Pastor’s Letter & November 22 Bulletin

Pastor’s Letter & November 22 Bulletin

20 Nov 2020 | Posted by: chadmin

The November 22 bulletin is available online.

Dear friend,

As we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, the Church invites us to reflect on all of God’s creatures are called to love and serve God. As the world has a growing level of secularism, the Church offers this feast day as a reminder that we are not our own gods. As much as we might try, we control very little in our lives. Our gifts and talents exist for service of God and neighbor and not the pursuit of selfish ambitions. The gospel reading from Matthew this weekend reveals aspects of the final judgment. All the nations will be assembled before Jesus. He will proceed to separate us like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Jesus makes it clear that this process of separation occurs by how well one lived the corporal works of mercy; cloth the naked, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and prisoners, and bury the dead. As we come to the close of the Liturgical Year and celebrate Thanksgiving, it is a great time to examine our participation in those human encounters that have eternal significance.

As we live under Christ our King, we soon enter into the great celebration of Advent. Advent prepares us to remember the great feast of Christmas. At Christmas, we celebrate God taking human form in the Incarnation and his choice to communicate to us in the first person. The humility of Jesus was evident from the beginning of his life in the stable, to the moment of his death on the Cross. Advent is the season for us to prepare our hearts in thanksgiving to receive the gift of God as he offers himself freely in love. Please take the time this Advent to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. While we can never give anything to God he doesn’t possess in Himself, our willing reception of the sacrament acknowledges our thanksgiving for Jesus’ forgiving death on the Cross.

Last week, Bishop Jenky announced all Diocesan schools switch from in-person instruction to E-Learning until mid-January. This news was difficult for all of us, but with the rising coronavirus numbers we all understand the reasoning. We have been extremely fortunate in the early success of our planning. Our teachers and kids cooperated so well with our guidelines and protocols. It was especially humbling to note the activities that families removed from their calendars in order to focus on school as a top priority. I am confident that when we are able to return to school we will pick up where we left off. As difficult as our school closure is for all those in our building, we have a reasonable confidence that we will have a successful conclusion to this school year. All of the unknowns last year were extremely challenging for the kids, parents and teachers. While this temporary time of E-Learning is necessary, we all look forward to returning to the classroom. Please join me in praying that responsible human interaction will help subside the spread of the virus so that we will soon return to school.

God bless,

Father David