First, I want to share three important pieces of news, in an attempt to over-communicate things. I’ll tackle these chronologically. First, Bishop Zubik will be presiding and preaching at the 5:00 pm Mass on Saturday, August 11. Friends of the Bishop are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary that day, and the Bishop wants to be here to celebrate with them. Please give him a warm welcome (and more importantly, pray for John and Noreen). Second, as of the time of this writing, the plan is to release the new Mass schedules the weekend of August 18/19. I’m not exactly sure how that’s going to work, but the Diocese has told us that they’re going to try to over-communicate the message. Remember that the new Mass schedule does not go into effect until Monday, October 15, with the rest of the On Mission changes – so you’ll have two months to figure out a strategy should “your” Mass be changed. Finally, we have a date for Confirmation – Saturday, October 6, at 10:00 am. This is relatively soon, so I encourage the parents of our Confirmation candidates to be particularly mindful of any communications coming from the Faith Formation Office. I have no room to talk on this one, but: don’t procrastinate! If they need something in terms or paperwork, get it done. Bishop Zubik will be our celebrant this year.
Bringing in a guest speaker today…Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. This is from his Angelus address of July 15, 2012. Enjoy! “Today, 15 July, in the liturgical calendar is the Memorial of St. Bonaventure, a Franciscan, Doctor of the Church and the successor of St. Francis of Assisi at the helm of the Order of Friars Minor. It was he who wrote the first official biography of the “Poverello,” and, at the end of his life, he was also Bishop of the Diocese of Albano.
After last weekend’s surprise announcement, I probably ought to use this space just to make sure we’re all on the same page. So here’s what’s going on: · My new assignment begins on August 6, and yes, I was the one who requested that it start earlier than October 15. Waiting until October would have been a real disservice to the students at those colleges I am being called to minister to, and if I have to leave St. Richard anyway, we might as well do it right. I’m grateful to the Bishop for making this change.
Today’s Gospel offers a rare framework -- a story in a story. Most of the healing miracles are standalone encounters. One person approaches Jesus, demonstrates faith, and is healed. The evangelist tells the next story. This Gospel, however, is different. Jesus is on his way to heal one person, a young girl of twelve, and is interrupted on his journey by “a woman afflicted with hemorrhages.” She bravely approaches Jesus in a crowd, despite being ritually unclean from her bleeding, and stretches out to touch his cloak. She is healed! Jesus meets her eye, confirms her faith, and continues on to resurrect the young girl.