HAPPY 70th BIRTHDAY, FRIAR JOHNPAUL
We welcome Friar Johnpaul Cafiero as he presides at all of our Masses this weekend. We also celebrate his 70th birthday. His actual birthday is August 2 so you have some additional time to extend any good wishes to him. We will have a reception following the 5:00 pm Mass on Saturday and we thank our Knights of Columbus for helping put on the spread. We will also have special Narthex hospitality following all other Masses on Sunday so you will have many opportunities to wish JP well.
He continues to enrich our weekend liturgies once a month despite living at Padua Franciscan High School in Parma, Ohio. JP began teaching for several of our Adult Faith programs before his Ordination to Priesthood in 1995 so he has been an integral part of our liturgical and formational efforts for over thirty years.
Some of you who are new to the parish may have had limited exposure to JP, but undoubtedly you have been inspired by his creative preaching. He so often supplements his preaching with props and images that engage us all in the Gospel message.
I am sure that St. Francis himself is proud of the way that JP carries out the message and mission that the Franciscan Order was founded on. JP calls us to renewal like Francis did. He preaches with zeal, as did Francis. He wears the brown robe and sandals well, and he uses social media to let us know what he is up to, all over the world. You just never know where JP will be.
Speaking of the larger world, so many of you have been enriched by his prayerful and fun guidance on trips to the Holy Land and other places of biblical importance.
Personally, I appreciate the way he engages us with singing, Zumba and other creative outlets. His intense knowledge of and connection with the Wizard of Oz continually brings us parallels, metaphors and analogies for faith. As I have gotten to know JP these past sixteen years, and tried so hard to craft a mission and vision for Holy Family centered on the Eucharist and animated by the reality of contemporary life, I am grateful for the many ways he advances that mission. For details just look above the entrance doors to our church.
Lastly, as our friendship has grown, I appreciate how he regularly calls me ‘Brother.’ As he, a religious order priest, and I, a diocesan priest, share in the work of carrying out Holy Family’s mission together, we have formed a bond of brotherhood that brings our slightly different commitments together.
Happy Birthday, Brother JP!
BREAD OF LIFE
This weekend we begin a five-week period of Gospel passages from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. This section is called “The Bread of Life Discourse.” The extended message DIRECTLY from Jesus is so central and foundational to our faith as Catholics that every third year, in the cycle of proclaiming much of the Gospel of Mark, we hear this section according to John.
Why is this discourse so important? For many reasons, actually too many to capture here, but let me begin. The message of life connected with Jesus, and his identification with bread, and his passion for what belief in him as THE BREAD OF LIFE can do for us will be not only important for the next five weeks, but for us and our future here at Holy Family.
The reasons for its importance begin with Jesus conveying to us who he is. This week’s passage begins with people who are spiritually hungry – and there are A LOT of them – following Jesus. Only secondarily are they physically hungry, but we all know that physical hunger can sometimes supersede spiritual hunger.
Jesus goes up a mountain, the place where spiritually hungry people go to encounter God who desires to feed us. His companions are focused on the physical impossibility of feeding the crowd, especially in light of the meager resources that they have.
Jesus orders the people to sit. What comes as a result of sitting is reflection and a greater consciousness of the blessings we have, even though we may not think they are enough. Jesus then prayerfully shows gratitude for what is present and models the SHARING of it.
The result is not only enough – the result is MORE than enough. There are leftovers. Recognizing who Jesus is in our midst, sharing that recognition and whatever blessings we have will not only be enough, it will bring about abundance.
Much more to come.