Sunday, August 30, 2020, is the day we had our Annual Parish Picnic scheduled but because of the pandemic we will miss it this year. It has been and will be in the future our special way to honor St. Augustine close to his feast day, which is August 28 each year. This picnic has always been like a home coming to celebrate our wonderful parish. This year you can still celebrate but at home thinking about the parish and praying for all our members, present and past. St. Augustine pray for us.
This Sunday is the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. Our Gospel is a continuation of last Sunday's when Jesus made Peter the rock upon which he would build his church after Peter said that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Today Jesus tells his disciples that he must suffer and die. Peter says: "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall happen to you." He thought Jesus would be the savior of Israel and that he would drive the Romans out. The thought of that day was that the Messiah would be a conquering hero. Jesus then says to Peter: "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." Jesus then tells us all that we have to take up our crosses and follow him.
In our first reading the Prophet Jeremiah was following God as His prophet and he kept getting into trouble for preaching God's message to his people. Jeremiah was a peaceful man, but God's message to his people was one of gloom and doom, if they didn't correct their evil ways, even though things were going well for the wealthy in the country at the time. They laughed at Jeremiah and mocked him and even tried to kill him. Jeremiah wanted to stop preaching, but he couldn't. He had to give the people God's message whether they liked it or not.
In our second reading we are told by Paul that we should not conform to evil but we should "discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect." We should always love God above everything else and our brothers and sister as ourselves. We need to remember that we are all brothers and sisters to each other.
On the 57th Anniversary of Martin Luther King's March on Washington, it was good to see so many people of all colors marching together trying to bring the Dream to fulfillment. Please pray for peace throughout the world, especially in our own country. Pray for an end to the pandemic and for all its victims. We continue to have our Sunday Masses at 8:15 and 10:30 AM with masks and social distancing and we still average 15 people per Mass. I hope you saw La Donna on ABC 57 the other night. She talked about music in the church in the time of pandemic. Thank you, La Donna for doing a great job. Last Sunday we had our Back to School Zoom Prayer Service. Alfred gave a great reflection for this tough time. Thank you, Alfred.