Pastoral Messages from Fr. Rick: 10-2-22
Hospitality is Ministry: Remember that we are a ‘Hospitality Parish’ with a major outreach to our many visitors. It would be great to have a couple more ‘teams of two’ participate in this ministry so that each team could serve once every four to six weeks. Please sign up in the gathering space to help host our Sunday morning Coffee and Muffin gathering. THANKS
Your Local and Global Church at Work
Resettling the Ukrainian and Afghan Refugees: See how you can help locally (Utah). Catholic Community Services of Utah https://www.ccsutah.org/
World Hunger and Disaster Relief: Catholic Relief Services can help us make a meaningful response throughout the world. https://www.crs.org/get-involved/campaigns/hunger
Diocesan Development Drive: We have almost reached our goal of $9500 with just 11 households contributing with an average gift of $756!! Surely a few others could pitch in. If we do not achieve our goal with donations, it just comes out of our checking account. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.
Keynote on Eucharist and Stewardship from Salt Lake Pastoral Congress: https://www.dioslc.org/congress
Diocese of Salt Lake Synthesis for Synod on Synodality: Just a click away on our website. https://www.dioslc.org/about-us/synod-of-bishops-2023
Homily Reflection:
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord… bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God. 2 Tim 1
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. Lk 17
So, what could be so difficult about our testimony? What indeed IS our testimony? Why would we have to be ashamed? We’re good people, aren’t we? What exactly is the nature of the hardship we are to bear and have we actually been given the ‘STRENGTH OF GOD’?
If we only need the faith the size of a mustard seed in order to ‘move mountains’, as the gospel today tells us, then what is the problem? We surely have that much faith, don’t we? We could all make a fairly long list of the all the mountains we have moved over the past several decades. Right? Why would that cause shame?
I guess we would have to ask, what IS our testimony? What is our witness? As you recall we are moving through this three-year process of National Eucharistic Revival. Living out the Eucharist is essentially the testimony or the witness we are called to take to the world.
The St. Christopher’s Knights of Columbus are planning a parish gathering with grilled picnic food in the near future. Think of who you might ask to join us; perhaps folks who have been away for a while. We have something more alluring here than freshly grilled burgers. We have the Body of Christ. How can we share the value of the Body of Christ in our lives? What is the real value of regular participation in a Eucharistic Community? How do we explain this great mystery? When presented with the mystery of the Eucharist, many of the disciples replied, “But Lord this is a hard teaching. Who can accept this?” Jn 6:60. And many left.
The fact that any of us can believe in such a great mystery, even an absurdity to the world, is a great miracle. So, to the ‘others’ we are called to manifest or personify the mystery of the Eucharist with our lives. If we were really well in the process of becoming ‘One Body, One Spirit in Christ’ the value of the Eucharist might be more apparent. In our times of great change, the transcendent level of community we have and the radical levels of interdependence and stewardship we practice would easily reveal the antidote to the unsustainable lifestyles we have adopted as Americans. This great mystery is also the most practical teaching we could have.
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“Cling to God and let all the rest to Him. He will not let you perish. Your soul is very dear to Him. He wishes to save it.” St. Margaret Mary Alacoque