The story we hear in Mark’s Gospel is of a blind beggar, Bartimaeus, a seemingly annoying beggar who is inserting himself into the crowd following Jesus and seeking to overcome the noise of the crowd and gain Jesus’ attention. As the crowd attempts to shut him up, Jesus approaches Bartimaeus and gentle asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Master, I want to see,” says Bartimaeus. Jesus replies, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”
When it comes to scary illnesses or real tragedies, the quietest of Catholics will reach out to others for help. On Friday, November 13, our parish will celebrate a Mass of Healing at the Friday daily Mass. The intention of the Mass will be for God’s abundant blessings upon all who are sick and are facing tough times. We will use a special Mass of healing and then, after the Mass, I will offer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. This is not “last rites.” This is one of the seven sacraments of our Church instituted by Christ for our benefit. Christ knows we need this grace and healing
Today’s Gospel poses four points to us that should direct us—in our lives—to write the ending of this gospel in light of our own personal lives. The gospel begins as a man runs up to Jesus with a question: What must I do to inherit Eternal Life? You can almost hear the excitement, even his breathlessness in these words. Jesus responds by telling him to sell everything that he possess and dedicate himself to the poor, the vulnerable in society and you will in fact have treasures in heaven. Let’s see how scripture scholars what us to understand this gospel:
.A most sincere thanks to the Men’s and Women’s Club Ministries, under the direction of Lou Daniels and Michelle Helitzer, and many others for their excellent planning and executing of our recent Welcome Back Parish Picnic! I want to express my sincere and deep appreciation to all for their time and talent that went into making this day a wonderful experience for our parish family. Thanks also to the more than 260 attendees who enjoyed a great family day.
Pope Francis’ recent visit was a media-love-affair. It seemed like everyone reporting it was "Catholic" and the Holy Father’s message of love and peace was well received. Some commentators focused on this first-ever pontifical speech to a Joint Session of Congress, others attempted to analyze his United Nations address, still more highlighted the pope’s break-a-way-from-security-forces to kiss a child or bless an elderly person that put fear into the hearts of the Secret Service, but the real message was one of Evangelization.