Bishop Kemme's calendar
The 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sept. 5: Wisdom 2:12,17- 20, James 3:16 - 4:3, Mark 9:30-37 A priest serving in a rural area was asked how many families were in his parish. He jokingly re- sponded, "About seven." His point was that most of his parishioners were from large, extended fami- lies, whose roots stretched back to the founding of the parish. Sacred Scripture is similar. There are eight "families" of books in the Bible, and each of the 73 books of Scripture belongs to one of those eight families. To use an analogy, consider Great-un- cle Ebenezer. He and his first wife begat four children. Then after her death, Great-uncle married again, and by his second wife begat four more children. So in the Bible, the Old Testa- ment is made up of four "families" of books: the books of the law, of history, of wisdom, and of the prophets. These books are the fruit of the covenant between the Lord and Israel. Likewise, in the New Testa- ment there are four "families" of books: the accounts of the Gospel, the Acts of the Apostles, the apos- tolic letters, and the Book of Reve- lation. These books are the fruit of the covenant between Christ and the Church. This background helps us ap- preciate the context of today's second reading. For four weeks now, the Second reading at Sun- day Mass has come from James, and this will continue through next Sunday. James is one of the 21 books of the New Testament in the family of apostolic letters or "epistles". But you can further divide that family of 21 books ac- cording to which apostles wrote them. Two-thirds of the letters were written by Saint Paul, while out of the remaining seven, only one was written by St. James. The Letter of St. James is argu- ably the most practical of all the New Testament letters. James takes a no-nonsense attitude to- wards following Jesus. The focus of St. James in his letter is not some lofty - though important - matter such as how three di- vine Persons eternally live as one God. Instead, St. James deals with down-to-earth questions of fallen human nature. Given this, the let- ter of James is a good r e s o u r c e for making a general exa m i na- tion of con- science, and for spiritual reading each Lent. Listen to how plain-spoken St. James is today when he asks, Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? - You covet but do not possess. - You do not possess because you do not ask. You ask[,] but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, [in order] to spend it on your passions." That's what you call matter of fact! St. James focuses first upon diagnosis: exposing the spiritual wound and underlying disease to view. But then he directs our atten- tion to the cure: the divine Physi- cian, Jesus Christ. We receive the grace of Christ's saving remedy through the sacraments. Yet we need to conform our lives to the life of Christ so as to fittingly re- ceive this gift, at least to the extent of having no more than venial sins. That is to say that if someone were to receive the sacraments while continuing to live a life like that which St. James is preaching against - what the church calls living in mortal sin - then Christ's grace would not abide in him or her. St. Paul speaks more direct- ly to this point, explaining a fur- ther consequence: "whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord" [1 Cor 11:27]. If we were to consider the Gos- pel's demands to be mere ideals, and deny that serious sin - wheth- er a single mortal sin or a mortally sinful state of life - prevents one from receiving the sacraments, we would act against the apostol- ic teachings of the Church. The successors of the apos- tles have the weighty pastoral re- sponsibility of shepherd- ing the way- ward back to what today is called "Eucharis- tic coherence". The Gospel passage today helps us see what this process of spiri- tual conformity asks from us. We need to conform ourselves to the image of the cross, because this image consists of being "the last of all and the servant of all." This im- age consists of receiving a child in Christ's name, so to receive Christ himself, and so to receive the One who sent Christ. To receive this One - God the Father - is to allow God the Father to strengthen his likeness within us by means of his daily bread.
The 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sept. 26: Numbers 11:25- 29, James 5:1-6, Mark 9:38- 43,45,47-48 The Scripture passages this Sunday speak to the importance of just and healthy laws. We also hear of this in the refrain to the respon- sorial psalm: "the precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart." The psalmist continues to explore this in the verses of the psalm - Psalm 19 - declaring that "the law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul", and that "the ordinances of the Lord are true, all of them just." The purpose of law is to bring order to a community. It allows indi- viduals to get along with other, rath- er than each man, woman, and child being a law unto himself or herself. Every law, and every person who passes, executes, or judges laws, is answerable to the creator of all things. God the Creator cre- ated the universe with an intrinsic order. Every wise scientist knows that the material universe has its own intrinsic order, and will teach those willing to listen that the law of gravity, the law of entropy, and the law of conservation of matter cannot be repealed by any con- gress. Every wise physician knows that the human body has its own intrinsic order, and will teach those willing to listen that one cannot pretend that an unhealthy diet, smoking, or exposure to high levels of radiation will make a hu- man person healthier. So it is with civil law on matters pertaining to man's intrinsic nature. Man can pretend to have author- ity over moral norms, but he does so at his own risk. The question is whether Christians are willing to speak boldly on behalf of the intrin- sic moral order by which God creat- ed man. Modern man might take a cue from today's First reading. Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!" The first reading is somewhat mysterious. It's mysterious not only because in this passage the "Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses". It's mys- terious not only because the Lord took "some of the spirit that was on Moses" and "bestowed it on the sev- enty elders". It's mysterious in how it reveals the connection between the law and the prophet. Each and every Christian, through her or his baptism, is called to be a prophet. It's easy to imagine Jesus saying during his days on earth, and also today, what Moses proclaims in the first read- ing: "Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!" Each culture, sub-culture, and religion has its own prophets. Prophets may differ from one such body of persons to another. There may be cultures, sub-cultures and religions where to be a prophet is to be nothing other than a "free spirit", one who lets the wind blow where it wills without regard for rules and regulations, doctrines
