A Word from Your Pastor - March 31 Easter

Dear Parishioners and Guests:
 

A Blessed Easter to all of you!  Jesus Christ our Lord is Risen from the dead and Life Eternal is given a place in our world.  That makes all the difference.  If we can open our hearts to this Truth of truths, everything else falls into place.

Catholics do look at the world differently from everyone else.  We see the same world, but we see it through different eyes.  In a sense, we see all that happens through Resurrection-colored glasses.  Death and Suffering are real to us.  But they do not have the last word.

The seemingly meaningless and random violence and disasters that occur in the end are taken up into the Mystery of Christ and given a new meaning, a purpose.  “Everything happens for a reason” is a popular way of expressing this truth.  However, it is more precise to say that “Everything that happens is given over to God’s Wisdom.”  It is not that God sends tragedies, but that He makes sense of the tragic in this world by filling it with a Divine Comedy that is the Victory of the Resurrection.

God is a Poet Who writes our human experience into His own Story.   We are invited to share Divine Life and so to allow God to write His Story into our own history as well.  The Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is the pivotal event of human history.  Easter celebrations all around the world gather together believers as a sign of the ongoing power of the Resurrection among us.  The Resurrection opens our common history to the horizon of Eternity and tells us that we will live a life beyond this life.

This weekend, we welcome our Neophytes – those received into the Catholic Church through the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.   May their Faith continue to grow and may all of us become an ever more convincing witness to the Truth of Jesus Christ.

I will be on my annual Priest’s Retreat this week.  Please keep me in your prayers and be sure that you will be in mine as well.

 

Year of Faith October 11, 2012 – November 24, 2013

We continue our journey through the Year of Faith.  As one way of observing this year, each week a small section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is read before the start of Mass.  This is a small way of offering some food for growth in Faith throughout this year.

The Meaning and Saving Significance of the Resurrection

651 “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”  (1 Corinthians 15:14) The Resurrection above all constitutes the confirmation of all Christ’s works and teachings. All truths, even those most inaccessible to human reason, find their justification if Christ by his Resurrection has given the definitive proof of his divine authority, which he had promised.

652 Christ’s Resurrection is the fulfillment of the promises both of the Old Testament and of Jesus himself during his earthly life.  (Cf. Matthew 28:6; Mark 16:7; Luke 24:6-7, 26-27, 44-48.) The phrase “in accordance with the Scriptures”  (Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; cf. the Nicene Creed.) indicates that Christ’s Resurrection fulfilled these predictions.

653 The truth of Jesus’ divinity is confirmed by his Resurrection. He had said: “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he.”   (John 8:28.) The Resurrection of the crucified one shows that he was truly “I Am,” the Son of God and God himself. So St. Paul could declare to the Jews: “What God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’”  (Acts 13:32-34; cf. Psalm 2:7.) Christ’s Resurrection is closely linked to the Incarnation of God’s Son and is its fulfillment in accordance with God’s eternal plan.

654 The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God’s grace, “so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”  (Romans 6:4; cf. 4:25) Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace.  (Cf. Ephesians 2:4-5; 1 Peter 1:3.) It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ’s brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: “Go and tell my brethren.”  (Matthew 28:10; John 20:17.) We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.

655 Finally, Christ’s Resurrection—and the risen Christ himself—is the principle and source of our future resurrection: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.... For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”  (1 Corinthians 15:20-22) The risen Christ lives in the hearts of his faithful while they await that fulfillment. In Christ, Christians “have tasted... the powers of the age to come”  (Hebrews 6:5) and their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of divine life, so that they may “live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:15; cf. Colossians 3:1-3.)

IN BRIEF

656 Faith in the Resurrection has as its object an event which is historically attested to by the disciples, who really encountered the Risen One. At the same time, this event is mysteriously transcendent insofar as it is the entry of Christ’s humanity into the glory of God.

