A Word from Your Pastor - February 16

Dear Parishioners:

These days the world is watching human beings in a far off place stretch the limits of human capacity for strength, endurance and physical skills.  Nations take pride in one of their own going in for Gold, Silver or Bronze.  The “stuff” of dreams and legends is put on display for all to see.  Hopes and dreams are fulfilled in seconds and hundredths of seconds.  New hopes and dreams are created for some of those watching.  And, at the same time, the world’s best athletes experience the “agony of defeat” and the realization that some dreams are not meant to be.

As all of this is happening, we are invited to listen to the Word of God that tells us that we are created to strive for something greater than Gold and Silver and Bronze:  “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him . . . .”

Human beings have a destiny that is beyond this world.  We are called to live with this awareness even as we are engaged in what this world presents to us.  As we strive to reach our own hopes and dreams, as we choose goals to achieve in our lives, we must always keep in mind that there is more to come.  We were created to know, love and serve God in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.  Are we putting forth the effort to go for what is more valuable than Gold or Silver and more lasting than Bronze?

Often the media focuses in on the faces of the athletes who are waiting to see their numbers on the board or on their parents and family members as they watch their loved ones strive for victory.  How do the Saints in glory see us as we continue our earthly race for the Kingdom?  Do they see us striving for our best Time as we look toward Eternity?

Next weekend we will welcome Bishop Frederick F. Campbell for the Sacrament of Confirmation at the Noon Mass on Sunday.  Please keep our confirmands and their sponsors and families in your prayers.  May the Holy Spirit fill us all with zeal for the Kingdom!

A Word from Your Pastor - February 9

Dear Parishioners:

As I announced at the weekend Masses last week, Bishop Campbell has appointed me to a second six-year term as Pastor of St. Timothy Church.  The letter, dated January 29, 2013, and duly notarized by the Chancellor of the Diocese of Columbus, reads as follows:

Dear Father Hayes,

I appreciate your getting back to me on the matter of your appointment to a second term as Pastor of St. Timothy Church in Columbus. I am pleased to know that you will want to stay for another six-year term.

Since the assignment seems to be a good one for both yourself and the parish, I am happy to re-appoint you to a second six-year term as Pastor of St. Timothy Church in Columbus.

Wishing you and your parish all the best, I remain,

Sincerely yours in Christ,

[Signed]  +F.F. Campbell

Most Reverend Frederick F. Campbell, D.D., Ph.D.
Bishop of Columbus

This means that we will be together as Pastor and Parish until 2020.  The current policy of the Diocese of Columbus is a maximum of two terms for Pastors.  I am grateful to know that we have this time to continue growing together in the Lord. 

We have celebrated and experienced much together in the past 5-1/2 years.  Some items of note are:

• the welcome of Deacon Marion Smithberger into diaconal ministry in the parish in 2008,
• the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Parish in 2011-2012,
• the Golden Jubilee of St. Timothy School (ongoing) in the present academic year 2013-2014,
• the establishment of an Annual Blue Mass, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Council 14345, at which Bishop Campbell presided in the past few years,
• the creation of a Rosary Prayer Garden (dedicated at the celebration of the parish Jubilee),
• two Pilgrimages which included a number of members of the parish (one in 2010, to the Holy Land, and one in 2011, in the Footsteps of our Patron St. Timothy to his see city of Ephesus, and other locations in Turkey and in Greece),
• collaboration with the Pontifical College Josephinum in service of the New Evangelization by creating an apostolic work program which includes visitation of homes in our neighborhood,
• the purchase of a new organ for the church and upgrading of the sound system,
• and the retirement of the parish debt to the Diocese for the building project undertaken in 2000. 

We look forward to moving ahead with the full implementation of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in the parish and school, including the establishment of a Parish Catechetical Center.  Other initiatives to promote the New Evangelization are also in prospect.

Let’s continue to listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd and to follow Him where He leads.

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

Dear Parishioners:

The Feast of the Presentation is a celebration that offers us much to consider.  If we contemplate the scene of Mary and Joseph bringing the Baby Jesus to the Temple, we can discover some wonderful insights into God’s ways of working with human beings. 

