Possessions are necessary for life. Money and possessions are very much needed to continue our life. Money or possessions play an important role in our lives. We need money to feed a family, we need money to clothe and educate children. We need a lot of money to go to college. We need money to live a healthy life. Therefore, we need to work hard and plan our future and educate our children. But possessions can assume such an importance in one’s life that they become obsessions. When one is so consumed with the things that one could have, so much so, that one no longer hears the urgent call of God, then one has indeed got one’s priorities all mixed up.

 The Word of God on this 18^th Sunday in Ordinary time invites us to “look for the things that are in heaven”. It’s an invitation to focus on God rather than material things of this world. It invites us to look at life beyond all these material things which pass away, because everything and everyone is “here today and gone tomorrow” because, life does not consist in having possessions and increasing possession. Rather the purpose of life is to become rich in God’s sight.

 The first reading, taken from Ecclesiastes, reminds us that the greedy achievement of goods and the selfish hoarding of them are useless because when the hoarder dies, he goes to eternity empty-handed, and his heir gains, and perhaps squanders, his riches.

 Today’s Gospel warns us against any sort of excessive attachment to riches and worldly pleasures. The rich man’s land yields a great harvest. He takes pleasure in accumulation. The language he speaks is ‘I’ and ‘my,’ highly insulated with selfishness and ego. It is said, “Desire is the root cause of all evil.” Beyond the rich man’s will and wish there is a plan of God which he did not discern, and this failure makes him a ‘fool’. We are called to lay up treasures for God, not for ourselves.

In our second reading St. Paul tells us that one who is raised with Christ will seek the things that are above and not the things on earth. If we are living for sensual pleasures, enjoying every occasion of luxury and passion, then we are not of the new creation and we have not yet died to our old self. On this Sunday let us pray that we may put to death what is earthly in ourselves and raise our hearts to God.

 God bless you. Have a great summer.

Fr. Kishore Battu SAC

Vincent Bocher a Jesuit Brother use to organize social projects helping mission places in India. In 2012, he inspired some  youth in France to raise some funds and come to do mission projects in India. These were students from France pursuing medicine. We were fortunate to have them come down to our Parish for their field mission experience. They spent a month helping the poorest of the poor in missions constructing fresh rooms for families. 

They had themselves trained in the most effective way of communicating the Gospel message. Taking time off from their studies, they travelled to the area chosen and spent a month giving themselves completely to this work. Things like this are happening all over the world. There are indications that we are now in the age of laity. Throughout the church today our lay people are feeling the stirring of the spirit. They are no longer content to be passive members of the church. They want to play an active role in the church. They play a large role in having an effective say in the running of the church affairs. For instance, taking part in decision making, knowing what money is received and how it is spent, having a greater part to play in liturgy, etc.

  In today’s Gospel passage we find Jesus sending out seventy-two of his disciples on a missionary journey. These seventy-two are distinct from the 12 Apostles who had already been sent out on a similar journey (Lk.9). They are committed followers of Jesus but do not appear to have held any position of authority. They belong to the body of Jesus’ followers that today we would call the laity. Later, in the Acts of the Apostles, we find these followers of Jesus leaving Jerusalem during the persecution that broke out after the martyrdom of Stephen. They travel north to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, “Preaching the Lord Jesus”, and a great number believed and are received into the church. 

Friends, this is not surprising for the whole Church is missionary, as we have been reminded so strongly by Vatican II.  Today’s Gospel reminds each one of us that every Catholic is called and commissioned by his baptism and confirmation to be sent forth to spread everywhere the Good News proclaimed by Jesus. As we understand more clearly this truth and respond to it, we can see a glorious period of evangelization opening up for the Church.

 The question for us today: Do I volunteer and participate in Parish apostolate?  

 Fr. Kishore Battu SAC

Sudden Cardiac Arrest /AED Awareness Presentation

Combat Sudden Cardiac Arrest— Help Save a Life!

All are invited to an Awareness Presentation for the AED’s located in the Church and 2 in the School. The presentation will take place on Thursday, July 18th at 7 p.m. in the School Gym.

