Sixth Sunday of Easter | St. Edward Catholic Church, Tallulah

From The Font

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.”

Language in the modern world is a bit of a mess. Consistency of meaning is one of the casualties of modern philosophy and so it is that in our world the meaning of words is more easily twisted than ever before.

Take, for example, the mantra of modern sexual deviancy “love is love.” It’s taken to be some kind of absolute tautology as if to disagree is as ludicrous as it would be to say that 2 + 2 = 5… Except that “love” doesn’t mean whatever we want it to mean. And we certainly can’t just decide that when Jesus used the word “love” that it means whatever I want it to mean.

I once had a professor in seminary who was so stupid as to replace Pope John Paul II’s own definition of the word “culture” with her own cherry-picked definition taken from some goofy sociology textbook. In ten minutes, she tried to convince the whole class that the Pope wasn’t saying what he was obviously saying, but that he was actually saying the opposite. Thankfully, she was fired soon afterward.

When Jesus uses the word “love,” he uses it in the context of Semitic Judaism as it was practiced in His own day and age. “Love,” in that usage, isn’t about feelings or affection. Love in that context is about prioritizing the good of someone else above myself. It’s about sacrifice in the deepest sense of the word. Love at that time might well have meant going hungry to provide for another or taking the blame for the sins of another. (Think about Joseph trying to divorce Mary quietly.) Love in our modern context can’t exist without crippling wealth and a dangerous excess of leisure.

When Jesus tells us to love, He does so reflexively by telling us to love AS He loves. Of course, in hindsight, we know that He means for us to imitate Him in laying down our lives for another. He means putting the other person above ourselves… above our own priorities, our own preferences, our own career, our own recreation, our own whatever…

We do that for the Lord when we exercise Faith, Hope, and Charity. We do it for others when we exercise the other virtues toward them.

Thoughts from Fr. Ryan

This past week was the feast, in the traditional Roman Calendar, of St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine.

Poor Monica has the dubious honor of being the official patroness of “disappointing children” and “disappointing husbands.” The only saint with a gnarlier patronage is probably St. Margret, “patroness of the unwanted.” Yikes…

St. Monica’s story is remarkable and appropriate for Mothers’ Day because she never stopped being a good mother even when her son failed to be what she wanted him to be. St. Augustine of Hippo is one of the greatest men in world history. But he was a man of many flaws. He was a philanderer like his father. He fathered a child outside of marriage. He was brilliant but refused to take a serious look at Christianity. When he finally did come around after years of prayer by his mother, he joined a group of heretics and made a huge mess of things. All in all, St. Monica prayed for him just shy of 30 years before her son got his act together.

In all that time, St. Monica had no support from her husband, who cheated on her. She had little support from society because that’s the way things went in that era in North Africa. She was a saintly woman, but she had limited access to any tools of action that she could use to affect her son. All she could do was pray. And so pray she did. Why? Because a mother is a mother!

Mother’s Day is very clearly a ploy from Hallmark, but it doesn’t have to be only that. Any feast day, holiday, commemoration or memorial is only what we make it. This week is the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima! But how many of us will celebrate it by praying the Rosary and perhaps reading some of the messages of Our Lady? This Saturday is the feast of the great patron of Farmers, St. Isidore the Farmer… It’s an incredible feast of an incredible saint, but it’s often passed over.

When it comes to Mothers’ Day, we can and should buy some presents and serve mom breakfast in bed… But we don’t have to stop there. Every husband should recommit to praying for his wife. Every child should recommit to praying for his or her mother (and maybe start listening to her!! :o ). And, indeed, every mother should redouble her own prayers and her own efforts toward holiness whether her kids are toddlers, teens, or parents themselves.

Of course, we can’t think about Mothers’ Day without considering Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother as well. Each of us is loved and each of us has a Blessed Mother praying for us and interceding for us. And what a gift she is! At Fatima and again at Akita, our Lady made it clear that she wants to do even more for us, but that she is limited to what we have the capacity to receive. The Rosary, in particular, is the prayer that sanctifies us and conditions us to receive the good gifts of God through the prayerful intercession of Our Lady. And so on this Mother’s Day, we’re thankful and we’re praying for our own mothers and praying with our Blessed Mother for ourselves and for the whole world!

