• For hosting students over the weekend: Dr. and Mrs. Goodwin
• For carpooling students: Mrs. Mikolaycik
• Mrs. Joan Rivero for taking photographs of St. Michael’s football game against Southlands Christian
Volunteer Opportunities are available – contact the school office to help
Congratulations to our students – Joshua Aaker and Joseph Terlisner for preaching the best sophomore homilies in scripture class this week. These two homilies, based on Luke 14:15-24, follow the weekly homily of their teacher, fr. Benedict.
College Representatives on campus this week
• November 9th: Whittier College
• November 10th: Seattle University
• November 11th: St. Mary’s, Moraga
Admissions
• Fr. Gabriel will represent St. Michael’s at a High School Information Night at St. Mary’s and All Angels in Aliso Viejo, Tuesday, November 10th, 6:00 p.m.
• St. Michael’s next Open House is Saturday, November 14th at 3:30 p.m.
Fall Sports Award Ceremony
Players, coaches and parents are invited to attend the Fall Sports Award ceremony November 15th at 7:00 p.m. The award ceremony honors those who participated on the football and cross country teams. It takes place in the school’s Recreation Room. Parents who can help are asked to contact Mrs. Elizabeth Tractenberg.
Upcoming Athletic Events
Saturday, Nov. 14th: XC CIF Prelims; time and location TBA
Weekly Homily by fr. Benedict Solomon, O.Praem.
Among other things, fr. Benedict teaches Scripture and coaches Cross Country.
“Go out to the Highways and Hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled.”
Here at St. Michael’s, we make the students come to the feast prepared by the Divine Master, both at Mass and at Holy Hour. Some might say, and have said, that it would be better if Mass were optional because then we would come freely and get more merit. How ungrateful! Many of us would not come to daily Mass or Holy Hour unless we had been forced. And then we would miss out on all the graces prepared for us.
The Master doesn’t say to give people the option that the house may be filled, but make people come in. You are here at the banquet and the choice is yours whether or not to feast. In the words of one of my students, who also prepared homilies for today, “The feast prepared is perfect.” Yet, we who are here can only think of reasons not to be here. Although our bodies are here, our hearts are still out in the highways and alleys.
When a baby is being fed baby food, all the child needs to do is open its mouth and take in what is given. But it must open its mouth! We need to open our hearts to receive the feast prepared for our souls. God says… “Make them come in. For one of these days I will catch them off guard, on a day when they are not filled with bitterness or slumber, on a day when they need something from me. On that day I will take hold of their hearts and I will fill them with all sweetness and love, so that they will no longer need to be forced into my house, but will come joyfully.”
How shall we escape a harsh judgment if we neglect so great a salvation? We cannot begin to speak of enduring affliction, or persevering in prayer, or being fervent in spirit, if we cannot even embrace a treasure that overflows into our laps each day. St. Martin de Porres, whom we celebrate today, brought in the crippled, the poor and the lame and brought life to their souls by caring for their bodies. Through the intercession of St. Martin, may our lame hearts be brought in to feast at the banquet of faith prepared for us daily at Mass and Holy Hour. Amen.
In publishing this homily, we hope to share a portion of the spiritual treasure by which the students are enriched every day. However, this homily may not be reproduced by the parents or friends of St. Michael’s without written permission of the author.
Sophomore homilist: Joshua Aaker
"But one by one they began to excuse themselves."
Often times in our lives we tried to fill up our days with activity, drowning out God's voice within us. Then we complain about not having enough time in the day. I myself have been guilty of this. However, the problem here is not that we have too much to do and not enough time, but that not enough time is spent on God. Our Lord told us, "you reap what you sow.” We must put in our time with God to get a reward from him, which he is all too happy to give.
In today's Gospel, the servants of the master are invited to a magnificent banquet. Although the dinner prepared for them is perfect, they all give excuses not to go. Two give the excuse of material possessions, the other of marriage. The master is outraged, and who can blame him? All the things these servants have are not intrinsically evil, but they should come after God, who is the master. God will not let the feast go to waste. We can easily apply this Gospel to our lives.
In the Gospel, we hear that the master sends his head servant, who can be compared to Christ, to find the poor, crippled, lame, etc. to feast with him. We must remember that God chooses us for himself, to be happy with him. But, we need him far more than he needs us. However, this is not to say that we can simply say "God doesn't need me, he'll find someone else." God chose you because YOU need you, and the task at hand is an opportunity to grow closer to him.
In this Church, which is the mystical body of Christ, we are all given gifts. These gifts may be things such as athletic ability, academic brilliance, or personality traits such as work ethic. You may have noticed, especially if you have siblings, that every time you get into trouble through things such as arguing with your parents, the mood of the whole house comes down quickly. However, this works inversely also. If we use our gifts, whatever they may be, we are affecting everyone around us and, by way of extension, everyone in the mystical body of Christ. If you have younger siblings, especially brothers, you lead them through either good or a bad example. You shaped their lives through everything you do; because whenever they see you do, they copy. In time, they will pass along what they learn from you to their children, and so the chain continues. This shows us males how great a role we have the mystical body. Even if we never become biological fathers, we still have a paternal role in the church.
So as we go through our lives, we must remember this: God wants us for himself, and we need to remember him during the day, making a prayer out of everything we do. When we do this, we find that all stress and tension goes down, happiness goes up, and we find ourselves becoming better people towards others. Thus we become better men of God for others.
Sophomore homilist: Joseph Terlisner
In today's Gospel, we hear the Lord's invitation to the heavenly feast. He gives us a parable that is symbolic of our call to holiness in Christ. This is not simply a call to follow him however. It is a call to put off the world, for the world is full of distractions which can and will lead us astray from our true path.
So, in light of these considerations, let us look at our Lord's parable. The man who gives the dinner is obviously Christ. He calls the people, just as he calls us. Like the Israelites of the Old Testament, they are caught up in the things of the world, so they make excuses and do not come. They have seemingly better things to do. The Lord, however, is infuriated by their folly, so he calls the rejected, the poor, the lame — the sinners who are despised by the hypocrites who refused our Lord's invitation. He also goes out and calls the Gentiles, so as to fill his house. This shows that God's salvation is available to all, if only we would accept the heavenly invitation which he gives us.
How then is this to be done? We must first be poor in spirit, detached from the world, unlike those who refuse the invitation because they all are caught up in one thing or another. We must also exercise our talents, our God-given gifts, in a way befitting this spiritual poverty. As St. Paul says in the first reading, "since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them" implying that they should be used in a manner that befits Holy Mother Church.
Recently, we celebrated the feast of St. Anthony Mary Claret, a man who dedicated his entire life to this purpose. Through his intercession, may we fulfill our call to give up the world and devote our time and talent to the Church, and so fulfill our call to spiritual poverty, and to the heavenly feast.
Prayer Requests
• Dr. Joseph Gloudeman who suffers from the reoccurrence of cancer.
• Mrs. Amber Manly for a healthy pregnancy
• Mrs. Jodi Meschuk for a healthy pregnancy.
• Philomena Schaper, daughter of Leon and Theresa Schaper, who suffers a benign tumor on the back of her head.
• Mrs. Betty Vaughan who suffers from declining health.
• Linda Vogel, mother of John Vogel, who suffers from cancer.
• St. Michael’s older priests and those who care for them.
• Those who suffer in the current economic crisis.
• Those who are in the armed forces.
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