October 13-20, 2024
Friar's Footnotes by Fr. John Prenger, OFP
Hello, The Love and Peace and Right-relationship of the Kingdom of God to you.
The upcoming weekend scriptures are Isaiah 53: 4-12; Psalm 91: Hebrews 5: 1-10 and Mark 10: 35-45. We have some remarkable texts coming for Eucharist this weekend. The Isaiah reading is the part of the last Suffering Servant Song. It describes His greatness as a lamb going to slaughter, as the offering that makes us all righteous as we are justified by His offering of His life. The reading from Hebrews tells us of His High Priesthood made perfect by what He suffered for us: true, servant leadership. And the gospel tells of James and John asking Jesus for high places on His team as He comes into His glory. Jesus asks them if they are prepared to suffer with Him and points out that in His Reign, those who SERVE are the GREATEST.
Chapel Schedule
Noon Eucharist Tuesday (October 15), Fr. John presiding
Noon Eucharist Thursday (October 17), Fr. Jim presiding
5 pm Eucharist Saturday (October 19), Fr. Jim presiding
---FRATERNITY BUSINESS MEETING 7:30 pm, Saturday (October 19) on Go To Meeting
Today, as I write this, is INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY (You know, formerly Columbus Day). It is a good time for us to pray and act for peace and justice for the peoples and nations of the world. May we always be a blessing to marginalized people.
Also, here in Columbia, we join the whole University of Missouri community as it is HOMECOMING WEEK.
SAYINGS OF THE SAINTS
"If I can unite in myself, in my own spiritual life, the thought of the East and the West, of the Greek and the Latin Fathers, the Russians with the Spanish mystics, I will create in myself a reunion of the divided Church. From that secret and unspoken unity in myself can eventually come the exterior and visible unity of all Christianss. For if we want to bring together East and West we cannot do so by imposing one upon the other or absorbing one division into the other. We must contain both in ourselves and transcend them both in Christ." --This is a wonderful expression of ecumenism given by Thomas Merton in Confessions of a Guilty Bystander.
"The holiest of men still need Christ as their prophet as the "Light of the World". John Wesley
Blessings to all. Love in the Spirit of St. Francis,
Fr. John ofp
Padre’s Pontifications by Fr. Jim McNeely
September 2024
1. I plan to restart my blog in October. It will be a place where I discuss ideas and memes from my life with God in the world as a Christian vagabond. I will make a weekly post each Friday whenever possible. Check in regularly to https://drjimbomac.wordpress.com/
2. The last third of the year is Fall. I spent much of my life in school…and the start of the Fall Semester just seems to usher in that “Fall” feeling. As we look to these months, there are two words I want to drop into your mind. The first word is “urgency”. If you are like me, you think you will “have time” to get things done. Don’t be so certain. We need to “redeem the time, for the days are evil.” The second word is “healing”. There are two aspects of this word worthy of consideration: Our own need for deeper healing in our lives AND that we need to pray for each other (and especially those in need of healing NOT a part of our community).
3. Let me suggest a new word for your vocabulary: “Business As Usual” which Is now “BAU”. Don’t BAU! Don’t BAU to complacency. Don’t BAU to mediocrity. And most of all, don’t BAU to limited visions of what God can do in our lives.
4. Finally for this month, remember an important principle of community: Ignore the noise. We have too much to accomplish to spend our time in stuff that doesn’t move us forward. For example, the world is all caught up in politics as we consider who we vote into office locally, in the state, and on the federal level. We need to ignore the nonsense and stay focused on Kingdom priorities. And remember that a big part of “ignoring the noise” is a deep, heartfelt loyalty to each other in our community. If issues emerge that require conversation, make sure we are talking TO each other, not ABOUT each other.
Dr. Jim McNeely+
Parent, Priest, Person
