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Know Your Fellow Parishioner: Galdino Tapia
Galdino Tapia used to believe that Mass was a place to go simply to sit and listen. These days, he helps to make the Mass what it is. Galdino leads the Luc de Cristo music ministry that plays regularly at the Spanish-language Mass at St. Frances Cabrini Church. Over the past 15 years, he has helped to build up the Hispanic congregation into the vibrant community that it is today. “I came from a family that was Catholic by custom,”…
Sunday Mass Reflection for November 3rd, 2019
We believe that Jesus Christ, the Divine Word, God, was born of the Virgin Mary and entered our human condition. Why? Certainly, to show God’s love for us and to give us the truth of God. I asked that question to a group of people a few weeks ago and a young woman responded, “For Salvation.” I find that young people frequently come up with one-word answers that make a lot of sense. Salvation means going to heaven after we die, but…
Sunday Mass Reflection for October 27th, 2019
There is a universal experience in life of feeling that something is missing. Even in the absence of crises (health, financial, etc.) people tend to have a vague feeling that things are not quite right, not quite complete. A Harris Pole (Harris Poll Happiness index, 2017) found that over two-thirds of Americans are dissatisfied with their lives. We could reasonably presume that the “happy” one-third are pragmatists, “This is as good as it gets.” This sense of human unease sparked…
Sunday Mass Reflection for October 20th, 2019
We all know the story. The Israelites, children of Abraham, are slaves in Egypt. God has Moses lead them out of captivity to the land God had promised to Abraham. But there is a catch, isn’t there always a catch? The road from captivity to the promise is long, difficult and dangerous. Around 2000 BC the Amalekites were a nomadic people in the Negev, what is now the southern part of Israel, a boundary between the Sinai Peninsula and Jordan. …
Sunday Mass Reflection for October 13th, 2019
Where do we hear God speaking to us? I hope we all think immediately of the bible, the inspired Word of God. Immediately after that we should think of the Mass. After all, God only speaks one Word, Jesus Christ, and we encounter Christ at Mass in the Eucharist. We always begin Mass with readings from Sacred Scripture, to hear God speaking to us in human language. We need to realize, though, that in any Mass the Scripture readings we…
Sunday Mass Reflection for September 22nd, 2019
We have all grown up hearing the parables of Jesus. We tend to think of them as familiar and comforting. Familiarity, however, can be a distraction and cause us to miss the point. The parables of Christ are designed to puzzle and shock to get our attention, then make a point. Our parable this Sunday (Luke 16:1 – 9) is an excellent example. Jesus, who we believe, directs us to a more virtuous life seems to be promoting dishonesty, even…
Sunday Mass Reflection for August 11th, 2019
Abraham, our father in faith, was a nomadic herdsman who’s home base was around the ancient city of Ur, in what is today, southern Iraq. One day, God tells Abraham to just go where God tells him to go, and Abraham says, “OK”. We should pause and think about what that meant to Abraham. He didn’t know where he was going, but the final destination was Israel. Jerusalem is a straight line shot from Ur of about 750 miles, but…
Sunday Mass Reflection for August 4th, 2019
The parables of Christ are wonderful teaching tools. They are carefully crafted to catch our attention. Remember the parable of the landowner who goes out in the morning and hires workers for his vineyard? He goes out at the end of the day and hires some more workers who only work for an hour, but he pays everyone the same. I have read that parable many times, but I still sympathize with the morning workers who exclaim, “Not fair!” Today…
Sunday Mass Reflection for July 28th, 2019
We take Sacred Scripture very seriously, as we should. The Bible is the truth of God. As we encounter Scripture, at Mass, in our private reading, we need to be challenged by the words. In one of my scripture classes in seminary, the professor told us that when we find a passage that is disturbing or troubling, we need to really look hard at that message. There is a deeper truth there. Today, I believe, our Gospel reading has an…