A Word from Your Pastor - September 29

Dear Parishioners:

Thank you again to all who have been keeping my Mother and our family in your prayers.  This past week, she had a stent put in which has offered some relief.  We are still concerned about a number of things, but we are very grateful for her progress so far.  My Mother and all of us know the support of prayers. [This week, I am happy to report, she was discharged from the hospital to a rehab facility, Mother Angeline McCrory Manor.  We are very pleased with this step forward and are hopeful that soon she will find her way home again.]

 

Last weekend, I offered some comments [in my homily] concerning a practical way of living in response to the Gospel in the world as it is today.  I think they bear repeating.

The Scriptures show us some practical steps to take:

1. Don’t begrudge God your time for worship – the Sabbath rest and the Holy Days that are set aside for Him.  That means, not complaining about having to be at Mass every Sunday, and not looking at your watch at Mass to budget the time you give to God.  Even when it takes longer than expected, I’ll bet you give more time to sitting in traffic or waiting in line for some earthly things than you do to God….
       
2. Pay attention to what your choices do to the needy – are you using things more luxurious than needed when others at your doorstep are without?  Can you choose to take a step down from your own comfort (your equivalent of “ivory couches”) to make something available for another in need?  Who gets your time, besides you?
           
3. Can you pay attention to how those who do not have God in their lives show passion for the things they value – and try to follow their example by showing the same kind of passion for God?  What if you were cheer on a preacher on a Sunday the way sports enthusiasts cheer on their team?  Some congregations shout out “Amens!” to show they are getting the Spirit.  Can you find your own equivalent?

Praise, you servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
Blessed be the name of the LORD both now and forever.

I would also like to suggest some thoughts that come from the interview with Pope Francis that the press has been distorting so often.  The Pope is not changing any teachings of the Church.  Rather, he is calling all of us to renew our commitment to the Source of those teachings – namely, Jesus Christ.  We are invited to realize that the Lord is merciful and that He looks upon us with eyes of Mercy.  When He looks at us, He loves us as we are.  He invites us to put His teachings into practice and to become witnesses.

We know that the Church has teachings that stretch all of us.  We are destined for Eternity.  If we have our sights set only on what this world has to offer, we will not get very far.  But first things are first: God’s Love is primary.  He first loved us.  By grace, He forgives us and brings us closer to Him than we were before we responded to His look at us.  And others will join us when we show that love in our relationship with them. 

The many other truths that flow from the Gospel take some time to understand.  If we start with the many details, we can get lost in them.  If we start with Jesus and His Love and His Mercy, and His invitation to Life with Him, then we can get lost in Him instead, and want to live what He teaches.  So, let’s begin!  We have Eternity ahead 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.

CHAPTER THREE     MAN’S RESPONSE TO GOD

ARTICLE 1          I BELIEVE      III. The Characteristics of Faith
Faith and understanding

156 What moves us to believe is not the fact that revealed truths appear as true and intelligible in the light of our natural reason: we believe “because of the authority of God himself who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.”  (Dei Filius 3: Denzinger-Schonmetzer 3008.) So “that the submission of our faith might nevertheless be in accordance with reason, God willed that external proofs of his Revelation should be joined to the internal helps of the Holy Spirit.”  (Dei Filius 3: Denzinger-Schonmetzer 3009.) Thus the miracles of Christ and the saints, prophecies, the Church’s growth and holiness, and her fruitfulness and stability “are the most certain signs of divine Revelation, adapted to the intelligence of all”; they are “motives of credibility” (motiva credibilitatis), which show that the assent of faith is “by no means a blind impulse of the mind.” (Dei Filius 3: Denzinger-Schonmetzer 3008-10; cf. Mark 16:20; Hebrews 2:4.)

157 Faith is certain. It is more certain than all human knowledge because it is founded on the very word of God who cannot lie. To be sure, revealed truths can seem obscure to human reason and experience, but “the certainty that the divine light gives is greater than that which the light of natural reason gives.”  (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II, 171, 5, obj. 3.)   “Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.” (John Henry Cardinal Newman, Apologia pro vita sua.)

Comment:  Faith is addressed to the Truth that God reveals.  For this reason, we can be more certain about Faith than we can about anything else made known to us.  God is Truth.  We can be sure of God.  He is trustworthy.  Do you believe in God? Do you trust in God and in what He has made known to you through Faith?

