BIG C CATHOLICS

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) When it comes to stories about what Jesus did, Mark’s Gospel is usually the most interesting because he gives the most detail, not leaving a lot of room to the imagination. Today’s passage is something of an exception. This has the advantage of allowing us to do some creative listening, to embroider on the text. We might embellish various parts of the story. What else did Jesus say to the man as he led him away from the crowd? Who was allowed to accompany him? Why did the evangelist record the word of healing in the original Aramaic language? Why didn’t Jesus want anyone to know what he had done? But let’s take just one example. Put yourself in the place of the man whose hearing and speech has just been restored by Jesus. Now that you can say something, do you have anything to say? What are the first words out of your mouth? Presumably they would be ent...

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) You just now heard an old Aramaic word: “Ephphatha.” It means, “be opened” and was used by our Blessed Lord, the Son of God, as a divine command. He was, of course, dealing with a deaf man who lived in a city name Tyre located in what we know of today as southern Lebanon. Immediately prior to this event Jesus had driven out an evil spirit from the daughter of a Phoenician woman. They lived in a nearby city called Tyre. Jesus delivered this man from the bondage of deafness. In the bible passage immediately before this one Jesus had delivered a little girl from some sort of evil spirit that had taken over her inner soul. Both the man and the girl had been blocked from experiencing the goodness life in which God intends for us to live. Ephphatha – be opened. Are we open or are we closed? Ephphatha — be open to what life offers you. If you are living all closed up and apart from the goodness that surrounds yo...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) What’s wrong with washing your hands before you eat? What’s wrong with washing cups and jugs and kettles and beds? Nothing, of course. Cleanliness is next to godliness. Jesus did not criticize the Scribes and Pharisees for doing these things. What provoked his reaction was their reference to hand washing as "the tradition of the elders" and the reference to "unclean hands." As you know, "unclean" in the Bible is not the same as "dirty." It has to do with one’s suitability to participate in community and worship. Since a blessing was pronounced on all foods before eating, it made sense that you would not want to be "unclean" in any way. It isn’t so different from restaurants, however informal and casual, having a policy that reads, "No shirt, no shoes, no service." In other words not observing a ...

Fr. Charles Irvin Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-8; James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mark 7:1-8,14-45,21-13 Over the past few decades we’ve all become increasingly concerned with preserving and protecting the natural environment in which we live and upon which we must survive. Ecology has entered our vocabulary. We know now about rain forests, the ozone layer, global warming, and the toxic effluents generated by our means of production. Pollution is a terrible reality. We know, too, about our terrible rate of consumption of the world’s natural resources. A lot of evils and human suffering result from the way we live not only here in America but in other parts of the world as well. There is another problem equally as serious to which we’re giving some attention these days… that’s the toxic presence of moral pollution that’s pervasive in our culture and that’s threatening the future lives of our children and grandchildren. Living in a clean world involves more than simply what we’re doing to the mat...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) "Many of his disciples no longer accompanied him." I prefer the classic translation, "They walked with him no longer," as presenting a more forceful image. Not his enemies, but Jesus’ own disciples were falling away from him. They didn’t like what he was saying, and that was that. To be fair, let it be noted that what Jesus was saying was exactly what they called it, "a hard saying." So they applied what we might call "the logic of dislike." We have all seen it. We have all done it. The logic is very simple. It goes a little like this: 1) I try something; 2) I don’t like it; 3) I will never try it again. In the case of today’s Gospel: 1) This Jesus is fascinating; 2) I don’t like this business of eating flesh and drinking blood; 3) Goodbye, Jesus. There are some situations, indeed many, where the logic of dislik...

Fr. Charles Irvin Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17; Ephesians 5:21-32; John 6:60-69 Today’s readings prompt me to share some thoughts with you about choices, decisions, and commitments. Each and every day we consider choices presented to us, and then make our decisions. There comes a moment when our consideration ends and we raise a choice to the level of our wills, and thereby make it a freely chosen decision.   A decision can be of a short-term sort, or one intended to last over a long period of time, perhaps a lifetime decision carrying a permanent quality – a “forever” decision. Some of those permanent decisions are raised to the level of vows. They are given and placed in the hands of God; they are made and given in God’s presence, power, and love. Being human we all suffer from a weakness imbedded deep within us, namely the original sin depicted in the story of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Their resolve was weakened, their choices and decisions were corrupted, their willpower w...

August 15, 2021 November 1st, 1950, in his Apostolic Constitution  Munificentissimus Deus , Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary a dogma of the Catholic Church. The doctrine of the Assumption solemnly decrees that at the end of her earthly life Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven. Contrary to popular perception, Our Lady did not "ascend" into heaven. Only Christ ascended into heaven under his own power. Mary was taken up into heaven by God. In celebrating her most glorious Assumption, we ask Mary to help us live with faith and hope, seeking God's will in all things. May she enlighten our minds to the destiny that awaits us, the dignity of every person, and God’s immense love for all humanity. "Now toward the end of the summer season, at a time when fruits are ripe in the gardens and fields, the Church celebrates the most glorious "harvest festival" in the Communion of Saints. Mary, the supremely blessed one among women, Mary, the...

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Elijah definitely did not have friends in high places. It didn’t help his cause that he had killed all the prophets of Baal. Their chief patroness, Queen Jezebel, expressed her displeasure in these terms: “May the gods do thus to me and more, if by this time tomorrow I have not done with your life what was done to each of them.” In other words, she ordered a hit on him. First he fled about ninety miles, from Mount Carmel near modern-day Haifa in northern Israel, to Beersheba, some forty-five miles south of Jerusalem, in the desert. And to top it off, the best shade he could find was from a broom tree, a plant which is adapted to survive extreme drought conditions. It produces very small leaves, which last only a short time. So Elijah got tired of running away and was ready to give up. “Enough!” he cried, praying for death. God of course had other plans, a...

Fr. Charles Irvin 1st Kings 19:4-8; Ephesians 4:30-5:2; John 6:41-51 Some time ago I received an e-mail telling me about cactus plants, a topic that had not in the past provoked much interest on my part. After all, I pictured them to be gawkish and unattractive, although I have seen some cacti that appeared to have surrealistic heads and arms resembling human forms that exercised my imagination. Nevertheless, I read on. Pictures came as attachments to that e-mail, and when I opened them up and viewed those pictures I was delighted to find that cacti produce stunningly beautiful blossoms, all of which brought me to reassess my judgments about cactus plants. Evidently there was a whole lot more to them than I thought. My “know-it-all” previous judgments about cacti completely blocked me from seeing the beauty that lay hidden within them. That lesson can be applied to the way we see people, especially people about whom we have a “know-it-all” attitude. All of us are familiar with w...