Fr. Wayne Jenkins, province archivist, went to Ste. Marie, Il., the weekend of July 25 to attend the Ste. Marie Foundation’s opening of “Amazing Grace: 1837 – Now.” While there he was invited by the foundation to celebrate Mass at St. Mary of the Assumption Church. It was the same church that he and the rest of his class of 32 SCJs from the US and Canada professed their first vows in 1967.
This was Fr. Wayne’s first time celebrating Mass in the church. He was joined by Frater Justin Krenke, a student from the US Province, and Fr. Joseph Butlig and Fr. Patrick Gutib, ESL students from the Philippines who are are spending part of their time in the States learning archives management. Frater Justin has also been working in the US Archives this summer.
Fr. Wayne’s homily from the July 26 Mass at St. Mary’s follows:
Amazing Grace!
Amazing Grace. This way of God’s entering the lives of people runs through the readings for today’s liturgy. Both the barley loaves in the Second Book of Kings and in the Gospel of John focus on this. Moreover, this is the title for the Sainte Marie Foundation’s exhibit.
When Father Joseph, Father Patrick, Justin and I were driving the last part of our journey from Newton to Ste. Marie, the corn and soybean fields displayed once again the marvels of creation throughout the Illinois countryside. Agriculture is the livelihood of the people. In the Piquet Park, a replica of a pig is a reminder also for the people who attend the Cork’ Pork Festival how important the pork industry is! The harvesting of these crops will arrive in the fall; however, the pork sandwiches were well worth standing in line.
For our reading from the Second Book of Kings, the man from Baalshalishah brought twenty barley loaves as the first fruits and fresh grain of the ear from his harvest to Elisha. For the people in the palaces of Jerusalem, wheat was used for bread which was eaten three times a day. For the common people, bread from barley filled their stomachs once a day after a long day of laboring under the hot sun in the fields or at work of various kinds. Elisha tells this man to take the five barley loaves to the people for their meal. One hundred people were fed. Amazing grace! There also was bread left over for a possible sharing with the poor peasants without a bite to enjoy.
Pope Francis in his recent encyclical, Laudato Si, reminds the Church that the land is a gift from God for all humanity and that all humanity must care for God’s Creation plus poor persons in dire poverty.
Barley loaves also appear in the Gospel according to St. John. A boy’s food of five barley loaves with two fish became the occasion for Jesus to feed about five thousand. Unlike the previous Old Testament reading, a number of twelve is given to the fragments. His disciples gathered twelve wicker baskets with fragments. This number is significant for it recalls the 12 Jewish tribes. This section from Chapter Six begins the association of bread with wine to Jesus as food for eternal life. The disciples with the early Church ate his flesh and drank his blood as food for the journey to the New Jerusalem. As the Gospel of John unfolds, the early Church came to a belief that this man who took, blessed, broke, ate and took, gave thanks, drank in the Pauline and Synoptic texts was more than the Prophet who was to come into the world. He became for them the pierced Christ whose side poured forth blood and water from the Johannine text.
St. Paul urges the community at Ephesus to be worthy of their call to one Lord, one faith, one baptism. The Sainte Marie Foundation has chosen the title, “Amazing Grace: 1837-Now” for their next exhibit. The foundation members are gathering church artifacts and memorabilia that attest to the faith of this French and German community. Since 1837, this oldest parish in the Springfield Diocese of Illinois has gathered to profess a faith in the light of Christ. Indeed, this is amazing grace. Among the existing artifacts on display, there is a baptismal gown that was brought back from World War II by Harold Hartrich and a wooden baptismal stand from the 1950s and the 1960s. The Priests of the Sacred Heart from the German Province were welcomed by the Piquet Family in 1925. Artifacts from Sacred Heart Mission House and from Sacred Heart Novitiate are on loan from the SCJ US Province Archives for one year. Fr. Joseph and Fr. Patrick, members from the Region of the Philippines; Justin, a scholastic for the community, and I witnessed happily on Saturday, July 25th, this testimony of the faith community from 1837 until now. As the search for additional artifacts continues, I encourage the parishioners from St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church to loan their artifacts for the grand opening of “Amazing Grace: 1837-Now” on Saturday, September 5th. Blessed be God forever and ever.
READINGS:
Second Kings 4:42-44
Ephesians 4:1-6
John 6:1-15
