From the Pastor - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 6, 2024

Our readings today offer us a message of hope — God is with us and wants to heal us. May this message come ablaze in our hearts so that we might live with unwavering faith.

 

The Gospel presents us with the story of the profound physical healing of a deaf man with a speech impediment. People brought him to Jesus and begged for his healing. Jesus took the man off by himself, touched his ears and his tongue, then proclaimed, “Be opened!” Immediately he was healed.

 

This story in our Gospel overwhelms us with comfort and peace because we have a compassionate God who sees our physical needs. Yet if we reflect further on this reading, we see that God uses this moment of physical healing as an opportunity to restore something much deeper — our souls.

 

Oftentimes we are blind and deaf to God in our lives. We miss countless opportunities to see God working in our day-to-day moments — through our loved ones, our community, or even a stranger. We miss the quiet voice of Jesus in our hearts telling us to choose Him instead of sin, respond in love instead of anger, or care for someone else in a moment instead of ourselves. This is how we need to be spiritually healed. And the scriptures remind us that God is with us and wants to heal us.

 

This week let us seek God to heal our souls and transform our hearts. Let us pray that our eyes and our ears might “be open” to His workings, words, and promptings in our lives. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2024

 

Pastoral Pondering

It was good to be able to gather as the local Church of the Diocese of Charlotte at the Eucharistic Congress last week. It is always a blessing to be able to participate in our annual homecoming and to celebrate the “source and summit” of our faith. Thanks to all our St. Mark Parishioners who offered their time and talent to volunteer at the Congress. It is only through the efforts of hundreds of volunteers that we can make it happen each year.

 

Some of you are aware that on August 23 I lost one of my dearest friends, Billie Mobley. Billie organized our annual pilgrimage to Fatima and devoted the last ten years of her life to sponsoring seminarians for the pilgrimage and promoting the message of Our Lady of Fatima. In her honor and memory, I wanted to take the opportunity over the next few weeks to speak about some of the devotions that surround Our Lady’s visits to the three shepherd children in hopes that some or all of them might find a way to your hearts. Perhaps the most important aspect of the Fatima message is the importance of the Holy Rosary.

 

The name Rosary is taken from the Latin word rosarium which means crown or garland of roses. These fragrant flowers are often associated with Our Lady, so it is natural that this ancient devotion would bear that connection as well. According to pious tradition, the idea of the Rosary was given to St. Dominic when the Virgin Mary appeared to him in 1214. This particular apparition is known as Our Lady of the Rosary and subsequent Dominican friars began promoting the recitation of the Rosary and establishing the “fifteen rosary promises”.

 

The Rosary calls us to meditate on the mysteries of the lives of Jesus and Mary. Meditation is an important of our lives as Catholics. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, meditation “engages thought, imagination, emotion and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ.”

 

Traditionally, by establishment of Pope St. Pius V, there were 15 mysteries of the Rosary, the joyful, the sorrowful, and the glorious. In 2002 Pope St. John Paul II added an additional five mysteries known as the luminous mysteries. At Fatima, Our Lady asked the children to pray the Rosary every day for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the sins of the world. The family Rosary was a staple of Catholic life encouraged by Father Patrick Peyton who noted the family that prays together, stays together.”

 

Through Mary, we are led to a closer relationship with her son, Jesus. The Rosary is an invitation for us to present our needs to God and to love Him more. When we recite the twelve prayers that form the decade of the rosary, we need to deeply reflect on the mystery associated with that decade. Simple recitation, whether vocally or in silence, is not enough because we miss the true essence of the prayers.

 

Praying the Rosary therefore is not just simply about reciting prayers. It involves reflecting on the grace of God. Praying is a powerful act that lets us develop and strengthen our relationship with God and the Rosary offers the same beautiful reward. By praying the Rosary, we meditate on the events in the life of Jesus Christ, and this lets us know God more.

From the Pastor

From the Pastor - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • August 7, 2026
Stewardship spirituality invites us to surrender control of our lives to God in grateful recognition that everything we have is a gift from Him. Today's readings remind us that God is always in control of His creation and His people. They also reveal what can happen when we fully entrust our lives to Him — in other words, when we embrace the stewardship way of life. When we take our eyes off God, we lose sight of the fact that all is gift. We begin to rely on ourselves instead of trusting in Him, and we fail to make our lives a grateful response to His generosity. Peter experiences this in today's Gospel from Matthew. Jesus sends the disciples ahead of Him by boat. Later that evening, Jesus comes to them, walking on the water, and invites Peter to join Him. Peter steps out of the boat and begins walking toward the Lord. But when he notices the strong wind around him, instead of keeping his eyes on Christ, he begins to sink. Imagine if Peter had never looked away from Jesus. What an extraordinary adventure he would have experienced walking on the water with his Lord. The same is true for us. When we take our eyes off Christ, His countless blessings, and His faithful love for us, we begin to sink as well. But when we embrace the stewardship way of life, loosening our grip on our time, talents, and treasure and placing our trust in God, life becomes a great adventure rooted firmly in the One who never fails us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026. Pastoral Pondering First of all I want to thank all who participated in our meal packing effort last Friday and Saturday. What a gift it is to be able to come together as a community and unite for the sake of our brothers and sisters in need. These events cannot happen without the efforts of numerous people. To each of you who made it possible, THANK YOU! As we move into August and our lives begin reorienting from lazier summer months towards fall, it is an opportunity to reflect on the blessings that we were afforded to rest, refresh, and renew during these past weeks. Hopefully, family were able to spend some quality time with each other without the demands of school, work and the day to day demands that impact many of us.  For me, I was privileged once again to participate in the Te Deum Peace Pilgrimage to Fatima. This year we were able to invite and sponsor nine (9) seminarians from various dioceses including Charlotte, NC; Charleston, SC; Cleveland, OH; and Youngstown, OH. They along with a wonderful group of non-seminarian pilgrims were able to grow in our love for the Lord and Our Lady. It was a true blessing, and I was so impressed with the seminarians who were a part of our pilgrimage family for our time in Portugal and Spain. Along the same lines, please pray for parishioner Mark Pressley who is entering St. Joseph College Seminary. Mark’s family has been a part of the parish for many years. Keep him and the other nine (9) young men who are beginning their formation this fall.

From the Pastor - 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • July 31, 2026
Today’s readings should inspire the Christian steward with deepened gratitude for our God, who loves us with both fierce and tender love. We must make an intentional response each day, returning love for Love. In our Second Reading from Romans, St. Paul reminds us that nothing and no one can separate us from the love of Christ. No anguish, distress, persecution, famine — and we might add illness, financial hardship, family struggles, or uncertainty about the future — nothing can keep our God from loving us. God holds us securely in the palm of His hand. And yet, this reassurance is only the beginning of God’s gifts to us. Our Gospel from Matthew recounts the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish. This miracle foreshadows the gift of the Eucharist, where Christ feeds us not simply with bread, but with His own Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Notice how the Gospel begins. "His heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick." What generous and compassionate love our Lord shows. But even that is not enough for Him. He remains with the people, teaching and ministering to them until evening. When the disciples suggest sending the crowds away to find food, Jesus instead invites them to become part of His plan. He tells them to feed the people, then miraculously multiplies the few loaves and fish they offer. What a privilege it was for the disciples to participate in Christ's work. That same privilege is ours as Christian stewards. Let us respond with grateful hearts to such amazing love. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants,