From the Pastor’s Desk: October 20, 2019

From the Pastor’s Desk:                                                                                                                  October 20, 2019
 
     The message for us this weekend is about being “authentic”, being “yourself” before God. Too often, however, we pretend to be someone other than ourselves. We either pretend to be better than we really are or we do not recognize the many gifts we were entrusted from God. Pride leads to illusion and self-deception. Honest humility helps us to see ourselves as we really are and it inclines us to God's grace and mercy. We wear masks and dare not show our true selves, not even before God. The Lord invites us today to stand before God the way we are, be honest and humble with ourselves, and to learn to be without pretense before God and the people around us. Such an attitude brings us close to God, close to our real self, close to one another.
 
     This Sunday throughout the Universal Church we celebrate the 93 ^rd World Mission Sunday under the theme- “Baptized and Sent: The Church of Christ on Mission in the World.” This celebration “will help us first to rediscover the missionary dimension of our faith in Jesus Christ, a faith graciously bestowed on us in baptism. Our filial relationship with God is not something simply private, but always in relation to the Church. The Church is on mission in the world. Faith in Jesus Christ enables us to see all things in their proper perspective, as we view the world with God’s own eyes and heart. Hope opens us up to the eternal horizons of the divine life that we share. Charity, of which we have a foretaste in the sacraments and in fraternal love, impels us to go forth to the ends of the earth (cf. Mic 5:4; Mt 28:19; Acts 1:8; Rom 10:18). A Church that presses forward to the farthest frontiers requires a constant and ongoing missionary conversion. How many saints, how many men and women of faith, witness to the fact that this unlimited openness, this going forth in mercy, is indeed possible and realistic, for it is driven by love and its deepest meaning as gift, sacrifice and gratuitousness (cf. 2 Cor 5:14-21)! The man who preaches God must be a man of God.” (Pope Francis, WMD 2019)
 
     It is with tremendous joy that I want to express my most sincere words of gratitude to everyone who made the Feast of St. Luke such a splendid celebration!!!  The liturgy, enhanced by the prayerful and powerful music ministry, decorations, as well as the support of the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Family, liturgical ministries of altar servers, ushers, greeters, was very beautiful.  In a very special way I want to commend the efforts of the Pastor’s Advisory Team in organizing the Annual Parish Picnic. Their leadership and engagement of their teams was amazing to witness. I thank all the ministries who helped to organize games for kids, prepare and serve the food, set-up, and clean up. Thank you for your hard work and dedication!  To everyone who contributed their time and talents and participated to make our Annual St. Luke Parish Feast a success – thank you! It was fabulous!
 
     As your pastor, I am overjoyed to see so many of you participating in the Eucharistic celebration, wonderful gathering of fellowship, friendship and prayer to help to build our community. Once again we came together to share with one another the best that we have– our very selves, as the true image of the love of God and together building our parish community. May God bless and thank you!
 
     I would like to share with you that at the last meeting of the Pastor’s Advisory Team through the affirmation process we nominated new leadership for the upcoming year. The new chairman of the PAT is George Ferfecki, vice-chair Marcia Vigue, and Virginia Vincent as secretary. Please join me to congratulate them as they take the new roles to serve the parish.  I am also most grateful to Dan Foster who was the chairman and Peggy Stern who served as secretary of the PAT – thank you for your dedication, support, and love of the parish community.
 
I wish you a blessed week!
 
With prayers,  
Fr. Andy