This week, the First Reading from the Prophet Isaiah is like a reading you may hear at Epiphany: “I come to gather nations of every language, they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them…they shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses, and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and on dromedaries…” Salvation is for all, and all-inclusive, as in: All Are Welcome!  The door to heaven, however, is as narrow as the cross!

​In the Second Reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews, he talks about enduring our trials as a discipline. He says that discipline seems “not a cause for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.” In other words, we are told always to take up our cross and follow Him; to grow strong by what we must endure. “So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet…” As professed Christians, the ways we must act and the choices we must make are not easy! That is why in the Gospel today Jesus tells us that to enter heaven we must enter through the “narrow gate.” Although all are welcome to choose this way, not all will be able to enter.

So what does He mean by “the narrow gate?” Jerusalem was a walled city; and there was a famous gate—a very narrow one, a short one—the camels could not enter there. Even the people entering the city had to go down on their knees to enter in. He says “many will try to enter but will not be strong enough.” The people listening understood the reference to the narrow gate—the difficulty to enter the city that way was a part of common knowledge. (If you couldn’t enter that way, you would have to walk the long way around to the typical gate…)

The narrow gate is the way we must go to enter heaven. I always laugh when I hear “St. Peter at the gate” jokes. You know them, they are all about the difficulty of getting in to heaven and usually involve a series of questions. Today we hear some serious questions from Jesus about entering heaven. We know that the work for salvation is not easy, (that is the point about the narrow gate) and it is no joke. This life we have is not a rehearsal for the real work we must do now; it is the now. In every moment of our life we are given the grace and the opportunity to let the Spirit work within us and to choose for the Kingdom. Every moment counts… Will Jesus know you when you knock on heaven’s narrow gate?

In every moment of life we are to choose for the Kingdom. Will you be strong enough to choose? And will Jesus know you by where you are from? Are you “from” a place of faith? Are you from a place that is loving? Are you “from” sites where the poor are helped, the lonely are welcomed, the sick are solaced? Are your faith and your faith-acts strong enough for you to enter through the narrow gate?

The Kingdom is all about our choices for love and service. Just a note: The summer season is winding down, and there are many ministries available to you in service of your Community. I suspect that the complacent and self-satisfied, the apathetic and the lazy may trouble squeezing through the gate…

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

Just a Note:   A song about what we must do in order to enter heaven through the narrow gate…

Off to College Kits
Please stop in the parish office to pick up our kits for college. Bless your dorm room or new space with holy water, put up a crucifix, and bring tools for prayer. These are free and available to share with whomever you know heading off to college. Be sure to fill the holy water bottle from the font on your way out.
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World Youth Day 2023 Portugal and Rome
Teens and young adults, parents too, consider this live changing pilgrimage being led by the most fantastic team of pilgrimage leaders that we know of.

We will tour Portugal, Fatima, participate in the five days of World Youth Day, culminating with a Papal Mass.

Then, we pack up and tour four glorious days in Rome praying at dozens of churches and pilgrimage sites daily. Funds are available to support student pilgrims. Visit our youth ministry page for details.

We are joining St. Fabian’s ministry on this pilgrimage to keep the costs low.

The next informational meeting will be held on Wednesday 9/21 at 7pm at St. Fabian.

​Paul Pyrkosz

The Gospel Reading for this Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time contains a very difficult message to hear; Jesus says: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” He talks about His “baptism”—the cross—and His anguish until this “baptism” is accomplished. He speaks of the division that will be caused between (even) loved ones as a result of following in His path. Fire may kill, it can take life and destroy; but it can also generate life; and it can also purify and refine. Fire can transform—do you remember that we are tested by the fire of our trials and transformed by them? Jesus kicks us today in our complacency and self-contentment; we are confronted with decision and reckoning! We know that after a fire new life grows where the old was burned away; that fire is necessary for the new growth. (This is the pattern of salvation: death and resurrection!)

​This summer’s readings from Luke on the practice of discipleship ignite a burning message in today’s Gospel. There is a cost to discipleship: there is suffering, division, and even rejection. These may be the cost for disciples who live the radical convictions and values of the kingdom of God in their family, workplace, community, parish, diocese—in their private and public lives.

Today we hear things spelled out: you cannot follow Christ without some ‘skin in the game’; and you may not compromise or make excuses with your time, your talent and treasure—for you have put on Christ! Your actions, decisions and priorities must show others that you take your Baptism, your discipleship, seriously. It sure was easier to follow Him when He only wished us peace…

Jesus now wants to divide us--not from each other—but from those things that keep us from Him and true love. We are reminded today that the choices we must face as believers are difficult, sacrificial and sometimes very painful; yet the Psalm verses tell us that we are not alone in all our struggles—that like Jeremiah in the cistern—the Lord will hear our cries and deliver us.

Today is about the decision to let God start the fire in us—and that our passion for our faith will burn away the debris of sin—all the greed, pride, selfishness, lust and apathy (to name a few). God, today, or any day, doesn’t advocate for lukewarm! He wants to send down His spiritual fire into our hearts that we may live with conviction, integrity, fervor and commitment for the Kingdom. We must pray to receive the grace of this fire and be willing to take up the fiery demands of discipleship: we have received the living God and must Lift High the Cross in order to build a City of God in the here and now.

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

There is an old hymn: “This World is Not My Home.” The first verse text goes this way:

​“This world is not my home, I’m just a passing thru. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue; The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door, And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore. O Lord, You know I have no friend like you, If heaven’s not my home then Lord what will I do; The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door, And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.” This old hymn reminds us that we live in a temporary tent in the here and now…

In the Second Reading this Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, St. Paul teaches the Hebrews and us about what faith is: “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” In reading this Scripture passage about Abraham and his descendants (called by St. Paul “strangers and aliens on earth”), they show themselves as seeking a homeland. They all died in faith—not yet understanding salvation as we do—and yet they remain faithful. Things hoped for and yet not seen by them; but we have “seen” and we know what Jesus did for us.

This reading made me ponder as how we all tend to live here on earth thinking and acting like this is IT, this is the destination for us, and yet in faith we know that this is not so. All of us are on a journey to our heavenly homeland—something in the day to day we tend to forget. We are instructed to live in the joy of this journey back home to God—and to be ready—for we do not know when we will be called back home, arriving at our real and final destination. Remember last weekend: we heard how our lives may be demanded suddenly of us—not knowing when this will happen. The Gospel Acclamation verse today is: “Stay awake and be ready! For you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”

Jesus instructs us today to be faithful and prudent stewards while waiting for him to “punch our tickets” for home. He says: “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person with more.” This is the point from last weekend about storing up treasure only for yourself; and for this week: how you are known by what it is that you value. We are known and shaped by our choices—so what is your treasure?

We hear Jesus say today: “Where your treasure is, there your heart shall be.” I think that our treasure is in heaven—and that all we say and do on this journey back to God must reflect this.  Are you actively seeking your heavenly homeland? Home is where your heart is. You might pray today about your priorities and on what it is you truly value. Pray about where your heart is, and upon what you treasure. It may just be the way to find the path home that you need right now. Happy trails fellow travelers!

Keep Singing!

​Elizabeth Dyc