Bishop Solis celebrates Catholics Can Mass

IC photo/Marie Mischel

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Bishop Oscar A. Solis presides at the Catholics Can Mass, celebrated Sept. 24 at St. James the Just Catholic Church in Ogden, with Father David Trujillo, pastor, (far left) and Deacon Jeff Allen. Carol Ruddell (right), secretary of the diocesan Commission for People with Disabilities, provides American Sign Language interpretation.

OGDEN — The annual Catholics Can Mass, which celebrates the contributions of people with disabilities to their parish and to the Church, was hosted this year by St. James the Just Parish in Ogden. Bishop Oscar A. Solis presided. Concelebrating was Father David Trujillo, pastor of St. James. The deacon of the Mass was Deacon Jeff Allen, chairman of the diocesan Commission for People with Disabilities. Carol Ruddell, the commission’s secretary, provided American Sign Language interpretation.

The bishop thanked the members of the commission “for helping us to see to it that we never forget those persons with disabilities, and that they are an integral part of our community.”  

In his homily, the bishop said the Mass was “a beautiful way to manifest our unity as one faith family.”

Reflecting on the first reading for the day, Is 55:6-9, Bishop Solis said that God is not only just, but also very generous and gracious in his blessings.

“His love and justice are different than the measure and standard of the world,” the bishop said.

“God’s ways and God’s thoughts are very different from ours,” the bishop said, echoing the reading.  

The Gospel reading, the parable of the generous landowner (Mt 20:1-16a), is one way that Jesus uses to teach “us in order to understand the kingdom of God and who Jesus is as our Lord and Savior,” the bishop said. “The landowner illustrates God’s unfathomable generosity” because he paid the laborers the same at the end of the day, regardless of how many hours they worked, contrary to the world’s standard.

The parable is not about justice, it is about God’s generosity and the kingdom of God, he said. “The landowner is God himself and his vineyard is his kingdom.”

Jesus “came to establish a new value system, not based on what is fair or unfair, not about what is just and what is unjust, but what is good for everyone,” he added.  

To understand the ways of God, it is essential to trust his ways, the bishop said. “God’s generosity is beyond the comprehension of our mind and understanding. Just think about it: God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son to die for us, that we may be saved. This is what assures us of the unconditional love of God for us. … But what hinders and impedes the love of God from being received in our hearts? Prejudice, narrow-mindedness and selfishness are in sharp contrast to God’s ways.”

Sometimes people get envious when they see the blessings others have received, “forgetting that we have our own blessings that God has given us every moment of our life,” he said. “Envy is a sign of the lack of appreciation for what we have and who we are.”

The best way to conquer envy “is to identify and accept God’s generosity in our lives,” to be happy for the achievements of others and to always be generous to those in need, the bishop said.

God “invites us to follow the same example of the owner of the vineyard, to exercise love and generosity to one another,” he added. “Our standard of holiness and perfection in this world is not about justice, it is in remembering the manner of God’s kingdom – what is needed is love and generosity to one another.”