657 The empty tomb and the linen cloths lying there signify in themselves that by God’s power Christ’s body had escaped the bonds of death and corruption. They prepared the disciples to encounter the Risen Lord.

658 Christ, “the first-born from the dead” (Col 1:18), is the principle of our own resurrection, even now by the justification of our souls (cf. Rom 6:4), and one day by the new life he will impart to our bodies (cf. Rom 8:11).

Comment: Each human being is meant to be addressed personally by the proclamation of the Resurrection of Jesus.  How do you understand the Resurrection of Jesus?  How do you share this Good News with others?  What serves to nourish your personal Faith and commitment to the Risen Lord?

A Word from Your Pastor - March 24

Dear Parishioners:

Passion Sunday begins Holy Week.  As we enter into this week’s celebrations, all are invited to take time to consider the central Mysteries of our Catholic Faith.  All the other celebrations we experience through the year have their culmination in the Paschal Mystery.

God is worth our time.  We give time to so many other pursuits – work, play, hobbies and interests, and even to standing in line or sitting in traffic for any and all of these.  Can we not let Him and ourselves know that He is really first in our lives by giving Him time during the Paschal Season?

Plan your Holy Week differently.  Allow the events of Passion Sunday to draw you in: the Procession with Palms and the Proclamation of the Passion call for active participation. 

On Tuesday evening, attend the Chrism Mass of the Diocese of Columbus at St. Joseph Cathedral, or at least join with the whole Diocese in spirit as the sacred oils for the Sacraments are blessed by Bishop Campbell.

Holy Thursday’s Mass of the Lord’s Supper includes the Washing of Feet and a Eucharistic Procession, with our First Communion Class serving as an honor guard.  Following Mass, we have opportunity for Adoration of the Eucharistic Lord until Midnight.

Good Friday brings the Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion.  Stations of the Cross and a Mediation on the Seven Last Words will be observed between 12 and 3 p.m.

Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil will welcome new members into our Church.  Easter Sunday will include many visitors who come to join us for the beauty and joy of the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord. Come to serve as a welcoming family.

How are you giving God your Time?  At the end of our lives, we will exchange Time for Eternity.  When we celebrate the Liturgy of the Church (the Mass and the Sacraments and the Liturgy of the Hours, the official Prayer of the Church), we are beginning that exchange, so that we can taste Eternity in Time. Do you want to get a good rate?  Then give God your time in Time.   Be extravagant and “waste” more time in Church.

Year of Faith October 11, 2012 – November 24, 2013

We continue our journey through the Year of Faith.  As one way of observing this year, each week a small section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is read before the start of Mass.  This is a small way of offering some food for growth in Faith throughout this year.

Jesus’ ascent to Jerusalem  557 “When the days drew near for him to be taken up Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.”  (Luke 9:51; cf. John 13:1.) By this decision he indicated that he was going up to Jerusalem prepared to die there. Three times he had announced his Passion and Resurrection; now, heading toward Jerusalem, Jesus says: “It cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.”  (Luke 13:33; cf. Mark 8:31–33; 9:31–32; 10:32–34.)   558 Jesus recalls the martyrdom of the prophets who had been put to death in Jerusalem. Nevertheless he persists in calling Jerusalem to gather around him: “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”  (Matthew 23:37.) When Jerusalem comes into view he weeps over her and expresses once again his heart’s desire: “Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes.”  (Luke 19:41–42.)

Jesus’ messianic entrance into Jerusalem  559 How will Jerusalem welcome her Messiah? Although Jesus had always refused popular attempts to make him king, he chooses the time and prepares the details for his messianic entry into the city of “his father David.”  (Luke 1:32; cf. Matthew 21:1–11; John 6:15.)  Acclaimed as son of David, as the one who brings salvation (Hosanna means “Save!” or “Give salvation!”), the “King of glory” enters his City “riding on an ass.”  (Psalm 24:7–10; Zechariah 9:9.) Jesus conquers the Daughter of Zion, a figure of his Church, neither by ruse nor by violence, but by the humility that bears witness to the truth.  (Cf. John 18:37) And so the subjects of his kingdom on that day are children and God’s poor, who acclaim him as had the angels when they announced him to the shepherds.  (Cf. Matthew 21:15–16; cf. Psalm 8:3; Luke 19:38; 2:14.) Their acclamation, “Blessed be he who comes in the name of the LORD,”  (Cf. Psalm 118:26.) is taken up by the Church in the “Sanctus” of the Eucharistic liturgy that introduces the memorial of the Lord’s Passover.

