A Word from Your Pastor January 15

Dear Parishioners:

The Baltimore Catechism gave the definition of a Sacrament as follows:  “A Sacrament is an outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace.”  It indicated that the sign given was “a sensible sign,” that is, a sign that is perceivable by the five senses.  When we want to understand the Sacramental Life of the Church, we first have to grasp that it is the continuation of the Incarnation, the very Life of Jesus Christ, handed on to each generation through the instrumentality of the Church.

We understand that Sacraments are holy actions that allow Jesus Himself to touch us with His power and His grace.  They can happen only through the action of the Church.

The wonderful gift of the Sacraments is opened for us first through Baptism.  This Sacraments offer us the Life of God through sanctifying grace, that destines us for the glory of Heaven and gives us access to the Sacraments as the ordinary means of obtaining grace.

There are three groups of Sacraments: The Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist); The Sacraments of Healing (Reconciliation – also called Penance or Confession – and Anointing of the Sick); The Sacraments of Relationship (Holy Orders, with its three levels of Deacon, Priest and Bishop; and Holy Matrimony, Christian Marriage).  As we enter more deeply into an understanding of the Sacraments, we grow in our capacity to respond to God’s Grace.

May 2017 be for us all a time of deepening awareness of the Sacraments.  May our children, who are being taught to open their hearts to Jesus through the Sacraments find in the adults who share their lives a reverence and a hunger for the Sacraments that teaches them how to put Jesus at the center of their lives.

This week, the children of St. Timothy School will be anticipating the celebration of St. Timothy, our Patron, at their Wednesday School Mass.  All are welcome to be a part of this celebration.  As we follow the example of our heavenly guide, may we be a sign to the world of the truth of the Gospel and the power of the Spirit to bring light and healing to the world.