August St. Elizabeth's Birthdays ~ Ethel Cooley

Happy Birthday, Everybody!






08/03/10 ~ Ashanti Williams

08/07/10 ~ Mary Jaquez

08/09/10 ~ Tonya Jones, Peter Thompson & Mieko Timmons

08/10/10 ~ Walker Bland

08/11/10 ~ Christopher Jaquez

08/12/10 ~ Lisa Moore & Daphne Sylvester

08/20/10 ~ Paulette Wright

08/21/10 ~ Vincent Cotman, Jr.

08/23/10 ~ Melvon McMillan

08/25/10 ~ Lyric Weston

08/26/10 ~ Candido Antomattei & Tracey Hall

Persistence in Prayer ~ by M. A. Allen

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings today tell us how to have a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. We learn that this relationship can be attained through persistent prayer made in a spirit of humility to our God.

A perfect example of this persistence in prayer can be found in the first reading from the Book of Genesis where we find Abraham continually begging God not to destroy Sodom if there are innocent people to be found in the city. Even though Abraham asks for fewer and fewer innocent people at each request, God listens patiently to Abraham and agrees each time not to destroy the city.

While Abraham was persistent; he also trusted that God was willing to listen no matter what! You see, our God is waiting for us to address Him too. He wants us to come to Him with our needs. Our Heavenly Father knows that we depend on Him and He is patient even with our sometime awkward words.

In Luke's Gospel, we discover that the disciples of Jesus recognize that He has an especially close relationship with God. They have often seen Jesus deep in prayer. The disciples had noted that John the Baptizer taught his own followers how to pray, so they decide to ask Jesus to teach them how to pray also. And that is how we received the beautiful prayer that Jesus taught His disciples and that has come down to us over the millennia.

The Lord's Prayer is the model that we want to follow in all our prayers to our Heavenly Father. Its elements include praise of our God... a prayer for the coming of the Kingdom... a petition for "our daily bread" or whatever we need to support us in our daily lives... a request for forgiveness for ourselves and to acknowledge our forgiveness of others, and an appeal to God to protect us from the evil one.

Jesus reminds us that if we ask, we will receive; if we seek, we will find. If we knock, the door will be opened.

If we persist in our prayer, our God will answer. But because God's time is different from human time, the response to our prayer might come when we least expect it; or in a slightly different manner.

In trust, we pray the Psalmist's words:

"I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with all my heart; for you have heard the words of my mouth..." Ps.138

Transformation Retreat Update ~ by Rosemary Overton

Hi Everyone!

This is my report on the Transformation Retreat. All of the participants that I spoke to said this was the best one of all they had attended. We let them do most of the work of having the retreat. They did a good job. It was very spiritual and uplifting.

We gave very nice gift bags to 24 participants. Two bags to two homeless people and two bags to a community organization.

The Health Committee thanks everyone who gave donations for the gift bags and a special thank you to Frances Pope for the labels for the gift bags.

May God bless St. Elizabeth's!

Peace and love,

Rosemary

Choose the Better Portion ~ by Ronnie Archer

"Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time"

In today's first reading, we hear how "busy" and hospitable Abraham was when he encountered the three men whom he at first did not recognize as the Lord. Abraham had Sarah, his wife, just as busy, telling her to "quickly make bread for the strangers." He chose a steer and had it prepared for the meal for the three. After all had eaten, the time came for the Lord to reveal the fulfillment of his promise to Abraham - that this elderly, childless couple would have a son by the time they returned next year.

God's generosity towards Abraham and Sarah was much greater than Abraham's generosity towards them, confirming for us that "we can't beat God's giving - no matter how we try!"

In St. Paul's letter to the Colossians, he writes about how he rejoices in the dignity of suffering with Christ for His Church. Paul called his own sufferings the "tribulations" of Christ because of his intimate union with Him. The mystery that had been hidden from ages past, had been revealed to his holy ones.

The Gospel corresponds with the first reading in speaking about "busyness" that we sometimes find ourselves in, as opposed to spending quiet contemplative time with God.

Martha was busy being hospitable to the guests at their home, while Mary sat at Jesus' feet, listening to and learning from Him. Mary's actions agitated Martha who complained to Jesus because she felt that her sister should be in the kitchen helping her with preparations.

Jesus told Martha not to worry or be anxious about such things. Martha had made the decision to do housekeeping and preparations. Mary had made the decision to just rest and relax in Jesus' presence! Jesus told Martha that her sister had "chosen the better portion."

