A Word from Your Pastor - July 31

Dear Parishioners:

As July comes to its close, we are all wondering just where the Summer has gone.  We begin again all too soon to gear up for our busy Fall schedule.  In the meantime, it is important to take stock of what is most important in our lives in order to be able to discern direction as the busy-ness comes.  We have to remind ourselves of our priorities.

As Catholic Christians, there is no priority greater than our Faith in God and the connection to God that being members of the Church makes possible.  That has to be center of our lives.  We must be ready and willing to live for our Faith, and to die for our Faith, if we find ourselves confronted by the circumstances that warrant it.  How we choose to live our time in the ordinary “busy-ness” in our lives will set the pattern we will follow when things get difficult.  This Summer, we have heard of many who have been unexpectedly attacked due to their Faith and of so many who have lost their lives in the clashes of culture that are all around us.  As we enjoy what remains of Summer’s leisurely pace, let us renew our commitment to one another to put Jesus Christ at the center and our willingness to live and die for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

St. Ignatius of Loyola’s prayer is a fitting way to renew this covenant with God: 

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace.
That is enough for me.

In our daily “routine,” it is possible to set a pattern of response and to discern our actions based on priorities we have chosen.  If God is our Ideal, our First Choice, then we want to please Him in everything.  We avoid sin and pursue virtue because we love God first and best.  For those who share the covenant relationship created by the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, your spouse is first after God.  Then comes your family, and all the other host of relationships and responsibilities that are given to you in your personal state of life.  If we keep these thoughts in mind, many other decisions are made easier, even if they are harder to put into practice.  God is with us through His Spirit and in the community of the Church, to build us up and free us ever more to belong to Him.

A Word from Your Pastor - July 24

Dear Parishioners:

The Gospel reminds us that God is interested in hearing from us.  Jesus invites us to ask, seek and knock, and He tells us that we will receive, find and have doors opened to us.  In other words, He teaches us that we must be engaged by “getting involved” with our own salvation.  God has the power and He has the gifts He wants to give, but He has set things us to allow it all to flow only if we are open.

We are called not to judge our enemies, but to intercede.  Abraham has a face-to-face encounter with God as he prays for the territory of Sodom and Gomorrah, where His nephew Lot lived.  In the end, God saves Lot and his family (though Lot’s wife is lost by her failure to obey) for the sake of Abraham.  We have a relationship with God that is more intimate than that of Abraham because Jesus has taught us to call God Father.

Perseverance in prayer and persistence in asking, seeking and knocking at the door, are effective because they dispose us to be open to God’s will, which we pray is done “on earth as it is in Heaven.”  Prayer is the heart of the life of a Christian.  When we are too busy to pray, we are too busy.  When we pray, we find that God gives us the time to accomplish more than we can ask or imagine.

Unity of mind and heart come from prayer together.  May we find such unity among us that world will discover through our witness the truth of the Gospel.  Unity is a Gift from God.  It requires a Commitment on our part.  And we must see it as a Goal that will not be accomplished fully until all experience welcome.

Let us pray that all unity may one day be restored.  And they’ll know we are Christians by our love…..

A Word from Your Pastor - July 17

Dear Parishioners:

As I have shared with you in the past several years, I have found great support through a connection with the Focolare Movement, one of the new developments in the Catholic Church that includes all the diverse members of the Church in a spirituality of Unity.  I first met the Focolare (pronounced “FOH-koh-La-Ray”) as a student in Rome during my years of seminary. 

This movement had its beginnings in Trent during the Second World War.  A group of young women decided together that they wanted to take God as Love the Ideal by which they would live no matter what happened.  They told one another that they were willing to die for one another - taking the example of Jesus Himself in the Gospels, as He teaches about the Vine: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:3).  “We looked each other in the face and each one declared; ‘I am ready to give my life for you.’”  When they began to live this way, what they named “the Pact of Mutual Love,” they began to experience the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that He would be with them since they were gathered in His Name.  With “Jesus in their midst,” they began to know a growing sense of a call to service and to work to build unity in the world.

The willingness to die for one another in Jesus’ Name is the hallmark of Christian Love.  You may read more about the story of the beginnings of the Focolare Movement that speaks of the "Pact of Mutual Love" here:

 http://www.focolare.org/en/chiara-lubich/spiritualita-dellunita/amore-reciproco/

The Focolare Movement has been given formal approval by the Catholic Church.  Chiara Lubich, the Foundress, worked closely with several Popes, including Pope Saint John Paul II on this.  She was instrumental through the years in drawing various religious leaders together across denominations and religions.  Even people of good will with no religious affiliation are associated with the work of the Focolare.

I share this with you now because this weekend, I am participating in a Focolare gathering called a “Mariapolis,” that is a “City of Mary,” in Valparaiso, Indiana.  This is a kind of retreat, shared by members of the Movement and others who want to share an experience of unity.  I will be praying for you and ask you to pray for me and all who are part of the Mariapolis.  I hope that the fruit of Unity will be able to overflow into our life together at St. Timothy Church.

In my absence, St. Timothy Church welcomes the Missionary Appeal for Our Blessed Mother of Victory Mission that cares for the most disadvantaged Filipino children.  I know you will be welcoming and generous in your response.

A Word from Your Pastor - July 10

Dear Parishioners:

When folks think of St. Timothy Parish, many speak of the experience of the Festival.  It is old home weekend with a gathering of folks from all over for fun and simple enjoyment of being together.  This time is always a highlight of the summer for us at St. Timothy.  It also begins a countdown of festivals in our neighborhood parishes throughout the rest of the summer.

I offer thanks to the teams who put on the Festival, coordinated by Joe Lorenz and a group of leaders who oversee all the volunteers and the details needed to put it all together and then to take it all apart for next year.  Your efforts are deeply appreciated by the whole community.

As we observe the fun of the weekend and then the annual “miracle on the green” that makes it all disappear, let’s set our sights on next year.  The Festival for 2017 will be July 14-15.  Put it on your calendar now so you won’t miss it!

The Gospel calls us to love our neighbor as a sign that God is first in our lives.  When we respond to the invitation to follow Jesus, we are called into a deeper relationship with Him.  He draws us into His way of loving and we have something beautiful to offer to our brothers and sisters.  May the joy of this weekend keep us mindful of the call to live so we may inherit everlasting life.

A Word from Your Pastor - July 3

Dear Parishioners:

Freedom is a great gift.  God created us to be free to live.  As the old Baltimore Catechism put it: God made us to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this life, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.  As a nation, we acknowledge both the gift of freedom and the price that was paid for it.  The patriots of our American Revolution, the men and women who pledged their “lives and fortunes and sacred honor” to the idea of Liberty, along with Life and the Pursuit of Happiness, are brought to mind as we celebrate the 4^th of July.  We also offer our gratitude to those who have put themselves in harm’s way do defend our values and our way of life.  To all who serve our nation and to their families who share in their sacrifice, we say thanks and we remember them in our prayers.

We also bear a great responsibility to live the freedom that we have received as a gift from God and by the sacrifices of those who have come before us.  It falls to us to defend that freedom by safeguarding it and by keeping a vigilant watch on the forces that would rob us of it.  May we live in freedom, pledging our own lives and fortunes and sacred honor to the task that is ours.  May our children and grandchildren and every generation to come continue to be free.  God bless America!

One of the great events of the Summer at St. Timothy, of course, is our Parish Festival, this Friday and Saturday evening.  Heartfelt thanks to all who have been working so hard to pull it together for another year.  This week, all are invited to pray for good weather and to contact family, friends, classmates of past years, and even enemies to join us for the fun. Let the festivities begin!