Our 90th Anniversary got off to a great start last week when we honored parishioners 90 or older. The honorees are Marian Newbill, James and Ruby Hockaday, Tom and Jo Ann Broden, Frances Roberts, Joseph Brodie and Marie Dabrowiak. I also contacted the Bishop’s Office this week to see if he could come some Sunday to celebrate with us at the 10:30 Mass. He agreed to come July 15. So mark your calendars or put it in your smart phone.
There is a new community organizing effort taking shape in Northern Indiana. It is called Faith in Indiana I have attended three clergy meetings. It is an interfaith organization looking at systemic change for the better. The diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend backs this with groups in Fort Wayne, Elkhart and St. Joe counties. It should develop into a lay led organization to make things better for everyone. If you would like more info on this group, please see me, Father Len. This is a leadership development process. Three parishioners have already shown interest, but we could use many more. As small as we are, we have a big reputation in the city.
Ordinary Time will only run for a few weeks, since Lent begins the middle of February. Today we celebrate the 5th
Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Our readings today are a contrast of sadness and joy. In our first reading from the Book of Job, we have great sadness and despair. Job has just lost everything, including his children. He says: “I shall not see happiness again.” For him all has been lost. In our Gospel on the other hand, we have Jesus teaching and curing the sick and then going off to pray. After his disciples found him and told him that everyone was looking for him, Jesus announces to them that they must go elsewhere and continue his mission. “’For this purpose I have come.’ So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.” Pope Frances calls this “The joy of the Gospel.”
In our second reading we have St. Paul telling the Corinthians and us, that he has to preach the Gospel of Jesus. He tells us how a true disciple of Jesus should act: “Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it.” We are called to do the same.
Last Saturday we celebrate St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr. We will bless throats in his honor today.
On Thursday the 8th, the Church celebrates Saint Josephine Bakhita, one of our more modern Black saints. She was born around 1869 in Sudan and raised in the Islamic faith. Kidnapped as a child by slave traders, she was given the name “Bakhita” meaning “lucky one.” She was sold to a number of owners until she was purchased at the age of 12 by the Italian Consul Callisto Legnani, who eventually brought her to Italy where she was the nanny for his children. She was sent to live with the Canossian Sisters in Venice and was baptized Giuseppina and eventually gained her freedom. In 1896 she joined the Conossian Daughters of Charity and served in that community for 25 years as cook, seamstress and portress. She was well beloved by the students. She died in 1947 and was canonized Oct.1, 2000 as a witness to evangelical reconciliation and a model of freedom.
The National Black Catholic Congress has published a Pastoral Plan of Action. It can be found on their website. Remember that February is Black History Month. Read a little Black History this February. It is a great part of the American Experience.
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.