Happy Sunday!

Thank you to everyone who helped prepare for my installation as Pastor of St. Joan of Arc. It has been a great joy for me to be here these past two years and find a home here. It is a great gift to be able to minister as a priest so close to where I grew up. I look forward to many more years here at St. Joan of Arc.

Happy Sunday!

I almost handed this week’s bulletin letter over to promoting our youth group, but there’s a lot happening in July and I wanted to pass along a few updates. This weekend we are re-introducing the Sign of Peace at Sunday Masses. I’ve been slow on bringing this back because I wanted to share a few thoughts about the Sign of Peace before it returns. In Matthew 5:23-24 we read this, “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

Maybe the work is best left to the professionals. That’s how many people view the preaching of the Gospel. That’s the stuff priests, religious, deacons, lay ministers, and other professional Church people do. It has little to do with me. Well, that’s not really true. The fact of the matter is that preaching the Gospel has everything to do with you, with all of us who are baptized members of the Body of Christ. Nobody gets off the hook from that job. The question is, however, how do we do it? Well, there’s a safe way, which many choose, to preach the Gospel — and the risky way. The safe way pretty much keeps the Gospel in church and around like-minded people. I say my prayers, go to Mass, contribute to the food pantry, tithe, and attend Bible Study. That pretty much covers the bases, right? Wrong.

Happy Sunday!

Happy 4th of July! This Sunday is the first weekend in which the dispensation from attending Sunday Mass is lifted. It’s great to have everyone coming back. If you know of parishioners who have not been back yet, please invite them. The Sunday Mass is not merely a rote obligation to fulfill, but removes us from this world for a time to offer right praise and worship to the living God. In the Mass, we get a foretaste of the heavenly banquet which is our final aim. We gather as a community because we are meant to live in relationship, not in isolation. We do not worship singly, but as a community and living body. It is for this reason that we speak of the Church as the Body of Christ.