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August 7, 2020
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Catholic Advance
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Bishop Kemme's calendar
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Aug. 9: I Kings 19:9,11-13, Romans 9:1-5, Matthew 14:22- 33 This Sunday's first reading is iconic in the church's spiritual tradition. Its most obvious lesson appears in light of the fact that the All-Powerful Lord, Creator of the heavens and the earth, choos- es to manifest himself to Elijah through a tiny, whispering sound rather than by more dramatic means. This lesson encourages us to be mindful of God's presence amidst what is small, simple, and seemingly insignificant. This scriptural lesson can be compared to two other passages of Scripture. Making these com- parisons will set the stage for Sunday's Gospel reading. Con- sider first the Lord's self-revela- tion to Moses centuries earlier on the same mountain where He later appeared to Elijah. It was on this occasion that the Lord en- trusted the Ten Commandments to Moses [Exodus 19]. The Lord did manifest himself at that time through dramatic means: thunder and lightning, fire and a heavy cloud of smoke, and the violent trembling of the whole mountain. The radically different ways in which the Lord revealed himself to Moses and Elijah offer comple- mentary views of the Lord's pow- er in all things, great and small. However, that contrast also draws our attention to the simi- larity of the responses of Moses and Elijah. Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave on Mount Horeb. He recognized the tiny, whispering sound for what it was, and so adhered to the divine warning: "my face you cannot see, for no man sees me and lives." [Ex 33:20] Elijah's awe-filled reverence for the Lord echoes the reverence of Moses, who on the same mountain had been commanded by the Lord: Take care not to go up the moun- tain, or even to touch its base. If anyone touches the mountain he must be put to death" [Ex 19:21]. Both Moses and Elijah show their reverence to the Lord himself, not to the manner of his appearance. Sunday's Gospel reading pres- ents a sharper pair of contrasts. After sending the disciples ahead across the water, Jesus went up on a mountain by himself to pray. We cannot know what this simple, serene contemplation with God the Father, in the Holy Spirit, was like for Jesus. But it's obvious that Jesus is not bound by any com- mand similar to the one given to Moses. Jesus ascends this moun- tain in order to gaze directly on his Father's countenance, through his humanity, in the fullness of his divinity. Stronger yet is the contrast made by Jesus' outreach to Peter. At 3 a.m., amidst darkness and strong winds, Jesus walks on the water towards his disciples. He announces himself to them, and emboldens them: "Take courage ... be not afraid!" Yet Peter imme- diately expresses doubt and issues a challenge to Jesus. When Jesus complies and commands Peter to walk to him on the water, Peter is frightened by the wind and be- gins to sink. Yet he does not end up sinking, for Jesus reaches out to him. In this, Peter symbolizes each of us. God the Father sent his Son into our world to reach out to each of us and to offer reconcilia- tion for our sins. On the occasion heard in Sunday's Gospel reading, this divine Son stretches out a hu- man hand to save Peter from his doubts. Not only does Jesus not forbid his disciples to approach, gaze upon and touch him. Jesus reaches out to and catches Peter. The compassionate outreach of the God-man here stands in con- trast, but not contradiction, to the reverential distance mandated by the Lord in the Old Testament. Of course, these two are one and the same Lord. It's not as if God became more compassionate with the passing of millennia. All the whys and wherefores of salvation history - including the prudence of divine providence - may perplex us. We shouldn't underestimate the sig- nificance of the Old Testament's lessons. Each of us sinners needs to approach our Lord with awe- filled reverence. However, this reverence ought to be matched by our trust in the Lord's desire to save us. This desire has been ful- filled through the Incarnation of God the Son. Jesus stretches out both arms on the cross to catch us and keep us from sinking within the misery of our sins and into the depths of eternal death.
