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.

Whether you’re watching TV or reading the news, you’d be hard-pressed to avoid a story about coronavirus. And it’s no wonder, since the outbreak — which now affects more than 27 countries outside of China, where the Wuhan coronavirus originated — has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO).

But there’s another major health threat that seems to be getting lost in the fray: the flu. An estimated 19 million Americans have been infected with the flu so far this season, and 180,000 of them have been hospitalized because of the illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The flu virus has already killed an estimated 10,000 people across the U.S., including 68 children, according to the CDC. In fact, the 2019-2020 flu season is shaping up to be one of the worst in years.

Cyber scammers are impersonating Priests, CFOs and people in ministry leadership roles. They are asking for money, gift cards and personal information.  DO NOT reply and immediately delete any email or text.  This is NOT a request from our parish priest, deacons, administrative personnel or any of its ministry leaders.

Many years ago, when a social worker worked as a volunteer at a hospital, he got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare & serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. All saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, “Yes I’ll do it if it will save her.” As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as all did, seeing the colour returning to her cheek. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, “Will I die right away, or how soon?” The boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he would have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her. WOW!. Beautiful. He loved his sister and gave everything.

God calls us to a radical way of living. We are called to be more than just moral: God calls us to be virtuous. We become virtuous by habitually choosing to do well. Naturally we are not perfect, but God calls us to reflect on how we live and to understand what has gone right and wrong for us. Such reflection can lead us to insight that will help us to live better and be virtuous in the future. Therefore by reflecting on our experience in the light of faith we grow in wisdom. Jesus preaches us a religion that should become increasingly interior and personal to the individual. In today’s Gospel Matthew emphasizes the close relationship between Jewish Law and the teaching of Jesus. Here Jesus teaches with examples that he has not come to abolish the Law and the prophets but to bring them to completion. He tells us that the Law still has its force and will not pass away till it has achieved the purpose for which it was given. Jesus on his part is giving us the new law namely the law of love. In the first reading Sirach affirms that God knows every human action. He the wise teacher urges his listeners to make the right choice in life. They have the commandments to guide them. In the second reading Paul reminds us that God has many riches for those who love him and tells us that the rulers of this age failed to recognize God’s wisdom in Christ. The wisdom however is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.

When the Gospel states that Jesus came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it may have surprised his audience a great deal. This is because Jesus was constantly accused of breaking the law and finally the accusation at his death was that he was breaking the laws continuously. People observed that he did not wash his hands prior to the meal that the law demanded, he healed people on the Sabbath day, and now he speaks of the law with veneration and reverence that no Scribe or Rabbi could exceed. He tells them that not even the smallest part of the law will be changed and he is there to fulfill the law and bring it to completion. The word Law for the Jews during the time of Jesus held four different meanings. First was Decalogue or Ten Commandments which God gave from Sinai and Moses gave them to the people. The second was the Pentateuch or the first five books of the Bible. Pentateuch meant the Five Rolls, the basic law and for the Jews it was most important part of the Bible. The third was the Law and the Prophets which indicated the entire Scripture, comprehensively called as the Old Testament. Finally, the Oral or Scribal Law which included the religious practices and prescriptions observed by every Jew. These included all the observances like the Sabbath, the worship in the Temple, the fasting, prayer, alms giving and the like.

Jesus did appreciate the Scribes and the Pharisees for their careful observance of the Law and the Commandments. But Jesus was critical of their not keeping of the spirit of the law. They stressed on their personal motive and their own perfection and did not accept the love of God and their neighbor in practice. They were hypocrites in their behavior. In order to make his disciples understand his teaching, Jesus gives six striking examples and in today’s Gospel, we have four of them: anger, adultery, divorce and oath. He clearly states that it is not enough simply to keep what the Law tells us but practice the basic virtues attached to them. For him there can be no separation between our relationship with God and the relationship with people. A Christian has to find God in his brothers and sisters and in creation.

Life messages: 

1) We need to obey God’s Law, appreciating its basic principles

2) We need to forgive, forget and move toward reconciliation as soon as possible

3) We need to be true to God, to ourselves and to others

A Siberian shaman asked God to show him a man that He loved. The Lord advised him to look for a certain farmer. “What do you do to make the Lord love you so much?” the shaman asked the farmer when he found him. “I say His name in the morning. I work all day and say His name before going to sleep. That’s all,” the farmer replied. I think I found the wrong man, thought the shaman. Just then the Lord appeared and said, “Fill a bowl with milk, and go to town and then return without spilling a single drop.” The shaman did so. On his return, the Lord wanted to know how many times he had thought of Him. “How could I? I was worried not to spill the milk!” “A simple bowl made you forget me,” said the Lord, “and the farmer, with all his tasks, thinks of me twice a day.”

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/