Happy Twenty-Second Sunday! This fine weekend concludes the month of August and denotes the official end of the summer months. As temperatures slowly crawl downward, my favorite season of the year, autumn, is just around the corner!
Tuesday morning, I have a doctor’s appointment for another x-ray on these two fingers that I smashed six weeks ago. They seem thus far to be progressing as hoped, so we pray for good official news from the docs. I’ve continued to keep them wrapped with mini compression sleeves to help the residual swelling and protect the skin and nails, which are still sensitive. But in general, I can walk around pain free and use my left hand mostly normally.
Big thanks to everyone for receiving our mission priest last weekend at St. Robert, Fr. Ferdinand Madaki. We will continue to collect any stray donations you’d like to make in the next week or two and then send a check for the total sum through the proper diocesan channels so that it can arrive safely in Jalingo, Nigeria. Good Shepherd hosts Fr. Nestor Watin this weekend from the Philippines, so it’s been a little extra busy at the rectory. Just in time for Labor Day, and then we can settle into the fall rhythm.
This upcoming month at St. Robert includes our patronal feast day on the 17th of September, which celebration we will transfer to the weekend of 19th/20th. Our parish family feast, dubbed Holy Smokes, will be on Saturday the 19th after the 5 PM Mass, and will include various smoked meats and grilled delights. So, mark your calendars! Shout out to Tim Cassady for organizing the details, and to Ed Warren for creating the flyer featuring my younger-self mug shot from 10 years ago (hahaha).
Today’s gospel features some fiery preaching out of Our Lord’s mouth that should give us all a healthy prod in a holy direction. The way the apostles interpreted their world (or rather, misinterpreted it) is the same way we interpret our own. Which is to say, we interpret everything we experience through the filtered expectations built up in our minds. It’s why two people can see the exact same thing and arrive at different conclusions.
If my mind expects to meet impending evil out in the world, then the stranger walking toward me is a potential thug. If my mind expects to meet natural wonders in the world, then the same stranger walking toward me is a potential friend. The gospel invitation is for you and me to examine our expectations and be humble enough to change our minds if God lovingly tells us that we are in the wrong. How quickly do we sum up situations or people, as if we know who they are and what they’re about? How easily do we assume people’s motivations? Do we ask God daily for his view of the world, or do we walk rather comfortably in our own understanding?
Jesus will come in the glory of his Father with all the angels to repay all of us according to our conduct. May we never forget that our mental life is included in our conduct.
From Fr. Brian