Our Lady of Sorrows
    info@oladyofsorrows.org
    956-686-0251
    • Home
    • News
      • Weekly Bulletin
    • Homilies
      • Msgr. Gustavo Barrera
      • Dcn. Ray Thomas
      • Dcn. Johnny Gonzalez
      • Dcn. Crawford Higgins
    • About Us
      • Office Directory
      • Worship & Liturgy Schedule
      • Our Pastor
      • Photo Gallery
    • Donate
    • Sacraments
      • Baptism
      • Matrimony
      • CCD
      • RCIA
    • Ministries & Organizations
      • Adoration
      • Altar & Rosary Society
      • Altar Servers
      • Asamblea de Oracion de Matrimonios (AOM)
      • Catholic Daughters of the Americas
      • Homebound Ministry
      • JCDA
      • Choir
      • Knights of Columbus
      • Legion of Mary
      • Readers of the Word (Lectors)
      • Serra Club
      • Star of Hope
    • Faith & Spirituality Groups
      • Bereavement Support
      • Centering Prayer Group
    • Become a Parishioner
    • Funeral Information
    • Quinceañera Information
    • OLS YouTube Channel
    • School
    • Diocese of Brownsville
    • Contact Us

    29 Sunday, Cycle C

    10/16/2016

     

    Podcast en Español

    Podcast English

    Luke 18:1-8
    ​
    Jesus compared a dishonest judge and a nagging widow to the mercy of God when we pray.  Obviously the Lord contrasted the difference between the judge and our loving God.  So that maybe, just maybe we would stop projecting our way of treating each other with how God treats us.
     
    God is not like the dishonest judge who only listened to the widow because she would not go away—or because she threatened him.  God always listens to our prayers, always answers and only wants the best for us.  The Lord does not punish us according to our sins.  If such were the case, nobody would make it to heaven—nobody!  Some folks who are immature in their faith come to all sorts of false conclusions when bad things happen in their life.  For example, if they have a car accident they figure that God must be punishing them for some sin.  If money runs out, if someone in the family gets sick—the popular thinking is that God is getting even with us—that we deserve punishment.  Guilt is more readily accepted than God’s mercy.  Remember that guilt is not from God but always from the accuser—always from Satan.  Guilt is a wasted emotion—never helps us to grow.  Remorse is different—repentance is different.  However, when we come before the Lord to pray we have to get past our sins or we will never dare to speak with God.  Nobody is worthy—the sooner we make peace with our weaknesses, the sooner we can experience God’s forgiveness. 
     
    Ever fall asleep while you’re praying?  Ever get distracted during Mass?  (Not during my homily of course.)  That’s normal.  We all get detracted.  Some people fall asleep while they are praying the rosary—that’s called “deep meditation—slain in the Spirit.”  Maybe that’s what we need—to rest.  What better way than to rest in the Lord.  We can get all bent out of shape because we doze off during prayer.  Didn’t we ever fall asleep in our father’s arms?  Didn’t we ever fall asleep sitting next to our mother—especially when we were children?  We are all children to God.  There is not better place to rest than in the arms of our heavenly Father.  We are supposed to try to concentrate on what we are doing.  Each Psalm, every Hail Mary, the morning prayers—they all deserve our full attention.  But sometimes nature is stronger.  We should not worry because God is not like the dishonest judge but like a loving Father.
     
    We are a lot harder on ourselves than God will ever be.  Some folks have told others that they are going to hell according to how they are going to vote.  Nothing new.  At one time the Western Church condemned the Eastern Church and the Eastern Church condemned the Western Church to hell.  Good thing that God doesn’t pay attention to the ridiculous statements we make in anger.  Indeed the election ahead is going to be difficult.  However, no party is without it’s faults.  Moral cases can be drawn against both.  Therefore discernment is necessary—prayer—guidance from the Holy Spirit.  Never is an election about one issue.  Our privilege as citizens of this great Country is to vote.  Let’s not be so quick to condemn one another to hell because we do not agree.  There are much better ways in which we can employ our passion—like getting rid of violence in our neighborhoods, working to feed the homeless, volunteering to care for the refugees.  Rather than looking at the problems we have, we can contribute to finding solutions.  That’s the way that God answers our prayers—by inspiring us to help one another. 
     
    Prayer is not so much as we doing the talking and God doing the listening.  Prayer is also listening to what God wants to tell us.  The message is the same:  God loves us without conditions.   


    Comments are closed.
      Picture
      Msgr. Gustavo Barrera,
      ​celebrated his first Holy Mass as pastor on September 15, 2007, the feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows. With his enthusiasm and spiritual guidance, OLS continues to serve our Catholic family in a way that challenges us to grow as an evangelizing community.

      Archives

      February 2023
      January 2023
      December 2022
      November 2022
      October 2022
      September 2022
      August 2022
      July 2022
      June 2022
      May 2022
      April 2022
      March 2022
      February 2022
      January 2022
      November 2020
      October 2020
      September 2020
      August 2020
      July 2020
      June 2020
      May 2020
      April 2020
      March 2020
      February 2020
      January 2020
      December 2019
      November 2019
      October 2019
      September 2019
      July 2019
      June 2019
      May 2019
      April 2019
      March 2019
      February 2019
      January 2019
      December 2018
      November 2018
      October 2018
      September 2018
      August 2018
      July 2018
      June 2018
      May 2018
      April 2018
      March 2018
      February 2018
      January 2018
      December 2017
      November 2017
      October 2017
      September 2017
      August 2017
      June 2017
      May 2017
      April 2017
      March 2017
      February 2017
      January 2017
      December 2016
      November 2016
      October 2016
      September 2016
      August 2016
      July 2016
      June 2016
      May 2016
      April 2016
      March 2016
      February 2016
      January 2016
      December 2015
      November 2015
      October 2015
      September 2015
      August 2015
      July 2015
      June 2015
      May 2015
      April 2015
      March 2015

      Msgr. Gustavo Barrera, Pastor.

      Categories

      All

      RSS Feed

    About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Office Directory
    • Stewardship
    • Pastor
    • Our History
    Sacraments
    • Baptism
    • First Reconciliation
    • First Communion
    • Confirmation
    • Marriage
    • Anointing of the Sick
    Parish Life
    1. Become a Parishioner
    2. Bulletin & Newsletters
    3. Planning Center Log-in​
    Worship and Liturgy
    • Daily Readings
    • Liturgy of Hours
    • Mass & Reconciliation
    • Eucharistic Adoration
    Faith Formation
    • CCD
    • RCIA​
    Links & Resources
    • CDOB
    • USCCB
    • Vatican: Holy See
    • American Catholic
    More
    • Homilies
    • Online Giving
    • OLS School
    • OLS on YouTube
    Our Lady of Sorrows Parish
    1108 W Hackberry Ave.
    McAllen, Texas 78501-4370
    Telephone
    : (956) 686-0251
    Picture
    Picture

    Website Development by The Parish Solutions Company
    Our Lady of Sorrow Image Copyright Cromo NB permission to use by CNB Basevi.
    Back to top