Dear Brothers and Sisters:

In the Gospel this weekend from Mark 6, Jesus returns to His hometown.  The people who have known Jesus since His childhood listen attentively to His words, but they are struck with astonishment.  We remember how He opened the scroll and stated that the prophecies promised in the Scriptures were fulfilled in Him.  Of course, the people thought they knew Jesus, they knew He was a hard worker, they knew how He looked and how He dressed.  Even we can say they had an idea of His personality, but they were not able to transcend their thoughts to see that God chose Jesus with a mission which challenged them and made them feel uncomfortable.  They were amazed at Jesus' teachings and usually amazement leads to belief but not in the case of the hard-hearted townspeople who thought they had all the answers.

I hope that you all had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend and perhaps you were amazed at the beauty of the fireworks but the Words of the Lord are always more brilliant and last forever.

Fr. David