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 Friday – 15th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 12:1-8 Apples and Grain Father Judge Mission Seminary Back when I was in the seminary (Father Judge) in Monroe, Virginia, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, we would spend a lot of our free time just wandering along all the country roads in the area.  I especially loved the hikes in the autumn when the apple orchards were ready for harvest.  We would always carry along a bag or two and grab as many apples as we could manage.  Was that “kosher”?  Not really!  Did we know we were stealing?  Sure!  And there were plenty of times when we ‘almost’ got caught.  The Apostles (looking for a snack, I guess), in today’s Gospel, are caught picking grain on the Sabbath.  The law is clear: no work on the Sabbath and picking grain qualifies as work.  Jesus reminds the Pharisees that there have been exceptions to the rule in the past, particularly King David.  And He tries to te...
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  Thursday – 15th Week in Ordinary Time  Gospel – Matthew 11:28-30 Share the Load! Sharing a Moment We all have our burdens; we are all weighed down with cares and stress and worries for ourselves, our family, and our world.    We all trudge through long days and sleepless nights, wondering when we will find a break from the load and relief from the hardships. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to bring our troubles to Him and He will give us rest.   Ok, sounds good.   But then He says to take on HIS yoke because His yoke is easy and light and we will find rest.   Seriously??   His yoke is easy?   Let go of my burden and take on His?   How is that gonna be any better?   Are we missing something here?   Well, of course we are! Unlike Jesus’ followers, most of us lack simple farming experience; we simply don’t realize that a yoke is meant for TWO oxen!   And that is the crux of Jesus’ words today.   The yoke is n...
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Wednesday – St. Bonaventure    Gospel – Matthew 11:25-27 Carrying the Load St. Joseph Church, Norris TN The social hall here at St. Joseph Church in Norris, TN also doubles as the overflow area for Sunday Masses.   We just set up folding chairs to handle the crowd,   And during the summer months, we do get a lot of “lake people’, visitors spending their vacation in the area.   It’s an unwritten rule that, after Mass, everyone folds up their chair and puts it away, clearing the hall in a matter of minutes.   Last Sunday, after Mass, I noticed one little boy, probably 3 or 4 years old, dutifully fold his chair and store it away.   What impressed me was that no one directed him to do it; he just went about the task like normal.   Mind you, that chair was easily a foot taller than him.   And yet he just dragged it like it was nothing.   Such a good example for all of us.   He did his share; he shouldered the burden easily and ha...
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  Tuesday – Feast of St. Kateri Tekakwitha Gospel – Matthew 25: 1-13 (Readings from Common of Virgins) Stay Awake!   Be Prepared! St. Kateri   Center Chapel, Chicago   As many of you know, even though Ginger and I are now living in Tennessee, I continue to serve as the Permanent Deacon for the Native American community at the St. Kateri Center in the Archdiocese of Chicago, although on a rather limited basis (thank you, frequent flyer miles). We celebrate today the feast of St. Kateri Tekakwitha.   To give you a little background. Kateri was born to an Algonquin-Mohawk tribe in upstate New York in 1656. When she was a child, smallpox hit her village; her mother, father and brother all died.    She survived but the smallpox left her partially blind, weak and her face permanently scarred and blistered the rest of her life. She often went out in public with a blanket to hide her scars.  She was adopted by her uncle and at the age of 10 the vi...
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