Please read the bulletin for September 29, 2019 here.
25th Sunday Ordinary Time: 11:15 AM (Fr. Smith homily)
Transcript:
James Buchanan was president of the United States from 1857-1861. He had the best credentials of any person who ever held the office. He began as a State legislator in Pennsylvania, served his State in both the House and the Senate, was ambassador to both Russia and England and was Secretary of State. He was known as a man of moderation and had a personal political philosophy I, at least, find modest and sensible. Yet, his administration was so bad that he has sometimes been considered a traitor. He was not. His problem was not lack of good will or talent but a major misconception. He believed that the problems before the Civil War could have been managed by usual means. Perhaps reform was needed but the situation could have been maintained. Yet his was a time for revolution not reform and so as his successor Abraham Lincoln remarked “War came”.
Luke tells us this today as well. Meeting Jesus always creates a crisis: it always demands a conscious decision. This is true both for individuals and for a community.
The parable of the incompetent steward is a hidden Lukan masterpiece. The steward was essentially a financial manager responsible for the daily operations of an estate or business. This man was obviously not very good at it, yet notice how he deals with a crisis. He immediately takes control of the situation and uses his authority while he has it to prepare a future for himself. Continue reading “25th Sunday Ordinary Time: 11:15 AM (Fr. Smith homily)”
25th Sunday Ordinary Time – Hearing the Cry of the Poor, Hearing God’s Word, and Acting!
The Angelus, Jean-François Millet, 1857-1859, Musée d’Orsay
FIRST READING:
September 22, 2019
Amos 8:4–7
This week, we read from the Book of Amos. We last read from this book in July of 2018. Oddly we will also read it again next week. This week, we look at one of the visions of Amos and examine the consequences of wrapping worship around injustice.
King Jeroboam 2 was king of Israel between 783–743 BC. He was a talented politician and saw that Assyria, the dominant power in the north at the time, was experiencing internal discord. He was able to expand his country’s boundaries and its trade bringing unparalleled prosperity, for at least the aristocracy. This was seen in the development of cities which centralized both worship and commerce often by the same people (king: Amos 7:10–11, high priest: Am. 7:16–17, and wealthy of Samaria: Am. 4:1–3). This prosperity also brought ignorance of God. It is to this world that Amos is sent.
The most critical development was the growth of a permanent underclass, which was contrary to the will of God. This is reflected not only in the writings of Amos and his near contemporary in the Northern Kingdom Micah, but in the other prophets as well. At about the same time Isaiah said:
Learn to do good.
Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,
hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow
(Is. 1:17) Continue reading “25th Sunday Ordinary Time – Hearing the Cry of the Poor, Hearing God’s Word, and Acting!”
Bulletin for September 22, 2019
Please read the bulletin for September 22, 2019 here.
24th Sunday Ordinary Time – Godparents Day Mass
https://photos.app.goo.gl/z6wajGvumS2AagAe8
24th Sunday Ordinary Time – Fr. Smith homily
What kind of Shepherd leaves 99 sheep to search for one stray? Not a very sensible one. That is the basic meaning of today’s parables. God’s relationship with us is not sensible or reasonable. It is not based on calculation or deduction but simply love. That would be a powerful message in itself but Luke is too great an artist to leave it there, and in a few verses will show us much more about God’s love and how we can respond to it.
When he says “what man among you” he is speaking to a specific audience. The passage began with “tax collectors and sinners” seeking to hear Jesus but with the Pharisees and lawyers commented darkly but typically “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Continue reading “24th Sunday Ordinary Time – Fr. Smith homily”
24th Sunday Ordinary Time – Fr. Gribowich homily
Transcript:
Good morning, everyone. It’s always a great joy to be here with you today.
I think it’d be fair to say that we tend to be people of excess. If we look at anything around us in our culture and our society, we see examples of excessive behavior. A lot of it can be very bad. And that can be very good. Perhaps we see the most excessive things right here in the Bay Area when we just encounter just the billions and billions of dollars that are here in this area, right? Why, don’t you go too far to see amazing properties – homes, amazing lifestyles. And yet in just a few blocks away we see tent cities and we see excessive poverty, excessive mental illness, drug addiction.
But yet in our own lives, too, we tend to be excessive in our habits, whether it’s been watching on Netflix a whole weekend, or whether it’s just going out and eating a lot of food, or whether it’s exercising to the extent where we almost hurt ourselves. I definitely will say I’m a person of excess when I really get into something. I really get into it ,and I was reminded of that yesterday and I’m actually feeling it right now, when I went for the first time here surfing with friends of mine and they were teaching me how to do it. ,And I was getting really into it, and I just kept going and going and going for like two straight hours in the water and my friends like, we’ve never seen anyone like stay in the water this morning and try to catch this many waves. I think you’re going to be really hurting. Well, I’m definitely hurting right now. Continue reading “24th Sunday Ordinary Time – Fr. Gribowich homily”