From the Pastor's Pen

GRATEFUL AND GENEROUS The letter you received from me this week invited you to think about your GRATITUDE. It’s a theme that comes up a lot these days. Can any of us say we’re grateful enough to those around us—that we express to family, friends, or those who do good for us, that we appreciate it? I know I have to constantly remember it, work at it.

This Sunday begins the actual Stewardship Awareness mini-season. Last Sunday I gave the Annual Financial Report, a practical and necessary rendering of our community stewardship. (An audio recording is now available on our parish website - click here.) We’ve made gains, and yet have work to do together on that.

But Stewardship, in itself, is not about the numbers, good or bad. It’s about our spirit of gratitude to God, because he’s cared for us. It’s an awareness of our fundamental relationship to God, who has given us far more then we could ever give back to him. The offerings, time and service we give to God in a parish are our attempt to show our GRATITUDE, what little we can return to God for all He’s given us.

Our Stewardship Season this year calls us to make a daring, faith-filled response to God’s generosity. Read the letter; reflect on the enclosed brochure. Let’s realize that God has taken care of us, and we have plenty of room to be generous to Him and each other. I’ll call us all, like every year, to look at responding in our Offertory Giving, with a little increase if possible, and our service to the parish in Time and Talent.

This year, as I’m saying in the homilies, I especially invite you to show your gratitude to God by committing a little time to grow in your faith with others. Next weekend we’ll discuss signing up for our home Word On Fire groups. This would be a response of generosity most pleasing to God!

Next week some of our lay parishioners will tell their story of responding to God’s goodness, and hold the Festival of Ministries with another special event for the kids. Then you’ll receive your Intention Card in the mail, and we ask you to bring it to Mass as a renewed offering of your time, treasure, and talent. We will be stronger the more of these cards that are returned.

-Fr. Tom