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"Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed." [Matthew] These words should be familiar to us.  We say them just before we move out of the pews and into the aisles (observing, of course, "social distancing!") to go and receive communion. In place of "servant," we say "soul." Like so many Catholic devotional words, the sheer familiarity and ritual use of the words has robbed them of much of their original power as an act of faith!  The story in today's gospel scripture of the centurion is also familiar to us, and its familiarity can cause us to let it go by without a lot of thought.  A closer look might help us pay more attention.

Matthew’s Gospel 8:1-4 The Cleansing of a Leper He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I will do it.  Be made clean.” His leprosy was cleansed immediately. This narrative section of the second book of the gospel is composed of nine miracle stories, most of which are found in Mark, although Matthew does not follow St. Mark’s order and abbreviates the stories radically. The stories are arranged in three groups of three, each group followed by a section composed principally of sayings of Jesus about discipleship.

St. Denis Now is a weekly video series in which Fr. John Palmer talks with different members of the St. Denis community about what’s happening at St. Denis.  All of the episodes are available on St. Denis’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.

"Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. [Matthew]      With these words, the evangelist Matthew brings the Sermon on the Mount to a close.  Because Jesus' teachings in the "sermon" are so challenging, one might be tempted to feel relieved - of guilt, if nothing else!  But the closing words are just as challenging as everything that preceded them.  The operative words are "listen" and "act."  Just before these words, in the same passage for today's Mass, we read: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven."  It will not be enough to be "astonished at his teaching," there must be action and conversion.

John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel; and as John was completing his course, he would say, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.' [Acts] This feast, dating from the 4th century in both the East and the West, came to be celebrated in accord with Luke 1:36, six months before the Lord’s birth; quoting John 3:30, Augustine found this date (near the summer solstice) appropriate for, after the birth of John, daylight begins to grow shorter, whereas after the birth of Jesus daylight begins to increase. 

"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets." [Matthew] The scripture passage noted above is known as the ‘golden rule.’ It appears in the Bible explicitly in the Book of Tobias (4:15) but stated negatively, which was the way it was known in Jesus' time. (Do not do unto others what you would not want them to do unto you.) Jesus states it positively and says that it sums up "the Law and the Prophets."

Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3) This is not a prohibition against recognizing the faults of others, but against passing judgment in a spirit of arrogance, forgetful of one’s own faults. The designation hypocrite previously given to the scribes and Pharisees is here given to the Christian disciple who is concerned with the faults of another and ignores his own more serious offenses.

Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. [Matthew] The context for Jesus' wonderful statement about sparrows is what scripture scholars call the "missionary discourse"  in the Gospel According to Matthew.  At the beginning of this chapter, Jesus "summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness." 

He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.  [Luke] My mother often times said the everyday should be mother’s day and today we celebrate our beautiful and blessed Mother, who is Mary, whose heart beats with love for each one of us. The same spirituality that fostered devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus also gave rise to a similar devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  A mother's heart beats for and in each child!   The Gospel According to Luke twice makes mention of Mary keeping events and circumstances about Jesus "in her heart."  This is mentioned in Luke 2:19, after the visit of the shepherds to the manger site after Jesus' birth, and in the passage above after the anxious lost and found incident when Jesus stayed behind after his parents had left Jerusalem. 

In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. [1 John]  One might wonder why this feast does not happen on February 14th when our entire world seems to be focused on the heart and love! As it is, this celebration occurs in summer and during the week.  Nevertheless, it has the rank of a "solemnity" which puts it on a par with other very important celebrations in the liturgical calendar.  It is the basis for the First Friday devotional observance.  This is a testimony to the popularity of the devotion to the heart of Jesus, which really began to gain prominence in the 17th century with the private revelations to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque which included a promise that anyone who attended Mass and received communion worthily for seven straight First Fridays would not die without the final sacraments of the Church. 

