Sixteenth Week In Ordinary Time

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ 


We begin our readings from the Book of Wisdom with a passage that talks about how there is no god besides God who cares for all people. God’s strength is the source of righteousness and His sovereignty over all causes Him to spare all. God shows His strength when people doubt the completeness of His power and rebukes any insolence among those who know it. Although God is sovereign in strength, He judges and governs us fairly. 

In our second reading from Romans, St. Paul talks about how the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us when we don’t know what to pray for. St. Paul goes to state that the Spirit prays for us with wordless groans. God, who searches our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit and intercedes for us according to His will.

In our gospel passage, we are given the parable of the weeds. In this story, Jesus illustrates the kingdom of heaven. The parable involves a man who sowed good seed in his field, but his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat. The weeds resembled wheat and appeared when the plants sprouted and formed grain. The servants asked the owner of the field if he sowed good seed and why there were weeds. The owner replied that an enemy had done this. The servants then asked if they should pull up the weeds, but the owner said no because they might uproot some of the wheat as well. He instructed them to let the weeds and the wheat grow together until the harvest, at which time he would separate the wheat from the weeds and burn the weeds in a fire. In the end, God will judge, and He will separate us by the deeds in which we have done. 

In just a few short weeks we will be celebrating our parish 58^th anniversary. Mark your calendar for August 19-20, 2023. For the celebration there will be food, fun and prizes. Please see the bulletin for details on how you can make our parish anniversary special. 

In celebration of our parish 58th anniversary, this year’s parish project, the entire community of St Hyacinth is being asked to provide support for the renovation and restoration of the two main stain glass windows of the Church. To support this project, please go to  https://sthyacinth.org/stain-glass-renovation-project to donate. We hope to raise $75,000 for the renovation and restoration of our Holy Spirit Window and Christ the Good Shepherd window. 

For 2023, Cardinal DiNardo has assessed our parish DSF goal at $85,000. As of the writing for this bulletin we have collected $35,132. DSF supports more than 64 ministries and programs that serve the faithful of the Archdiocese and us here at St. Hyacinth. From Catholic chaplains at the hospitals and the Port of Houston, to religious education training for our teachers, to outreach to seniors, to youth ministry, to soup kitchens, to Catholic Charities ministry to the poor and disenfranchised, and to training for seminarians, deacons, and priests, the DSF provides funding for people and program that serve us all.  Go to: https://www.archgh.org/ways-to-give/diocesan-services-fund-dsf/donate-to-dsf/  and give to DSF 2023. Thank you for your generosity. 

I ask everyone to pray for the young people of our parish who will be going to the Archdiocese Youth Conference this upcoming weekend. Let’s keep each of these young people in your prayers. And pray for the Staff, Mrs. Pamela Johnson, the Director of Faith Formation, and all of the volunteers who will be helping with the conference. 

God Bless,
Fr. Reginald Samuels