What a great time to be a fan of the black and gold! The Pirates are having an incredible season and Steelers training camp has begun!
This week we say goodbye to the Gospel of Mark for five Sundays. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the Gospels so the Lectionary draws from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John for five weeks in summer to fill out the year. In the sixth chapter of John we will hear Jesus talk about bread, about hunger and fulfillment, about becoming bread for the world. In this age of mega-marts and low-carb diets, does the word “bread,” central to today’s Gospel, prompt any associations at all? For those of us of a certain age, there may be the childhood memories of ethnic breads, especially at holiday time, and the memories will typically engage both body and soul: grandmother or mother in charge of the kitchen, children helping out, smells of bread baking, finished loaves warm to the touch, and of course the texture and taste. Just imagine what bread meant to the crowds who came to see Jesus. Baking that staple of survival was a practical necessity, an enterprise at once human, cosmic, divine. This human work relied on elements that are fruits of the earth, but only after nature’s God provided rain for the rich earth, sun to nurture the ripening grain. In those days, in that place, no bread, no life!
Tuesday, July 31 is the Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. Like him, may we learn “to find God in all things” and do everything “for the greater glory of God.”
Wednesday, August 1 is the Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, the founder of the Redemptorists. Like him, may we learn that “all holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ."
Saturday, August 4 is the Memorial of Saint John Vianney, patron saint of parish priests. Let us pray for all the priests who serve the many parishes in the Diocese of Greensburg, that they minister with an open heart so that the word of God may enter it, take root in it, and bear fruit there for eternal life.
Our Responsorial Psalm this week, "The Hand of the Lord feeds us," reminds us to trust in God’s providence for what we really need.
