Bulletins
June 21, 2015
Download the Bulletin as a PDFGod once said… and I agree...
“Honor your mother and your father.”
Actually He said it several times. We read the Ten Commandments in Exodus (20,12) and Deuteronomy (5,16) and St. Paul repeats the fifth commandment in his Letter to the Ephesians (6,2), noting that it is the first commandment with a promise:
“Honor your father and mother that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.”
I dare say that unless we set a good example for our children of loving our fathers and mothers we set the stage for not being happy even if we do live a long life. Dads do not need to be perfect for us to love them.
The deeper context roots this commandment in our restored relationship with God. Original Sin can be understood as Adam and Eve declaring: “God, you are not our father anymore. We are not your children.” In the Incarnation Jesus restores a lost relationship in His person. Spiritual childhood then, which is the virtue of the First Commandment, is indispensable for entering the Kingdom of God. “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18,3).
This new relationship with God in the Christian Covenant binds us also to the Vicar of Christ, the Holy Father.
As of this writing we know to expect the publication of the newest papal encyclical on Thursday, June 18. By the time you read this you will have heard plenty about it. You should read it in its entirety. The official text you will be able to find at www.bit.ly/PapaFrancescoEncyclicals as well as on the parish website.
Permit me a preliminary reflection. We should expect Dad to insist that we help around the house and to warn us of the dangers of drinking what is bad for us. We should expect the Pope to teach us to respect the beauty of creation and to admonish us for harming it, whether it be by littering or polluting. I think we would do well to try imagining what our great grandfathers would say about how we consume and dispose of the world’s resources.
Moreover, as Dad has better information about how the house needs repair and what beverages really are dangerous he gives us better guidance. So too the Holy Father.
God bless all our fathers! God bless you!
Rev. Christopher J. Pollard
