News - July 2023 RSS Feed

As promised we have more parables this week, three more focused on the Kingdom of Heaven, and as I said last week, by looking for the twist, or the unexpected part of the parable, we can come to better understand the point that Jesus is trying to make.

Today’s Gospel is the first of a series of Parables that we will hear over the next few weeks. Parables are more than just analogies or comparison stories, they are more like riddles, they contain some sort of twist or surprise in them. As we heard today, parables are often hard to understand, but usually if you can spot the twist then you can understand the meaning of the parable.

Again this weekend we have another reading that is typically used for funerals. The Gospel from Matthew we just heard is often used because of this line in the middle, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28) Many people work so hard throughout their lives so the family members planning the funeral interpret this passage to mean, “come now, you hard worker, and finally take your rest in Heaven.”

It’s an exciting weekend here at Nativity, a lot going on. First, July 2nd is Nativity’s 100 year anniversary of being a parish. The first Mass wasn’t held until December 23rd, 1923, but the parish was created or incorporated by the Archbishop on this date, with the cornerstone being dedicated on July 4th, so we are one hundred, pretty cool. We will be doing some great stuff to celebrate our 100th, stay tuned for that. One thing I’m hoping for is to get the Bishop here to celebrate an anniversary Mass…