Today we have a recurring guest blogger: Fr. Arthur F. Rojas, pastor of PRESENTATION OF THE B.V.M CHURCH, PORT EWEN AND SACRED HEART CHURCH, ESOPUS. For more information on this parish, check out their website at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary & Sacred Heart Churches - Port Ewen - Esopus, NY (presentationsacredheart.org)
Submission to the Blog of Dcn. Thomas Tortorella for Aug. 4, 2024 (XVIII Sunday of Ordinary Time). (c) All Rights Reserved personally by Fr. Arthur F. Rojas (c)
Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB
With so much that has happened in America and abroad recently and the Gospel reading coming from John 6 (a.k.a. Bread of Life Discourse to the scholars of Sacred Scripture) on the Sundays of August this year in the Ordinary Form, the second reading of today (Eph 4:17, 20-24) enjoins us to respond to having "learned Christ," Who is present in the Blessed Eucharist, by eschewing pagan and anti-Christian mentalities as part of changing the course of our daily lives. When I invited our parishioners and neighbors of good will to take part in our Day of Reparation at Sacred Heart Church on July 31st, partly in response to the mockery of the Last Supper at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games at Paris, France and partly to build on the National Eucharistic Congress that just ended at Indianapolis, Indiana, amidst various positive and perceptive responses received, alas there was one reply in which the author appeared to have been persuaded by the media spin of certain persons to cast the event as a Dionysian re-enactment instead of what at least one person involved admitted to concerning the Last Supper and Christianity itself. (“Lesbian in center of blasphemous Olympics ceremony says she portrayed ‘Olympic Jesus’” by Clare Marie Merkowsky, July 30, 2024, www.lifesitenews.com, accessed July 31, 2024). Thus, our day of reparation was “unnecessary,” according to that person. Kyrie eleison!
Between what the French bishops and American prelates such as (Arch)Bishops Salvatore Cordileone, Robert Barron, and Andrew Cozzens had commented as well as remarks from Muslims such as Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei regarding the event at Paris, compared to the special pleading by elements of the mass media to contain the international indignation, praise God for those parishioners and others of good will who attended Sacred Heart Church on July 31st for the most necessary effort of reparation and intercession before the Eucharistic presence of the Lord Jesus in our tabernacle. The Real Presence of Christ in that tabernacle was confected at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, of which the first Mass was the same Last Supper mocked at Paris by agents of today’s Jacobins. As someone who in childhood and youth watched Olympiad after Olympiad on television with my family, this event at Paris seals for me the transformation of the Olympic Games to something far apart from family-friendly fare for the eyes and ears. With the state of the Olympics today, of which this blasphemy is only one Woke symptom, why would “one nation under God” (Pledge of Allegiance) willingly participate or support such an endeavor?
From Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteI signed a peaceful protest e-mail to the head of the Olympic Committee that I received by e-mail from an organization affiliated with AMERICA NEEDS FATIMA & shared it on FACEBOOK. I frequently participate in e-mail petitions they send me.
I am not watching the Olympics, but then I hardly ever watched the Olympics anyway!
I have seen posts & heard on Christian radio that several Olympic athletes, including a few winners, especially Catholics, have deliberately taken the opportunity to share their faith & give glory to GOD at this year's Olympics. On Christian radio (K-LOVE) I heard that there have been some PRAISE & WORSHIP services breaking out to PRAISE GOD & to make reparation for the blasphemous mockery of the Last Supper at the Paris Olympics.
So, once again, the patriarch Joseph's statement to his brothers in Genesis & the Scripture verse, Roman's 8:28, applies: GOD is taking what human beings intended for evil & using it for good & for His glory. This time it is through bold witness & expressions of faith & giving glory to GOD & offering praise & worship to Him--some of which was stirred in response to the blasphemy.