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.

Jesus during his public ministry announced that he has come to establish the Kingdom of God and told people that it is here and now. Jesus invited every person to be part of this Kingdom, to be signs of unity and harmony in him. The Church is the external expression of the Kingdom. It needs a deep insight and grace to accept his invitation of Jesus. The recognition and faith bring us closer to Jesus and to his Eucharistic banquet. Christ revealed his desire to give his life for us and describes it as a “baptism”; for he will rise victorious over sin and death and will never die again. In our baptism, we are submerged into his death and by it we die to sin and are reborn to a life of grace. In our Christian lives, we have to accept what is spiritual and pleasing to God, rejecting what is sinful and offensive to Him. Christ wants his burning love to catch in us so we have the same passion and zeal for the Gospel and for the will of God that he did. He wants his message to reach all men and we are his messengers. The Readings of today invite us to consider the struggle and difficulty inherent in being a Christian. The path of following Christ is one of contradiction and difficulty in every time and place, and if we aren´t living with that tension, it is perhaps because we are living without complete authenticity as a follower of Christ. Following Christ should cost us all something dear. In the Gospel, Jesus speaks of the division and struggle that will come as a result of his preaching and mission, and the difficulties his followers will face. His mission is not to smooth over differences but to call us to real holiness and to the fullness of the truth.

Our Lord came into the world as a person of peace. He came to a world which prefers darkness to light, a world that is inhabited by people who prefer lies to truth. It is a world in which good and bad inhabit together; where those who call themselves the children of God lord it over others; where injustice and oppression are compromised by political and religious leaders. The process of sanctifying the world through the institution of the invisible Kingdom of God on earth that is seen through the visible Body of Christ is one that creates division. Household will be divided, three against two and two against three. It is because some will resist the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit, choosing worldly fame, the pleasures of the flesh and wealth. Some will choose to walk in the light while others will prefer to walk through “the darkest valley.” The Christian’s resistance against sin, all that is evil, is an on-going inner battle. Sharing his thoughts on this inner conflict, Saint Paul said, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

Every Christian needs to recommit himself to the path of following Christ, “keeping our eyes fixed on him”, since he is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” There is no salvation in any other name. Jesus teaches the full truth about God and about man, and though at times it is hard for us to accept, we must pray for the grace to grasp his truth and for the courage to hold on to it no matter what. The example of those Christians who are suffering for the truth in so many places around the world, such as China and the Middle East, should inspire us to give witness in our daily lives. We live in a free society, but one in which it is easy to give in and compromise our faith out of fear of what others might say or think. We need to pray for the strength not to waver in the truth. By our fidelity, our humility, and above all, our charity towards all, we can win over many souls to the truth. Religion should never divide but is only a false Christianity and religion that deliberately creates division. True Christianity in defending truth, justice, human dignity and freedom will inevitably meet opposition and be attacked. The passage which says that the peacemakers are blessed also says that those who are persecuted in the name of the Gospel are equally blessed. Strangely enough, both go together.

It happened several years ago in the Paris opera house. A famous singer had been contracted to sing, and ticket sales were booming. In fact, the night of the concert found the house packed and every ticket sold. The feeling of anticipation and excitement was in the air as the house manager took the stage and said, Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your enthusiastic support. I am afraid that due to illness, the man whom you’ve all come to hear will not be performing tonight. However, we have found a suitable substitute we hope will provide you with comparable entertainment. The crowd groaned in disappointment and failed to hear the announcer mention the stand-in’s name. The environment turned from excitement to frustration. The stand-in performer gave the performance everything he had. When he had finished, there was nothing but an uncomfortable silence. No one applauded. Suddenly, from the balcony, a little boy stood up and shouted, Daddy, I think you are wonderful! The crowd broke into thunderous applause. We all need people in our Lives who are willing to stand up once in a while and say, I think you are wonderful.

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness: Keller Weaverling, a kayak guide had come thirteen years earlier to Valdez, Alaska, to get away from the world. All that changed literally overnight when the bulk carrier Exxon Valdez, dumped 11 million gallons of oil into the Prince William Sound. It was a ghastly catastrophe to which he just could not stand neutral. To quote him, "It was like coming home to find your house totally vandalized, your pet dog killed, and your wife raped, gagged and bound. I needed to get involved." So, when the Valdez Bird Rescue Centre was looking for someone to lead a wildlife rescue operation after the Exxon Valdez spill in March 1989, Kelly stepped forward in the conviction that "it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." He organized 220 workers and 43 boats to rescue wildlife endangered by the spill. - In 1989, this seventeen-year-old lived in Portland Oregon, across the street from the boarded-up windows of a former crack house. When he saw his friend join street gangs, he felt it was his call to "light a candle rather than curse the darkness" -he just could not stand neutral. He organized his peers into a high-school fraternity -as a positive alternative to street gangs. Members of the fraternity sponsored dances, cleaned up graffiti, and helped one another with homework and family problems. These are just two of the eight million such stories reported throughout the U.S.A. They are seemingly ordinary people with an extraordinary desire to do something positive. These are people who walk in the footsteps of Jesus who said, "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already burning." (James Valladares in Your Words, O Lord, Are Spirit, and They Are Life; quoted by Fr. Botelho).   

"Good-bye”: “Dear Mom and the Preacher: I'm leaving town. Don't expect to see me again. I'm sick and tired of all this talk about the Lord and Church. I'm not going to listen to your sanctimonious talk about my drinking problem, AA, and going to worship. I've had enough of it. When you count the members of the family, count me out. Good-bye. Your former son, Harry, Jr.” – The Gospel of Jesus Christ is Good News, but when people are locked into their sins, they may see it as bad news. The fire of the Gospel is intended to cleanse family relationships. On some occasions, the fire of the Gospel is too hot for certain family members to handle. They flee from the family that embraces the Gospel. They say, “Good-bye.”

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/