Become a prophet of Jesus Christ
and dogmas. But Christianity is not such a body. The Christian prophet does not oppose the Law of the Lord. He is precisely the one who takes risks to stand up for it, is willing to be persecuted for his witness, and knows that his life is about the Lord instead of about himself. The Christian prophet knows that while he himself is vastly imperfect, "the law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul". The Christian prophet knows that while he himself is often untrust- worthy and simple, "the decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple." The Chris- tian prophet knows that while he himself is often false and unjust, the ordinances of the Lord are true, all of them just." God asks you to serve him as a prophet: to defend his saving Law, which is the Law that brings order, refreshment, wisdom, truth and justice to the spirit. This is the spirit of Jesus and his Father. This is God the Holy Spirit, the spirit who gives everlasting life. We live in a world today that is so topsy-turvy that it becomes more and more clear each day just how much spirit it takes to defend God's law. But the great English journalist G. K. Chesterton had a very optimistic view of this sort of challenge. He noted that the "act of defending any of the cardinal vir- tues has today all the exhilaration of a vice." Would that each of us would give ourselves over to this exhilaration. "Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!"
Conform to the image of the cross
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. Sept. 17: Bishop Carroll Cath- olic High School Pastor Day Mass at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 18-25: Events for the re- turn of the remains of Fr. Kapaun back to the Diocese of Wichita Sept. 27: Fr. Kapaun vespers with priests, 7 p.m. Sept. 28: Fr. Kapaun Funeral vigil at Hartman Arena at 7 p.m. (ticketed event) Sept. 29: Fr. Kapaun Funeral Mass at Hartman Arena at 10:30 a.m. (ticketed event); Procession to Cathedral and internment to follow. Sept. 30: St. Joseph House of Formation Holy Hour and dinner October Oct. 1-6: Pilgrimage to Canada to visit the St. Joseph Shrine Oct. 7: Mass and Inauguration of President Jagger at St. John Chapel, Newman University: Ves- pers for close of Rosary Congress
THE CATHOLIC ADVANCE
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The dispensation has been Lifted. Don't forget to go to Mass Sunday.
at the Cathedral at 6 p.m.: Dinner with Parents of Seminarians (fol- lowing vespers) Oct. 8: Newman University Board of Trustees meeting Oct. 9: Mass in front of Wichita abortion clinic at 9 a.m. Oct. 9-10: Pastoral visit to St. Mary's Newton Oct. 10: Diocesan Wedding Anniversary Mass at 3:30 p.m. at the Cathedral Bishop Carl A. Kemme has announced four changes in priest assignments. Father Stuart Smeltzer has been appointed parochial admin- istrator of Sacred Heart in Fredo- nia and St. Ignatius in Neodesha effective Aug. 17, 2021. Father Kyle Dugan has been appointed as pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Conway Springs, effec- tive Aug. 17, 2021. Fr. Andrew Hoffman has been appointed Associate Vocation Di- rector remaining as Pastor of St. Paul Parish, Wichita State Univer- sity, Sept. 10, 2021 Fr. Garrett Burns has been appointed Associate Vocation Di- rector remaining as Parochial Vic- ar of St. Margaret Mary, Wichita, Sept. 10, 2021 (A related article appears on page 5.)
Bishop announces priest assignments
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September 17, 2021
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Catholic Advance
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Evan- gelism and Christian unity were the main topics at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast Sept. 14, an event which often puts more emphasis on politics and pro-life advocacy. The commitment to the truth will always transcend the knee- jerk categories and characteriza- tions that are the media's daily bread, let's face it," said Bishop Steven J. Lopes, who heads the Houston-based Personal Ordinari- ate of the Chair of St. Peter. The ordinariate was established by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 and designed to reach out to those raised in the Anglican tradition. Our fundamental reverence for the sanctity of human life does not begin at birth. Nor does it end at the border. That's what it means to be Catholic," he told the audi- ence of about 1,100 at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Washington. The bishop said devotion to the dignity of the individual person gets uncomfortable, because it puts us on edge and at the edge of political discourse." The bishop, the event's keynote speaker, also quoted from Pope Pius XI, who was pope from 1922 to 1939, about the threat of inter- nal discord and political parties with differences based not on phil- osophical beliefs but on the love of power. You see, the pope was calling out woke-ism before we even had the word," he said. Jeff Cavins, a longtime podcast- er, Catholic evangelist and Bible teacher, also addressed breakfast attendees, telling them: "Every- thing we've been called to is above our gifts. Sharing Jesus and the mission of the Gospel to other peo- ple is exactly what the Holy Spirit needs to get into their hearts."
National Catholic Prayer Breakfast speakers emphasize evangelism, unity
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