GOSPEL MEDITATION - ENCOURAGE DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPTURE
August 2, 2026
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 14:13-21
In his song, “Lose Yourself,” the artist Eminem raps, “the mood all changed.”
We all know that moment when the mood changes, when life turns from lighthearted to deadly serious. That happens in today’s Gospel. Jesus has just heard that John the Baptist, his cousin, forerunner, and friend, has been murdered. As Matthew tells us, “When Jesus heard of it, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.” Until now, he had been teaching in parables and healing quietly. But John’s death signals a new phase. The shadow of the Cross begins to fall. Evil shows its teeth.
And how does Jesus respond? Not with rage or despair. He goes to a lonely place to go into deep communion with his Father. From that silence comes action. He feeds the multitude. Out of grief comes generosity. Out of sorrow, life.
This is the rhythm of every disciple’s life. When tragedy or violence breaks our hearts, we face a choice. We can react, or we can retreat into prayer — like and with Christ. This is the hidden place where pain becomes compassion and compassion becomes self-gift.
Lord Jesus, when life intensifies, draw me into Your quiet strength. In that hidden place with You and the Father, turn my heartbreak into the bread of love for the world. Amen.
— Father John Muir
Kindness, Explained!
In the modern lexicon, the quality of “kindness” is often equated with politeness — but real, virtuous kindness is so much more. Virtuous kindness is a way of seeing others through the eyes of God.
God is not polite — God is kind, and His kindness is abundantly evident in all of creation. It was suspicion of this divine kindness that precipitated the fall of Adam and Eve (CCC 214), and it was this unfailing kindness that facilitated our own adoption as God’s children, conformed to the image of His son (CCC 257).
Also known as benevolence or beneficence and derived from the theological virtue of charity, kindness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and is a central theme in the famous parable of the Good Samaritan. In practicing kindness and seeking the good of another without prejudice or condition, the Samaritan reflects God’s own plan of loving kindness for us.
(PRACTICING) CATHOLIC - RECOGNIZE GOD IN YOUR ORDINARY MOMENTS
By Colleen Jurkiewicz Dorman
The Miracles We Don’t See
“Why aren’t there miracles anymore?”
I’ve heard people say this more than once. Usually, it is someone who is a believer in Christ but not a Catholic, because Catholics understand that miracles happen at every Mass, to say nothing of the other miracles the Church recognizes. But even some Catholics often find themselves wondering why it’s been so long since God gave us a good show. A good sun-dance in the sky. A good, flashy reason to believe.
I don’t know what it looked like when the loaves and the fishes were multiplied. I believe it happened, and I have envisioned it often, but I just can’t picture it. Did everyone blink, and there was a giant pile of food? Did they just keep finding more? Was it all the same kind of bread, or did Jesus mix it up?
I think the Gospel is deliberately vague on this to test the patience of pathologically nosy people like myself. It’s not important what it looked like. If those details mattered, they would be spelled out in Scripture.
How often we find ourselves unsatisfied with the answers God has for us.
I wonder if that’s what Christ was thinking when he savored those last few minutes of solitude on the boat, where he had gone to be alone after hearing the crushing news of his cousin’s execution. Was he imagining the crowds gathering on shore? Was he contemplating their enormous expectations for God — for him! — and anticipating their disappointment when every wish could not be granted?
Maybe. But that’s not what the Scripture says.
“His heart was moved with pity,” we are told. I think of him looking at them all, so weary and uncertain and hungry. Pity — this is what he felt. Not resentment, exhaustion or frustration. Pity. And his precious heart was moved.
What a miracle. No details, no explanation. No dancing sun. But what a miracle.
VIRTUES, EXPLAINED! – CONNECT WITH TRADITION AND GROW YOUR FAITH
Abstinence, Explained!
The virtue of abstinence describes the act of refusing, to any extent, food or types of food. On its own, this action does not produce grace within a soul. However, when regulated by reason and performed in pursuit of sanctification, it is a pious form of mortification of the flesh.
Abstinence is compelled by the fourth precept of the Catholic Church (“You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.”) This precept “ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart,” says the Catechism (CCC 2043).
St. Thomas writes that the virtuous act of fasting is ordered to three ends: first, to control the appetites of the flesh; second, “that the mind may arise more freely to the contemplation of heavenly things,” as we see so often in Scripture; and third, in reparation for sin (II:II, 147, Art. 1).
WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO NORTH AMERICAN MARTYRS PARISH
Our Mission Statement:
We, the North American Martyrs Parish, a strong community of faith, Nourished by the Holy Eucharist, Guided by the Holy Spirit and Trusting in the grace of God, Dedicate ourselves to live God’s Word and Let the light of Christ shine through our Community. We strive to provide sound religious formation for people of all ages; To care for the spiritual, social well-being of one another With particular attention to the stranger and the poor in our midst.
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ John 20:21
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MAKE PLANS TO JOIN US AT ONE OF OUR CEMETERIES ON AUGUST 1ST AT 6PM AS WE PRAY FOR THE REPOSE OF THE SOULS OF OUR LOST ONES.
ST ALBERT ------ ST BRENDAN ------ ST PIUS X
