25th Sunday in Ordinary Time/St. Joseph of Cupertino, pray for us... New Book: "Sinner: The Catholic Guy's Funny, Feeble Attempts to Be a Faithful Catholic" by Lino Rulli

This blog post will include two parts. I had two thoughts this morning and have not blogged since last month. You get a "two fer." Enjoy!

Part I - 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time-A (most important) / St. Joseph of Cupertino, pray for us!

This weekend, the Church celebrates the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time. I am having a full weekend helping with Masses at the parish I reside at - Our Lady of Grace in Noblesville, IN while also helping with a few Masses at my former parish of St. Alphonsus Liguori in Zionsville, IN. Last weekend, the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time touched upon the importance of forgiveness (see the readings). This weekend in the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, a wonderful message about God's generosity is quite apparent. I especially enjoyed the parable of the landowner from the Gospel of St. Matthew wherein the landowner paid his hired workers the daily wage no matter if they worked all day or if they worked for one hour. I quoted Pope Benedict XVI in my homily. He shared some insights into this parable in a Angelus Message about three years ago. “In the evening, he [the landowner] gives to all of them the same wage – one denarius – provoking a protest of the laborers who had been there from the first hour. It is clear that the denarius represents eternal life, a gift that God reserves for everyone. Indeed, precisely those who are considered “last,” if they will accept it, become “first,” while the “first” can run the risk of becoming “last.” God is so very generous, especially with the gift He offers every soul in the opportunity for eternal life. It is a good reminder that we need to be generous as well. Just like we are called to forgive not seven times but seventy-seven times, this weekend we are reminded to be generous in our lives, giving the gifts we have been given: our time, our talents and gifts and our treasure. It really is all about God being so very generous to us so we are encouraged to be generous in return.

This weekend also included my supporting Guerin Catholic High School Girls Golf Team. Of course, I also supported the teams I assist in coaching (the boys and girls cross country teams). They had an invitational at Northview Christian Church in Carmel. It was a beautiful day for a cross country meet.

But, getting back to the girls golf sectionals on Friday September 16th. The Guerin Catholic girls golf team competed and qualified to Regionals in their Sectional competition at South Grove Golf Course in Indianapolis, IN against some very good teams - Ben Davis, Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory, Carmel (1st), Guerin Catholic (3rd), Indpls. Cardinal Ritter, Pike, Speedway, Westfield and Zionsville Community (2nd). The top three teams make it out of sectionals. Guerin Catholic was third this year as a team (the first time ever), which means that they advance on to Regional Competition this coming Saturday September 24th at Smock Golf Course in Indianapolis, IN. The picture of the scores below was prior to all the scores from all the teams being completed, but it shows the top three teams who advanced on to Regionals. Please note that Guerin Catholic was only about five strokes away from taking the second spot from Zionsville, but third was good enough to make it out of Sectionals. I also need to add a fun fact. I had not been to South Grove Golf Course since November 1993 when I competed there as a Carmel High School Cross Country Runner. My team won the state championship for the boys with 51 points. It was the last time the Indiana Cross Country State Championship was at South Grove Golf Course. I had some good memories being back there in a different competition - golf.

Today on the Church's calendar brings up the life of a wonderful Franciscan Saint - Saint Joseph of Cupertino. Saint Joseph of Cupertino has been one of my favorite saints since my high school years. He is the patron saint of aviation and test takers. He has always been there for me with his example of holiness and a spiritual support to me from heaven whenever I fly or whenever I take a test. Thank you Saint Joseph of Cupertino for never giving up and for remaining steadfast in your prayer and priesthood during your life. Here is a good quote to encourage you from this wonderful saint. "Clearly, what God wants above all is our will which we received as a free gift from God in creation and possess as though our own. When a man trains himself to acts of virtue, it is with the help of grace from God from whom all good things come that he does this. The will is what man has as his unique possession" (St. Joseph of Cupertino, from the reading for his feast in the Franciscan breviary).

Part II - I downloaded a book recently onto my iPad. It was kind of a milestone for me because a) I am not much of a reader (even though I have dozens of books and b) I have never read from digital cover to digital cover an "electronic book" until I finished recently "Sinner: The Catholic Guy's Funny, Feeble Attempts to Be a Faithful Catholic" by Lino Rulli. I do not have  some deep insight for you that I received from reading this book. It simply provided me with some more insights into Lino Rulli, a great radio and tv guy, who is doing his best to grow in his Catholic faith. His "The Catholic Guy" show in XM Sirius Radio is one of my favorites. It almost always makes me laugh. His story was very interesting. I will conclude (finally) with this video about Lino's book. As you can see, Lino is very hip: