The State of Communion Address

Hello Friends,

A couple of Tuesdays ago our president gave his “State of the Union” address to the entire U.S. Congress and to all of us in this great country of ours. On Sunday, January 23rd we started hearing from the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew. We will continue to hear from the Sermon on the Mount until the beginning of Lent. In many ways the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ “State of Communion” address. From the Beatitudes at the beginning of chapter 5 in Matthew’s Gospel until Jesus tells us to imitate the wise man who built his house on the rock at the end of chapter 7 we have words from the Master on how to put our faith into practice. He tells us how to forgive, love, believe, trust, and live as God would want us to. From the collected words of Christ we hear from His mouth how to live in UNION with each other. The crux of His words tell us to make union with God our 1st priority, and how we treat others and ourselves will fall into place.

This is also the goal of our “Why Catholic?” renewal process that we are about to begin. (Sign up Sunday is next weekend!) During Lent we will study God’s word and the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a parish and in small groups to study and discern how God is calling us to live our Communion in deeper ways. It is a very important and exciting time for us.

We are growing as a parish. We now have more families here at St. James Church than we have ever had. More folks are joining us weekly. We’re on schedule to start building to accommodate our growth. There are folks who have children in school here that only know each other through that ministry. There are people who are sitting on one side of the Church for Mass who have no idea who are sitting at the other side of Church. There are some of us who are involved in the St. Vincent de Paul Society who are unaware of others who are volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. A lot of us grew up in a time when the catechetics and formation in the Church was at a time of flux. Now it is time to grow as a parish where it really matters.

“Why Catholic?” comes at an important time for us. We need this time of renewal to help us to understand our faith more and to grow as a parish. This time of renewal will do at least three things for us. 1. We will have a chance to learn about Sacred Scripture and the teachings of our Church. 2. We’ll get to know one another better. 3. Spiritually we will be a better parish because we will each become holier people.

God seeks Communion with us! Prayerfully, let us enter this time openly so that we can be in union with God and one another.

paz,
Fr. Chuck