Labor Day

Why do we celebrate this holiday on the 1st Monday of September? Is it a nod to the end of summer so we need to get on last weekend of camping or other types of outdoor activities in before school begins? That is how most of see Labor Day. In actuality the roots of this celebration are far removed from the end of summertime activities. And no it has nothing to do with women giving birth!

Labor Day is in place to celebrate the rights of those who work. The have the right to a fair wage, decent working hours, safe conditions to work in and fair treatment in the workplace. Does this sound familiar? I you have been keeping track of blog posts here this summer you will have noticed that these same rights we celebrate on Labor Day are discussed in the papal encyclicals on social justice. We celebrate to honor the fact that these rights have been fought for and are now in place, but we still must remember there are still places where workers still struggle for these rights. Work should offer us dignity not destroy us.

However you celebrate Labor Day, plan to begin the day with your family with this prayer from Catholic Household Blessings and prayers: “God our creator, we are the work of your hands. Guide us in our work, that we may do it, not for ourselves alone, but for the common good. Make us alert to injustice, ready to stand in solidarity, that there may be dignity for all in labor and in labor’s reward. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Come, follow me

Reading I: Jeremiah 20:7-9 (Jeremiah’s interior crisis)
Reading II: Romans 12:1-2 (sacrifice of body and mind)
Gospel: Matthew 16:21-27 (first prophecy of passion and resurrection; doctrine of the cross)

Key Passage: Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

Adult: In what concrete ways do you take up your cross and follow Jesus?
Child: When has it been difficult to be a follower of Jesus?
(from PastoralPlanning.com)

August 29th - The Passion of St. John the Baptist

As summer winds down, we hear the crickets chirping and will soon hear the honking of geese as they fly south for the winter. And, yes we have less than one month of summer left as September 23 will be the first day of autumn, and you will hear some meteorologists telling you that meteorological autumn begins September 1st. I like the September 23rd date better myself!

Remember back in June when we celebrated the beginning of summer and on June 24th the birth of St. John the Baptist? And remember he grew up to announce the arrival of Jesus as the Messiah. Well in August at the end of the summer we recognize the death of St. John the Baptist. He was thrown into prison by King Herod and then murdered under King Herod’s orders. This story is told to us in the Gospel of John, chapter 6.

For us his death is a tragedy and we observe the day as one of sorrow. The saddest part of this story is that for King Herod and his court the beheading of John the Baptist was nothing more than a lark, one that gave great entertainment to the partiers but in the end was a loss for all of those that John touched. Since we remember this anniversary of John’s death as a day of sorrow we can observe it by eating simply, maybe not eating between meals or skipping a dessert. We could also take a break from technology for the day. There are lots of ways we can show our respect for the cousin of Jesus who went before him proclaiming him as the Messiah.

Often, people who are sad do not feel like eating. By fasting as suggested in the previous paragraph we can be in union with those who may be feeling sad about something in their lives right now. What do you do when you are feeling sad? Can you think of ways that you could help someone you know who is feeling sad? Sometimes all it takes to lift someone spirits is a phone call or a visit. And there may be times when just sitting with the person in silence will be enough, they know you are there and that you care about them.

Remember, Jesus tells us, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” You could be the one who is doing the comforting today and tommorrow someone may comfort you.

Catholic Social Teaching Part Four

St. Pope John XXIII wrote another encyclical on social justice in 1963, 2 years after he wrote his first one “Christianity and Social Progress.” The second one is titled “Peace on Earth” or “Pacem in Terri.”

In “Peace on Earth” St. Pope John XXIII wants us to know that “peace can be established only if the social order set down by God is fully observed.” (1) He laid out a list of things to be followed by everyone, not only the Church, but governments, communities, and individuals. St. Pope John XXIII said that peace should be “founded on truth, built according to justice, vivified (animated) and integrated by charity, and put into practice in freedom.” (1)

He wrote “Peace on Earth” during the 1st year of Vatican II. And it was published right after the Cuban Missile Crisis and the construction of the Berlin Wall. This encyclical spoke to a world that knew all too clearly the dangers of a nuclear war. Since the world knew the dangers, “the optimistic tone and the development of a philosophy of rights” had a significant impact on not only Catholics but non-Catholics as well. (1)

Section 9 in the encyclical says, “Every human is a person, endowed with intelligence and free will, who has universal and inviolable rights and duties.” This tells us we are equal to one another and in being equal comes the rights due to all, but also we have the duty to make sure the rights are upheld and everyone is included. This means not just our next door neighbor but our brothers and sisters around the world.

