Saint Matthew's Church A Roman Catholic Community

Saint Matthew's Church
A Roman Catholic Community

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Weekend Mass Schedule
Saturday Vigil at 5:00 PM
Sunday at 8:30 and 10:30 AM
Full Schedule of Services
Weekly Bulletins
Ministry Schedule

Pastor's Message

When one walks into a mosque or into a Hindu or Buddhist temple, the first thing you must do is take off your shoes. This small gesture is meant to have us recognize that we are about to enter a house of prayer where we will encounter God. I have often thought that little ritual would be good to add to our Christian worship. It reminds us why we gather and Who we hope to encounter in our worship together.

This Sunday our first reading from the book of Exodus recounts the well-known story of Moses and the burning bush. We are told that Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro ...(when) an angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. As Moses approached the bush to see this remarkable sight God called out to him from the bush, "Moses, Moses!...Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers, ... the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob..." God then goes on to tell Moses that He has seen the suffering of His people and is asking Moses to lead the people out of slavery to the land God promises to give them.

In order to hear God's word to us we too need to prepare ourselves by recognizing that we stand on holy ground whenever we are in a sacred place. Of course, as we begin to be aware that in certain buildings like temples, mosques and churches we are on holy ground, we begin to realize whenever we stand on our sacred planet, we stand on holy ground (Native Americans and other "primitive" peoples knew this long ago.) And as we stand on holy ground to hear the word of God so too we are on holy ground whenever we truly listen to one another in love. We take off our shoes in sacred buildings to remind ourselves of the universal sanctity of all life.

This simple yet primary understanding of the sacredness of all life makes the horrific massacre in the mosque in New Zealand last week (and too many others that have occurred in our country and around the world) even more heinous. The lies perpetrated by the white supremacy movement, or any movement that proposes to place any one group above and better than any other group of people, must be seen for what it truly is: evil in its most gruesome form. We are all children of God living on a fragile little globe in an unfathomably huge universe. God calls to each of us in unique and different ways to hear the message of love that is at the heart of the mystery we call God. In order to hear this call to universal love we need to humble ourselves, take off our shoes, be silent and listen.

In a world that is full of noise that does not matter, with too many lives broken and discarded, with messages that promote hatred, bigotry and violence, a small voice cries out this Sunday to Moses and to all of us: "Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers, ... the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob..." Or in the words of our Savior Jesus Christ: Love one another as I have loved you.

Fr. Chris

Seasonal Messages

LENTEN ACTIVITIES

Earth: Our Common Home: A workshop presented by Sr. Linda Neil, CSJ on Sunday, March 24, 3-4:30pm
See the Parish Events page for more information.

Healing Earth with Laudato Si: A workshop presented by Sr. Linda Neil, CSJ on Sunday, March 31, 3-4:30pm. See the Parish Events page for more information.

Mary’s Way of the Cross: Presented by All Saints Catholic Church’s “Angels to Each Other”
Friday, April 5, 7pm. See the Parish Events page for more information.

Earth Song by M. Honors, CSJ