Please pray for:
- Tom Linbeck, as he recovers from surgery.
- Anthony Rodriguez, who died a couple of weeks ago.
- Kelly Cobb, who passed away this past week.
- Granddaughter of Carol Nex, as she recovers from surgery.
Anthony Rodriguez
I mentioned at the end of the Masses at which I presided last weekend that I would send out information on Anthony Rodriguez who died in the tragic incident in our parish parking lot two weeks ago. There were a couple of reasons that I could not say anything during the week after that incident. First, I did not know anything for a number of days. I did not know who it was or if they were a parishioner. I heard rumors but there was no way I was going to repeat those. Then when I did get verified information on his identity my first thought was concern for the wishes of his family. I called his wife, Belinda, and arranged to meet with her at her home. I mentioned that I had heard rumors and that meeting verified that just about everything I had heard was wrong. Anthony was a good man who had a series of negative things happen in his life professionally and in his health. He loved his family. As a matter of fact his last message to them was that he loved them. However, because of the negative things he had experienced professionally and the decline in his health he just seemed to have lost touch with hope so fully that he came to see his life as nothing more than a burden to others. I do not know why he chose to come to Emmaus to end his life. Perhaps, he just felt that he should meet God near God’s house.
The funeral Mass for Anthony was at San Jose Parish. I concelebrated the Mass. Belinda had worked there as Director of Religious Education. In addition Anthony’s having died here made coming here too difficult for his family. I am very grateful to Fr. Alberto Borruel, the pastor at San Jose for the care he gave to her and to her family.
Belinda and her children were left with very few financial resources. Anthony’s series of professional setbacks and health costs had drained their accounts. If you would like to help them with funeral costs and to cover other expenses you can go to the family’s GoFundMe page at https://gofundme.com/support-the-rodriguez-family.
Parish office closed on July 4
The parish office will be closed on July 4. We will offer the regular Wednesday Mass at 5:30 PM on Independence Day.
I have found another great Rueben
Actually some parishioners who are lovers of great Rueben sandwiches told me about this place. However, as I reported to you the last time I made a great Rueben discovery I hesitate to tell you about it because every time I have found a restaurant or deli with a great Rueben it is not long before it closes. The last place I found burned down. I have been called the grim reaper of great Rueben places. However, I will take a chance because this place has one of the best Rueben sandwiches I have ever had. I ask, at the same time, that you pray for its survival. It is the Little Deli at 7101 Woodrow Ave., suite A in north Austin. Woodrow connects with FM 2222 (Koenig Lane). Do a left turn onto Woodrow from 2222 as you drive into Austin. The Little Deli is in a strip center on the northwest corner of Woodrow and St. John’s. You have to look hard for it because the back of the strip center faces Woodrow. It is definitely worth the time and effort that it takes to find it.
Please welcome Msgr. Elmer Holtman and Msgr. Bill Brooks (again) on July 8
Next weekend, July 7&8, Fr. Rito has to be in another parish to do a missionary appeal for his diocese in Nicaragua. Msgr. Elmer Holtman and Msgr. Bill Brooks will be helping out with Masses at Emmaus that weekend. Msgr. Holtman will be at Queen of Angels Chapel at 10:00 AM. Msgr. Brooks, who was with us for three weekends in June will be presiding at the 8:30 AM and the 10:30 AM Masses pm Sunday morning. Please welcome them.
The Sunday Readings
The deacons will be preaching this weekend so I thought I might share something with you that I came across in my own time of reflection on the readings. Gerald Darring, who is adjunct professor of theology at Spring Hill College has written a very compelling piece based on the readings that we will hear this weekend from the Book of Wisdom and from St. Paul’s 2nd Letter to the Corinthians. Here are both of those readings and Professor Darring’s comments which includes a quote from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
First Reading: WIS 1:13-15; 2:23-24
God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the
destruction of the living.
For he fashioned all things
that they might have being;
and the creatures of the world
are wholesome, and there is not
a destructive drug among them
nor any domain of the
netherworld on earth,
for justice is undying.
For God formed man to
be imperishable;
the image of his own nature
he made him.
But by the envy of the devil,
death entered the world,
and they who belong to
his company experience it.
God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the
destruction of the living.
For he fashioned all things
that they might have being;
and the creatures of the world
are wholesome, and there is not
a destructive drug among them
nor any domain of the
netherworld on earth,
for justice is undying.
For God formed man to
be imperishable;
the image of his own nature
he made him.
But by the envy of the devil,
death entered the world,
and they who belong to
his company experience it.
Second Reading: 2 COR 8:7, 9, 13-15
Brothers and sisters:
As you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you, may you excel in this gracious act also.
For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. Not that others should have relief while you are burdened, but that as a matter of equality your abundance at the present time should supply their needs,
so that their abundance may also supply your needs, that there may be equality. As it is written:
Whoever had much did not have more,
and whoever had little did not have less.
Brothers and sisters:
As you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you, may you excel in this gracious act also.
For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. Not that others should have relief while you are burdened, but that as a matter of equality your abundance at the present time should supply their needs,
so that their abundance may also supply your needs, that there may be equality. As it is written:
Whoever had much did not have more,
and whoever had little did not have less.
Life: the Essence of Salvation
"God did not make death,” the book of Wisdom declares. Our God is a God of life, whose will for us is expressed in such words as being, wholesome, undying, imperishable. This God calls us “to walk in the light of Christ,” which is life, and not in the “darkness of hatred and sin,” which is death. We must, therefore, be on the side of life, opposed to death. This should include opposition to all those things that diminish life.
Every man has the right to life, to bodily integrity, and to the means which are necessary and suitable for the proper development of life. These means are primarily food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care, and finally the necessary social services. Therefore, a human being also has the right to security in cases of sickness, inability to work, widowhood, old age, unemployment, or in any other case in which he is deprived of the means of subsistence through no fault of his own.
~U.S. Bishops (USCCB)
By Gerald Darring
"God did not make death,” the book of Wisdom declares. Our God is a God of life, whose will for us is expressed in such words as being, wholesome, undying, imperishable. This God calls us “to walk in the light of Christ,” which is life, and not in the “darkness of hatred and sin,” which is death. We must, therefore, be on the side of life, opposed to death. This should include opposition to all those things that diminish life.
- The Gospel is about two healing incidents in the life of Jesus, healings which show that Jesus willed life, and willed full life. The Greek word for being healed also means being saved: to be brought to full life is the essence of salvation.
- The Second Reading mentions another form of the diminution of life: poverty. No one should live on the survival level: “there should be a certain equality.”
Every man has the right to life, to bodily integrity, and to the means which are necessary and suitable for the proper development of life. These means are primarily food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care, and finally the necessary social services. Therefore, a human being also has the right to security in cases of sickness, inability to work, widowhood, old age, unemployment, or in any other case in which he is deprived of the means of subsistence through no fault of his own.
~U.S. Bishops (USCCB)
By Gerald Darring