A Word from Your Pastor - August 25

Dear Parishioners:

We have only a few months left in the Year of Faith.  It is time to begin to ask the question concerning the difference it has made in our lives.  Jesus asked the question: “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  (Luke 18:8)  It is clear in our time that it really is possible for the Faith to be lost.  How many families have members who are raised in the Catholic Faith who have simply walked away?

The loss of Faith tends to happen for three basic reasons:  1. At times, a crisis in a person’s life can lead to a rejection of Faith, with blame placed on God or on the Church.    2.  A contrary witness of Faith by one who represents the Church can get in the way: genuine scandals, mistreatment by a religious authority or parent, or bad publicity leading to a loss of trust.  3.  Simple indifference and laziness, a lack of attention given to Faith that leads to a sense that it is not important.  What is occurring in our time involves all three of these.  Sadly, the third one is the most common.  What you don’t use, you lose.  Faith is killed by failure to commit.

The answer to these experiences that helps to overcome the temptation to loss or rejection of Faith has to be adequate to the need.  The Church practicing must be a place of Welcome and Hospitality, open to accompanying those in need of healing.  Members of the Church must be a solid witness, truly committed.  A real zeal for the Truth of Faith and its power to raise us up is the only real cure for indifference.  If God and Faith are not first in your priorities, you will not be able to withstand the pressures of the world.  Now is the time to recommit.  Deepening our knowledge and understanding of the Faith “from the inside” is also needed.  The right response to Jesus’ question is a conscientious effort to pass on the Faith to the next generation by witness and catechesis.

Over the summer, many families have been away.  I am delighted to receive bulletins from various churches around the country indicating that church attendance has not been forgotten.  If you have not been with us through the summer, we welcome you back and invite you to be with us each week.  Let God have first place in your life and don’t let the busy-ness of Fall keep you or anyone in your family from Sunday Mass.  When the Son of Man comes, will He find Faith in your household?

 

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.

CHAPTER THREE     MAN’S RESPONSE TO GOD

142 By his Revelation, “the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in order to invite and receive them into his own company.”  (Dei Verbum 2; cf. Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Exodus 33:11; John 15:14-15; Baruch 3:38 [Vulgate].) The adequate response to this invitation is faith.

143 By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God.  (Cf. Dei Verbum 5.) With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, “the obedience of faith.” (Cf. Romans 1:5; 16:26.)

Comment:   Faith is a capacity given by God to allow human beings to respond to His Gifts.  By responding to God through Faith, the human person is able to know, to love and to serve God and to receive the happiness for which God created us.  Revelation is not a revelation of simple facts and doctrines.  It is an offer of relationship.  To believe is to enter into a living relationship with God.  How do you understand your own act of Faith?

Focolare Word of Life for August 2013: 

‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.’ (Luke 6:32)

http://www.focolare.org/en/news/category/parola-di-vita/

A Word from Your Pastor - August 18

Dear Parishioners:

This week we return to School.  No matter whether we are still in our years of formal education or how long it has been since we have sat behind a desk, this time of year reminds us that we are all meant to be learners.  “Learn something new every day.”  An active use of the mind for increasing knowledge is one of the keys to keeping ourselves alert.  Memory functions best when we consciously use it.

God has invited us not only to a life-long learning about the things of the world, but also to a deepened understanding of how He works in time and in Eternity.  Can you hear “what the Spirit is saying to the Churches”?  Are you listening with your heart to God’s gentle, but insistent voice?  Something New is being proposed among us that will make all the difference.  While the rest of the world goes along on its effort to exist without God, we are being called individually and collectively to draw nearer to Him and to be part of what He intends to accomplish in our world by His Grace.

I hear the call in the enthusiasm of our Youth Group who are seeking to start a Revolution.  I hear it in the call of Pope Francis for us all to stretch our willingness to seek out those who are marginalized and left out of our usual daily routine.  I hear it in the zeal of our catechists for the Good Shepherd.  I hear it in the willingness of so many to learn a new way of understanding what it means to be Church in the 21^st Century.  I hear it in the growing awareness of the teaching of Christ the Good Shepherd and the call to a conversion that allows our Faith to become central to all we do and all we are as members of His Flock.

As the new academic year begins, I invite you to make three decisions: 

First, commit to giving God and Prayer a greater place in your life.  Move your active practice of the Faith up in your list of priorities.  If you do not already make attendance at Sunday Mass a non-negotiable for yourself and your family, then do so.  Nothing else is more important that teaching your children to keep God and Eternity in their view.