Mass Intentions for the Coming Week

Sat 5:30p In memory of Pat Bullard/family
Sun 9:00a Pro Populo for the Living & Deceased Members of our Parish
Mon No Mass
Tue 9:00a In memory of May DiTomasso
Wed 9:00a In memory of Fred Wyly/Magoun
Thu 9:00a In memory of Barbara Tryon/Mills-Thompson
Fri 5:30p In memory of Becky Lancaster/family
Sat 9:00a Private Intentions of Father Ryan (Traditional Latin Mass)
Sat 5:30p In memory of Dale Magoun/family
Sun 9:00a Pro Populo for the Living & Deceased Members of our Parish

ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Mary Anne Gilfoil

Assistants at Holy Mass

Date	Servers	Lector(s)
5/8 5:30p	None Scheduled	A Keene
5/9 9:00a	Preston and Evelyn	S Marsh
5/15 5:30p	None Scheduled	A Farlow
5/16 9:00a	Chandler, Cooper, Mora	Carter, Walker, & Marsh
5/22 5:30p	None Scheduled	C VanderVieren
5/23 9:00a	Henry and MaryKatherine	A Oliver

Upcoming Events

Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass at 5:30p
Sunday Morning Catechism in the Hall after the 9:00a Mass unless otherwise indicated
Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Tuesday at 6p unless otherwise indicated
May 9 Mother’s Day
May 16 Youth Mass honoring Seniors, Carter Sullivan, Walker Sullivan, and Marsh Wood. Reception following Mass in the Church Hall to celebrate!

For Your Information:

ROSARY GROUP… a group of parishioners is meeting on Monday at 5:30 p.m. to pray the Rosary. Everyone is invited to join with the group. If you need additional information, please contact the Coordinator, Louise Magoun, at 318-341-2403.
ORDINATION OF THOMAS KENNEDY….will be Saturday, May 22, 2021 at 10 a.m., St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Alexandria. Michael Lancaster, on behalf of the congregation, has ordered a gift from St. Edward. If you would like to contribute to that gift, please see Michael or put your gift (in an envelope) in the collection basket.
MASS INTENTION REQUESTS… If you would like to have a Mass or Masses offered for a Special Intention (in Memory, in Honor, a birthday, anniversary, etc) you should contact the Church Office with the date you would like as well as the Intention. The usual Mass stipend offering is $5 per Mass. What a nice gift to give to the person who “has everything”!!!
FUNDRAISING WITH GROCERY TICKETS... If you shop at Doug’s and do not already do so, you may want to save your grocery tickets and place them in the bag on the table at the entrance to church. The church will be given 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

Stewardship Jesus’ commandments is that His disciples love one another, even to the point of laying down their lives, if necessary. What gifts of myself--my skills and talents, my time and resources--will best demonstrate my love for God’s people?

Our Return to the Lord


Weekly Budget FY 2020-21	$ 2,111
April Budget	$ 8,444
April Income	$10,777
April Expenses	$ TBD
May Budget	$10,555
May 2/3 Collection	$ 2,853
May income to Date	$ 2,853

Let us Rejoice in the Lord!

Happy Birthday Mary Anne Gilfoil (May 13), Eddie Mills (May 14)

Happy Anniversary

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.

Our Holy Father Pope Francis and Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI; 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, or otherwise in need of our prayers: Harper Bedgood, Connie and Dan Copes, Elizabeth Crothers, Mary Ernst, Monique Florence, Margaret and Pat Gilfoil, Susan and Johnny Gilfoil, C.W. and Alyce Keene, Bill Kennedy, Charlotte Marsh and Lance and Stephenie, Brittany and Brian McFall, Ed Mills, Kathleen Mills, Sue & Mike Rome, Delia Trichell, and Don Wood

Those under full-time care: Frances Kennedy, Carol Dunning, Sharon Hansen of Gonzales, Consuelo Marsh of Lake Providence

Our friends and relatives who need our prayers: Lee Adams (Smith), Ashley Alexander (Regan), Jenna Faye Allen (Florence), Pam Amacker (Gilfoil), James Arceneaux (Book), Todd Beene, Marie Farlow Bellard, Molly Corulla, Hattie Brown (Lancaster), Jerry Bullard, Sara Cannon (Gilfoil), Truman and Diane Collins, Jami Cook (Wilks), Carol Dipert (Rome), Jared and Ainslie Oliver Durr, Tommy Dunning, Joe Farlow, Mike Farlow, Thom Gilfoil, Charlotte Green, Kathy Garley Hanlon (Gilfoil), Rita Hargrave, Justin Rittenhouse and Arielle Lewis (Keene), LaLa Lopez (Hernandez), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Katie and Cameron Murray, Wayne Pitre (Gilfoil), Frances Robinson, Lee and Tiffney Rome, Dianne W. Roper (Murphy), Linda Sanchez (Wilks), Theresa and Albert Thom (Rome), Meg Keene Thomas, Elaine and James Trimble (Rome), Teresa Vidrine (Wilks), George and Katie Magoun Williams, Joe Yerger

Our collegiates: Aidan Collins, Anna Ginn, Josh Hall, Chris Hall (USMC), Matt Hall (USArmy), Nick Hall, Emmy Lu Marsh, Bailey Rome, Brice Wood

Those Catholics residing at Christian Acres, Louisiana Transitional Center for Women, and our local Detention Centers and for their families and loved ones.