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Today’s First Reading (Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10) is another version of the familiar scenario in which a prophet is ignored, derided and miss-treated. In this case, it is Jeremiah who prophesied in Jerusalem during the reign of King Zedekiah. For many years he had warned the people of Judah about an oncoming disaster. Often referred to as “the weeping prophet,” Jeremiah scolded the Jewish leadership of the day for its failure to worship the one true God alone, and for its reliance on military alliances with other nations instead of trusting in the Lord.

On Thursday, August 15th, we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is a Holy Day of Obligation, meaning that Mass attendance is obligatory. Here at Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Masses will be offered at 6:30 am, 8:15 am (OLF School Mass), and 5:30 pm. Please note that the evening Mass on Holy Days of Obligation will now be at 5:30 pm rather than 6:30 pm.

Our Scripture Readings for Mass today remind us of the old saying: “You don’t see U-Hauls behind hearses in the funeral procession,” or simply, “You can’t take it with you.” It’s food for thought.

We live in a world where the internet has become an essential method of communication. Friends and family members no longer have to wait several days to receive a letter. Communication is now instantaneous. Email (and texts, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) have replaced “snail mail” in many cases. Although the speed of internet messaging is a blessing, it may also reduce the intimacy and sensitivity that generally comes from face-to-face conversations, making it easier to be less tactful in our internet dialogue. Indeed, there is a certain sense of anonymity that comes with internet communications that may reduce inhibitions and heighten the level of uncivil language.

Today’s Gospel story of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42) shows the futility of active service which, because it is not based on attentive listening to God’s word and nourished by such listening, becomes mere busyness. When Jesus says to Martha, “You are anxious and worried about many things,” he is not criticizing her for performing the duties of hospitality, but for doing so without first attending to his word. Martha, we might say, is the kind of person who likes to go about doing good without understanding and embracing the underlying reasons for the good that she does. It is almost like being busy just for the sake of being busy! Some would claim that she was providing hospitality to Jesus and his disciples, but would not the first order of hospitality be to attend to what Jesus was saying?

I would like to share some information regarding the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, formerly known as “Last Rites” or “Extreme Unction” (“Last Anointing”). In the celebration of this Sacrament of the Church, the Priest lays hands upon the ill person (typically on the top of their head) and then anoints them by applying the Oil of the Sick to the forehead and palms of the hands while offering prayers including: “May the Lord, in His love and mercy, help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin, save you, and raise you up.” Through this Sacrament the Priest prepares a gravely ill person to receive medical care, and ultimately prepares such a person for the passage to eternal life.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is sending out 72 disciples in pairs to go to every town he intended to visit. This Gospel passage provides several points for us to reflect upon. First, it challenges us to reflect upon the baggage we carry with us throughout life – material possessions as well as emotional guilt and grudges that weigh us down and prevent us from sharing the peace of Christ with others or even experiencing it ourselves. The point is not that possessions are bad in and of themselves. We simply need to be careful not to let our possessions possess us. How can we let go of those things or feelings that hold us back from loving God as completely as we should?

The Scriptures today refer to God’s call and the necessity for us to provide an answer to that call with an act of faith. If we truly believe the Lord to be the sovereign in the center of our hearts, then we must obey God’s call without delay or excuse. In today’s First Reading (1 Kings 19: 16b, 19-21) God had instructed Elijah that Elisha is to succeed him as a prophet of Israel. But upon hearing of this call, Elisha wanted to go and bid farewell to his family, and perhaps get his affairs in order.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). The Catholic Church has consistently taught from Apostolic times that during a valid celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the bread and wine are truly changed into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is what is meant by the “True Presence” or “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist. Although the elements still have the appearance of bread and wine, they have – through the power of the Holy Spirit – actually changed into Jesus’ Body and Blood, just as they did at the Last Supper.

Today we celebrate one of the most fundamental beliefs of Christianity: the Most Holy Trinity – three distinct, coequal Persons in one God. For the Church, the Trinity is considered a mystery. There are aspects of the Trinity that we will never fully grasp while we are this side of Heaven. But it is something we hold as revealed truth. We may never comprehend its totality, but we experience its presence and accept its reality. Today’s Scripture Readings touch on the distinctions, as well as the linkages, between and among the Persons of the Trinity.

