Pastor's Message

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - September 6, 2026

 

Message from the Pastor

This weekend’s Scriptures again invite us into a reflection on what it means to be part of something bigger than ourselves, and they are connected to the Scriptures of a couple of weekends ago. Peter’s notable confession of faith when Jesus asked, “Who do people say that I am?” gave rise to the affirmation of Peter and his ministry with the language of “binding” and “loosing.” This language is repeated this weekend, not for Peter alone, but for all the disciples: 

“Amen, I say to you,

whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,

and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Again, amen, I say to you,

if two of you agree on earth

about anything for which they are to pray,

it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.

For where two or three are gathered together in my name,

there am I in the midst of them."

 

The primary gathering of our community in prayer, and indeed of any Catholic community, is the Eucharistic gathering on a Sunday. This gathering has recently been given attention by his holiness Pope Leo XIV who has shared some insights on how we pray and give praise to God as he continues his teaching series on the documents of the Second Vatican Council during his public audiences in Rome.

 

The teaching document of the Council concerning the liturgy of the Church is called Sacrosanctum Concilium in Latin. (The literal translation is “The sacred council.” Church documents traditionally take their Latin titles from the first two words of a document). The English language title is The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.

 

In his audience on May 20th earlier this year, Pope Leo began his reflection on the sacred liturgy with a reminder that the Sunday Eucharist is primarily focused on the living reality of the relationship between the Christian Community and the Mystery that is the living presence of Christ among us. Pope Leo XIV cut through all the debates and arguments that distract so many faithful, simply noting that the renewal of the sacred liturgy was a natural and organic experience flowing from the Biblical, patristic and liturgical renewal experienced by the Church throughout time, a scholarship culminating through the last century in particular.

 

He goes on to point out that this unfolding in time affirms that “Christ Himself is the inner source of the mystery of the Church, the holy people of God.” The Pope then goes on to remind us of the teaching of St. Augustine and of the Apostle Paul: “in celebrating the Eucharist the Church receives the Body of the Lord and becomes what she receives: she becomes the Body of Christ, ‘a dwelling place of God in the Spirit’ (Eph 2:22). This is the ‘work of our redemption,’ which conforms us to Christ and builds us up in communion.”

 

In other words, when we gather as a community of faith to celebrate Sunday Eucharist we are gathered by Christ, and it is Christ Himself we are called to become in and through our celebration. Communion is not alone a mystery we receive, but a living mystery we are called to be and become. All our rituals and all our words, all our coming together and all our going forth, all our prayers and all our worship are not ours alone to undertake, but it is a participation in the ongoing work of Christ. All that we do when we gather, all that we are when we come together in communion, matters. Our liturgy is always at the service of Christ. Liturgy draws us out of our individual preferences and moments into a communion with one another that finds us in communion with Christ.

 

As a pastor of many years, I have to acknowledge that this is not something easily achieved or lived in parish life, especially in Southern California. Perhaps it is because I am recently returned from visiting with family in Ireland, but I am very aware that there are people gathered in our church from so many countries and so many places who have been raised with traditions and rituals of the Church that are precious to us… Here at Our Lady of Refuge our people and our traditions in prayer come from the Philippines and Ireland, Korea and Nigeria, the Eastern USA and the Southwestern USA, from Pacific Islands and Eastern European nations, from Mexico and from the myriad countries and peoples in South America, all looking to pray and worship together.

 

Consider also the different generational experiences that exist in our parish community. Ours is a community when on any given Sunday we have people who range in age from under 4 to more than 94. We are a people some of whom were born and raised Catholic as well as people who have come to share this Catholic faith by different paths and experiences in life. The simple truth is that we have such a diversity of people that the great Apostle St. Paul himself would have been hard-pressed to describe us easily. For my part, as a pastor, I count it all as a gift. For all the differences we hold, we continue to strive to learn to pray together and express communion in our liturgy. It can be a challenge to express communion, to enter into communion with one another and with Christ, but nonetheless we work at it. By God’s grace, we will continue to work at it, and we will grow to see the fruits of our efforts, continuously being built up into the Body of Christ.

 

Blessings, and Happy Labor Day weekend,

Fr. David