TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME – September 13, 2026

Please, check out the Hungarian section (link at the bottom) as well, as some Hungarian related news or information may be found only there.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM: The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.

TODAY’S MASS INTENTIONS:

9:00 AM (at St. Elizabeth): † Theodore & Betty Toth, by Betty Toth

11:00 AM: Barnabás Lacza, by the Family

MASS SCHEDULE & INTENTIONS FOR ST. EMERIC CHURCH:

MASS SCHEDULE & INTENTIONS FOR ST. ELIZABETH SHRINE:

FROM THE DESK OF FR. BONA: (1) “Traduttore, traditore” is an Italian aphorism that translates literally to “translator, traitor” (or “the translator is a traitor”). The phrase highlights that every act of translation inherently involves some loss, distortion, or ‘betrayal’ of the original text. Sometimes idioms and linguistic concepts (or even wordplays) translate well into another language, but at times, it is impossible. In that situation a translator has to make a choice:  translate more the meaning of the words or stick with the literal translation. This is even more challenging when it comes to translating ancient texts, such as the Bible.

The translators of the New and Old Testament have approached this conundrum with three methodologies: literal translation as much as possible, sense-for-sense translation, and an equal mix of these two methods. This is the reason we have several Bible translations, each employing a different style of translating. The English biblical readings used at the liturgies belong to the third category: a mix of word-by-word and meaning-for-meaning translation.

I bring this up, because in today’s gospel passage the bible translators, unfortunately, decided to go for a sense-for sense translation and not the literal one (as the older English and the current Hungarian translation have it). The original phrase in the gospel “10,000  talents” was rendered as “huge amount,” and the Greek expression “100 denarii” was translated as “much smaller amount.” Maybe the translators thought that it would not be understandable for us what these specific amounts of monies meant, but in doing so they have ‘betrayed’ us. Yes, it requires a slightly more work to uncover the meaning of these specific amounts, but it is so much more rewarding and nourishing.

A single talent was worth approximately 6,000 denarii (one denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer), making this debt equivalent to 60 million denarii, or roughly 200,000 years of labor. By seeing this staggering, uncountable, and unpayable sum, we can better understand Jesus’ words. This unpayable debt represents our sins, which we have no way of erasing or “paying back” to God. We should be always humbled whenever we hear this specific amount and be thankful to God for His infinite mercy with which He treats us. I do not get this same sense when I just hear the phrase “huge amount” in the current translation.

Conversely, we can see that the 100 denarii is a few months’ wages. While it is not a small amount, it does pale in comparison to the 10,000 talents. This second amount represents what we owe to another. If God is willing to forgive us our astronomically large debt, why would we not forgive one another the paltry amount?

(2) The music for next Sunday’s Mass 11AM is provided by our Youth choir.

40 DAYS OF LIFE: From September 23 – November 1, you are invited to join with other Christians for 40 Days for Life – 40 days of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion. Additionally, you are invited to stand and peacefully pray anytime between 7am to 7pm during the 40-day vigil in the public right-of-way outside Preterm – 12000 Shaker Blvd, Cleveland, 44120 or Planned Parenthood – 25350 Rockside Rd, Bedford Hts, 44146, or Signature Health – 54 South State St, Painesville, 44077. Join us at the Kickoff Rally at St. John Vianney Parish Center on Monday, September 21, at 7pm, 7575 Bellflower Road, Mentor, 44060 with Rachel Benda of Bethesda House of Mercy as the speaker. Please contact John Noall at clevelandpraysforlife@gmail.com or 216-245-9744 for more information. WEBSITE: www.40daysforlife.com/cleveland

LAST WEEKEND’S COLLECTION: will be published next week. May God reward your generosity in supporting the church. Thank you for sending in your donations by mail or using our website https://stemeric.com/donations/.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SICK, especially for Bev Kimar, Teréz Kalász, Lajos Boday, Márta Takács, Kathy Szabó, Alex Szaday, Virginia Kachmar, Margaret Falk, Mária Hokky, Éva Fricke, Balázs Bedy, Deven Poroszlai and Cathe Toth.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE DECEASED: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

THIS SUNDAY the 11:00 AM Mass from St. Emeric church will be livestreamed at https://www.facebook.com/saintemeric/  

LET US PRAY THREE HAIL MARYS FOR OUR PARISH EVERY DAY!

Ez a bejegyzés olvasható nyelven is.