In the Scripture Readings for today’s Mass, we hear two accounts of the Pentecost. The more dramatic of the two occurs in our First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-11) where the Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles, empowering them to speak in different tongues so that the Jews from different lands who had gathered in Jerusalem could hear the message of Jesus proclaimed in their own language. The second, and perhaps less dramatic account is found in today’s Gospel (John 20:19-23) where the Risen Jesus, himself, appears to the Apostles on Easter Sunday, breathes the Holy Spirit upon them, empowers them to forgive sins in his name, and commissions them to go forth and continue the mission of announcing the coming of the Kingdom of God.

With hindsight and the benefit of the Bible, as well as 2000 years of Church teaching, we are able to understand the progression from Resurrection to Ascension to Pentecost. This understanding was not so easy for the early disciples of Jesus as they experienced these events.

How many of us have wished, in moments of indecision, that God would send us a clear sign about what we are called to do at that moment? At times like these, when we are surrounded by turmoil and indecision, it can be easy to feel as though God has abandoned us and left us alone to fend for ourselves. But the Scripture Readings for today’s Mass, as we get ever closer to the great Feast of Pentecost, are reassuring. We are not alone, but have God, the Church, and the people around us to give us guidance and support when we need it – as long as we are open to the different ways in which the Holy Spirit operates in our daily lives.

Everyone, believers and nonbelievers alike, is familiar with the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In other words, treat others in the way that you, yourself, would like to be treated. We can all agree that this is very reasonable and practical, and makes good sense. Even Jesus seems to endorse it! But as we hear in today’s Gospel (John 13:31-33a, 34-35), Jesus is never one for simply minimums or convenient half-measures. He always calls us to a higher standard or way of thinking – one that exceeds human expectations and aligns itself with the ways of God.

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is commonly referred to as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” No matter which liturgical cycle we are in, the Gospel will always be about Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and the accompanying readings relate to this as well. So great is our Good Shepherd that he knows each of us by name and gives us eternal life.

I would imagine that most of us have had at least one experience in which we were deeply hurt by another person – perhaps by someone we cared for very much. Our emotions can be very powerful at such a time and we can be consumed with feelings of hostility and resentment. If the hurt is deep enough, we may be tempted to give up on the relationship and avoid that person altogether, stubbornly refusing even the slightest move toward reconciliation, and speaking badly about the person to anyone else who will listen.

Today we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. It is a Feast Day formally established by Pope St. John Paul II. According to private revelations that she recorded in her diary, St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun, reported that Jesus had appeared to her on several occasions. He called for a Feast of Mercy to be observed on the Second Sunday of Easter and said that this Feast of Mercy would be a very special day when “all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened” (St. Faustina’s Diary, 699). Our Lord made a great promise to all those souls who would go to Confession and then receive Him in Holy Communion on the Feast of His Mercy, now called Divine Mercy Sunday, throughout the Catholic Church. Jesus promised that “The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain the complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.” (St. Faustina’s Diary, 699)

Christ is Risen! Indeed He has Risen! This proclamation, spoken since the first Easter, reminds us of what this day – the Feast of the Resurrection – is truly all about. In our modern world, Easter is often seen as a one-day event of bunnies, candy, pastel colored eggs, and a sumptuous family meal. But these things alone really miss the significance that this day truly holds.

Holy Week begins today and we should enter this week with reverence, enthusiastically embracing the rituals associated with it. To celebrate Holy Week is, after all, to celebrate who we have become through Christ’s Paschal Mystery. I hope that throughout the season of Lent you have prayed, fasted, and performed works of charity. Lent ends with the beginning of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday.

Like the prophets who preceded him, Jesus’ life and ministry was tied to the Temple in Jerusalem. It was there that he was presented by Mary and Joseph as an infant. It was there that he held the priests and scribes spellbound at the age of twelve. It was there, as an adult, that his ministry was centered, especially during the week leading up to his passion.