July 27, 2020
Click on video above: Pastor's Corner - July 27, 2020
Gospel Reflection
Editor's Note: This weekend's Gospel reading will be Matthew 14:13-21, where Jesus feeds the multitudes. This article is entitled "Did Jesus Really Feed the 5000?" Enjoy!
The feeding of the 5000 is one of Jesus’ most popular miracles. If you grew up in church, you probably saw it depicted on many a flannel graph. You know the story: Jesus was in a deserted place where large crowds were hanging on his every word. When it started to get late, Jesus’ disciples asked him to disperse the gathering to the surrounding villages so they could grab a bite to eat. Rather than sending them home, Jesus took five loaves and two fish and fed the multitude. The young lad who shared his food became famous that day and was sent home with 12 baskets full of leftovers.

Critics of the Bible tend to laugh at this miracle story. It sounds like a pious fiction meant only to teach that God can do a lot even when given very little. Or maybe it’s meant to make Jesus look like another Moses. Just as the children of Israel were fed with manna and quail from heaven under Moses, so Jesus miraculously provides a big crowd some Filet-O-Fish sandwiches. But what if I told you that this story has some real evidential basis? No, seriously. Hear me out for a sec. READ MORE
Parishioner Perspective
Editor's Note: The piece below is by our own parishioner, Eric Clayton. Eric, his wife Alli and their 2 children attend St. Ignatius. Eric is the Senior Communications Manager of
Ignatian Spirituality & Vocation Promotion for Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.
In the wake of the death of John Lewis last week, my Twitter feed quickly filled with powerful quotes from the late Congressman. None struck me quite as hard as this one:
 
“To those who have said, ‘Be patient and wait,’ we have long said that we cannot be patient. We do not want our freedom gradually, but we want to be free now! We are tired.”
 
It’s an excerpt from the  speech  Lewis gave in 1963 during the March on Washington. And it struck me because that quote is just as poignant today as it was nearly 60 years ago: Everyone deserves justice, peace and security  now . And yet, so many continue to be denied these rights promised in our nation's founding documents.
 
We know well that our struggle for racial justice did not end in 1963. Lewis himself  said  years later:  “Be hopeful; be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime.”
 
Our Catholic tradition – and the Ignatian tradition in particular – is full of writing and thinking that echo the words of John Lewis. French Jesuit  Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ,  reminds us: “Trust in the slow work of God. …it may take a very long time.”
 
This is not an excuse, though, to throw up our hands and claim that the moral arc of the universe bends towards justice – and that we’re happy to let it do so in its own, good time. Too often, we pass the buck to God for actions the Holy Spirit is asking  us  to take.
 
Our desire to bring about God’s vision for humanity  now  dictates what we do in this moment, even if we know “ we are prophets of a future not our own. ”
 
Teilhard de Chardin concludes by cautioning each of us that we must  “accept the anxiety of feeling [ourselves] in suspense and incomplete.”  We must live in the creative tension.
 
God’s vision is  now  and  not yet . Each action we take is a gateway into God’s dream for humanity.

As Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ, writes in  Tattoos on the Heart :  “We situate ourselves right next to the disposable so that the day will come when we stop throwing people away. The prophet Habakkuk writes, ‘The vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment and it will not disappoint … and if it delays, wait for it.’”

In solidarity,
Eric Clayton
Senior Communications Manager,
Ignatian Spirituality & Vocation Promotion
Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States
Justice & Peace Action Points...
Update on the The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act
Justice & Peace Committee: Economic Justice Subcommittee
Source: Service Employees International Union

Dear Parishioners,

Do you have family & friends in other states?

WE NEED YOU!

