Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • March 22, 2019 5 9274 Hwy 49/Airport Gulfport, MS 39503 228-863-5525 1-800-880-2446 FAX: 228-863-9612 www.butchoustalet.com 1260 Ocean Springs Road, Ocean Springs, MS 39564 Ph: 228-818-0650 For more information, contact Jody Ellis Stoddard, Executive Director or email her at gardensED@BlueHarborSL.com Web Address: www.gardensseniorliving.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheGardensSeniorLivingOceanSprings Thank you, St, Jude, for prayers answered. CS Thank you, Jesus, Mary & St. Anthony, for prayers answered. CS Thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and St. Jude, for prayers answered. LD In thanksgiving to the Holy Spirit, Blessed Mother and St. Jude, of prayers answered. BAB Thank you, St. Jude, for prayers answered. DRD In early February I was on my annual silent retreat with deacons from the Biloxi and Baton Rouge Dioceses at Manresa Retreat Center in Convent, LA. On a silent retreat only the retreat master/ teacher speaks. We were to quiet ourselves exteriorly and interiorly, relax, let go of noise and busyness, and listen with heart and mind. I would love to tell how we basked in the beauty of the silence and felt the soothing presence of the Lord there. But for the first few hours of the first day it was not so. At our first meal we were reading Ketchup bottles, folding and refolding table napkins, analyzing salt and pepper shakers and making silly gestures at each other across the table. All of this indicates how unaccustomed we are to quiet ourselves, be attentive to the Lord’s presence and listen as the Lord speaks. Fortunately, after the first talk and silent evening we got serious and entered a climate of interior stillness making us better able to hear the voice of God. Everyone should seriously consider making a silent retreat annually. And, for the other 51 weeks in the year: focus on the daily and Sunday Scriptures for connecting more closely with the Lord by learning the Church’s ancient practice of Lectio Divina -- look it up, it’s simple and amazingly effective. Those readings provide opportunity to listen, meditate, and relate what the original hearers received to our current life experiences, and decide what impact they will have on our decisions and actions. Of course, we can busy ourselves with all the noise around us and dread the challenges the readings present, ignore their admonitions, consider them necessary for someone else but not for me. But the better part is to embrace them as God’s love letter, God’s word of promise for our betterment, and our means for drawing closer to Jesus on our journey to salvation. In our first reading, Moses’s burning bush experience serves as his call to return to Egypt and rescue the Israelites enslaved there. But Moses had no interest in putting his life in jeopardy again by going back there and made every excuse possible to turn God’s invitation down (Exodus 3:1-4:17). God, however, insisted his way was best and as a show of power identified himself as “I AM.” There was none before Him, no one created Him, and, as Moses would soon learn, no other god or gods could match his power, love and omnipotence. Read Exodus, at least through chapter 20 to learn how Moses listened to God’s voice, and steadily grew to know, love and serve Him. Lent provides the opportunity to discern areas of our life resistant to God’s call: to name those sins of commission and omission, thereby taking authority over them. To not only come out of sin’s slavery and bondage, but to grow in faith, and embrace the risen Christ at his Easter coming. Paul challenges the Corinthians to admit that sin, grumbling, and rebellion were not faults exclusive to their ancestors -- but a reality found in their own hearts. Consequently, they should submit all thoughts, words and actions to the Holy Spirit’s scrutiny to be certain they (we) are not breaking faith with God. Until Jesus took the finger of criticism and pointed it back to them, his self-righteous hearers thought that repentance was something that someone else should do. So, he twice repeats, “If you do not repent, you will perish” and uses a parable to make the message stick. The unproductive fig tree represents someone who hears God’s call to repentance but will not allow it to affect a life-change. On the one hand, the parable shows compassion for the disciple who stumbles along the Christian way. God repeatedly and hopefully looks at the fig tree (sinner) expecting to see good fruit. If it is still unproductive, God’s mercy, compassion and patience allows for another chance. On the other hand, the parable proclaims a sense of urgency that should light a fire under procrastinators and other unproductive disciples. “It may bear fruit in the future -- if not you can cut it down” (Luke 13: 9).With salvation determined at the end of our life, we never know when that “future” will come. Hear the Psalmist proclaim what Moses and every other servant before and after him knows; “The Lord is kind and merciful… He pardons your iniquities, heals your ills, redeems your life, crowns you with kindness and compassion, and makes known his ways…” Pause and Reflect here! What is your response to such a litany of blessings? We need to know better the God who invites us to be co-laborers in his redemptive action, and who cares enough to take on our humanity, so we can grasp at his divinity. To more clearly hear the voice of God, try to immerse yourself more in a climate of interior stillness during Lent. Deacon Ralph Torrelli lives in Hattiesburg and is assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas Parish. Visit his website: www.homilypearls.com. 1st Reading: Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15 Psalm: 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11 2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12 Gospel: Luke 13:1-9 3rd Sunday of Lent God speaking Deacon Torrell i Sunday Scripture Commentaries News deadline for the April 5 issue is 4 pm, Thurs., March 28. Send news items & photos to: tdickson@biloxidio- cese.org Advertisement is due by 10 am, Thurs., Aug. 8. questions? call (228) 702-2126, (228) 702-127 or (228) 792-2109.