St. Edward Parish Bulletins

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2026-08-16T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

As with the feast of the Assumption on Saturday, Jesus in today’s Gospel draws the line between the natural and the supernatural person within each of us. In the natural sense, this Canaanite woman wants that to which she is not entitled - namely the healing of Jesus. This is exactly like the scripture for the Assumption when the Virgin Mary appears and wants to speak with Jesus. In both cases, Jesus gives them a hard time in the natural sense. He says, “who are my mother and my brothers?” Here, He reminds her twice that the Canaanites are heretics.

In both cases, though, Jesus ends the story by moving beyond the natural to the supernatural. On the assumption, Jesus says, “Rather, Blessed are those who hear the word of God and Keep it.” Here, He says, “O woman, Great is your faith! Let it be done as you wish.”

As Christians, we’re not free to remain on the purely natural level. Christ commands us to interact with one another on both the natural and the supernatural level. That’s how something like hospitality can be considered a truly Christian virtue!

On the natural level, we are called to the Corporal Works of Mercy: To feed the hungry; To give drink to the thirsty; To clothe the naked; To harbor the harborless; To visit the sick; To ransom the captive; and To bury the dead.

We can do this by giving to organizations dedicated to these works of mercy. We can do it by helping those people we encounter in the course of life. We can do it when God gives us the opportunity.

We have to be careful NOT to dismiss these worldly works as unimportant. Remember that in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says that judgment for heaven is based upon when we see “Him” hungry and gave him food, thirsty and gave him drink, in prison and visited him…

But neither can we feel like giving $100 to some charity covers our bases. Beyond the corporal works of mercy (ordered to the natural person), we have the spiritual works of mercy (ordered to the supernatural person in each of us).

The Spiritual Works of Mercy are: To instruct the ignorant; To counsel the doubtful; To admonish sinners; To bear wrongs patiently; To forgive offenses willingly; To comfort the afflicted; To pray for the living and the dead.

These are the hard ones. It’s easy enough to pray for the living and the dead. It’s not too hard to comfort the afflicted. But it takes real humility to bear wrongs patiently and to forgive offenses willingly. It may also take some study and meditation to instruct the ignorant and to counsel the doubtful.

But the one that takes real courage nowadays is to admonish sinners. It’s hard to call someone out on their sin and to find a way to convince them to leave that sin behind. It’s hard because our world has a faulty notion of judgement. It’s hard because our world has convinced itself that truth, salvation, and real love don’t matter. It’s hard because we value being accepted and being perceived as broad-minded and avoiding conflict too much.

In fact, we value being accepted, being broad-minded and avoiding conflict even over love! Authentic love desires the good - both natural and supernatural - of the other even more than the relationship itself.

What’s more - no one should ever merely be broad-mindedly “tolerated.” No one should ever be reduced to the group of which they are a part. No one should ever be dismissed as not being “worth” my suffering for their good.

Jesus isn’t vague on sin. He’s very clear and nothing has changed since that fateful Good Friday 2000 years ago. Sin leads to damnation. Period. The Church freely forgives sin for the repentant. And the Church charges all of us - clergy and laity - to admonish the sinner that they might discover the freedom of Jesus Christ.

I have no right to cast personal judgements upon the natural person. None of us do! But I have a Christian duty and an obligation in love to share the teachings of Jesus Christ (the easy ones and the hard ones) with every single person I love.

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Fri & Sat ~5p until Mass and Sunday ~9a until Mass
Sunday Morning Catechism (with Coffee & Donuts) after the 9:30a Mass unless otherwise indicated
Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Wednesday at 6p unless otherwise indicated
August 23 Sunday Morning Catechism (along with Donuts and Coffee in the Hall) begins following the 9:30a Mass

For Your Information:

SUNDAY MORNING CATECHISM will resume on Sunday, August 23, following the 9:30a Mass in the Hall. Although the program talks are prepared for parents of our children, anyone is welcome to attend and have lots of their own questions answered! Carbohydrates and coffee are provided!!!

TALK ABOUT SPAIN As we have a number of folks who will be traveling on pilgrimage to Spain this fall, Fr Ryan has organized talks around the geographic regions on the tour. The final talk is on Wed, Aug 26 at 6p in the Hall and is open to anyone.

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 is expected to begin in the next two months. If you have any questions or you know of anyone else interested in making a purchase, please encourage them to call the church office for additional information.

POTLUCK BRUNCH following 9:30a Mass on Sunday, August 16. All are invited to join in. Third Quarter (July, Aug, Sept) Social Committee: Shannon & Bart Wood and Betty & Kenny Smith, co-chairs, MaryKathryn Book, Kendra & Dave Collins, Connie & Dan Copes, Dana & Randy Dukes, Kaci & Norman Ernst, Lance & Stephenie Marsh, Peggy & Phil Scurria, Beth & Chip Sullivan

PASTORAL COUNCIL MEETING will be held on Wednesday, August 19 at 6p in the Church Hall. Members of the Council are: Kathleen Ellerbee, Norman Ernst, Elizabeth Naya, Mike Rome. Trustees are Michael Lancaster and Cathy VanderVieren. Our finance chairman is Darryl Ellerbee. All members are requested to make a special effort to attend. All parishioners are encouraged to attend and contribute to the discussions.

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

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 In memory of deceased members of the Roy and Johnson families
Mon NO MASS
Tues 9:00a For a special intention of the Guizerix family
Wed 9:00a In memory of Thomas Trichell (death anni)/B Hayes
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Rosa & Gus Gremshell & May DiTomasso
Fri 5:30p In memory of Bryan Stamey/family
Sat 5:30p In memory ofFred Wyly/Magoun
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Lillie “MaMe” Jumonville/family

Altar Candles this week are burning this week in memory of Becky, Beverly, and Edgar Lancaster

Assistants at Holy Mass

		Acolytes	Lector
8/15	5:30p	-	M Rome
8/16	9:30a	Cooper & Courtland	Youth
8/22	5:30p	-	A Dawson
8/23	9:30a	Annie, Thomas Meyers, and Katelyn	K Collins

Our Return to the Lord

Weekly Budget FY 2025-2026	$ 2,500
July Budget	$ 10,000
July Collections	$ 10,920
July Expenses	$ 10,378
August Budget	$ 12,500
August 9 Collection	$ 3,842
August to Date	$ 8,784

STEWARDSHIP In today’s second reading, St Paul tells the Romans, “God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.” To what is God calling me today? What gifts are mine to share?

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Elizabeth Crothers (Aug 21)

Happy Anniversary to Shannon and Bart Wood (Aug 15)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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, Sug Regan, 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., Victor Zaleta, Zelika Aguilar

Our collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, EmmyLu Marsh, Charlize Richardson, Will Richardson, Chandler Wood

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.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2026-08-09T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

O ye of Little Faith...

Just in this short story, Peter has endured a frightening storm, encountered Jesus in the guise of a ghost, spoken to said ghost, stepped out onto the choppy water, and walked toward Jesus in the guise of this ghost.

From my point of view, that’s a whole lot of faith. Probably more than I can muster.

In fact, all of the apostles were men of substantial faith. They had all left everything they had to follow Jesus without fully understanding what His plan was.

It’s clear that some of them - like the Sons of Zebedee - believed that He was a messiah who was going to rule as a king.

Others, like Judas - seemed to think that He had a much less certain future and that Jesus needed to play His cards right if He wanted to succeed.

None but Peter was able to speak with clarity when Jesus asked them Who they believed Him to be.

Still, all of them followed Him wherever He led - even up Mt Calvary and all of them, except John, followed Him to an early death.

And knowing all this, Jesus still calls Peter out and says “Ye of little Faith.”

Many saints and great preachers have preached about the imagery in this story.

The water, for Jews at least, symbolized the chaos of the world. In the moment of creation, God separated the waters and brought order. Storms symbolized chaos, death, and the abyss.

The boat is the Church. Why? Because Peter is the rock upon which the Church is built and he is strongly associated with boats. Peter is a fisherman. Jesus stood on Peter’s boat to preach. Jesus revealed Himself to the apostles after His resurrection in the context of a boat. The boat is the Church.

When Peter - a man of great faith - pilots the boat through the storm, all is well. But when Peter steps out of the boat - he is immediately subject to chaos beyond his control. Jesus is Lord! But Peter’s personal strength is NOTHING without the stability of the Church.

The imagery strongly supports this interpretation. Why? Because Peter’s fault is met with Jesus’ hand AND HIS CRITICISM. And immediately, they return to the boat and the chaotic storm dies down. And immediately, everyone recognizes Jesus as He is - the Son of God. Peter tried to go it alone, but his personal faith failed him. He didn’t have what it takes to resist the world without the boat - without the Church. The shared faith of the Church, though, is entirely sufficient to calm the storm. When Peter is back in the boat, the whole Church resounds with Praise that Jesus is the son of God.

The reason that we go to confession, for example, and not just confess our sins to the Lord in private - is that WE are part of the Church. And so any separation between us and the Church, even personal sin, is detrimental to the whole Church.

My personal sin isn’t just a sin against the Lord, it’s also a sin against each of you. If I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and my neighbor as myself, then I’m simply doing what I’m commanded to do. If I fail to love the Lord, then BY THAT FACT, I am failing to love you - my neighbor. I’m setting a bad example. But even if my sin is entirely private, I’m also failing to be present to the Holy Spirit and so I’m depriving you of a way in which the Holy Spirit might speak to you!

None of us is going to have Faith greater than Peter. And if he couldn’t make his way to Jesus separate from the Church, neither will we. Jesus called Peter to come to Him to prove that very point! Peter was called because he asked to be called and Jesus gave Him what he wanted. Thank God Jesus doesn’t answer all our prayers!

The overwhelming message of the Gospel is that our personal faith - on its own - is insufficient. On our own, we are OF LITTLE FAITH. But in the boat - within the Church - our shared faith protects us and delivers us.

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
Sunday Morning Catechism in the Hall (with Coffee & Donuts) after the 9:00a Mass during the School Year unless otherwise indicated
Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Wednesday at 6p unless otherwise indicated
August 12 Talk #3 about Spain at 6p in Church Hall
August 16 Potluck Brunch following 9:30a Mass. All are welcome! Bring a dish if you can.
August 19 Pastoral Council meets in Church Hall at 6p
August 23 Sunday Morning Catechism (along with Donuts and Coffee in the Hall) begins following the 9:30a Mass

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, Aug 12, 6p Talk 3 - Santiago de Compostela and the Camino of St James
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.

POTLUCK BRUNCH following 9:30a Mass on Sunday, August 16. All are invited to join in. Third Quarter (July, Aug, Sept) Social Committee: Shannon & Bart Wood and Betty & Kenny Smith, co-chairs, MaryKathryn Book, Kendra & Dave Collins, Connie & Dan Copes, Dana & Randy Dukes, Kaci & Norman Ernst, Lance & Stephenie Marsh, Peggy & Phil Scurria, Beth & Chip Sullivan

PASTORAL COUNCIL MEETING will be held on Wednesday, August 19 at 6p in the Church Hall.

EMPOWERING GOD’S CHILDREN Parish volunteers must be VIRTUS trained and go online regularly at Virtus.org for the latest training bulletins. Any questions or issues can be reported to the office. Printed resources are available on the table at the entrance to the Church: “Protecting our Children, Understanding and Preventing Child Sexual Abuse” includes Resources and Contact Numbers for reporting abuse; “Protecting God’s Children, Teaching Touching Safety Quick Reference Guide”; The Diocesan Policy for the Protection of Minors and The Diocesan Code of Pastoral Conduct for Priests, Deacons, Pastoral Ministers, Administrators, Staff, and Volunteers are available in the Safe Environment section of the diocesan website at DioceseAlex.org or a copy may be requested from the Safe Environment Office (318) 445-2401.

PLEDGE TO HEAL If you or a family member has been abused or victimized by a representative of the Catholic church or a member of the clergy, please believe in the possibility for hope and help and healing. Dr. Lee Kneipp, Clinical Psychologist, Victim Assistance Coordinator, Diocese of Alexandria encourages those persons to come forward and speak out. Dr. Kneipp is establishing support groups in the central Louisiana area for victims and family members. The focus of these groups is to further emotional and spiritual healing as an adjunct to therapy, in an atmosphere of others who understand the pain, betrayal, and fear associated with abuse. Dr. Kneipp can be reached at 318-542-9805. All calls are confidential.

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Gail Graugnard & MaryAgnes York/P Gilfoil
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Delia and Thomas Trichell/T Trichell
Wed 9:00a In memory of Joe Farlow/Bellard
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Bryan Stamey/family
Fri 5:30p In memory of deceased members of Bolton and Howington families
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 In memory of deceased members of the Roy and Johnson families

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning this week in memory of Vicki Morelli.

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)
8/8 5:30p	-	MA Gilfoil
8/9 9:30a	MaryKatherine, Maura, Elizabeth	B Sullivan
8/15 5:30p	-	P Wilks
8/16 9:30a	Cooper & Courtland	Youth

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2025-2026	$ 2,500
July Budget	$ 10,000
July Collections	$ 10,929
July Expenses	TBD
August Budget	$ 12,500
August 2 Collection	$ 4,942
August to Date	$ 4,942

Stewardship “Elijah recognized the voice of God not in the strong and heavy wind, not in the earthquake, and not in the fire, but in a tiny whispering sound. May we find enough quiet in the clamorous world to hear His voice and discern what He is calling us to do and be.

THE SECOND COLLECTION this weekend supports our Diocesean Renewal Center at Maryhill in Pineville.

Community Celebrations

Happy Anniversary to Shannon and Bart Wood (Aug. 15)

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 collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, EmmyLu Marsh, Charlize Richardson, Will Richardson, Chandler Wood

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2026-08-02T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

When I was growing up, my mother used to insist that I help her cook. She baked, she stewed, and she deep-fried. In all that, I stirred, I chopped, I tasted, and I learned an awful lot about food.

To cook a brisket, you need a couple of hours. To fry a turkey, you need to start the night before. To cook some of the dishes that my mom and I made, we had to start sometimes two or three days before. Thanksgiving was a week-long affair in our kitchen. The slow work of preparation itself becomes a quiet school of patience and self-gift—the same virtues the Church asks of us when we approach the altar.

Sure, cooking is necessary to sustain life, but our Scriptures today link food and cooking and eating to something that bridges the gap between the spiritual and the physical. The prophet Isaiah cries out: “Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in fatness” (Is 55:1-2). God Himself sets the table and invites the hungry to feast without price.

