“Ephphatha!” Be Open to Hearing the Word of God.

This is an important story that touches each one of us. We may say, “but I am not deaf and I do not have a speech impediment.” So often we don’t listen and we say the things badly!

This man was deaf to the Word of God, and Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Word, healed this man. Jesus took the man away from the crowd, so that the man could be alone with Him. He healed the man’s deafness, removed the speech impediment and the man was able to hear and speak plainly.

We conclude the Bread of Life Discourse. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” Strong, powerful, truthful words.

Jesus is teaching about himself and about the sacrificial death He is to endure. He is teaching about the Holy Eucharist, the sacrament of the sacrifice of the cross is made present on the altars of the church until He returns.

Jesus continue our short retreat this weekend with the end of the mysterious Bread of Life Discourse.

Our readings are at once inspiring and challenging. Jesus had just very directly declared:

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”

These words would have caused consternation and confusion among the Jewish disciples mainly due to their very strict dietary laws; and this led in turn to the showdown we witness today in our Gospel.

“They shall all be taught by God.”

Jesus continues His teaching on The Bread of Life in the Gospel of John, Chapter 6, and reveals Himself as the Bread of Life, the Bread of Heaven. Christ tells us that He is the Word of God Made Flesh, a disgusting thought for many followers.

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51).

“I Am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

It is an astonishing claim and revelation: Our Bread of Life Retreat With The Lord Continues
There is so much in these powerful readings: Jesus clearly tells us today on our retreat with Him:
He Explains Who He Is and Why He Came
Remember That God Always Does The Most With The Least

We begin our Jubilee Year on Tuesday: The Jubilee Is A Special Year of Grace. We begin our Golden Jubilee with The Special ‘Bread of Life’ Retreat

Every three years we get to make a very special Eucharistic retreat with the Lord. Because St. Mark’s Gospel is very short, we enhance it with readings from the Bread of Life Discourse, the sixth Chapter of St. John’s Gospel. We pick up from last week: “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” … and he began to teach them many things.

“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while?” (Mark 6:31). We all need a break after lots of hard work. Jesus invites us to pray, to be alone with Him. He wants each one of you to know His perfect love more intimately and personally, to develop our loving friendship with Him. Our Catholic Faith requires that we grow in our prayer life. This requires daily quiet, meditative time, free from any distractions.

“Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two” (Mark 6:7).

Two by two? Recall St. Matthew’s words:

“Where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst”

“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).

Well, having celebrated Independence Day this past week, it is a good time to reflect on the past year. As we welcomed Fr. Samuel Aliba this past week, likewise a year ago, you all warmly welcomed me to Blessed Sacrament Pariah as your new Pastor.

I am confident that you will agree that it has been a very good year. Together, we have achieved a lot in twelve months with the Lord’s grace and with your generous support also.

“Little Girl, I Say To You, Arise!”

Coming Back To Life: Christ the Healer

It should come as no big surprise that Jesus raising the little daughter of Jairus from death is an absolutely astonishing Gospel passage.

Back then, people died and they were buried, that was it. There was no belief in raising up of the dead. Elijah and Elisha, the great prophets, were said to have raised people from the dead in three instances, but that was a the best part of a thousand years ago!

The last time I was in the holy land, back in 2019, we were visiting the famous Church of the Beatitudes on top of Mount Erebus overlooking the Sea of Galilee. I noticed that our tour guide, Gabriel, was on his cell phone and had a worried look on his face. One of these storms or squalls was blowing up through the Jordan River Valley and bringing with itself some severe weather: the said it was it a “hurricane,” but really it was in fact one of these violent, localized lake micro-bursts, as we would call it. We had to quickly rearrange our schedule, as it was impossible for us to go out on the lake in a boat that evening.

Join Our Knights of Columbus as they help support Foster Kids in Arizona! Donate needed items with the “Tools 4 Success School Supply Drive!” Drop your donations to the table outside of the Parish Office from: Sat, Jun 15–Mon, Jul 15.

“A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand” (Mark 3:24).

We see it in politics and also see it in today’s gospel reading from St. Mark: “And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” Jesus is quoted as saying this in three of the gospels (in Matthew, Mark, and Luke).

In the gospel for today, we see the scribes looking upon Jesus as Satan and attributing His powers to the Prince of Darkness.

I have spoken at our Tuesday Miraculous Medal Novena of the story of conversion of Claude Newman, an African-American death-row prisoner in 1943. During a series of reported apparitions of “The Lady,” the Blessed Mother, to Claude in a prison block in Vicksburg, Mississippi, he related how:
“The Lady told me that in Communion, I will only see what looks like a piece of bread. But she told me that It is really and truly her Son, and that He will be with me just as He was with her before He was born in Bethlehem.