 
Focolare Word of Life for September 2013: 

 “Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” (1 Jn 3:18)

Focolare Word of Life for October 2013: 

"Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law." (Rom. 13:8)

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

 

A Word from Your Pastor - September 22

Dear Parishioners:
 
As I write this column, my Mother, Elaine Hayes, is facing heart surgery.  The current plan – which changes according to the “numbers” of various tests – is for a mid-week operation.  Whatever happens, this will be a week that changes the life of my family dramatically.  If all goes well, Mom will have a long rehab.  If it goes otherwise, my family will be facing a new situation in our own experience of family life.  It all depends on God’s plan for us.  In a wonderful way, we are “ready” for whatever that plan may be.  [As it turned out, no surgery took place this week.  Mom's breathing was not up to par for major surgery.  The current plan is to do one stent on Monday and to hope that offers some relief. She will have to be stronger for anything more and how to get there is the question at hand.]

When I was 4 years old, my little sister Becky died at the age of 3, on December 12, 1963.  It was a devastating loss for my parents.  At the time, there were three of us “kids”: myself, my sister Becky and my brother Chuck.  After Becky died, my mother gave birth to my sister Susan in January 1964.  Following that, the rest were boys: Jeff, David, Kevin, Steven and Bill.  We were a family of eight on earth and one sister, Becky, in heaven.  Mom told me that ever since the death of Becky, she has not been afraid to die.  That is part of the reason why we feel “ready” for whatever the Lord’s plan may be.  The realization that Heaven awaits and that we have family here and there is a wonderful aspect of our Catholic Faith.

Mom has been in the hospital off and on since July 24th, with a two-week stay at Whetstone, and just a couple of days at home before a return to the hospital August 24th.  She celebrated her 76th Birthday on August 31 in her hospital room.  In that time, we have experienced much support from you and from many, and we are grateful.  We ask for your continued remembrance of our family in your prayers.  Mom said how grateful is and she said she would use what she needed of those prayers and then share them with any others who needed them.  That reminded me of her mother, my Grandma Keeley, who prayed three rosaries every day, one for me, one for the rest of the family, and one for anyone else who needed it.  Shared prayer is a great gift, and the awareness of the power of prayer to sustain us and to give us strength is a powerful help along life’s journey whatever its turns.

This past week, also, the priests of the Diocese of Columbus have had a convocation with Bishop Campbell at Mohican.  My own participation was limited by my Mom’s situation, but I am sure that we will all hear about matters of consequence for the parish and the Diocese.  We are part of a community of Faith that is interdependent with the Church throughout the world.  Our bishop and the pope remind us that we must not be too parochial in our way of thinking.  [Due to my Mother's situation, I did not get to participate in the convocation.  I was with my family and spent most of my time in the hospital room where Mom has been since September 12th.]

So, the invitation of the week is open our minds and hearts to the bigger picture.  We have to keep Eternity in mind, since death will come to us all.  We also have to realize that we are part of a world that needs our witness of Faith.

 

 

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

ARTICLE 1          I BELIEVE      III. The Characteristics of Faith

Faith is a grace        153 When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come “from flesh and blood,” but from “my Father who is in heaven.”  (Matthew 16:17; cf. Galatians 1:15; Matthew 11:25.) Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. “Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and ‘makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.’” (Dei Verbum 5; cf. Denzinger-Schonmetzer 377; 3010.)

Faith is a human act           154 Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human act. Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed are contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reason. Even in human relations it is not contrary to our dignity to believe what other persons tell us about themselves and their intentions or to trust their promises (for example, when a man and a woman marry) to share a communion of life with one another. If this is so, still less is it contrary to our dignity to “yield by faith the full submission of... intellect and will to God who reveals,”  (Dei Filius 3: Denzinger-Schonmetzer 3008.) and to share in an interior communion with him.

155 In faith, the human intellect and will cooperate with divine grace: “Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace.”  (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 2, 9; cf. Dei Filius 3: Denzinger-Schonmetzer 3010.)

Comment:  The Year of Faith has been a journey of reflection on both the content and the act of Faith.  As we draw toward its close, it is fitting that the area proposed for our attention is the act of Faith itself.  This serves as an invitation to renew the commitment with a new depth of understanding.  How will you renew your own commitment of Faith?