St. Matthew shows that spiritual hunger is no less real than physical hunger. The crowds follow Jesus into the wilderness; He first teaches them, satisfying the deeper hunger of the soul, and only then multiplies the loaves and fish so that “all ate and were satisfied” (Mt 14:20). The same Lord who feeds the body also feeds the soul, and the two hungers are never finally separate.

Jesus chose to remain with us always as food. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (Jn 6:51). The Eucharist is food and more than food—the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that in this sacrament “the whole Christ is contained” and that it is “the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend” (Summa Theologiae III, q. 73, a. 3; CCC 1324). That is not something to be considered lightly.

There are two things we can take from these lessons. First, this physical world reflects and points to the spiritual world in all kinds of ways. Even something as simple as being thankful to God for a bowl of cereal in the morning can draw us closer to the Lord. St. Augustine reminds us that every created good is a trace of the Creator: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (Conf I, 1). Gratitude for daily bread becomes an act of adoration.

Second, cooking, eating, and the other works of hospitality are real Christian works. St. Benedict of Nursia insisted that “all guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Rule of St. Benedict 53; cf. Mt 25:35). In the French School, St. John Eudes teaches that every act of charity done in the name of Jesus becomes a continuation of His own mission of mercy. When we set the table—for friends or family or strangers—we are doing something more than mere duty. We are doing something that is both spiritual and physical, a living icon of the banquet of the Kingdom.

It is so easy to leave the Lord here in the Church when we head home. But do not give in to that temptation. Welcome the Lord into your heart and your home. Pray before meals. Give thanks and recognize the providence of God in everything you do. St. Louis-Marie de Montfort urges us to consecrate even the ordinary moments of the day to Jesus through Mary, so that the kitchen table itself becomes an extension of the altar.

Practical step for the parish: Make a firm habit of the traditional grace before meals—“Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts…”—and teach your children to pause, make the Sign of the Cross, and thank God aloud. Invite one person who might otherwise eat alone to your table this week; in that simple act you welcome Christ Himself.

Let those who are thirsty rejoice in your cooking and—at the same time—let them give thanks to God. In every shared meal, the Church’s ancient prayer is fulfilled: “You open your hand, you satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Ps 145:16).

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
August 1/2 First Sunday Benediction - after Weekend Masses
August 8/9 First Friday Devotions and Benediction - after 5:30pm Mass
August 12 Talk #3 about Spain at 6p in Church Hall
August 16 Potluck Brunch following 9:30 a.m. Mass. All are encouraged to bring a dish and join.

For Your Information:

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. If you have any questions or you know of anyone else interested in making a purchase, please encourage them to call the church office.

FIRST SUNDAY BENEDICTION for the weekend of August 1-2 will conclude Masses as part of our larger program of Eucharistic Devotion.

FIRST FRIDAY is August 7. Father will offer Devotions and Eucharistic Benediction at the end of Mass. Make a special devotion to the Sacred Heart and attend first Friday devotions for nine consecutive months.

POTLUCK BRUNCH on Sunday, August 16, following the 9:30 a.m. Mass . All are encouraged to bring a dish and join in with celebrating the Beginning of School for our young people and their parents!!!

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Marleigh and Pat Bullard, Patrick Thomas, and Eva & R L Reynolds
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In celebration of the wedding anniversary of Pat and Margaret Gilfoil/family
Mon NO MASS
Tue NO MASS - Father Ryan is away
Wed 9:00a In memory of Bryan Stamey/family
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Rosa & Gus Gremshell & May DiTomasso
Fri 5:30p In memory of Becky, Beverly, and Edgar Lancaster/family
Sat 5:30p In memory of MaryAgnes York and Gail Graugnard/P Gilfoil
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Dan Fordice/Rome

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning this week for special intentions of the Wilks family.

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)
8/1 5:30p	-	M Rome
8/2 9:30a	Kathleen, Evelyn, & Daniel	A Oliver
8/8 5:30p	-	MA Gilfoil
8/9 9:30a	MaryKatherine, Maura, Elizabeth	B Sullivan

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 26 Collection	$ 2,635
July to Date	$ 10,929

Stewardship In today's Gospel, Jesus feeds the five thousand with five loaves and two fish. The message of stewardship is that God’s gifts, shared, will always be more than enough.

SECOND COLLECTION this weekend supports our once monthly Building Fund.

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Enrique Paz (Aug 1), Louise Magoun (Aug 2), Stephen Riddick (Aug 2), Philip Scurria (Aug 6)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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 collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, EmmyLu Marsh, Charlize Richardson, Chandler Wood

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2026-07-26T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

Christianity is hard. It’s not like Buddhism or Judaism or even Islam. Christianity is hard because it really is all or nothing. Jesus makes some wildly unreasonable claims about Himself. And those claims are either the ravings of a lunatic or the revelation of a God.

If they are the ravings of a lunatic - then the whole story of Christianity is nonsense. But if they are the revelation of a God, then the WHOLE story of Christianity is non-negotiable. We are supposed to go to everyone in the world and convert them to Catholicism. We are supposed to lay down our lives for Jesus. We are to sell everything we have and buy the pearl of great price - figuratively and spiritually. You either trade it all for Jesus or you don’t get any payout at all.

We are one of the first generations in human history to have a problem with this kind of thinking.

It wasn’t until 1968 that Catholics started to believe - wrongly - that we could pick and choose what we want to believe and not believe. It was when Pope Paul VI wrote a simple document saying that what the Church has always believed, She still believes. It shouldn’t have been controversial. But, a lot of “experts” - priests, bishops and college professors included - had spent the previous decade writing that Vatican II meant everything was up for grabs and that every one of us was supposed to make it up for ourselves. It was a kind of idolatry with this caricature of “conscience” as the golden calf.

The Gospel story for today of the pearl of great price, though, is a rejection of that kind of pick- and-choose way of thinking. We don’t get to just follow our conscience and we don’t get to pick-and- choose our expert or ideology. The pearl is what it is. I can buy it or not, but I can’t change it.

The Lord says that when we truly give ourselves to Faith, when we trade everything, we find peace and joy and kindness and self-possession.

When Jesus offers us the pearl of great price, He says there will be costs. He says that it won’t be easy. He says that it’s no accident that it’s hard - it’s meant to be hard. We’re meant to struggle. Jesus chose the Cross. He chose the crown of thorns. But St. Paul says “We know that all things work for good for those who love God.” Even the hard ones…

The cross He has asked me to carry is exactly what I need to get to heaven. It’s what is perfectly suited to me and my personality and my spiritual gifts and my failings. It was planned for me when I was knit together in my mother’s womb!

And if I devote myself to “taking up my cross and following after Him” and to “working out my salvation in fear and trembling” and to “hearing the word of God and keeping it” then I will find a depth of satisfaction and a nearness to God and a desire for heaven that far surpasses anything this world can offer! This is the pearl - a stone which starts as a painful grain of sand in the innards of an oyster.

None of this is about devoting myself entirely to a Faith that is foreign to us. Our entire culture comes from Christianity. Our notions of family and honesty and goodness and hospitality come from Christians imperfectly trying to live out today’s Gospel.

And we can see that where Christianity is being suppressed how quickly the culture dissolves away - just look at England and France and California.

And why is it getting suppressed? Because we intuit and know that pick-and-choose Christianity is fake and unsatisfying. Jesus says that the Kingdom of God IS like the pearl of great price. Either you buy in 100% or you might as well just cash out.

Getting the pearl takes more than words and token actions, it takes courageous, directed, long-term and serious effort. That is what God wants from us and for us!

And his promises - now, in the course of our lives and in eternity - make for a very compelling deal.

As the infomercials of the 90s always asked, what are you waiting for?

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass

August 1/2 First Sunday Benediction - after Weekend Masses
August 8/9 First Friday Devotions and Benediction - after 5:30pm Mass
August 12 Talk #3 about Spain at 6p in Church Hall

For Your Information:

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

FIRST SUNDAY BENEDICTION for the weekend of August 1-2 will conclude Masses as part of our larger program of Eucharistic Devotion.

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

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 In memory of deceased members of the Howington and Bolton families
Mon NO MASS
Tue 9:00a In memory of SeSe and Racer Holstead on anniversary of marriage/family
Wed 9:00a For healing for Patricia Guizerix/family
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Bryan Stamey/family
Fri 5:30p In memory of Delia and Thomas Trichell/B Hayes
Sat 5:30p In memory of Marleigh and Pat Bullard, Patrick Thomas, and Eva & R L Reynolds
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In celebration of the wedding anniversary of Pat and Margaret Gilfoil/family

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning this week for Vicki Morelli.

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)
7/25 5:30p	-	A Dawson
7/26 9:30a	Michael, Finley, & Ashlyn	S Marsh
8/1 5:30p	-	MA Gilfoil
8/2 9:30a	Kathleen, Evelyn, & Daniel	A Oliver

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 19 Collection	$ 2,562
July to Date	$ 8,294

Stewardship “The law of Your mouth is to me more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces,” says the Psalmist today. Does the amount of my offering suggest that I could honestly say the same?

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Nap Book (July 26), Enrique Paz (Aug 1), Louise Magoun (Aug 2), Stephen Riddick (Aug 2)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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 collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, EmmyLu Marsh, Charlize Richardson, Chandler Wood

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2026-07-19T00:00:00Z

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:

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

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…

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 collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, EmmyLu Marsh, Charlize Richardson, Chandler Wood

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2026-07-12T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

The planter went out to plant… He planted good seed, but he had uneven soil. In many ways, this Gospel overlaps with the words of Jesus in Luke 16 about Lazarus and the Rich Man. When the rich man dies, he asks Abraham to send someone from the dead to convert his brothers. But Abraham says it doesn’t work like that. Bad soil is bad soil. Certainly God can improve the soil. God can fertilize and till and remove debris… But if the soil isn’t up to it, the seed can’t grow there.

Religion as Jesus gives it to us has two effects: the Worship of God and the formation of us.

In justice, we owe God worship, glory, honor, and praise. This duty is so baked into our universe that even if we fail to do our duty, the very rocks and streams proclaim the Glory of God! How? Check out a sunrise over Lake Bruin or a double rainbow… It’s there for us.

The other aspect of religion is what we might call therapeutic in that it shapes and forms us in the image and likeness of God. The soil metaphor in the Gospel brings both of these together. In order for the seed to bring forth life, the soil has to be tended and properly nurtured.

That tending and nurturing is why the Lord gives us spiritual exercises, private prayers, fasting, works of mercy, the moral law, the moral and ethical rules of the Church, and the teaching of Jesus which the Church organizes into what we call “The Deposit of Faith.” All of these things together will form us into a proper “soil” for the seed of Grace to grow in us and blossom into life and “fruit” - which is what God accomplishes through us.

It’s also telling that St Matthew uses this moment to give us a behind-the-scenes look at Jesus with the Apostles. The Apostles spent most nights with Jesus sitting around a campfire or crowding into a host home from the late afternoon until bedtime. Those hours were certainly chock full of private teaching moments with Jesus. St John reminds us at the end of His Gospel that there were myriad teachings, stories, etc that Jesus said but that all the books in the world couldn’t contain them. Without question, St Matthew was witness to hundreds of moments like we see in today’s Gospel where Jesus explained his parables in detail. More than once, we see the Apostles ask why Jesus teaches the ordinary people in parables.

Matthew chooses to explain this in the context of the parable of the Sower and the Seeds. That’s not accidental. Matthew wants to understand that knowledge and intellect really do matter, but that they are not sufficient. If the “soil” of my heart is good, the parables will be entirely sufficient. If the “soil” of my heart is rocky or choked by thorns, no amount of explanation will get the job done. The Apostles certainly need to understand exactly what Jesus means so that they can teach it, but Matthew is really hammering home here that you can’t shortcut this soil thing.

And so it is that we can’t short cut this religion thing. There is no way to hurry or speed it along. We can’t be good Christians by sticking to the bits we like and avoiding the bits we don’t. We can’t be “spiritual but not religious.” Religion is not a burden any more than any really good training program is a burden.

Our student athletes are settling into summer training… It’s hard work but it’s only a burden if we don’t understand why we do it or if we don’t care about the results. When the game is on the line, that training will seem as nothing compared to the glory which we hope to have when the clock runs out.

In an agrarian community, we understand this gospel better than most. We understand the effects of planting too shallow, of irrigating too little or too much, and of trying to work soil which has too few nutrients or too much debris. And as Catholics, we have the religious tools to address and correct the real spiritual realities that those farming metaphors signify.

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
July 11 Reynolds/Neuroth/Tryon Families Reunion in the Church Hall
July 14 (Tue) Pastoral Council Meeting at 6p in Church Hall RESCHEDULED
July 22 Talk #2 about Spain at 6p in Church Hall

For Your Information:

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

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Pat & Marleigh Bullard, Patrick Thomas, & Eva & RL Reynolds
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 Magoun family
Mon NO MASS
Tue 9:00a In memory of Jack Ellerbee/family
Wed 9:00a In memory of Patrick Thomas/Bullard
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of deceased members of Roy & Johnson families
Fri 5:30p In memory of Russell Petersen/Rome
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

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning in memory of Becky, Beverly, and Edgar Lancaster

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)
7/11 5:30p	-	P Wilks
7/12 9:30a	Cooper & Courtland	M Lancaster
7/18 5:30p	-	Farlow/VanderVieren
7/19 9:30a	Annie, THomas Meyers & Katelyn	Youth

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2025-2026	$ 2,500
June Budget	$ 10,000
June Collections	$ 15,612
June Expenses	$ 12,771
July Budget	$ 10,000
July 5 Collection	$ 2,212
July to Date	$ 2,212

Stewardship May our stewardship of time, talent, and treasure show us to be among those who have heard the message of Christ and taken it in, yielding a hundred- or sixty- or thirty fold!

SECOND COLLECTION this weekend, supports the growing faith in Africa.

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Chip Sullivan (July 11), Aidan Collins (July 12), Sue Rome (Jul 16), Caroline Marsh (Jul 19), Elizabeth Mason (Jul 19)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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 collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, EmmyLu Marsh, Charlize Richardson, Chandler Wood

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2026-07-05T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

The virtue of “Filial Piety” is the good habit by which we appreciate and are thankful for the circumstances into which the Lord gave us life. Whether those circumstances seem to be pleasant, easy, positive, or “good” or whether they seem to be disenfranchised, difficult, negative or “bad.”

