Greetings in Christ!
This Sunday we receive from the Lord, the powerful moment in the Gospel according to St. Matthew in which Christ will multiply the loaves and the fishes to more than satisfy the needs of the hungry crowd.
Christ does not work this miracle without first challenging His apostles to, “give them some food yourselves.” Once again, we find Jesus engaged in a ‘teaching moment’ with His chosen Apostles. They have successfully learned to identify the needs of the crowd and how to serve them. Now, Jesus calls His first pope and bishops to the next level, they must learn to provide for that need themselves.
Whether it is the 12 apostles, or their successors - the bishops spread throughout the world and the priests and deacons who assist them; it is up to these men to continue to feed the hungry crowd. What that means in practical terms for each one of us, is that we should expect the pastoral ministers to provide for our spiritual needs, most especially through proclaiming the Word of God and through the offering of the sacraments for our benefit. An additional way in which we should expect to be fed is through teaching about the riches of the Catholic faith, including the use of sacramentals as well as the life of prayer
Last week, I spoke upon the powerful prayer of the rosary and also the benefit of enrolling in the Rosary confraternity as a means to obtain spiritual benefits.
By way of reminder and encouragement for all of those interested in enrolling in the Rosary confraternity, that can be done at the following website: https://rosaryconfraternity.org. Your obligation after enrollment would be to pray the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries of the rosary once a week. The benefits that you would receive from enrolling and praying these rosaries are:
A share in the prayers and the good works of countless thousands of Rosary Confraternity members throughout the world and in heaven. A share in the good works and prayers of the Order of Preachers (Dominican Order). Various plenary and partial indulgences. For members of the Confraternity, a plenary indulgence is granted under the usual conditions on the day of enrollment (the day indicated on the register/certificate) as well as the feast days of Christmas, Easter, the Annunciation, the Assumption of Our Lady, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the Immaculate Conception, and Our Lord’s Presentation in the Temple. A plenary indulgence is also granted, under the usual conditions, to all who pray the rosary in a Church or oratory, in a family (family rosary), religious community, or in a pious association of the faithful. Otherwise, the indulgence is partial. And most importantly, the intercession and special protection of Our Lady, the Mother of God.
In Christ,
Fr. Michael Carlson
