Funeral Mass - John Wiegard

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered for the repose of the soul of John Wiegard on Monday, July 25 at 12:00 noon. Please pray for him and for his family.

Wedding - Michael Mulzer & Catherine DeBlase

The Sacred Bonds of Holy Matrimony will be exchanged by Michael Mulzer and Catherine DeBlase on Saturday, July 23 at 3:00 p.m. Please pray for this couple about to be married.

Funeral Mass - Michael Colucci

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered for the repose of the soul of Michael Colucci on Saturday, July 23 at 10:00 a.m. Please pray for him and for his family.

Funeral Mass - Robert Vaccarino

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered for the repose of the soul of Robert Vaccarino on Friday, July 22 at 11:30 a.m. Please pray for him and for his family.

Funeral Mass - Randolf Chiappa

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered for the repose of the soul of Randolf Chiappa on Friday, July 22 at 10:00 a.m. Please pray for him and for his family.

Martha and Mary

Martha and Mary of Bethany – Sisters of Lazarus.

Great decision – invited Jesus to their home. There is much that we can learn from their experience!

HOSPITALITY

In the Culture and time of Jesus, hospitality had a very important value – no Holiday Inns – survival

Abraham – welcomed 3 men, realized later he was entertaining angels

Jews – leave out an extra chair for Elijah

Jesus – whatever you do, you do for me

Benedictines – Welcome the guest as Christ

Create a space    -   hard – so much to do – welcome!  Thanks to Greeters!

LISTENING

Mary sat and listened – listened to Christ & that is prayer.

John of Damascus said  – Prayer is the lifting up of the mind & heart to God.

How – Thomas Merton – take the time!

Conversational – Rote – Lectio Divina – Liturgical (hours & Mass)

BALANCE

Time to Work and Time to Listen – Benedictines  Ora et Labora – Pray & Work

How was your day? – tell how busy we are!

Cartoon in New Yorker   bridge    8 ton load limit

Truck -  8 tons   -   Bluebird lands   -   bridge collapses

Each has breaking point  -   not fault of blue bird – already 8 tons

Explorer in Amazon – hired guides -  one day, would not budge

 Interpreter -   waiting for souls to catch up to bodies.

Lesson from tiger lilies -   close up in evening  -   open in morning

  Re=Charge, energize

Hospitality – Listen & Pray – Balance – Good Lessons received when Martha, Mary and Lazarus invited Jesus into their home!

Funeral Mass - Anthony Recine

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered for the repose of the soul of Anthony Recine on Monday, July 18 at 10:00 a.m. Please pray for him and for his family.

Funeral Mass - Lawrence Boes

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered for the repose of the soul of Lawrence Boes on Saturday, July 16 at 10:00 a.m. Please pray for him and for his family.

Who Is My Neighbor?

What must I do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus is the first to bring together Deuteronomy & Leviticus – love God & love neighbor.

Now – who is my neighbor?

Robbers have beaten a man, taken his clothes and left him half dead. Who is he?

You can’t tell by his clothes & you can’t tell by his accent – he cannot speak. This is a real problem for the bystanders.

The Priest sees him – now, if he is not a Jew or he is even dead – if the Priest touches him, he would become defiled – and he must go back to Jerusalem to get purified – there is no time for this – not his problem.

Levite sees him – the priest is doing nothing, why should he? – he follows his bad example.

Samaritan – the outsiders, the ones who intermarried with Assyrians, who only follow the first 5 books of the Bible, who did not worship in Jerusalem.  He also has a problem – what if the injured man wakes up and seems me – my touch will make him unclean – maybe even his family will come after me.

This does not stop him!

Act of Mercy – no matter what, this is a human being – just like the two black men who lost their lives, just like the 5 police officers who lost their lives – they are human beings – made in God’s image & likeness. This is what we teach our teens when we go on a Midnight Run – we look past the color of skin – we look past mental illness – we look past alcoholism & drug addiction – to show mercy to a human being! To see the Face of God in them!        Act of Justice – it means there are times that boundaries must be crossed – to do what is right.

I read about a Religious Sister who was serving in a clinic in Syria. This clinic served everyone in need, including wounded Muslim soldiers. How could she do such a thing??? After all they are doing to Christians?

She said - We don’t do this because of who they are.

We do this because of who WE ARE.

In the midst of all that is happening in our country –

Who are we?           Who is our neighbor?

If we want to inherit eternal life, there is only one answer.