A Word from Your Pastor April 8 - Divine Mercy Sunday

Easter continues with the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday.  This is a very powerful day of prayer for healing and Mercy for our world.  At our parish Masses, we celebrate the Anointing of the Sick, asking the Lord to take up the suffering and illness of our members into the power of His Paschal Mystery, helping them to persevere and allowing their plight to serve with His own Passion as redemptive for the world.

In the afternoon, we adore the Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and take advantage of the graces promised to St. Faustina as we observe Divine Mercy Sunday and pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy before the Image of Jesus.  May the rays of healing and hope that flow from the Risen Lord’s Heart touch us and all the world.

All are invited to continue to celebrate Easter in its fullness through the Feast of Pentecost.  The Easter Season lasts a full 50 days.  Let us pray for an outpouring of the Spirit on us and on the whole world.

Eternal Father, we offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

A Word from Your Pastor April 1 - Easter Sunday

A Blessed Easter to All!  Jesus Christ is Risen!  This is the heart of the Christian Message.  From this Good News flows all the rest.  Because Jesus rose, we know that what He said before He died is the Truth.  He is the Son of God.  He is the Savior of the World.  He is the Messiah whose gift of Himself opened to us the Salvation and Life God planned for us from the foundation of the world.

Christians gather around the world in great numbers on this day to share in the Joy of the Risen Lord.  We welcome all who are with us for the Easter Masses.  Thank you for your witness to us that the Resurrection of the Lord still has the power to bring us all together.  Know that you are with us in spirit and prayer throughout the year and that you are always welcome to share in our celebration of the Life of Jesus Christ as it takes place every Sunday of the Year.

In a particular way this year, we have experienced the Power of the Holy Spirit to prepare us for Easter.  Since the beginning of Lent, through our celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation with our 8^th Graders at the end of February, through the second season of Alpha which concluded last weekend, we have had a special sense of the Presence of the Spirit of Jesus in all that we do.  This Spirit is the first Gift of Jesus to His disciples after the Resurrection and the same Spirit is at work in us, enlivening us to proclaim the Good News of Jesus to the world.

As we enter now into the Season of Easter, we want to continue to open our hearts ever more to the Spirit.  Next weekend, we will celebrate anew the Mercy of God through the Divine Mercy Devotion.  All are invited to take part in this celebration.  Come to adore the Lord after the Noon Mass.  Approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Open your heart to the Mercy of God through the devotion taught to us by St. Faustina Kowalska and established for the Church by Pope Saint John Paul II.

Join us now and throughout the year to proclaim the Gospel: Jesus Christ is Risen, Alleluia! Alleluia!

A Word from Your Pastor March 25 - Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord is the high point of Lent and the beginning of Holy Week.  This week, we enter into our annual celebration of the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Let this week be truly set apart from all other weeks in your life.

Today, we read the Passion, this year from the Gospel of Mark, as we welcome Jesus into Jerusalem through the Procession of Palms.

Tuesday evening, the Diocese of Columbus celebrates the Chrism Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral at 6 p.m.  This Mass includes the blessing of the sacred oils that are used for the celebration of the Sacraments throughout the coming year: the Oil of Catechumens, Sacred Chrism and the Oil of the Sick.  At this Mass, the Bishop and Priests renew their commitment to live out their priestly ministry in the one Priesthood of Jesus Christ.  The whole Diocese gathers together as a sign of our unity in the witness of the Gospel.

Holy Thursday, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper includes the Washing of the Feet as we are reminded of the call to serve, and the institution of the Priethood and the Holy Eucharist.  At St. Timothy, our First Holy Communion class serve as an honor guard for the Eucharistic procession the concludes the Mass.  We then spend three hours in adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament to strengthen our hearts for the next events of the Holy Easter Triduum.

Good Friday brings a reading of the Passion according to John, Veneration of the Cross and Reception of Holy Communion consecrated at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper the night before.

Holy Saturday’s Solemn Easter Vigil welcomes among us the new members of our Catholic Community with the celebration of the Easter Sacraments, Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist.  This impressive ceremony includes the Service of Light, Readings of Salvation History and a joyful proclamation of the Resurrection.

Easter Sunday Masses allow us all to renew our Baptismal Promises and to sing out Alleluia as we proclaim the Risen Lord to all the world.

Don’t let this Holy Week pass you by!  Come to any and all the celebrations you are able.  These are the High Holy Days of our Catholic Faith!

A Word from Your Pastor March 18

The Fifth Sunday of Lent indicates that we are moving right along in our journey toward Easter.  We have experienced many exciting steps along the way.  Last weekend, Alpha’s “Day Away” retreat was very moving for all who were present.  The call to seeing as Christ sees was heard by all and hearts opened to the Spirit of Jesus, Who is always at work among us.  This weekend, we hear the call to Life.  Jesus, Who Is the Resurrection and the Life offers us the invitation to live this life and the next to the full.  Faith frees us to live not according to the standards of the world, but according to God’s plan for us.

