Pastor’s Corner – April 21

Pastor’s Corner – April 21

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

As we experience the Easter Resurrection, we are reminded that this is a time of renewal for the whole Church, for each community and every believer.  It is a favorable time to become more like Christ.  This happens whenever we hear the word of God and receive the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.  There we become what we receive: the Body of Christ.  In this body there is no room for the indifference which is violence, rejection of the other, war and injustice.  We need to have the courage to reject all that takes us off course, the false values that deceive us by subtly flattering our ego.  Rather, we must entrust ourselves to the Lord, to His goodness and to His project of love for each of us.

Today too, Jesus lives and walks along the paths of ordinary life in order to draw near to everyone, beginning with the least, and to heal us of our infirmities and illnesses.  I invite you to listen to the voice of Christ that rings out in the Church and to understand what your own vocation is.  I invite you to listen to and follow Jesus, and to allow yourselves to be transformed interiorly by his words, which “are spirit and life” (John 6:62).  Let us dispose our hearts therefore to being “good soil” by listening, receiving and living out the word, and thus bearing fruit.  The more we unite ourselves to Jesus through prayer, Sacred Scripture, the Eucharist, the Sacraments celebrated and lived in the Church, and in community, the more there will grow in us the joy of cooperating with God in the service of the Kingdom of mercy and truth, of justice and peace.

God is not aloof from us.  Each one of us has a place in God’s heart.  God knows us by name, cares for us and seeks us out whenever we turn away.  God is interested in each of us and not indifferent to what happens to us.  Usually, when we are healthy and comfortable, we forget about others (something God the Father never does): we are unconcerned with their problems, their sufferings and the injustices they endure.  Our heart grows cold.  As long as I am relatively healthy and comfortable, I don’t think about those less well off.  Today, this selfish attitude of indifference has taken on global proportions, to the extent that we can speak of a globalization of indifference.  So, let us ask the Lord to give us a heart like his that is firm and merciful, attentive and generous, a heart which is not closed, indifferent or prey to the globalization of indifference.

God’s love is always greater than anything we can imagine.  It even reaches beyond any sin with which our conscience may charge us.  God’s is an infinite love, one that knows no bounds.  It is free of all those obstacles that we, for our part, tend to set in front of others, out of fear that they may strip us of our freedom.  We know that the state of sin distances us from God.  But in fact, sin is the way that we distance ourselves from God.  Yet that does not mean that God distances himself from us.  The state of weakness and confusion that results from sin is one more reason for God to remain close to us.  The certainty of this should accompany us throughout our lives.  God’s grace is constantly at work in us, to strengthen our hope that his love will never be lacking, in spite of any sin we may have committed by rejecting his presence in our lives.” (Pope Francis)

As we journey in the Easter Resurrection and the new life that awaits us, let us renew our faith and commitment to serving the Lord first and above all things.

Blessings,

Fr. David