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From the Pastor's Desk: July 24, 2022
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From the Pastor’s Desk: July 24, 2022
Today's liturgy invites us to focus on Jesus and His witness of the importance of prayer as we are invited to the school of Jesus – a school of faith to “teach us to pray.” The Divine Teacher praises God’s generosity, mercy and attentive love in rich and varied ways and in turn tells us to call God the “Father”. Jesus’ life was a constant communication with His Father- a penetrating, most intimate relationship between them. Jesus’ example teaches us to pray to God, who is the most generous and caring Father, for all our needs.
What is prayer for us? St. Teresa of Avila defined prayer as “nothing else than an intimate friendship, a frequent heart to heart conversation with Him by Whom we know ourselves to be loved.” For her, God is somebody who knows you inside and out; somebody you can pour your heart out to; somebody you can joke with when you have been knocked flat on your “rear end” (Interior Castle, Teresa of Avila). We all agree that the essence of prayer is the language of conversation with God. We all need to converse with God. For that very reason, from a very young age, we were taught by our parents the simple and formulated prayer we still pray most often – the “Our Father”. Today, however, the Gospel challenges us to go beyond specific needs and formulated prayer and to focus on the larger picture – to focus on the gifts God offers us in prayer. Prayer is less a way of obtaining favors from God than a way of expressing to our Father in heaven, to Jesus or to the Spirit our trust in God, speaking about our life, our difficulties and our joys, entrusting to God those who are dear to us in life or in death and even recommending to Him those who cause us trouble. And remember, in praying we do not try to bend God to our will but we ask that we may do His Will.
To do the Will of God brings our parish community to the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of our parish. On July 24, 1982, the small community of 13 Catholic Families laid such a strong foundation of faith, generosity, service and witness. We are so blessed to be able to continue to contribute to the success of this story by our own witness to the reality and power of Jesus Christ in our parish. You have proven your commitment and loyalty to the work of the Lord and for that we have all been richly blessed.
This Anniversary Year will be filled with activities to allow us to grow in our faith and to make the call to discipleship a joyful decision for each one of us. Please join us on Sunday, July 24th, at the 11:00 am Mass to begin the Anniversary Year of our parish community.
Under the title “Called to the Joy of Love,” the church celebrates the Natural Family Planning (NFP) Awareness Week- July 24-30.
Natural Family Planning is an umbrella term for certain methods used to achieve and avoid pregnancies. These methods are based on observation of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman's menstrual cycle. Couples using NFP to avoid pregnancy abstain from intercourse and genital contact during the fertile phase of the woman's cycle. No drugs, devices, or surgical procedures are used to avoid pregnancy. NFP reflects the dignity of the human person within the context of marriage and family life, promotes openness to life, and recognizes the value of the child. By respecting the love-giving natures of marriage, NFP can enrich the bond between husband and wife.
On Tuesday, July 26th at 7:00 pm at Sacred Heart Parish in Fleming Island, Bishop Erik Pohlmeier will celebrate his first Mass for our St John’s River Deanery. Please mark your calendar to join us in prayer and to welcome Bishop into our deanery.
“The essence of prayer is not the effort to make God give us something. Prayer, then, is not just informing God of our needs, for God already knows them. Rather, the purpose of prayer is to give God the opportunity to bestow the gifts He will give us when we are ready to accept them.” (The Wisdom of Fulton Sheen)
Have a blessed week everybody!
With prayers,
Fr. Andy
