A great prophet has risen in our midst. God has visited his people.

Have a few announcements this morning. The Catholic Kids Camp was a success with 104 kids in attendance. Thank you to all the teen and adult volunteers for all of their hard work, and a special thank you to the donors for your contributions to make that happen. The confirmation entrance exam is Saturday, August 3rd at 10 a.m. in the Social Hall. Please make sure your children eat before coming to take the test, and they can bring any snacks to have during the test. There will not be a makeup test. Registration for Faith formation will begin on Sunday, August 4th. In between the masses, the atrium spots are limited. It will be a first come, first serve basis. All volunteers, ushers, lectures and ministry leaders need to be up to date on their safe environment training. Please contact the office if you have any questions. Thank you.

For the last few weeks and bearing with me with the liturgy. It has been a little bit schizophrenic, and it's been an adjustment for me as well and I like to put or attempt to put an end to that so that we're united in our act of worship of God, particularly in the language that we're using the documents sacrosanct and Concilium from that Second Vatican Council. It spoke about the use of Latin in the liturgy, and it promoted it. I first explained that Latin is to be preserved in the Latin rites, so we are to use it, but it also states that it is good also to use the mother tongue, English or Spanish in our case, so that the people can actively participate. Also says we do want to incorporate Latin, especially in the ordinary of the mass. Think of the In nómine Patriset Filiiet Spíritus Sancti. Think of the act of contrition, or rather the confetti or think of the glory of the Creed that those often should be in Latin, but the people should be informed and should know how to respond so that you can actively participate. So, what I'm planning to do, following in your former pastor Father Miller's footsteps, created such a beautiful liturgy, is to maintain the use of Latin during the mass, but for ordinary time, which we're in right now, all English except for the Gloria. But then moving into those seasons of Advent and Lent, I like to do that sign of the cross, the greeting, the confetti, or in Latin, as well as the patroness order as a way to separate that season. And then when we reach Christmas and Easter, those glorious seasons of celebration. I'd like to mark that by adding, additionally, the Creed and the essay on your stay. Behold the Lamb of God in Latin as a way of celebrating even more of that sacred season using a particular language, the language of the church, Latin. But for now, English and when we get to there, we'll practice and prepare for that. And our only Luna verse for this mass chanted so beautifully here by our choir, we have the response of the crowd to what our Lord does. And they say, indeed, a prophet has arisen, and God has visited his people. In the next four Sundays, we're taking a break from that gospel of Mark and listening to the chapter of John, and he's going to focus on chapter six, where our Lord is going to reveal to the crowd and to us this teaching of the sacred Eucharist, the teaching of his body, blood, soul and Divinity, given to us in the sacrament for our life.

This summer, for the first time in over 80 years, we had this National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. And that was not a coincidence. It's been over 80 years in our great nation, but the bishops decided it is time that we must renew our devotion to our Lord in this sacrament. Who waits here for you a few years ago.

You may remember during Covid at least, maybe even up to 60% of Catholics in the pews. Either they don't know the teaching, or they don't believe in. What a tragedy that our Lord is here for us. So many people come in and out of those doors and don't recognize them here, when all the time he's here for you. He's a prisoner in that tabernacle for you. He waits for your prayers. If we're among that number, if some of us are somewhere in there, the Wednesday Hall, the hour of exposition is for you. Our capital campaign. Campaign to build that adoration chapel. To adore the Lord 24 hours a day. That is for you. That is, to stimulate your faith and help you to recognize the Lord who is present here for you. How can we come about to Eucharistic believe? Because it's something that's going to have to go far beyond our senses and far beyond our ability to perceive. So, belief is impossible, or at least is going to be very difficult if we don't understand something about God. And most certainly if we don't understand something about His Son Jesus Christ, and who he is and what he's capable of doing and the Creed. After the homily, we say, I believe in God the Father, the Almighty. We proclaim that God, who is all powerful, who made all things out of nothing. That book, first book Genesis, says, God makes the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. So, we proclaim to believe this God who can create all things out of nothing, something much more impressive and requiring much greater power than to make something new out of something already existing, such as taking bread, taking wine, and creating out of those two things.

Something new this Sunday prepares us to believe that by first showing us, revealing to us a bit more who is Jesus Christ? Because these stories in the Gospels, they give evidence that he has that same power that God has in Genesis. He has this same power to create. So, a man is sick, a man is lame on the ground, and he has to be healed.  The Lord says, I do will stand up and rise, rather rise. Stand up and he does it, or the girl has a fever and she's in the bed. Our Lord rebukes that fever and lifts her up. He raises her up. A woman with a flow of blood just touches his cloak and she's healed. Says power goes out from his body and she's healed. He's giving evidence that he has this same power that God has in Genesis to create. Today's reading is going to pray, and some bread, and some fish are multiplied to feed thousands. Once again giving evidence of that. Don't miss the difference between that first reading and the gospel, because the first reading can seem very similar. The prophet Elisha, he has these 1220 lo set before the hundred man. So, as I said before them, and they eat, and there's something left over. But no, when he says, he says, Yahweh has told me, God has told me to set this before you, and there will be some left over. So, the prophet prays, or the prophet invokes God, and then God works the miracle, not the difference between what our Lord does.

Our Lord does not pray or ask that a miracle happen. He simply blesses. He breaks and he distributes, and they multiply. He does it through his divine power. That's truly the Son of God. And that's a little bit that's something like what happens in the mass. Because what we claim in this mass, when that bread and wine is changed into that precious blood of our Lord, that precious body of the Lord, we see that that that's done by the priest who's acting in that person of Christ, so that in virtue of my ordination, I act in that person of Christ at very particular moments, so very particular moments I act in our Lord's within the same person to connect the Eucharist, to make the sacraments happen. And especially in the case of the Eucharist, the effect of that sacrament is meant to be union with God, and it's also meant to be unity with each other. During that consecration, I'll lift up our Lord in the Sacred host, and we'll actually all be gathered. Finally, in that moment of unity, maybe it won't seem like it, but all of our eyes should be turned towards the Lord. So, our Lord should be drawing us into unity focused upon him. Saint John Paul the Second wrote in a closer the Eucharist, that is, the Eucharist that forms the church. So, you, because that makes it and brings us into unity. And that's something that cannot stop your friends. Of course, I'm new here. You're not. But that unity cannot stop here at this altar, real and most certainly can't stop when we go outside of those doors.

We don't have to be the best of friends, but we must treat each other with the charity of the Lord, with the dignity and charity of Christ. One virtue to consider this week that I'm going to be practicing trying to be that virtue of discretion. So, in our conversations, saying those good things, those good things we need to say, but maybe leaving out those things that would blacken someone's name, leaving out those things that might harm somebody's reputation, all of those things, all of those virtues are assisted in a wholly worthy that is, in a state of grace reception of Holy Communion.

It elevates and gives us all of those virtues and graces to lead us into union with God, and also unity with each other.