Sometimes we too, are so "busy" that we do not make the time for God that we should. Doing what God wants us to do, when He wants us to do it is the "better portion."

There are times when we need to just stop the busyness in our lives and just be in God's presence, contemplating... in that stillness of His presence is when we will better learn what He wants from us.

We can balance our lives by being active and contemplative.

Who is my neighbor? ~ by Phyllis Booth

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Gospel story of the Good Samaritan tends to overshadow the Deuteronomy Reading where Moses reminds us when and where God's commandments are placed in our lives. They were given to us as an aid to help us to live as children of God. Living these commandments will ensure eternal life.

In Colossians, we are told that Jesus is the image of the invisible God and what role he will play in God's plan. Jesus has been given all powers and through him, mankind will be redeemed by the blood of his cross.

The scholar in today's story thought he had the best questions to test Jesus. He knew what had been taught to the people of Israel about eternal life and believed he was following the commandment. He was pleased with himself when Jesus said, "you will live."

However, he wanted to further show his knowledge of the Jewish Law by asking Jesus, "who is my neighbor?" Jesus told the scholar and others the story of a man beaten, robbed and left for dead. A priest, a Levite and a Samaritan came along while the man lay on the road. Only the Samaritan was filled with compassion and tended to his wounds. The scholar gave Jesus the correct answer and Jesus told him to go and do likewise.

We don't know if the young man did as Jesus requested. He probably didn't since he had no respect for the Samaritans in his town because they were considered unclean. To love someone outside your family wasn't heard of in those days.

Jesus wanted the people to include everyone: the leper, the tax collector, the poor and the prostitute. The priest as a leader should have had compassion for the beaten man, but he did not.

The commandment to love God and neighbor as yourself is inclusive. It means to love those who are different in race, color, religion, culture and language. The U.S. is divided now on the question of immigration. We are a nation of immigrants built on the premise of life, liberty and freedom. We say our Constitution gives us certain inalienable rights. Are we true to our beliefs? We say we are made in the image and likeness of God. Are we living the image and likeness of God?

July Birthdays at St. Elizabeths ~ Ethel Cooley

Happy Birthday Everybody!






07/01 ~ Diane Neylan

07/04 ~ Nicholas Hall

07/06 ~ Kenneth Soistman

07/08 ~ Treshawn McCall

07/10 ~ Mackenzie Jaquez

07/13 ~ Woody Kaine

07/15 ~ Mary Ann Allen

07/20 ~ Mary Baker and Roland Smith

07/26 ~ Leila Moore and Lucy Thompson

07/27 ~ Keon Green

07/31 ~ Tyshell Jones

St. E's Annual Jazz and Food Festival

Last year's festival was great. This year's will be even better! Be sure to mark your calendar for Saturday, August 7, 2010!

The Christian Mission

In today's Gospel of Luke, we learn how Jesus expects us to spread the Good News to others. We generally think of missionaries as people who give up their normal lives and travel to some distant country to carry out the mission of the Church. What we don't always remember is that for most of us, our mission to spread the Gospel of Love is to be carried out right here where we live.

Even in our own neighborhoods, it is important to recognize that "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few..." When Jesus sent out the disciples to spread the Good News, he sent them out in pairs. This was not done for companionship only, but because missionary work requires collaboration and teamwork. It was also the missionaries' responsibility to bring people together; to build one people in the spirit of love.

Our responsibility is to be an active participant in whatever way we can. For some, it might be to knock on doors and meet our neighbors. For others, it might be to unite in prayer for the success of the mission. It definitely means that we are to act out our faith in whatever circumstances we find ourselves; to show by the way we live that our lives belong to God.

It won't always be easy either. We know that some of the disciples who went on their mission were rejected by the people to whom they wished to preach the Good News. Jesus had said: "...behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves." However, even though some towns rejected them, the seventy-two disciples came back rejoicing because of the success they had among the people.

Jesus reminds us that when we are successful in our Christian Mission, our rejoicing should not be because of our successes but because our names will be written in heaven.

In the words of the psalmist:

"Come and see the works of the Lord, his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam."

World Religions in Richmond

Virginia Commonwealth University has a project online with the title of World Religions in Richmond. St. Elizabeth Church is one of the Catholic churches that has been profiled. Unfortunately, our parish information is a bit old, so many of our newer outreach ministries are not featured.

Here is the link: World Religions in Richmond...