Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Bulletin Cover art and column

Posted on February 1, 2019 by Ronald Patrick Raab, C.S.C.

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Dear Believers in Christ,

I urge you to read and reread these three scripture texts today. Most people are lost in faith and yet they do not know how to remedy their lives or how to find God. We have all shapes and sizes of excuses not to pursue God or not to pray or not to learn more about the Church. Many people believe that showing up to Mass is the fix that will lead to heaven. In the meantime, we may remain lost. The scriptures are a school of love so that we can all learn a prophetic voice for our world.

The first reading today from Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19, speaks to us of our creation in God. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” God appoints Jeremiah to proclaim justice and hope for people. Well, God has similar things in mind for us. He wants us to remember that we already belong to him. And from this belonging, comes great responsibility. God wants us to speak out on behalf of people who most need us, people who ache for new life and wholeness. God desires to be in communion with all people.

This desire of God to find every heart so that love may be at home is shown to us in our second reading today. From 1 Corinthians 12: 31-13:13, we hear once again about the spiritual gift of love. This love is not romantic; it is not about a fleeting love that makes us feel good or attracted to intimacy. This is the love God has for us by creating us in the first place. It is the love that forms us into becoming prophets to proclaim justice, protection and hope to people. This is the love that enables us to fall in love with God and then to learn how to live this love in the world by hard choices, strong decisions and courageous acts. This love changes the world and all of us because God alone initiates it within us.This love is our response to God for creating us, for loving us in the first place.

God’s love never fails. This is the love that enables us to grow up. This love gives us a prophetic place in our world. This love is not flimsy, whimsical or fleeting. It is time for us in the Church to put childish ways aside. It is time for all of us in the Church to grow up in wisdom and courage.

The gospel, Luke 4: 21-30, reveals to us that the scriptures are fulfilled in our hearing. The grace from these texts are opened up for us when we hear them at Mass. For our common worship cracks open grace for each us to understand them, if we are truly present to them with our hearts. I encourage you to take this set of scriptures seriously. We all desire integrity and wholeness. What we desire is found in our scripture readings and our common worship at Mass. Please pray with these passages this week. Sit in silence after reading them. Listen to their challenge and their consolation. Please allow love to find you this week.

In peace,

Fr. Ron

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time: Prayers of the Faithful

Posted on January 26, 2019 by Ronald Patrick Raab, C.S.C.

Version 3

January 27, 2019

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Let us pray to use our gifts wisely in order to create harmony and concord, hope and respect among people of every race and nation.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us learn to listen carefully to the scriptures and receive the grace that is meant for us in order to follow Christ Jesus. May our hearts grow in faith, charity and in Christian unity.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us walk among people lost in despair, those who question their place within the Church, and those whose minds are clouded by doubt.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people who are vulnerable and weak, those surviving disabilities, those who struggle to make ends meet, and those who wait for others to accept them.

We pray the Lord.

Let us pray for family members who await surgery or who fear a new diagnosis. We pray for all the sick, especially those who are homebound.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our beloved dead and those who grieve on earth.

At this Mass…

We pray to the Lord

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time: Bulletin cover art

Posted on January 25, 2019 by Ronald Patrick Raab, C.S.C.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL BULLETIN

jan. 27, 2019 bulletin cover

“Justice, Only Justice, You Shall Pursue”: Vespers at Sacred Heart Church

Posted on January 20, 2019 by Ronald Patrick Raab, C.S.C.

Read more about this year’s theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity below:

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: News from Vatican

More about this year’s theme

Kristy Milligan, CEO of Westside CARES

Andy Barton, CEO of Catholic Charities of Southern Colorado

We began the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on Friday evening with Vespers at Sacred Heart Church. Over sixty people gathered for prayer to reflect on the Christian role to work for justice and to pursue of life of combined prayer and service.

Christian unity is seldom part of mainstream thought and prayer in any Christian denomination today. We need one another more than ever. We need our common backgrounds of baptism to unite in service for the marginalized and to speak out on behalf of the weak and weary.

At Sacred Heart Church, we host the weekly Lord’s Dinner, sponsored by nine churches that are part of an alliance from Westside CARES. We also serve hundreds of families in our weekly food pantry on Mondays and Thursdays, also part of Westside CARES. We are also connected to various Catholic Charities programs with volunteers from our Tri-Community.

I was deeply inspired by our common prayer on Friday evening. I wait for us to find our common voice to love and serve in our world that desperately needs God’s compassion and tenderness.

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Second Sunday in Ordinary Time: Prayers of the Faithful

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Ronald Patrick Raab, C.S.C.

Version 3

January 20, 2019

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Prayers of the Faithful

Let us pray for a new awareness of the miracles of Christ Jesus as we celebrate the gifts of faith, hope and love in our midst.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for the gifts of prophecy and understanding for all who lead the Church, for Francis, our Pope, and Michael, our Bishop.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people we take for granted in everyday encounters, that we may learn a deeper gratitude for other people’s skills and talents.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to create the Church based on the gifts of forgiveness, compassion and healing and the common good. May we build our lives on gratitude.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for the dignity of all human life, the support of our children and hope for people with disabilities. May we use our gifts to create a world free from violence, racism and poverty.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our beloved dead and for our loved ones who grieve on earth.

We pray to the Lord.

Fragments from the Word: Mark 2:1:12

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Ronald Patrick Raab, C.S.C.

Version 2

Audio reflection, LISTEN NOW: CLICK HERE

Gospel Mk 2:1-12

When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days,
it became known that he was at home.
Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them,
not even around the door,
and he preached the word to them.
They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd,
they opened up the roof above him.
After they had broken through,
they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him,
“Child, your sins are forgiven.”
Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,
“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming.
Who but God alone can forgive sins?”
Jesus immediately knew in his mind what
they were thinking to themselves,
so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,
‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?
But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”
–he said to the paralytic,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.”
He rose, picked up his mat at once,
and went away in the sight of everyone.
They were all astounded
and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

– – –

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time: Cover Art

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Ronald Patrick Raab, C.S.C.

Cover Art: Ronald Raab, CSC

Fragments from the Word: Mark 1: 40-45

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Ronald Patrick Raab, C.S.C.

LISTEN NOW: CLICK HERE

Gospel MK 1:40-45

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Join us at Sacred Heart Church for Vespers on January 18, 2019 at 6:30pm

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Hope you can join us for prayer this Friday evening at 6:30pm at Sacred Heart Church. Christian unity is a must in order to maintain service to our people most in need.

See you on Friday.

Ron

Broken But Not Divided