In a moment of sheer delight and joy, a mother and father bring the Child entrusted to them to the Temple to present Him to the God Who sent Him.  They do so in order to fulfill the Law and to take the first step of expressing in a public way their acceptance of the responsibility to bring Him up in the traditions of their people.  Eight days after His birth, the Child was given the name Jesus and was circumcised, given the mark of the Covenant of God with His Chosen People.  Now, forty days after His birth, He is taken to the place of worship that unites the People in their witness to their God.

Some others observe what is happening:  Simeon and Anna, who are there for different reasons.  Simeon comes, prompted at the moment by the Holy Spirit.  Anna is there because she is always there.  Anna takes the message to the world, making the Child known to those who are among the Anawim, the poor in spirit who await the consolation promised to Israel.  Simeon speaks a prophetic word to the parents about what will be in the life of their Child, also noting the sorrow that will accompany the Light that is revealed.

If we can see our own lives through the perspective of the Presentation, we can make a new choice to cooperate with the grace that is given to us in our time to continue sharing the Message of Salvation.  Every detail of our lives has something to tell us about God’s ways.  We are given the capacity to respond, just as Mary and Joseph and Simeon and Ann did.  We are invited to present ourselves, our own human nature to God and to allow Him to shine His Light in us, just as He does in the Child Jesus.

As you may have heard, our School Mass with Bishop Campbell had to be cancelled this past week since School was out due to the freezing temperatures.  We will have to re-schedule sometime in the future.  Our School’s Jubilee will continue to be celebrated all the way to the end of the School Year.

Prayer for the Feast of St. Timothy 2014

 
Each Year on the Feast of St. Timothy (and St. Titus), the Children of our School and the whole Community of St. Timothy Church and School are invited to be united in praying for one petition.  In this, the year of St. Timothy School’s Golden Jubilee the petition is: 

That all the members and families of St. Timothy Church may listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow Him, and that we may share the Joy of the Gospel with everyone we meet along the Way

Focolare Word of Life for February 2014

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)
http://www.focolare.org/en/news/category/parola-di-vita/

 

A Word from Your Pastor - January 26 Feast of Saints Timothy and Titus

Dear Parishioners:

Happy Feast of Saint Timothy (and Saint Titus)!  This Sunday we are celebrating the Feast at all Masses.  Since it is a solemnity for us and this is now Ordinary Time, we are able to use the Mass of the Feast in place of the usual weekend Mass.  This allows us to highlight our patron in a special way as we observe the Golden Jubilee of our School.  At the 10 a.m. Mass today, we have the School participating to share their joy in the Jubilee with the parish.  This Wednesday, Bishop Campbell will celebrate the feast with the School at the usual All-School Mass.
 

We can see the example of our patron Timothy as a reminder of who we are to be as disciples of Jesus.  Timothy was from a family that had mixed religion: his mother Eunice was Jewish and his father was Greek.  He met St. Paul when he was young and became a valued traveling companion in the first Christian missionary efforts.  He was a trustworthy helper and is included by Paul as sender of several of his letters.  He became a Bishop and was put in charge of Ephesus, a city that hosted many greats of the apostolic generation including John and Mary the Mother of Jesus, as well as Paul.  It was in Ephesus that Timothy himself became a martyr as an old man.

Families can share Faith, and even if a family is not united in the same religion, the children can be taught the truth of Jesus Christ.  We can all help others in their walk with the Lord and His Church, and we are called to share our joy in the Gospel.  We can be faithful to the end of our lives, and, if necessary, we can pour out our lives as a witness to Christ.

For further information about St. Timothy, see the quiz in the bulletin.  You may also review these texts in the Scripture that mention our patron by name:  Acts of the Apostles chapters 16-20;  Romans 16:21; I Corinthians 4:17; 16:10;  II Corinthians 1:1, 19; Philippians 1:1; 2:19, 22; Colossians 1:1; I Thessalonians 1:1; 3:2, 6; II Thessalonians 1:1; I & II Timothy; Philemon 1:1; Hebrews 13:23.

A Word from Your Pastor - January 19

Dear Parishioners:

This week, I received some sad news about a cousin of mine.  You may have heard the report of the couple found dead in Crafton (Pittsburgh), PA, identified as a murder-suicide.  I am sorry to say that it was about my cousin Amy Suehr Gorsuch, who had gone to visit her estranged husband Ricky.  She was living at her father’s home with their three daughters.  When she did not return, her father dropped the girls off at school and went to the house where he found the couple dead.

