The 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Thoughts from Fr. Ryan
For the second week in a row, our Gospel reading is the story of Jesus teaching in parables and then explaining their meaning to the Apostles in private. And, as with last week, the metaphorical seed is the teaching of Jesus and the soil of our souls is infiltrated with various pollutants that endanger our relationship with God and threaten to prevent our salvation.
Both of these parables bring to the forefront an essential teaching of Christianity which is often ignored by modern preachers, priests, bishops, and popes: hell is real and people can and do go there!
Even highly respectable theologians and preachers nowadays will try to wink and say that “we can hope” that hell is empty or that no one really goes there or whatever. That’s nonsense and, honestly, it’s deceitful to the point of evil. The children at Fatima on July 13, 1917 were shown a vision of hell which was chock full of souls. Many saints have been shown similar visions.
The fact is that hell is real and you or I may well end up there if we’re not consciously engaged in living the Christian life. The Gospel today is very clear about that. The devil is actively working to pollute our souls with weeds that will prevent the good seed of the grace of God from taking root in the soil of our souls. We’re contending with the rocks, the weeds, the hot sun, and everything from last week’s gospel and we’re contending with real malice and evil from Satan and from the world around us.
Jesus offers us the tools we need, but we don’t need much life experience to know that having the tools we need and using them are very different things! No human beings have ever had so many easily accessible resources available to them. You or I can easily read basically any book ever written. If it’s not translated into English, we can cut and paste it into Grok or ChatGPT. We can find helpful videos of people explaining the most counter- intuitive science or the most complex psychology or the most obscure poetry or the most esoteric theology. There are movies of almost every interesting event in the Bible. We are awash in resources… And yet our kids don’t know the basic bullet points of history. They don’t know poetry, art, literature, or basically any of our shared cultural legacy. What they do know is idiot influencers and which Kardashian had a butt implant last month. The tools are there, but they’re not being used!
In the same way, as Christians, the tools that we need for salvation are there for us. We need to pray. If we’re not sure how, we can turn to Hallow or FORMED.org for examples, scripts, videos, or whole courses. If we want to understand how to fast, there are doctors online explaining a dozen methods that you can use whether you’re healthy or have some kind of medical condition. If you want to find an opportunity to be charitable to your neighbor or to the poor or to the sick or to those in prison, the tools are there. The same with the moral teaching of the Church. You can find out what the Church teaches, why she teaches it, how it applies in a hundred circumstances, and, then, you can even debate the teaching with real people or with a Saint Thomas Aquinas AI at Catholic.chat.
To whom much is given, much is expected though. And so we have all the more obligation and duty to use the tools that our Lord and this world offer us. In both this week’s Gospel and in last week’s, the implication is that good soil takes hard work to maintain… Rocks have to be removed… Thorns have to be cut out… Weeds have to be prevented, and where we have weeds/issues that we can’t avoid or prevent, we have to do what we can to mitigate their effects. We can’t control the sun, but we can get enough water. We can’t control the birds of the air, but we can make sure that our soil isn’t so stiff as to become a pathway. We can’t necessarily remove the weeds (symbolically: the poisonous effects of worldly thinking, temptation, and influence) but we can make sure they are not being fed and that they are not stealing other nutrients and needs.
These metaphors are shockingly useful when it comes to practical spirituality given that Jesus was speaking to people with an entirely different way of life than us! The most important takeaway is that our choices are essential because the default result of just going with the flow is not salvation, but damnation. We have to work against the natural flow of the world to know, love, and serve God. Soil tends toward weeks and rocks. It takes real effort to keep it supple, fertile, and life-giving!
Upcoming Events
- Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
- July 22 Talk #2 about Spain at 6p in Church Hall
For Your Information:
TALKS ABOUT SPAIN As we have a number of folks who will be traveling on pilgrimage to Spain this fall, Fr Ryan will offer talks organized around the geographic regions on the tour. All talks will be in the Hall and are open to anyone. All talks will begin at 6p and will include a powerpoint-style slide show with pictures and explanations of the places and their cultural and spiritual significance.
- Wed, July 22, 6p Talk 2 - Madrid & Toledo
- Wed, Aug 12, 6p Talk 3 - Santiago de Compostela and the Camino of St James (RESCHEDULED)
- Wed, Aug 26, 6p Talk 4 - Fatima
ROSARY GROUP meets on Monday at 5:30p for prayer and supper. Everyone is welcome. Contact Louise Magoun (318-341-2403), coordinator for more information.
