St. Ann Fiesta
Remember that the St. Ann Fiesta is Friday Evening, July 28 and Saturday Evening July 29. Please invite your friends and any former parishioners you know to mark their calendars to revisit old friendships and make new acquaintances at the Fiesta. The St. Ann Fiesta is an annual community party put on by St. Ann in Lindenwald to bring in new friends beyond the community to experience the vitality and good times we have at St. Ann.
I have made it a point to invite Sacred Heart parishioners to St. Ann Fiesta. Don’t forget that the Sacred Heart Festival is August 11, 12 & 13. As a Pastoral Region, we need to support each other.
Cooperative Mission Appeal
Every year the Archdiocesan Mission Office assigns a missionary to come and speak with each parish about the missionary activity of the Church in general, and share some of their mission experiences. This year the Archdiocese has designated Father Fortunatus Mugusha as the preacher for the Pastoral Region of St. Ann/Sacred Heart. Father Fortunatus will preach at all the precept Masses at St. Ann on the weekend of August 5 & 6, and at all the precept Masses at Sacred Heart on the weekend of August 19 & 20. There will be a second collection at each of the Masses which will be sent to the Mission Office of the Archdiocese and dispersed according to their formula to each of the Missionary Societies participating in the Cooperative Mission Appeal.
How to contact Fr. Tharp in an emergency!
As most of you know, I carry a pager with me except for the time each day I spend in the shower. But calling the pager number is NOT THE BEST WAY TO INFORM ME OF AN EMERGENCY ANOINTING!!! After business hours, it is best to call (513) 858-4210 and choose option #2 (Fr. Tharp for an emergency). You then leave a voice mail message stating your telephone number where I can call you back immediately. Once you have left this message, the automated telephone system at Sacred Heart will call my pager within five minutes; usually within one minute. I will then call you back and you can tell me specifically how to get to the location where I am needed. This is by far the fastest way.
Here is why you should not call the pager, but leave the message on the emergency line at 858-4210. Recently I have had a number of people call my pager number directly instead of using the 858-4210 (option #2) emergency line who do not understand how a pager works. They forget to use the touch tone phone to have the pager reveal the number they are calling from. Then when they could leave a voice mail on the pager, they just say, “Ahaaaaaaa, and hang up.” This leaves me with No Message, no caller ID number (pagers can’t extract your number unless you key it in) and no way of knowing who called.
In my four decades of priesthood, I have always tried to make it as rapidly as possible to emergency sick calls. Imagine receiving a page at 3:00 a.m. and when I retrieve the pager message I receive no numeric message and a voice message of “Ahaaaaa.” All I know is that there is an emergency, but I don’t know who it is, where it is, or how to get there! Therefore do not call the pager unless you are very familiar with how to use it. Call the 858-4210 number and choose option 2. Leave a detailed message and then stay off the line as I will call you within about five minutes.
Reflection on Scripture
A few seeds can bring forth a bountiful harvest. One kernel of corn planted in rich soil may produce a stock that will produce four or five ears of corn. Each ear of corn may have over one hundred kernels. If Wall Street had a security that returned four hundred percent on equity each year, the boom would be endless.
Jesus is using this analogy of the seed and also the yeast to point out what a powerful influence each of us can have, if we give our best effort to God. The return on equity is exponential. And to add to it, Jesus gives us the seed of faith to plant. All we have to do is be good stewards of the faith given to us in Jesus Christ.
Readings for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12
Rom 8:28-30
Mt 13:44-52
Theme: Jesus uses analogy: “The Kingdom of God is like……”