Dear Parishioners:
Ever since the beginning of my priestly ministry, I have had the opportunity to teach as well as to serve in pastoral ministry. My first Pastor as priest, Msgr. William Dunn, had been my High School Latin and Homeroom teacher at St. Charles. When I arrived newly ordained at St. Mary in Lancaster, he introduced me to the custom of visiting the classrooms at our elementary school. Since I remembered such visits from my own grade school pastor, Fr. Bill Patterson, it made sense to do so myself. I have never left the practice. In every parish I have served, I have visited the children in the School and/or in the PSR (formerly CCD) classes. My current custom is to start with grade 8 and to work my way down to K and to repeat the cycle a couple of times each year. I have also taught high school students, at Fisher Catholic in Lancaster and worked with some classes at Newark Catholic when I was at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament. From time to time, the Diocese has asked me to teach in adult ed programs. Several years back, I taught in the Lay Ministry Program, and I have regularly taught our Permanent Deacon classes.
The Josephinum Seminary has invited me to teach a few times too, so I have worked with seminarians in preparation for the priesthood to invite them into an enthusiasm for Scripture. This year, I taught in our Deacon School, and just after I finished working with the deacon candidates of the Diocese of Columbus and Steubenville, the Rector of the Josephinum asked if I could assist them while they experience a transition in their Scripture faculty. So, much to my surprise, I am now teaching on Wednesday and Friday afternoons from January to May. My reason for agreeing to do this is, in part, simply “enlightened self-interest.” I want to be sure that there are priests to assist us in pastoral ministry in the years ahead and to fill the role of pastor in the parishes I serve when it is time for me to move to a new ministry. No doubt you will have such an interest too.
There is an advantage that follows this effort to teach. I am immersed in the Scriptures and that enriches my own understanding of God’s Word as I prepare homilies and participate in our Bible Study and other forms of adult education in the parish. I must admit that it does require some real effort at time management and the cooperation of many others to continue to get things done. I thank those who make it possible for me to be where God calls me to be in the role of teacher.
The Year of Prayer: A Prayer before reading Scripture
Let Your Scriptures be my chaste delight…
O Lord, perfect me, and reveal those pages to me!
See, Your voice is my joy… Give me what I love…
May the inner secrets of Your Word
be opened to me when I knock.
This I beg, by our Lord Jesus Christ,
in whom are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:3)
These are the treasures I seek in Your books.
-- St. Augustine, The Confessions, Book 11, Chapter 2, Nos. 2-4
Countdown to our Golden Jubilee: Getting to know Saint Timothy
There are a number of Scriptures that make mention of St. Timothy throughout the New Testament. The most accessible are the two letters to Timothy by St. Paul. But did you know that Timothy is also mentioned in other letters and in the Acts of the Apostles?
Acts tells us of Paul’s meeting Timothy in his hometown and of taking him as a companion on several of his apostolic journeys.
The greetings of several letters of St. Paul include St. Timothy in the opening address, so that he is considered an author along with St. Paul in I & II Thessalonians, II Corinthians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon. This is why St. Timothy is depicted holding a book in the statue outside our church. Paul speaks of a special mission (“a sending”) of Timothy in I Thessalonians, I Corinthians and Philippians. He is also mentioned at the end of Romans and Hebrews. So Timothy was a very active young man traveling in the same circles as St. Paul.
According to tradition, St. Timothy was Bishop of Ephesus, and it was there that he suffered martyrdom.
Reflections on the Liturgy:
The Scriptures are full of signs that Liturgy has been part of the experience of the People of God through the centuries. In Exodus, God tells Moses to build a Dwelling, the Tent of Meeting, that will accompany the People in their desert journey. Priests and Levites are given responsibilities concerning this place of encounter with God. The Temple continues this tradition when they come into the Promised Land and establish the Kingdom under David and Solomon. After the return from Exile, right up to the time of Jesus, the Temple is the place for worship. The Psalms and other Scriptures are the fruit of Israel’s worship. When there is no Temple, the People still find a way to express their relationship with God through liturgical actions: the Book of Lamentations, the gathering with Ezra at the Water Gate, and the synagogue as a place to pray and enter more deeply into Scripture all point to this truth.
For Catholics, it is important to learn to recognize the connection between Liturgy and Scripture. The very words of our prayers and the actions we perform in the Liturgies we celebrate are lived Scripture. As we learn again the words of familiar prayers, we will also seek to discover that they are to be found in the sacred texts. We know our Bible very well because we put the Bible into action every time we gather as the People of God assembled for worship.
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