Mary, Star of the Sea 

   Church

The Gospel is from St. Matthew 14:13-21. This miracle was an act of kindness and loving thoughtfulness on the part of Christ. He saw the people's need - it was late for them to return to their homes and they had had nothing to eat all day - and He worked a miracle to provide for this need. The miracle also helped to convince the people of Galilee - the news spread around quickly - that He was the expected Messiah, but especially it prepared the way for the announcement of the greatest miracle of all - the miracle of the Eucharist.

The Gospel is from St. Matthew 13:44-52. The lesson of these two parables is as true for us today, as it was for those Palestinians to whom Christ spoke. All Christians are called on to imitate the two wise men, and surrender all their earthly possessions if necessary in order to gain eternal life. Does this "giving all" mean that we are all expected to abandon the world and take on the religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience? There are many who do just this. But it is not the only way, nor the normal way, to purchase the eternal treasure. Heaven is within the reach of all, who follow the ordinary vocations of life and partake of this world's joys and pleasures within the framework of God's commandments, but never lose sight of the goal toward which they are moving.

The Gospel is from St. Matthew 13:24-43. Today's parable is Christ's answer to the question so frequently asked: "Why does God permit evil to triumph so often in this world, why are the wicked allowed to prosper?" The triumph of the wicked is short-lived, the reward of the Christian who suffers from their wickedness is everlasting. The very wickedness and injustices of evil-doers are one of the ways that God uses to perfect his elect. It is only on a battlefield that a true soldier can be proved. 

The Gospel is from St. Matthew 13:1-23. Christ's description of His audience, that day in Galilee, is unfortunately as true today as it was then. His message of salvation has been preached to a great part of the world's population, but the proportion of those who accept it and live up to it, is about the same today as it was then. There are millions of men and women today, in what was once Christian Europe, who are like the seed sown on the unplowed path. They refuse to accept the message, they have no thought for their future, they are content to end in the grave after their few years of misery and hardship on this planet.

Long before any thought of a pandemic, the Diocese of Honolulu and the Hawaii Catholic Conference offered sessions last fall on our Catholic Advance Healthcare Directive (AHCD). In those sessions, we had several questions on POLST and offered inconsistent answers. To remedy this, we have prepared the attached Catholic Moral Guide to Completing the POLST (attached). For more information on POLST, go to Kokua Mau’s website. https://kokuamau.org/polst/

Elections in 2020 are going to be very different!  Gone are the days when you go to ballot booth.  Now, whether or not you like it, the ballot comes to you.  To find out how that is going to work, you can watch the video (at right) produced by the Office of Elections.  In order to ensure that as many people vote as possible, we wanted to provide you with a few reminders.  First and foremost, (1) make sure that you are registered to vote.  You should have received a few mailings already from the Office of Elections including a signature capture card.  (2) Hopefully you received, and returned, that signature capture card.  (We can talk about security and safety at another time, but know that we have our concerns.) If you did NOT receive anything in the mail, please contact the Office of Elections directly.