We, as Christians, are not slaves to our circumstances! The Lord makes all things work to the good of those who love the Lord and so whether our circumstances are necessarily to our liking or whether they seem positive or negative by the mores and standards of this moment in history, God intends to use those circumstances to lead us to salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord!!

And so if I grew up rich or poor, as a Christian, I am thankful for that. The poor, as the Gospels say, are especially loved by the Lord. The rich have to work harder to fit their camel through the eye of the needle. Beautiful people have some advantages and some very real disadvantages. People who were born into healthy, intact families have a lot going for them. People who were born into more dysfunctional families have to work harder.

We’re not pretending toward some silly ideal of equality as Christians. Rather, the virtue of Filial Piety leads us to recognize that what the Lord has given to me and what the Lord has not given to me are both things that I should be grateful for. This virtue is an extension of the Theological Virtue of Hope which is the sure and certain trust that God will provide all that is necessary for our salvation. And while the grass may certainly feel greener on the other side of the fence, the Holy Spirit is not to be found anywhere other than where the Lord has placed me.

All of this is especially important as we prepare to celebrate this auspicious anniversary of July 4, 1776. It’s important to be clear that we ought not to look back on the events surrounding the American Revolution as if they were all good, moral, or wise. As with all history, the events of that moment were muddled by good and bad intentions, wise and foolish people, brilliant planning and dumb luck. As Christians, we don’t pretend that because it happened to us, it’s automagically good! Rather, we recognize that God has used those events for our good. And God intends to use the events of our day for our good; events which are also muddled by good and bad intentions, wise and foolish people, brilliant planning and dumb luck.

We don’t thank God for living where we do, when we do, as we do because it’s the best country, state, city, and parish Church in the whole wide world. We thank God for being here now and for coming where we came from because these are the special circumstances the Lord intends to use to help us work out our salvation. St Thérèse of Lisieux died of TB at the age of 24 in a cold monastery room in France in 1897. It was not the best country, the best monastery, or the best time to be a Catholic nun… And yet those specific circumstances (including an array of comically annoying sister-nuns!) were the pathway by which she was transformed from a precocious child into a saint in only 9 years… St Francis of Assisi was born into a time and a place where the Church was utterly corrupt. The priests and bishops were far from holy. The Holy Spirit had to make a personal intervention in the heart of the not-so-good pope just to get a hand-wavy permission for Francis to wear a habit and be the leader of a rag-tag group of mendicants. It wasn’t by any standard the best place or the best time to be a Christian but those were the circumstances the Lord used to give us one of the greatest saints in our history.

Our nation today is a pretty pleasant place to live. We are profoundly wealthy (in comparison to the rest of the world). We live in historic safety and comfort. We have opportunities that few people in human history have ever had. (Think about all the Europeans on social media talking about Bucc-ees and free coffee refills…) There are downsides to our national culture as well. We are materialistic. We are increasingly unappreciative of our place in history. And yet, these circumstances are what God intends to use to sanctify us!! When we stand before the Judgement seat of God, our personal moment of judgement is going to be all about what we did with THESE circumstances - these challenges and these opportunities.

And so, as Christians, we are thankful and appreciative of these blessed tools that God has given us. For this place and for this moment in history - our own personal history and our nation’s history - we give thanks to God!

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Wednesday at 6p unless otherwise indicated
July 4-5 First Sunday Benediction
July 4-5 Blessing of Flags and Military Honors for 250th US Independence Day
July 18 Reynolds/Neuroth/Tryon Families Reunion in the Church Hall

For Your Information:

FIRST SUNDAY BENEDICTION for the weekend of JULY 4-5 will conclude Masses as part of our larger program of Eucharistic Devotion.

TALKS ABOUT SPAIN As we have a number of folks who will be traveling on pilgrimage to Spain this fall, Fr Ryan will offer four 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 lots of pictures and explanations of the place, its cultural significance, and its spiritual significance.

Wed, July 8, 6p Talk 1 - Catalonia & Ignatius of Loyola (Barcelona, Montserrat & Manresa)
Wed, July 22, 6p Talk 2 - Madrid & Toledo
Wed, Aug 5, 6p Talk 3 - Santiago de Compostela and the Camino of St James
Wed, Aug 26, 6p Talk 4 - Fatima

HOLY COMMUNION FROM THE CHALICE will only be offered at Masses on Wednesdays and Fridays as of July 1. Holy Communion from the Chalice will not be offered on Tuesdays and Saturdays and we are not accustomed to doing so at Masses offered at the Legacy Nursing Home on Thursdays. I want to balance the right and devotion of those who would like to receive Holy Communion from the Chalice with proper reverence and the inherent challenges in offering Holy Communion from the Chalice to groups of people. THANK YOU to all who have served as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion on Saturday evenings! I may well call on some of you for help at Christmas, on Lenten Fridays, and at other times as needed in the future. Any questions or concerns can be addressed to me at any time. – Fr Ryan

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

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Carroll Regan
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Marion Roy (birth anni)/Johnson
Mon NO MASS
Tue 9:00a In memory of Paul VanderVieren (birth anni)/family
Wed 9:00a In memory of Joe Farlow/Bellard
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Irvin Rome (birth anni)/family
Fri 5:30p In memory of Becky, Beverly, and Edgar Lancaster/family
Sat 5:30p In memory of Pat & Marleigh Bullard, Patrick Thomas, & Eva & RL Reynolds
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a For a Magoun special intention

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning in memory of Vicki Morelli

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)
7/4 5:30p	-	C VanderVieren
7/5 9:30a	Mary Katherine, Maura, & Elizabeth	C Guizerix
7/11 5:30p	-	P Wilks
7/12 9:30a	Cooper & Courtland	M Lancaster

Our Return to the Lord


May Budget	$ 10,000
May Collections	$ 18,461
May Expenses	$ 14,557
June Budget	$ 10,000
June 28 Collection	$ 2,675
June to Date	$ 10,501

Stewardship “Let all Your works give You thanks, O Lord, and let Your faithful ones bless You,” says the Psalmist. Stewardship is this “attitude of gratitude” for the many gifts God has given us.

SECOND COLLECTION this weekend is our once-monthly Building Fund collection.

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Candler Hamilton (Jul 5), Jude Nadeau (Jul 7), Chip Sullivan (July 11), Aidan Collins (July 12)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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 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, Steve Green, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Patricia Lively (Wilks), Charles Howington, Callie Halbach Hyams, 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

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2026-06-28T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

Next weekend is the 250th anniversary of Independence Day. Our nation is really quite unique in world history.

What we might call the ancient world cultures (Greece, China, the Middle East, India) had their roots in polytheistic, pagan- adjacent nature worship, except, notably, for the Jews who were monotheistic and rejected nature worship.

The cultures which date their birth to the few centuries before Christ (Europe via the Roman Empire, the Hellenic East, the Steppe/Slvaic peoples of Russia) based their cultures on distinctly religious, but non-blood-sacrificing religious traditions. They prioritized intellect and mysticism over anything akin to nature-magic and as they were wealthier, they prioritized victory in war over asking their gods for agricultural blessings.

Modern (with a capital M) cultures dating their foundation to between 1450-1800, tended to embrace a more humanistic, less religious sense of cultural identity. Still, the people who formed those cultures came from one of the older groups I’ve already described and so they brought with them fundamental attitudes that we can easily trace.

The United States, though, is genuinely unique. The founders were quite consciously of Christian heritage, but they actively did not want that faith to play any conscious role in their society. That theological branch of Christianity is Deism and it traces to European Freemasonry. The United States is the only national culture in world history fully founded on the principles of freemasonry.

Most of us think of freemasons and we think of parades with tiny cars, odd fez hats, and charitable giving… Just as the freemason founders of our nation neutered their Christianity by robbing it of any public or evangelical role in society, so the European freemasonry that was the driving force behind the French Revolution, the destruction of the Catholic monarchies, and the assassination of many great Catholic priests, nuns, and rich laypeople has been replaced with a broadly sterile fraternity.

The founders were men shaped by Christian heritage, but they consciously limited public Christianity. Many drew from Deism and Masonic ideals that treated religion as a private matter and viewed all spiritual paths as ultimately interchangeable. This syncretism is what really makes the American experiment unique in world history. We’re founded on a non-religion wrapped up in religious vocabulary.

(The intense danger of belonging to the free- masons, in Europe or in the US is a topic for another article. Note that Catholics are strictly forbidden from maintaining membership in any freemason lodge for any reason.)

This Masonic vision produced a system of religious liberty understood as absolute freedom for any and all beliefs - religious and otherwise. From time to time, this protected Catholics and others from persecution by majority establishments, it also eroded the humanity from our society. Winston Churchill famously said, “the greatest threat to our national security is the loss of a shared morality.” “No one can serve two masters.” (Mt 6:24).

This intellectual mess means that Catholics who have been trained in our intellectually consistent, non-masonic philosophical tradition are wildly disproportionately represented in government, especially in the judiciary. It’s a fascinating intellectual rabbit hole to go down!

I say all of this to provide us with important context about where we are and how we got here… America is a great experiment shaped both by our foundations and also by our aspirations. It’s the only place in the world, probably in world history, that offers the real possibility of free, peaceful economic improvement entirely as a function of ambition, daring, and intelligence. But it’s also a place with real structural problems at the deepest intellectual level.

Of course, that mirrors pretty closely our own humanity! All of us are trying to take advantage of opportunities God offers us while managing our own limitations and human nature… What we see easily as the American dream can be harder to see internally as the spiritual ambition of becoming a saint. But they’re not that different. Similar ambitions, different contexts…

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
July 3 First Friday devotions
July 4-5 First Sunday Benediction
July 4-5 Blessing of Flags and Military Honors for 250th US Independence Day

For Your Information:

FIRST FRIDAY is JULY 3. Father will offer Devotions and Eucharistic Benediction at the end of Mass. Make a special devotion to the Sacred Heart and attend first Friday devotions for nine consecutive months.

FIRST SUNDAY BENEDICTION for the weekend of JULY 4-5 will conclude Masses as part of our larger program of Eucharistic Devotion.

HOLY COMMUNION FROM THE CHALICE will only be offered at Masses on Wednesdays and Fridays beginning on July 1. Holy Communion from the Chalice will not be offered on Tuesdays and Saturdays and we are not accustomed to doing so at Masses offered at the Legacy Nursing Home on Thursdays. I want to balance the right and devotion of those who would like to receive Holy Communion from the Chalice with proper reverence and the inherent challenges in offering Holy Communion from the Chalice to groups of people. THANK YOU to all who have served as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion on Saturday evenings! I may well call on some of you for help at Christmas, on Lenten Fridays, and at other times as needed in the future. Any questions or concerns can be addressed to me at any time. – Fr Ryan

BULLETIN ADVERTISERS As you may have noticed, I’ve been preparing for a change in our bulletin costs structure for a while now. We changed the bulletin layout a while back and I worked the names of the advertisers who have supported us for years into the flow of the bulletin. The whole point of the ads was to subsidize the purchase of misallettes and of bulletins. Our misallettes cost about $1000 per year total. By doing away with the advertising subsidy and using this newer model for printing our bulletins, we’re actually saving a little each year. Moving forward we won’t have ads in the bulletin, but i want to say a grand word of THANKS to all who have subsidized our bulletins and missallettes, YOU ARE APPRECIATED!!

Delta Bank, deltabk.com
GB Farm Partnership, Ginny & Billy Marsh
May & Company, Alyssa Oliver, CPA 318-574-6254
Robert Charles Brown
S&B Drugs. K. Scott Nunnalee, R.Ph., 318-574-6363
Tensas State Bank, Kate Copes, 318-574-9898

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

Prayer for Hurricane Season Our Father in Heaven through the intercession of our Lady of Prompt Succor, spare us during the Hurricane Season from all harm. Protect us and our homes from all disasters of nature. Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hastened to help us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Novena to St Jude • O Holy Saint Jude, Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, near kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor for all who invoke you, special patron in time of need; to you I have recourse from the depth of my heart, and humbly beg you, to whom God has given such great power, to come to my assistance; help me now in my urgent need and grant my earnest petition. I will never forget thy graces and favors you obtain for me and I will do my utmost to spread devotion to you. Amen! St Jude, pray for us and all who honor Thee and invoke thy aid. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be three times.

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Russell Petersen (anni birth)/Rome
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 and Howington families
Mon NO MASS
Tue 9:00a For a special intention of the Guizerix family
Wed 9:00a In memory of Dan Fordice/Rome
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Bryan Stamey/family
Fri 5:30p In memory of C L Keene (death anni)/ family
Sat 5:30p In memory of Carroll Regan (birth anni)/ family
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Marion Roy (birth anni)/Johnson

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Margo Corulla

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)	EMHC(s)
6/27 5:30p	-	M Rome	M Ernst
6/28 9:30a	Kathleen, Evelyn, & Daniel	D Hamilton	-
7/4 5:30p	-	C VanderVieren	-
7/5 9:30a	Mary Katherine, Maura, & Elizabeth	C Guizerix	-

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2022-23	$ 2,500
May Budget	$ 10,000
May Collections	$ 18,461
May Expenses	$ 14,557
June Budget	$ 10,000
June 21 Collection	$ 3,261
June to Date	$ 7,826

Stewardship Both the first reading and the Gospel today speak of hospitality and welcome. Our ministers of hospitality are a most visible example of using one’s time and talents to welcome the people of God. But the Gospel assures us that all who give even just “a cup of cold water” to one of His lowliest ones will be rewarded.

SECOND COLLECTION this weekend is called Peter’s Pence and supports the charitable works of Pope Leo XIV and the operations of the Vatican City-State.

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Anna Guizerix (Jun 29), Susan Cagnolatti (Jun 30), Candler Hamilton (Jul 5)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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 friends and relatives who need our prayers: Ashley Alexander (Regan), Graham Allen (S Gilfoil), Danny Beard, 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, Steve Green, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Patricia Lively (Wilks), Charles Howington, Callie Halbach Hyams, 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), 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

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2026-06-21T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

As you may have noticed in the announcements above, I’ve made the decision to reduce the number of opportunities to receive Holy Communion from the Chalice at Mass.

I want to explain my reasons here just to be entirely transparent and clear.

