St. Blase Catholic Church

09/02/2026

Different carpet, same welcoming Catholic community.

09/01/2026

Before and after, another section done!

09/01/2026

Today, September 1st, is the Feast of Creation in Christ. Though not (yet) embraced universally by the Catholic Church, the Church has created mass propers for the day. The idea for this feast came from the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea and the invitation of the Patriarch of Constantinople. September 1st has long been observed by the Eastern Orthodox Church (The Feast of the Indiction). Many mainline Protestant communities have also embraced the feast. This year, September 1st marks the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical, “Laudato Si,” which focused on creation and our being part of, not over and above, creation

This Feast, if or when fully adopted, is significant on 2 counts. If adopted by Rome, the Feast of Creation in Christ would be the first time in over 500 Years that the Western Church has adopted an Eastern feast. Second, THIS WOULD BE THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY THAT CHRISTIANS HAVE ECUMENICALLY ADOPTED A FEAST. This is exciting ecumenical progress as it calls Christian Communities, especially leadership to speak to one another, pray together and perhaps keep working together for fuller and more meaningful unity.

Pope Leo XIV has prepared a message for the Feast of Creation in Christ. It can be found by clicking the link below:

The following is the text of the Message of the Holy Father Leo XIV for the 11th World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which will be celebrated on Tuesday, 1 September 2026, and which will have as its theme: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks...

08/30/2026

Gospel reading and Fr. Randy's homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2026.

Homily Transcript:
In Matthew's Gospel, today's passage follows immediately on the heels of the passage we heard last Sunday. They probably really should be read together at the same time. I don't have any input into that. Remember last Sunday, “you are Peter, and upon this rock.” And within seconds, Peter goes from being the rock upon which I will build my church to being Satan. Well, Peter, so much for enjoying the moment.

But that said, it's really the second half of today's gospel that I want to focus our attention on. “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?”

The novelist E.M. Forster responded to Jesus's question with a counter question. It's a bit lengthy. He wrote, quote, "There is, indeed, another coinage that bears on it not man's image, but God's. It is incorruptible, and the soul may trust it safely; it will serve her beyond the stars. But it cannot give us friends, or the embrace of a lover, or the touch of children, for with our fellow mortals it has no concern. It cannot even give the joys we call trivial - fine weather, the pleasures of meat and drink, bathing in the hot sand afterwards, running, dreamless sleep. Have we learned the true discipline of a bankruptcy if we turn to such coinage as this? Will it really profit us so much if we save our souls and lose the whole world?” End quote.

And Forster has a point. You see, there are Christians who get the incarnation, that God fully entered our humanity and the ramifications of that incarnation for us in our lives. And then there are Christians who simply hear that as an affirmation of faith, but they don't take it any further than that. For example, those who want to return to the Tridentine Mass and to the Latin language, they tell us about its beauty and it's so ethereal and otherworldly. And that's precisely the concern voiced even by Pope Leo this past week. Does this life, this world fashioned by God and declared by God to be good, have meaning and purpose? Is the point of our faith and of our worship to be otherworldly? Or is it to be so this worldly that we recognize the presence of God and the image of God in each and every person? Dare we try to re-entomb and restrict the presence of the risen Christ to the tabernacle or do we see and honor the tabernacle that is each baptized believer? It's an interesting thing throughout the pages of the New Testament. Whenever Jesus is asked about the life to come, whenever, 100% of the time, he always takes the questioner back to here, now, this world, this life.

In his book entitled “Poverty of Spirit,” Johann Baptist Metz wrote, quote, "Jesus did not simply dip into our existence and then hurriedly make a retreat back to his eternal home. Jesus did not skim the surface of humanity. He dove in head first and went deep. He shared love and joy, had friendships and family. He also embraced vulnerability, hunger, fear, and temptation. His yes to our poverty is his yes to our human frailty." End quote.

And the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning may have said it best,
“Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only one who sees, takes off their shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries,
And daub their natural faces unaware.”

08/29/2026

Join us for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time:

For this weekend's worship aid: https://drive.google.com/drive/fold...

08/29/2026

Your Weekend Carpet Update. Please note that sections 6 and 7 are closed for seating this weekend and the hallway to the meeting rooms and the meeting rooms are closed to foot traffic. Thank you for your understanding.

08/27/2026

Scout Troop 154 will be in the Gathering Space this weekend, August 29th and 30th, taking preorders in-person for their Mum Flower Sale. Mums are $12 each. You can also preorder online through August 30th using the Scouts' CheddarUp order form. The Scouts' CheddarUp link can be found at https://stblase.org/scout-troop-154-mum-sale/

08/26/2026

New carpet LOADING...

08/26/2026

Have you registered your child for Faith Formation? Registration for the 2026-2027 year is open! Sign up in the Parish Office or on our website before August 31st to receive an Early-Bird discount. Join us for a year of faith-filled learning and fun! https://stblase.org/register-for-faith-formation/

08/24/2026

The carpeting is coming! The work on our church's carpet installation has begun. A BIG thank you to everyone who helped move hymnals, kneelers, etc. after 11:00 Mass this past Sunday.