Dear Parishioners,

One of the most common reactions people had to our Lord when He preached and performed miracles was of shock and wonder. The people of His day often said no one taught like He taught, and no one could do what He did. When we enter a life-long pursuit of learning, we are responding to a sense of awe that we have of our Lord. The more we know of Him, the more we want to learn. If we are bored, it is a sign that we do not understand what He is presenting to us.

Catechesis is one of the most important tasks of the Church because before people can love God and pray to God, they have to know who God is. Whenever we learn anything about God, it always leads to more that we can know about Him. We may learn at one point that Jesus is God. But then Jesus Himself is the image of the Father and He sends His Spirit to us. We may learn that God is love. But then through studying the scriptures we come to realize what love really is. There is no exhausting the depths of God. If we think we have learned everything about Him or choose to worship a god of our own choosing, we have made an idol. We have the Liturgy of the Word before the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Mass because in reflecting on the Word, God prepares us to participate in His sacrifice for us.

So, I invite all of you reading this to take advantage of all the various programs we have to learn about the faith (see the bulletin). I especially offer this if you think you will be bored, if you think you know everything, or if you have not tried in any systematic way to learn about your faith since you were in high school. God is always inviting us to know Him more because He wants us to love Him more. May we answer that call.

Today is Catechetical Sunday. So, I would like to thank all those who are involved with Catechesis in our parish. I thank Fran Burke and Diane Roberts, and all the Religious Education Catechists for teaching the young people of the parish. I would also like to thank Jeff Carter for boldly starting the CARE program for adults and running RCIA and for all of those who help teach RCIA. And also, I’d like to thank Kim Dibiase for running the Great Adventure Bible study for the parish.

God bless!

Fr. Carter