July 2, 2025

Dear Parishioners,

In a multitude of different ways, Scripture tells us to place our hope in the Lord. For Isaiah, hope could be found in the restored Israel. Paul places his hope in the cross of Christ. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to rejoice that their names are written in heaven. 

Although Isaiah wrote about two centuries before the Israelites were taken into captivity in Babylon, his prophetic vision points to their exile and return. In the passage from Isaiah we read, the exile was over, but Jerusalem had not yet been restored to its former glory. Isaiah assures them that the Lord will comfort them in Jerusalem. First Jerusalem, and then the Lord, are seen in metaphor as a mother with abundant milk to feed her children. She will carry them in her arms and hold them in her lap. We, too, are invited to rejoice in this image, imagining ourselves as the nurslings who will have our fill of milk and comfort in the arms of our loving God. We look forward to the fulfillment of this promise in heaven, the new Jerusalem, when we will be united with God for eternity.

Paul concludes his Letter to the Galatians by telling them that he wishes to never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is no longer circumcision or uncircumcision that sets God’s people apart, but the marks of serving Christ. When we were baptized, we were marked for Christ with the sign of the cross. We were plunged into the waters of his death and drawn out as a new creation. Every time we make the sign of the cross, it reminds us to whom we belong. Christ suffered and died for us. As his followers, our lives will also be marked by suffering. If we are to boast in anything, let it be the cross.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus appoints seventy-two of his followers to share in both his mission and his power. In his name, they can cure illnesses and cast out demons. Yet he tells them not to rejoice because of this power, but because their names are written in heaven. 

Like the disciples before us, we are invited to participate in Christ’s mission for the salvation of souls to share in Christ’s mission entails sharing in his suffering as well. If, like Paul, we bear the marks of our suffering for Christ, then he will recognize himself in us, when he comes again to judge the living and the dead. Let us rejoice and thank God for the gift of redemption and the opportunity of salvation which he won for us. May we have the strength to persevere until the end, so that we might claim our place in the new Jerusalem, comforted in the loving arms of God. 

God Love Ya,
Fr. Reilly