Homily for Sunday, August 1, 2010: Dear Parishioners,
“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” (Lk 12:15) Our Lord exhorts us to be vigilant against our tendency towards greed. St. Paul, in our second reading from Colossians also advises us: “If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). Many may not realize that these readings, especially the Gospel, speak to the tenth commandment: “You shall not covet…anything that is your neighbor’s…you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field or his manservant or his maidservant or his ox or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17; Deut 5:21).
The catechism, especially paragraph CCC2536, says: “The tenth commandment forbids greed and the desire to amass earthly goods without limit. It forbids avarice arising from a passion for riches and their attendant power. It also forbids the desire to commit injustice by harming our neighbor in his temporal goods: “When the law says ‘you shall not covet’, these words mean that we should banish our desires for whatever does not belong to us. Our thirst for another’s goods is immense, infinite, never quenched. Thus it is written ‘He who loves money never has money enough’.” (Roman Catechism III, 37; cf. Sirach 5:8) God’s wisdom instructs us further. In the book of Proverbs, it says: “in his riches man lacks wisdom.” Many of us believe it is a wise and prudent thing to save for a retirement fund, and so it is. But God’s wisdom today also reminds us to invest in true and lasting wealth. What I mean is that we do not always realize that our days are numbered. We live our lives as if there will always be “time later” to do the things our crammed schedules force us to put off. “We can always make it up to our loved ones tomorrow or next weekend or during vacation or after this project,” we say. But the gospel makes clear that there is a limit to our time here on earth. Like the rich farmer who was so self-centered and so self-sufficient, we shut ourselves off from life’s most enriching moments. What is really a little frightening about this is that it can happen to us without our realizing it is happening. Sisters and brothers, let us heed our Lord’s warnings to us and seek the true and lasting happiness of becoming “rich in what matters to God” (Lk 12:21). “Faith,” someone once said, “is the constant awareness that life is a journey of discovery of the holy in our midst, as we make our way to God’s eternal dwelling place.” Peace, Father Mike
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Announcements To all the students of St. John School: have a wonderful and safe summer and we will see you back in autumn 2010! Congratulations, St. John School Class of 2010!
Congratulations to the students of the St. John School Class of 2010, who graduated on Sunday, June 13th, 2010 at the 10:00 Mass. Deidre Arcand Andrew Biehl Michael Iannuci-Berger Julia Nattila Victoria Palmer Lauren Reynolds Christian Saraceno Michaella Toledo Caitlin Wilton | Kassandra Bayles Lynsey Grzejszczak
Jordan Lombardo Ikechi Ndukwu Christy Parmenter Mariclare Rowland Nicholas Sowa Michaela Tyrrell Alexandra Zampini |
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Welcome New Parishioners!!! We welcome new parishioners to St. John Church who have started attending Mass !. If you are considering becoming a member of St. John Parish, please take the time to register yourself at the Parish Office. Census sheets are available in the front of the church every weekend before and after Mass. Please fill one out and either drop it in the collection basket, or mail it to: St. John Church Parish Office, c/o Megan Furtado, Secretary, 19 St. John Square, Middletown, CT 06457. Thank you, and welcome!!! PLEASE NOTE: If you arrive late to Mass, please be sure to close the glass doors at the front of the church behind you in order to limit the noise disturbance from the street. Thank you
Daily Mass Canceled On Days Of
Weddings/Funerals
The 8:00 AM daily Masses will be cancelled on days when there is a wedding or funeral booked. The Parish Secretary will make every effort to contact the family members who booked the original Mass well in advance in order to reschedule to another date that works for them. If there is no response from the family, the intentions for those Masses will be rescheduled for the next available day. We apologize for the inconvenience; thank you for your cooperation.
QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Parishioners who have questions, concerns, or comments about St. John Parish, please feel free to talk to any member of the Parish Council. If you’d like, the Parish Council member can bring your questions, concerns, or comments to Fr. Mike, Pam Perrone, Maria Galanto, Emily Galanto, Don and Mary Davignon, Kathy Drajewicz, Salvatore and Debra Liistro, Rita Hassett, Joanne Inferrera, and Lori Broderick. You may also contact Pam Perrone at 860-342-0181. |
To better understand your catholic faith or to answer any questions you may have, please visit our "Catholic Resources" page by clicking here.... If you have children and need help teaching them about their faith, please visit our " St. John's Kids" page by clicking here.... (We even include some links to help with their homework.)
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