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Rev. Matt Murphy
Assoc. Pastor
Call 310.456.2361
Rev. Msgr. Liam Kidney,
Pastor
Call 310.456.2361
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FROM FR. MATT
My dear friends,
This week we hear Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain from Luke’s Gospel. No, Jesus didn’t come down from “the mount” (Matt 5:1-12), he simply found a “stretch of level ground” on the mountain. This is important because the heights were always the place where the prophets and law-givers of the Hebrew Scriptures encountered God. In the Sermon, Jesus speak of blessings and woes which are meant to remind us of the things that will bring us happiness (“blessed”) and dissatisfaction (“woe”). These guidelines for living the spiritual life are the great paradox of Jesus’ teachings. How can being poor, hungry, sorrowful, and insulted bring happiness? What is so wrong about being rich, satiated, humorous, and honored? Jesus’ point is that we need to detach ourselves from this world in order to prepare ourselves for the world to come.
In his classic work, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes: “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” The foundation of the Christian faith and the basis for the Sermon on the Plain in this, that only God can satisfy our deepest longings. All the wealth, honor, fame, and pleasure in the world could not satisfy us. It is only in relationship with Jesus that we find who we truly are and what we were made for, which is so much more than this world can deliver.
On the subject of detachment, thank you for your generous participation in Together in Mission. I am always thankful to see people share their blessings with those less fortunate, especially when it directly affects the local churches here in the Archdiocese. We’ll provide an update on TiM when all contributions have been tallied. It’s never too late to join in our OLM mission to this great cause.God bless, Fr. Matt
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FROM MSGR. KIDNEY
My Dear Parishioners,
As we journey through the Season of Easter and we continue through the Year of Mercy, I thought this would be a good time to give some thought to our attendance at Sunday Mass and why we gather together as a Catholic Community.
At a workshop I once attended, Fr. Kevin Irwin suggested
three reasons why we gather:1. We gather to remember,
2. We gather to listen,
3. We gather to respond.In remembering we cause something to live and to continue to live. We remember that God is acting among us, and we let that God who is acting among us transform us, change us, make us new. When we listen and really hear the Word of God it forms
us or transforms us. It creates us, or it recreates us. If we hear the Word, it brings order out of the chaos of our lives and we become converted to the God we worship.
We gather to respond and our response is a common prayer – we pray with each other and for each other. Sometimes our prayer is so united that we reach out and hold hands to add to our oneness and unity. My friends, do we realize what we are remembering and
that in remembering we give life? Do we realize how much we need to listen, and not just listen, but to really hear the Word of God? To allow the Word to change us will now cause us to respond; and, in responding we share a common prayer and we become a Sacrament ofthe presence of God.
In other words, we leave the gathering to go and livewhat we celebrate. Listen to the words of the Dismissal –“Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”
Siempre Adelente!