 

Focolare Word of Life for September 2013: 

“Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” (1 Jn 3:18)

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

 

A Word from Your Pastor - September 15

Dear Parishioners:

So many wonderful things are happening at St. Timothy Church that it is hard to keep up!  If you are not yet involved directly, actively, and with zeal in some action in the life of our Church that flows directly from your Faith, please listen to the Call.  God is speaking to your heart.  He needs you, wants you, begs you to respond to the Spirit that is proclaiming to the Church throughout the world that we are to be witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus and to His action in our world.

Last weekend, I wrote about a book, Rebuilt, that can help us to create a common vision for our Parish and School community in response to the call to be disciples.  This weekend, I want to share with you an exciting collaboration with the Pontifical College Josephinum in the effort to teach the priests of the future practical ways to enter into the New Evangelization.  We have been assigned two first year Theology Seminarians for the year to work with us on this project: Stephen Vaccaro, of the Diocese of Arlington, and Alexander Pacelli, of the Diocese of Ogdensburg.  See the insert in the bulletin to learn a bit about them which I found by an internet search on the websites of their respective dioceses. 

In years past, we have had seminarians during the school year who focused their attention on our Sick and Homebound, assisting with Mass at the Forum and visiting our shut-ins.  In the summers, as you know, we have had seminarians from the Diocese of Columbus, who have worked variously with our EMs, Altar Servers, and Youth.  The two assigned to us this year are working with all of us to reach beyond our usual ministries, assisting us to find a way to connect with those who are entrusted to us in the “mission field” of our neighborhoods. 

I am personally excited about the possibilities for inviting those we live and work to join us on the journey of Faith.  Those denominations who go door-to-door find a welcome and draw in new members.  Why should we not learn from them and respond to the Church’s call to “go out to the outskirts” to reach those who are marginalized?  This is the time to call for a return to those who have left us and to learn how to welcome those who do not belong to any community of Faith.  It is a time for a change of mind and heart about what it means to practice our Faith.  We are called to be disciples and witnesses, to minister to a world in need of healing and vision.  Open your heart and let the Spirit show you the way!

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

ARTICLE 1          I BELIEVE      II. “I Know Whom I Have Believed”  (2 Timothy 1:12)

To believe in God alone      150 Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed. As personal adherence to God and assent to his truth, Christian faith differs from our faith in any human person. It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature. (Jeremiah 17:5-6; Psalm 40:5; 146:3-4.)
To believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God

151 For a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his “beloved Son,” in whom the Father is “well pleased”; God tells us to listen to him.  (Mark 1:11; cf. 9:7.)  The Lord himself said to his disciples: “Believe in God, believe also in me.” (John 14:1.) We can believe in Jesus Christ because he is himself God, the Word made flesh: “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.”  (John 1:18.) Because he “has seen the Father,” Jesus Christ is the only one who knows him and can reveal him. (John 6:46; cf. Matthew 11:27)

To believe in the Holy Spirit          152 One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without sharing in his Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals to men who Jesus is. For “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit,”  (1 Corinthians 12:3.) who “searches everything, even the depths of God.... No one comprehends the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God.”  (1 Corinthians 2:10-11) Only God knows God completely: we believe in the Holy Spirit because he is God.

The Church never ceases to proclaim her faith in one only God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
 

Comment:  Every good “old time Catholic” knows how to answer the queston “Why did God make you.”  “God made me to know Him, to love Him and to server Him in this life, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.”  We are called to a living relationship with God Who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We are destined to an eternal Home within the Life of the Trinity.  This begins now.  How do you know God?  Are you aware of the action of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in relation to you?  How do you set your sights on what is Eternal?

Focolare Word of Life for September 2013: 

“Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” (1 Jn 3:18)

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

A Word from Your Pastor - September 8

Dear Parishioners:

As many of you have heard, this past year I was very moved by a book suggested to me by another priest, Rebuilt by Fr. Michael White and Tom Cocoran.  I got it from the public library and read it on my retreat and decided right then to make use of it in the life of our Parish and School.  Those who have had a chance to read it have heard many of its themes in my homilies.

Once I read the book, I immediately started to read it again.  While I was deciding how many copies to purchase, I received a copy of it in the mail.  At first, I thought I had accidentally “one-clicked” a purchase, but it turned out that it was ordered for me by a former parishioner from another parish where I had served.  I gave that book away so someone else could read it.  I bought 95 copies the first time.  A number of them, I gave away to priests in the parishes of our local deanery.  Then, I made a list of the folks who are members of our staff and of the various committees in our parish, the active leadership, and gave away the rest of my copies on Pentecost.  Since then, I have put in a couple more orders for multiple copies to give away.

