Dear Parishioners:
- I hoped that you also had a wonderful celebration of July 4 (Independence Day) this past week. What a great day to remember and celebrate the reality of who we are as a nation and as a people to continue to set high the value of Freedom, Peace and Justice. We pray that God continue to bless our nation and form our world to the values that we hold dear in our heart.
- Welcome back to more of our parishioners from Prince of Peace and St. Gabriel. Each weekend, there are more familiar faces able to register to attend limited weekend Masses. Just as we’re delighted to come to worship our Lord in our parish’s Church, we are, also, happy to see other fellow parishioners as well.
Just a reminder, live-stream Mass is still available for those parishioners in a vulnerable group who are not yet ready to attend limited public Mass, the new time of live-stream Mass is at 4:30 PM on Saturday through the parish website or parish Facebook.
Also, there is a parish survey through emails and on the website to let us know if we’re serving you efficiently or enhance our plan to add limited public Mass in the near future. Please take a few moments to fill out this parish survey.
- We’re celebrating the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. From the prophet Isaiah, chapter 55:10, in the First Reading; we read: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater.”
Rain may seem lost when it falls on a desert, but it fulfils some purpose of God. So, the gospel word falling on the hard heart; it sometimes brings about change in one’s life.
In today’s Matthew’s Gospel parable, “A sower went out to sow… as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up… and so forth …”
The first three illustrations are pictures of the sower laboring in vain because of the path, rocky ground, and thorns. Only the fourth illustration describes seed falling on rich soil, producing fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Although the gospel may not immediately produce all the good effects which we may desire, yet it will be ultimately successful to the full wish of the widest benevolence, and the whole world shall be filled with the knowledge and the love of God.
As we practice our daily examination, reflect on the seeds God is sowing each and every day at our feet. Are they falling on fertile soil, ready to sprout and take hold, or are they falling on scorched earth, where they will soon wither and die?
We must also, not forget to look at ourselves as sowers. What are we doing in our thoughts, words and deeds that truly demonstrate our deep desire to live our life in alignment with the Gospel?
This week, may the Word take root in our lives. If we allow it to penetrate beneath the surface, we will begin to find ourselves, and find the areas of ourselves which seemed lost or broken, abandoned or forgotten, “unplugged” or “turned off” to the transforming power of God.
Christ’s Peace,
Fr. Phuong Hoang