FATHER JIM'S JOTS ~ Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - August 20, 2023

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 20, 2023

FATHER JIM'S JOTS

Greetings!

In my absence, Msgr. Walter Barrett is celebrating Sunday Mass this weekend and Deacon Chris will be leading Communion services at the usual daily Mass times, 12 noon on Wed., Aug. 23 and Fri., Aug. 25.  I will be returning at the end of this upcoming week.

As we approach the end of August and beginning of September, we prepare ourselves to celebrate the "Season of Creation."  Since 2015 Pope Francis has been encouraging the Church to celebrate a "Season of Creation" in sync with other Christian denominations around the world.  Although not a liturgical season; as such, like Advent and Lent, it is a month during which we are invited to focus in particular on how we relate to the whole of Creation.  The "Season of Creation" starts September 1, The World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and ends October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology for many Christian denominations.  Throughout the month-long celebration, the world's 2.2 billion Christians come together to care for our common home.

Let the children lead us!  As we prepare for a month of prayer and reflection with the "Season of Creation" after the 10 am Mass, next Sunday, together with children and youths of our community, we will decorate a logo that will remind us of our call as Christians to honor and consider our place in God's Creation. Pope Francis has added care of creation to the traditional lists of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

This Season of Creation we are invited to 'Let Justice and Peace Flow Like a River.' That means giving serious consideration to the soul-searching question Pope Francis poses to us in his 2015 encyclical letter, Laudati Si:  "What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?"

Summer Blessings,

Fr. Jim

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