Second, resolve to learn something about the Faith by a use of the many means available: read the Catechism, listen to CDs or watch DVDs that teach the Faith, or become part of a small Faith-sharing group.   Get involved in the various activities sponsored by the parish organizations that allow for deeper reflection on what it means to be a follower of Christ.

Third, choose a form of outreach, where you “put your Faith into practice” in some concrete way that “costs” you personally – not necessarily financially, but as a witness to Faith.  If you have children at home, involve them in this effort so that they see that Faith is more than going to Church or sitting in a classroom.  If you are not already committed to Stewardship and Tithing of Time, Talent and Treasure in the life of the parish, then take a step toward this.

Welcome back to all involved in the Educational enterprise.  May this year unfold as a time of grace for all of us!

 

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 3         SACRED SCRIPTURE           IN BRIEF

134 All Sacred Scripture is but one book, and this one book is Christ, “because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ” (Hugh of St. Victor, De arca Noe 2, 8: PL 176, 642: cf. ibid. 2, 9: PL 176, 642-643).

135 “The Sacred Scriptures contain the Word of God and, because they are inspired they are truly the Word of God” (DV 24).

136 God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors; he acts in them and by means of them. He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error his saving truth (cf. DV 11).

137 Interpretation of the inspired Scripture must be attentive above all to what God wants to reveal through the sacred authors for our salvation. What comes from the Spirit is not fully “understood except by the Spirit’s action” (cf. Origen, Hom. in Ex. 4, 5: PG 12, 320).

138 The Church accepts and venerates as inspired the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New.

139 The four Gospels occupy a central place because Christ Jesus is their center.

140 The unity of the two Testaments proceeds from the unity of God’s plan and his Revelation. The Old Testament prepares for the New and the New Testament fulfills the Old; the two shed light on each other; both are true Word of God.

141 “The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the Lord” (DV 21): both nourish and govern the whole Christian life. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105; cf. Isa 50:4).

Comment: The Catholic Church lives the Word of God.  The Sacred Scriptures are our inspiration and they offer guidance for every generation.  They allow us access to the voice of God speaking to us as His People.  How are you growing in your appreciation for and understanding of the Bible?

 Focolare Word of Life for August 2013: 

‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.’ (Luke 6:32)

http://www.focolare.org/en/news/category/parola-di-vita/

 

A Word from Your Pastor - August 11

A Word from Your Pastor

Dear Parishioners:

There is always a certain sadness to the end of summer.  Over the past few years at St. Timothy Parish, one aspect of our sadness has been the need to say farewell to the Summer Seminarians.  This weekend we now say farewell to Pushkar Baum as he completes his time with us and prepares to return to the Josephinum for his Junior year of College (studying Philosophy).

Pushkar has taken the parish by storm, especially our youth.  He arrived in time to participate in all the end of the school year events, and he has stayed busy through the summer.  There is hardly an area of parish life that he has not seen.  He visited the various parish and school committees at the last meetings of last year and he has been present in the parish and school offices to greet folks.  The daily Mass crowd was treated toing music for Mass, with Pushkar playing the organ or the piano.  A number of our youth came to Wednesday Masses during the summer at Pushkar’s invitation.  Just mention his name to anyone in the parish and you will see a smile and a laugh.  By his own admission, Pushkar is a bit of a trickster.

I have often suggested that we ought to ordain these young men right away and then send them off for training.  We would have the advantage of their enthusiasm and zeal while they are young and we would get more work out of them.  When I say this to Pushkar, he just laughs and says he needs all the years of study and formation to be ready.

We offer our Thanks to the Diocese of Columbus and the Office of Vocations for the opportunity to have a small part to play in Pushkar’s journey to the priesthood by hosting him this summer.  We are truly grateful to Pushkar for sharing himself so generously with all of us and we promise to support him with our prayers during the years ahead.

A particular word to our youth:  Thank you for your welcome of Pushkar among you.  You are the Church alive today and the hope for tomorrow.  If your friend “Pushpop,” has inspired you in your Faith, consider the possibility of joining him on the road of discernment.   Some of you might be able to share the Josephinum experience with Pushkar is you sign up soon!  The Diocese of Columbus has nearly 40 young men in formation right now and they come from parishes throughout the Diocese – but none from St. Timothy Church yet.

 

 

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 3        SACRED SCRIPTURE

V. Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church

131 “And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigor and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting font of spiritual life.”  (Dei Verbum 21.) Hence “access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful.”  (Dei Verbum 22.)

132 “Therefore, the ‘study of the sacred page’ should be the very soul of sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too—pastoral preaching, catechetics, and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place—is healthily nourished and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture.” (Dei Verbum 24.)

