Celebrations bring happiness to all! At Holy Family Parish, the celebrant asks the congregation a question at the beginning of Mass, “Are there any birthdays or wedding anniversaries we can recognize and celebrate?” We publicly recognize and celebrate birthdays and wedding anniversaries because the life of every person is sacred, has meaning and purpose, and is a blessing from God. Each time we celebrate a special occasion together, we confidently seek an increase of blessing, peace, and joy, in that person’s heart and in the world at large. Each unique celebration is a call from God for new hope.
This Saturday, following the 5pm Mass, the Multicultural Ministry at Holy Family invites the parish at large to celebrate the Feast of the Birth of Mary with delicious foods and desserts. We can also take a moment and reflect on the gift of Mary’s life and give honor to Jesus. When Mary was born, the world did not even know who she was. Sometimes, we ourselves and others don’t take time to recognize how uniquely blessed and special we are. Maybe we have forgotten that God has called us by name, right now, to do something special with our life. We too are invited to channel God’s love and peace in the world. This was true in the life of Mary, whose birth we celebrate. The Multicultural Ministry also celebrates Mary’s birth under the title, “Our Lady of Czestochowa.” This inimitable title has special meaning to me because of my own Polish heritage. Over the years, I have had several opportunities to travel to Poland and visit this shrine where a beautiful icon of Mary is framed in precious metals of gold and silver, along with precious gems and jewels, referred to as, “The Black Madonna.” Thousands and thousands of lives have been transformed and deepened by pilgrims to this Polish countryside. Christian charity in action is the essence of every pilgrimage, along with time for prayer and the reception of the sacraments.
When I traveled to Czestochowa on my first pilgrimage, what impressed me the most was the deep faith of the pilgrims and the love and care they showed towards the sick and afflicted. I remember feeling a deep sense of peace and tangible connection to my faith in seeing the diversity of the pilgrims and the global phenomenon our faith has in Jesus. I learned that one didn’t have to speak the same language in order to communicate and that relationships can develop in many different ways.
The readings for this 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time invite us to see our own faith as real, tangible and experienced through the love and service we give to one another. The prophet Isaiah speaks of cures and miracles as true signs that the age of the Messiah has dawned. “He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.” (Isaiah 35:4-5). Nobody is excluded from the healing touch of God. Jesus cares for the suffering, the sick, and the disabled. The journey of Jesus crossing through the Decapolis region verging into a non-Jewish territory reminds us that all places are equally the domain of God. The deaf man who has a speech impediment and is highlighted in today’s Gospel reminds us that a new age is dawning. God has come close enough to touch each one of us, one by one, in Jesus. Let us celebrate today God’s open heart to all who are afflicted and burdened by life’s difficulties.
There are a great number of people in the world today who need care and help. Maybe we can become a little more sensitive to their sufferings. As a faith community, we are invited to come close enough to touch every person in charity and love, one by one. This opportunity is a unique gift from God, for both the person being served and for the one serving. May our daily encounters with one another be a special celebration, an opportunity to increase blessing, peace and joy, in another person’s heart and in our own. We are called to see that every day is a celebration and a call from God for new hope.
We were asked to share this statement of Cardinal Blase J. Cupich on a misleading NBC Chicago report on August 29, 2018:
An NBC Chicago TV report that aired Monday night was edited in such a way that gave the false impression that Pope Francis and I consider the protection of children to be less important than other issues, such as the environment or immigration. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A review of the unedited footage of that interview shows that I was referring to the recent letter by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, not the terrible crime of clergy sexual abuse. I said that it was not appropriate, or even possible for Pope Francis to respond to the letter’s many undocumented allegations, and I endorsed his request that journalists determine their veracity.
I was then asked whether there should be an independent investigation of the Archbishop Theodore McCarrick case, and I endorsed the call of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, for a thorough investigation. The edited report created the false impression that my comment that the pope should not “go down the rabbit hole” of the allegations in the Viganò letter was about sexual abuse. As the unedited footage shows, it was not.
As I wrote in my letter responding to the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report: “Whatever words we may use to describe the anguish of reading about these heinous acts, they can never capture the reality of suffering endured by victims of sexual abuse, suffering compounded by the woeful responses of bishops who failed to protect the people they were ordained to serve We must resolve to face our failures and hold each other accountable. We must resolve to be clear-eyed about what we have done, what we have failed to do, and what remains to be done. We must resolve to live in the light of humility, of repentance, of honesty — the light of Christ. As your bishop, I pledge to continue holding firm to that resolve. And I ask for you to pray for all victims of abuse.
Fr. Rich Jakubik