Dear Friends,

I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th holiday. Nature certainly cooperated. I thought it was a great day, in every way and I hope you did too. On the 4th, we celebrate our freedoms. Not included in the Declaration is freedom from anxiety; that’s something we have to find within ourselves, with the help of God’s presence. Notwithstanding the readiness to do God’s will, whatever that might entail, I received a certain freedom from anxiety when, on July 3rd, I received a letter from the Archbishop reappointing me as pastor until 2015. I am grateful to the Lord and to the Archbishop for this gift. Please pray that these years will be fruitful ones for all of us, as a community formed in the Lord. And thank you to all who expressed to me their hope that this letter would come.

Last week I shared with you a couple of thoughts about our life together. They focused on our central focus as a parish, to discover Jesus in our lives and to grow closer to Him, living in an ever-deepening way the life of Jesus that is within us. And I wrote about the call to do this, not just as individuals but also as a community, as a family. If we are the New Israel, then we must always realize that we don’t go to God alone, but as members of that community, as the Body of Christ, in all its parts.

As St. Paul points out in his Letters to the Corinthians, that Body of Christ is made up of many parts, each part sharing life with and contributing life to the whole. It is a reminder that each of us is gifted by the Spirit to bring to the Body that which will help it grow, be strong, and be effective in witnessing to Jesus in our world. That witness can only be effective if every one in the community does his or her part. We can’t just rely “on the next guy (gal),” we must be the ones who take up the work of the Gospel. In the sending of the Twelve in today’s Gospel, Jesus sends each and every one of us. Over these years, the parish has experienced an explosion of ministries and people in those ministries, to the young and old, to men and women, to families and to the elderly, to the healthy and the sick and the homebound. And the talents have come to the fore in all sorts of areas, in the liturgy, in bible-study and reflection groups, in educational and formational opportunities for anyone and everyone, in finance and governance and the care of our resources and material blessings. All possible because many have stepped up to the plate to see that the work of the Gospel is not just the work of priests or religious, or the “super holy,” but of everyone. I hope that too is who and what we are and who and what we will continue to be.

For these blessings of the past years, I give thanks and praise to Almighty God Who has begun this good work in all of us. And I give thanks to all of you who have shown and continue to show that faith in God and living that faith in a Catholic parish is still vital to your lives. You have no idea what encouragement that brings to my life and to the lives of all the priests who have served here. Next week, I want to share some thoughts on the challenges I believe lie ahead. Until then

God Bless,
Fr. Ron