Monday, February 17, 2020

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 8th 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.

No comments:

Post a Comment