Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
From The Font
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Agrarian societies - like our local community - understand the hurry-up-and-wait mindset that comes with agriculture. I assure you it was MUCH worse in the ancient world where data on the weather came from the wise old farmer who sat around in the village. Everyone was waiting on signs and portents that were more like old wives’ tales than AgScience.
So it would have been common for a landowner to struggle to find laborers for his vineyard if he started harvesting grapes at the same time as other farmers did. But if he started earlier than his neighbors or waited until later, he risked other problems.
This admonition comes as Jesus sent out the so-called “seventy-two disciples.” Now, these aren’t the apostles, these are followers of Jesus who ostensibly received some training and had been following Him for quite a while. They were able to teach, to perform miraculous healings and to do exorcisms. So when Jesus says to them that the laborers are few, that must have been both a challenge and a compliment. But He also charges them to ask the Lord to send out more disciples.
The obvious oddity here, of course, is that Jesus IS God. Why is Jesus asking these folks to pray that God will send more laborers? It’s because Jesus isn’t thinking about prayer as an entirely spiritual exercise like so many of us nowadays do! Jesus is encouraging them to invite the people who are moved by their preaching to become preachers in turn. He’s telling these disciples to ask the Lord for the specific blessing of “speaking well” and for the courage to ask others to follow Jesus as they have done. The word Benediction, which we use to describe an opening or closing prayer, is Latin for ‘speaking well.”
It’s not easy to explain so briefly, but the Lord Jesus isn’t thinking about prayer as something that is limited to the mind or heart. He’s saying that prayer should be understood more broadly as an act of the entire person. So asking the master to send out more laborers is as much an admonition to CREATE laborers through the Holy Spirit as it a call to pray.
Thoughts from Fr. Ryan
Last week’s Supreme Court decision came too late for me to write anything in the bulletin.
First and foremost, we need to say “Thanks be to God” for blessing the efforts and prayers of so many. I know plenty of people reading this have their issues with Donald Trump, but the first day he entered the White House as president, his wife Melania invited an Orthodox Priest to perform an exorcism of the building and she set up three Shrines with images of Our Lady of Fatima in the building. From the beginning of his campaign, Donald Trump was unabashedly pro-life and pro-religion. He appointed three strongly pro-life justices and faced horrific blowback for doing so! I can’t imagine another politician in this country who would’ve invited so much vitriol during his re-election campaign. Love him or hate him, Donald Trump made the Dobbs case possible and so thanks be to God for that!
In terms of the case itself, under Roe, Elective Abortion was functionally a constitutional right, on par with speech or protest. There were some limitations, but they were vague and difficult to determine. Now, Elective Abortion is once again a so-called “positive right” or a right provided by the law and not by nature. About two-thirds of the states have established the right to elective abortion in law and about one third have banned it entirely. It’s important that we specify “elective abortion” rather than just abortion because some people have mistakenly or maliciously claimed that overturning Roe establishes a de facto ban on non-elective (medically necessary) abortions which are performed to remedy diagnoses like ectopic pregnancies which, if brought near to term, would certainly kill both mother and child. Roe never addressed itself to those types of procedures. When we say abortion in the US, we mean elective abortion - abortions which are medically unnecessary.
So, in our post-Dobbs world, abortion is still legal in the US. But it is now the purview of the legislatures of the states to make to determine the circumstances and modes of that legal right. Which is, honestly, the more Catholic way for legal rights to be established. If “the people” want to change a law, the legislature is “the people’s chamber.” That’s the directly democratic way to effect change. “Legislating from the Bench” (aka judicial activism) is incredibly dangerous on a lot of levels and it degrades democracy in ways that become fascistic very quickly. The Dobbs case is going to be important for a lot of reasons beyond just limiting the scourge of abortion!
So we’re not done with pro-life prayer and efforts. Elective abortion is still around. It’s still evil. We still need to pray and work to see it made illegal not just in Louisiana but all over. Dobbs was a gigantic victory, and thanks be to God for those people who made it happen. From this point forward, pro-life work happens at a more local level and it happens for us as we reach out and support people in our families and our community who would’ve have chosen abortion and now aren’t able to do so! I expect we all know someone in that boat and, as Christians, we all have a moral obligation to reach out and do whatever we can for them!