Let me start with the theological reason. The Holy Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ made truly present in the physical appearance of bread and wine through the celebration of the Holy Mass and the words of Consecration spoken by a validly ordained Priest. Each tiny particle of each host and each tiny droplet from the chalice that can reasonably be considered to be an integral portion of bread or wine is fully and truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus.

At the Council of Trent, it was absolutely and strictly forbidden that the chalice be offered to anyone for Holy Communion, even the deacon at the Mass due to the risk of profanation. The Council specifically noted that there is no spiritual difference whatsoever between the “species” of bread and the “species” of wine. From the point of view of Heaven, they are indistinguishable and so there is no theological reason to receive both. That fact has never been meaningfully disputed.

There are two pastoral reasons for my decision. The first flows from this theological reason. The modern formulas for the Rite of Holy Communion are confusing… I show you the host and say “The Body of Christ” and I show you the chalice and say “The Blood of Christ.” As I just explained, that’s not really an accurate description of what’s happening. Both the host and the consecrated wine in the chalice are the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus. And so the chalice is not the Blood of Christ in any meaningful way that the Host isn’t.

Also, there’s the risk of profanation. When I receive Holy Communion from the chalice, I go to great lengths to see that none of the consecrated wine is left on the purificator (napkin). I carefully pour the wine into the chalice and then pour some water over the trail the wine made in the chalice. After I receive Holy Communion, I add water to the cup so that whatever consecrated wine remains is diluted so much that it is no longer wine in any real sense and thus it is no longer the Holy Eucharist. That means that while there is some ordinary wine on the purificator, the consecrated wine has been completely consumed and only a tiny amount of the Holy Eucharist remains on the napkin. But when Holy Communion is distributed to all, the napkin is doused in the Holy Eucharist. (And that’s without the real possibility of the chalice being spilled or splashed onto clothing or the carpet.)

Pope John Paul II wrote a remarkable document in which he discussed the practical processes of distributing Holy Communion and put forward very specific principles about how the clergy are to balance the right of the faithful to receive Holy Communion and the duty of the clergy to protect against profanation and sacrilege. My decision to limit - rather than remove Holy Communion from the chalice is an attempt to better implement the balance that Pope John Paul II calls for.

Finally, the spiritual reason is simpler. So much of the modern practice of Catholicism is about preferences and what we like or don’t like. We decide on things like music based on taste rather than the truthfulness of the words. We prefer this or that time for Mass. We want things to be done in a way which is immediately pleasing and satisfying. We prioritize our experience over the essential duty of worshipping God in Spirit and in Truth.

Christianity, though, is a religion which puts God at center rather than my preferences. In fact, it’s a religion which demands not only prioritizing the Lord, but actively suffering for Him (if you would be saved, take up your cross). And so there’s a spiritual necessity to have our preferences pushed back against from time to time.

Moving forward, the chalice will be available for Holy Communion every Wednesday morning (9a) and Friday evening (5:30p). There will be a few additional days and a few exceptions (e.g. Good Friday). As always, I am very happy to discuss this or any other pastoral decisions with you at any time!

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
June 21 Happy Father’s Day!
No Pastoral Council meeting this month

For Your Information:

Delta Bank, deltabk.com
GB Farm Partnership, Ginny & Billy Marsh
May & Company, Alyssa Oliver, CPA 318-574-6254
Robert Charles Brown
S&B Drugs. K. Scott Nunnalee, R.Ph., 318-574-6363
Tensas State Bank, Kate Copes, 318-574-9898

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

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Gail Graugnard and Mary Agnes 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 Guizeriz family
Mon NO MASS
Tue 9:00a For healing for Patricia Guizerix
Wed 9:00a In memory of Brian Stamey/family
Brya StameThu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Thomas Trichell/T Trichell
Fri 5:30p In memory of Payton and Donald Trichell/family
Sat 5:30p In memory of Russell Petersen (anni birth)/Rome
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of deceased members of Bolton and Howington families

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Margo Corulla

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)	EMHC(s)
6/20 5:30p	-	MA Gilfoil	C VanderVieren
6/21 9:30a	Michael, Maura, Ashlyn	Thomas Meyers	-
6/27 5:30p	-	M Rome	M Ernst
6/28 9:30a	Kathleen, Evelyn, & Daniel	D Hamilton	-

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2025-2026	$ 2,500
May Budget	$ 10,000
May Collections	$ 18,461
May Expenses	$ 14,557
June Budget	$ 10,000
June 14 Collection	$ 2,192
June to Date	$ 5,565

Stewardship The Psalmist assures us that “the Lord hears the poor.” Often, however, He answers their needs through the generous gifts of good stewards.

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Patty Spinks (Jun 23), Cindy Howington (Jun 23), Karla Mason (Jun 25), Margo Corulla (Jun 26), Sally Reynolds (Jun 26)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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 friends and relatives who need our prayers: Ashley Alexander (Regan), Graham Allen (S Gilfoil), Danny Beard, 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, Steve Green, Maggie Reynolds Guillory, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Patricia Lively (Wilks), Charles Howington, Callie Halbach Hyams, 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), 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

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

2026-06-14T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

One of the most confusing aspects of Christianity is the matter of asking God for things… No matter what your situation is, God already knows! God knows better than you do. He understands (better than anybody) every aspect and detail of your situation. God knows what you’re thinking, what you’re feeling, what you’re thinking about wrongly and He knows the same about everybody else involved with that situation. And if that’s the case, then why oh why does God need me to ask?

This is most bizarre when Jesus is talking to the people in the Gospels who have physical handicaps. He walks up to a blind man and says “what do you want me to do for you?” Seriously?!? I want to see. And the deaf man wants to hear. And the guy who's been paralyzed wants to be healed of their big, obvious, debilitating conditions. Even though it couldn’t be more obvious, Jesus still makes a habit of asking: “What do you want me to do for you?”

The same framework is proffered in the Gospels: “Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.” In today’s Gospel, almost always associated with asking the Lord for good and holy priests and bishops, the Lord tells us that we should make sure to ask Him for this…

It’s a bit like when someone stops me at the end of Mass as people are rushing out of the Church and says “Father Ryan, I want to talk with you about such and such.” I always ask that person to call or text me because I WILL FORGET that this moment occurred. I have a poor memory for those kinds of moments. But God doesn’t! He doesn’t need us to remind Him of things like this…

And yet.. When it comes to prayer, Jesus advises us that we ought to begin all of our prayers by acknowledging God’s Divine nature and His goodness. Our model for prayer, the Our Father, Jesus begins with “Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.” The whole act of “blessing God” and praising His goodness is just repeating things God knows about Himself. It’s easy to mistake this kind of prayer as something akin to sucking up rather than what it really is.

The art of prayer and the beauty of it is that when we raise our hearts and minds to God, we are not merely trying to achieve some specific end, we are inviting the Lord to shape and to mold us. We are inviting the Lord to make us into something new. Prayer is less about what we accomplish in the world than it is about the human experience of being loved by God.

I like to compare this to the phenomenon in relationships of making up after a fight. Most fights in serious relationships are not bad things. They are people revealing to one another their raw edges and their fundamental human needs and beliefs. In that way, making up is less of an intellectual process or a problem solving exercise than it is a mutual recognition and understanding. The money problems or the drama with the kids or the annoying habits that caused the fight aren’t fundamentally different before and after… The make up isn’t really about fixing any specific situation. The make up is about all the humanity that was caught up in the situation. And the make up process - however that looks for the couple - is about the couple settling into a slightly new appreciation of one another. I know this is massively oversimplified, but it works as an analogy for the way in which intercession and prayer aren’t so much about real world results as they are about us reaching a new appreciation of the Lord. Sometimes, as the country song says, the Lord calms the storm and sometimes He calms His child. It’s not that the Lord is or isn’t going to heal a disease, stop a war, or soften a heart - it’s that the asking is transformative.

The other, and no less essential, aspect of all of this is that the Lord works not so much through practical processes (the way we do), He works through “Grace” - the living Power of the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts and in the world. Garth said it that some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. What’s best ordered to our salvation and good isn’t always getting what we want, but more on that in another article.

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
June No Pastoral Council meeting this month
June 21 Father’s Day

For Your Information:

ROSARY GROUP meets on Monday at 5:30p for prayer and supper. Everyone is invited. 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

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Pat and Marleigh Bullard, Patrick Thomas, & Eva & R L Reynolds/family
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of deceased members of the Roy and Johnson families/family
Mon NO MASS
Tue 9:00a In memory of Father Ferre (birth anni)/Magoun
Wed 9:00a In memory of Joe Farlow/Bellard
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Bryan Stamey/family
Fri 5:30p In memory of Neal Bolton/Howington
Sat 5:30p In memory of Gail Graugnard and Mary Agnes 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 Guizeriz family

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning in memory of Becky, Beverly, and Edgar Lancaster

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)	EMHC(s)
6/13 5:30p	-	A Farlow	M Rome
6/14 9:30a	Annie, Thomas Meyers, Katelyn	J Howington	-
6/20 5:30p	-	MA Gilfoil	C VanderVieren
6/21 9:30a	Michael, Finley, Ashlyn	Youth	-

Our Return to the Lord


May Budget	$ 10,000
May Collections	$ 18,461
May Expenses	$ 14,557
June Budget	$ 10,000
June 7 Collection	$ 3,373
June to Date	$ 3,373

Stewardship In today’s Gospel, Jesus sends out the disciples to meet the needs of others. His admonition to them is the same challenge he makes to us: “The gift you have received, give as a gift.”

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Mary Kathryn Book (Jun 13), Emily Ginn (Jun 14), Connie Copes (June 15), Penny Ernst (Jun 15), Margaret Gilfoil (Jun 16), Robert Wood (June 18)

Happy Anniversary to Beth and Chip Sullivan (June 19)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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 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, Maggie Reynolds Guillory, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Patricia Lively (Wilks), Charles Howington, Callie Halbach Hyams, 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), 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

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

2026-06-07T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

The Jews had two places for religious practice: the Temple & the Synagogue. The Synagogue was for preaching and for teaching and shared prayers. There were hundreds of Synagogues and everyone was welcome. It was a place for the community to gather as a community with a shared sense of purpose in their Faith in God. But… the Synagogue was understood by everyone to be of distinctly lesser importance than the temple. The temple was where the priests of Aaron offered sacrifices in expiation for the sins of the Jewish people. From dawn until dusk, every day of the year, priests offered the blood of goats and sheep and oxen and bulls and pigeons and doves and all the other bloody sacrifices called for by the Torah. They also offered the “cereal offerings” and the tithes of the growers who came to ask for the Lord’s blessing. The Temple is where the Rabbis studied. It’s where the Feasts were celebrated. It’s where Jesus went to do the really important stuff.

It’s also where the most important symbols of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection are found. It’s where the veil, which was torn into pieces by the Earthquake at the moment of His death, hung in front of the Old Testament Tabernacle of the Ark. It’s where the Blood and Water flowed from the Right Side of Temple as it did from Jesus’ side. It’s where the Altar and the Candlestand that feature in Rev 5 are to be found.

It’s also where we find the “show bread” that was especially blessed that was to be presented in order to receive the special blessings. That symbol of bread, in particular, is relevant for us today. It goes back first to Melcezideck in Genesis and to the establishment of the Tent of Meeting in Exodus. It’s the centerpiece of Joseph’s saving of the Jews and their liberation from Egypt. It’s symbolic of God’s Salvation from starvation and of His ongoing sustenance. Bread was the first temptation of Jesus in the desert and it featured in Jesus’ prophecy that Judas would betray him. And, of course, bread and wine together are part of the Passover Supper that we call “The Lord’s Supper” or “The Last Supper.”

Labette, touto estin tah soma mou. These words of Jesus are shocking! Jesus says ...take this… THIS… This IS my body… estin ta soma mou. Also shocking is that no one freaks out… Which is what we would expect to have happened… But we know why no one freaks out. It’s because they’ve heard it before. In John 6, we get the sermon that changed everything. Jesus used a similar but more intense phrase there. He said sarx mou alethes estin - my flesh is true food.

THAT was when everyone freaked out. So much so that when Jesus was asked to walk back the sermon because people were running for the hills, Jesus said no way! I AM who I AM!

It’s easy to see why the Church teaches that the Holy Eucharist, the true body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus is the source and the summit of our spiritual lives… It has to be. It’s the true presence. And everything - everything we believe - hinges on it.

If Jesus is 1) wrong, 2) deluded, or 3) lying in John 6, His disciples clearly believe Him to be telling the truth by the Last Supper. Of course, if John 6 is a lie or a delusion, then all the sacraments are too. So is the moral teaching and Heaven and Hell and pretty much everything else about Catholicism and even non-Catholic Christianity. Jesus wasn’t just a teacher - remember - He didn’t offer us a textbook of ideas - He says that He, Himself, is the way, the truth, and the life. That kind of statement admits no in-between. If Jesus is Who He says He is, then His body is true food, and ‘unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you.

That’s why we need to be so deliberate about our Eucharistic devotion. It’s why we need to make a regular confession. It’s why we need to be serious in our personal prayer and reverent at Mass. Jesus - not me, not the pope, but Jesus, Himself - makes this singular idea the centerpiece of being His disciple. In theology and in our personal spiritual lives - everything comes down to His true presence in that bread and wine!

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
June 7 Second Quarter Social - Potluck Brunch following 9:30a Mass
June 6 & 7 First Sunday Benediction following Masses
June No Pastoral Council meeting this month

For Your Information:

SECOND QUARTER SOCIAL will be a potluck Brunch on this Sunday, June 7 following the 9:30 a.m. Mass. Everyone is invited to attend and celebrate the beginning of Summer. The Second Quarter (April, May, June) Social Committee is chaired by Cathy VanderVieren and includes Libby Bullard, Angel Farlow, Margaret and Pat Gilfoil, MaryAnne Gilfoil, Terry and Andy Hall, Isabell Hernandez, Cindy and Jamie Howington, Ann Keene, Alyce and C.W. Keene, Frances Kennedy, Elizabeth and Paul Naya, and Bobby Reynolds.

ROSARY GROUP meets on Monday at 5:30p for prayer and supper. Everyone is invited. 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 Summer 2026. 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.

ATTENTION ST EDWARD YOUTH Mrs. Dana Hamilton has volunteered to organize several events, trips, and activities for teens from grades 6-12. She will be calling a meeting soon (probably on a Sunday). If you are interested in helping her or your children are interested in participating, please touch base with Dana or let Fr Ryan know. More info is forthcoming.

