A Word from Your Pastor - August 28

Dear Parishioners:

As a community of believers, we are pledged to God and to one another to take responsibility for living the Faith we profess and for sharing that Faith with others. This is our true “job,” our reason for being.  While living in the world, we are not of the world, that is, this world that is passing around us.  We are destined for Eternity, and this has to be the guiding principle for all that we do.

The world around us belongs to God.  It is His Creation.  It is good.  It is beautiful.  As God created it, it is true.  As human beings, we are created connatural to the Truth.  That is, the Truth fits us as God created us to be.  We fit the Truth.  When we are in accord with Truth, God said that we are “very good.”  Sin has introduced a distortion into the world and this makes things more complicated.

Our mind, our intellects, our capacity to make judgments about what is true and good are distorted and confused.  We reach for apparent, temporary goods and we find that they do not satisfy our hearts.  Only God, Who IS Goodness Himself, satisfies.  As St. Augustine reminds us, God has made us for Himself and our hearts are restless until they rest in God.

 The challenge we face now is to live in a world that is actively pursuing a path that tries to leave God entirely out of the equation, as if God’s participation in His own creation is an optional part of the world’s existence.  We can be duped.  If we think that we are the authors of our own being, rather than co-creators with God, we are destined for nothing but dissatisfaction with our very selves and with the world around us.

On the other hand, when we choose to cooperate with God’s grace and to work with Him to establish a resting place for His Goodness in our world, we are capable of doing greater things than we can every ask or imagine.  When we are humble and accept God’s gifts to us as gifts, as an undeserved sharing in His Love, we receive great riches, wealth untold.  We begin to approach the City of Zion, the dwelling place of the Living God.  This is our reward for true discipleship.  May our hearts be open to such grace!

A Word from Your Pastor - August 21

Dear Parishioners:

This week, I will be away for a few days to experience something new.  A seminary classmate of mine will be ordained as a bishop in Boston.  Fr. Bob Reed, who has served in the Archdiocese of Boston, will be one of two ordained to the episcopacy to serve as auxiliary bishops in Boston. Bishop Elect Reed has been the directory of The Catholic TV Network in Boston, so I liken him to a modern-day Bishop Fulton Sheen.  I look forward to the chance to connect with some of my seminary classmates as we rejoice with our brother.

If you want to watch the event yourself, you can do so at this link:

http://ordination2016.com/home/broadcast-information/

This Wednesday, St. Timothy School will open its doors for a new School year.  We welcome back all our returning students and staff and pray that we will have a great year together.  Summer went by very quickly to say the least!  To those who are new among us, we offer a warm welcome and thanks for joining the St. Timothy family.

Remember that our St. Timothy School Mission Statement is this:

Live in Faith.

Love and Serve.

Learn for Life.

We are first a Community of Faith and we are called to reach out to others in need, sharing the Love God has for us.  This is a life-long project.  What begins here and now opens us to Eternity.

Parents, remember that the students you entrust to us need your witness as well.  When you throw in your lot with us to live and love and learn, they “catch” the Faith and Values we seek to share.  The mind can be given information, but only heart-felt practice of the Faith forms us as true disciples of Jesus Christ.  Let us live and love and learn together as we grow in the ways of Faith.

A Word from Your Pastor - August 14

Dear Parishioners:

This week is one of the last open weeks before School begins again.  We are saying our fond farewell to Deacon Dan Olvera.  It is hard to believe that his time with us is coming to its close.  He will be spending some time with his family and then will head back to the Seminary in Boston where he will complete his final year before priestly ordination.  We wish him well and thank him for his efforts among us through the summer.

As Deacon Dan leaves, I want to take the opportunity to invite you all to two simple tasks in regard to support of Vocations to the Priesthood for the Diocese of Columbus. 

First, make a commitment to remember Deacon Dan Olvera in your prayers throughout this year.  He will return next May to be the only priest ordained for the Diocese of Columbus in 2017.  Make plans now to be present for his ordination at St. Joseph Cathedral May 27, 2017.  Since he is the only one to be ordained, there will be plenty of room in the Cathedral and so this is a chance to see one of the most impressive ceremonies of our Church.  Have you managed to experience all Seven Sacraments of the Church?  If you have never directly witnessed the Sacrament of Holy Orders, this is your chance to do so!

Second, take the opportunity now to suggest the priesthood to boys among us who show an aptitude for caring service.  We have been blessed at St. Timothy Church to have many priests assigned to St. Timothy or in residence with us through our more than fifty years.  We have also had many seminarian interns assigned to work with us through the years.  We are happy that our own Jonathan Smith is advancing in his studies for the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia.  Let’s continue to seek out those who can follow the example that has been set.

The Serra Club has an annual picnic for priests and seminarians every August.  This past week as I attended that event, I was happy to find among our Columbus seminarians two who were grade school students at Blessed Sacrament School in Newark when I was Pastor there.  My prayer is that many St. Timothy youth will also hear the call to serve and be the Priests, Religious Sisters and Brothers, and Deacons who will respond to the grace God is offering in the years ahead.  They can do so only with the support of their families and parishioners to point out the possibilities.

Monday will be the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Since it falls on a Monday, the obligation for Mass is dispensed, but the Feast is still celebrated.  We will have a morning Mass (9 a.m.) and an evening Mass (6 p.m.) to honor our Blessed Mother.  Come with your family to make your Mother proud!

A Word from Your Pastor - August 7

Dear Parishioners:

The Gospel is an invitation.  We have to face two very difficult truths in our time:  First, the Gospel, which was once a “public” bedrock in our culture has been systematically rooted out as a foundation.  At times, we are not even permitted to speak the Name of God without facing rejection.  Second, we, as a community of believers have not as yet created a witness in the world that is strong and clear enough to win the world to Christ.  Our unity is not always evident.  Many of our actions work against unity.

This is not an easy admission to make.  But it is necessary, or we cannot hope to move forward.  We are blessed, because the Lord has chosen us to be His own.  How do we share this blessing?  Abraham was called to leave a place where he was comfortable and to move to a place unknown to him.  We are now invited to put our trust in the same Lord Who led Abraham to the land of Canaan in promise of giving that Land to his descendants.  When the Spirit leads, and we follow, God’s purpose is made ever more clear.

At St. Timothy, we have learned to acknowledge that we are called to be a welcoming community.  Some have experienced that welcome.  There are others who are looking for it, but have not yet found it.  We are to promote God’s glory – indeed His “greater glory” – by seeking to grow in our capacity to welcome and to live ever more truly a deeper spirit of welcome to all we meet.  We are called to give willing service to one another as brothers and sisters, united in heart and mind, as we pray calling God “Our Father.”

Jesus gives us fair warning:  “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”  No one can doubt that we are entrusted with much.  Much more is required of us than what we are already giving.  We cannot stay where we are.  We must grow.  We must be ready to take a journey to a place we do not yet know.  Are you willing to go?