July 9, 2023

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

by Fr. Boniface Endorf, O.P

Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,

It’s slow summer time so I don’t have anything new to report. We’re continuing to work to open the chapel so please pray for its success and consider signing up yourself if you haven’t already done so. It will bring many graces to your life!

God Bless,
Fr. Boniface

Mass Tidbit:

We now enter the Canon, or list, part of the Roman Canon. After Mary and Joseph we arrive at: “your [ie: God’s—we’re praying to God here] blessed Apostles and Martyrs, Peter and Paul, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude…” This is a list of all the Apostles except for Matthias (the Apostle chosen by lot to replace Judas Iscariot after his betrayal), Barnabas (who’s listed later), and, clearly, Judas Iscariot himself is excluded. 

Next we get:

-Linus: The 2nd pope, serving after Peter. We know very little about him except that his pontificate lasted from around 67-76 AD. St. Irenaeus says that Pope Linus is the same Linus St. Paul mentions in his 2nd Epistle to Timothy.

-Cletus: The 3rd pope who reigned from about 76-88 AD. The Church was still underground at this time and so there is not much information about him remaining.

-Clement: Ordained by St. Peter, Clement became pope after Cletus. Some of his letters remain and are well worth reading (ask Fr. Clement about them!) He reigned 88-99 AD and died a martyr under the Roman Emperor Trajan, who had him tied to an anchor and thrown in the sea. He’s now the patron saint of mariners.

We see a pattern in the Roman Canon so far: First, the parents of Jesus, then His Apostles, and next the popes. We can detect God’s activity in the world through this list. We’ll continue with more names next week!