Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
From The Font
“God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.”
Beware, there’s a little theology and a little philosophy at work here! So all that exists comes from the Lord… Joy, love, pandas, hydrogen, marriage, the Holy Eucharist… All things WHICH EXIST exist by participating in God’s own existence… Ok. But some things that we think of as existing, are actually, not things themselves, but more like the absence of a thing. Sin, for example, is a deprivation of virtue rather than something which exists in itself. We only call some act a sin because it fails to live up to the good that the act might have been. So… we think about death as a reality in itself, whereas religiously, we think about death as a lack of something rather than as something in itself.
So we say that God does not create death or sin or evil, but rather than those things exist as an absence or a lack of the life of virtue or good that God does create. This can seem like wordplay, but it’s actually a very deeply important way of understanding the world! God is the giver of all good gifts, whereas Satan is the twister or destroyer of those gifts. Satan doesn’t create anything, he just twists. You and I don’t create anything on our own separate from the Lord, we receive all that we have and we can either use it for God’s glory and our salvation or we can twist it to our own will.
There’s an old joke about the devil challenging God to a contest about making the perfect human. They argue about what makes a person perfect and then God picks up a handful of dirt to make a man and the devil does the same and God looks at the devil and says “hey! get your own dirt!”
God doesn’t make death and He doesn’t make evil. He didn’t cause my aunt to get sick or the hurricane to kill people or the ice storm to damage your roof or the criminal to sell drugs to our friends. The devil twists up some of what God has made and that’s why we find ourselves where we do… Even the exorcisms that we use to get rid of the devil’s influence on someone are a showcase of this distinction between that which exists and that which only seems to exist in our perceptions.
Thoughts from Fr. Ryan
For the next several weeks, my sermons are going to be a little catechism on the virtues of the Christian life. They’ll be simple, practical, and, hopefully, beneficial as we all try to step up our spiritual game given the craziness of the world around us… Because the world around us is going full-on crazy pants… And as I said last week, the only real response to that is to look to Jesus. Just as the apostles on the boat felt that the storm was about to sink their boat, they shook Jesus awake with their prayers and He calmed the storm in the same five minutes it takes Ms. Louise to cook a seven-course meal!
This week’s sermon will be on the Theological Virtue of Faith. Here are a few notes and some further reading if you’re so inclined: When we use the word Faith in technical or formal sense we can mean one of three things:
- a Virtue which disposes trust in God
- an unmerited gift which causes belief and disposes one to the virtue
- the Entirety of the Christian Religion
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (¶28) says
Faith is a supernatural virtue which is necessary for salvation. Remember St. Paul who reminds us that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. No one can be saved without faith - for those who don’t have access to it in this life through no fault of their own, the Lord will make accommodation but even then - in some unknowable way - salvation is absolutely tied with faith.
The Baltimore Catechism describes Faith as ‘The sure and certain Trust that God has revealed Himself through the Church and that He is no deceiver.” That doesn’t mean that God has revealed to us everything there is to reveal! We as created creatures cannot begin to comprehend all that God could reveal about Himself. But Faith is both the gift and the habit by which we trust that what God has revealed about Himself through the Bible, the Saints, and the official teaching of the Church is true and right.
Next week, we’ll get into the virtue of Hope which parallels Faith. In Hope, we trust that what God has revealed - true as it is - will have the effect of making our eternal salvation possible. Faith and Hope, then, work hand-in-hand and almost always grow together.
The one great error regarding Faith in our age is a reductionism that represents Faith as a kind of hunch or intuition. Faith is NOT blind, ignorant belief. It is not uncritical, irrational dogmatism wherein we ignore evidence to the contrary. Neither is Faith merely whatever I want it to be. I don’t get to recast Jesus or His teaching in some alternate form and claim that my faith is ‘personal’ or ‘private.’ Faith is, fundamentally, a participation in God’s truth which is beyond myself. And so anyone who tries to recast the Christian religion as some kind of private ‘Faith’ is misusing the word… In fact, that kind of thinking isn’t Faith at all, it’s just making oneself the center of a false religion...
Mass Intentions for the Coming Week
Sat 5:30p In memory of Payton Trichell/Lancaster Sun 9:00a Pro Populo for the Living & Deceased Members of our Parish Mon No Mass Tue 9:00a In memory of Gus Gremshell Wed 9:00a In memory of Paul Voran Jr. Thu 9:00a In memory of Thomas Trichell/Tommy Fri 5:30p In memory of Michael Mills (birth)/Mills/Thompson Sat 9:00a Private Intentions of Father Ryan (Traditional Latin Mass) Sat 5:30p In memory of Carroll Regan (birth)/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) |
|---|---|---|
| 6/26 5:30p | None Scheduled | A Farlow |
| 6/27 9:00a | Chandler, Kathleen, and Maura | K Collins |
| 7/3 5:30p | None Scheduled | L Bullard |
| 7/4 9:00a | Preston and Evelyn | M Lancaster |
| 7/10 5:30p | None Scheduled | A Farlow |
| 7/11 9:00a | Chandler, Cooper, and Maura | D Ellerbee |
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
- June 27 Potluck Picnic to celebrate an early July 4th...following 9 a.m. Mass. ALL are invited to attend. The Second Quarter Social Committee will open the doors and clean up following the event.
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.
SECOND QUARTER SOCIAL … JUNE 27 (this weekend) celebrate an early 4th of July with a Potluck Picnic following Sunday Mass. The Committee for Second Quarter (April, May, June) - Libby Bullard (Co-chair), Elizabeth Crothers*, Angel Farlow, Margaret and Pat Gilfoil, MaryAnne Gilfoil, Terry and Andy Hall, Isabell Hernandez, Ann Keene, Alyce and C.W. Keene, Frances Kennedy,* Bobby Reynolds, Delia Trichell, and Cathy VanderVieren (Co-chair).
Stewardship Today’s reading from St Paul explains the “divine economy” of stewardship--”The relief of others ought not to impoverish you; there should be a certain equality. Your plenty at the present time should supply their need so that their surplus may in turn one day supply your need.”
Second Collection Peter’s Pence Collection to provide support for the special works of our Holy Father, Pope Francis
Our Return to the Lord
| Weekly Budget FY 2020-21 | $ 2,111 |
| May Budget | $10,555 |
| May Income | $12,111 |
| May Expenses | $ 8,028 |
| June Budget | $ 8,444 |
| June 19/20 Collection | $ 2,239 |
| June income to Date | $ 7,751 |
Let us Rejoice in the Lord!
Happy Birthday Margo Corulla (June 26)
In Our Daily Prayers…
Please let us know of anyone who is ill or hospitalized and would like to receive a visit from Father. Also, help us keep our prayer list up to date by advising us of those who should be added or removed.
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
Our friends and relatives who need our prayers: Lee Adams (Smith), Ashley Alexander (Regan), Kathryn Wood Allsopp (D Wood), Jenna Faye Allen (Florence), Pam Amacker (Gilfoil), James Arceneaux (Book), Marie Farlow Bellard, Molly Corulla, Sara Cannon (Gilfoil), Truman and Diane Collins, Jami Cook (Wilks), Carol Dipert (Rome), Jared and Ainslie Oliver Duff, Tommy Dunning, Joe Farlow, Mike Farlow, Thom Gilfoil, Charlotte Green, Kathy Garley Hanlon (Gilfoil), Rita Hargrave, LaLa Lopez (Hernandez), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Cameron and Katie Murphy Murray, Artis Peace (Book), Sue Perrilloux (D Wood), 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, Chris Hall (USMC), Nick Hall, Emmy Lu Marsh, Maddie Oliver, 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.