PRAYER FOR HURRICANE SEASON which begins this week

Our Father in Heaven through the intercession of our Lady of Prompt Succor, spare us during the Hurricane Season from all harm. Protect us and our homes from all disasters of nature. Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hastened to help us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In celebration of a special birthday/Magoun
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Dan Fordice/Rome
Mon NO MASS
Tue NO MASS
Wed NO MASS
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Inez and C B DeMoss/family
Fri 5:30p In memory of E H Lancaster (birth anni on 13th)/family
Sat 5:30p In memory of Pat and Marleigh Bullard, Patrick Thomas, & Eva & R L Reynolds/family
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of deceased members of the Roy and Johnson families/family

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Vicki Morelli

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)	EMHC(s)
6/6 5:30p	-	A Dawson	M Rome
6/7 9:30a	Cooper & Courtland	D Ellerbee	-
6/13 5:30p	-	A Farlow	M Rome
6/14 9:30a	Annie, Thomas Meyers, Katelyn	J Howington	-

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2022-23	$ 2,500
April Budget	$ 10,000
April Collections	$ 17,278
April Expenses	$ 14,838
May Budget	$ 12,500
May 31 Collection	$ 4,116
May to Date	$ 18,261

Stewardship The Scriptures today remind us that “we, many though we are, are one body for we all partake of the one loaf.” How are we using our gifts of time and talent to build up the Body of Christ?

SECOND COLLECTION supports our parish Building Fund which we collect once monthly.

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Brian Harris (Jun 7), Billy Marsh (Jun 8), Mary Kathryn Book (Jun 13), Emily Ginn (Jun 14), Connie Copes (June 15), Penny Ernst (Jun 15)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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 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, Maggie Reynolds Guillory, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Patricia Lively (Wilks), Charles Howington, Callie Halbach Hyams, 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), 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

The Most Holy Trinity

2026-05-31T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

We are inundated with useless noise… TicToc, cable news, podcasts, talk radio, digital billboards, and, especially, that annoying unskippable ad at the gas pump (that Tesla owners don’t have to deal with ;) - just saying…). All of that noise numbs us to any real information. The signal, as nerds say, gets lost in the noise.

There has never been a moment in human history where we have needed a way to sift the useful info from useless bits - to distinguish “fake news” and “disinformation” from what we need to know… To compound the problem, students are academically weaker than ever. Educators feel helpless. Even those of us who do read for pleasure (thank you for reading this!) are confronted with books, social posts, substacks, and links from friends that are a messy mix of AI, out of context “facts,” and dubious conclusions… Who do we believe?

The result of all this isn’t so much bad info as it is fatigue. It’s just SO MUCH EASIER to watch a vid of that cat Merv who does the Bagagwa shuffle…

In years past, priests would use this Sunday after Pentecost to give a bit of a theology lesson - a bit of something beyond Catholicism 101. But given the issues I just brought up, is that wise?. The intellectual deterioration in our culture from the time of my parents and grandparents (who valued my education and spent big on the Encyclopedia Britannica) through my own generation to Gens Z & A (whose education was stunted by Common Core and COVID) is horrifying. My generation certainly believed ourselves better and more sophisticated than the “old people” who raised us, but we could read cursive, knew who Julius Caesar was and understood that being an adult meant advancing beyond where we were at any given moment. There was a cultural conversation. There was a shared sense of religious and cultural vocabulary.

I don’t want to spit in the wind by writing about generational differences… But I want to point out that preachers, like teachers, have to address their instruction to the audience as they really are - and mine is diverse! The material that the sermon or lesson comes from doesn’t change with the audience, but the way in which it is taught does.

And so does it make sense to give a complex sermon on the essentials of the Most Holy Trinity?

One divine God
Two divine processions (of the Son and the Spirit)
Three indwelling but non-identical Persons
Four divine Relations (paternity, filiation, active spiration, passive spiration)
Five Notions (innascibility, paternity, filiation, spiration, procession)

Some of these words, of course, all -but-require an advanced degree in Catholic Theology (or Latin). Innascibility is “un-begotten-ness,” which I’m sure clarifies that idea nicely and completely. Still, these ideas matter.

I’m thankful for our Sunday Morning Catechism / Sunday School which gives me an excellent venue to explain these things in a way that is more accessible than “un-begotten-ness” - which is just a very, very precise way of saying that God the Father’s uncreated-ness is slightly distinguishable from God’s the Son’s uncreated-ness. And this very specific detail is unlikely to have any direct effect on whether or not any one individual in human history has gone to Heaven or not, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. All of this fundamental theology has a powerful impact as we base more and more of our belief and practice upon it. For example, Pentecostalism believes (wrongly) about this idea of the innascibility of Jesus which leads them to teach (again wrongly), that Jesus and the Father (and the Holy Spirit) are identical and hence the Holy Trinity is not God’s nature… (That’s a big whoopsie from what seems like an obscure - even irrelevant - starting point.)

But I say all of this to call to our attention just how important it is that we find a way to get some real and important info through the noise of the TicTocs and the cable news. While it may not seem all that essential to daily life, these theological ideas have profound effects and we ought to care about them and concern ourselves with them as much as we realistically can - especially in a world that doesn’t seem to be planning on quieting down any time soon.

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
June 1 Pilgrimage to St Francis, Waterproof
June 7 Second Quarter Social - Potluck Brunch following 9:30a Mass

For Your Information:

PILGRIMAGE TO ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI, Waterproof, LA to Monday, June 1. Anyone interested in participating is invited to meet at the Church parking lot for 10a. We will carpool to reduce the number of vehicles. Fr. Taylor Reynolds will offer Mass at 11a, and, following Mass, the group will pray the Rosary. On the return to Tallulah, Dutch-treat lunch is planned in St Joseph.This is to honor the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis and is an official Jubilee Year devotion. Louise Magoun is serving as the coordinator and she can be contacted by text or phone at 318-341-2403.

SECOND QUARTER SOCIAL will be a potluck Brunch on next Sunday, June 7 following the 9:30 a.m. Mass. Everyone is invited to attend and celebrate the beginning of Summer. Get out your recipes and find something interesting to prepare and share!!! The Second Quarter (April, May, June) Social Committee is chaired by Cathy VanderVieren and includes Libby Bullard, Angel Farlow, Margaret and Pat Gilfoil, MaryAnne Gilfoil, Terry and Andy Hall, Isabell Hernandez, Cindy and Jamie Howington, Ann Keene, Alyce and C.W. Keene, Frances Kennedy, Elizabeth and Paul Naya, and Bobby Reynolds.

ROSARY GROUP meets on Monday at 5:30p for prayer and supper. Everyone is invited. 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

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of George and Margaret Magoun/family
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Jason Jumonville (anni of death)/family
Mon NO MASS
Tues 9:00a In memory of Carol Folk Hitte/P Lancaster
Wed 9:00a For a special intention of the Guizerix family
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of David Stamey/family
Fri 5:30p In memory of Becky Lancaster/family
Sat 5:30p In celebration of a special birthday/Magoun
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Dan Fordice/Rome

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Margo Corulla

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)	EMHC(s)
5/30 5:30p	-	P Wilks	N Ernst
5/31 9:30a	MaryKatherine, Maura, Elizabeth	K Collins	-
6/6 5:30p	-	A Dawson	A Keene
6/7 9:30a	Cooper & Courtland	D Ellerbee	-

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2025-2026	$ 2,500
April Budget	$ 10,000
April Collections	$ 17,278
April Expenses	$ 14,838
May Budget	$ 12,500
May 24 Collection	$ 2,382
May to Date	$ 14,145

Stewardship The Gospel today is sometimes called “the Gospel in miniature” because it so concisely sums up the Gospel message. In even more condensed form, “God loved… God gave…” is the paradigm for stewardship – we give because we love.

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Brian Harris (Jun 7)

Happy Anniversary to Betty and Kenny Smith (June 1)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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 friends and relatives who need our prayers: Ashley Alexander (Regan), Graham Allen (S Gilfoil), Marie Farlow Bellard, Martha Book, Kay Boolos (S Gilfoil), the Brad Bourgeois Family, 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, Maggie Reynolds Guillory, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Patricia Lively (Wilks), Charles Howington, Callie Halbach Hyams, 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), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Kiely McKellar (S Gilfoil), Boyce Miller, Mike Morelli, Cole Norris, 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

Pentecost Sunday

2026-05-24T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

The General Rubrics for the pre-Vatican II Mass had a dozen or so paragraphs telling the priest what to do if a Eucharistic Miracle occurred during Mass. If the host was taken by an angel... do this. If the host or chalice floated above the altar... do that.

Our faith is very consciously supernatural. Before we used the rather blah phrase “spiritual life” - all the books talked about prayer, fasting, morals, and whatnot as the “supernatural life.”

We believe that the Holy Spirit is actively engaged in our daily lives. This is important because a lot of modern Christians do not believe it. Lots of modern Christians believe that prayer and fasting and sin and whatnot aren’t really that important. They say that if you’re saved, you’re saved.

But we don’t believe that at all. The Holy Spirit is an essential Advocate. Jesus promised to remain with us always. He didn’t just do His work and go - we continue to need Him.

The most essential principle of Christian life is “Lord, what do you want me to do NOW?” The virtue of docility - of REALLY wanting to know what the Lord wants from me NOW - is what faith in the Holy Spirit looks like.

This is why St Paul talks about Spiritual Gifts and, as we heard a few weeks ago, the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. The Lord continues to be active in our lives. If we’re saved and done, then miracles don’t really mean anything... Neither does prayer... Or moral living... Or much of anything really... Why would Jesus need to send an advocate? Why would the apostles need to heal anyone or speak in tongues?

Really, if we think it through, the only reason that anything supernatural would’ve happened after the Resurrection is if the Holy Spirit is really active throughout the life of us as Christians... Our world is full of the supernatural! From angels and demons to the grace of the sacraments and of prayer and fasting, the choices we make and our reflections upon them matter. And because they matter, Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to advocate for us and to provide direction and instruction.

Think about something really small... What shoes should I wear today? Should I pray about that? Does God care about what shoes I wear? Well, Jesus says that God literally numbers the hairs on our head, so “yes” God does care about my shoe choice. Is my shoe choice going to be the deciding factor between Heaven and Hell - I hope not... BUT, why shouldn’t I involve the Lord in my life as much as I can…? at every level?

It’s obvious when it comes to something big. What if I’m offered some unbelievable job in Hawaii? Should I ask the Lord for direction in that decision?

This actually happened to me a few years ago. I was offered an assignment as the chaplain for a small community on O’ahu or Maui. I would be expected to say the Latin Mass a few times a week at a chapel on a very wealthy part of the island. The rest of my time would be free and I would be paid really well. Seriously. I prayed about it for a few days and I never felt like it was what the Lord wanted at all, so I passed. The Holy Spirit was at work in that. If I had said yes to that, I definitely wouldn’t be here in NELA paradise.

In my own life, I can say the same thing for standing by the truth of the faith in several incidents over my 20 years of priesthood. Who knows that the Lord wanted me to do here or in Delhi/Tallulah or what plans He has for me in the future.

I can’t overstate how important it is for us to understand and live our faith that we take seriously the supernaturality of the world and of the Church. The problem with the rat race - as Lily Tomlin famously said - is that whether you win or lose, you’re still a rat. If we misunderstand this world as just a Darwinian series of coincidences and random chances, we will lose entirely what Christianity is! We can’t be saved and that’s it. The Holy Spirit is among us as a living advocate to guide us to the Father and to unite us to Jesus Christ. Our prayers, our fasting, our moral lives, and our engagement with the grace of the Sacraments is how we live that Faith in the Holy Spirit day by day.

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
June 1 Pilgrimage to St Francis, Waterproof (RESCHEDULED)
June 7 Second Quarter Social - Potluck Brunch following 9:30a Mass Mark Your Calendars

For Your Information:

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION Between this Sunday and last Saturday, three little ones from our parish received their First Holy Communion. We are so excited for these little ones and their families. Let’s all pray for them!

PILGRIMAGE RESCHEDULED TO ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI, Waterproof, LA to Monday, June 1. Anyone interested in participating is invited to meet at the Church parking lot for 10a. We will carpool to reduce the number of vehicles. Fr. Taylor Reynolds will offer Mass at 11a, and, following Mass, the group will pray the Rosary. On the return to Tallulah, Dutch-treat lunch is planned in St Joseph.This is to honor the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis and is an official Jubilee Year devotion. Louise Magoun is serving as the coordinator and she can be contacted by text or phone at 318-341-2403.

SECOND QUARTER SOCIAL will be a potluck Brunch on Sunday, June 7 following the 9:30 a.m. Mass. Everyone is invited to attend and celebrate the beginning of Summer. Get out your recipes and find something interesting to prepare and share!!! The Second Quarter (April, May, June) Social Committee is chaired by Cathy VanderVieren and includes Libby Bullard, Angel Farlow, Margaret and Pat Gilfoil, MaryAnne Gilfoil, Terry and Andy Hall, Isabell Hernandez, Cindy and Jamie Howington, Ann Keene, Alyce and C.W. Keene, Frances Kennedy, Elizabeth and Paul Naya, and Bobby Reynolds.

ROSARY GROUP meets on Monday at 5:30p for prayer and supper. Everyone is invited. 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

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Delia and Thomas Trichell/B Hayes
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In celebration of the birthday of Brittany McFall/family
Mon NO MASS
Tues 9:00a In memory of deceased members of the Roy and Johnson families
Wed 9:00a For the special intention of healing for Lori by Sullivan family
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Bryan Stamey/family
Fri 5:30p For a special intention of the Guizerix family
Sat 5:30p In memory of George and Margaret Magoun/family
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Jason Jumonville (anni of death)/family

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Margo Corulla

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)	EMHC(s)
5/23 5:30p	-	C VanderVieren	M Rome
5/24 9:30a	Kathleen, Daniel, & Evelyn	B Sullivan	-
5/30 5:30p	-	P Wilks	N Ernst
5/31 9:30a	MaryKatherine, Maura, Elizabeth	K Collins	-

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2025-2026	$ 2,500
April Budget	$ 10,000
April Collections	$ 17,278
April Expenses	$ 14,838
May Budget	$ 12,500
May 17 Collection	$ 2,953
May to Date	$ 11,763

Stewardship

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Dave Collins (May 24) Brittany McFall (May 25), Chris Guizerix (May 25), Anna Ginn Bigelow (May 29), Mary Kathryn Marsh (May 29)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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 collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, EmmyLu Marsh, Charlize Richardson, Chandler Wood

The Ascension of the Lord

2026-05-17T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

The Ascension of the Lord is meant to be celebrated forty days after Easter on a Thursday. Ascension Thursday mirrors Holy Thursday on which the Last Supper was celebrated and at which Jesus commanded us to offer the Holy Eucharist in His memory. Just as Holy Thursday, during Holy Week, is the last Thursday before the Easter Season begins, the feast of Corpus Christi (the Body of Our Lord) is meant to be celebrated on the first Thursday after the Easter Season has formally concluded. Holy Thursday and Corpus Christi, which are not Holy Days of Obligation, serve to contextualize and amplify the Ascension, which is a Holy Day of Obligation.

