Archive for August 1st, 2023

Blessed Life — Funeral Homily for Maria Boehm, 85

August 1, 2023

By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

On behalf of the parish community of St. Paul’s, I would like to extend our sincere condolence and sympathy to the members of Maria’s family. I would like to assure you of our continued prayers. Life has merely changed not ended. She is now with Jesus, His Blessed Mother, and all the saints to whom she was so devoted. She is now enjoying the presence of family and friends who have preceded her in death.

In the readings, we just heard from the book of Prophet Isaiah, God will destroy death forever, and the Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces. God is so merciful and generous toward his people. In the second reading, St. Paul describes the life of Christians, if we live, we live for the lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. So then, whether we live or die, we are God’s people.

In the Gospel, we have blessedness today. The Beatitudes describe as blessed, those simple followers of God that quietly, faithfully, and patiently wait, thirst and hunger for all that is good under heaven. When I spoke with Maria’s family, the overriding memory of her and the words they used when describing her life were words of simplicity, faith, and love.

Maria Boehm was born on April 7th, 1938, in Romania. During the Russian invasion, the family fled to Germany but they did not want to be communist. While her mother was working for the rich family cooking and gardening, they built a small structure in the garden and moved with her family. During this time, Maria Boehm met her first husband Kenneth who was an American serviceman and Maria married Kenneth on March 17th, 1956. They moved together to America, Maria learned English by watching soap operas. Together with her husband Kenneth, they raised four children. After the death of Kenneth, she married a long-time family friend John whose wife passed away five years prior, and helped raise his children. John and Maria together enjoyed their life by loving each other with their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

In the family gathering, Maria shared her talents as a homemaker; she loved cooking, and food was her way of sharing love with others. She took pride in her flowers, she use to collect angels, she was a devout Catholic, Maria was forever the caregiver, tending to the garden, feeding the birds, and was an Eucharist minister at St. Jude’s Catholic Church at New Auburn.

Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Maria was a gentle and simple woman with a lot of love. Maria was kind and showed no jealousy, she did not seek her own. Maria did not rejoice in unrighteousness, but she rejoiced with the truth. She bore all things quietly, believed all things sincerely, and hoped all things even death. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy, God quietly, mercifully, and gently took Maria home with him. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

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Being a True Disciple Requires Total Commitment

August 1, 2023

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

A few months ago, I came across a student who was training himself to make the school’s football team. He got up every morning at 5:00 AM to train himself. He would run and lift weights for two hours. Then he would go back to shower, eat breakfast and go to school. After his classes, he would go back to the athletic facility and work for three more hours with his teammates. The next morning at 5:00 AM, he will start the same routine again. He had very little time for his parents, social life, and other work.

Today we have the pearl merchant who sacrificed everything to buy the pearl of great price. We hear of a treasure hunter who sold everything he owned to buy a field with treasure in it. So, what is the connection between a pearl merchant, a treasure hunter, and this young football player? What do they have in common? They have a total commitment to their dream. All of them are willing to sacrifice everything for the goal that they have set for themselves.

This is what Jesus points out in today’s gospel. To be a true follower of God requires total commitment on our part. Citizenship in God’s Kingdom requires us to give 100% all of the time, not just when we feel like it. God’s Kingdom must be the top priority of our life. We cannot be true followers of Jesus only part-time. Being a true disciple of Jesus is like being a pearl merchant. Being a true disciple of Jesus is like being a treasure hunter. Being a true disciple of Jesus is like being a football player. It involves total dedication and commitment.

There is a big difference between a true disciple of Jesus, and our pearl merchant, treasure hunter, and football player. Those three people are striving for earthly rewards, while followers of Jesus are striving for eternal and permanent rewards.

When the pearl merchant dies, his pearl will no longer be of any value to him. When the treasure hunter dies, his treasure will be just as useless to him. When the football player dies, his trophies will only be a keepsake for his family. However, when the true disciple of Jesus dies, the whole kingdom of God rejoices because it will now shine brighter and brighter. All of God’s people will be edified eternally.

Money is good when it is used to help others, not when it is only spent on ourselves. Influence and power can be great when used to lift up those who are down. Think about this. If our pearl merchant and treasure hunter and football player were willing to sacrifice so much for a prize that will never last, how much more should we be willing to sacrifice for a prize that will last forever? Earthly prizes can be good and even satisfying for a time, but eternal prizes are the best.

As true disciples of Jesus, we need to keep our greatest treasure safe, which is our personal relationship with Jesus. We do this by accepting him every day as our God and Savior. By allowing God to have total control over our lives through our loving obedience to His will, by asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, by talking to Him daily in prayer, and by listening to Him in our meditative reading of the Holy Scripture. By getting reconciled to Him and others, asking for pardon and forgiveness for our sins, by offering Him our lives on the altar during the Holy Mass, and by receiving Jesus in Holy Communion.

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Victory Over the Sirens’ Song

August 1, 2023

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

This morning, I wish to recount two tales from Greek mythology which shed light on how we can fully live the Gospel. I want to tell you the stories of how Odysseus and his ship’s crew and Jason with his sailors each survived encounters with the mythical Sirens. The Sirens were beautiful half-woman/half-bird creatures who would sing from their island to passing ships. Their song was so alluring and entrancing that sailors would jump overboard and drown in the sea or steer their vessels into deadly shipwrecks on the rocks.

In The Odyssey, the poet Homer tells how Odysseus on his epic voyage wished to hear the Sirens’ song but also wanted to survive with his men. So Odysseus instructed his crew to tie him to the ship’s mast telling them that, no matter how much he might beg them, they were not to untie him but bind him down all the more. Then Odysseus put wax into the ear canals of all his men so they could not hear the Sirens’ song. While rowing their ship past the Sirens, Odysseus pleaded to be released, but his crew faithfully followed his previous instructions until the Sirens were left far behind them and all of them survived.

In the Greek tale of Jason and the Argonauts, Jason and his crew survived the Sirens using a different approach. Aboard their ship was a great musician named Orpheus, a master of an ancient harp called the lyre. As they passed the Sirens’ island, Orpheus plucked the strings of his instrument. And though the Sirens’ sang their evil song, Jason and all his men were so engrossed in the beauty of their friend’s music that none of them were drawn to the Sirens’ temptation.

So we see three strategies reflected in these tales: Odysseus tying himself to the mast, his men keeping wax in their ears, and Jason and his crew being captivated by something more beautiful.

Some people approach certain sins like Odysseus, asking, “How far can I entertain this temptation without falling? How much can I enjoy this sin without suffering consequences?” But having such a divided heart makes it is very hard to restrain oneself. Others, with more success, approach such sins like Odysseus’ men by giving temptation no hearing. They are not seduced by temptation because they prudently avoid its near occasions. They know where they are weak and adjust their habits accordingly. This strategy should have some place in aspects of all our lives. However, the third strategy against the allure of sin is best of all: to be led by, delighting in, and loving the holy, good, and beautiful.

Jesus says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” The person in Christ’s parable sacrifices joyfully because he so values the treasure he has found. Jesus says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.” A wise merchant can peacefully trade everything else for one most beautiful and desirable thing, to his great personal profit. Jesus, God, is the Pearl of Great Price. Christ’s Kingdom and life with his saints is the treasure we have found.

Let us pray: “Lord God, help me to love you more — your goodness and beauty and love — and to love all that you love as you love it.” Ask Jesus Christ to grow and deepen your love so that as you journey on your life’s voyage your faith may not be shipwrecked but be lived in fullest freedom with peaceful, loving joy.

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