Today is the last day of July and it is the Feast Day for St. Ignatius Loyola. Jesuits all over the world will be celebrating this day with great reverence this year as it is his 500th anniversary. On this day, it is worth noting that Jesuits have made a huge impact on our Church and the world over these last 500 years. St. Ignatius’ personal contribution to the Church has been immense from his daily Examen to his Spiritual Exercises and many other things. His insistence on the goodness of the world reminds me of St. Francis’ insistence of the goodness of creation and they both saw God in all things. We honor St. Ignatius today by accepting that no matter what happens in our lives, God is always with us and will always love us. God is indeed in all things.
As I return from vacation myself, I am delighted to be back. I love going away on vacation and changing my routine for several weeks but I must confess I always love coming home too. I miss the parish and I miss celebrating Mass with our community especially in these COVID times. While I have been here at St. Simon’s only a year, it is very much home to me and I am simply delighted to jump back into ministry rejuvenated and rested after my weeks away. Thank you for your love and support over this last year and I truly look forward to the year ahead ministering together.
This Sunday, and for the next few Sundays, we will hear about the Bread of Life and how Christ came down to earth so we can experience a little heaven in our world. As Catholics, we believe that Jesus is really present in the bread and wine every week and we come to feed ourselves every Sunday for the journey of the week ahead.
Often the summer activities upset our routine of Sunday Mass attendance. Indeed, we know how COVID had a huge impact on people coming to Mass in person. I am hoping that everyone is now vaccinated, and we can all start coming to Mass again. It is important we see each other for real and build our community back up again. Real presence needs real people!
However, it’s more than just Mass attendance; the Bread of Life is a way of life. It is a deliberate choice of always choosing Christ in our lives. That is more than a “Sunday duty” but a “daily duty.” Coming on Sundays helps remind us but we also need to return to our daily prayer routines too. If you have not tried it before, maybe you can try it this season. Take the Give Us This Day prayer books and pray the readings of each day, especially Sundays. Pray as a family and read the little reflection about the readings and sit in silence for a few minutes and listen to what God is asking of you for this day. May we re-establish our prayer routine as individuals and as families? God is in all things and prayer allows us to see God in the day that just past and say thanks for the presence of God’s grace in our lives.
God Bless
Fr. Brendan