In much of the United States, both Ascension and Corpus Christi have been moved to the nearest Sunday which allows everyone to celebrate them, but robs the days of their context and alignment with Holy Thursday.

The unifying theme of these Thursday Feasts is the Holy Eucharist and the mystery of God’s physical, tangible presence among us. At the Ascension, the Lord tells us that He will remain with us always, even until the end of the Age. At the very moment He says this, He ascends to Heaven and visibly disappears. Without context, this seems like a ludicrous and contradictory series of events.

But in light of Holy Thursday and Corpus Christi Thursday, we see that the Holy Eucharist is the mode in which Jesus remains physically with us even until the end of the Age. St. Thomas Aquinas, in the "Tantum Ergo" (perhaps the most famous hymn ever written), writes "Praestet fides supplementum Sensuum defectui" which comes into English as something like "Faith provides for all our defects, where our feeble senses fail." The loss of Jesus (to our senses) at the Ascension is actually, then, an aid for our Faith to perceive Him present in the Holy Eucharist.

Perhaps more than any idea of Christianity, this notion that "it is better to have not seen and yet believed" is hard to get our heads around. Common sense tells us that if Jesus had just set up a regular old kingdom with a headquarters and a PR team, there would be a whole lot more Christians… If you add to that the not-patented JesusCuresYou™ health care plan and the super cool miracles that come with it, it would seem that everyone would want to sign up to be a Christian.

But our Human common sense tends to fail us more often than we usually realize. Even today, the best place to look for folks taking their faith seriously is among the poor and the oppressed. The worst possible place to be if you want to grow in holiness is among the rich and the idle. That seems to be totally backward. There's also a certain paradox in study. One would think that the more someone looks into the sordid history of the Church with Her bad popes and sketchy priests and questionable monks and nuns, the more someone would want to keep their distance from Catholicism and instead lean toward the Baptists or the Methodists. But the opposite is true. The more a Christian studies history, the more likely he is to want to become Catholic. Common sense would say an easy sermon would be more popular than a hard one, but the opposite is generally true. Common Sense would say that Mass in English with folk hymnody would be preferable to incomprehensible Latin prayers and chants, but the data shows that to be a faulty assumption as well.

The anchor for all of these counterintuitive realities is the Holy Eucharist. More than any other aspect of faith, devotion to the Holy Eucharist makes for holy individuals, holy families, and holy Churches.

So it is that we return to the idea that the departure of Jesus from the visible part of our world is actually an aid to our Faith. The celebration of the Ascension, then, is a genuine time for rejoicing, even if it seems to be something of a setback or an extra burden. Whatever our common sense may tell us, we should be thankful to God today for His choice to ascend and to leave us relying upon the Holy Spirit and the Holy Eucharist where our feeble senses fail.

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Wednesday at 6p unless otherwise indicated
May 16 la Primera Comunión para niños de México a las 13:00h ¡Todos son bienvenidos!
May 20 Pastoral Council Meeting meeting - 6pm in the Parish Hall
June 7 Second Quarter Social - Potluck Brunch following 9:30a Mass Mark Your Calendars

For Your Information:

CONGRATULATIONS to WILL RICHARDSON who graduated from St Frederick Catholic High School this week. Will attends Mass on Saturday evenings and is the grandson of Blanche and Prentiss Wilks.

CONGRATULATIONS to EVIE ROME who graduated from Tallulah Academy last week. She is the granddaughter of Mike and Sue Rome and the daughter of Curt and Brianne Rome.

PRAYERS AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR MR DAN FORDICE who tragically died this past week. The Rosary will be prayed at Fisher-Riles Funeral Home, Indiana Avenue, Vicksburg on Monday at 7 p.m. and a Funeral Mass will be offered by Fr Rusty Vincent on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. at St Paul’s Catholic Church in Vicksburg..

ROSARY GROUP meets on Monday at 5:30p for prayer and supper. Everyone is invited. 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

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Gail Graugard and Mary Agnes York/P Gilfoil
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Russell Petersen/Rome
Mon NO MASS
Tues 9:00a For a special intention of the Guizerix family
Wed 9:00a In memory of Patrick Thomas (anni of death)/Bullard
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In celebration of the anniversary of Ordination of Fr Ryan
Fri 5:30p In celebration of the birthday of Isabell McFall/family
Sat 5:30p In memory of Delia and Thomas Trichell/B Hayes
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In celebration of the birthday of Brittany McFall/family

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Margo Corulla

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)	EMHC(s)
5/16 5:30p	-	M Rome	C VanderVieren
5/17 9:30a	Finley, Ashlyn, & Michael	Youth-Courtland	-
5/23 5:30p	-	C VanderVieren	M Ernst
5/24 9:30a	Kathleen, Daniel, & Evelyn	B Sullivan	-

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2025-2026	$ 2,500
April Budget	$ 10,000
April Collections	$ 17,278
April Expenses	$ 14,838
May Budget	$ 12,500
May 10 Collection	$ 2,612
May to Date	$ 8,810

Stewardship In the Gospel, Jesus prays, “I have given you glory on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do.” Good stewards follow HIs example by using their time and talents for the glory of God.

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Isabella McFall (May 22) and Dave Collins (May 24)

Happy Anniversary of Priestly Ordination to Fr Ryan Humphries (May 21)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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 collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, EmmyLu Marsh, Charlize Richardson, Chandler Wood

Sixth Sunday of Easter

2026-05-10T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

Jesus said: ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments.’

Jesus is THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life. Basic logic says that if we believe He is who He says He is, then we should obey each and every one of His teachings and commands.

Of course, He’s had some sketchy followers! As Brennan Manning put it: “the greatest single cause of atheism... is Christians.” And so one has to carefully draw a line between what is the truth of Jesus Christ and what this or that self-serving Christian says it is - be they a layman, nun or pope. Brennan Manning left the priesthood, after all...

We also have the modern problem of “what does the Church actually teach?” The 1993 Catechism of the Catholic Church is AMAZING and remarkably clear if you really read it. But many Churchmen have the bad habit of speaking without precision and the world around us is full of smart-sounding charlatans who are quick to use all the tricks of persuasion in their self-serving pursuits.

So the real question of obedience isn’t so much “should I obey?” as it is “what should I actually do?”

Thankfully, Catholicism is remarkably simple. We should go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Day. We should go to Confession monthly. We should obey the moral law (which isn’t that complicated) and when we’re confronted with something unclear - we should do some research. Read the Catechism and ask a few priests. Our attitude has to be truth seeking, not loop-hole seeking, though! Beyond that, we should pray, fast, and do works of mercy. We should read scripture and try to be virtuous.

There are deeply complex questions out there, but most of us aren’t really going to have to face them head on. And so, for most of us, if we love Jesus, we need to receive the Sacraments, be faithful to a personal spiritual life, and live the moral life with honest intention to love the Lord in our deeds.

Also… Happy Mothers’ Day!

I want to show some special love to our moms today. None of us would be here without them. Moms (and in a different way, Dads) co-create with God. That’s an incredible privilege! Stop and consider it for a moment. I, as a priest, participate in the sanctifying work of the Lord. It’s rad! But moms participate in the creative work of the Lord. Moms’s participation is a lot more visceral, but just as important. S we don’t want to miss just how big a deal being a mom is!

I also want to take a moment to show some very special love to those women who want or desire or would intend to be moms, but who are unable. In many ways, these women are like the martyred disciples who love Jesus and desire to be united to Him in Baptism, but the messiness of the world gets in the way. We describe those martyrs as having a “baptism of desire” or, less commonly, “baptized by intent.” Since the rise of the birth control pill and the massive over-medication of Americans in the past century, many, many women desire to conceive a child, but are unable to do so. It’s an incredibly painful situation to be in! The Lord tends to comfort those women by giving them spiritual children by means of ministry or by means of nieces and nephews. We should really pay attention to the importance of the motherly role that these incredible women play in the world and in the Church! Wise people have always understood why some nuns are called “mother.” In our own community, we have several women who are without their own natural children and who are just as motherly and no less important! It’s important that we realize that every human being is called to be a brother or sister to their peers and to be a father or mother to the young. In some cases, a grandmotherly bop on the head is the best way to get a child to quiet down in Church!! In others, a child may find comfort in sitting in the pew with a mother-figure even when his own natural mother is in the pew across the way with his or her siblings. This is the richness of the idea of motherhood.

As with all things, there is a blessing in the natural reality and a further blessing in the supernatural reality. Whatever our circumstances in the natural order, I wish the happiest of Mothers’ Day to all our moms here at St Edward!!

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
Sunday Morning Catechism in the Hall (with Coffee & Donuts) after the 9:00a Mass during the School Year unless otherwise indicated
Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Wednesday at 6p unless otherwise indicated

May 10 Mother’s Day
May 16 Primera Comunión para niños que hablan español a las 13:00h ¡Todos son bienvenidos!
May 20 Pastoral Council Meeting meeting - 6pm in the Parish Hall
June 7 Second Quarter Social - Potluck Brunch following 9:30a Mass at the Parish Hall mark your calendar

For Your Information:

ROSARY GROUP meets on Monday at 5:30p for prayer and supper. Everyone is invited. 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

PILGRIMAGE TO ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI CATHOLIC CHURCH, Waterproof, LA is on Monday, May 18. Anyone interested in participating is invited to meet at the Church parking lot for 10a. We will carpool to reduce the number of vehicles. Fr. Taylor Reynolds will offer Mass at 11a, and, following Mass, the group will pray the Rosary. On the return to Tallulah, Dutch-treat lunch is planned in St Joseph.This is to honor the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis and is an official Jubilee Year devotion. Louise Magoun is serving as the coordinator and she can be contacted by text or phone at 318-341-2403.

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Donald and Payton Trichell/family
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of deceased members of the Howington and Bolton families/family
Mon NO MASS
Tues 9:00a In memory of Fred Wyly (anni of birth)/Magoun
Wed 9:00a In memory of Joe Farlow/Bellard
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) For healing for Patricia Guizerix/family
Fri 5:30p In memory of Dale Magoun (anni of birth)/Magoun
Sat 5:30p In memory Gail Graugard and Mary Agnes York/P Gilfoil
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Russell Petersen/Rome

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning in memory of Becky, Beverly, and Edgar Lancaster

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)	EMHC(s)
5/9 5:30p	-	MA Gilfoil	M Rome
5/10 9:30a	Annie, Thomas Meyers, & Katelyn	A Oliver	-
5/16 5:30p	-	M Rome	C VanderVieren
5/17 9:30a	Finley, Ashlyn, & Michael	Youth	-

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2022-23	$ 2,500
April Budget	$ 10,000
April Collections	$ 17,278
April Expenses	$ 14,838
May Budget	$ 12,500
May 3 Collection	$ 6,198
May to Date	$ 6,198

Stewardship

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Mary Dyer (May 10), Skipper Guizerix (May 11), Francie Kennedy (May 13), Mary Anne Gilfoil (May 13), Ed Mills (May 14)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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, 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

Our collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, EmmyLu Marsh, Charlize Richardson, Chandler Wood

Fifth Sunday of Easter

2026-05-03T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

“I am the Way and the Truth and the Life”

As I mentioned last Sunday, St John’s Gospel contains seven statements, each of which begins with “I AM,” in which Jesus reveals important aspects about Himself:

“I am the Bread of Life” (Chapter 6)
“I am the Light of the World” (8)
“I am the Gate for the Sheep” (10)
“I am the Good Shepherd” (10)
“I am the Resurrection and the Life” (11)
“I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life” (14)
“I am the true Vine” (15)

The Gospel for this Sunday is perhaps the most theologically complex: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.”

Jesus says these words in the context of a private discussion with His Disciples. He speaks briefly about Heaven, which He describes as a kind of spread out palace complex which contains many beautiful mansions. He says that each of His listeners has one that He has, personally, prepared for them. He says that He is going there soon, but that He will come back to escort each of them to their new home. Then, He adds, enigmatically, “where I am going you know the way."

Thomas responds in an obtuse way: “we do not know where You are going; how can we know the way?" Jesus has just said where He is going and He has just said that He will escort each of them meaning that they don’t need to lead themselves. Thomas’ response is a setup and is framed using a trope common in the poetry of Virgil, Homer and Aesculus. It sets Jesus up for a very specific kind of word play. It’s a pun! For us, puns feel silly and we tend to think of them as low-quality comedy… But the Jews LOVED word play. Half of the psalms involve a type of word play called parallelism in which important theological ideas are stated by strategic repetition.

And so we have a pun based on the idea that the Disciples of Jesus know where He is going and that they know the way. That way is Jesus, Himself. While punctuation is challenging to translate, the best way to translate the I AM statement here is: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” “The Truth and the Life” seems to be an appositive. Read properly, Jesus is saying "I am the Way and what that means that I am the Truth and the Life.” Jesus is not saying He is three distinct things, but one thing (the Way) which, itself, has a complex meaning.

Why do we need all this context? Well, first of all, to obtain salvation, we must constantly seek to know Jesus, Himself. We must follow His teaching. We must love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. We must obey His instruction.

This particular context is also a reference to the origin of all things. John’s Gospel begins with a creation narrative in which He says “Through [Jesus] all things were made; without Him nothing was made… In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” Jesus is the way in which all that exists came into being and so Jesus is the way in which all that exists comes to its perfection. All that is true is true in Jesus. From Math to Mitosis, all that is reasonable and real derives from Him. All that lives, lives because He maintains it in being. He is the way. And as He is the way, He is THE truth and the life of all that lives.

