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Fourteenth SundayJuly 5 Update
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones.”
Jesus makes a particularly strong point here. He speaks these words in a special, unique way; addressing them as a prayer to the Father, but expressed in our language so that we can hear it. It must be very important to him. Why is it so important?
Over the centuries, many different people have tried to simplify the Gospel for the common man. Some of them would edit the Gospel to remove “unnecessary” or “too difficult” concepts. Others would insert popular commentary, for example the idea that the “little ones” are simply the poor, economically deprived and somehow neglected by political systems. There were even scholars who thought that the Gospel should be purged of all things that cannot be explained by immediate human experience. All of these propositions, at first glance, seem very attractive. Who wouldn’t want a simple, familiar, easy to understand path to God? At the end, however, all of them lead to the same catastrophic conclusion. Once human beings try to correct the Gospel, inevitably, they edit out God. They might actually provide some psychological comfort to the reader or present more or less original social perspective, but what they miss is the encounter with the living Jesus Christ.
So let me repeat the question: Why does Christ want us to hear his prayer? Christ knows better than anybody else, that for us weak human beings the only way not to lose our fragile humanity, the only way to protect our dignity from constant attacks of the fruits of our own inventions, is direct encounter with the Father. When God became man, in Jesus Christ, it was not to simplify himself so that He can be easily reduced to the sum of human invention and experience. God became man because the Father initiated a divine work of lifting human beings from the delusion of freely elected sin to the glory of freely offered love. This process cannot happen by human effort. The wise or the learned are those who attempt to develop a vaccine for sin, a method of caring for those afflicted by evil, treating it like a human disease. Real liberation can only happen by the free surrender of the sinner into the hands of God. These are the little ones of the Gospel: those who are like children who gratefully receive everything their parents give to them, who never doubt that everything that their parents bring to them is a life-giving gift of love. They cannot even imagine that it could be any other way. That’s the invitation of Christ. “Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.”
This image also explains the unexpected promise from the second part of the Gospel: the Creator himself undertakes the ungrateful work of teaching us, who are stubborn and blind, to see the love of God. By entrusting all of those things that we discover in us into the hands of God’s love, the toil of our life is made not only possible, but easy. We are truly free only when our freedom reconnects with the great wind of the Father’s will.
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones.”
Here is the home prayer to celebrate this Fourteenth Sunday, prepared by Father McLaughlin from the archdiocese of Philadelphia. [Click here.] -
Previous Updates
- Thirteenth Sunday Letter
- Family Prayer Thirteenth Sunday
- Twelfth Sunday Letter
- Family Prayer Twelfth Sunday
- Corpus Christi Letter
- Family Prayer for Corpus Christi
- Holy Trinity Sunday Letter
- Holy Trinity Sunday Family Prayer
- Pentecost Letter
- Family Prayer for Pentecost
- Ascension Sunday Letter
- Family Prayer for Ascension Sunday
- Sixth Sunday of Easter Letter
- Family Prayer Sixth Sunday of Easter
- Fifth Sunday of Easter Letter
- Family Prayer Fifth Sunday of Easter
- Fourth Sunday of Easter Letter
- Family Prayer Fourth Sunday of Easter
- Saint Catherine Feast Day Letter
- Third Sunday of Easter Letter
- Family Prayer Third Sunday of Easter
- Divine Mercy Sunday Letter
- Family Prayer Divine Mercy Sunday
- Easter Sunday Letter
- Family Prayer Easter Sunday
- Holy Saturday Letter
- Good Friday Letter
- Family Prayer Good Friday
- Holy Thursday Letter
- Family Prayer Holy Thursday
- Update Palm Sunday
- March 28 Update
- March 22 Update
- Family Prayer Easter Vigil
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Mass TimesJune and July 2020
Saturday Vigil Mass: 5pm
Sunday Mass: 8:30am, 10:45am, and 6:30pm
Weekdays: 7pm -
Confession Times
Monday-Friday: 6:30 PM
Saturday: 4 PM
Sunday: 5:30 PM -
Adoration
Monday - Friday: 6pm - 7pm
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Map
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Contact
Office Hours M-F 9am-3pm
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Intentions for Masses
Offering a Mass for a special intention is a long-standing tradition in the Catholic Church. It is usually considered that special graces are obtained for whom the Mass is said. Masses may be offered for many reasons:
· Souls in purgatory;
· A deceased loved one;
· A living person who is sick or suffering;
· A living person who is celebrating a birthday, anniversary, or other special moment in their life;
· Thanksgiving to God;
· Thanksgiving for a favor granted through the intercession of a Saint;
· A special prayer intention.
If you would like to schedule a Mass Intention, please contact the office. A Mass Card will be provided to you. Stipends are accepted for Mass Intentions. The suggested offering in the Diocese of SLC is $10. This offering signifies the sacrificial nature of giving of something of yourself to associate more intimately with Christ who offers himself in the Eucharist.
Intentions are also published in the weekly bulletin. -
Mass Schedule UpdateJune 6
Dear Friends of St. Catherine,
With summer seemingly upon us, we would like to inform you of some changes to the liturgical schedule at St. Catherine's. As we have been announcing at the Sunday Masses, the extra Sunday Masses we had been celebrating in May are no longer on the schedule. We have also reduced the daily Mass schedule to the evening Mass. We continue to offer the regular schedule of confessions. Due to some time away of the priests during June, we will no longer be able to continue the weekly practice of using the Mass Interest Poll. It is our hope that this has been helpful to you. We anticipate that the 5pm Saturday Mass and the 10:45am Sunday Mass continue to be more attended than the others, as the Mass Interest Poll has shown over the past month.
1. Opening Hours
Daily from 7:30am to 10pm.
2. Way of Being in the Church
While in the church, follow all of the state’s rules for social distancing. The church is only accessible for Mass or private prayer. Congregating outside of Mass or prayer is not yet allowed. All common areas of St. Catherine's, excepting the chapel, remain closed.
3. Mass
Sunday Masses During the Summer Months
Saturday Vigil Mass: 5pm
Sunday Mass: 8:30am, 10:45am, and 6:30pm.Daily Mass will be celebrated as follows:
Monday through Friday: 7pm.
4. Confession
We would like to offer confessions at the following times:
Monday through Friday: 6:30pm.
Saturday: 4pm.5. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
Monday through Friday: 6pm to 7pm.
In our current version of normal, we expect that by now everyone understands the common social expectations and practices of being safe in public. We have not received any updates from the authorities in the past two weeks. The general way of being remains the same. Masks continue to be encouraged but are not required to enter the church or to attend Mass. A big thanks to all of those who have helped advise us over these past weeks. As always, if you have any concerns or suggestions, we remain in contact to hear from you. Email remains the best mode of contacting us, whether by response to this email, to [email protected], or individually to the priest's emails listed on the website.
Let us continue to pray for one another, for our state, and for our country in this time.
Jacek Buda OP
Cody Jorgensen OP
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Parking
We have limited parking available in a garage beneath our building. On weekends and evenings, parking also is available in our surface lot. Both areas are accessed from the alley west of our building (from 200 S).
Our parking lots are free, as available, for those visiting the church or attending church events. Violators will be towed at owner's expense. Local on-street parking is metered M-F until 8pm.
Please contact the office if you would like to purchase a weekday pass for the surface lot.