Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

     Our Lord continues in today’s Gospel with His exposition on Himself as the Bread of Life.  No doubt those hearing Him are perplexed if not shocked.  Ringing in their minds is the question: “How can this be?”  In our own daily encounters do not loved ones and strangers say something that puts us in a quandary?  Do we dismiss them, which would be un-Christlike, or do we take the time and effort to try and understand what they mean.  The same should go with our Lord.  Doesn’t He, above all, deserve the time and effort to understand what He means.  This is the whole point of our first reading–the pursuit of wisdom.

    Remember that wisdom is one of the seven-fold gifts of the Holy Spirit received at Confirmation.  Indeed It has been dispersed from time to time to individuals in order to accomplish the purpose God has for our salvation.  But anyone who has been Confirmed possesses this gift in order to delve into the mysteries of Christ and His Words to us.

     And so we apply wisdom to our study of the Sacred Scriptures (the 73 books of the Bible), and the Sacred Tradition (the Catechism) that we may grow in knowledge and understanding of our Faith. This is a life-long process.  Those of us who follow Dominican spirituality are bound to spend a considerable portion of each day in study and contemplation.  We are committed to unleashing the power of wisdom in order to understand more fully  the Sacred texts and apply them to daily lives.  Soon, members of our Dominican fraternity will be addressing the essential aspects of what Dominican spirituality entails and will be inviting all and any to join our monthly gathering.  In community we share the wisdom that has been allocated to each and for this effort  we reap deeper and more profound understanding of what the Lord is saying to us.  Collective wisdom is unstoppable.

     This Tuesday is the feast of our patron in Beach Lake, St. Bernard of Clairvaux.  As we are preparing to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the church in his name we hope that many will join in the celebration.  Bishop Bambera will offer the Pontifical Mass on September 29th, Sunday at 10:30 AM. There will be no Mass at St. John that day so please make every effort to be with us that day.  This, by the way, is the third time this year that Bishop Bambera has visited and offered Mass in our parish.  It seems that the people of greater Honesdale are very special to him.

With Blessings,

Father Langan