For better or worse, St John is the hardest of the scriptural writers in the New Testament. Mostly, that’s because St John had half a century of lived, practical experience as a Bishop. He was able to understand the kinds of questions that people asked. St Paul and St Peter were both Martyred in the late 60s and their experience was limited almost exclusively to making converts. Paul was “bishop” of local Churches via letters but John had boots on the ground with early Christians who were trying to figure out what Christianity looks like in the years after the big conversion experience… Remember, too, that these Christians did not have a Bible to study nor did they have access to the Lives of the Saints or a book of devotions. St John’s Gospel, then, is a collection of those stories and sermons of Jesus that resonated with early Christians after their conversion. As such, this context is an important part of our understanding.

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
Sunday Morning Catechism in the Hall (with Coffee & Donuts) after the 9:00a Mass during the School Year unless otherwise indicated
Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Wednesday at 6p unless otherwise indicated
May 3 First Sunday Benediction
May 10 Mother’s Day
June 7 Second Quarter Social - Potluck Brunch following 9:30a Mass at the Parish Hall mark your calendar

For Your Information:

MAY CROWNING this weekend honors the beginning of the Month of May, specially devoted to Our Lady.

FIRST SUNDAY BENEDICTION at the conclusion of all Masses this weekend is part of our larger program of Eucharistic Devotion.

ROSARY GROUP meets on Monday at 5:30p for prayer and supper. Everyone is invited. 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

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Pat & Marleigh Bullard, Patrick Thomas, & Eva & R L Reynolds/family
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of J. E. “Boyzie” Jumonville (death anni)/family
Mon NO MASS
Tues 9:00a In memory of Carol Folk LaHitte/P Lancaster
Wed 9:00a In celebration of Father Ryan’s birthday
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Bryan Stamey/family
Fri NO MASS
Sat 5:30p In memory Donald and Payton Trichell/family
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of deceased members of the Howington and Bolton families/family

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of in celebration of the birth anniversary of Father Ryan on Wednesday

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)	EMHC(s)
5/10 5:30p	-	A Farlow	A Keene
5/3 9:30a	Cooper & Courtland	S Marsh	-
5/9 5:30p	-	MA Gilfoil	M Rome
5/3 9:30a	Annie, Thomas Meyers, & Katelyn	A Oliver	-

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2025-2026	$ 2,500
March Budget	$ 12,500
March Collections	$ 16,282
March Expenses	$ 11,160
April Budget	$ 10,000
April 26 Collection	$ 2,062
April to Date	$ 8,642

Stewardship "The one who has faith in me will do the works I do, and far greater than these," Jesus tells his disciples. That’s quite an assignment for us as Christian stewards!

SECOND COLLECTION THIS WEEKEND supports our once monthly Building Fund.

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to May Ann Alcomendras (May 2), Hunter Sullivan (May 4), Arlo Harris (May 6), Fr Ryan Humphries (May 6), Mary Dyer (May 10)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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, 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

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), Craig Cox, 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, Maggie Reynolds Guillory, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Tyrel Jacobs, Patricia Lively (Wilks), Charles Howington, Callie Halbach Hyams, 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), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Kiely McKellar (S Gilfoil), Boyce Miller, Mike Morelli, Cole Norris, 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

Fourth Sunday of Easter

2026-04-26T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

“...when they heard this, they were cut to the heart”

One of my professors in Seminary often said that “the Gospel well read is the sermon half preached.” In fact, I have dozens of clever little quotes and tricks for preaching. And over the course of the last 25 years or so that I’ve been in full-time Catholic ministry, I’ve become a quite passable preacher, if I may say so myself.

But the skills of preaching are not as important as they may seem. In fact, even the content of a sermon or a talk or even a homily is not as important as it may seem, so long as it is not erroneous and doesn’t have false teaching.

The most important aspect of the sermon isn’t to do with the preacher at all, it’s to do with the listener and that listener’s openness to the Holy Spirit.

One of the most amazing sermons I’ve ever heard was given by a priest with a painfully thick accent that I had to focus all of my attention to understand. “GEEE-ZUUUUS EESH CAHHHWLEEENK JYOOU TO BE DEH SAEENTZZZ UHF ZEH NEXTUH MILL-ANY-OOM!” It’s not the most insightful idea and the preacher was sitting in a chair and reading from the paper with no eye contact. He had a lot of personal credibility being the Pope… But the real driving force was my own prayer life.

In my own life as a priest, I’ve prepared some theologically and spiritually brilliant sermons. Not essays, but real, Holy-Spirit-moving-in-my-heart sermons that I was SURE would change the world. And I have riffed some improvised sermons without any real thought or preparation; I have spoken to old and young, sophisticated and down-to-earth, very religious and basically pagan, enthusiastic and apathetic… And the one universal reality across the board is that what I expect to resonate with certain individuals or groups never does.

It’s not that I can’t read the room, it’s that none of us really knows what’s going on in each others’ hearts. And none of us can know or predict how or when the Holy Spirit will use that interior life to reveal the Love and Mercy of God to someone. By extension, we never know how the Holy Spirit will use what we’re going through to reveal the Lord to us! That’s why a sentence or a story or an idea in a sermon can be so moving to us. It’s the same reason that a passage of scripture can be so powerful in one moment despite being something we’ve read before without noticing it.

I say this to reinforce a few important ideas. One, we can improve our own experience of Church and Sunday Mass by preparing ourselves spiritually. Yes, there’s value in intellectual preparation, but there’s more value in prayerful preparation. Take some quiet time for prayer at home. Arrive 15 minutes early and sit quietly while consciously asking the Lord to help you open your heart and hear Him speaking to you. Close your eyes and listen rather than following along in the missal.

Two, Christianity is not a private, solo religion. The Lord created a community and established the Church for a reason. None of us can advance in our faith alone. The Lord uses us to challenge and improve one another.

Three, modern Christianity is far too cerebral - meaning brain- or intellect-focused. Christianity is a supernatural and mystical religion. The so-called Mysteries of Faith aren’t problems or puzzles to be solved, they are beautiful and wondrous objects d’art to be appreciated and moved by. Yes, there’s an intellectual component, but Christianity is less about understanding than it is about love of God and neighbor which, itself, comes from letting the Lord transform our hearts, souls, minds, and strength.

I DON’T say any of this to let myself off the hook if a sermon doesn’t speak to you or move you. A great sermon is a powerful thing! But even a stinker of a sermon delivered badly can transform our lives if we let the Lord use it. Remember the passage about the seeds being thrown onto the path, the rocky soil, and the good soil. The seed is fertile! But the soil is the determining factor. And that is something YOU CAN CONTROL!! You can make this Sunday powerful and transformative!

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Wednesday at 6p unless otherwise indicated

May 1 First Friday Devotions and Benediction - after 5:30pm Mass
May 3 First Sunday Benediction - after Weekend Masses

For Your Information:

FIRST FRIDAY is MAY 1. Father will offer Devotions and Eucharistic Benediction at the end of Mass. Make a special devotion to the Sacred Heart and attend first Friday devotions for nine consecutive months.

FIRST SUNDAY BENEDICTION for the weekend of MAY 2-3 will conclude Masses as part of our larger program of Eucharistic Devotion.

ROSARY GROUP meets on Monday at 5:30p for prayer and supper. Everyone is invited. 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

PASTORAL VISITS, HOUSE BLESSINGS, and SUPPER INVITATIONS Father Ryan is more than happy to visit you or your loved one for any reason in your home, in the hospital, in the nursing home, or wherever as needed. Please call or text him directly to make arrangements.

ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI CHURCH IN WATERPROOF, LA invites you to participate in the Jubilee Year of St. Francis which marks the 800th anniversary of his death. To commemorate, a plenary indulgence is available to those who visit a church dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis in Waterproof is inviting anyone to come, as individuals or groups, during this year. The church has received a relic of St. Francis. Pilgrims can sign the pilgrim book, receive a holy card of St. Francis, venerate the relic, and obtain a plenary indulgence. Please contact Fr. Taylor (stjosephinstjoe@gmail.com or 318-766-3565) to arrange a visit.

ALTAR CANDLES Anyone wishing to provide candles for the altar in honor of their loved one or in prayer for some intention may speak to Fr Ryan, Ann Keene, or Cathy Vandevieren. A small donation is recommended, but not required. A list of dates is in the sacristy and a date can be reserved up to one year in advance.

EMERGENCIES & ANOINTING OF THE SICK As Catholics, we believe that the moment of death is incredibly important! If you or someone you love is seriously ill or experiences a life-threatening accident, please call or text a priest! Emergency anointings are a great help to the sick and injured and they are a great support to the family and friends waiting nervously. Fr Ryan’s mobile number is on his business card in the Church and on the insert of the weekly bulletin. Don’t hesitate to call day or night!

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Pat & Marleigh Bullard, Patrick Thomas, & Eva and R L Reynolds
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a For healing for Pat Guizerix/family
Mon NO MASS
Tues 9:00a In memory of Jason Jumonville/family
Wed 9:00a In memory of Beverly Lancaster/family
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Lee Rome (birth anni)/family
Fri 5:30p In memory of Becky Lancaster/family
Sat 5:30p In memory of Pat & Marleigh Bullard, Patrick Thomas, & Eva & R L Reynolds/family
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of J. E. “Boyzie” Jumonville (death anni)/family

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Margo Corulla

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)	EMHC(s)
4/25 5:30p	-	A Dawson	C Vandervieren
4/26 9:30a	MaryKatherine, Maura, Elizabeth	M Lancaster	-
5/2 5:30p	-	A Farlow	A Keene
5/3 9:30a	Cooper & Courtland	S Marsh	-

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2025-2026	$ 2,500
March Budget	$ 12,500
March Collections	$ 16,282
March Expenses	$ 11,160
April Budget	$ 10,000
April 19 Collection	$ 2,982
April to Date	$ 6,580

Stewardship Jesus says, “I came that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Good stewards are grateful for the gift of life and joyfully share their abundance with others.

SECOND COLLECTION THIS WEEKEND supports Catholic Home Missions and is used to strengthen Catholic communities in the U. S. Much of the Diocese of Alexandria is considered to be missions.

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Norman Ernst II (April 27), Ginny Marsh (Apr 28), Daniel Mason (Apr 30), May Ann Alcomendras (May 2)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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, 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

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), Craig Cox, 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, Maggie Reynolds Guillory, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Tyrel Jacobs, Patricia Lively (Wilks), Charles Howington, Callie Halbach Hyams, 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), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Kiely McKellar (S Gilfoil), Boyce Miller, Mike Morelli, Cole Norris, 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

Third Sunday of Easter

2026-04-19T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

We have two really neat saints on the calendar for this week.

Tuesday is the feast of Anselm of Canterbury, he was one of the first Bishops to be brought in after King Edward the Confessor’s regime was upended at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Our Patron saint’s stinker of a successor destroyed the entire royal line within a year of St. Edward’s death. The Danish line of English kings ended and the Britain kings (from Brittany, France) took over. They didn’t trust the English clergy, especially with Edward the Confessor’s grave being a major miracle factory and so they imported a pile of French monks to be Bishops and run the Church in England.

One of the very first of those was a Benedictine monk at the Monastery in Bec, France who was actually born in Italy: Anselm of Aosta. What the British Kings didn’t expect was that Anselm was a brilliant and saintly bishop who had zero interest in rolling over to whatever the King wanted. Anselm became the bishop of Canterbury in 1093. Four years later, he was exiled for the first time. Anselm got the Pope involved and managed to get a few years back in his cathedral before he was exiled again. He died in exile in 1109. Sadly, the British Kings never found a comfortable medium with the Pope and despite some good years, England was just back and forth with vicious and violent religious persecution from this point forward. Even today, England is one of the only nations on the planet without religious tolerance in government - there are numerous so-called Acts of Tolerance and yet all Catholics are automatically removed from the line of succession!

The other fascinating saint this week is St. George the Dragonslayer on Thursday. St George’s story is hazy in the historical record. There’s no doubt he lived in the mid-200s in what is now central Turkey. He was a Roman Soldier who was born as a Christian in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). When his parents died, he joined the Roman legions and was killed during one of the persecutions of Diocletian - a particularly brilliant administrator who used the rising Christian “cult” to his political advantage through persecution and scape-goating.

George’s early life was a pretty standard story… But in the 1200s, an Italian wrote a story called “The Golden Legend.” In that story, before George was martyred, he was sent to a small city in Libya which was being harassed by a dragon! (Think “flying, winged snake” rather than the Welsh idea of a flying brontosaurus with fire-breath.) The people of the city were bribing the dragon with daily payoffs of livestock… One day the dragon demanded humans be sacrificed to him. In stepped George, the Christian warrior, who slays the dragon with a lance named “Ascalon” (a name Winston Churchill used for his personal aircraft during WWII). After George defeated the dragon, the whole town immediately became Christian and everyone there lived happily ever after. George, though, went on to help others. In literature and in life, George died as martyr by Diocletian’s order.

That plot of the story was timeless. It was, of course, a staple of medieval literature known as the “Knight Errant” which referred to a wandering, often masterless or landless warrior/hero who roamed the land (or frontier), righting wrongs, slaying evils (literal dragons or metaphorical ones like bandits/oppressors), protecting the innocent, and then typically moving on once the job is done. The term "errant" literally means "wandering" or "roving." The archetype is alive and well today. Clint Eastwood’s Westerns (including the amazing Unforgiven) are based on the same stereotype as are Akira Kurosawa’s best pictures and the ultra-violent stories of Jack Reacher on TV right now.

With St George, no one’s really trying to claim it’s a true story, but that doesn’t make it any less wonder-ful. On the contrary, it’s what Christian fiction should be. There’s no reason that whoever writes the next great fiction series doesn’t make it a story of Christ triumphing over the devil in just the same way that George triumphs over the dragon!

All the same, George was a real saint and martyr, he is the real patron of England and of soldiers, and he is worth celebrating on Thursday.

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
Sunday Morning Catechism in the Hall (with Coffee & Donuts) after the 9:00a Mass during the School Year unless otherwise indicated
Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Wednesday at 6p unless otherwise indicated

For Your 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

ROSARY GROUP meets on Monday at 5:30p for prayer and supper. Everyone is invited. Contact Louise Magoun (318-341-2403), coordinator for more information.

FUNDRAISING WITH GROCERY TICKETS If you shop at Doug’s and do not already do so, please save your receipts and place them in the box on the table at the back of the Church. The church receives 1% of the total of combined purchases (excluding milk, cigarettes, and alcohol). Our thanks to the ANGEL who collects the tickets and prepares them to submit to Doug’s!