This is how you are to pray: 'Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, they Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions." [Matthew] The English translation of the Greek text cannot capture the urgency of Jesus' prayer because we lack a verb tense that Greek has, called "aorist."  This carries with it the idea of "right now" and not pie in the sky, by and by.  We can get lost in the familiarity of Jesus' prayer and ignore the actual words and petitions which place us in complete dependence on God's providence and mercy. 

Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father...." [Matthew]  Jesus today is speaking about prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as He takes aim at the scribes and Pharisees but what he says is meant for all of us.  Our motives are just as important as our behavior.  It is a warning against doing the right thing for the wrong reason.  Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are all good things to do, but when they are done for the wrong or less than noble intentions, their value for the one who does them is diminished. 

After being closed to the public for almost 12 weeks, St. Denis is pleased to announce that we have reopened.  However, the reopening is happening gradually and in steps in accordance with the guidelines and requirements of the CDC, the State of California, the County of Los Angeles, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. View the guidelines here.

You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust......So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. [Matthew]      Scholars have studied the various religious and ethical cultures that existed in the Middle East in Old Testament times and compared them with Jesus' teachings.  Many things were found that are similar, but Jesus is unique in one respect.  He challenges us to love our enemy!!  He says that when we do this, we are showing the same kind of love that God has for all people. 

At 7:00 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, the priests use Zoom to lead parishioners to pray in different ways, such as praying the Rosary, praying with Sacred Scripture, and other ways.  To join the priests, just click on the Zoom link below on or shortly before 7:00 p.m. for the relevant weekday.  (If you haven’t used Zoom before, you can download the Zoom app from the link below just before the meeting.)  

You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well." [Matthew]  It has been said that if we all lived by the maxim ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ everyone would eventually be toothless and blind. The desire for revenge and retaliation when someone hurts us can be very strong.   Is it the old saying, "I don't get mad.  I get even?"  If we have any responses in our head or heart towards getting even we are facing the challenge of being a Christian.  The Sermon on the Mount goes beyond external behavior into the recesses of the mind and heart and says that revenge and "getting even" are wrong - period!  Reasonable defense, yes.  Revenge, no. 

You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.   JUNE 13th ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA Priest, Doctor of the Church who died in 1231 at the age of 36. He was from Lisbon and a member of the Order of Friars Minor, the Franciscans. He was a devoted student of scripture; the first friar to teach theology to his fellow friars. He was a gifted orator and preacher; known as the Evangelical Doctor. He is the patron saint of Portugal, of the poor, and of lost articles.

There was a tiny whispering sound. (1 Kings 19:12) Israel was at a critical juncture. The weak King Ahab, along with his pagan wife, Jezebel, had led the people into deep idolatry and sin. What’s more, the prophet Elijah had just overcome the false prophets of Baal and fled to Mount Horeb to seek help from the Lord. First a strong wind, then an earthquake, then a fire passed before Elijah—each one seeming to bear the kind of majesty that befitted Israel’s need. But God was in none of them. Instead, Elijah heard the Lord through a “tiny whispering sound” that was so intimate and so intense that it made him hide his face in his cloak (1 Kings 19:12).

Today the Church celebrates St. Barnabas, Apostle. Barnabas lived in the first century and preached the gospel in Antioch. He was a missionary companion of St. Paul and attended the first church council in Jerusalem. St. Barnabas was martyred on, and patron of, the island of his birth, Cyprus.

But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” There is an important lesson for us Catholics in the Gospel today.  The love of God and neighbor, which comes to us from the Law of Moses, remains in effect.  The essential elements of Catholicism: creed and sacraments have taken the place of the rest of the Law of Moses.  But there is an incredible variety of devotional forms that have also developed - the rosary being an obvious example.  These are very much a part of daily Catholic life, but are not the same as the Creed and the Sacraments.  This has been brought home to us dramatically in the requirements imposed by the coronavirus crisis when the celebration of the sacraments has been curtailed by the need to stay healthy.