Thursday, March 27, 2014

SCS Parish Mission "Rediscover the Joy of the Gospel"

I was invited by Fr. Matejek, pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Kennesaw to preach the parish Lenten mission, which was held on March 23-25. It was a joy to be back at SCS -- I served there as a transitional Deacon in the summer of 2012, and received such a hospitable welcome from the clergy, staff and parishioners! The parish was incredibly generous and hospitable in hosting my First Mass the next year, in June 9, 2013.

I've uploaded the mission talks to a YouTube playlist, for those who might be interested.

The theme was taken from Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, which is a rich and fascinating read! I took as the framework for the talks, the Gospel for the Third Sunday of Lent, Cycle A -- Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.

In my research for the talks, I used several sources, most of which I didn't acknowledge while speaking. Here are the titles of the three talks with the principal sources.

Monday, March 23: Repentance & Mercy

The medical analogy comes from this brilliant post by Msgr. Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington. It's worth a read.

Tuesday March 24: The Joy of the Lord

  1. One section is almost verbatim from a piece by Dr. Peter Kreeft on Joy
  2. The distinction between natural and supernatural joy comes from a great homily by Fr. Cassian Folsom OSB, of the monastery of St. Benedict in Norcia, Italy. 
  3. Finally, there is Pope Paul VI's relatively unknown, but very worthwhile, Apostolic Exhortation on Christian joy, Gaudete in Domino

Wednesday, March 25: Spirit-filled Evangelizers

  1. The title of the talk is from Chapter 5 of Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium
  2. The section on the vocation of the laity comes from the Decree of the Second Vatican Council on the Apostolate of the Laity, Apostolicam Actuositatem


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