133 The Church “forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful... to learn ‘the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ,’ by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. ‘Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.’” (Dei Verbum 25; cf. Phil 3:8 and St. Jerome.)

Comment: Catholics read the Bible.  Catholics experience the reading of Scripture in every activity and prayer, especially in the Sacrament.  Catholics read and experience the Bible as a Living Reality, not just letters on a page.  But we can read more and with more depth of understanding.  We are all invited to open the Scriptures and to allow God to speak His Word into our lives.  Have you read the Good Book lately?       

Focolare Word of Life for August 2013: 

‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.’ (Luke 6:32)

http://www.focolare.org/en/news/category/parola-di-vita/

 

The Focolare held a special day at St. Timothy parish to share the experience of their Summer Mariapolis last weekend.  Some families of St. Timothy also came to be part of the day, along with families from all over Ohio and the Midwest.  The members of the Focolare express their thanks to St. Timothy Parish for hosting them and invite any who wish to learn more of the Focolare spirit to be in touch.  They offer us all their Unity.

For more information call: (614) 895-0764, or write: foco.ohio@sbcglobal.net

 

 

 

A Word from Your Pastor - August 4

Dear Parishioners:

Returning from Vacation is never easy.  These past two weeks, I have been away for a much-needed rest.  As we see each other this weekend, don’t be too surprised if I still have a far-off look in my eyes.  I will get back to normal eventually.  It may take a bit longer as the years go by, but we always manage to get back into the swing of things, because “There’s no place like home.”

Summer breaks are shorter than they used to be.  Do you remember when Memorial Day and Labor Day were the bookends of Summer?  Now we hardly wind down before it is time to gear up again.  This makes our Sunday Sabbath rest all the more important.  As you make plans for the Fall, why not try to schedule in such rest so that the frenzied pace of life does not get the best of you?  Make time for God and family on Sundays.  Choose another day of the week – Wednesday is a good suggestion – when you give God a little more time to work in your soul.  Adoration begins after morning Mass and continues until 6:30 p.m.

These days, I am finding that I need more quiet time, time just to be alone with the Lord.  The world is becoming ever more unfriendly to our way of life.  It is important to stay close to the One Who can strengthen us to live what we believe.  “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”  Giving God the gift of your time, you can be sure that He will give you the Gift of His Eternity.  August invites us to look toward Heaven and to see our destiny in relationship with the Living God.  Take some time to renew your awareness of where you are headed.  Be sure to keep in mind the Holy Day on August 15^th.  This is a truly Catholic Feast!

 

 

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 3        SACRED SCRIPTURE  IV. The Canon of Scripture
The New Testament

127 The fourfold Gospel holds a unique place in the Church, as is evident both in the veneration which the liturgy accords it and in the surpassing attraction it has exercised on the saints at all times:
There is no doctrine which could be better, more precious and more splendid than the text of the Gospel. Behold and retain what our Lord and Master, Christ, has taught by his words and accomplished by his deeds.  (St. Caesaria the Younger to St. Richildis and St. Radegunde)

But above all it’s the Gospels that occupy my mind when I’m at prayer; my poor soul has so many needs, and yet this is the one thing needful. I’m always finding fresh lights there, hidden and enthralling meanings.  (St. Thérèse of Lisieux.)

The unity of the Old and New Testaments
128 The Church, as early as apostolic times, (Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11; Heb 10:1; 1 Pet 3:21.) and then constantly in her Tradition, has illuminated the unity of the divine plan in the two Testaments through typology, which discerns in God’s works of the Old Covenant prefigurations of what he accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate Son.
129 Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself.  (Cf. Mark  12:29-31.) Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament.  (Cf. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; 10:1-11.)  As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New. (Cf. St. Augustine; cf. Dei Verbum 16.)
130 Typology indicates the dynamic movement toward the fulfillment of the divine plan when “God will
be everything to everyone.”  (1 Corinthians 15:28.) Nor do the calling of the patriarchs and the exodus from Egypt, for example, lose their own value in God’s plan, from the mere fact that they were intermediate stages.
Comment: Reading Scripture is not exactly the same as any other kind of reading.  Our Faith tells us that God is speaking to us in a way through Scripture that is unique.  We read the New Testament in light of the Old and the Old Testaments finds its meaning for us through the Revelation of Christ in the New.  As we learn to read Scripture, we also come to a realization that God continues to speak to us just as He spoke to the generations that preceded us.

Focolare Word of Life for August 2013:

 

‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.’

http://www.focolare.org/en/news/category/parola-di-vita/

 

Today, You’re invited to
An Afternoon with the Focolare

[Focolare  = “Family Hearth” – the Fire of Love in the Home alive with Faith]

Come experience a taste of the summer Mariapolis!

