Untimeliness of this Bulletin

Normally the deadline for the bulletin to go to print is Monday of the week before the specific Sunday.  In other words “six days.”  Thus, our weekly bulletin is not as timely as a daily newspaper, but is an important tool in keeping everyone up to date.  It is required however for this bulletin (Sunday, July 5) that copy is into the printers by Wednesday, June 24.  This means that what you are about to read is a bit less “timely” than usual.

As we move into the summer months of July and early August, we do not have certainty as yet as to “how” the children will return to Sacred Heart or St. Ann Schools.  Obviously we are all hoping that all enrolled students will be permitted to return to five day a week “in school classroom” instruction schedule.  Nevertheless, if the State’s promulgation requires us to do modification of scheduling and in classroom attendance, both St. Ann and Sacred Heart are preparing for all foreseeable contingencies, and hope to have pre-designed solutions ready for implementation as required.  

In this line of thinking, I want to take time to say a special “Thank You” to each and every person, couple, or family who contribute to the Sunday offering at St. Ann (or using a St. Ann envelope) and thus funding a major portion of the cost of St. Ann School.   Similarly I want to thank every person, couple, or family who contribute to the Sunday offering at Sacred Heart (or using a Sacred Heart envelope) and thus funding a major portion of the cost of Sacred Heart School.  Your generosity allows us to continue into the future, even when unforeseen obstacles like COVID-19 appear on the scene.   

Please remember that both parish summer festivals are cancelled, so please sell the raffle tickets for your parish.   

Reflection on Scripture Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time  

Many people interpret today’s gospel selection as promoting an “anti-intellectual attitude.”   Nothiong could be further from the truth!  Jesus is not saying that we should all be witless robots with small micro-processors for brains.  No, Jesus is telling us that human knowledge is only genuine when it puts us in touch with the source of all knowledge and understanding; namely God.  Father George Lemaitre, a Belgian Catholic Priest, was the first physicist to put forth the concept of the Big Bang as the beginning of all physical matter and energy, as well as the fabric of space-time itself.  His mathematical skills were not “simple” and yet his scientific analysis gave us as mere humans an intellectual glimpse as to “how” an infinite God may have created a finite universe.  His computations were extremely complex, but the truth he helped to disclose is simple.  God made it all; even time itself.  God made what we understand and God made all things, even those beyond our comprehension.    Sometime complexity is required to explain a simple truth in human terms.

So in today’s gospel, Jesus is not promoting an anti-intellectual attitude.  Quite the contrary, Jesus is telling us that science attempts to tell us “how” God did it; but faith reveals “why” God did it.  As any newspaper writer: If you know the why and the how; you’ve got the story.

Next Week:  Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time     

Is 55:10-11

Rom 8:18-23

Mt. 13:1-9

Theme:    You are like the seeds a farmer plants.  What kind of yield will you produce?