A Word from Your Pastor - September 18

Dear Parishioners:

“Go out to all the world and tell the Good News!”  This is the charge to proclaim the Gospel, the very reason for the Church to exist.  It tells us our purpose in life.  It is the Great Commission that we have received from the Risen Lord.  Jesus wants us to live so that others may come to know in Faith that He Lives forever and has the Gift of Eternal Life prepared for us.

Since this is so, Communication is at the heart of who we are called to be.  How do we communicate with one another?  There is one who tells the news, there is one who receives the news, and there is the medium or manner by which the news is told.

Each aspect of this is important.  If I want you to understand, I have to be clear about my message.  If you will truly understand, what I say has to be put in a way you can understand it.  And there has to be a clear transmission, without static or interference.

One problem we have regarding the proclamation of the Gospel is that it tells us news about the nature of the world itself.  Our own personal experience can only cover a part of the world, some limited aspect of the way things are.  So we have to use analogy, comparison, parables and stories to tell the news we have to share.

Over the past few years, in the St. Timothy community, we have shared an experience of mis-communication.  Having reviewed and reflected upon the surveys taken last Spring, it has become very clear to me that we need to go back to basics in regard to communication, to be sure that we understand one another.  So, my goals for the year are very basic: Communication, the Priority of Sunday Mass and Hospitality.

I will commit to the effort to be as clear and direct as possible.  I invite you to listen with an open heart.  When it comes to the Sunday homily, all are invited to pray, “Lord, give Your minister the homily you want me to hear; give me the ears to hear it, the heart to receive it, and the grace to put it into practice in my life.”

Let us seek the way of the Lord as we ask ourselves:  How do we communicate with the other members of the community and all who are part of St. Timothy?  What do we need to know and understand in order to meet our own responsibilities?  How can we grow together as a witness to the truth of the Gospel so that we may respond to the Great Commission?