long standing USCCB social action initiative will take place on the weekend of November 17 & 18.  This is a second collection taken up at all parishes in the Archdiocese.

Reflection on Scripture

Jesus is the ultimate “rabbi.”   He teaches the truth because he is the truth of God.  In the first reading from Deuteronomy (the word means “second law”) we hear the Shema.  The Shema is a Jewish prayer which states that we must love God first and foremost.  In essence, love God beyond all else.  In Mark’s gospel, Jesus combines the Shema from Deuteronomy with Leviticus 19:18b which states, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  By putting these two statements from the Books of the Law (the Torah) together, Jesus reveals an entirely new way of thinking.  Jesus tells us, we can show our love for God by our charity to our neighbor.  In other words, we can worship God by our charity to another human being.   This is truly a revolutionary thought.  Because God made us all in His image and likeness, God cares about how we interact with each other.  In the 25^th chapter of Matthew, Jesus clarifies this by saying “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”  (Mt. 25:40)

Next Weekend: Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kgs 17:10-16

Heb 9:24-28

Mk 12:38-44

Theme:   Jesus suggests investment in the “treasury of eternal life.”