A Word from Your Pastor June 24 - Nativity of John the Baptist

The Birth of St. John the Baptist is one of the few celebrations of earthly birthdays in our Catholic Liturgical Calendar.  Most of the Saints’ feast days are on the day of their birth into Eternity, that is, the day of their death or martyrdom.  John the Baptist has one of those too – August 29, the feast commemorating his Beheading.  We also celebrate the Birth of Mary (September 8), the Birth of Jesus (December 25) and the Birth of the Church (Pentecost).

John, the son of the priest Zechariah and Elizabeth, who is related to Mary, is a figure who loomed large in the early Christian community.  Many of Jesus’ first disciples were followers of the Baptist.  It was John who declared that Jesus is the Lamb of God.  After John’s imprisonment, Jesus began His public ministry in earnest.  It was after John’s death that Jesus first began to announce that He would be crucified.

As we acknowledge John at the time of His birth, we are called to realize that we too must prepare the way of the Lord.  We have to be ready to identify Jesus for Who He IS and to give our lives as a witness of that truth. 

John the Baptist reminds us that God has a plan for the salvation of the world.  He shows us that Christ must increase, while we must decrease.  Our sights are to be set not on what we get, but rather on what God wants to offer the world through our participation in His plan.  This means that we must respond to the God’s call to evangelize.  We proclaim the Gospel near and far.

Next weekend, while I am away for a Mariapolis, the summer retreat weekend with the Focolare Movement, St. Timothy Parish will experience the annual mssion appeal that is part of the Mission Co-Op of the Diocese of Columbus.  The Missionaries of the Precious Blood have been assigned to us this year.  This community serves in the Diocese of Columbus as well as in missions throughout the world, taking care of St. James the Less Parish.   I am sure you will show Fr. Andrew O’Reilly a warm welcome and I invite you to be generous.  July is the month that celebrates the gift of the Blood of Christ, so it is fitting to start it off in support of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood.

A Word from Your Pastor June 17

Deepened understanding of the Catholic Faith is always possible.  Three times, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger decided that he wanted to retire.  He reached the natural age of retirement the first time.  He asked Pope John Paul II to let him retire.  Pope John Paul said, “I need you.”  He asked a second time, and he received the same response.  As Pope John Paul came to the end of his life, Cardinal Ratzinger decided he would not give the next pope the choice.  He would tell him that he needed to retire.  Then, they elected him as Pope Benedict.  After several more years, he didn’t have to ask anyone else.  He announced his retirement.

Do you know what Pope Benedict wanted to do in retirement?  He wanted to have the time to study the Catholic Faith. If the pope feels he needs to study, the rest of us have to study the Catholic Faith even more!

Our parish has a long history of offering ways for study.  Virtually every day of the week, something is available for those who choose.  There are small groups, bible studies and opportunity for quiet prayer in the Presence of the Lord, the True Teacher.  And now, we have made arrangements for you to be able to pursue study using modern technology.

St. Timothy Parish is now on FORMED!   Give it a try at https://sttimchurch.formed.org.

The Lord Himself has given us a mission to go out to all the world and to make disciples.  In order to do so, we must know Jesus and spend time with Him.  We must also get to know all that He has taught us through the Scriptures and through the Church across time.  The Holy Spirit guides us.

In order to learn about our Faith at a greater depth, a proper attitude is needed: humility and reverence for Truth and a willingness to put our trust in the Teacher.  This is something that we cultivate together.  You will have noticed some changes in the environment as we gather for Mass.  Our Eucharistic Lord has His rightful place at the center with the Tabernacle now clearly visible in the sanctuary.  The beautiful play of light with the window above the altar on the top of the baldacchino over the Tabernacle is an unexpected gift – our own experience of the Burning Bush.  The kneeling of the Altar Servers and the ringing of the bells at the time of the epiclesis and the consecration draws us together to acknowledge our Lord Who is truly Present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.  All of this serves to draw us into the fields where our Good Shepherd intends to take us in order to grow in our Faith.  May our hearts be open to the Lord and may we learn to appreciate together the Truth of His teachings.

A Word from Your Pastor June 10

Each human being is a unique and unrepeatable gift of God.  This is the heart of the mystery of the human person.  It is the central teaching of our Catholic Faith that underlies so many other teachings.  If it is obscured or made less than central, great confusion follows.  If it is personally grasped, then it becomes a light, a prism through which everything else makes sense.

When we realized that we are loved by God, and when we come to understand that every human being we encounter is loved in the same way, we have to change our vision of the world around us.  We don’t see people as enemies when we see them as persons with dignity and worth.

Our current culture pretends to hold this value in some situations, but when it is measured with clear sight, we have to acknowledge that it is more like George Orwell’s world in the book Animal Farm: “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”  We give due to ourselves and those we personally care about, but those beyond our immediate world are not thought about very much. 

Pope Francis keeps inviting us to seek out those who are left out “in the peripheries.”  This does not necessarily mean traveling far away, but rather opening our eyes to see one another as we live our ordinary lives.  Summer gives us an opportunity to slow down.  Can we take advantage of that by trying to see one another more clearly?

Notice when someone is sad or tired and take the time to ask them what is going on in their lives.  Spend some time playing with your children – not just driving them to their extracurricular activities, but staying close to home and doing something just for the opportunity to be together.

Take some time also to remember the folks who used to be part of your every day world.  Where are they now?  Is there anyone you have lost track of with whom you ought to renew your relationship?  Who were your friends of long ago that still live nearby but have drifted out of your life?

A Word from Your Pastor June 3 - Corpus Christi

Ordinary Time is the Season of Growth.  We live and grow in our understanding of the Mysteries of Christ that are highlighted in special ways by all the other Liturgical Seasons of the Church.  This Sunday we experience the celebration of the Solemnity of Corpus Christ, the Body and Blood of Christ.  This feast is linked to the Paschal Seasons that have just come to their close – Lent-Easter-Pentecost.  It is as if a painting of bright and glorious colors flows over beyond its frame onto the wall on which it is hung.

Pentecost pours out the Holy Spirit on the Church, giving us our share in the very Life of God through Jesus Christ.  Trinity Sunday, which was celebrated last week, plunges us into the Love of the Trinity, Each Divine Person’s act of giving and receiving, and Being in Relationship with Each Other.  Corpus Christi points to the simple truth that Jesus, the Eternal Son of the Father, Whose Life, Death, Resurrection and Ascension makes possible our Union with God, has given us Himself as the Bread of Life and the Blood of the Covenant.  The Holy Spirit, Who effects the transformation of bread and wine into the very Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, enlivens in us the capacity for sharing in the Triune Life.  We receive the Body of Christ in the Eucharist and we become what we receive.

In the week after Corpus Christ is celebrated, we also experience the feasts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Friday) and the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Saturday), the two human hearts that opened fully to the action and flow of grace offered to us.  Our hearts can embrace the full gift of the Mysteries because the Hearts of Jesus and Mary have already done so in our human nature.

If you can look at all of this in a simple “glance” of Faith, you cannot help but be caught up in awe at what God accomplishes among those who are open to receive Him in Love.  May every heart be ready to respond to this great act of Love poured out for us by Jesus the Lord.