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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This is such a great time of the year! Hopefully, you are
enjoying this Fall as much as I am! We’ve enjoyed warm days, cool
nights, and those beautiful blue Fall skies. So many years it seems
like we don’t have much of a Spring or a Fall anymore, as we have
tended to go straight from Winter to Summer, and from Summer right
back to Winter. This is really nice.
If you have been watching our collection numbers in the
Bulletin for the last three weeks, you have noticed a sharp downturn
in our weekly giving. No doubt, the fears and insecurities about
our economy are affecting all of us. These are clearly tough times
for all of us. And some of us are much more affected by the current
economic crisis than others. Unfortunately, for many, the first
thing to get cut out of the household budget is our tithe and our
charitable giving. I’d really like to encourage you NOT to start
cutting back with God and with being charitable. First of all, and
most obviously, I believe whole-heartedly in what this Parish is
trying to accomplish with all of its various ministries, and I
firmly believe that all of us must do everything that we can to keep
St. Maria Goretti going. I sincerely hope that you believe this
too! This is our Parish. Here, together, we put forth our best
efforts to build the Kingdom of God in our midst, the very task that
Jesus gave us to do, as we await His return. We’ve got to believe
in this Mission, not only with our words, but also with our support
and sacrifices. This is never more true than during tough, economic
times. That’s when we find out what we truly do believe in.
Secondly, and even more of a concern to me than the financial
numbers, is what the current downturn in our numbers say about our
making the Lord a priority in our lives. This is far bigger than
numbers, my brothers and sisters. How important is God to you? Do
we make space and time for God in our lives? It is far too easy to
go through this life completely oblivious to God and what He has
done for us. We have people all around us, doing it all the time!
And yet, aren’t WE called to be different? Haven’t we seen way too
much of God’s great works, to so blasé about Him? We are called to
make God a priority in our lives. And that means that we have to
make room for Him in every aspect of lives, including our tithe.
God didn’t say give me 10% when things are going well. God said
give me 10% of whatever you are making and I will continue to bless
you in good times and bad.
As I say, our finances and our giving is only part of
this. Of much more importance, is our making time and space for God
in our lives in prayer. How many of us, as soon as we get busy, we
quit praying? The scary reality is that if some people get a couple
more items on their schedules, that the first thing to get dropped
is going to Sunday Mass! For some, it is very much like we are
saying to God, I will come and pray to You with the Church, IF I
don’t have anything better to do. And that is exactly how we make
God feel, when we only show up when it fits into our schedule. We’ve
all got to make time for God and our Faith in our lives. It’s got
to be a priority. The first thing that we should know about our
weekend on Friday afternoon, is NOT where we are going to have
dinner on Saturday night, but rather, what Mass are we going to go
to on Sunday. We need to make time for Eucharistic Adoration.
That’s the nicest thing about having a scheduled hour each week.
Sure, it’s nice to “drop in” and pray in front of our Lord. But how
much nicer is it, to have that regular, scheduled time each week,
for you and Him? It’s about priorities. It’s about making sure
that we keep God at the center of our lives. With our time, with
our money, and with our schedules we’ve got to make sure that we are
including God at all times, not just when it is easy or convenient.
As a Parish, we must all be especially concerned about our
giving situation. It doesn’t take much to do serious, long-term
damage, especially to a new, young Parish that doesn’t have a lot of
reserves. May God help all of us to have Faith even when it comes
to our giving!
Please keep the ladies making the Christ Renews His Parish
weekend in your prayers this weekend. I know that God is doing
great things among them, even as you read this.
Have a great week! Let us keep one another in prayer.
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
The real measure of our wealth is how much we’d be worth if we lost
all our money.
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