St. James Catholic Church

The Catholic community of St. James Church is made up of loving and sensitive members seeking to meet their spiritual needs, strengthen their faith, and affirm their continued existence as the church of Jesus Christ today and tomorrow.  In their quest to evangelize, it is their mission to assist everyone toward a more abundant experience of the riches of their liturgy and scaraments, and to convince all of Christ's sheep that the Lord's Day is indeed for all.

Wednesday at 12:00 Noon, please bring your announcements and notices to the office in legible and written form for insertion into the bulletin. Thank you!

St. James parish welcomes all newcomers.  Please contact the parish office to register.

We are living in a world which is growing daily further and further away from God. People aim to get the maximum for themselves and ignore or forget their purpose of life. The sacred scriptures constantly remind us of the loving unbroken care of God towards human persons. He created everything for man and for his well-being. His concern for human persons is incomparable. He sent his messengers constantly to look after his people. He is given to us as our Father, caretaker, and protector. The image of God as the shepherd of his people has a long tradition in the history of God’s people. Today’s gospel reminds us that we are the instruments of God and we ought to help those in need even though they are unlike us and even if we dislike them. We also must recognize that we are in constant need of the help of others, particularly of God. Jesus’ choice of the Samaritan as the hero of his story may have made his audience wince. Even the Lawyer in the story does not use his name in his response but he only says the one who showed mercy. Jesus teaches us through the parable of the Good Samaritan that God’s grace comes to us in all forms and through all kinds of people. In the first reading Moses speaks about the law of God which guides people along the path of life. Paul in the second reading tells us of the involvement of Christ in the creation and how he works for the salvation of the world.

The Gospel of today presents us with a beautiful story of the Good Samaritan, the man who goes out of his way to help a person in need. The purpose of this parable is to teach the disciples and the community the meaning of neighborliness. The setting revolves around a lawyer attempting to test Jesus in a verbal battle regarding his teaching on inheriting eternal life. Jesus counters him with his knowledge of the law regarding salvation and discovers that the man his well versed in his knowledge of scriptures. He tells him that it contains in his love of God and Neighbour. With this, he is eligible to have eternal life. Jesus gives him the story, the parable that explains the concept of neighbor in our real life. For the Jews, the concept of a neighbor did not go beyond a fellow Jew. The basic teaching Luke draws from the parable is that any time a person is found in need is sacred time and any place a person is found in need is a sacred place and, regardless of who the person is a Christian must reach out and help. The Samaritan is presented as a model to be followed by every person and therefore the traditional understanding that he is a Good Samaritan. In other words, Luke makes this parable an example story to be followed by every Christian.

Today’s story has very practical implications. Here we must remind ourselves that Jesus is not giving a “religious” teaching for an elite minority. He is telling all of us how to be truly human. It is the way all people are called to behave towards each other. The Gospel reminds us that we must help those in need even if they are unlike us, even if we dislike them. It reminds that we ought to recognize that we in constant need of help of others, particularly of our God, of whom we have so often made ourselves enemies. It tells us that God’s grace comes in all forms and through all kinds of people. As the First Reading puts it, this Law is“not in heaven... nor is it beyond the seas” outside our reach. No, “it is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for your observance”. In other words, Jesus is calling us, not to be some kind of unnatural super-being, but to be true and simple, compassionate human person. He challenges us to look at things from God’s perspective, and be at the service of others. Indeed, Jesus highly praises the charity of the Good Samaritan and says to the lawyer after telling the story of the parable that he must do likewise. In fact, the Good Samaritan listened to his conscience. He acted righteously and it is this that established him on the path of eternal Life.

1) A little boy returned home from Sunday School, and his mother asked him what lesson the teacher taught. He said, "It was about two preachers who saw a man in a ditch, but they didn't stop because he had already been robbed."

2) A little girl was in a Sunday School class and the teacher was teaching the Good Samaritan story. He said, "Now if you saw a person lying in a ditch, beaten up, lying in his own blood, his teeth knocked out and his scalp hanging from his head, what would you do?" The little girl spoke up and said, "I think I would throw up."

3) “Good Samaritan” to neighbor’s cat: Little Tim was in the garden filling a hole when his neighbor peered over the fence. Interested in what the youngster was doing, he politely asked, "What are you up to there, Tim?" "My goldfish died," replied Tim tearfully, without looking up, "and I've just buried him." The neighbor said, "That's an awfully big hole for a goldfish, isn't it Tim?" Tim patted down the last heap of earth, and then replied, "That's because he's still inside your stupid cat."

4) “The Good Samaritan eye.” A man went to see his bank manager ask for a loan. After he had taken particulars, the bank manager said: “By rights, I should refuse your request, but I will give you a sporting chance. Now, one of my eyes is made of glass. If you can tell me which one it is, I will grant you the loan.” The customer looked at the manager intently for a few moments and then said: "It’s your right eye.” “That’s correct, said the bank manager.” “How did you guess?” “Well,” replied the customer. It’s your Good Samaritan eye; I mean the kind and sympathetic one.”

