This weekend's Mass video is now available.
This weekend concludes our streamed video Masses from St. Edward's. Thank you to all who have viewed and supported these Masses during the past fifteen months!
A list of other radio/TV/streamed Masses will continue to be available on the diocesan website. Click here for the list.
Thursday 9:00 a.m. Masses at St. Edward's will resume this Thursday, July 29.
HOMILY FOR 7/25/2021: 17TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
MSGR. PAUL ENKE
This weekend, we mark a turning point in the worship life of our church as we transition away from the taped weekend Mass that we have offered to parishioners since the end of April. Above all, we have our parish director of music, Paul Radkowski, to thank for the production of this Mass, along with Deacon John Barbour, who assisted me at the altar each week. And based on responses from viewers, I would say that we had a good run of it.
Little by little, our weekend congregation is once again increasing as the watchers on television have dramatically decreased. There remain, of course, other opportunities to tune into other Masses in the vicinity and through our country, and those will be listed on the parish website. [Click here for a current list from the diocese.]
I was speaking recently to the pastor of one of our largest parishes in the diocese, who told me that the attendance over the past year had dropped by fifty percent. Now he always exaggerates a bit about how many people are there, but he said from a crowd of--over a weekend--from 3000 down to 1500. They, too, are beginning to experience an uptick in their attendance.
Now our scripture this weekend connects to our own experience as a parish as we hear of two occasions when God's people--one in the Old Testament and another in the ministry of Jesus--are miraculously fed with the Bread of Life.
And I especially like that story of Elisha, who minces no words when he is presented with twenty barley loaves and first fruits. What does he do? He says, "Give it to the people." And when they did that, there were even some left over. And I can almost hear the Lord saying to me as well, "Give it to the people. Give the bread of Eucharist to the people."
And so, that is our fond hope and our prayer this weekend and those weekends coming up: that those of you who might still be at home will come back to us here at church and receive the Holy Eucharist.
To assist in that return, our parish council has suggested that we provide a designated area of the church for those who still have hesitations about being with us physically. As you look at the front of the church, it will be the section to the left of the altar and closest to the west wall that will be reserved for those who still choose perhaps to wear a mask or be socially distanced. And there will be ropes again there to mark that section off. And so, we ask those who generally sit in those pews--it's not a very large number--just move across the aisle for the time being. We plan this to be only a temporary situation, and we pray so anyway.
And so, this is what I ask of you still at home: it is time to return to us. We've missed you, and we want to see you again. We have been a poorer parish without you--and I'm not talking there about money. This pandemic has been a horrible thing for our world, our own country, and our parish. We have carried on as best we can, and we will continue to do so no matter. None of us know where it's all going, either. Through it all, we can hear the voice of Elisha telling us still: feed the people.
And so, this is what we have done with the Word of God at least for those of you who are at home, and now it's time to feed you again with the Bread of Life here at church. Please join us when you feel comfortable doing that again. And if you still wish to wait a while, we certainly do respect that choice.
And so, as we make those choices, let us trust the Lord speaking to us in today's psalm: "The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs."
And a little postscript, a final request of all: in the name of God, if you have not yet been vaccinated, please do so just as soon as you can. And we'll all be grateful, as this is a matter of public health and not a matter, in any way, of politics.
Little by little, our weekend congregation is once again increasing as the watchers on television have dramatically decreased. There remain, of course, other opportunities to tune into other Masses in the vicinity and through our country, and those will be listed on the parish website. [Click here for a current list from the diocese.]
I was speaking recently to the pastor of one of our largest parishes in the diocese, who told me that the attendance over the past year had dropped by fifty percent. Now he always exaggerates a bit about how many people are there, but he said from a crowd of--over a weekend--from 3000 down to 1500. They, too, are beginning to experience an uptick in their attendance.
Now our scripture this weekend connects to our own experience as a parish as we hear of two occasions when God's people--one in the Old Testament and another in the ministry of Jesus--are miraculously fed with the Bread of Life.
And I especially like that story of Elisha, who minces no words when he is presented with twenty barley loaves and first fruits. What does he do? He says, "Give it to the people." And when they did that, there were even some left over. And I can almost hear the Lord saying to me as well, "Give it to the people. Give the bread of Eucharist to the people."
And so, that is our fond hope and our prayer this weekend and those weekends coming up: that those of you who might still be at home will come back to us here at church and receive the Holy Eucharist.
To assist in that return, our parish council has suggested that we provide a designated area of the church for those who still have hesitations about being with us physically. As you look at the front of the church, it will be the section to the left of the altar and closest to the west wall that will be reserved for those who still choose perhaps to wear a mask or be socially distanced. And there will be ropes again there to mark that section off. And so, we ask those who generally sit in those pews--it's not a very large number--just move across the aisle for the time being. We plan this to be only a temporary situation, and we pray so anyway.
And so, this is what I ask of you still at home: it is time to return to us. We've missed you, and we want to see you again. We have been a poorer parish without you--and I'm not talking there about money. This pandemic has been a horrible thing for our world, our own country, and our parish. We have carried on as best we can, and we will continue to do so no matter. None of us know where it's all going, either. Through it all, we can hear the voice of Elisha telling us still: feed the people.
And so, this is what we have done with the Word of God at least for those of you who are at home, and now it's time to feed you again with the Bread of Life here at church. Please join us when you feel comfortable doing that again. And if you still wish to wait a while, we certainly do respect that choice.
And so, as we make those choices, let us trust the Lord speaking to us in today's psalm: "The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs."
And a little postscript, a final request of all: in the name of God, if you have not yet been vaccinated, please do so just as soon as you can. And we'll all be grateful, as this is a matter of public health and not a matter, in any way, of politics.