Catholic priests and the vow of obedience
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Catholic priests and the vow of obedience

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Within the Dominican Order, while we friars adhere to celibacy and embrace poverty, we commit to just one vow: obedience. We take this solemn vow while kneeling in the presence of our superiors, with the constitution of our order grasped in our hands. The words we recite when taking the vow commence with, “I make profession and promise obedience to God, to Blessed Mary, and to Blessed Dominic ….” The superior clasps the friar’s hands, which hold the constitution, as these words are declared.
The entire tableau represents the essence of faith. As stated in the Constitutions of the Order of Preachers, it is “through obedience [that] an individual fully commits to God, and their deeds align with the aim of their vocation, which is the fulfillment of love. All other aspects of the apostolic existence fall under the umbrella of obedience” (LCO, 19, §I). In Latin religare, from which our term religion originates, signifies to bind. At its core, the religious existence in any tradition — Franciscan, Jesuit, Benedictine — involves humbling oneself, consenting to be molded, guided, and taught.

Can Catholics be registered at two parishes?
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Can Catholics be registered at two parishes?

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Question: Is it allowed for someone to be enrolled in two parishes? We are fortunate to have many choices, and one parish appears to better fulfill our formation requirements, while the other provides us with a diverse community that we appreciate.
— Donald R. McCrabb, Greenbelt, Maryland
Answer: It is allowed. Your situation is a frequent one nowadays, and both parishes might want to include you in their files to connect occasionally.
According to Canon Law, there should be no differences or prerequisites based on the issue of “registration” within a parish. The idea of registration is primarily an American notion—beneficial in many respects, yet not an obligatory requirement of Church law. A parish or pastor that denies the administration of sacraments or other services based on a person’s or family’s registration status is infringing upon the rights of those Catholics. There could be other canonical reasons that might lead a pastor or parish to postpone the granting of sacraments until specific criteria are fulfilled, but registration itself is not among these reasons.

About the amazing bread from heaven
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About the amazing bread from heaven

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Occasionally, God has supplied physical bread “from heaven” — a bread that was the essential sustenance required in those moments. The readings for this Sunday recall multiple instances of this. Initially, we observe God providing for Elijah in the Old Testament passage from 1 Kings 19:4-8. The Gospel passage, John 6:41-51, references two distinct events where God delivers bread from heaven: the manna bestowed upon the Israelites during their escape from Egypt, and the bread that Christ multiplied to satisfy the “large crowd” by the shores of the Galilean sea.

It is Christ who informs us that these extraordinary gifts of physical sustenance are indicators of a more essential type of nourishment: “I am the bread of life. / Your forebears consumed the manna in the wilderness, yet they perished; / this is the bread that descends from heaven / so that one may partake of it and not perish. / I am the living bread that has come down from heaven; / whoever ingests this bread will exist eternally; / and the bread that I will provide is my flesh for the life of the world.”