If you are interested in reading the book, several copies are available in the vestibule.  If you have already received a copy and read it, and someone asks about it who has not received one, give away your copy and I will give you another.  It is my sincere hope that as many members of our community who can will read the book and be influenced by its message.

The central idea that strikes me is that we are all meant to be disciples of the Lord who invite others to become disciples.  We are ministers of the Gospel in the name of the Lord, not consumers of religious practices and services made available for a price.  Our “job description,” given by the Lord Himself, is to “go out to all the world and tell the Good News.”  This involves everyone in one way or another.  For all of us, it will involve a real conversion, a change in the way we see things and do things in our parish and school.

Another idea that has struck me from the book Rebuilt is the emphasis on Sunday mornings as the center of our life as Catholics.  We have to be ready to welcome all who come to us and to lead them into a living encounter with Jesus.  We are not meant to come in as isolated individuals or families and to leave the way we came.  Rather, we are to be transformed by Word and Sacrament, and to become a living force for good in the world.

If you have the book, be sure to read it and see what applies to you.  If you do not have the book, you can pick up a copy (and return the index card with your name on it) or you can order it from Ave Maria Press.  Whatever you may decide to do yourself, be ready to say yes to what the Lord has in store for us.  This is an exciting time to be a member of St. Timothy Parish.  The world is waiting for the Message we hear every day.  We are witnesses to the grace God is pouring out on the world.

 

Check out online information about Rebuilt at http://rebuiltparish.com/.

  

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

ARTICLE 1         I BELIEVE           I. The Obedience of Faith

Mary — “Blessed is she who believed”

148 The Virgin Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith. By faith Mary welcomes the tidings and promise brought by the angel Gabriel, believing that “with God nothing will be impossible” and so giving her assent: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.”  (Luke 1:37-38; cf. Genesis 18:14.)   Elizabeth greeted her: “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”  (Luke 1:45.) It is for this faith that all generations have called Mary blessed. (Cf. Luke 1:48.)

149 Throughout her life and until her last ordeal  (Cf. Luke 2:35.) when Jesus her son died on the cross, Mary’s faith never wavered. She never ceased to believe in the fulfillment of God’s word. And so the Church venerates in Mary the purest realization of faith.

Comment: Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was a woman of Faith.  She believed and trusted that what God had promised to her people would be fulfilled.  She said “Yes” to God’s Will because of her Faith.  And now, from her place in the Light of Glory, she helps us along the way of Faith.  How has Mary’s witness served to enliven your Faith?  Do you realize her role in your own life of Faith?

Focolare Word of Life for September 2013: 

“Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” (1 Jn 3:18)
http://www.focolare.org/en/news/category/parola-di-vita/

 

A Word from the Flock: Sue Gardiner, Parishioner and Teacher at St. Timothy School

In response to Rebuilt, it has been suggested that members of our Parish and School community be invited to share something of their own journey of Faith among us.  The first to offer some reflections is Sue Gardiner, who teaches in St. Timothy School.  She is known by the children as “Mrs. G.”

Greetings Fellow St. Tim Parishioners!

I want to tell you of my faith journey here at St. Tim’s. I was hired to teach in the school in 1979. At the time, I was told by people who were not members of the parish and school that I would find it very hard to feel welcome. However, before school even started in late August of 1979, I realized that was far from the truth! The entire school staff welcomed me with open arms. Parents came in and helped me figure out the Science program. It was an amazing experience. I felt more a part of this parish than I ever did at any other parish to which I had belonged, and I was not even a member of this parish yet!

By the time my daughter, Carie, was in fifth grade, I knew I needed to become a member of this parish. This was the first parish where I realized that the people were what truly made the parish what it was, and still is. It wasn't the pastor, the principal, the school staff, the men's or women's clubs, the religious ed program, or any other single entity. The people of St. Timothy's have made this parish what it is, and continue to do so.

We are all the ministers of this parish. We have all taken ownership in this parish because we are the ones who make it what it is. God's presence is in each and every one of us, and I have seen Him in all of you in so many ways. The open arms when I was hired here in 1979. The open arms when I chose to bring my family here in 1985. The open hearts when I have seen births, deaths, illnesses, weddings, joys and struggles of all kinds. This parish, St. Timothy Parish, has been a vital part of my faith journey, and I am so grateful that each of you has been a part of it. Please share your faith journey with others in the parish, and with others around you.

 

I wish you all Peace!