 

The family asked me to celebrate the funeral (Saturday, January 18).  It is among the saddest experiences of my life to do this.  There are no words that can address the grief and the horror about what has happened.  I ask for your prayers, especially for the little girls who have lost both their parents.

Just the same day as I received this news about members of my family, I was looking at the Dispatch and noticing all the stories of violence that are told.  There are accounts of domestic violence, children harming or killing children in schools, international incidents of rape and other such tragedies.  My heart aches for all who have had to face these struggles.  They speak to me of the need the world has for the message of the Gospel.  The only thing that gets me through such experiences, whether in my own family or in my contact with others, is Faith.  Only Faith tells us that there is something beyond what this world has to offer.  The senseless tragedies do not have the last word.  God Himself offers us consolation and strength.  Our call is to trust in Him and to witness His Love and Mercy to the world.

Be sure that you and your concerns are in my heart.  I treasure the bond we share as Pastor and Flock.  I also trust in your prayers for me and for those who are dear to me. 

Life is precious, a gift from God, and we are called to cherish it in this world in hope of the next.  May we all know the dignity of every human life, and may all those we encounter see at work in us the Love of the God Who shares His Life with us.

A Word from Your Pastor - January 12 Baptism of the Lord

Dear Parishioners:

The Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord is the official close to the Christmas Season.  However, the nature of Christmas as the moment of revelation of the Incarnation indicates that in reality, Christmas itself is the Gift that goes on.  Jesus is the Reason for the Christmas Season – and for every other season as well.  He is the Word through Whom God created the universe.  The wonderful truth that is proclaimed by our celebration is that He has shared with us the capacity to bring Him to birth in the world.

The Baptism of Jesus was the moment when He was revealed publicly as the One sent by God, the Prophet who was to come into the world.  By His Baptism, Jesus Christ made the waters holy and the grace of Baptism is a grace that continues to flow.  In our church, the flowing waters of our Baptismal Font are a constant reminder that the grace of Baptism is available to us.  This is true for all the graces that flow from the Sacramental Life.

Recall your own Baptism.  Do you know the date it occurred?  Consider the other Sacraments you have received.  Have you continued to celebrate the power and life that were given to you in the first moment you experienced each Sacrament?

At the moment Jesus was baptized, Heaven opened and the glory of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit entered into our world in a new way.  Jesus, the Beloved Son, experienced in our human nature the full reality of Who He Is through the Father’s affirmation of Love and through the descending and remaining of the Holy Spirit.  From that moment on, His ministry among us became a public reality, following the hidden years in Nazareth.

Our world is in need of a new touch of the Spirit and of willing hearts ready to receive God’s grace.   May the Sacraments we share dispose us to respond to the invitation and may every nation on earth come to know Jesus Christ.

A Word from Your Pastor - January 5 Epiphany

Dear Parishioners:

The LORD bless you and keep you!
The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!
The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!

This Blessing to be given by Aaron the brother of Moses was given as a start to the New Year, on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.  It was a favorite of St. Francis, and so some know it as a Franciscan blessing.

Notice the three phrases:  about you, about God, and about God and you together.  The LORD bless you and keep you!  Blessing is an offering from outside, keeping is a gift of sustaining grace.

The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!  Opening His Face to us means seeing us for who we are and being gracious is allowing Mercy to triumph over justice.

The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!  Looking upon us kindly means allowing what is Best in Him to enter us and giving us Shalom is bringing us to the fullness of Life He wants to share with us.

In the womb of Mary, the Son of God took our flesh and became a human being.  As we honor the Mother of God, we acknowledge the Gift God has given.

I suggest we make two simple resolutions this year:

• To be confident in our Faith in Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Mary,
  and to speak from the heart about Him.
• To share the Joy of our Catholic Faith with the world in concrete and practical ways.

On this Solemnity of the Epiphany and throughout the year ahead, may we allow the glory of the Lord to move us beyond where we have been in order to follow our Good Shepherd where He leads.

A Word of Gratitude

Many Thanks to all who have sent cards and gifts to the priests and staff of St. Timothy Church for Christmas.  It is a great joy to serve in this parish and your kindnesses will not be forgotten.  May God reward you for your generosity.  Happy New Year!

Focolare Word of Life for January 2014

Christ, the Church’s one foundation. (cf 1 Cor 3:11)
http://www.focolare.org/en/news/category/parola-di-vita/