Dear Parishioners:
February often brings doldrums. How wonderful for us that this month is a month that will bring Sacramental encounters and many community-building events instead!
Our 8th Grade class is in the final stages of preparation for their celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation with Bishop Campbell February 27. They are also gearing up for their trip to our nation’s capital by selling donuts and St. Timothy magnets. This Sunday the RCIA class will experience Anointing of the Catechumens in preparation for their final steps of the journey toward initiation in the Catholic Church. They are studying about the Sacraments that guide and shape our lives as Catholics.
We will also experience many events that will serve to build up our parish and school family. Plans for the annual Spaghetti Dinner are in full swing. Seniors on the Go are ready to make plans for some old vintage fun. The Women of St. Timothy will gather for a prayer breakfast to learn more about how to bring peace into the world.
Members of the parish are meeting monthly for a Webinar to learn about Stewardship, the response to God’s generosity and the call to share who we are and all we are with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. The Spring gala dinner auction is being organized. Festival teams are being set in motion. Alumni are working to form a network of connection with friends through the years. And plans for our Golden Jubilee in November are beginning to take shape.
The Rosary Prayer Garden will add a wonderful spiritual atmosphere outside the church. The idea of an outdoor path in the woods with Stations of the Cross has been mentioned even as our Scouts make it passable.
What are your thoughts about our community life? How are you and your family involved in things that build you up spiritually?
The Year of Prayer: Come, Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful.
--And kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created.
--And you will renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray. Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit, You have taught the hearts of Your faithful. In the same Spirit, help us to relish what is right and always rejoice in Your consolation. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Countdown to our Golden Jubilee: Getting to know Saint Timothy.
We have noted that St. Paul points out details about St. Timothy’s family – his mother and grandmother being women of faith, his father being a Greek. In various letters and the Acts of the Apostles, we also learn about many of the friends and companions that were part of Timothy’s life in service of the Gospel.
Among these were Silas (Acts 17:14-15; 18:5) who was also called Silvanus (I Thessalonians 1:1, II Thessalonians 1:1), Erastus (Acts 19:22), Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from Beroea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia (Acts 20:4).
St. Paul shared his companionship with Timothy with members of his own family: “Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my relatives.” (Romans 16:21) Many texts point to the fact that St. Paul considered Timothy as his “beloved and faithful son in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 4:17; I Timothy 1:2; II Timothy 1:2)
These references point to the wonderful capacity that belongs to followers of Christ to share family values and relationships through the gift of Faith. Just as Timothy become a companion and brother, a son in the Lord to Paul, so we become members of one another’s family. Faith crosses generations and all other boundaries.
Reflections on the Liturgy:
Rites that accompany the journey of Faith are a part of the Liturgy that have always been present in the life of the Church but are often unfamiliar to those who have grown up Catholic. In the Baptism of Infants, these rites are present, but can go unnoticed, such as the anointing with the oil of Catechumens and the exorcisms. For adults, they take place either at Mass or in the RCIA classes at specified times along the way. It is helpful to experience these rites and to reflect on their meaning because they open up for us the riches of the Faith that we share. The anointing of catechumens recalls the need for strength and perseverance as we approach the Sacraments of Initiation.
Showing posts with label Parish Activities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parish Activities. Show all posts
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Sunday, October 3, 2010
A Word from Your Pastor October 3
Dear Parishioners:
This weekend, we have a Parish Activities Fair. Don’t miss your opportunity to
respond to the Church’s call to put our Faith into practice. Every family and every individual Catholic should have at least one internal parish activity they make their own and one “big issue” that involves putting Faith into public view that is theirs as well. Faith is not a merely private matter. If it is truly Faith, it involves going out to all the world.
October is Respect Life Month. Each week our bulletin will include an insert designed by the U.S. Bishops Conference to highlight some aspect of the Church’s teaching on the dignity and worth of the human person. I want to emphasize two points for everyone to consider.