Saint Pope John XXIII reiterates in this encyclical what the other “Social Justice” encyclicals have said. Everyone has the right to life, a good standard of living, freedom of speech, the right to work for a just and sufficient wage and the right to choose what one wants to do in life whether it be pursuing a vocation, raising a family, etc. Along with these expressed rights Saint Pope John XXIII also wrote we have the right to religion and conscience. In other words, no one can tell us we can’t believe in God and they cannot force us to do something we believe is wrong. Along with these rights come the duties as well. We need to respect the rights of others, work collaboratively with each other, to act responsibly for others and to preserve life.

To complete the quote used at the beginning from section 167 of the document which sums it up like this: “Peace will be but an empty sounding word unless it is founded on the order which the present document has outlined…an order founded on truth, built according to justice, vivified (animated) and integrated by charity, and put into practice in freedom.”
(1) Catholic Social Teaching Our Best Kept Secret, 1995

Twenty–first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Representatives of Christ

Reading I: Isaiah 22:15, 19-23 (Eliakim chosen by God)
Reading II: Romans 11:33-36 (praise of God)
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20 (Peter the rock)

Key Passage: He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:15–16)

Adult: If you were asked, how would you explain Jesus to a person who had not heard of him?
Child: Who do you tell people Jesus is?
(from PastoralPlanning.com)

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

All are welcome

Reading I: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7 (the Lord’s house open to all)
Reading II: Romans 11:13-15, 29-32 (Israel’s final conversion; the triumph of God’s mercy)
Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28 (faith of the Canaanite woman)

Key Passage: For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. (Isaiah 56:7)

Adult: The woman in this story was persistent in prayer. For what do you pray insistently?
Child: For what do you ask God to give you most often?
(from PastoralPlanning.com)

Saint of the Day: St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1107&calendar=1

As a child, one night Maximilian Mary Kolbe prayed to Our Lady to tell him what would happen to
him. She appeared, holding in her hands two crowns, one white, one red and asked which he would
chose: the one of purity, or the other of martyrdom. He said, “I choose both.” From that moment,
his focus in life changed. He entered the minor seminary and became a novice at 16.

Ordained at 24, he saw religious indifference as the deadliest poison of the day and he set out to
combat it. He had already founded the Militia of the Immaculata, whose aim was to fight evil with
the witness of the good life, prayer, work and suffering. He dreamed of and then founded Knight of
the Immaculata, a religious magazine to preach the Good News to all nations.

In 1939 the Nazis overran Poland; Kolbe and his friars were arrested, but then released in less than
three months on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. In 1941 he was arrested again and sent to
Auschwitz. When a prisoner escaped, the commandant announced that 10 men would die. As they
were being marched away to the starvation bunkers, Number 16670 dared to step from the line. “I
would like to take that man’s place. He has a wife and children.” “Who are you?” “A priest.” No
name, no mention of fame. The commandant, dumbfounded, perhaps with a fleeting thought of
history, kicked Sergeant Francis Gajowniczek out of line and ordered Father Kolbe to go with the
nine. In the “block of death” they were ordered to strip naked; their slow starvation began. But there
was no screaming – the prisoners sang. By the eve of the Assumption four were still alive. As Kolbe
sat in a corner praying, he was killed with an injection of carbolic acid. They burned his body with all
the others. He was beatified in 1971 and canonized in 1982.

Comment: Father Kolbe’s death was not a sudden, last-minute act of heroism. His whole life had
been a preparation. His holiness was a limitless, passionate desire to convert the whole world to
God. His beloved Immaculata was his inspiration.