Holy Innocents Catholic Church!

January 20, 2022

Dear Friends in Christ,

St. Paul reminds us this week that as Christians we are all members of the body of Christ.  Christ is the head and we are the members. Each of has role to play, and particular gifts which are critical to the life of the body.  He reminds us that we are bound to one another and that when one part of the body suffers, we all suffer.  When one part of the body rejoices, we all share in this joy. This is a good reminder to us, especially in the midst of the gray winter and the discord that is such a temptation these days.  We ought to focus on our connectedness more than our division, and work to build one another up in Christ.   These past two years have been strange times, but I am ever more grateful to all of you for the ways you continue to use your gifts to build up our parish and church.  Your faith and love of Lord continue to shine forth.
So, let us take some time to meditate on these words of St  Paul this week:

As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons ,and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Now the body is not a single part, but many.
If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body, “it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body, “ it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be?

If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body.  The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you, “nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.  ”Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety,whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the bodyas to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body,but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.

Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds;then gifts of healing, assistance, administration,
and varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work mighty deeds? Do all have gifts of healing?
Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?

1 Cor 12:12-30

PLEASE PRAY FOR AN END TO ABORTION

This week marks the sad anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the legalization of abortion in the United States.  And it is all the more important that we help people understand how destructive it is to our society, and to all involved in it.    

As Pope Francis has reminded us strongly,

“Abortion: it's more than a problem, it's homicide, whoever has an abortion, kills. No mincing words”.

“Every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before he was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world's rejection," “It is troubling to see how simple and convenient it has become for some to deny the existence of a human life as a solution to problems that can and must be solved for both the mother and her unborn child…"

So, let us pray this week for an end to abortion, for the healing and reconciliation of those who have had abortions, and work for the conversion of heart of so many who have been misled on this issue.

Blessings on your week,

Fr. Johnson