..off to Ft. Worth for the Retrouvaille International Council meeting. I will be back October 4th.

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Presided in Spanish, Concelebrated in Portuguese, Presided and preached at one mass in English, one funeral, two baptisms.

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Sorry for the blog slow down. Believe it or not I am still unpacking and getting settled. Deacon Roger Wedl's wife Esther passed away last Saturday and that has pretty much consumed the week. Today we have three masses, plus one baptism, two weddings, one funeral, Confessions, and the Portuguese procession in honor of Our Lady of Fatima. There are two priests. I think you can do the math.

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The English version is below

Como seguidores de Jesus, nos comprometemos a seguir su camino. No es suficiente saber lo que El quiere. Tenemos que hacer lo que nos pide. En las ultimas semanas nos ha pedido hacer decisiones dificiles sobre nuestra lealtad, para ayudarle a los pecadores, a los que estan perdidos, y ahora quiere que prestemos mucha atencion en como manejamos nuestro dinero y reflexionemos sobre lo que hacemos con lo que tenemos. Como Cristianos, como seguidores de Jesus, vivimos en este mundo de valores perdidos. Que debe hacer un seguidor de Jesus? En el evangelio de hoy el administrador demuestra los caminos de este mundo, la respuesta animada que gente de esta epoca demuestra en su trato con otras personas y que Jesus compara claramente con la respuesta tenue de los discipulos al Reino de Jesus.

Los discipulos deben de convertir dinero a una ganancia celestial al compartirla con los demas, especialmente los mas necesitados.

El administrador en el evangelio de hoy es un administrador injusto; se preocupa solo por el. El patron en el evangelio de hoy es un patron injusto, esta cobrando demasiado. Parece que Jesus esta celebrando a estas personas. No esta celebrando sus injusticias. Esta alabando su iniciativa, sus acciones de valor. Y se puede escuchar su deseo que sus seguidores demostraran la misma iniciativa en edificar el reino de Dios. Los hijos de este mundo son mas astutos con su gente que los hijos de la luz.

Alguien que es discipulo de Jesus tendra que darle lealtad unicamente a Dios. De otra manera, estaremos esclavizados por nuestros trabajos y la busqueda por la riqueza y otras cosas, cosas que se enmojecen y desbaratan y al final de cuentas, no nos traen felicidad. La persona que es leal a Dios es generosa en compartir lo que tienen con los demas, especialmente los mas necesitados. Jesus indica que los administradores de este mundo, los manejadores de este mundo, los mas astutos y manipuladores de este mundo, saben utilizar los recursos de este mundo mejor que los hijos de la luz, y esas no son Buenas Nuevas para el reino de Dios.

No podeis servir a Dios y al dinero. Las Buenas Nuevas para el reino de Dios es cuando los Cristianos, seguidores de Jesus, se unen y hacen lo que el hizo. No debemos escaparnos del mundo. Tenemos que vivir en este mundo en una forma DIFERENTE, porque somos religiosos, porque somos Cristianos. Esto no quiere decir que solo se nos otorgue ganancias “espirituales,” “rezar” y que el resto de la creacion resuelva los problemas del mundo. No, usemos todo, recursos espirituales, recursos del ser humano, y recursos materiales.

Las prioridades de este mundo nos dicen que pongamos atencion a cuanto tenemos y que hemos ganado. Los valores del Evangelio nos indican a como usar lo que tenemos para ayudar a nuestro projimo. Si consideramos lo que tenemos solamente para nosotros, lo perderemos tarde o temprano. Si consideramos lo que tenemos como un regalo de Dios para ayudar a los demas, entonces sabremos que hicimos lo que Jesus nos pidio. Si tengo un carro solo para presumir mi carro, que la gente lo admire, estoy presumiendo algo que se va enmojecer y que despues no funcionara. Pero si tengo un carro y lo uso para ir al trabajo, para llevar a mis familiares al trabajo o a la escuela, para llevar a un vecino que este anciano a la iglesia, para hacer mandados para el vecino que no puede salir de su casa, entonces el carro se convierte en un instrumento del bien, y demostraremos iniciativa al reino de Dios.

Jesucristo, siendo rico, por nosotros se hizo pobre, para enriquecernos con su pobreza. El Señor quiere que los hijos de la luz tomen mas iniciativa en edificar el reino de la luz que los hijos del mundo toman en edificar el reino de la oscuridad. Como aprendemos todos los dias de dar de nosotros mismos, de servirnos unos a los otros, de apoyarnos, nos convertiremos en los hijos e hijas de la luz y ganaremos la bendicion de Jesucristo, nuestro Señor.

Homily

As followers of Jesus we commit ourselves to follow in his way. It is not enough to know what he wants. We must do what he asks. In past weeks he has asked us to make difficult choices about our loyalties, to reach out to sinners, to those who are lost, and now he want us to pay close attention to how we deal with money and to reflect on what we do with what we have. As Christians, followers of Jesus, we live in this world with its upside down values. What does a follower of Jesus do? The steward/manager (administrador) displays the ways of this world, the enthusiastic response which people of this age show in their dealings with one another and Jesus contrasts this sharply with the weak response of the disciples to Jesus' Kingdom.

Disciples are to convert mammon into heavenly capital by sharing it with others, particularly the needy.

