A Word from Your Pastor February 23

Dear Parishioners:

R.S.V.P. can be a worthy theme for Lent, which begins this Wednesday.  Please respond.  Invitations are sent out, but we are all so busy, we don’t answer.  The opportunity passes and we are left without the strength to continue.

Lent is a gift from the Church, a period of 40 Days of preparation so that we don’t miss the heart of the Christian Message.  We are invited to enter into the mystery of Christ’s suffering and death so as to enter more fully into the Resurrection.

It is so clear that our world is in need of witnesses.  The first “duty” of the witness is to show up at the scene.  Being present at the scene means that we are given the opportunity to see what is happening.  Then we have to open our eyes and our hearts to pay attention, to see the truth of what is going on.  Finally, we are asked to respond fully and to commit to the new way of being that must flow from the knowledge that we have received.

Lent is here.  As Pastor, I invite you to be a witness.  Pray.  Fast.  Give Alms. 

Come to Adoration on Wednesday, Stations of the Cross of Friday, Daily Mass and other times of prayer and study of the Catholic Faith.

Turn off the distractions.  Pull away from what keeps you from paying attention.  Allow your mind to be changed from your way of thinking to God’s way.  Open your heart to the Word.

Give of yourself.  Be present to your family.  Take time to talk with your children about more than the daily run.  Participate in some action of charity.  Visit the sick.  Serve at a soup kitchen.  Invest your time and treasure in something that makes a difference.

Please Respond.  Don’t let Lent pass you by.  Pray.  Fast.  Give Alms.

Ash Wednesday Masses are at 9 a.m. with the School and at 6 p.m.  It is a good time to show your parish family that you are ready to respond.  Be a witness of the Faith!

A Word from Your Pastor February 16

Dear Parishioners:

Last Sunday we welcomed Bishop Robert Brennan to St. Timothy for the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation for our 8^th Graders in the Class of 2020.  It was a wonderful moment in the life of the parish with our Bishop taking on his primary role as successor to the Apostles in the action of imparting the Gift of the Holy Spirit to our students.

The Sacrament of Confirmation is one of the three Sacraments of Initiation in the Catholic Church: Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist.  When these three Sacraments are received, we are understood to be “fully initiated” in the Catholic Church.

Baptism makes us children of God and opens the doorway to Heaven and to the other Sacraments in our journey of Faith.  Confirmation strengthens our Faith and gives us the capacity to serve as a witness to the world of the truth of the Gospel.  Baptism and Confirmation are received only once. 

Holy Eucharist is the repeatable Sacrament of Initiation.  Each time we receive the Eucharist, we renew our pledge of Faith and we are nourished and strengthened to live the Life we have received in Jesus Christ.  The reason we do not have “open Communion” as other Faith communities do is that for us Eucharist expresses first and foremost our unity as members of the Catholic Church.  It is not something that we merely “get” to receive.  It is an expression of who we are.

The responsibility to participate in the Mass each Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation flows from the nature of the Sacrament as well as being the fulfillment of the Third Commandment (“Keep holy the Sabbath”).  In the “Amen” we respond to “The Body of Christ” and to “The Blood of Christ,” we express our personal choice to live out the relationship we have with Christ and His Church.

Congratulations to our newly Confirmed and to their families!  May we all grow in our response to the Gifts of the Spirit at work in our hearts.

A Word from Your Pastor February 9

Dear Parishioners:

Recently, our Parish Office has been working on the annual submission of the form called the “Status Animarum.”    It is the compilation of data concerning the reality of parish life, including details of parish membership and numbers of Sacramental celebrations, as well as other matters that lend themselves to counting.  The name of the document means the “state of the souls” who are in our parish.

Reviewing the record books and nowadays the online listings of such matters serves to bring to mind all the events of the past year.  Baptisms, Confirmations, First Communions, Weddings and Funerals are among the items about which we give an account.  Masses, opportunities for Confession, Anointing of the Sick and our ways of reaching out to others are all considered.  In short, the annual Status Animarum is a snapshot of the whole previous year’s activities.  We are reflecting on our practical approach to the spiritual life we share.

The information is pulled together by the Diocese to evaluate our collective efforts to live out our Catholic Faith.  Perhaps it would be a good idea for you to do a similar accounting for your family and for your own response to the Catholic Faith.  What is the “state of your soul”?

What Sacraments have you celebrated?  How do you arrange your days and weeks and months in relationship to the Faith?  Does your account of yourself and your family show clearly that your relationship with God is your priority?  Would someone who read your “statistics” be able to tell that you are a Catholic, not just in good standing, but also truly involved with the meaning of Faith?

Lent is coming.  It will start with Ash Wednesday on February 26^th.  Take some time now to begin your assessment and to establish a plan for renewal.  All of us are called to conversion.  We must turn more toward God, acknowledging His Love and reaching out to others to share our Faith in Him.

A Word from Your Pastor February 2 - Feast of the Presentation

Dear Parishioners:

The Presentation of the Lord celebrates a moment that was precious to Mary, the mother of Jesus.  We hear about it in the Gospel of Luke, which has a very Marian flavor to it.  The encounter with Simeon and Anna at the Temple 40 days after the birth of Jesus was etched into the memory of Mary and she pondered it often in her heart.

Fulfillment of the precepts of Jewish Law was a value to Joseph, who is identified as a “just man.”  He and Mary experienced the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem under unusual circumstances.  Coming to the Temple could serve to put things back on an even path.  Instead, the visit opened up a moment of prophecy, which is always at least slightly unsettling.

A sacrifice to redeem the firstborn connected the story of this small family to the history of Israel and the Exodus.  Simeon associated the Child’s presentation as the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit’s personal promise to him that he would not die before seeing the Messiah, the Light to the Nations and the glory of the People of God.  Anna, watching the proceedings, was able to see that what the ordinary folks were waiting for was beginning to happen.

God has invited the world to receive the gift of a relationship with Him.  In Jesus Christ, separate worlds and intimate promises experienced in personal prayer are brought together.  Dreams are fulfilled when we walk the journey of Faith according to the plan God has mapped out for us.

Are you able to recall moments of grace in your own life where everything came together for you, when you glimpsed in an instant the past, the present and the future and you knew everything would be okay?  Who has been with you in that experience?  How does it serve you now when you call it to mind?  What new light do you see?

The Presentation is about presenting the perfect human nature of the Son back to His Father.  God has claimed us as His own through Jesus Christ.  What does that mean for our life together?  What do you hear God inviting you to be and us to be together?  Let us give our own humanity to God that He may bring us all to unity in Christ.