Sue Gardiner

A Word from Your Pastor - September 1

Dear Parishioners:

The purpose of a life of Faith is to open the doors of our hearts in two directions: first, to God, disposing ourselves for Eternity; and second, to our neighbor, in order to deepen our capacity for relationship so that we may allow God to share His Life with us.  When we allow ourselves to be deluded by the world’s promises, we go down the wrong path.  When we get distracted as to what is central and most important, we set ourselves up for disappointment.

Faith teaches us to say to God, “Thy will be done.”  If we cooperate with the grace that is offered, we grow in our capacity to set aside our own will in favor of God’s Will.  If instead we always choose our own way and reject the graces offered, in the end, all that God can do is say to us, “thy will be done,” and leave us out of the Kingdom.  We can lose everything by trying to claim it all for ourselves.

As a parish family, we have three primary functions.  We are first gathered as a People to worship God.  The Liturgy – the Mass, the Sacraments, and the Prayer of the Church – lifts us up to a relationship with God that already tastes Eternity.  Second, we are entrusted to one another as brothers and sisters, to care for one another and to embrace the needs of others, especially the poor, as our own.  This includes our social needs – the time we spend with one another as families and in recreation.  Third, we are meant to pass on the generations to come the wisdom we have received.  All of our activities must be chosen keeping these priorities in mind.

Over the past several years, through the celebration of our Golden Jubilee as a parish, we have had a chance to look to our past and to acknowledge those who have laid the foundation for all that we have become.  Now, as we enter into the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of St. Timothy School, we can direct our attention to the question of how best to pass on the Faith to the generations ahead.  I believe that Christ the Good Shepherd is showing us the way.

As the School makes celebrates its 50^th Jubilee, I have two dreams for the outcome of this year:  First, I would like to see the formal establishment of an Alumni Association, which will continue to keep contact with those who have shared the St. Timothy experience and allow them to be part of all that happens in the next seasons of the life of our School.  This will require a concerted effort on the part of the alumni themselves.  We have made a beginning during the time of the Parish Jubilee, but it is time to move forward in earnest.

Second, I see clearly that it is time to move ahead with our Catechetical efforts in the Parish and School by making concrete plans to use the space “set aside for future needs” in the lower level of the new classroom building next to the Parish Activities Center and Gym.  The future is now!  During this year, we will take time to study the possibilities and to put to use this space for its intended purpose. 

At the beginning of our Parish Jubilee in 2011, we were able to announce that the debt incurred with the Diocese of Columbus for our new facility was paid in full.  For more than a dozen years, we have waited to make full use of it.  Let’s follow the Good Shepherd’s lead and journey into new pastures!

 

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

ARTICLE 1         I BELIEVE           I. The Obedience of Faith

144 To obey (from the Latin ob-audire, to “hear or listen to”) in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself. Abraham is the model of such obedience offered us by Sacred Scripture. The Virgin Mary is its most perfect embodiment.

Abraham — “father of all who believe”

145 The Letter to the Hebrews, in its great eulogy of the faith of Israel’s ancestors, lays special emphasis on Abraham’s faith: “By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go.”  (Hebrews 11:8; cf. Genesis 12:1-4.) By faith, he lived as a stranger and pilgrim in the promised land.  (Cf. Genesis 23:4.) By faith, Sarah was given to conceive the son of the promise. And by faith Abraham offered his only son in sacrifice. (Cf. Hebrews 11:17.)

146 Abraham thus fulfills the definition of faith in Hebrews: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”:  (Hebrews 11:1) “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3; cf. Genesis 15:6.) Because he was “strong in his faith,” Abraham became the “father of all who believe.” (Romans 4:11, 18; 4:20; cf. Genesis 15:5.)

147 The Old Testament is rich in witnesses to this faith. The Letter to the Hebrews proclaims its eulogy of the exemplary faith of the ancestors who “received divine approval.”  (Hebrews 11:2, 39.) Yet “God had foreseen something better for us”: the grace of believing in his Son Jesus, “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 11:40; 12:2.)

Comment:  The tendency of our culture is to see matters of Faith as merely private.  While it is true that the act of Faith can take place only in the intimacy of the human heart, it is more than a private matter.  It involves obedience to God and the willingness to follow.  Abraham had this kind of Faith.  Do you see the implications of your Faith for your relationship with the world around?  Who will be your own descendants in Faith? 

 Focolare Word of Life for September 2013: 

“Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” (1 Jn 3:18)

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