[Mariapolis  = “City of Mary,” a retreat experience for the whole family, united in the Gospel way of Love.]

WHEN: Sunday, August 4, 2013

WHERE: St. Timothy Church, 1088 Thomas Lane, Columbus

TIME: 1:00 pm—4:30 pm, starts with potluck lunch in the Cafeteria; come for all or part of the program

Bring friends and the whole family! St. Timothy Revolution Youth and graduates of the Summer Bible Camp are especially invited.  Simultaneous programs for children and teens.

Discover this year’s theme on: Love of Neighbor!

 Sponsored by the Focolare Movement. For more information call: (614) 895-0764, or write: foco.ohio@sbcglobal.net

 

 

A Word from Your Pastor - July 28

Dear Parishioners:

Family life is a mirror of so many things.  Every couple of years my mother’s side of the family, the Keeley clan, get together somewhere around the United States for a reunion.  This year, the reunion in being held in Erie, Pennsylvania.  This tradition began when one branch of the family decided to branch out and invite more distant cousins.  Since that encounter, we have traveled all over the country together. 

Our common ancestor, Lawrence Keeley, came from Ireland and eventually settled in Illinois on a family farm.   Our first extended family reunions were held around Illinois.  From there, the descendants went out in every direction.  Our reunions have taken us to Virginia Beach, VA, Colorado Springs, CO, Everett, WA, Newark, OH, Gettysburg, PA, and St. Augustine, FL.  In each of these places, we have relatives who have served as hosts.  My own branch has hosted twice, once in Newark at Blessed Sacrament Parish, and another time in Florida, where one of my brothers and his wife live.  My own hope is that we will eventually find Irish cousins who can host us in Ireland.  We have not been able to find the origin of the Keeley family there as yet, nor connect with living cousins.  Perhaps someday!

Have you traced your own roots?  Do you let your children know their heritage?  It is never too late to begin.  Gathering the family shows you just how small the world is.  Visiting places where your own people now live and tracing the journeys that started “in the old country” to where you are now serves as a reminder that we are all pilgrims on a journey through life.  We are members of the family of God and we all have a story to tell.  What’s your story?

This weekend, while I am away, St. Timothy welcomes Fr. Joselito Ramos for the mission appeal for the Disciples of Mary.  Our generous response to the needs around the world is a sign of our realization that we are part of the wider Church.  We are all members of the Family of God and our support of one another is what family is all about.

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 3        SACRED SCRIPTURE   IV. The Canon of Scripture
The New Testament

124 “The Word of God, which is thwer of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, is set forth and displays its power in a most wonderful way in the writings of the New Testament”  (Dei Verbum 17; cf. Rom 1:16.) which hand on the ultimate truth of God’s Revelation. Their central object is Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate Son: his acts, teachings, Passion and glorification, and his Church’s beginnings under the Spirit’s guidance.   (Cf. Dei Verbum 20.)
125 The Gospels are the heart of all the Scriptures “because they are our principal source for the life and teaching of the Incarnate Word, our Savior.” (Dei Verbum 18.)
126 We can distinguish three stages in the formation of the Gospels:

1. The life and teaching of Jesus. The Church holds firmly that the four Gospels, “whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while he lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation, until the day when he was taken up.”   (Dei Verbum 19; cf. Acts 1:1-2.)
2. The oral tradition. “For, after the ascension of the Lord, the apostles handed on to their hearers what he had said and done, but with that fuller understanding which they, instructed by the glorious events of Christ and enlightened by the Spirit of truth, now enjoyed.” (Dei Verbum 19.)
3. The written Gospels. “The sacred authors, in writing the four Gospels, selected certain of the many elements which had been handed on, either orally or already in written form; others they synthesized or explained with an eye to the situation of the churches, while sustaining the form of preaching, but always in such a fashion that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus.”  (Dei Verbum 19.)

Comment:  When the disciples of Jesus began to tell the story of their own experience of His life, death and Resurrection, they started a process that would lead to the Gospels and the other New Testament writings that now put us in touch with Jesus and His times in such a way as to take us there.  We are not just descendants of the early Christians; we are the living testimony to the power of their witness in their day.  They changed the world because they were not afraid to share their Faith.  Are we willing to keep it going?  Can we move beyond our fear to tell the Story of Jesus to our own generation?

Focolare Word of Life for July 2013:  For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Gal. 5:14)   http://www.focolare.org/en/news/category/parola-di-vita/