“We do not want a Church that moves with the world.
We want a Church that will move the world.” ~G. K. Chesterton
A Letter from Our Pastor:
July 12, 2024
Dear Parish households,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christians are followers of Jesus. Their faith in him is personal. There are some in our society, however, who interpret this to mean that the living of one’s faith is a private matter and one’s faith in Jesus should not have any influence outside of their church.
Jesus’s mission was to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, that is, to change the world, cultures, and societies. One’s faith in Jesus, which is personal, contains an inherent commitment to continue the mission of Jesus. This places a demand on the followers of Jesus to promote by word and works all that Jesus was promoting, namely, to publicly invite people to change their way of thinking from following the worldly ways of pride, greed, anger, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth and to commit to God’s ways of promoting truth, compassion, justice and mercy (this is called, “repentance”); to eradicate all that is harmful to all peoples (this is called, “cast out demons”); and to bring wholeness to the suffering caused by the evil and selfish ways of others (this is called, “heal the sick”). All Christians share the mission of Jesus to bring change in the world, to bring about the Kingdom of God.
This Sunday’s gospel, Mark 6:7-13, reminds Christians that Jesus needs help in fulfilling his mission. Jesus sends the twelve apostles, in pairs of two, to the towns and villages in Galilee to do what he was doing, namely, preach repentance, cast out demons and heal the sick. The apostles had faith in Jesus, which was personal, however, their faith was expressed publicly.
With love for you all,
Fr. Bernard M. Maloney, OFM Cap.
P.S.
- Parishioners not fulfilling their Sunday Mass obligation, do not allow that practice to hold you back when you are inclined to come to Church.
- The bulletin for this Sunday, July 14, is available on the bulletin page or by viewing it from this link: Bulletin for July 14 2024.
- I am available every Friday from 6:30–7:30 p.m. at the Parish Center. No appointment is required.