FORMED.ORG has weekly features at https://watch.formed.org/this-week-on-formed. Remember to sign in using our parish’s zip code (71282) at https://signup.formed.org
MAUSOLEUM Construction will begin in the coming months. Our sales representative, Garth Daniels, can be reached at (318) 295-4409. If you have any questions or you know of anyone else interested in making a purchase, please encourage them to speak with Garth or to call the church office.
Mass Intentions for the Coming Week
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Gail Gaugnard & MaryAgnes York/P Gilfoil
- Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
- Sun 9:30a For a special intention of the Guizerix family
- Mon NO MASS
- Tue 9:00a In memory of Enoul “Jim” Jumonville/family
- Wed 9:00a For healing for MaryKathryn Book
- Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Jackson Jumonville/family
- Fri 5:30p In memory of Rosa and Gus Gremshell & May DiTomasso
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Payton and Donald Trichell/family
- Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
- Sun 9:30a For deceased members of the Bolton & Howington families
ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Margo Corulla
FLOWERS ON THE ALTAR this weekend are in memory of Jack Ellerbee
Assistants at Holy Mass
| Date | Servers | Lector(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 7/18 5:30p | - | Farlow/VanderVieren |
| 7/19 9:30a | Annie, Thomas Meyers, & Katelyn | Youth - Johnny & Brooks |
| 7/25 5:30p | - | A Dawson |
| 7/26 9:30a | Michael, Finley, & Ashlyn | S Marsh |
Our Return to the Lord
| Weekly Budget FY 2022-23 | $ 2,500 |
| June Budget | $ 10,000 |
| June Collections | $ 15,612 |
| June Expenses | $ 12,771 |
| July Budget | $ 10,000 |
| July 12 Collection | $ 3,511 |
| July to Date | $ 5,732 |
Stewardship Those who are just must be kind,” says today’s first reading. If our words and deeds are kind and selfless, we will be like the good seed in the Gospel parable and gathered as wheat in the Lord’s harvest.
Community Celebrations
Happy Birthday to Caroline Marsh (Jul 19), Elizabeth Mason (Jul 19), Kendra Collins (Jul 21), Maggie Guizerix (Jul 21), Preston Collins (Jul 22), Nap Book (July 26)
In Our Daily Prayers…
Please let us know of anyone who is ill or hospitalized and would like to receive a visit from Father. Also, help us keep our prayer list up to date by advising us of those who should be added or removed.
For our Pope, Leo XIV, our Bishop, Robert Marshall; and our Diocesan leaders, our President, Governor, Mayor and national, state and local elected representatives
Our parishioners who are sick, shut-in, under full-time care and for those who care for them, and for those otherwise in need of our prayers: MaryKathryn & Nap Book, Chris, Susan, and David Cagnolatti, Connie & Dan Copes, Elizabeth Crothers, Leslye Ellerbee, Ann Claire Fordice and her children, Susan & Johnny Gilfoil, Margaret & Pat Gilfoil,Terry Farlow Hall, Sidney & Mary Jane Johnson, Frances & Bill Kennedy, Ed Mills, Susie Murphy, Bobby Reynolds, Phillip and Peggy Scurria, Mike & Sue Rome, Lori Sullivan, Mary Trichell
Our friends and relatives who need our prayers: Ashley Alexander (Regan), Graham Allen (S Gilfoil), Marie Farlow Bellard, Martha Book, Kay Boolos (S Gilfoil), Chris Breard (Gilfoil), Gayle Brown (Dukes and Oliver), Albert Christman, Jeannie & Donald Collins, Jami Cook (Wilks), Gene Cox, Carol Dipert (Rome), Mac Donaldson (Ellerbee), Mike Farlow, Patty Farlow, Judy Fortenberry, Donna Fulton (Ellerbee), Fred and Cathy Fulton, Morgan, Alex, and Palmer Gilfoil, Thom Gilfoil, Wyly Gilfoil (Gilfoil), LaVonne Givens, Charlotte Green, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Patricia Lively (Wilks), Charles Howington, Jimmy Hopson(Wilks), Will Irby (P Gilfoil), Diane Johnson, Andrew and Chelsea Keene-Lewis, Carla Leese (S Gilfoil), LaLa Lopez (Hernandez), Caroline Marcello (Watts), Mona Martin (MA Gilfoil), Jessica McCoy (Reynolds), the family of Lee McCoy (Reynolds), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Kiely McKellar (S Gilfoil), Boyce Miller, Mike Morelli, Randy Parker, Betty Petersen, David Peterson, Quintin Purvis, John Neill, Curt and Brianne Rome, Bailey, Scott, and Tiffney Rome, Debbie Kedrick Sims, LeeAnn Rome Tranchina (Rome), Randy Watts, Jr.
Our collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, EmmyLu Marsh, Charlize Richardson, Chandler Wood
