Purity isn’t popular at the moment. Or is it? Look at a rack of health magazines or at popular podcasts. You’ll see an infinite ocean of regulations and rituals of diets, intermittent fasting, morning sun rituals, intense juice detox practices, lists of dangerous foods, mental practices, as well as long lists of dos and don’ts for the proper cleaning of clothes, dishes, cars, houses, pets, and children. Like it or not, we long to be pure, clean, and without blemish.
This question of purity haunted people in Jesus’ day, too. The Pharisees and scribes (the leading purity authorities of the day) criticize Jesus, asking, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” (Mark 7:5). Jesus responds by saying, “There is nothing outside the person that can defile him if it goes into him; but the things that come out of the person are what defile the person” (Mark 7:15). What does he mean, and how can it help us be pure?
We’ve probably all heard the somewhat shopworn interpretation that Jesus replaces the ritual, exterior notion of purity with a moral, interior one. Christianity is thus seen as a kind of moral re-tooling, as if religion doesn’t make us pure. Good moral intentions do. But this doesn’t take the rest of Jesus’ ministry seriously enough, nor our obsession with purity. The better reading is that Jesus audaciously offers himself as the ultimate source of human purity — from within each human heart. Both our religious ritual practices and our moral actions are meant to flow from this encounter with Jesus the Lord. When we are in friendship with him, everything becomes pure for us. — Father John Muir ©LPi
Welcome
Welcome to our Eucharistic Celebration on this Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time.
The intentions of this Mass are for all those in our special intention basket and...
Please stand for our procession.
Mass Intentions
Saturday, August 31
5:00 PM
Zenaida Sawal • †
Aurora Hernandez • †
Bonifacio Tan • †
Wilbert Arias • Health
Ruben Delgadillo • Health
Josefa Roda • Health
10:45 PM
Slavka & Stjepan Cosic • †
Michael Lee Sullens • †
Dr. Patrick Yao • Health
12:30 PM
Alma Camillia • Salud
Anabel y Isabel • Birthday
Ernestina Loza • Birthday
Universal Prayer (Petitions)
A. For the Church, that we remain steadfast in caring for our common home, reducing waste, reducing the use of fossil fuels, and providing for those most affected by climate change, which tend to be the world’s poor, let us pray to the Lord.
B. That elected leaders may fashion, police departments may enforce, and judges and attorneys may apply laws and statutes that all people may recognize as fair and just, as wise and intelligent, let us pray to the Lord.
C. For all those who work, inside or outside the home, that the labor they do may be justly compensated and rightly valued, and for those who are unemployed, that they may find work that is productive and fulfilling, let us pray to the Lord.
D. That we may be doers of the word and not hearers only, laboring in the world to extend God’s blessings upon those who most need it, let us pray to the Lord.
Announcements
1. Thanks to you, we have exceeded our Called to Renew goal and currently have $286,000 in donations. We received $20,000 in donations during the month of July. We are thankful for your generosity.
2. The Parish will be closed this Monday, September 2 in observance of Labor Day. We'll continue with our 8am and 5pm daily mass but there will be no confessions or adoration of the blessed sacrament.
3. Our Parish Fiesta will begin on Friday, October 4. We will hold our annual raffle with a grand prize of $5,000. Pre-sale ride tickets and wristbands are also available at a discounted rate. You can buy both tickets at the Parish Center.
4. We thank Ana Orellana from Century 21 for sponsoring our bulletin; their information can be found on the last page of our bulletin. If you have a business and would like to sponsor our weekly bulletin, you can call the phone number at the bottom of the last page.