5) ThedangerofbecomingaGoodSamaritan:ShalomAleichemtellsadelightfulstoryabout an old Jewish man standing on a crowded bus. The young man standing next to him asked, "What time is it?" The old man refused to reply. The young man moved on. The old man’sfriend, sensing something was wrong, asked, "Why were you so discourteous to the young man asking for the time?" The old man answered, "If I have given him the time of day, next he would want to know where I am going. Then we might talk about our interests. If we did that, he might invite himself to my house for dinner. If he did, he would meet my lovely daughter. If he met her, they would both fall in love. I don’t want my daughter marrying someone who can’t afford a watch."

Louis Pasteur sought a cure. Garfield closed his curtains:  Many of us are afraid of dogs. It is a common fear. The immortal scientist Louis Pasteur was far more frightened of dogs than most people. Even a distant bark would terrify him. In his mind, he could still see a mad wolf which had raged through his boyhood village bringing agony and death to many of his neighbors. "I have always been haunted by the cries of those victims," he said, time and again. Yet in 1882, past the age of 60, Pasteur gave up all his other studies in an intense search for a cure for rabies. For three long years, in spite of his deep-seated fears, he risked his life living with mad dogs. At last, he came through with a vaccine to cure the victims of rabies. On a July night in 1885, he tried the first injection on a little boy whose life seemed doomed. The boy lived. The remembered agony of his neighbors spurred Louis Pasteur to find a cure for this dread disease. [Alex Osborn, L.H.D., Your Creative Power (New York: N.Y.: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1948).] Let us move now from the sublime to the ridiculous. Some of you are fans of America‘s best known fat cat, Garfield. In one Garfield cartoon, Garfield, seated in a comfortable chair, sees his friend Odie at the window peering in eagerly. Garfield says to himself, "Poor Odie. Locked outside in the cold. I just can’t bear to see him like this. I gotta do something." At this point, Garfield gets up from his chair and closes the curtains! Two responses to need: Louis Pasteur sought a cure; Garfield closed his curtains.

2)"I'll be happy to honk your horn for you!" Have you heard the story about the elderly woman who lived in a small town in East Texas who had car trouble on the way to the supermarket one morning? Her car stalled at a stop sign. She tried everything to get her car started again, but no luck. Suddenly, a man in a pick-up truck came up behind her and, with obvious agitation, he started honking his horn at her impatiently. She doubled her efforts to get her car going. She pumped the gas, turned the ignition, but still no luck. The man in the pick-up truck continued to honk his horn constantly and loudly. I love what the elderly woman did. Very calmly she got out of her car, walked back to the pick-up and motioned for the man to lower his window and then politely she said: "I'll make a deal with you. If you will start my car for me I'll be happy to honk your horn for you!" Now, that is what you call "Rising to the occasion!" -- and that is precisely what Jesus does here in Luke 10. The lawyer was "testing" Jesus, honking his horn loudly. He was trying to trap Jesus and trip Him up with a loaded question, but Jesus (as He so often did), rose to the occasion and passed the test with flying colors. In so doing, He reminded the people back then (and us today), of what the main thing is in the Christian faith.

3) Good Samaritan to a drowning woman:  If in recent years, you have watched the President of the United States deliver the State of the Union Address, you know that at some point in his speech he will point to the balcony and introduce an ordinary citizen as a real hero in this country. You may not know but that custom began when President Ronald Reagan introduced a man named Lenny Skutnik. To this day reporters will ask presidential aides the question: "Who are the Skutniks this year?'" Lenny Skutnik was a federal worker walking down the street minding his own business, until the day that Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the Potomac River. The flight had just taken off from Washington bound for Florida. It had developed ice on its wings, which brought the plane down as it tried to clear Washington's 14th Street bridge. In the next moment, several passengers were thrown into the icy river. A helicopter soon came by dropping down ropes, but it could only save one person at a time. There was one lady in the water who was struggling to grab the ladder. But she was so cold and so frozen she could not lift her arms out of the water, and it looked like she was going to drown. Everyone else on that bridge was shouting encouragement to her. Lenny Skutnik broke through the police barricade, jumped into the river, risking his own life, and pulled to shore the lady who otherwise would have surely drowned. The President of the UnitedStatescalledhimahero.DoyouknowwhattheLordJesuswouldhavecalledhim? A good neighbor.

1)      Vatican website: http://w2.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html

2)      Monks of the desert video: https://youtu.be/U5YY684ZXDE

3)      Catholic League: http://www.catholicleague.org/ 

4)      Community in mission blog: http://blog.adw.org/author/cpope/

5)      Church teachings index: http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/teach/index.html

6)      Catholic liturgy library: http://www.catholicliturgy.com/

7)      Church cartoons: http://www.toonfever.com/