A Word from Your Pastor - October 12

Dear Parishioners:

Your prayers are requested for the Church universal as the Synod on the Family is underway in Rome at this time.  This is the first part of a two-year process that will continue with a similar gathering next year.  If all goes according to plan, Pope Francis will participate in the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in 2015.  In the year ahead, we will be hearing more about this.

All of us belong to families in one form or another.  We are the products of the family that gave us life and raised us to adulthood – our family of origin.  Many are also a part of a family by choice – through marriage or by way of a commitment to a particular group of people.  Religious commitments and promises are the means by which such families come into being.  God Himself, Who IS a Family as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, draws us into His Family through the life we share in the Sacraments.  The Holy Family of Nazareth reveals the importance God gives to family life in the very manner by which the Son of God lived it, sharing the joys and sorrows of Mary and Joseph and being part of the clan of David the King.

At St. Timothy Parish, we are seeking to be formed as a family, united in mind and heart, with Jesus, our Good Shepherd.  A call is going out for us to deepen our welcome of one another and of those who come to worship with us.  We are also hearing the invitation to participate intentionally in the New Evangelization by sharing our Faith in Jesus Christ with those around us.  There is a hunger for belonging and for depth that only God can satisfy.

How do you experience Faith in your own family?  Does it have a priority for every member?  Parents are particularly responsible for setting an example that teaches their children in the ways of Faith.  Have you taken seriously this responsibility?

Fr. Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., used to say “The family that prays together stays together.”  In this month of the Rosary, I invite you to consider praying a family rosary or to find some other form of prayer that involves your whole family.  Ask your children to pray for you the prayers they are learning in School or in PSR.  Teach them the prayers you learned to pray as a child.  Pick a prayer that you call your “family prayer” or compose one of your own creation.  Welcome Jesus into your family home in a very practical way.  Find some way to unite your family with the Heart of Jesus.  Whatever you may do, entrust your family to God and stay close to His Church as a family.  You won’t regret it!