St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish

From Fr. Tim:
Welcome Back Home!  The regular Mass schedules are now back to normal!
  8:00 a.m.
  10:00 a.m.
  1:00 p.m. Latin
The normal Saturday Mass schedule  Saturday, 5:30 p.m.  This includes the 4:00 p.m. Mass at St Stan's and the 11:30 a.m. Spanish Mass.
 
All persons attending these public Mass are expected to:

• maintain social distance of 6 ft.
• wear a face mask
• use hand sanitizer as necessary
• and please be considerate of those around you.

• you are over 65 yrs. of age
• sick or chronically ill
• have significance health problems
• or are afraid of getting sick 

SUNDAY MASSES VIA FACEBOOK
LIVESTREAM 
St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish
Fr. Tim Nelson, presiding

    St. Marys Star of the Sea Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/St-Mary-Star-of-the-Sea-122750921099539/                               
For those who cannot attend in person, our facebook mass is online .
 
10:00am - English Mass
11:30am - Spanish Mass
1:00pm - Latin Mass

Confessions Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon

In the Gospel today, even Jesus' enemies recognize that He is a truthful man who teaches the way of God in accordance with the truth; that He is not concerned with anyone's opinion and does not regard that person's status. Every priest should take this example from Jesus and that is what I hope to do today.

The upcoming elections on November 3, I believe, will have a significant impact on the future of our country. The two major parties represented in this election have vastly different visions for how to govern our nation.

I encourage you to vote and I encourage you to vote your conscience, but it is extremely important to understand that one's conscience does not decide what is right and wrong. It is God - and God alone - who knows what is right and wrong; good or bad. We, on the other hand, receive from God, the knowledge of what is right and wrong. The original sin of Adam and Eve was to make themselves like God who can decide for themselves what is right and wrong. That was the original sin and this is the sin that has been perpetuated throughout history in one form or another, such as, when someone claims to be like God and decide if the child in the womb should live or die.

It is God who teaches us what is right and wrong. He did it through the history of the people of Israel, and later, through the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ and now through the teachings of the Church.

The purpose of conscience is to APPLY what we have received, that is, what we have learned to be right and wrong - good or evil - to the particular decisions we need to make in life. Every time we need to make a decision, we should try to do what is good. To do this, we take what we have learned about the knowledge of good and evil and APPLY it to the particular circumstances of a given situation.

At the end of Matthew's gospel, Jesus tells the apostles: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Mt. 28: 19-20) The apostles were told to go out and teach what Jesus commanded. That is what they did and that's what the Church continues to do today. I hope that is what I am doing right now!

In the upcoming election, there are many issues to consider such as education, the family, the poor, religious liberty, healthcare, restorative justice, immigration, and religious liberty. But there is one issue among them which is preeminent and that is the issue of the sanctity of human life and the dignity of every person.

Let me quote from Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas. He is the chair of the pro-life committee for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. He said: "This past January, I shared with Pope Francis that the bishops of the United States have been criticized by some for identifying the protection of the unborn as a preeminent priority. The Holy Father expressed support for our efforts, observing that if we fail to protect life, no other rights matter. But Francis also said that abortion is not primarily a Catholic or even a religious issue, it is first and foremost a human rights issue."

To say that safeguarding the life of the unborn is the PREEMINENT issue does not lessen the importance of the other issues, like racism or protecting the environment. Rather, it promotes those issues and puts them in proper perspective. If you want to protect the environment, then, protect first the beauty in the eyes, fingers and toes of the unborn child. If you want to eliminate racism, then first eliminate discrimination of the unborn of whatever sex, race, color or creed. After all, what good is justice, if we have no life? Or, what good are education and religious liberty, if we have no life.?

According to the CDC data, the total deaths in the United States due to the COVID -19 virus from January to October of this year was a little over 216,000 persons.
Whereas, the most recent available data indicates that over 2,000 children die EACH DAY from abortion in the United States. That is, about 540,000 abortions since January to October... or, 2.5 times the number of COVID deaths in the last 9 months!

The catechism of the Catholic Church is clear about the moral evil of abortion. It states that from the very beginning, the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or as a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law. (#2271)

And again, some of the earliest writings in the church, such as the Didache and the early Church Fathers teach, “you shall not kill the embryo by abortion and  you shall not cause the newborn to perish."

The Second Vatican Council in its Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, declared: "God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to man the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception; abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes." (#51).

All of this is the teaching of God given to us through the teachings of the Church. Therefore, no Catholic - in good conscience – can support abortion because it is intrinsically evil and has no justification. Any person who knowingly and willingly supports and promotes abortion, commits a grave sin. In fact, they put their soul in mortal danger.

When someone, especially a Catholic, has full knowledge of the evil of abortion and then deliberately and willfully promotes it by word or deed, not only commits a mortal sin, but causes grave scandal to others. Such a scandal could lead others to think that abortion may be OK. The scandal of abortion is increased when that same person receives Holy Communion. The constant teaching of the Church has always been that those in a condition of grave sin should not receive Holy Communion. St. Paul is very clear about this in his letter to the Corinthians: "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment upon himself." (1Cor 11:27-30).

Remember what Jesus said about such scandals, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” (Luke 17; 1-2) Now, this admonition of the Lord applies also to me, a priest,  if I do not speak out and preach the commandments of the Lord as the Church teaches them.

It is out of charity and for your good that I say these things - which are hard to hear. The United States is a great country. But it is great because of the freedom it guarantees and protects for her people. It is the PEOPLE that make this country great. You contribute to this greatness when you act with a good conscience, formed by the Word of God and the Teachings of the Church. The Church continues to carry out the saving mission of Jesus Christ in the world today through the Holy Spirit. You have received the Holy Spirit in Baptism. Like Jesus, you too, must be a prophet in the world today. By your words and deeds, teach others what God commands us to do regarding what is right and what is wrong.

In order for our country to thrive in the pursuit of happiness, we must always safeguard - as an inalienable right - our liberty to protect LIFE - from conception to natural death.  It is the preeminent right and the preeminent issue among all the issues to consider in this election..

May God bless each and every one of you and may God bless America.