July 2nd

Dear Friends, 
Recently, the world followed efforts to find and rescue those aboard a submersible vessel that had been launched to view the remains of the Titanic. Sadly, we learned that it imploded, killing all five people aboard. Shortly after that I came across a poignant article contrasting the attention and money spent for that operation with the lack of attention and money spent in response to another crisis that week: a sinking boat crowded with migrants trying to get from Libya to Italy, which resulted in hundreds of deaths. Many lives could have been saved by exerting a little more effort.  
 
It got me thinking about a term we learned in the seminary: “ontic evil.” It is the notion that for every good action, there is a corresponding “evil” - the idea that there is always something better we could have done. We do something good… but could we have done something else better? I suppose that’s always the case. But while it is healthy to evaluate where we’re spending our money and turning our attention, knowing that we cannot do it all means that we have to do something- right? Maybe searching for explorers in the deep sea seemed more adventurous and glamorous than pulling drowning refugees and asylum seekers out of the water. Anyway, last week in my homily I talked about people’s need to “matter.” And I suppose that when choices are made about spending money and exerting effort to help those in need, there’s no avoiding the fact that some people seem to “matter” more than others… 
 
*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  
 
As we prepare to celebrate our nation’s “birthday” on July 4, we thank God for the many ways He has blessed us in our history and for continuing to manifest those blessings in our own time. Since the 4th falls on a Tuesday this year, morning Mass will be at St. Gabriel. We will bump the time back to 9am that day so that people can sleep in a little.  
 
 May your week reflect the encounter with Christ 
we experienced at Mass today! 
 ​