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Online GivingKnowing that God keeps his promises is part of being a believer. And how do we know that? Because we see how he has kept them throughout history. If we lose hope or begin to doubt that he will help us, we should remember what he has already done. Saint Paul talks about this in the second reading this weekend. Christ died for us while we were sinners, and so Saint Paul concludes that, having been saved from sin, we will also be saved from death. We are free from sin and death. And isn’t that enough?
Jesus shows us that God can do even more. When he saw the crowds in Matthew’s Gospel, he felt compassion for them because they were “like sheep without a shepherd.” They seemed to need a leader, someone who could show them the way to God. So, Jesus responds in two ways.
First, he teaches his disciples to pray for more leaders. What he means is that if people are going to lead the Church, they must be sent by God. They are not elected by popular vote. They are “chosen” or called by God to serve. Jesus is teaching us to pray for the leaders of the Church today. We can pray for all those in a leadership role, that they may be filled with wisdom and strength. Jesus also teaches us to pray for vocations to religious life.
The second thing Jesus does is send the twelve apostles to proclaim the Kingdom and heal illnesses. He teaches us that action must go hand in hand with prayer. This may mean offering our help to parish leaders, becoming a liturgical minister, or encouraging our children to consider a religious vocation.
Why should we do these things? Remember Paul said that God saves us from sin and death. God gives us these gifts at no cost. He simply asks us to spread the good news of salvation. That’s what leadership in the Church is all about. – Tom Schmidt, Diocesan Publications
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
Eastern Christians have no sacrament of “confirmation,” but they have always had the custom of richly anointing the newly baptized with sacred chrism. They also give even infants a taste of the Precious Blood, thereby doing away with any notion of “First Communion” in later childhood.
In the West, although we too have an anointing with chrism for the newly baptized, for centuries we have normally reserved a second anointing from the bishop, sometimes many years after baptism. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is the fact that in early times the bishop was the ordinary person to officiate at baptism, not the priest. The bishop did it all, from plunging the catechumens into the baptismal font, to pouring chrism over them, to immediately celebrating the Eucharist. When bishops began to cede some of their ministry to the ranks of presbyters, they desired to maintain a strong relationship with baptism. Thus, it was decided that the solemn post‑baptismal anointing, the laying on of hands, and the prayer for the gifts of the Holy Spirit were to be detached from infant baptism. So, to the present day, we have two anointings after baptism: one by the priest, and the other normally by the bishop. By the fifth century, the word “confirmation” began to refer to this second anointing. —Rev. James Field, Diocesan Publications
SAINT ROMUALD (c. 951-1027) – June 19
“God so loved the world,” declares John 3:16. “Do not love the world,” warns 1 John 2:15. The “world” to love: this planet, entrusted to our stewardship, and its people, God’s children all. The “world” to flee: “sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life” (1 John 2:16). Born in nobility, Romuald’s conversion followed the shock of witnessing his father murder an enemy. Renouncing his privileged world, Romuald sought God’s world in monastic life. Its winding turns and several dead ends make Romuald’s journey resonate with all who find life more maze than superhighway. Both the hermit’s solitary struggle and community life’s unique challenges shaped Romuald’s legacy: his vast Camaldolese Benedictine family of monks, nuns, and lay associates who, these thousand years later, from the mountain solitude of Camaldoli, Italy to an urban monastery in Berkeley, California—in Asia, Africa, South America, Europe—integrate Romuald’s experience into their witness of solitary prayer, communal charity and worship, and promotion of contemplative spirituality in this world that can so easily distract us from the God who loves it still. —Peter Scagnelli, Diocesan Publications