Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: Luke 5: 33-39

The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,
and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;
but yours eat and drink.”
Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
then they will fast in those days.”
And he also told them a parable.
“No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.
Otherwise, he will tear the new
and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins,
and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,
for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Imagine if you woke up tomorrow morning in a time warp. Suddenly, you were living in the Stone Age.

You’ve become a hunter-gatherer who has to cook all of your food over an open fire. You’re living in a tent with no widows or a/c. Coffee, hot showers, deodorant, and hair driers are non-existent.

Life is suddenly very simple.

I’m sure we’d be miserable!

Thank God we’ve made advances over the centuries in science, technology, and medicine. Otherwise, life would be pretty rough.

Change can be good thing.

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This is what the Lord is saying in the Gospel.

“No one pours new wine into old wineskins… Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.”

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You and I are being invited to see St. Pius X as a fresh wine skin – making us the new wine.

We have to think creatively about ways to engage new and future parishioners, both in-person and online.

We need minds and hearts open to technology; open to meeting new people; open to new leadership; new opportunities; and new programs.

We should also re-consider our own role in the parish. Can we try new things? New ministries?

Instead of sticking to the comfortable mentality of, “that’s the way things have always been,” or, “that’s always been his or her job,” perhaps we can step up.

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Just as life would be miserable if we were transported into the Stone Age, so nobody wants our parish to regress. 

Rather, the opposite. We are all new wine being poured into a fresh wine skin.

Come, Holy Spirit.

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Image credits: (1) ChristInScripture.com (2) Society of the Precious Blood (3) Trinity Baptist Church, Senior Adult Weekly Devotional

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Gospel: Luke 5: 1-11

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them. 
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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What do we see when we look inside ourselves?

Do we see our strengths, our virtues, our faith? Or do we simply see our sins, all those areas in our lives where we fail?

What do you think God sees when he looks inside of us?

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In the Gospel, Peter says to Jesus, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

That’s what Peter sees inside himself: a sinful man.

But Jesus sees someone else: an experienced fisherman. A man with calloused hands, who understands the value of hard work, perseverance, problem solving, and teamwork. 

He sees a man who trusts. Although Peter caught no fish after working all night, he lowers his nets at Christ’s command.

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What a world of difference. 

Peter sees a sinner.

Jesus sees an opportunity. As weak as Peter may be, Jesus says, “From now on, I will make you a fisher of men.”

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So, what do we see when we look inside ourselves?

Hopefully the same thing the Lord does: a person like Peter, who can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. 

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Image credits: (1) PictureQuotes.com (2) Saint Peter, Guercino (3) Reddit

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Gospel: Luke 4: 38-44

“After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon.
Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever,
and they interceded with him about her.
He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her.
She got up immediately and waited on them.

At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him.
He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.
And demons also came out from many, shouting, “You are the Son of God.”
But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak
because they knew that he was the Christ.

At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place.
The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him,
they tried to prevent him from leaving them.
But he said to them, “To the other towns also
I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God,
because for this purpose I have been sent.”
And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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One of the worst parts about being sick is the sense of isolation that sets in. 

Despite the care of others, our world becomes increasingly small, as we we’re confined to our own room, to our own bed, and often to our own thoughts.

It can be a terribly lonely place.

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This is the type of isolation we find at work in the Gospel.

Peter’s mother-in-law is deathly ill, confined to her own room and her own thoughts.

Jesus arrives just in time. Taking her by the hand, he raises her up. In effect, he not only restores her health; he also lifts her out of the isolation that sickness brings. 

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It’s the type of healing that so many need on a daily basis – to be drawn out of the isolation that COVID, social distance, and our increasingly technological society brings.

It’s partly why some of us attend daily and Sunday Mass; why we make phone calls, text, or write letters. 

These simple, social activities are good for the soul.

But I wonder if we can think of anyone who remains sick in bed, so to speak. Someone who may feel isolated from the outside world.

Perhaps it’s a child who spent all of last year learning online and hasn’t readjusted; a parent or grandparent confined to a nursing home; a single mom working from home while raising her children.

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Today let’s be like Jesus and lift their spirits.

Make a call. Pay a visit. Write a letter. Send a text. Simple gestures that can create some semblance of community one person at time.

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Image credits: (1) Health Matters, New York Presbyterian (2) Healing Peter’s Mother-in-Law, John Bridges (3) Two Sides