St. Francis of Assisi Church in Waterproof invites you to participate in the Jubilee Year of St. Francis which marks the 800th anniversary of his death. To commemorate, a plenary indulgence is available to those who visit a church dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis in Waterproof is inviting anyone to come, as individuals or groups, during this year. The church has received a relic of St. Francis. Pilgrims can sign the pilgrim book, receive a holy card of St. Francis, venerate the relic, and obtain a plenary indulgence. Please contact Fr. Taylor (stjosephinstjoe@gmail.com or 318-766-3565) to arrange a visit.

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Gail Graugnard & MaryAgnes York/P Gilfoil
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Marleigh Bullard/family
Mon NO MASS
Tues 9:00a Special intention of the Guizerix family
Wed 9:00a In memory of Delia Trichell (death anni)/T Trichell
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Alex “Bubba” Jumonville/family
Fri 5:30p In memory of deceased members of the Bolton and Howington families
Sat 5:30p In memory of Pat & Marleigh Bullard, Patrick Thomas, & Eva and R L Reynolds
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a For healing for Pat Guizerix/family

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of the Keene family

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)	EMHC(s)
4/18 5:30p	-	P Wilks	C VanderVieren
4/19 9:30a	Kathleen, Evelyn, & Daniel	Youth-MaryKatherine	-
4/25 5:30p	-	A Dawson	N Ernst
4/26 9:30a	MaryKatherine, Maura, Elizabeth	M Lancaster	-

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2025-2026	$ 2,500
March Budget	$ 12,500
March Collections	$ 16,282
March Expenses	$ 11,160
April Budget	$ 10,000
April 12 Collection	$ 2,242
April to Date	$ 4,598

Stewardship The disciples on the road to Emmaus walked and talked with Jesus all day long, but it was not until they offered Him hospitality and He blessed and broke the bread that they recognized Him. Simple acts of loving kindness still reveal the presence of God in our midst.

SECOND COLLECTION NEXT WEEKEND supports Catholic Home Missions.

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Ann Claire Fordice (Apr 20), Marie Ernst (Apr 21), Ann Keene (Apr 23), Norman Ernst II (April 27)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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, 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

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), Craig Cox, 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, Maggie Reynolds Guillory, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Tyrel Jacobs, Patricia Lively (Wilks), Charles Howington, Callie Halbach Hyams, 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), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Kiely McKellar (S Gilfoil), Boyce Miller, Mike Morelli, Cole Norris, 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

Second Sunday of Easter or Sunday of Divine Mercy

2026-04-12T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

The devotion to Divine Mercy had a decidedly rocky start, but that is actually a very good sign.

Most authentic devotions that have taken deep root in the life of the Church began with obstacles, resistance, and apparent failure. The pattern is remarkably consistent: Jesus or Mary appears to a humble, often uneducated soul; the visionary receives the message with childlike simplicity; the superior or bishop pushes back — sometimes repeatedly; the visionary is told to keep quiet or is even suspected of delusion; then comes a miracle, a striking providence, or a “bizarre coincidence” that cannot be explained naturally; the superior’s heart softens; and suddenly, like a lightning bolt from heaven, the devotion spreads across the Church with astonishing speed.

Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska was given not a single apparition but a lengthy series of visions and interior locutions from Our Lord Himself, and also from Our Lady, concerning her vocation to the convent and His merciful plans for a world sliding into darkness.

The timing is providential - the revelations began in the mid-1930s, only a few years after the great miracle of the sun at Fatima in 1917, and precisely during the harrowing political experience of Poland — crushed between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, bloodied by two World Wars, and destined to become the first battlefield of the new paganism.

Poland, the land of Mary’s special patronage, was being prepared to give the world the message of Divine Mercy just as it would later give the Church the Pope who would proclaim it universally.

Once the Image of the Divine Mercy was specifically dictated to Sister Faustina (“Paint an image according to the pattern you see”), two remarkable providences followed.

First, Faustina herself could not paint at all, yet her confessor and spiritual director, Blessed Michał Sopoćko, suddenly found himself on the same faculty with a professional artist, Eugene Kazimirowski, who was both able and willing to execute the work under Faustina’s direction.

Second, the humble nun made a profound and lasting impression upon a certain young priest who would one day become the bishop of her diocese and, ultimately, the Pope, Karol Wojtyła.

Saint John Paul II carried a double devotion in his heart from his earliest priesthood: total consecration to Our Lady of Fatima and an ever-deepening love for the Divine Mercy.

He would later write: “The message of Divine Mercy has always been near and dear to me… It is as though history had written it in a special way.”

There is one caveat I always insist upon when speaking of Divine Mercy, and it concerns not an error in Saint Faustina’s writings (which are thoroughly orthodox and approved by the Church), but a serious distortion that sometimes appears in the preaching of those who claim to promote it. Divine Mercy is NOT about excusing sin.

Too many preachers today twist the message into a false “inclusivity” that says it is “merciful” simply to accept people exactly as they are, without calling them to conversion. They claim that preaching about sin, repentance, or the reality of hell is “unmerciful” or “judgmental.” Such people are profoundly mistaken and, whether they realize it or not, they empty the Cross of its power.

Nowhere in the Diary does Our Lord tell Sister Faustina that the moral law no longer matters or that sin is inconsequential. Quite the contrary. Jesus repeatedly emphasizes the gravity of unrepented sin: “My daughter, write that the greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy… But let him not abuse My mercy… Woe to the one who does not take advantage of My mercy while there is still time!” (Diary 1485).

The authentic message of Divine Mercy is this: God is calling back to His love every soul that has fallen, no matter how far, no matter how horrific the sins. He stands ready to forgive any sin the instant a sinner humbles himself, turns away from the evil, and asks for forgiveness with a contrite heart.

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
Sunday Morning Catechism in the Hall (with Coffee & Donuts) after the 9:00a Mass during the School Year unless otherwise indicated
April 15 Pastoral Council meeting - 6pm in the Parish Hall

For Your 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

ROSARY GROUP meets on Monday at 5:30p for prayer and supper. Everyone is invited. Contact Louise Magoun (318-341-2403), coordinator for more information.

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 8:00p In memory of Pat Bullard and RL Reynolds/family
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Gertrude Roy/Johnson
Mon NO MASS
Tues 9:00a In memory of Kathleen Mills/Crothers
Wed 9:00a In memory of Angelia Canizaro & Craig Stamm/Booth
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Jack Ellerbee/family
Fri 5:30p In memory of deceased members of the Johnson and Roy families
Sat 5:30p In memory of Gail Graugnard & MaryAgnes York/P Gilfoil
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Marleigh Bullard/family

Altar Candles this week are burning in memory of Becky, Beverly, and Edgar Lancaster

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)	EMHC(s)
4/11 5:30p	-	C VanderVieren	M Ernst
4/12 9:30a	Michael, Finley, Ashlyn	J Howington	-
4/18 5:30p	-	P Wilks	N Ernst
4/19 9:30a	Kathleen, Evelyn, & Daniel	Youth	-

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2025-2026	$ 2,500
March Budget	$ 12,500
March Collections	$ 15,698
March Expenses	TBD
April Budget	$ 10,000
April 5 Collection	$ 2,345
April to Date	$ 2,356
Unassessed Special Collection	$ 6,472

Stewardship Jesus meets the needs of each disciple. To the fearful in the upper room, He speaks words of peace. To doubting Thomas, He provides tangible proof of His resurrection. What do I need to become His disciples? What do I have to share that might meet someone else’s needs?

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Michael Lancaster (Apr 13), Skeeter Wilks (Apr 17), Ann Claire Fordice (Apr 20)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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, 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

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), Craig Cox, 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, Maggie Reynolds Guillory, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Tyrel Jacobs, Patricia Lively (Wilks), Charles Howington, Callie Halbach Hyams, Jimmy Hopson(Wilks), Will Irby (P Gilfoil), Diane Johnson, Carla Leese (S Gilfoil), LaLa Lopez (Hernandez), Caroline Marcello (Watts), Mona Martin (MA Gilfoil), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Kiely McKellar (S Gilfoil), Boyce Miller, Mike Morelli, Cole Norris, 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

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

2026-04-05T00:00:00Z

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

I hope and pray that the joy of the Risen Lord is flooding your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, especially if you gave up something sugary, that feeling may be a minor diabetic incident! But we’ll hope it’s the Lord!

Holiness is different for each of us... That’s part of the reason that the lives of the saints are such an important part of our faith. I may be a relatively introverted person who has an affinity for intellect and art, while you may be a relatively extroverted person who has an affinity for sports and games. Holiness for me is going to look very different than it is for you. What may be virtuous for me may not be for you. What may be prideful for me may not be for you. What may be encouraging and fulfilling spiritually for me may not be for you.

That’s by design! Before us, the Lord created Angels, every single one of whom was as different from every other as a cabbage is from a question mark! The Lord likes different. And so it is that we each have to seek the Lord as the individuals He made us to be... not because He doesn’t want to be found, but because no one else has ever been just like you or me.

If you really want to get your inner philosopher worked up - how does any of us know what the other actually sees or thinks? What is green to you, may be purple to me. There’s literally no way we can tell! And so I have to seek the Lord because my eyes are the only eyes I have. I have to work to hear His voice, because my ears are often trained not on Him but on my own interests. I have to refocus my mind on Him because my mind is often overly focused on my own stuff.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t right and wrong ways to seek the Lord Jesus and to live our human lives! It can seem daunting if we let it... It can be heavy to think that I have to figure out how to seek the Lord on my own. And it’s not entirely true. The Lord knows us better than we know ourselves and so He has given us teachings and rules and images and ideas which are universal to all of us. In particular, He’s given us worship which brings together our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls in a way that is both uniquely human and profoundly divine. We’re not in this alone and the Lord is not asking us to start from scratch. Still, we can’t just copy one another and we shouldn’t be concerned if my prayer life doesn’t look like yours.

St Francis of Assisi’s spiritual life couldn’t be more different than St. Ignatius of Loyola’s. St. Andre Bassett’s intellectual life couldn’t be more different than Pope Benedict’s. Fr. Ferre’s style of being a priest was pretty different from my own and both of us are totally different from Fr. Pat Murphy or Bp. Greco. And I expect all four of us were totally different from Pope John Paul or St. Augustine. Some Christians feel emotions strongly, while others don’t. Some Christians thrive in silence, others don’t. Some Christians pray with brilliant and sophisticated words, others’ prayers are simple. Some Christians experience Easter as a relief from the discipline of Lent, others experience it as a joy, others in an intellectual way, and others still as first and foremost a family event. Some Christians prefer Lent to Easter and so this week is the end of their favorite time of year.

However this Easter finds you and yours, I hope and pray that the joy of the Risen Lord is fulfilling and wonderful! I pray that all of you reading these words have made spiritual progress and are enthusiastic to journey with the Lord through this Easter season from the Tomb to the Field of the Ascension to the Upper Room of Pentecost!

Happy Easter!!

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
Sunday Morning Catechism in the Hall (with Coffee & Donuts) after the 9:00a Mass during the School Year unless otherwise indicated
Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Wednesday at 6p unless otherwise indicated

For Your Information:

THANK YOU so much to all who have helped make this Holy Week so lovely!! Thank you to our musicians! Thank you to our lectors! Thank you to our servers! Thank you to the decorators, florists, and cleaner-upers! Thank you to our organizers! Thank you to those who attended Mass on Holy Thursday, services on Good Friday and the Paschal Vigil. THANK YOU so very, very much!! --FrR

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

ROSARY GROUP meets on Monday at 5:30p for prayer and supper. Everyone is invited. Contact Louise Magoun (318-341-2403), coordinator for more information.

EASTER FLOWER ENVELOPES are available, through this weekend, at the entrance of church. Donations can be made in honor of someone by indicating that intention on the envelope.

EASTER SPECIAL COLLECTION The second collection on Easter Sunday is not assessed by the diocese in order to offset various parish expenses. This collection is a great opportunity to make a donation which will be retained 100% locally. Please be prayerfully generous. NOTE: to avoid confusion, you can also give your donation directly to Fr Ryan or to Ann and let them know you wish to direct it to this special collection.

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 8:00p In memory of SeSe Holstead/family
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Darryl Ellerbee, Sr. /family
Mon NO MASS
Tue 9:00a In memory of Carol Folk LaHitte/P Lancaster
Wed 9:00a For healing and peace for Pat Guizerix/family
Thu 9:00a (Legacy Nursing Home) In memory of Joe Farlow/Bellard
Fri 5:30p In memory of Bryan Stamey/family
Sat 5:30p In memory of Pat Bullard and RL Reynolds/family
Sun 8:00a (Traditional Latin Mass) PRO POPULO for the living & deceased members of our parish
Sun 9:30a In memory of Gertrude Roy/Johnson

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Vicki Morelli

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)	EMHC(s)
4/4 8:00p	Elizabeth, Daniel, Michael	M Rome, et al	A Keene
4/5 9:30a	Annie, Thomas Meyers, Katelyn	D Hamilton	-
4/11 5:30p	-	C VanderVieren	M Ernst
4/12 9:30a	Michael, Finley, Ashlyn	J Howington	-

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2025-2026	$2,500
February Budget	$10,000
February Collections	$18,734
February Expenses	$9,427
March Budget	$12,500
March 29 Collection	$2,783
March to Date	$15,698

Stewardship Very early in the morning after the sabbath, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body with precious oils. The reward of this good and conscientious steward was to be the first to know that Jesus had been raised from the dead! Alleluia!.

EASTER SECOND COLLECTION supports the Fund for Infirm Priests and is NOT ASSESSED by the Diocese but rather remains in our parish.

Community Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Abigail Mason (Apr 6), Henry Ellerbee (Apr 7), Annie Marsh (Apr 8), Michael Lancaster (Apr 13)

In Our Daily Prayers…

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, 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

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), Craig Cox, 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, Maggie Reynolds Guillory, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Tyrel Jacobs, Patricia Lively (Wilks), Charles Howington, Callie Halbach Hyams, Jimmy Hopson(Wilks), Will Irby (P Gilfoil), Diane Johnson, Carla Leese (S Gilfoil), LaLa Lopez (Hernandez), Caroline Marcello (Watts), Mona Martin (MA Gilfoil), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Kiely McKellar (S Gilfoil), Boyce Miller, Mike Morelli, Cole Norris, 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