560 Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem manifested the coming of the kingdom that the King–Messiah was going to accomplish by the Passover of his Death and Resurrection. It is with the celebration of that entry on Palm Sunday that the Church’s liturgy solemnly opens Holy Week.

Comment: Pope Francis emphasizes the Mercy of God and looking at others through the eyes of Mercy.  As you reflect upon the Passion this year, consider who responds to Jesus, seeing Him through the eyes of Mercy.

A Word from Your Pastor - March 17

A Word from Your Pastor

Dear Parishioners:

Annuntio Vobis Gaudeam Magnum: Habemus Papam!  I announce to you a great joy: We have a Pope!  The Cardinal Electors have chosen as our new Holy Father: Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina.  May God bless him in his new ministry and may we all see the Love of God revealed in the human face of the Universal Pastor.  May he be a gentle and loving shepherd who mirrors God’s compassion for His People.  He has taken the name Francis.  Let us pray for Pope Francis and for the whole Church.

As we enter into a new era in the life of the Church, it is fitting for us to renew our own commitment to be faithful to the ministries entrusted to us as individuals and as a community united in the Faith.  As your Pastor, I renew my own priestly commitment with my brother priests and with the Bishop each year at the Chrism Mass.  Many communities choose a time during Easter or on a special feast to make such a renewal.  Are you willing to take this step as a member of the Body of Christ?

Commitment to the Church is experienced by most of the faithful through the life of a local parish.  We belong to God and He entrusts us to one another through the life we share as members of this expression of Christian community.  Membership has its privileges – and its responsibilities.  We are responsible to and for one another.

In this Season of Lent and in this Year of Faith as we enter into a new Pontificate, I invite you and your family to consider your commitment to your parish.  Have you truly given all you have to offer to your brothers and sisters through a sharing of time, talent and financial resources? 

Do you believe God and Church are as deserving of your time as all your other pursuits?

Do you have gifts that would benefit members of the parish or others through the ministries of outreach we do as a parish, and are you freely sharing them?

Do you evaluate your generosity to Stewardship and to the many possible charities and give regularly?

In these days when we have been in the news, we have all be faced with the world’s way of seeing us and judging us in our life as Catholics.  Sadly, at times, we are more influenced by this presentation of who we are than we are by what Christ and His Church teach.  Can we look into our hearts and discover anew the call that God has given us to share a gift more valuable than anything else we may possess: our Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Year of Faith October 11, 2012 – November 24, 2013

We continue our journey through the Year of Faith.  As one way of observing this year, each week a small section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is read before the start of Mass.  This is a small way of offering some food for growth in Faith throughout this year.

ARTICLE 2     THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION

In the apostolic preaching...  76 In keeping with the Lord’s command, the Gospel was handed on in two ways:

— orally “by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions they established, what they themselves had received—whether from the lips of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether they had learned it at the prompting of the Holy Spirit”;  (Dei Verbum 7.)

— in writing “by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation to writing.”( Dei Verbum 7.)

