When the world ends, we are told that God is going to focus on one thing: How did we care for the poor, the sick, the suffering? Nothing else will matter. Just how we treated who Jesus called “the least” among us.
Jesus reveals to us “action words” that accelerate the disciples’ evangelizing works, such as: “giving, welcoming, clothing, caring, and visiting”. When you “give,” you share God’s blessings you received to others; when you “welcome” people, you stretch out your hands as an extension of your loving heart; when you “clothe” others, you shield others with respect and dignity; when you “care” for others, you become the bridge of God’s love; and when you “visit” those in prison, you become a hope-giver.
The Youth Center will be closed from Thursday, November 23 - Saturday, November 25. We will reopen Sunday, November 26 for Youth Night at 6:00 PM. Happy Thanksgiving!
Jesus is telling us that we must put our abilities at the service of the Master, God our Father. But before we can do that, we have to discern what our gifts are. We all have been given special abilities by God. It’s up to us to figure out what those abilities are and how we can best put them into practice so that at the end of our lives we will hear the words of the Master telling us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
The story of the Foolish and the Wise Virgins can be difficult for us in the 21st century to appreciate fully. Not only do we not understand the wedding customs themselves, the actions of the Wise Virgins seem rather selfish: Why wouldn't they just share with the Foolish Virgins and then everyone could go to the wedding and have a good time?
Servant-leadership’s values are accountability and transparency! Therefore, the Parish’s Financial Summary Report (July 1, 2016 --- June 30, 2017) is in today’s bulletin. It’s also the Diocese of San Bernardino’s mandate. If you so desire to see the details of the report, please don’t hesitate to come to the office during the week.
A big thank you to all of people that joined us for the Fatima Movie Night to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal. A special thank you to the Knights of Columbus for picking up 88 pizzas! Our Lady must have been so pleased to see well over 700 people, young and old alike, to share their love with her! May the peace and love in the message of Fatima continue to burn brightly in your hearts! To watch Finding Fatima and access numerous other quality catholic productions, please go to www.sptacc.org/ formed to create a free account.
Today’s Gospel has two parts that don’t exactly seem to fit together. First Jesus is condemning the Scribes and Pharisees for the “hard burdens” they put on the people and then, all of a sudden he says that we should not call anyone Father. What’s going on here?
Today, Jesus invites us to become servant-leaders as a counter-culture to the scribes’ and Pharisees’ nature of leadership, he said: “The greatest among you must be your servant [and] whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”