This year, I was invited to join the Focolare community for a retreat as the members from the east regions of the United States and Canada gather at Mariapolis Luminosa in Hyde Park, New York.  This is a gathering of all the various members, including men and women focolarini and families and priests who are associated with the movement.  I am pleased to be able to participate with them as a kind of reunion with the folks who hosted my sabbatical last fall.  I will also be part of the usual priests’ retreat after Easter.

God has chosen to share His own inner Life with us, the Life of the Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit Who Live in Unity at the very heart of Reality.  My prayer this weekend is that we may all grow in the Unity that comes from God so that the world may come to know Jesus, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Thanks to all who are filling in for me while I am away, especially Msgr. George Schlegel and the Dominican Father Stephen Dominic Hayes, “the other Father Hayes” in the Diocese of Columbus.  Blessings to you all.  May you experience ever more profoundly the invitation to the Abundant Life offered to us by Jesus Christ.

A Word from Your Pastor March 11

The theme of light and sight marks the Fourth Sunday of Lent.  We are called to see the world with the eyes of God.  This is not easy to do.  Our vision is shaped by our own limited human experiences, often tainted by our selfishness and sin and the wounds that life has dealt us.  The invitation to see as God sees is the call of Wisdom.  We are capable of seeing and loving as God Sees and Loves.  The Spirit of God can open our eyes, if we will cooperate.

In order to see truly, we must step out of ourselves.  We must learn to allow others into our hearts.  God has something more to offer us, but He has set things up so that it will be given to us only if we are willing to pass it on.  The Light of God is Light from Light.  In God’s Light, we see light.  This is a profound way of living.  It makes all the difference.  Being bathed in the Light of God makes all our human understanding closer to darkness than to that Light.

As Lent moves on, we continue our journey to Easter.  Prayer, fasting and almsgiving serve us as a way of formation in the Gospel.  Let us persevere.

A Word from Your Pastor March 4

When we allow ourselves to experience silence and a depth of prayer that arises from our hearts, we discover that there is a longing, a desire, a dream, a hope for something more.  In the face of the limitations we encounter in the world, this inner hunger, thirst, zeal is not quenched, but strengthened.  The violence that we see around us comes from the simple truth that we have lost our way as a culture.  We no longer know how to “tame” what we find inside.  We make choices that fail to satisfy.

The Third Sunday of Lent is always a reminder to us that the hunger and thirst that we experience in the heat of the day has a fountain that can fill us and show us a new way of being.  We can open our hearts for a new zeal for God’s House that consumes us by taking us into a deeper relationship with the Living God.

The St. Timothy Spaghetti dinner, which we experience each year on the first Sunday of March, is one of the two events we are best known for.  (The other, of course, is the Parish Festival  - July 13 and 14 this year.)  It serves to satisfy an earthly hunger, and shows us how to work together to accomplish something that feeds a greater community.

I have been told that the first spaghetti dinner at St. Timothy was a “mixer” for the men of the parish, who used it to raise funds for needs of the parish in the early days, by selling raffle tickets to each attendee.  It lasted only one year as a men’s event.  The wives of the first members of the Men’s Club told them they wanted to be part of it.  And the rest is history.  Each couple was sold a raffle ticket and the funds were to be shared by the Men’s Club and the Women’s Club of the parish.

In its current incarnation, the Spaghetti Dinner receives high praise from parishioners and from our friends and neighbors all around the area.  Some families use it as an annual gathering and a celebration of special events.  We welcome all!

May the wonderful odor of spaghetti sauce fill your day today and may the deepest longings of your heart be satisfied by Jesus, Who fills us with Living Water if we ask.

A Word from Your Pastor February 25 - Confirmation Sunday

Come, Holy Spirit! 

This weekend, we welcome Bishop Campbell as he imparts the Gift of the Spirit through the Sacrament of Confirmation to be received by our 8^th Grade class.  As the Church celebrates the Second Sunday of Lent and hears about the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor, we pray for an outpouring of the Spirit among us by the ministry of our own apostolic leader.

Peter, James and John see Jesus in a glorified state as Moses and Elijah reveal the connection between Jesus’ Passion and Salvation History.  The People of God in every age are led by the Spirit on a journey of Faith.  The Law and the Prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah as the bearer of the Spirit.  Our journey continues and we seek to keep our eyes fixed on the glory that is promised.  May we open our hearts to the guidance of the Spirit and allow God to reveal His glory in us.

The Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, also called the Mysteries of Light, which were suggested as an addition to the Rosary by Pope Saint John Paul II, include the Mystery of the Transfiguration as the Mystery of Light par excellence.  Meditation on this Mystery reminds us that God’s glory is shared with our human nature.  When the Apostles see Jesus transfigured, they are given a new understanding of Who He Is and the experience is meant to strengthen them in the ordeal of the Passion.  They do not understand right away, but after the Resurrection, it is the Holy Spirit that helps them to put it all together, and they remember the Transfiguration as a first glimpse of the glory of the Risen Lord and of the high destiny of our human nature.

Let us pay close attention to the promptings of the Spirit in the days and weeks and months ahead on our continuing journey of Lent.  When Easter comes, may we be ready to soar with the Spirit into the New Life God has in store for us in Jesus Christ.