Pastor’s Letter & September 27 Bulletin

Pastor’s Letter & September 27 Bulletin

25 Sep 2020 | Posted by: chadmin

The September 27 bulletin is now available online.

Dear friend,

Jesus speaks some strong warnings to the Jewish religious leadership in Matthew’s Gospel this Sunday. Essentially, he tells the religious leaders that sinners will get to heaven before them. Jesus first verified that the religious leadership understood the notion that actions matter more than a promise made. It is more fulfilling the will of someone to do what you say you will do, and not just say you will do it. God wants us to follow through on doing the good. Jesus does make a common sense presumption in this passage that we can all understand. First century identified sinners were witnessing the power of words spoken by St. John the Baptist and they were converting. Many people saw the actions of John in the desert and how they matched with the words he spoke. The witness of John the Baptist caused many to realize that God was speaking through him. Jesus presumes we can identify truth. Jesus presumes we all have the ability to know what is good, holy, righteous and ordered to heaven. Jesus is making the point that the religious leadership was purposely ignoring the message of John the Baptist and likewise was ignoring the words and actions of Jesus. One of our principal beliefs is that the Holy Spirit of God is intimately connected to all of us. We have within us from creation and sacramental grace, the ability to name and recognize what is good, beautiful and holy.  We all then have the culpability to follow through on the good we know we should do.  The study of the Bible is necessary to increase our intellectual knowledge; but, most fundamentally, God will judge all of us based on how well we followed the spiritual guidance we each receive in the human conscience.

It’s hard to believe that we are in our fifth week of the school year. There was a lot of planning and anxiety among many to get ready for the year. We have seen with following the same guidelines, we can successfully function with the reality of the coronavirus. Some of the fears and anxieties about beginning the school year have subsided, but we all need to maintain the mask wearing and social distancing. Our principal, Mr. Jack Dippold, has done a phenomenal job leading this effort at our school building and encouraging our families to maintain these efforts off campus. We are hopeful that with everyone working together we will continue to have a healthy and safe school year. As I listen to the many challenges we face because of changes to our daily lives, I continue to thank God for the example of the life of Jesus. As the God-Man, He is the one who laid down His life for all of us. We can all model Christ by laying down any personal desires, to support the common good. My hope is that our attendance at Mass, as well as the many other aspects of our cultural life, will one day return to its past familiarity. Keep praying for each other and reach out to family, friends and loved ones when you know you need companionship. Have a great week.

God bless

Father David