Some have asked for the YouTube mp4 I played at Mass for today's homily.
Dives and Lazarus by Martin and Shan Graebe
Thanks to Jill Ramme for her excellent accompaniment of our recording! First time for everyone!
He who knew no sin, was made sin for us.
What a perfect day for the first Mass of the new school year with all our students of Holy Cross Academy!
Thanks to all our students, faculty and parishioners for singing what has become a kind of de facto parish song, Lift High the Cross, especially a cappella. Even though you all sang so well, we are thankful that our new Music Director will arrive on Monday.
St. John Chrysostom was famous not only for his holiness, but his truthfulness and at the same time for his "golden mouth."
Quite something for all of us to consider as we begin the school year - that we should have "golden mouths" and that like another famous preacher of the period, we should have "honey speech."
That means not taking God's name in vain on the playground or in the classroom and not calling names or saything things meant to hurt people or their reputations. In the modern age, that also has to include the same rules for all our social media accounts, all our tweets, instagrams, facebook posts, emails ---every way we give our words and speech electronic wings!
St. Paul reminds us today's scriptures about the powerful and potentially harmful effects of speech.
Blasphemous language using God's name or the name of Jesus Christ in vain is the most evil, but words which do others harm, whether true or not true, are also powerfully hurtful and not to be spoken.
What was good for the Colossians is also good for us!
Nicholas was named for the rather more famous Saint Nicholas of Myra (Saint Nick) when his parents prayed at St. Nicholas' shrine to conceive and bear son after years of infertility.
He developed a reputation for sanctity and miraculous healing through his intercessory prayer, especially for infants and the souls in purgatory.
His feastday is a good reminder to pray for the deceased and the sick. Our prayers can have efficacy through the same power as St. Nicholas of Tolentine, our Loving Savior.
St. Kieran is one of the Twelve Ap0stles of Ireland and one of the Holy Cross Window Saints. He is famed for founding the monastery at Clonmacnoise, which survived the Norse Invasions, but was eventually destroyed by the armies of Henry VII during the suppression of the monasteries.
Kieran died only 7 months after the founding of the monastery by the River Shannon, but it became a center of learning and scholarship, a beacon of wisdom, for long after his death.
Jesus was preaching the first "new evangelization" and people weren't listening unless they saw immediate, concrete benefits - multiple miraculous healings, or free lunches provided for all.
He warned folks against being comfortable with old beliefs or habits which had gotten them into ruts and rejecting his message.
Do we have the courage to break out of the ways of the world and walk the Way of the Cross with Him?
Today was the perfect day to have the 1st graders at Mass. Mother Teresa advocated doing something simple and good for God, something which is possible for everyone to do. Kindness in any form extended to others is appreciated by anyone from six to ninety-six.
The results of the 5 PM Sunday music survey show that parishioners who don't usually attend the mass are fine either way with music or not.
5 o'clock mass attendees (either regularly or occasionally, there was no significant difference) who expressed a preference, were about equally divided.
Thank you for you to the 102 parishioners who responded. You will help myself and the new music director develop a music program for Holy Cross parish weekend masses.
Parishioners who usually or sometimes attend the 5 PM Sunday Mass.
Parishioners who rarely or never attend the 5 PM Sunday Mass.
Jesus' hometown message, difficult for those around him who were benefiting from his healing and demon-dispelling powers was that he needed to move on to other territory and spread his message afar. Luckily we need feel no jealousy or fear a time sharing arrangement with Jesus, who is present to all who call upon Him and intimately in the presence of the Eucharist both in communion and in adoration.