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From the Pastor - Fourth Sunday of Easter

Apr 19, 2024

On this fourth Sunday of Easter, we hear that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are His sheep. Our readings today call us to reflect inward — do we allow Jesus to shepherd our lives?


In our Gospel Jesus reveals His radical love for us. He says, “I will lay down my life for the sheep.” Jesus tells us that we are His. We can compare this relationship to that of a loving parent to their child. The parent gives without much in return and if any evil came near the child, the parent would do anything, even lay down their life for their baby.


We are Christ’s — even more so than a child is to a parent. He created us and sustains our lives each day. Evil persists in our world, so Jesus willingly laid down His life for us at Calvary for our salvation. He is our Good Shepherd, whether we remain in His flock or go astray.



But just as a baby is happiest in the arms of a parent, so too are we happiest in the flock of our Shepherd. And just as sheep go astray, we also stray from God, test our limits, and even follow false shepherds.


Thankfully our Shepherd is a Good Shepherd, and He laid down His life for us knowing every sin we will ever commit. Therefore, let us examine our hearts and return to our flock. We don’t even need to find the way. He is right there always waiting to guide us home.


Let us look inward this week and ask ourselves, ‘who is my Shepherd?’ and ‘have I gone astray?’ Name the areas in your life that you have neglected. Ask Jesus to bring you home. Pray for His mercy, seek His forgiveness in the sacraments and begin again. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2024

 

Pastoral Pondering

There has certainly been lots of news over the last couple of weeks. As you know on April 9 it was announced that the Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Jugis for reasons of health and appointed Father Michael Martin, OFM Conv as the fifth Bishop of Charlotte. The Bishop-Elect’s ordination will take place here at St. Mark on Wednesday, May 29 and the new bishop will take possession of his Cathedral on May 30. Please keep Father Martin in your prayers as he prepares to become our new bishop.


On April 8 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document which has been in development for the last five years entitled Infinite Dignity. The document deals with matters connected with human dignity that our current culture touches on directly. It is strongly rooted in the magisterium of Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis, especially Fratelli tutti.

Some of the specific issues that are addressed include: the drama of poverty, war, the travail of migrants, human trafficking, sexual abuse, violence against women, abortion, surrogacy, euthanasia & assisted suicide, the marginalization of people with disabilities, gender theory & sex change, and, finally, digital violence. This last topic is especially timely considering the widespread use of social media and the negative impact it has had on culture, especially our children and young people.


The document is not overly academic and is worth reading, especially for those who would like a better understanding of the Church’s perennial teaching on the dignity of the human person and Her response to the cultural milieu.


From the Pastor

From the Pastor - Ascension of the Lord

By John Putnam • 10 May, 2024
We often cite Jesus’ quote from today’s Gospel of Mark: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” This was not a suggestion from the Lord. It was quite frankly a command, and it is one which still holds for each of us. Being an evangelist, being a disciple, being a steward is not a matter of choice for those of us who are Catholic and Christian. It is something the Lord expects of us. Often, we may like to spend time debating how to do that, but that does not lessen the fact that it is something we are supposed to do. We need to acknowledge that even the original Apostles and followers of Jesus did not do that immediately. We learn that they stayed in Jerusalem for some time, and it seemed to be only when the Church and its followers were persecuted that they began to reach out and truly share the “Good News.” Once Christians accepted that charge from the Lord, they did indeed take the Word of God to all corners of the earth. Look at the Church today. It is incredible how this Church has grown from one Man/God and a small group into what it is today. That does not, however, get us “off the hook.” As much as we may argue about how to carry out this command from Jesus, the fact remains that our very lives need to stand as a representation of what it means to be a Christian, what it means to “love one another,” what it means to live and to work as a disciple of Christ. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2024 Pastoral Pondering Over the past couple of weeks, there has been a lot of attention in the news cycle concerning various pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, including UNC Chapel Hill. Some have become violent and most, at the time I am writing this, have been addressed by law enforcement. However, I thought it would be a good time to recall the conflict in the Holy Land which is ongoing. As a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, a papal chivalric and philanthropical order, I have a special concern for the plight of the Christians in the Holy Land. These brothers and sisters of ours are, in a very real way, caught between Scylla and Charybdis, the monsters of Odysseus Book XII. The Christians in the Holy Land are for the most part Palestinian, so they are often caught between the Islamists on the one hand and the Jewish community on the other. Their plight at times is very difficult. The conflict that arose because of the atrocities perpetrated against Israelis on October 7 th by the terrorist group Hamas, was to be expected, but we must always remember that in these conflicts, there are always innocent victims. The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has been consistent in calling for some type of settlement both in this conflict as well as the one in Ukraine so that deaths might be minimized, and the innocent might not become victims. There are any number of forces who want world conflicts to be ongoing; some for ideological reasons, some for financial gain, and some, I’m sure, who operate out their own sense of righteousness. For us Christians, however, we are always called to pray for peace. We must do what we can to in instruments of peace in the world that seems more and more determined to self-destruct in one way or another. Please pray for the Christian community in the Holy Land. Pray that they might be protected in the midst of the fighting and pray that peace may soon be restored.

From the Pastor - Sixth Sunday of Easter

By John Putnam • 03 May, 2024
Our readings today call us to love as Christ loves. In our Gospel, Jesus says, “Love one another as I have loved you.” The ways Jesus has loved us and continues to love us are endless. We are called to imitate this love. And He tells us the greatest way to do this when He said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” It is difficult to live that out in our humanity. Yet, it is made much easier when we faithfully love Christ. The fact of the matter is, as our love for Christ increases, so too does our capacity to love others. There are countless moments when we can do just that — for instance, waking up Saturday morning to attend daily Mass instead of sleeping in, or talking to God in the car on the way to work instead of listening to music. These are simple ways to express our love for the Lord by laying down our lives for Him. The more we find ways to love the Lord, the more we will find it easier to put aside our selfishness and serve others. Christ’s command to love others may seem daunting. Yet, Christ would never ask something of us that we cannot live out. All we need to do is take baby steps. Ask yourself, "How can I better love Jesus right now?" for it is in loving Christ that we will better love others, and it is in loving others that we love Christ Himself. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2024 Pastoral Pondering  Last week I had the opportunity of spending the afternoon with my childhood pastor, the Reverend Fred Thompson. He served as the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Newton, NC for over 30 years. He is now 91 years old and continues to live a fairly independent life. We lost touch when my family moved from Newton to Hickory as I began grammar school but reconnected during my undergraduate studies at Lenoir-Rhyne College. We have stayed in touch since then. Such connections from the past are very important. At least in my case, Fred knew things about my parents and my adoption that I never did, and he is always happy to share a story or two. I bring this up because memory, what we refer to in the Mass as anamnesis, is essential not only to our faith but to society as a whole. Our collective memory is important. Significant events of the past are passed on from one generation to the next, and we hopefully learn from our mistakes so that we don’t repeat them. In the Catholic context, we are being obedient to Christ’s command at the Last Supper, do this in memory of me.” And it is through that remembrance that we cannot the past with the present and look with hope to the future – Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. This is why Sacred Tradition is so very important to our understanding of the Faith. That which is handed over (traditio) is essential because it forms the framework upon which the Church travels throughout the centuries. The same is true in families. In the past multiple generations would live together or in close proximity to each other. Children learned about life from a variety of family members with varying degrees of lived experience and a wealth of memory. With our society becoming more transitory and human interaction being impoverished by the reality of technology, families need to be very intentional about connecting with the past. It helps us all understand who we are, why we are here and for what we were made.
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