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Aug. 16: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7, Romans 11:13-15, 29-32, Mat- thew 15:21-28 Love is what moves people through life. Love is what moti- vates. Love is what gives mean- ing to life. But what is true love? What does real love look like? The world defines love in count- less ways, many of which contra- dict each other. If you flip through television or YouTube channels, you're likely to find a different definition of love offered by each channel. Love of money, love of possessions, love of knowledge, love of pleasure: all of these are definitions of love that the world offers for our belief. The church proclaims that the love of God is summed up by the crucifix. If we want to know what love is, that's all the further we have to look. But to understand the love of God, and to make it part of our own lives, is some- thing much different and more difficult. It requires faith. Today's Gospel reading, in turn, shows us how faith becomes love. The dialogue between Jesus and the Gentile woman shows how God relates to each of us who like the Gentile woman is a sinner. This dialogue also shows how God wants us to relate to him: both in our daily lives, and from the broader perspective of our spiritual growth over the years. In Sunday's Gospel reading, the evangelist Matthew tells us that a Canaanite woman - which is to say, an outsider - came to Jesus and called out, "Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!" This woman, despite not being one of the people who had been wait- ing for the Messiah, nonetheless knew who Jesus was. So she cried out to him for help. But what hap- pened next? Jesus did not say a word in an- swer to her. Not a word! Here is a woman whose daughter is be- ing tormented, yet Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. What kind of love is this? If you have ever prayed intensely for a serious problem, and felt that God did not answer your prayer, you can identify with the Gentile woman. But can you identify with her faith? Perhaps you can identify with her cry for help going un- answered, but can you identify with what the woman does next? She is a woman whose faith is not shaken, and who puts her faith into action time and again. She goes now to Jesus a second time, and simply says, "Lord, help me." What is Jesus' response? He calls the woman a dog! He says to this outsider, "It is not right to take the food of the chil- dren and throw it to the dogs." The children Jesus is referring to are the children of Israel, the
Faith demands much prayer
ones the Father sent him to teach, while this woman is an outsider, a "dog". But why is Jesus talking this way? God demands faith from us, even when we believe we have none. He is willing to "pull" our faith out of us - indeed, to test us - in order to purify our faith. Jesus knows what sort of faith this woman has. He is willing to draw it out, because without faith on this woman's part he will not work a miracle. Faith is always required for God to work in our lives. God requires faith, in the sense that He demands it from us. When- ever you read the Gospel and see an occasion where Jesus does not work a miracle, it is not because his divine power has run out." Without faith on our part, God's grace would be an empty gift. But what kind of faith does God want from us? The faith that God wants from us is not passive. It's active. God does not want the sort of faith that says, "God is going to take care of everything, so I can sit back and coast." That is not our Catholic understanding of faith. Faith involves something active on our part. It demands constant prayer. It demands the sort of di- alogue that we hear between Je- sus and the Gentile woman. We might even say that God wants us to challenge him in our prayer, so that he might challenge us to greater faith, and thereby greater love.
Approach God with awe
Reflections on the Sacred Liturgy
By Fr. Thomas Hoisington Subscribe at ReflectionsOnThe SacredLiturgy.com Extended reflections at HPRweb.com Here are events on Bishop Carl A. Kemme's calendar for the next few weeks: Aug. 11: Legatus dinner and meeting Aug. 12-13: Jesus Caritas in Salina; Confirmation Mass for Hutchinson parishes at 6 p.m. Aug. 15: Ordination to the priesthood of Deacon Paul Kallal, OMV in Alton, Illinois Aug. 19: Mass and dinner at St. Joseph House of Formation at 5 p.m. Aug. 20: Diocesan Pastoral Council meeting Aug. 27: Disciples Together with the Curia at the Cathedral at 9 a.m.; Newman University Matriculation Mass at St. John's
Early Christians died for the right to go to Sunday Mass
This is another in a series of re- flections on Dies Domini, written in 1998 by St. Pope John Paul II. The series is being written in sup- port of Bishop Carl A. Kemme's Pastoral Priority of Reclaiming Sunday as the Lord's Day. St. John Paul II writes in Dies Domini that because the Eucharist is the very heart of Sunday, "it is clear why, from the earliest centu- ries, the pastors of the church have not ceased to remind the faithful of the need to take part in the liturgical assembly." The third-century text known as the Didascalia, he writes, urges the faithful to "Leave everything on the Lord's Day and run diligently to your assembly, because it is your praise of God. Otherwise, what ex- cuse will they make to God, those who do not come together on the Lord's Day to hear the word of life and feed on the divine nourishment which lasts forever?" The pope says in Dies Domini that the faithful have generally ac- cepted this call "with conviction of soul." Although there have been times and situations when the Sun- day Mass obligation has not been perfectly met, "one should never forget the genuine heroism of priests and faithful who have fulfilled this obligation even when faced with danger and the denial of religious freedom, as can be documented from the first centuries of Christian- ity up to our own time." St. John Paul II writes that St. Justin, in an explanation to Emperor Antoninus and the Senate, describes the Christian practice of the Sunday assembly, "which gathered in one
Want more info?
Want to review Bish- op Kemmes Pastoral Vision, Mission, and Pri- orities? Visit Catholic DioceseOfWichita.org/ mission. Dies Domini is available at Vatican.va. place Christians from both the city and the countryside." During the persecution of Dio- cletian, St. Justin writes that Chris- tians were banned from gatherings. Many were courageous enough to defy the imperial decree and accept- ed death rather than miss the Sun- day Eucharist," he says. "This was the case of the martyrs of Abitina, in Proconsular Africa, who replied to their accusers: 'Without fear of any kind we have celebrated the Lord's Supper because it cannot be missed; that is our law...We cannot live with- out the Lord's Supper." A female martyr before her death defended her attendance at Mass, saying: "Yes, I went to the assembly and I celebrated the Lord's Supper with my brothers and sisters because I am a Christian."
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The love of God is summed up by the crucifix.
Chapel at 11 a.m.; St. Francis of Assisi Auction Dinner at Bishop's residence at 6 p.m.
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