I'm sure you saw the letter from the Health Department asking all houses of worship to close in person worship until March 2021 here in St. Joe County. I hope you saw the Bishop's response. His press secretary thanked the Health Department for their work around the virus but said the Catholic Churches in the area would remain open for Mass and other sacraments, while continuing the safety measures we have in place, masks, social distancing and cleaning. However, if in spite of these efforts, there is a break out at one of our churches that church would close until the outbreak is over. So, here at Saint Augustine we will continue to have Sunday Masses at 8:15 and 10:30 AM on Sunday mornings. The Soup Kitchen will remain open MWF and our St. Vincent de Paul will continue to help the poor as long as we have volunteers. I thank all our volunteers at the Soup Kitchen and with St. Vincent de Paul. I also thank those who have been coming to Sunday Mass.
On October 18, 2020, we celebrate the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Today's Gospel would be ideal to talk politics, if we talked politics at Mass. The Pharisees try to trap Jesus over paying taxes to Rome. If Jesus says don't do it, they could denounce him to the Roman authorities. If he says pay the taxes, which were very unpopular to the Jewish people, they could denounce him to the people. They really thought they had him trapped this time. But Jesus says: "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax." He then pointed out that the coin has Caesar's image and inscription on it. and said: "Then pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." We know we are stewards of God's creation and need to recognize we come and go, but God always remains.
This is brought out in our first reading about Cyrus. The Prophet Isaiah calls Cyrus God's anointed. Cyrus was a pagan king in what is now Iran. He did not worship the God of Israel and had probably heard very little about God. But he was a warrior king who conquered Babylon and let the Jewish people return to Israel and rebuild their Temple. Isaiah tells us God is in charge when he says of Cyrus: "I have called you by your name, giving you a title, though you knew me not, I am the Lord and there is no other, there is no God besides me." God is in charge. In our second reading, St. Paul tells us: "For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and the Holy Spirit and with much conviction."
Bishop Rhoades recently gave a talk at Holy Cross College on voting. He also repeated some of his talk at a recent priest and deacon meeting via zoom. He says some people were disappointed that he didn't say how he would vote. In the church we talk issues, we do not endorse candidates or parties. We all should do our civic duty and vote our conscience by looking at all the issues. Some priests and even some bishops tell people how to vote. I simply say look at all the issues and pray over it and then vote your conscience.
Thanks again to Cheryl Ashe who continues to video our 10:30 Mass and put it on line.