First, the teachings of the Church in this regard are not a patchwork quilt of disassociated topics. There is a consistency in the whole vision that the Church presents that starts with the dignity and value of every human person from the first moment of conception until the last breath before God’s call to Eternity. Every human being is worthy of respect because the human person is created in the image and likeness of God and will live forever. This is true even of the first moments of existence (all of us began as zygotes). This is true even of human persons who are no longer able to relate with others consciously (Alzheimer’s patients and those in so-called “persistent vegetative states”).
Second, it is of the utmost importance that members of the laity take seriously their responsibility to share this truth with the wider society. If you do not live it and share it, then the truth is not heard and understood by others. Priests and religious have their role to help all of us come to appreciate the truth revealed to us by God.
Laity have as their task the duty – imposed on them by God Himself through Baptism and Confirmation – to transform the secular sphere into a place where God is welcome. This is a vision that is incredibly powerful and empowering if you take it seriously. Your life is meant to help others make room for Christ. You cannot do so unless you allow His Truth to penetrate your heart and come to its fruition in your life.
If there is any part of the Church’s teaching that you have difficulty with, don’t start with the idea “I don’t believe it.” That will not get you anywhere. God “is found by those who test Him not, and He manifests Himself to those who do not disbelieve Him.” (Wisdom 1:1-2) Blessed John Newman said, “Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt” (Apologia pro vita sua). We must allow the Church to form our consciences before we dare to rely on them. Formation of conscience requires a deepening of our understanding and an openness to truths beyond our experience. Let this month be a reminder to you to study more profoundly what the Church has to say in the issues you “disagree with” in practice or in mind. Perhaps God will open your heart to a greater experience of the truth of our Faith and life itself will become more precious in your eyes.
This weekend, we have a Parish Activities Fair. Don’t miss your opportunity to
respond to the Church’s call to put our Faith into practice. Every family and every individual Catholic should have at least one internal parish activity they make their own and one “big issue” that involves putting Faith into public view that is theirs as well. Faith is not a merely private matter. If it is truly Faith, it involves going out to all the world.
October is Respect Life Month. Each week our bulletin will include an insert designed by the U.S. Bishops Conference to highlight some aspect of the Church’s teaching on the dignity and worth of the human person. I want to emphasize two points for everyone to consider.
First, the teachings of the Church in this regard are not a patchwork quilt of disassociated topics. There is a consistency in the whole vision that the Church presents that starts with the dignity and value of every human person from the first moment of conception until the last breath before God’s call to Eternity. Every human being is worthy of respect because the human person is created in the image and likeness of God and will live forever. This is true even of the first moments of existence (all of us began as zygotes). This is true even of human persons who are no longer able to relate with others consciously (Alzheimer’s patients and those in so-called “persistent vegetative states”).
Second, it is of the utmost importance that members of the laity take seriously their responsibility to share this truth with the wider society. If you do not live it and share it, then the truth is not heard and understood by others. Priests and religious have their role to help all of us come to appreciate the truth revealed to us by God.
Laity have as their task the duty – imposed on them by God Himself through Baptism and Confirmation – to transform the secular sphere into a place where God is welcome. This is a vision that is incredibly powerful and empowering if you take it seriously. Your life is meant to help others make room for Christ. You cannot do so unless you allow His Truth to penetrate your heart and come to its fruition in your life.
If there is any part of the Church’s teaching that you have difficulty with, don’t start with the idea “I don’t believe it.” That will not get you anywhere. God “is found by those who test Him not, and He manifests Himself to those who do not disbelieve Him.” (Wisdom 1:1-2) Blessed John Newman said, “Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt” (Apologia pro vita sua). We must allow the Church to form our consciences before we dare to rely on them. Formation of conscience requires a deepening of our understanding and an openness to truths beyond our experience. Let this month be a reminder to you to study more profoundly what the Church has to say in the issues you “disagree with” in practice or in mind. Perhaps God will open your heart to a greater experience of the truth of our Faith and life itself will become more precious in your eyes.
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