The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, which passed the House of Representatives on May 15th with bipartisan support, includes provisions that would help Maryland avoid additional layoffs and devastating cuts to services. Both Senator Van Hollen & Senator Cardin are in support of the HEROES Act, but we have an obligation to encourage others in our communities to work for justice. READ MORE
Parishioners, the  Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition  (BTEC) has campaigned resolutely on the merits of the Red Line light rail project — a project which would have decreased Baltimore City residents' commute times and connected neighborhoods to vital job centers, ​ generating more than 15,000 jobs and increasing household earnings in the Baltimore region by $539.7 million . When Governor Hogan canceled the Red Line, BTEC called it for exactly what it was—racist pandering to his base. The Governor turned his back on poor and working class Baltimoreans in favor of investing in highway expansion in wealthier, whiter suburban areas.

Now, BTEC has an opportunity to create an independent Regional Transit Authority with the power to build the Red Line and make transit decisions outside the bounds of partisan politics. To get this decision on our November Ballot, the Coalition needs to collect 10,000 signatures from registered city voters – sound familiar? Due to the coronavirus crisis, online petitions are now being accepted!

Today, we are asking you to...

2. Share the petition with 3 friends or family members!

Thank you!
From the Archdiocese...
July 23, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ,

I write to provide an important update on an issue that remains of paramount importance to the Church: our commitment to protecting children and all those we serve from the scourge of sexual abuse or harassment. This commitment demands that we continually scrutinize our efforts to ensure accountability, transparency, and stringent protocols are in place at every level of the Archdiocese.  READ MORE

Wednesday, July 29
6:30 PM - ZOOM



Thursday, July 30
10 AM - ZOOM


Tuesday, August 11
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Thursday, August 13
6:30 PM - ZOOM


Worship, Offerings, and Prayer
HOW TO GIVE   
How to contribute when we are not during this COVID-19 season.

PRAYER LIST
A list of those who have been added to our weekly prayer list.

In the Media
Running While White

Each white person's eventual awareness of the reality of white privilege is particular to his or her own experience. Some realize it immediately in an encounter or event that strikes them with the force of a lightning bolt, yet for others it is a more gradual awakening to the facts of racial injustice in our society.

Still, most white people work very hard — often unconsciously — to deny the truth of systemic racism and white privilege despite its  ubiquitous presence and immediacy , despite all the ways whites in the United States benefit from their perceived race. For me, one thing that has forced me to recognize my own white privilege on a regular basis is running.

My favorite and most consistent hobby, running is an activity I have enjoyed for decades. Before the current coronavirus pandemic, when I used to travel regularly for speaking commitments or meetings, I would run in whatever location I found myself. In places I have visited frequently, I often have several running routes in my mind and ready to go whenever I happen to be in the area. Running is a great way to see new places, to learn the lay of the land, to observe the local communities, and to have fun while exercising at the same time. If I decide not to listen to music on my run, it can also be a wonderful and peaceful time to think and pray. READ MORE
Rep. John Lewis of Georgia is shown in a scene from the documentary "John Lewis: Good Trouble" about the longtime racial equality activist and member of Congress. (CNS photo/courtesy Magnolia Pictures)

The Hole Left Behind by John Lewis

By  Patrick Saint-Jean, SJ
July 21, 2020

John Lewis. He crossed many bridges in his life. On Friday, he crossed the final one.

On July 17, 2020, with the death of John Robert Lewis, the U.S. Congress lost its conscience. This legend was the youngest man  to speak  at the March on Washington next to Dr. King in 1963, and he served seventeen terms in Congress. He was an outstanding model of  nonviolent  resistance, a  Freedom Rider , and an artisan of peace. He called for more than change; he challenged us to love.

Born in 1940, Lewis grew up in the Black Belt town of Troy, a rural town in Alabama, fifty miles from Montgomery. His mother and father were sharecroppers, and he used to spend his Sundays with his grandmother, who was born a slave. 

As a boy, Lewis heard many stories about lynchings. He was only four months old when Jesse Thornton was  lynched  just down the road from his house. Thornton was a popular man, the manager of a local chicken farm, where Lewis would later work himself. READ MORE