This presentation provides general knowledge of the lifesaving capabilities of Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) use.

Please contact Bonnie at 313-532-4394 x201 if you will be attending.

This weekend the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity is at the core of our faith.  It is an integral part of our sacramental life and prayer. We were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  

Each time we sign ourselves with the cross to pray, we use those same words. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity “the central mystery of Christian faith and life.” (#234) It also says, “The Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strictest sense, one of the ‘mysteries that are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by God.’” (#237) The Catechism of the Catholic Church goes on to explain the revelation of the Trinity: basically that the Father was revealed by the Son – “he is eternally Father by his relationship to his only Son, who reciprocally, is Son only in relation to his Father.” (#240) As for the Holy Spirit, before the Passover, Jesus announced the sending of the Paraclete who would be with and in all the disciples to teach them and guide them “into all the truth.” (#243) “The Spirit is sent to the apostles and to the Church both by the Father in the name of the Son, and by the Son in person, once he has returned to the Father. The sending of the person of the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ glorification reveals in its fullness the mystery of the Holy Trinity.” (#244) 

 As we celebrate the mystery of our Triune God this week, we give glory to God who is perfect love, who demonstrates that love in the relationship and unity between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We give thanks to God for his unconditional love for us and for sharing his very divine life with all of us. 

Let us continue to praise God by taking time each day this week to pray a simple prayer we learned as children: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.  

Father’s Day

On this Father’s Day weekend we wish many blessings on all Fathers, may the Spirit continue to guide them as they play their role as Fathers.

Blessing of Fathers

God and Father of all creation,
we come before you today

with humble hearts.
You are our model of a loving father.
When we fail and fall short of your expectations,
you are always there at the end of the day with open arms, ready to heal the cuts and scrapes of the day and to encourage us to try again and not to give up.

We hold up these men in our midst who act in the world as fathers to their children or models of fathers for others.

Bless them in their moments of doubt and frustration with their children.
Give them warm and open hearts to forgive failures.

Provide them with the words needed for encouragement and perseverance.
We ask all this in the name of Jesus.
Amen.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about His relationship with us through the metaphor of the Shepherd and the sheep. The thought of Jesus as the Shepherd has comforted many a million souls. Children retiring to bed have often said the prayer: “Jesus tender Shepherd, hear me; bless thy little lamb tonight.” And even old men, lying on their death beds have silently whispered to themselves. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”

The risen Christ is our Good Shepherd. He continues to be with us shepherding us and feeding us with His Body and Blood and leads us to our heavenly Father. The risen Lord tells us in today’s Gospel that we need to listen to His voice. And those who listen and believe in Him, He gives eternal life.

As we continue to enjoy in this Easter season let us pray that we may be filled with the grace of God so that we can listen to Jesus’ voice and follow him.

World Day of Prayer for Vocations

Today has been designated as “World Day of Prayer for Vocations”. Today, in a special way, we must pray for priestly and religious and married vocations. The world needs Jesus and His message. One of the renowned poets says, “As wounds always require medicine, so Christ is always necessary as long as sin resides in this world.” We need young men and women to take the Good News of Christ to the nook and corner of the world. Let us pray for all shepherds, starting from the Holy Father, Pope Francis, to all priests to strengthen them with His grace, to be good shepherds who are really concerned with their flock’s safety, wellbeing and salvation.

Mother’s Day

Today we celebrate Mother’sDay (Happy Mother’s Day to our beautiful mothers). Mother’s Day is in May because May is the month of the Blessed Mother. Mother Mary is the model for all mothers, it is said that there is no love like a mother’s love. A mother loves her child simply because the child is. There is no question of the child earning his mother’s love. He can do nothing for his mother, or even acknowledge her love. A mother’s love for her child is unconditional. That’s why a Mother’s love is compared with God’s love. In the book of Sirach we read, “Whoever glorifies his mother is like one who lays up treasure. When he prays, he will be heard.” (Sirach3:3). To our mothers we cannot give back what they give us sufficiently and equally. The best gift we can give to our mothers today is to pray a rosary for them, if possible, even better, with them. I wish all mothers a Happy Mother’s Day.