Celebrate Sunday Mass - 6.21.21

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6/20/2021 (2 years ago)

By Deacon Keith Fournier

JUNE 20, 2021 -- 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Catholic Online Community and Catholic Online School students...

I AM HAPPY TO OFFER EACH OF YOU AN INVITATION TO SUNDAY MASS ON THE TWELTH SUNDAY in OORDINARY TIME in the Catholic Diocese of Tyler. The response to offering these liturgies online has been overwhelming. The readings, as always, offer so much for us to reflect on. It is helpful to pray through them and reflect upon them before we assist at Holy Mass.

Our first reading is a portion of the 38th chapter of the Book of Job. The greatest gift that God gave to Job was real, purified faith. God answered Jobs' sincere, heartfelt prayer for insight into his struggles when He spoke to him -out of a storm (Job 38). That is right, God was right there in that storm!

There is so much we can learn from Job. He was a man of faith who stayed faithful, even when he suffered immense loss. How do we deal with setbacks and struggles in our lives? In our Responsorial Psalm, David reminds us that the Lord will deliver us through the storm if we cry out to Him.

The second reading we heard proclaimed is a wonderful portion selected from the fifth chapter of the Apostle Paulďż˝ s second letter to the Corinthians. He reminds them, and us, that when we are "in Christ" we become new creations. WE are called to live our whole lives "in Christ". How do we do this?

This happens when we make Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives. When we choose to put Him first and fill ourselves up with His Word. When we regularly receive Him in Holy Communion. When we regularly repent of our sins and take full advantage of the graces bestowed upon us in the confessional. When we speak about the Lord to our spouses, our friends and everyone we meet. In short when we choose to be disciples. That choice needs to be made every day.

This stormy encounter between Job and God which we heard proclaimed in our first reading is reminiscent of another storm, the one we read about in the New Testament on the Sea of Galilee. Today we heard the account of this stormy encounter in St Marks Gospel. The disciples were in a boat, in a violent storm - with Jesus. Remember, the disciples were with God Incarnate, Jesus Christ in that boat.

He was asleep.

Terrified, they woke Him, and He calmed the storm. In His sacred humanity, asleep in that boat, he showed them an important truth they would later come to grasp as they lived their lives as witnesses for Jesus Christ. He was already there, right in the storm, they just needed to trust and rest in Him.

In Jesus Christ, this God of Job came among us in the flesh. In His sacred humanity He reveals the way to live free of fear, even during the struggles and storms of life. He emptied Himself out of perfect love for the whole human race. And, as we empty ourselves out of our own self concerns and fears and invite Him to live His life in and through us, He calms the storms.

May the Lord Jesus Christ be the center of your life and the heart of your home. Have a wonderful Lords Day.

Deacon Keith Fournier
Dean of Catholic Online School

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