There are three interwoven themes in today’s readings: listening to God, faith vs. good works, and losing our life in order to find it. How are they related?

The Suffering Servant of Isaiah undergoes much distress and ridicule, but is able to bear it because he has listened to the promptings of God day a er day. The psalm tells us that God listens, too. God hears our prayers for help and is always ready to save us. As our faith deepens, so does our desire to do the works of justice and charity that build up the reign of God. God directs our actions in ways we o en cannot see, and we don’t always see the results. We are called upon in faith to trust that what we do is enough, and that willingness to listen to God’s promptings will lead us in the right way.

If you asked me to use one word to summarize the three Scripture readings in our Liturgy today, I would say "ambition". The second closest would be "greed", then "jealousy", and "envy". In the Gospel today, Jesus told his disciples of his passion and death. Instead of being sympathetic, they engaged themselves in arguments about who was the greatest among them, in other words, who would succeed Jesus Christ after his death. Jesus then asked them about their argument and they remained silent. The big mistake they made was that they thought the leadership in the ministry would depend upon their personal intelligence or leadership skills, but they were wrong.

We welcome the children and teachers in our Religious Education Programs back from the summer break. Classes started during the week for all grades. I look forward to your support and participation in the R.E. activities throughout this coming year.

Memorial Mass

I would like to remind everyone that we have scheduled a Memorial Mass for Fr. Bob on Thursday, September 20 at 7 pm here in our church. Please come and join us as we celebrate the life of our beloved pastor. Fr. Bob's body arrived in Uganda on Sunday, September 9th and a Funeral Mass was held for him the following day. The family informed me that everything went well with the funeral. They also sent their appreciation for your prayers and support to Fr. Bob.