Mass Intentions for the Coming Week
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Lee Rome/Bullard
- Sun 9:00a Pro Populo for the Living & Deceased Members of our Parish
- Mon NO MASS
- Tue 9:00a In memory of May DiTommaso
- Wed 9:00a In memory of John Johnson/family
- Thu 9:00a In memory of deceased members of the Regan, Adams, and Weimer families/Sug
- Fri 5:30p In memory of Cougan Fulton/Lancaster
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Payton Trichell/D Fortenberry
- 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) |
|---|---|---|
| 7/2 5:30p | None Scheduled | MK Book |
| 7/3 9:00a | Henry and Mary Katherine | K Collins |
| 7/9 5:30p | None Scheduled | L Bullard |
| 7/10 9:00a | Chandler, Kathleen, Maura | D Ellerbee |
| 7/16 5:30p | None Scheduled | A Farlow |
| 7/17 9:00a | Preston, Evelyn, Courtland | Youth |
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 – Parish Hall at 6 pm
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 the group. If you need additional information, please contact the Coordinator, Louise Magoun, at 318-341-2403.
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
Our Return to the Lord
| Weekly Budget FY 2020-21 | $ 2,111 |
| May Budget | $ 10,555 |
| May Income | $ 14,090 |
| May Expenses | $ 11,671 |
| June Budget | $ 8,444 |
| June 25-26 Collection | $ 2,230 |
| June Income To Date | $ 8,978 |
Stewardship ”The harvest is rich,” Jesus tells the seventy-two in today’s Gospel, “but the workers are few.” The situation is the same today. How can I help with God’s harvest? Am I called into the field? Am I one who could provide food or shelter or wages to those who toil in the fields of the Lord?
SECOND COLLECTION This weekend is our regular monthly Building Fund Collection.
Let us Rejoice in the Lord!
Happy Birthday Candler Hamilton (July 5, 2016)
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: Libby Bullard, Connie and Dan Copes, Elizabeth Crothers, Leslye Ellerbee, Mary Ernst, Monique Florence, Susan and Johnny Gilfoil, Jamie and Cindy Howingston, C.W. and Alyce Keene, Bill Kennedy, Ed Mills, Kathleen Mills, Terry and Susie Murphy, Sug Regan, Sue & Mike Rome, Delia Trichell, and Don Wood
Those under full-time care: Frances Kennedy, Carol Dunning
Our friends and relatives who need our prayers: Lee Adams (Smith), Ashley Alexander (Regan), Graham Allen (S Gilfoil), Kathryn Wood Allsopp (D Wood), Jenna Faye Allen (Florence), Pam Amacker (Gilfoil), James Arceneaux (Book), Judy and Danny Beard (Keene), Marie Farlow Bellard, Sarah Cannon (Gilfoil), Ruthie Coenen (Wilks), Kevin and AnnaBeth Collins (Book), Truman and Diane Collins, Jami Cook (Wilks), Molly Corulla, Don Deweese, Carol Dipert (Rome), Mac Donaldson (Ellerbee), Ashley and Chuck Edwards (Keene), Joe Farlow, Mike Farlow, Patty Farlow, April Franklin (Wilks), Thom Gilfoil, Charlotte Green, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), John and Carlyle Ashly Hoogland, Melissa Jennings (Gilfoil & Keene), Dee Jones (Keene), Lyn and Calvin Lisonbee (Keene), LaLa Lopez (Hernandez), Caroline Marcello (Watts), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Mona Martin (MA Gilfoil), Caryn Oliver, Sue Perrilloux (D Wood), Wayne Pitre (Gilfoil), Frances Robinson (Wilks), Bailey, Scott and Tiffney Rome, Dianne W. Roper (Murphy), Albert Thom (Rome), Meg Keene Thomas, Lucy Thomason (gr-dau of Bentley Curry)(Book), Paul Wayne and LeeAnn Rome Tranchina (Rome), Elaine Trimble (Rome), Joe Yerger
Our collegiates: Aidan Collins, Callie Ezell, Lilly Falgout, Chris Hall (USMC), Nick Hall, Bruen Johnson, Caroline Marsh, Emmy Lu Marsh, Maddie Oliver Bridges, Blake Sullivan, Carter Sullivan, Walker Sullivan, Brice Wood, Marsh Wood.