Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
Sunday, January 22 marks the 44th anniversary of the Supreme Court Decision Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion in the United States. Millions of babies have been killed in the intervening forty-four years. Thus on Monday, January 23, Catholics in the US will mark this horrific date by praying for the legal protection of unborn children. Even if you cannot come to Mass this day, please pray at least a Hail Mary asking that the power of God will stop the slaughter.
Open House
Sunday, January 29 is the open house for St. Ann School and Sacred Heart of Jesus School. Be proud of your respective parish’s school. I am convinced that our Catholic Schools are the best evangelical tool we possess.
Federal Income Taxes
At Sacred Heart, we will try to send out statements of donations to all who used their envelopes or electronic giving regularly. We will try to get these out by the end of January. At St. Ann, we ask that you send us a self addressed envelope, and we will send a statement of your 2016 donation back to you in the envelope.
Also it is imperative that parishioners at either St. Ann or Sacred Heart retain all contemporaneous letters of acknowledgement received during the year,
Reflection on Scripture
The call of Peter and Andrew as well as James and John (sons of Zebedee) is theologically significant not just because these men became Apostles of Jesus, but because they followed Jesus of their own volition. They freely chose to put their hope in this traveling preacher who they came to know as the Son of God.
Putting your hope in Jesus is defined by much of contemporary society as a frivolous and naive action. They see the Lord Jesus as nothing more than the personification of a myth. They are prohibited by their self assumed sophistication from ever falling victim to such a religious trap. In other words, they are too cool and too stylish to leave everything to follow Christ. They will ridicule those who do.
Isaiah says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” Unfortunately those who are “too cool” in today’s secular society wear the intellectual blinders of their own pride which blot out any and every trace of the light. Don’t let them make you think it is fashionable to wear blinders! If you choose to wear blinders, you have no hope. And our hope is Jesus Christ.
Readings for Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Zep 2:3, 3:12-13
1 Cor 1:26-31
Mt 5:1-12a
Theme: The Beatitudes.