...continued in apostolic succession  77 “In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them ‘their own position of teaching authority.’”  (Dei Verbum 7§ 2; St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 3, 1: PG 7, 848; Harvey, 2, 9,) Indeed, “the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time.” (Dei Verbum 8 § 1.)  78 This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it. Through Tradition, “the Church, in her doctrine, life, and worship perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes.”  (Dei Verbum 8 § 1.) “The sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer.” (Dei Verbum 8 § 3.)  79 The Father’s self-communication made through his Word in the Holy Spirit, remains present and active in the Church: “God, who spoke in the past, continues to converse with the Spouse of his beloved Son. And the Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the Gospel rings out in the Church—and through her in the world—leads believers to the full truth, and makes the Word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness.”  (Dei Verbum 8 § 3; cf. Col 3:16.)

Comment: The Revelation which the Church is responsible to hand on is from God Himself.  Since it is given to human beings, it takes the form of human expression: words and actions.  Revelation has God Himself as its source and it is communicated to each generation as human beings do: in oral tradition and in written texts.  Tradition is the act of handing on all that God has made known.  This is guided by the Spirit through the ages so that the full Truth of the Gospel may be received by each generation.  How have you learned the Gospel?  Who has told you about it and whose life has “proven” it to you in through a faithful witness?

 

 

A Word from Your Pastor - March 10

A Word from Your Pastor
 
Dear Parishioners:
 

I am offering some reflections concerning the three practices of Lent: Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving.  This week, we will look at Almsgiving.

“Alms” is not a word that we are very familiar with.  It comes from the Greek “elemosyne,” meaning “mercy, charity, alms.”  You may recognize the root from “Kyrie, eleison,” that is, “Lord, have mercy.”  This exercise is a practical form of self-giving, a sharing of material possessions with those in need.  Prayer and Fasting are outward looking in essence, but Almsgiving is even more other-centered.

A couple of times a month throughout the year, we have opportunity to give alms in the form of monetary donations to the various Second Collections and to St. Vincent DePaul.  During Lent, many also collect funds through the Rice Bowl campaign for Catholic Relief Services.  From time to time, generosity in this form of alms takes place to meet emergency needs such as victims of natural disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and the like).

At the present moment, St. Timothy Parishioners are being invited to consider giving alms in very practical forms.  The Knights of Columbus, cooperating with the St. Vincent De Paul Society of our parish, are inviting donation of cans of food for the St. James the Less Food Pantry.  A parishioner on a Medical Mission trip to Haiti is seeking medicine and other supplies for aid to those in need in Haiti.  Watterson students are collecting cleaning products for JOIN (the Joint Organization for Inner-City Needs).  In April, St. Vincent DePaul and the Women’s club will team up to assist those in need of clothing.  Each month, members of St. Vincent DePaul invite parishioners to make sandwiches for the hungry.

Parish Stewardship (the first collection) is not technically a charity – although Uncle Sam considers it so for tax purposes.  It is what each of us ought to give to support the ongoing life of the Parish Family.  For a family, paying the bills is not a charity, but a necessary part of life.  Room and board, utilities and garbage pickup are all paid for out of the family till.  Almsgiving begins when payments owed in justice are already met.

Every family should have its own “pet charities.”  Each individual has a duty to share time, talent and treasure beyond the bonds of family ties.  In Lent, we practice Almsgiving, along with Prayer and Fasting, to remind ourselves that we must be generous with the gifts we have received.

Year of Faith October 11, 2012 – November 24, 2013

We continue our journey through the Year of Faith.  As one way of observing this year, each week a small section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is read before the start of Mass.  This is a small way of offering some food for growth in Faith throughout this year.

ARTICLE 2     THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION

74 God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”:  (1 Timothy 2:4.) that is, of Christ Jesus.  (Cf. John 14:6.) Christ must be proclaimed to all nations and individuals, so that this revelation may reach to the ends of the earth:

God graciously arranged that the things he had once revealed for the salvation of all peoples should remain in their entirety, throughout the ages, and be transmitted to all generations.  (Dei Verbum 7; cf. 2 Corinthians 1:20; 3:16-4:6.)

