A Word from Your Pastor - October 11

Dear Parishioners:

Reading the Message of Pope Francis to our country, I have come to a realization that I thought I would pass on to you.  What the Pope has to say to us can only be fully understood if you read all that he said and did while he was with us.  The pundits on all sides have started to pick apart what he said on the basis of sound bytes and as to what was said or not said in a particular speech or homily.  I have taken the time to download and read all the talks, and as I went through them all as part of my personal prayer time, I discovered that he really did say everything – even what he is purported as not having said!  He did use the words that he supposedly didn’t say, and his actions spoke louder than words in many situations.

In other words, the true Message of Pope Francis to the U.S.A. is to be grasped as a whole.  From the first moment he arrived until his last moments with us, he was a Message to us.  It is the Truth we all need to hear: that God is with us, that He loves us, that He wants to offer us His Mercy.  We are a family of nations. 

The fundamental building block of society is the family, according to God’s plan from the beginning and God Himself became one with us in the Family of Nazareth.  Each one of us can make a difference in the world by being willing to do the hard work necessary and by listening to those around us, making ourselves one with them and sharing our joy in the Gospel.

As I have shared on several occasions, the experience of welcome at Philadelphia was truly phenomenal.  I was in awe of the warmth and the efforts at outreach by local folks all through the weekend that the Holy Father spent there.  My first thought was that we can do this at St. Timothy Church.  We can be a truly welcoming community, but we have to make some decisions that put the Gospel at the center of our lives as individuals and as a parish family.  It cannot be “business as usual.”  How are you challenged to move outside your comfort zone and to commit?