In our first reading this Sunday, from the Book of Deuteronomy, we hear the people of Israel asking what other nation has a god who lives so closely with them as the God of Israel dwells with them. They believed that by observing the commandments, they were God’s people and God dwelt with them. As the psalmist proclaims: “The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.” As a sign that the Lord lived with them, the people of Israel kept the Ark of the Covenant, containing the Ten Commandments given them by God, in the Temple in Jerusalem.
For us as Christians, the idea that God dwells with us actually takes on a much greater significance. We believe that God sends His Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts. We no longer have the idea that God dwells in a building. For the Christian, each human being is called to be a Temple of the Holy Spirit. This reality, that God desires to come and dwell within us, is why Jesus places such a significance on the interior life. In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus draws our attention to the reality that it is what is in a person’s heart that determines whether the Lord Himself is able to dwell within that heart. As many of the great spiritual writers of our tradition have written, God cannot dwell in a heart that is full of hatred, envy, pride and greed. The heart must be a place that is open and free to contain the Lord. Continue reading
This Sunday, after six weeks of reading it at the Sunday Masses, we conclude the Bread of Life discourse from the Gospel of John. As it comes to a close, we hear the reaction of those who have heard Jesus say: “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” For many of Jesus’ contemporary listeners, the idea of eating His flesh and drinking His blood is incomprehensible and they reject the idea completely. And yet, while in many other cases when He is misunderstood, He explains himself more clearly, on this matter Jesus does not back away from his insistence that those who wish to have eternal life must consume His Body and drink His Blood. Unable to accept this idea, many of His followers state that it is a teaching that it is difficult to accept. We are told at this point, that many of Jesus’ followers turned away and no longer followed Him. When He asks the twelve if they also wish to leave, they do not indicate that they understand, they simply state that they have nowhere else to go because in faith they affirm that He has the words of eternal life and they have “come to believe and know that [Jesus] is the Holy one of God.” 
In recent weeks there has been a sharp increase in the amount of fake/scam emails being received by parishioners throughout the archdiocese. These emails – usually sent from Gmail accounts operated by scammers – appear to be from a priest and often request the purchase of gift cards or electronic payments. Please exercise caution should you receive an email like this and contact the parish via telephone to validate its authenticity.
The parish office will be open for limited hours on Thursday, August 22 from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm and Friday, August 23 from 10 am – 12 noon
Unfortunately, due to the weather warnings and ongoing repairs to use the auditorium due to previous flooding we must cancel tonight’s movie. We will keep you informed if we are able to reschedule in the future. Thank you for understanding.