The steward in today’s gospel is an unjust steward; he is focused only on himself. The employer in today’s gospel is an unjust employer, he is charging too much. Jesus seems to be praising these people. He is not praising their injustice. He is praising their initiative, their bold action. And you can hear his desire that his followers would show the same initiative in building the kingdom of God. For the children of this world

are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.

One who is a disciple of Jesus must give exclusive loyalty to God. Otherwise we will be enslaved by our jobs and the search for wealth and other things, things that will rust and fall apart and ultimately bring us no happiness. The one who is loyal to God is generous in sharing what they have with others with others, especially with those in need. Jesus indicates the stewards of this world, the managers of this world, the crafty, wily cunning people of this world, are better at the use of the world's resources than are the children of light, and that is not Good News for the kingdom of God.

You cannot serve God and money. Good News for the kingdom of God is when Christians, followers of Jesus, gather together and do what he did. We are not supposed to run away from the World. We are supposed to live in this world DIFFERENTLY, because we are religious, because we are Christians. This does not mean we are entitled to only "spiritual" means, "pray" and let the rest of creation solves the world’s problems. No, we use everything, spiritual resources, human resources, material resources.

The values of this world would tell us to pay attention to how much me have and what we have gained. The values of the Gospel would have us pay attention to how we use what we have to help others. If we consider what we have to be ours, we will eventually lose it. If we consider what we have to be a gift from God so that I can help others, then we will know we have done what Jesus asked. If I have a car in order to show off my car, have people admire my car, I am displaying for admiration something that will rust, and eventually stop working. But if I have a car and use my car to go to work, to give rides to my family to work or school, give rides to church for an elderly neighbor, use the car to run errands for a neighbor who is a shut-in, then the car becomes an instrument of good, and I show initiative for the kingdom of God.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was rich, and became poor that we might know the richness of his love. The Lord wants the children of light to take more initiative in building the kingdom of light than the children of the world take in building the kingdom of darkness. As we daily learn to give of ourselves to serve one another, to be for one another, we will be revealed as sons and daughters of light and gain the praise of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Posted by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S. at 5:44 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

We have an extraordinary General Assembly going on over in Rome right now. You can check for updates each day here, and there might be occasional documents posted here.

Prayers for the success of the assembly would be appreciated by all.

Posted by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S. at 9:11 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Transisitions are great producers of stress. One of these days I may actually be unpacked and moved in. Did I mention that this place has 5600 families, nine masses on each weekend in three languages? Then since Thursday is my new day off, this is the second day off in a row that I have missed. It was a day for all the priests to gather and the learn than in order to comply with the Diocese's Safe Environment for Children program that all Lectors and Eucharistic ministers, ushers and choir members, indeed any volunteer is required to be screened for Megan's law. It is not just the moving that is making me feel a bit overwhelmed.

One of these days I may actually have internet access again. My little laptop has not been connected to the internet in over two months. I am at the secretary's computer which I do not get much use of during the day.

Oh, did I mention that the parish has a bit of a debt that I uncovered? No one seemed to be aware of it, not even the finance committee. It is a mere $115,000. arghhh.

Slowly but surely, I am getting moved in. I bought another bookcase today.

The people have been most gracious and welcoming. They have actually been pretty wonderful. They always seem so happy to see me. Apparently the teachers, a bit in shock, I guess, over some liturgical inovations I have imposed (we stick to the book now) are rather pleased that I am at the school every day and showing such interest in the school. ( I gave them a liturgy preparation workshop yesterday.)

One of the Baptism candidates mentioned at Adult Faith Formation last Tuesday that suddenly the music in church was beautiful (The choir started up again last Sunday.) I snuck into choir practice tonight and they were indeed sounding pretty wonderful. There is no chant on the horizon yet, but I am being patient. The music director is new and started the same day I did. It is taking us all awhile to get settled, although he seems to be doing great. We have a new Young Adult Choir that is rehearsing, and the children's choir will be starting soon.

I understand we may have a new wireless router installed on the weekend, so I am hopeful. Regular blogging will continue once I get reasonably settled.

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The September 15 Feast, Our Lady of Sorrows, is celebrated in the Precious Blood Community as, Mary Woman of the New Covenant.

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Some reading for the feast of St. John Chrysostom

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Yesterday was taking care of hang-ups. All the pics are on the walls now and there is still some room left. Today was a school mass, staff meeting, appointments and Adult Faith Formation this evening.

In the morning I leave for St. Louis, for the PBLC HRI meeting, and will be back on Thursday. Friday begins the Retrouvaille weekend in Oakland and prayer posting would be appreciated by the couples.

I am almost unpacked. If I would only stay around long enough. This is my third mid-western trip in a month.

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This is the book I have chosen for the Adult Faith Formation Text

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I have too much to do, but I am also trying to stay healthy. So I took my regular day off which is going to be Thursdays. I went to the Pauline book and media Center to pick up the book I had chosen for Adult Faith Formation. I had ordered 20 copies but now that does not look like it will be enough. Then I met Alice for lunch. She is a sudent at the University of Chicago I had met this past year when she was baptized at the Easter Vigil. She is originally from San Francisco and is currently dating Patrick who sings in the Gregorian Chant Choir there. I did some banking and grocery shopping so now I have enough to pay credit card bills and to shave in the morning. It was a quiet evening, but tomorrow will have its own fireworks. As with any change in pastorate it is wise to get the parish books audited so that will be 9:30am to 4:00pm tomorrow.

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