Dear Parishioners and Visitors,

I know that all Scripture is the Word of God, so all Scripture is good.But this particular weekend the Church presents us with some especially interesting and thought-provoking selections for our Scripture readings. Let’s take a quick look at them, shall we?

Our Old Testament reading, from the Book of Wisdom, asks the rhetorical question, “Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends?” Of course, we can’t read the Lord’s mind, and God only reveals his plans to us on a need-to-know basis. The problem is that God decides when we need to know, and often we might wish to know more.The reading concludes by speaking of the Holy Spirit and the gift of wisdom, which help us see things a little more as God sees them.

Then our Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 90, speaks of the infinite vision of God; it asks for his wisdom, kindness, and gracious care. All of the Psalms are prayers; this particular prayer is an appropriate one for us to say any day, and it’s a good follow-up to that first reading.

St. Paul’s letter to Philemon, which gives us our second reading, is unique. This letter is the shortest of all St. Paul’s letters in the Bible—only 25 verses. We get 8 of those verses, but they are chosen in such a way that they give the gist of the whole letter. Basically, St. Paul (imprisoned in Rome) writes to Philemon (who lives in Colossae) about a man named Onesimus. Onesimus was Philemon’s slave, but he had run away to Rome, where St. Paul converted him to Christianity. What’s going to happen next? What does St. Paul want? I’ll leave it to you to read this weekend’s passage for yourself to find out.

In the Gospel this weekend, Jesus speaks to the crowds about the difficult requirements that his disciples must fulfill. His first statement is shocking: he says that a person must hate their own family in order to be his disciple. His use of the word “hate” is actually a Jewish expression of the time that uses exaggeration to indicate one’s preference. We must love Jesus even more than we love our family and our own life. Aren’t you glad that the word is not meant literally? The second requirement Jesus speaks of is to carry our cross—you know, accept our sufferings—and follow him. The third requirement is to prefer Jesus over our own property. Lots of important choices for us to make!

As you can see, our Scripture readings this weekend are a gold mine filled with treasures for us to meditate on. I hope you’ll join me in doing just that. Following the Lord isn’t always easy, but his blessings, gifts and graces are with us to help us and to give us a hint of our future reward. I look forward with hope to enjoying that reward along with you.

Blessings,

Fr. Philip