I. The Apostolic Tradition

75 “Christ the Lord, in whom the entire Revelation of the most high God is summed up, commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel, which had been promised beforehand by the prophets, and which he fulfilled in his own person and promulgated with his own lips. In preaching the Gospel, they were to communicate the gifts of God to all men. This Gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline.” (Dei Verbum 7; cf. Matthew 28:19-20; Mark  16:15.)

Comment: The proclamation of what God has revealed to us is the purpose for our having been called into being as a community of believers.  We are to pass on the truth we have heard to all in our time and from one generation to the next. 

A Holy Hour

The Knights of Columbus and GIFT are sponsoring a monthly Holy Hour, which is scheduled this month on Sunday, March 10 from 7-8 pm. Evening Prayer will be recited as group with brief readings and meditation. Benediction will conclude the Hour. The Bishop has asked us to voluntarily commit to praying a Holy Hour once a month during this Year of Faith. Please make the commitment to personally join us and invite others to come with you. Between 6-7 p.m. a hot dish and drinks will be available for those wishing to come early and share in hospitality before the Holy Hour. All members of the parish are invited and all are welcome.

“Your faith will help you realize that it is Jesus Himself Who is present in the Blessed Sacrament, waiting for you and calling you to spend one special specific hour with Him each week.” (Blessed Pope John Paul II)

Monthly Rosary

The Knights of Columbus will be leading the Rosary next Sunday 3/17 at 9:40am prior to the 10:00 am mass. Our special intention for the Rosary next weekend will be for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the papal conclave, and our next pope. Please join us. If you are unable to make it Sunday morning, Archbishop Lori, K of C Supreme Chaplin, has created a prayer that you can pray with your family at home. It is linked on the home page of the Knights of Columbus: www.kofc.org

40 Cans for Lent

Knights of Columbus council 14345 is sponsoring a food drive to benefit the St. James the Less Food Pantry. Thank you to all that have been participating and for those who haven't yet....there is still time! '40 cans for Lent' assists the St. Vincent de Paul societies of St. Timothy's and St. James' in their mission to the poor. 40 items of food donated by your family would be a significant Lenten sacrifice that would greatly benefit the less fortunate of our area. The food pantry currently has need of hearty soups, (and although not technically in a can) peanut butter, and macaroni and cheese. If a family prefers to make a cash donation rather than canned goods you may place an envelope marked 'food pantry' in the collection basket.

Pat Woods, the St James' Food Pantry manager, would like to let the parishioners of St Tim's know how grateful the pantry is for over 300 pounds of food already provided by the '40 cans for Lent' drive.

 

Lent has many opportunities for prayer and good works with the St. Timothy family:

--Spend some time Wednesday in the Presence of our Eucharistic Lord, following the School Mass until 6:30 p.m.

--Attend Stations of the Cross on Friday at 7 p.m. Go to your favorite Lenten Fish Fry at another local parish and come back to honor the Lord for what He did for us through His Passion and Death.

--Provide food for the needy through the St. James the Less Food Pantry by contributing to the Knights of Columbus “40 cans for Lent” campaign and/or supply Cookies for upcoming Kairos Retreats at Men’s and Women’s Prisons.

--Members of the Northwest Deanery are invited to special presentation for the Year of Faith at St. Brigid of Kildare on Wednesday, March 13, at 7 p.m.  Fr. Ed Hussey will speak about four of the primary documents of the Second Vatican Council.

--Make plans to take part in our Parish Lenten Penance Service Thursday, March 14 at 7 p.m.

--Lisa Harlan of our parish is going on a mission to Haiti mid-March with a medical team.  She would like to invite our congregation to assist with medical donations of supplies and medication.  They would need to be collected no later than the 15th of March.  A box is available in the vestibule for donations of Multiple vitamins, Tylenol, antacids, anti-fungal medicine, Monistat 7, Benadryl, Neosporin, Advil, Pepto-Bismol, anti-bacterial wipes, Mucinex, and the like.

 

 

A Survey of Spiritual Needs: A Lenten Opportunity 

What helps you to know God’s love in your life?

