ABVM PARISH COMMUNITY

  THOUGHTS ON IMMIGRATION In Matthew 20 Jesus gives the parable of the owner of a vineyard who went into the marketplace and hired workers at different hours of the day; at daybreak, at 9 a.m., at noon, at 3 p.m. and at 5 p.m.   At the end of the work day he had his foreman pay each worker, beginning with those who were hired last.  The last ones were paid the same amount as those who worked longer in the vineyard.  As you might imagine, there was some grumbling:  “These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.”  We feel sympathy for those who worked longer.  Nevertheless, the landowner was not unjust.  He responded, “My friend, I am not cheating you.  Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?  Take what is yours and go.  What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?  Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?  Are you en...

  MARY, QUEEN OF HEAVEN Pope Pius XII promulgated the encyclical Ad Caeli Reginum on October 11, 1954.  “ To the Queen of Heaven ” established a new feast of Mary to be celebrated every year.  He explained that his motivation for the feast was to counter a growing threat of immorality and of war that was plaguing the world.  Having lived through the conflagration of World War II, he urged the world to turn to the Mother of the Savior to ask for peace.  “ By this Encyclical Letter We are instituting a feast so that all may recognize more clearly and venerate more devoutly the merciful and maternal sway of the Mother of God. We are convinced that this feast will help to preserve, strengthen and prolong that peace among nations which daily is almost destroyed by recurring crises .”    Four years before Ad Caeli Reginum the Holy Father issued the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus ( “Most Bountiful God” ) which declared that all Christians are...

  CENSORSHIP, YES!   CENSORSHIP, NO! Hollywood adopted a Motion Picture Production Code in 1930 which was more or less vigorously enforced until 1968, when it was replaced with the current MPAA film ratings.   The Code was a way for Hollywood to censure itself so that, as it states, “No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it.”   While there probably were some exaggerations in enforcement, such as not allowing a married couple to be shown sleeping in the same bed, the existence of the Code coincided with the so-called “Golden Age of Hollywood.”   The absence of nudity, coarse language and graphic violence did not suppress the quality of movies but, in fact, may have enhanced them. When I was young censorship was a dirty word.   Today, it has become acceptable and even necessary in the opinion of our political and cultural elites.   It is practiced by social media giants, universities, conglomerates, financi...

  THE EXACTING WAY THAT LEADS TO LIFE Some people complain that the teaching of the Catholic Church is strict.   A good response to this complaint might be to point out that it is God who is strict, not the Church!   If you do not believe it, just read the Bible.   The plain evidence is there for all to see, and hopefully to be moved to repentance.   Both Testaments present the punishment of sinners as severe.   They also reveal God’s desire for the conversion of sinners and his offer of mercy and forgiveness to all who seek him. We see this dynamic in the marvelous vision of the end of the world provided in the last book of the Bible, the Apocalypse, also known as Revelation.   It reveals that after many tribulations and battles, he who is the Alpha and Omega – the Christ – will bring everything to completion with the descent of the New Jerusalem from heaven, “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (21:3).   God will then make his dwell...

  LOVE IN MARRIAGE AS A MODEL FOR ALL In the Gospels Jesus is asked which is the greatest of the Commandments.   The answer, of course, is that one must love the Lord thy God with all one’s heart, soul, mind and strength, and one’s neighbor as oneself.   Jesus tells the disciples at the Last Supper that if they love him, they must keep his commandments, especially his new commandment, which is to love one another as he has loved them.   These are inspiring words, but when we speak of love it needs to be specified.   Love of the Father, love of Jesus, and love of neighbor must be expressed in concrete acts.   Feelings and emotions are involved in all love, but true love goes beyond them.   Feelings and emotions are fickle, but love is steadfast and unending.   Such love is expressed not in how I feel but in what I do.   Jesus taught his disciples: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.   Greater love...

  ABRAHAM, OUR FATHER IN FAITH The Old Testament reading for Mass today relates part of the mysterious encounter of Abraham with three “visitors” as he sat at the entrance of his tent in Mamre on a hot afternoon.   Abraham shows them hospitality and prepares a meal for them.   After they eat, one of them says to Abraham that his wife Sarah will bear a son, although she is beyond child-bearing years.   God keeps the promise he made to Abraham when he called him to leave his own country and kindred to wander in a land he did not know.   And I will make of you a great nation…and by you all the families of the earth will bless themselves (Gen 12:2-3). Who were these three men?   Christian iconography sees in them the Persons of the Holy Trinity.   This encounter is a theophany, an appearance of God in the Old Testament.   Interestingly, in the original Hebrew language the three men are sometimes addressed in the singular form by Abraham, and somet...

  MARTYRS OF CONSCIENCE On June 22 the Church’s Calendar of Saints commemorates the sixteenth century martyrdom of two prominent Englishmen who refused to accept the validity of the king’s divorce and remarriage, as well as his claim to be the temporal head of the Church in England (and thus his power to declare his marriage to Catherine of Aragon as null and void).   They did not openly oppose the king or foment rebellion against him, but they would not obey the order to sign the oath of supremacy since their Catholic conscience would not permit it.   King Henry VIII had them arrested.   Saint John Fisher was a leading intellectual in his day, the first administrator of the University of Cambridge, and the longtime bishop of the humble diocese of Rochester.   He had a reputation as an excellent preacher and wrote works in defense of the Catholic faith against the errors of Martin Luther.   Many of his sermons can be read today with great spiritual prof...