TENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

ESPERANZA Y VIDA

Today’s readings tell the story of two widows. The first reading relates the plight of the widow with whom the prophet Elijah stayed; the Gospel tells about the widow of Nain. In each story, the widow’s only son had died. For people who lived in those cultures, the son was the only support of a widow, and the carrying on of the family name by the son was equal to immortality. A widow whose only son has died could lose all hope.
Elijah and Jesus are the restorers of hope; they bring the sons back to life. Saint Paul was metaphorically raised from the dead when he experienced the conversion and call from God that he describes in today’s second reading.
What are Christians called to do today? We may not be able to raise the dead, but perhaps we can rekindle hope for a single parent. We may not be able to convert a persecutor like Paul, but if we speak the gospel openly and gently with our lives, we might touch a life with the Good News.

Las Escrituras del hoy nos cuentan la historia de dos viudas. La primera lectura relata la difícil situación en la que vivía la viuda con la que el profeta Elías se quedó y el Evangelio cuenta la historia de la viuda de Naín, en cada una de estas historias cada viuda el hijo único de ellas murió. En la cultura de esos países en ese tiempo, el hijo era el sustento para la viuda y quien además continuaba la descendencia familiar que era igual a la inmortalidad. La viuda cuyo único hijo hubiera muerto perdía toda esperanza.
Elías y Jesús son los restauradores de esperanza; ellos devuelven la vida a sus hijos. San Pablo, metafóricamente hablando, revivió de la muerte a la vida cuando él se convirtió después de la llamada de Dios de la que él habla en la segunda lectura.
¿A qué están llamados los cristianos hoy en día? Quizá no podemos revivir de la muerte, pero quizá podemos reanimar la esperanza de un padre o una madre soltera. Quizá no podemos convertir a un perseguidor como Pablo, pero si abiertamente hacemos vida el Evangelio en nuestras vidas, podríamos tocar una vida con la Buena Nueva.

PASTOR'S MESSAGE

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

Rediscovering the Eucharist: Celebration and Adoration. How providential that June opens, in this Year of Faith, with the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). June’s Sunday Gospels show Jesus comforting the afflicted and forgiving sin, predicting his saving passion and challenging would-be disciples to take up their cross daily and follow him. But faithful discipleship is impossible without the grace that flows from Christ’s Eucharistic sacrifice, without the comfort bestowed by Jesus’ abiding Eucharistic presence. Thus June becomes a grace-filled opportunity to renew our appreciation of the multiple dimensions of the Eucharist by rediscovering the riches of the Church’s teaching: Eucharist as sacrifice and paschal banquet (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1322–1372, 1382–1390; Compendium, 271, 275, 280-281; YouCat, 212); Christ’s Real Presence (Catechism, 1373–1381; Compendium, 282–283; YouCat, 216–218); full, conscious and active participation (internal and external) (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 14; Catechism, 1345–1355); fruits of the Eucharist in our personal and communal lives (Catechism, 1391–1401); Eucharist as pledge of future glory (Catechism, 1402–1405).

May this Year kindle in every believer a resolve to profess the faith in its fullness, with renewed conviction, and to celebrate the faith more intensely especially in the Eucharist, the summit toward which all the Church’s activity is directed and the source from which all the Church’s energy flows. Without liturgy, the profession of faith would lack the grace to bear fruit in Christian witness (see Benedict XVI, Door of Faith, 9, 11).

Mission: Study the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist; prepare more prayerfully for Sunday (daily) Mass; spend time each week in Eucharistic adoration.

Fr. Manny Ediza