To My Spiritual Family of Holy Redeemer and St. Anthony,
Falling in Love with Jesus: When we encounter the redeeming of love of Jesus Christ, he turns our lives upside down in a powerful yet gentle way. We were created to know, to love, and to serve God. The God of the universe longs to be loved by me. He longs to be loved by you. Jesus thirsts for our friendship. Jesus wants us to know him intimately and Jesus wants us to spend eternity with him in heaven. We must say yes to his invitation, though. Jesus is too much of a gentleman to force his love upon us. We must choose. Free will is a magnificent and weighty thing! If sin is deeply engrained in our way of living, we must repent. Such repentance opens the gates of our hearts to Christ’s mercy. Often, we know that we must repent of one sin or another, but we compromise or equivocate or delay. Sometimes, we are afraid to change. Do not be afraid! Please – go to confession! Let the mercy of our Lord Jesus wash over you like a healing wave. You are the apple of Christ’s eye. You are his son. You are his daughter. Allow the love of Christ to turn your life upside down. Jesus always offers more!
Holiness in the Everyday: When Christ turns our lives upside down, he places us on the path to holiness. Most often, though, that holiness is lived out in the seemingly mundane realities of everyday life. This means – in practical terms – that most of us live the adventure of Christian discipleship in the kitchen, at our workplace, in school, or while driving the family Uber. Sure, it would be a great act of love to throw ourselves in front of an oncoming truck to shield a friend. Yet it’s also a great act of love to day-after-day take care of the kids or to labor diligently at my job. Some saints live lives of apparent swashbuckling drama. Most of us, though, are asked to simply love well in the small things. God sees every sacrifice we make for our family and every gift of self we offer to a stranger. Holiness is forged in the furnace of everyday life.
Offering Refuge: Making our parish a place where anyone in spiritual or material need can find a home and a helping hand is an important element of who we are as a Catholic family. We recently sent our July parish tithe to Maria House ministries (mariahouseproject.org) in the amount of $2,023.50. Those funds will be used to help house homeless men, assist recovering addicts, and support the other ministries that Maria House offers. We also provided $7,500 in tuition assistance to parish families who are educating their children at St. Joseph School. Two of our parish families will have 4 students each at SJS next year. What a joy that we can help them! Thank you for allowing us to bless others by sharing the blessings we have indeed received!
Deacon Ray on Vacation: Knowing that y’all get worried when Deacon Ray is not at his station in the sacristy or in the sanctuary, please know that he is on vacation from July 15 – July 22. I think that he’s sailing the North Sea in a raft or cliff diving in South Africa or running with the bulls in Pamplona. Something like that. Whatever it is, we wish him and his family a beautiful and restful time away.
Mary, Mother of the Redeemer – Pray for us! Our Lady of Guadalupe – Pray for us! St. Anthony – Pray for us! St. Joseph – Pray for us!