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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
What a week! Elections are finally over. And thankfully,
the negative ads that have been running since last August, are
done. I have never been happier to see elections come and put
an end to the campaign season than what I am this year. And I
know from talking with several of you, that many of you feel the
same way. It doesn’t matter whether your Democrat, or
Republican, or Independent, or Libertarian, ALL of us have to
admit that these past few months of negative campaigning have
taken mudslinging to new record levels of low. One after
another, back to back there were so many of them, we were
bombarded with all the terrible things about each candidates
opponent. So much so, that we really didn’t learn anything
about where the individual candidates stood, but rather what
they thought was wrong with their opponents. Democracy has got
to be able to work better than this. Several times, it made me
think of what Pilate said to Jesus in John 18: 30, “What is
truth?”.
My brothers and sisters, we’ve got a crisis in truth all
around us today. And that’s a major problem for a Church
founded by a Jesus who was so clearly in favor of the truth and
honesty. Everybody lies today. The media lies. Big business
lies. The government lies. Even some in leadership in the
Church have lied. Lying has become so acceptable today that it
is just assumed that EVERYBODY does it! And somewhere in
Heaven, Jesus must just be weeping! The truth cannot be
perverted. Eventually, in God’s time, all truth will come out.
Everything that is hidden will be revealed. Actions done in the
dark will be made known in the light. Words whispered and
written down in private so that nobody will know, will be made
known. A day of reckoning is coming for all who lie, and
deceive, and cheat, and conspire against the truth! And when
that day comes, we had better be surely committed to the truth
in our lives. Everything that Jesus was about was the truth.
We must strive daily to become more and more His people in the
truth.
I mention this because if you’re like me, it is so easy
to get frustrated with those who don’t tell the truth. Before
we want our parents to tell the truth, or our children to tell
the truth, or our politicians to tell the truth, or before we
want our corporations to tell the truth, and even before we want
our bishops to tell the truth, we’ve got to be willing to tell
the truth AND to live by the truth ourselves. What if each one
of us seriously committed ourselves to living more truthful
lives? How different would our world be? What if we were more
honest with God, with others, and even with ourselves? Wouldn’t
it be easier to make ourselves better and to address our real
issues IF we were telling the truth and being honest? The lie
is the greatest tool of the devil. How many souls are in hell
all because they believed their own lies and the lies of the
devil? Now is the time for honesty. Now, maybe more than ever,
is the time for us as Church to be people of the truth. May
all of us here at St. Maria Goretti step up to that challenge!
Next Saturday night is our annual “Guess Who’s Coming
To Dinner?” Dinner. It’s still not too late to sign-up for this
fun event that is designed to help us to get to know one another
better. Check out the details listed again in this week’s
bulletin. The biggest challenge with this event is giving it a
try. Ask anybody who’s been in the last couple of years, and
they will tell you that it is a great time. I think that it can
be a pretty intimidating thing to go to dinner with people that
maybe you don’t know that well, or maybe that you don’t know at
all. But we have lots of great people here at this Parish, and
wouldn’t it be nice to get to know a few more of them? A good
time is planned for all. Please consider coming and joining us
this year. At the time that I am writing this, we are still in
need of a couple more host families for the evening. If you’d
be willing to let us use your home and you are nearby the
Parish, please contact Julie Friedman right away. It’s one of
my favorite nights of the year.
This weekend is our youth group, T.R.U.T.H.’s, annual
Fall Retreat. We pray for all of our young people who are
making this retreat this weekend. St. Maria Goretti loves all
of its youth! We look forward to all of the good things that
God is doing through all of you in our midst.
I’m about out of time and space for now. Have a great week.
Let us keep each other in our prayers.
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
The Gospel will not ever tell us that we are innocent, but it
will tell us that we are loved.
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