A Word from Your Pastor - November 10

Dear Parishioners:

 

This week, our children’s School Mass included a Memorial Celebration for Alba Coletta, who is related to the Guarasci family in our parish.  A number of family members chose to have their celebration of their favorite aunt with our usual children’s Mass.  It proved to be a wonderful encounter with the Communion of Saints.  Alba’s Italian heritage and her zest for life were a great starting point for a recollection of the meaning of the recent observance of All Saints Day and All Souls Day and the call to Evangelization that the Church is receiving in our time.

 

One of the nephews spoke about his aunt Alba and a motto she had for her life, which came from a song by Guy Lombardo: “Enjoy Yourself, It’s Later than You Think.”

 

You work and work for years and years, you're always on the go
You never take a minute off, too busy makin' dough
Someday you say, you'll have your fun, when you're a millionaire
Imagine all the fun you'll have in your old rockin' chair

 

Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think
Enjoy yourself, while you're still in the pink
The years go by, as quickly as a wink
Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think

 

You're gonna take that ocean trip, no matter come what may
You've got your reservations made, but you just can't get away
Next year for sure, you'll see the world, you'll really get around
But how far can you travel when you're six feet underground?

 

Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think
Enjoy yourself, while you're still in the pink
The years go by, as quickly as a wink
Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think

 

God has entrusted us to one another.  We are called to see every other human being as brother or sister, invited to be one with us on our journey to the Kingdom.  We are called to go deeper with one another in sharing our Faith and the delights of this world that open us to an understanding of the Kingdom.  We are called to spread the Word of God by our lives, and to share the invitation to the Kingdom with everyone we encounter – especially those who have wandered away from us and those who have never heard about Jesus in a way they can truly understand.  The message of Guy Lombardo’s song is that we need to pay attention to the present moment and to respond to what is right in front of us.

 

This weekend, some of our parishioners have participated in the New Evangelization in a practical way, working with our Seminarian Interns to take the Gospel to the streets of our neighborhood.  Like the disciples of old, they go out two-by-two to speak about the Kingdom and the call of Jesus.  How are you sharing in this venture?  Are you truly enjoying yourself and working for something that will last?

 

 

 

Year of Faith October 11, 2012 – November 24, 2013

 

We continue our journey through the Year of Faith.  As one way of observing this year, each week a small section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is read before the start of Mass.  This is a small way of offering some food for growth in Faith throughout this year.

 

CHAPTER THREE    MAN’S RESPONSE TO GOD

ARTICLE 2          WE BELIEVE      II. The Language of Faith

170 We do not believe in formulas, but in those realities they express, which faith allows us to touch. “The believer’s act [of faith] does not terminate in the propositions, but in the realities [which they express].”  (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II, 1, 2, ad 2.) All the same, we do approach these realities with the help of formulations of the faith which permit us to express the faith and to hand it on, to celebrate it in community, to assimilate and live on it more and more.

171 The Church, “the pillar and bulwark of the truth,” faithfully guards “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” She guards the memory of Christ’s words; it is she who from generation to generation hands on the apostles’ confession of faith.  (1 Timothy 3:15; Jude 3.) As a mother who teaches her children to speak and so to understand and communicate, the Church our Mother teaches us the language of faith in order to introduce us to the understanding and the life of faith.

Comment:  As human beings, we need to have an understanding of what we believe.  For this reason, our Faith is expressed in formulas and propositions, statements that have a clear and precise meaning.  Our Faith in not in these statements themselves, but rather in what they point to, the realities that are communicated to us through Revelation.  We put our trust in God and in His Church and we believe what we have been taught.  Are you conscious of your own act of Faith?  What gives you confidence that you will hold to the truth of Faith?

 

Focolare Word of Life for November 2013: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” (Eph 4:32)

 

http://www.focolare.org/en/news/category/parola-di-vita/

The New Evangelization at St. Timothy Parish

Our Seminarian interns, Stephen Vaccaro and Alex Pacelli, are making the rounds of parish groups to share their mission for the year at St. Timothy Church.  They have visited with the Knights of Columbus, the Parish Pastoral Council, the Youth Group and with the Home and School association.  Saturday October 12th  and Saturday November 9th the Door-to-door missions with Seminarians of the PCJ New Evangelization Club  and St. Timothy Parishioners took place in the neighborhoods near the church.  Two other dates will be set for the Spring semester of 2014.

Upcoming events including the Seminarian interns for the first semester are as follows: 

Nov. 14th – School Visit

Nov. 17th - Youth Group
Nov. 24th - Youth Group
Dec. 5th - Planning day at the parish

Anyone who wants to tag along or participate in some way can contact Stephen Vaccaro at smv4h@virginia.edu. The hope/plan is to create our own Evangelization Club to learn about the process of evangelization and to create opportunities for members of our parish to respond to the Church’s call for a New Evangelization – new in its ardor and new in its methods.