Friar’s Corner: Serving others is serving Jesus
Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR
We are nearing the end of our Church year with the great feast of Christ the King before we start Advent, December 2nd. We are finishing St. Mark’s gospel. The readings this Sunday cover various topics. The first reading deals with a “miracle story” of the prophet Elijah being fed by a poor widow and her son for a year as God had promised.
This section of Mark also deals with a poor widow who put in the temple treasury from her poverty. Jesus told the crowd that she had given more than all the wealthy people. Jesus was encouraging littleness and simplicity, not a lot of fanfare and pride.
Due to a lot of scandals with some clergy and abuse of power, many are withdrawing any support for the church and its mission of salvation. There are thousands of good holy priests and religious that are carrying out the mission of Jesus to serve and care for his sheep. Simple contributions are necessary to provide various parish necessities, like salaries, insurance and upkeep. Your giving is to God and his work so you are blessed and rewarded. If the funds are misused, the administrators will be help accountable.
Jesus, our high priest
St. Paul teaches us in the second reading about the role of Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, as our high priest, that was made once and for all those who will accept his forgiveness. Jesus died only once to take away the sins of countless people on earth.
The Mass (Eucharistic Liturgy) is the main channel and source of great power from the sacrifice of Jesus. His blood and water flow from his atonement for our sins. They are continued cleansing for our sins, which are committed over time. Jesus is with his Father in heaven ever praying for us to accept his sacrifice and follow him through our life to a heavenly reward.
This section of Psalm 146 is a beautiful expression of God’s blessing and provision for us. He gives food for the hungry, freedom for captives, sight for the blind and much more. Praise God!
Thank you, veterans
In the U.S. November 11th is a national holiday called Veterans Day by which we honor, pray for and thank all those men and women in our armed forces that have fought and those who are still fighting to protect our country. This year is also the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
We also remember the other wars that have taken the lives of our brave veterans, which have happened in this past century. We are greatly thankful for the sacrifice of all our brave veterans who have and are putting their lives in danger to keep us safe. Thank you! We can also financially help those veterans who are still living and in need of help.
Abortion in the Catechism
The new Catechism says about abortions.
Legalized abortion is having a destructive effect on our society; few other actions legalized by our public policy as profoundly undermine our values as a people or upset the moral compass by which we live. The Church has always condemned abortion. In the Didache (The Teaching of the Apostles), 2, 2, written toward the end of the first century and revered as an honored guide for Christian life, we read, ‘You shall not kill the embryo by abortion.’ This teaching has never changed… (Pg. 391, U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults)
And the Catholic Catechism states:
From its conception, the child has the right to life. Direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, is a ‘criminal’ practice (GS, no. 27 #3), gravely contrary to the moral law. The Church imposes the canonical penalty of excommunication for this crime against human life. Because it should be treated as a person from conception, the embryo must be defended in its integrity, cared for, and healed like every other human being.
Modern technology has enabled us to appreciate how quickly the growing child in the womb takes on human features. (It cannot grow into any other life form.) This has made many more people aware of the fact that human life begins at conception, the moment that the egg is fertilized…. (CCC, nos. 2322,2323)
Election woes
I am still distressed at the result of last week’s election results. If we follow the news it is clear that our culture, nation and world are in a war of God versus the devils and their counterparts, between good and evil. Did we stand and vote with Jesus at the polls? There are many issues facing us that were reflected in the candidates running for re-election or for the first time. Protecting our nation is certainly a concern for most of us with children in our schools and going to concerts and sporting events. The stats on shooting violence this year are shocking. Yet many of us believe the main issue is respect for all life from conception to natural death. God chooses when our life should end.
The fifth commandment God gave Moses was, “thou shalt not kill.” I am still greatly distressed about 300 thousand unborn persons in the mother’s womb, which are cut apart surgically in Planned Parenthood clinics/mills each year. I am shocked that 500 million of our tax dollars and are given to those “mills” to continue killing innocent lives. There are other clinics that can help mothers with pregnancy difficulties. There are many married couples that would love to adopt a child. Yet there are none to adopt because they have been killed. How long with God tolerate this?
What we can do?
What can we still do? We can pray, fast and help other defenders of life, go to save the unborn at Planned Parenthood “clinics.” We can also put pressure on our elected officials to stop funding abortion clinics/mills. These clinics/mills are offering human sacrifices to demons. If you support those clinics, physicians and the politicians that support those mills, you too are in allegiance with demons. Will Jesus reward you?
Let us daily rush to Jesus, our only savior, in prayer and fasting, asking Jesus to show us how blessed we are and how we can help him bring his love and care for others to make the United States a better and safer country to live in. By our actions, we shall be judged after our death. Peace and all Good!
(© 2018 Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR)
