A Letter from Fr. Paul - September 9, 2018

Please remember that the 10:15 Mass will now be celebrated at 10:30, giving our families time to return from Christ King after religious education. I appreciate your understanding. And please keep our faith formation programs in your prayers as they begin a new year.

A very meaningful way to serve the community is through liturgical ministries: music, lecturing, hospitality, acolytes, distributing Communion, etc. This coming weekend we will have a Ministry Fair for liturgical ministries. Please prayerfully consider offering your time and talent through these ministries that make our worship possible.

This weekend Salvatorians throughout the world are remembering our Founder, Fr. Francis Jordan, who died 100 years ago on September 8, 1918. We thank God for the gift of this man and the charism he shared with us: to bring the goodness and kindness of God the Savior to others, a charism which is embodied in our community here at Pius.

In our selection from Isaiah, notice that God’s way of giving comfort to those who return from exile is NOT through vengeance toward their enemies, but rather growth toward healing and perfection: eyes of blind opened, ears of deaf cleared, tongue of the mute singing, and fresh water bringing the parched desert to life.

Our Gospel story presents Jesus doing exactly that: restoring hearing and speech to a suffering man. We who are followers of Jesus are called to bring healing and peace through our lives, to work for justice and peace. The selection from James underscores our human tendencies to judge and divide: the well-dressed man is welcomed into the community and given a place of honor, while the beggar is made to sit at the feet of others. It is so easy to see that happening, isn’t it?

The call to us today is to allow our ears to be opened by the scriptures so that we can hear the call Jesus is making to us to live a life that brings peace, harmony, and justice. And the more we HEAR, the more we need to SPEAK CLEARLY against the injustices, prejudices, and violence that surrounds us.

Lord, help us to hear you better so that we can speak clearly through words and actions to the world around us. Amen.

-- Paul James Portland, SDS