Pastors Notes from August 13, 2023
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August 14, 2023As the new school year approaches and families take their last vacations, just a few notes on parish “stuff.” St. Malachy is in the process to replace their old HVAC units with updated, efficient models. Considering some of the present units are in disrepair, the new units will maintain a consistent temperature for the periods of colder outside temps and when the building needs to be cooled down in the summer months. New units will be relocated on a lower level for easier maintenance and upkeep. Renovated space on the west side of the entryway is nearly completed to be used for younger Religious Ed. students in the Good Shepherd Catholic format. Will be ready for the beginning of Religious Education. Funding for the projects will come from our “Improvement Fund,” which has been well maintained financially over the years through various donations.
Both, Sacred Heart and St. Malachy have new, updated exterior signs located on their respective property, hopefully providing a welcoming image for our churches and Catholic faith. Each church retained part of the original signage.
A small portion of the Capital Campaign fund leftover from the parish hall project will go toward an updated recording system at Sacred Heart. Presently, the modest, simple recording system we use to record Sunday Mass is lacking in sound quality and visual likewise. With the upcoming installation of the new system the Mass should be more relevant for those unable to join us for our weekend liturgies.
Please note the upcoming Holy Day, The Assumption of Mary, we will have a Mass at each church: Monday, Vigil Mass at Sacred Heart, 5:30pm; Tuesday morning, 8:00am, at St. John Church, Ogden; Tuesday evening, 5:30pm, at St. Malachy Church. Mary’s Assumption, body and soul, into heaven is a sign of all that she fulfilled; but only through the hand of God and works of Christ. Our Feast day of the Mary’s Assumption is “already not yet,” of the resurrection of the body and the new creation which has been promised. A proclamation of the final Resurrection of all the faithful, as judged by God. Pope Pius XII declared on November 1, 1950, “We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by God that the immaculate Mother of God, Mary ever virgin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven.”
O Immaculate Virgin, our Blessed Mother, we know that your gaze, which on earth watched over the humble and suffering humanity of Jesus, is filled in Heaven with the vision of that humanity glorified, And we beg you to purify our hearts, so we may learn to see God, and God alone, in the beauties of his creatures. We trust that your merciful eyes may glance down upon our sorrows, upon our struggles and our weaknesses; that your countenance may smile upon our joys, and that you may hear the voice of Jesus saying to you of each one of us, as he once said to you of his beloved disciple: “Behold your son.” (Prayer by Richard J. Beyer)
An interesting footnote on this Sunday’s gospel from Joyce Meyers: “Peter was the only one who walked on water besides Jesus, but he was also the only one who got out of the boat. Until you make a decision to believe, and then act on it, nothing will happen.”
Fr. Kevin Seasoltz, God rest his soul, guided our seminary at St. John’s, Collegeville, during the years of my formation. Intelligent and strict in his guidance of our priestly preparation and studies, he nonetheless had a broad grasp of various ‘spiritual writers’ who provided sustenance for his ongoing faith. One of whom was Madeleine L’Engle, (named after her great- grandmother). Madeleine L’Engle was an American writer of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, prominently works of Christian spirituality for adults and children. As a wife and mother, a faithful Christian and choir director she worked incessantly to express the gift of our Christian faith, the wonder of God, and the saving grace of Christ Jesus in the stories she framed for children and adults alike including A Wrinkle in Time. From her book, Walking on Water: Reflections of Faith and Art, she provides a thoughtful response for our efforts, however deep the surrounding waters, to ‘step out of the boat.’ “In a very real sense not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory. If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job ourselves. If we are forced to accept our evident lack of qualification, then there's no danger that we will confuse God's work with our own, or God's glory with our own.”
God Bless, Fr. Tim
