A Word from Your Pastor February 27

Dear Parishioners:

We welcome Bishop Campbell to St. Timothy Church this weekend to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation for 44 8th Graders in our School and PSR. Whenever the Bishop comes among us, we experience a taste of what it means to be the Church in her fullness. The primary locus for the experience of Church in relation to the world is the Diocese, that is, the Bishop, together with the Clergy, Religious and Laity, who are the local expression of the Body of Christ. As Church, we are called to witness to the truth of the Faith and to invite others to know Christ through Word and Sacrament.

Family life is the Domestic Church, that is the Church at Home. The experience of Faith in the family is the primary locus for the first knowledge of the Gospel. When families live with Christ at their center, their members are able to live their witness with a strong foundation.

The Parish celebration of Confirmation is a privileged moment which serves to remind all of us of our call. As the confirmands, their sponsors and their families and all who teach them gather with the Parish Community to welcome our local apostle, it is time for every member of the Parish Family to be renewed in zeal for the Faith. Let us commit to share Christ with the world, and let us ask the Holy Spirit to lead us to worship of the Father through His Word.

We offer our thanks to Bishop Campbell for the Gift of the Spirit and to all who have brought our 8th Graders to this joyful day.


The Year of Prayer: Act of Faith

O my God, I firmly believe that You are One God in Three Divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I believe that Your Divine Son became man, and died for our sins and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches because You have revealed them, Who can neither deceive nor be deceived.

Countdown to our Golden Jubilee: Getting to know Saint Timothy.

On many occasions, St. Paul the Apostle made an apostle also of St. Timothy by sending him on missions on behalf of the Gospel.

The Acts of the Apostles tells us that Paul “sent to Macedonia two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, while he himself stayed for a while in the province of Asia.” (Acts 19:22) Paul tells the Thessalonians that he “sent Timothy, our brother and co-worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith.” (I Thessalonians 3:2) To the Corinthians, he writes “For this reason I am sending you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord; he will remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach them everywhere in every church.” (I Corinthians 4:17)
The Philippians are given word of Paul’s hope “in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be heartened by hearing news of you.” (Philippians 2:19)

The role of Timothy on these occasions was to promote the work of the Gospel by carrying a word of encouragement or by discovering the situation and needs of the communities to whom he was sent. He served as a connecting link between St. Paul and the communities he had founded. Paul rejoices after Timothy’s mission to the Thessalonians that “just now Timothy has returned to us from you, bringing us the good news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us and long to see us
as we long to see you.” (I Thessalonians 3:6)

The task of building up the community of believers is a shared mission. Our patron Timothy shows us how to respond to this call in the Lord Jesus.

Reflections on the Liturgy:

The Church has always recognized that how she prays assists her to know the Faith. Lex orandi, lex credendi: the law of praying is the law of believing. For this reason, the language and form of the Liturgy is studied, purified, at times corrected, and always held to the norms and rubrics that the Church supplies. When all do what the Liturgy calls for, we become truly who we are as the Body of Christ and our prayer in common is the very worship of the Angels and Saints in glory. The current move to a revised translation of the Mass (which will take place on the First Sunday of Advent this year) is to be understood in this light. The Church is always being called to growth. As we pray and study the new form in the months ahead, let us ask the Spirit to help us to understand ever more profoundly the Mystery we celebrate.

A Word from Your Pastor October 24

Dear Parishioners:

The loss of any loved one is a painful experience. The loss of one who is young is the hardest. I am sure you have been aware of the loss of Dominic Gregory, one of our high school students, a 2009 graduate of St. Timothy School. His funeral was celebrated this past Monday at St. Charles Prep High School. The principal, Dominic Cavello, graciously offered to host the funeral Mass knowing that our church would not be able to accommodate the large number who wanted to participate. Once again, I am personally grateful to all in the St. Timothy Parish family who have stepped up to work together to support members of our community who are facing tragedy. I know that the Gregory family is also thankful to the many who have reached out to them in their time of need.

As I said in my homily at the funeral, only Faith can help us to embrace this kind of experience. We are not capable of reaching a full understanding of such events. We have to express our grief and our pain and put our trust in God. We can be confident that God is with us in our sorrow. He hears our cry and He provides the grace that sustains us. Our deepest longings are expressed at times like this, and Faith tells us that God will fill them. Death is a Mystery and yet, through our experiences of the love and support that comes to us, we taste the Resurrection. Our hearts are opened to the Hope of Eternal Life for those we love and for all of us. The Kingdom will come. In the meantime, we wait with expectation and we commit ourselves to one another along the way.

The precious gift of life is in our view when we experience loss. Our Faith invites us to keep it in view at all times and to work to build up a culture around us that is also respectful of life. Let us cherish one another.

This weekend our 8th Graders begin their journey of preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation. Let us keep them and their families in our prayers that they may be docile to the promptings of the Spirit and learn to live the Faith we share.