Weekly Message

Rev. Leo M. Goodman III Pastor

January 29, 2012

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Come this Sunday afternoon at 3:00 pm to a FREE and delicious International Dinner in our cafeteria. We celebrate our Seventh Annual Stewardship Recognition Party. FREE entertainment will follow dinner in our gym with the renowned hilarity of Jonathan Burns. If laughter is the best medicine, then Jonathan will have us healthy and giggling for years. Please don’t miss this party offered in your honor! This event is hosted by your wonderful, talented, and loving St. Mary’s Staff. Did I mention, “For you it’s completely FREE?”

“Have you come to destroy us?” Note the fear inherent in this simple question addressed to Jesus. Even today, this fear can overwhelm people because Jesus’ answer to the question does seem to be an unequivocal and resounding “yes!” So many fear change even when it’s good change, change that will lead to greater freedom. How hard it is to be told that we must be willing to die so that we might rise. Our sinful self fearfully cries out in defiance when con-fronted by true authority, the light, and beauty of the truth. Our sinful self holds on selfishly to that which it holds to be essential, the sin. But our sin is never essential. We were created to be holy, full of love, and made in God’s image.

Jesus does want us to die to our old sinful self so that we might live in the freedom of God’s children in the light. It is only in the darkness of our sinful self that such a plan seems sinister, that somehow we are going to be destroyed. Isn’t it clear? Fear of change, of conversion, of being conformed to Christ does not come from God. No, this fear comes from the evil one, from the unclean spirit whom Jesus casts out in today’s Gospel. Without fear let us follow Christ in freedom.

Today begins Catholic Schools Week! We pray it is a wonderful week of celebration and thanksgiving for the students, families, faculty and staff of Resurrection Catholic School and Lancaster Catholic High School. May God bless the wonderful work our two schools do in support of the continuing mission of the Church and our families to pass on the faith. In these difficult times have you considered a Catholic Education for your children?

I want to thank all who participated in the March for Life in Washington DC this past Monday. Let us continue to pray for the day when all life is held sacred. Until that day comes, may we continue to speak out, march, and defend those who cannot do so for themselves.

Catechism Question of the Week: Contemplative prayer is a ___________ of faith, fixed on Jesus. A) leap, B) profession, C) gaze, or D) purification (see CCC 2715)

With family, friends and those you meet, please discuss the Question of the Week: What miracles have I experienced and what prayers for healing have been answered?

In Christ’s Peace,