It didn’t rain, but it sure was hot at our Parish Picnic! I want to thank everyone who came and I especially want to thank those who worked so hard to make it happen. A good time was had by all. As Marian told me, “It was the biggest one ever.” That is only fitting for our 90th Anniversary. The car count alone was 68 and I was probably the only one riding alone. In case you missed it, we still have some hats left, too.
Have a great Labor Day!
I recently renewed our website for another year for $240.00. I hope parishioners are using it. Let me know.
In our first reading today from Deuteronomy Moses is giving his people their final instructions before they enter the promised land. Moses won’t be going with them but he tells them to obey the commandments that God has given them and they will be a wise and intelligent nation with God on their side. In the first five books of the Bible there are 613 rules they should follow including the 10 Commandments.
1300 years later we have Jesus in today’s Gospel telling the Pharisees and the scribes that they have supplanted those rules with human traditions and made the traditions more important than the commandments from God. He points out that things that make a person sinful come from that person’s heart. And he gives us a list of those sins: evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance and folly. We need to look to God’s love.
In our second reading we have St. James telling us to be doers of the Word of God. Just listening is not enough. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” Once again we are told that we show our love for God by loving our neighbors.
Let us continue to pray for peace in the world. Let us also pray for vocations to the church. Let us pray for the sick of the parish. Let us pray that all will come to respect life. Let us pray for one another and for the canonization of Father Tolton. Let us also pray for those who are victims of sexual abuse.
A Father Tolton Prayer: Father in Heaven, Father Tolton’s suffering service sheds light upon our sorrows; we see them through the prism of your Son’s passion and death. If it be your Will, O God, glorify your servant Father Tolton, by granting the favor I now request through his intercession (mention your request) so that all may know the goodness of this priest whose memory looms large in the Church he loved. Complete what you have begun in us that we might work for the fulfillment of your kingdom. Not to us the glory, but glory to you O God, through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are our God, living and reigning forever and ever. Amen.