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Another attendance-record-breaking Italian Festival is now in
the history books. Last Saturday was an extraordinary day. The
weather was perfect. The food was delicious and the music was a
blast. And then there was the awesome collection of people who came
together to put on and enjoy our 2007 Italian Festival. Many thanks
again go to Joe and Nora Bentivoglio and to Ben and Kristan Russell
for co-chairing this year’s event and to everybody who volunteered
and helped out. I’m always amazed at how many people that it takes
to put on the Festival, and how every year, more and more folks step
forward to help out with the event. It was a great evening. Thank
you God, St. Maria Goretti, and everybody!
This next week, a group of our high school students, along
with our Youth Minister, Jeff Stankovsky, our summer seminarian,
Andy DeKeyser, and a couple of other adult chaperones, are traveling
to Tennessee to spend the week working at a Catholic summer work
camp. They will spend the week serving in several capacities to
help those who are in need in Memphis. I am so proud of all of
these young people who have given up a week of their summer
vacations to go and help others. Obviously, I am also extremely
grateful to all of the adults who will accompany them, and without
whom, our young people would not be able to make the trip. All of
these folks remind us of our responsibility to serve.
Jesus did this same thing for us at the Last Supper. We get
a beautiful reminder of what Jesus did at the Mass of the Lord’s
Supper every Holy Thursday evening in the reenactment of the washing
of the feet. What a stark reminder it is for this priest and for
all of us, that Jesus was very serious about us serving our brothers
and sisters, especially our brothers and sisters in need.
Sometimes, we want to treat service to others as something that
we’ll do when we get around to it. We treat it like it is option.
And Jesus seems to make it very clear that serving others is NOT
optional, but instead, an integral part of being a Christian that we
can’t ignore. How are YOU serving others? Unfortunately, we live
in a world where we are misled every day into thinking that life is
about serving ourselves. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
It’s not what life is supposed to be about. And living that way is
certainly not the path to God. We’ve got to stay very clear about
this to stay on track.
Who could you help out in your life? How could you serve
more? What could you do? Where could you volunteer and make a
difference? The possibilities are endless. Want some ideas? We
have several area nursing homes that are always looking for caring
people to come in and visit with the patients. What an incredible
opportunity to be Jesus for somebody else when we visit the sick and
infirm, many of whom never get the chance to leave the nursing
home. Our own Shepherd’s Gate food pantry is always looking for
more volunteers to help distribute food and baby items to our
clients. Have you taken the time to work a shift in our food
pantry? It can sure make you more appreciative of what we have.
You may have noticed in the bulletin for the last couple of months
that we are looking for folks to help drive those who can’t drive
themselves to Mass. There are several of our brothers and sisters
who are physically able to come to Mass but who have no one to bring
them. Couldn’t you help out at least once in awhile? Think of the
good that you could be doing for that person! Our Parish
landscaping committee is also constantly looking for more folks to
help out with our massive campus. It wasn’t too many years ago when
30 or 40 of us would get together on a Sunday afternoon and knock
out the landscaping needs in one shot. It was kinda fun doing it
together. And I hate to pull weeds! Sometimes, all we have to do
is open our eyes and take notice of what needs to be done and how we
can help. Look around in your life. I’ll bet that you can find
many ways to serve. It is the way that we make our Faith real.
Please pray for our crew going to Tennessee this week.
I was more than a little taken a back last Saturday night at
Mass before the Italian Festival. It was very nice to have my
anniversary remembered. In case you couldn’t hear what Deacon Steve
said, he presented me with a new set of prayer books for the Liturgy
of the Hours, from the Parish. Thank you. I will always remember
St. Maria Goretti when I use them every day. Thank you for your
kindness and support every day. I am very blessed to be your
Pastor.
Have a great week! Summer is going fast. Enjoy it now!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
The more things change, the more we need to rely on the things that
never change.
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