What helps you grow in relationship with God and others?

Please share your thoughts with us by participating in an exciting survey opportunity. This survey is being shared with Catholics throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. It is available in both English and Spanish, and will take less than 15 minutes to complete. Your responses will be anonymous; however, you will be given the opportunity to share your response to one question on the survey, as a way of helping others learn from, and be inspired by, your experience. Through your participation, our parish and parish leaders everywhere will learn about what helps us all to grow closer to God with faith that shapes our daily lives.

St. Timothy Church will participate in the survey from Ash Wednesday, February 13, 2013, until March 19, 2013, the Feast of Saint Joseph.  Please offer your own input by going to this web address:  www.surveymonkey.com/s/spiritualneeds.  Be sure to identify St. Timothy Church, Columbus, as your parish.

 

A Word from Your Pastor - March 3

Dear Parishioners:
 

I am offering some reflections concerning the three practices of Lent: Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving.  This week, we will look at Fasting.

How do you fast?  This is the traditional Lenten practice that most folks remember practicing in a particular way.  “What are you giving up for Lent?” is the usual question every Catholic boy or girl discusses.  Adults also tend to look at Lent in this same way.  Many have the practice of giving up chocolate or coffee or some other kind of food or beverage that they enjoy.  This form of fasting is good.  It is an effort to exercise self-discipline.  It is a matter, not simply of avoiding sin, but rather of exercising control over one’s own appetites.

In our times, fasting is also applicable to other behaviors.  We can fast from attitudes and habitual ways of responding to others.  We can fast from modern media and the many gadgets that take our time – television, computers, cell phones, ipads, and the many forms of digital games.  Changing our way of thinking and acting by conscious choices about what we do each day, our usual “rituals” and patterns of behavior, can be matter for fasting.

The Church invites us to fast from food in communal way on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.  On Fridays of Lent and throughout the year (an old custom returning in light of current needs), the Church asks us to abstain from meat in solidarity with our brothers and sisters.  The Eastern Church has fasts from other particular foods on specified occasions during the Season of Lent.

Other world religions have forms of fasting that are parallel to the Church’s way of fasting.  Judaism calls for abstaining from foods that are not “kosher.”  Moslem tradition has fasts during the month of Ramadan.  Even modern seculars fast from certain foods for philosophical reasons or for health reasons.  Fasting is a human act that all of us can use to learn to refrain from behaviors good or bad so as to assert our freedom and our submission to God’s Will.

 

Year of Faith October 11, 2012 – November 24, 2013

 

We continue our journey through the Year of Faith.  As one way of observing this year, each week a small section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is read before the start of Mass.  This is a small way of offering some food for growth in Faith throughout this year.

 

 

IN BRIEF

68 By love, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. He has thus provided the definitive, superabundant answer to the questions that man asks himself about the meaning and purpose of his life.

69 God has revealed himself to man by gradually communicating his own mystery in deeds and in words.

70 Beyond the witness to himself that God gives in created things, he manifested himself to our first parents, spoke to them and, after the fall, promised them salvation (cf. Gen 3:15) and offered them his covenant.

71 God made an everlasting covenant with Noah and with all living beings (cf. Gen 9:16). It will remain in force as long as the world lasts.

72 God chose Abraham and made a covenant with him and his descendants. By the covenant God formed his people and revealed his law to them through Moses. Through the prophets, he prepared them to accept the salvation destined for all humanity.

73 God has revealed himself fully by sending his own Son, in whom he has established his covenant for ever. The Son is his Father’s definitive Word; so there will be no further Revelation after him.

Comment: God’s involvement with us includes His action of communicating Himself and His Will to us through Salvation History, and especially through Jesus Christ His Son.  This initiative of God’s calls for a response in Faith on our part, and an acknowledgment of Who God Is, through acceptance of Jesus as the center of our own lives.  How does your life witness to the truth that you are responding to God’s Gift of Himself to you?