RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
TODAY’S MASS INTENTION: Miklós Peller, by Ildikó Peller
MASS SCHEDULE & INTENTIONS FOR THE COMING WEEK:
| July | 5 | Monday | 9:00 AM | Andrew Balunek, by George Balunek |
| July | 6 | Tuesday | 9:00 AM | Msgr. Robert Sabatino, by Fr. David Misbrener |
| July | 7 | Wednesday | 9:00 AM | Fr. Jerome A. Lukachinsky |
| July | 8 | Thursday | 9:00 AM | Olga Centivany, by Charles Centivany |
| July | 9 | Friday | 9:00 AM | Matej Tarina |
| July | 10 | Saturday | 5:00 PM | Márta Ferenczy, by the Family |
| July | 11 | Sunday | 11:15 AM | Piri Beodray, by Ken & Emily Lyman |
FROM THE DESK OF FR. BONA: This Sunday the United States celebrates its 245th birthday. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress approved the text of the Declaration of Independence by which the claim was put forth that the thirteen American colonies were no longer part of the British Empire. The colonies were now independent. Later commemorations of this event, unsurprisingly, gave the moniker “Independence Day” to July 4.
The itching for independence is in each one of us. We would like to be able to govern ourselves. As children we patiently, or at times impatiently, waited for that time when we could make our own decisions. The pinnacle of having grown up is seen often in this light: I can make decision for myself; I am independent.
While it is true that each one of us has to learn eventually to navigate through life and live with the consequences of our decisions, it would be a mistake to think that the same dynamic of emancipation is to take place in spiritual life as well. In fact, the opposite is true. To be adult in faith means to realize even more how much we depend on God for everything. Jesus proclaimed a little child a model of the one who is fit to enter the Kingdom of God.
Therefore, in our spiritual life, we must properly channel that drive of ours for independence. The perceived “independence” of ours can become a beautiful gift to God when we offer ourselves to Him and fully embrace our vocation. We have to keep in mind all the time that we are never truly independent. If we forget it, we get into trouble. This is how the devil got to Adam and Eve: through a false promise of happiness when one is independent from God. We all know how it ended up. The devil himself declared independence from God and has become the most miserable creature in the whole universe (along with those who followed him). He wants to drag us down into his misery by lying to us about the supposed happiness when freed from under the dominion of our Lord. No such happiness exists and never will. Countless conversion stories have plentifully demonstrated that being independent from God leads only to more emptiness in heart.
Deep down we have a drive for independence, because we want to be in control. When we cannot be (as life often proves it to us), we become agitated or worried. However, when we do realize that God is in control and has counted even the hair on our heads, there is no need to worry. The pinnacle of spiritual life is the willingness to trust the Lord in everything. While the Independence Day is celebrated once a year, let us observe the “Dependence (on God) Day” all the time.
JULY – THE MONTH OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD: The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood. The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord (July 1) was instituted in 1849 by Pius IX, but the devotion is as old as Christianity. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood.
“The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.”
REMINDER: The general obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation (Code of Canon Law, c. 1247) has been reinstated.
LAST WEEKEND’S COLLECTION: Sunday Offering: $1,608. In loving memory of Steven Domján: $100; in loving memory of László Győri: $45; in honor of Joseph Lipovits, Sr.: $100. Special donation: $525. Thank you for remembering your church’s needs in these difficult times. Thank you also for sending in your offertory donation when not in attendance at Mass either by mail or on our website using a credit card or the PayPal option: https://stemeric.com/donations/
PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SICK, especially for Bev Kimar, Béla Tarmann, Rose Dudevszky, Teréz Kalász, Madeleine B. Smith, Gerő Kondray, Barbara Vámos, and Katalin Gulden.
PLEASE PRAY FOR THE DECEASED.
THIS SUNDAY the 9:15 AM Mass (St. Elizabeth of Hungary) is livestreamed at https://www.facebook.com/saintemeric/ and on our website, https://stemeric.com/
Ez a bejegyzés olvasható Magyar (Hungarian) nyelven is.
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