Father Joseph Illo, pastor of Star of the Sea church in San Francisco, gave a 17-minute homily on Sunday, June 28.
In the first reading , the Shunammite woman built a little house for Elisha the prophet. Elisha and Elija were sideways with the government. The woman who welcomed Elisha wife got a baby as a reward for supporting a prophet.
This city of San Francisco began with a Mass, 250 years ago. We all have to be prophetic, especially our priests and bishops. What a gift to be born in thie country. I have given retreats for the Missionaries of Charity all over the world. Compared to these other countries, we enjoy the gift of peaceful prosperity. President Trump has said that the U.S. is the greatest, most exceptional in the world. But Rome, Athens were great, too. I must say that America is not the supreme good. It’s not America, but God who is the supreme good. Whoever will save his life will lose it. What did we learn from Covid? If we close our churches and keep Costco open we have got it wrong.
We must love God above all. Sometimes my will has to be crucified.
Today there is a lot of confusion. Today I went downtown, a lot of people were milling about in support of Pride. Can we agree that pride – the arrogant challenge to God’s law – is not a good thing?
Thomas Aquinas says that humility is simply the truth.
This Shunamite woman who received Elisha; she received a prophet, the prophet’s word. A prophet will always be on the wrong side of history. It’s not easy to be a prophet. We have to gently and firmly speak the truth. Priests and bishops are called sacramentally to tell the truth. At times there are people we love who don’t want to hear the truth.
Being a prophet means no Catholic parish or school in the Diocese of San Jose will hire you for church work. Certainly the chancery office won’t hire you, either.
Truly an un-prophetible diocese.
There are still some righteous people in San Francisco and California, and that is what saves it. Pray for them, and the conversion of the rest.
I have had friends and neighbors who are Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Serbian Orthodox– none are in communion with Rome. Now I just realized, that the SSPX are in their position– excommunicated by the Pope. That doesn’t seem so bad, now. I grew up in a town dominated by Orthodox peoples, all immigrants. Anyway– I think the Pope ought to be friendly, and invite the SSPX leaders to a dialogue, and each side should be fully listened to. I don’t care anymore, that the SSPX got excommunicated. They are just like the Orthodox– and they are all our Christian brothers and sisters. This past year, two of my elderly Russian neighbors passed away, and their families had big funerals at the Russian Orthodox Church. Each had long, painful, terminal illnesses. May God’s blessings be upon us all.
My neighborhood growing up was a mixture of Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox. There were Buddhist, Confucian, and Sheik neighborhoods east of it. A synogogue was in the center of town. Our Greek Orthodox neighbor taught me the Greek alphabet in the back of my astronomy (not astrology) book. She gave me a small lamp with a crucifix on it that she got at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Grandmother made me give it back saying it was an idol. I saw no difference between a statue and the pictures of Jesus and the saints that were in my Methodist Sunday School papers. I still do not.
I see a mission style cross on the left side of the picture, so maybe that was a christian gathering
No, it was a blasphemous “Gay Pride” gathering.
Do you mean like the cross-like structures in the middle and on the right side too? I cannot quite figure out just what they all are. The cross bars seem somewhat long in comparison to the vertical bars. I am sure the park is used by many groups who just want to get outside in the fresh air or have a picnic. There are not a lot of big yards around San Francisco housing.