Pastors Notes from July 25, 2022
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July 25, 2022
Our bulletin will cover the next two weeks of July, within this season of midsummer. Looking ahead, as the days of summer so quickly go by, I invite those who desire to join the Catholic faith, those who have questions about the RCIA journey to be received into the Sacramental life of our Church, and those who simply desire more information about our traditions, Sacraments and Rituals to please contact me at the parish office. Traditionally the RCIA program— gatherings to prepare those entering into the Catholic faith—runs from the fall up to Easter. Discussions and information shared centers on the different aspects of our Christian faith, Scripture, Catholic traditions, the Sacraments and Rituals, shared prayer and our relationship with God (Father, Son & Holy Spirit). If you know of anyone who may be interested in or who have questions about our Catholic faith, please encourage them to call our office. Whatever your circumstance, if you desire to share in our Catholic faith and the Eucharist, may you feel most welcome to share in the RCIA gatherings.
English scholar, writer and theologian, G.K. Chesterton aptly describes why he converted to the Catholic faith: “The difficulty of explaining why I am a Catholic is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true.” However, Pope John Paul II described the purpose of our Christian faith regardless of our religious upbringing or background. Hopefully our Catholic faith—informed by Scripture, upheld by tradition, alive through the Sacraments, and formed through rituals—is a path for anyone seeking a life-giving relationship with, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
“It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.” (Pope John Paul II)
You may remember the well-known commercial jingle—“A Kodak Moment”—which has disappeared along with the one time prominence of Kodak film. Hopefully you will take the time to have your picture taken for the sake of the new parish directory for Boone County Catholic Community. Your “Kodak moment” so to speak without any obligate to purchase anything. Dates and further information are on the parish website and included in our bulletin. More than a couple years have passed since our last directory for the three parishes. Thank you for your willingness.
Taking the steps per Diocesan Pastoral Planning, the process is taking time. Our unified Finance Board will initially meet the last week of July. In time a Parish Council will be formed encompassing individuals from all three churches. At present we are still awaiting legal confirmation of the parish name ascribed to our Catholic Churches here in Boone County. Though Bishop Nickless chose “Ascension “ for our parish entity a few weeks the legal paperwork must be completed. Knights of Columbus and Religious Education programs will remain separate, but resources, activities and gatherings, liturgies and the Sacraments will all be shared as one parish.
Below is an interesting take on the Lord’s Prayer, as established in Jesus’ own words from the gospel of Luke which we will hear on the weekend of the 24th. It involves the words as ascribed to Jesus in the Aramaic language, entitle “The Prayer To Our Father.” (Aramaic language originated in the ancient region of Syria. It served as the common public language used in everyday life throughout the Middle East and of the ancient kingdoms at the time. Likewise it served as the language of divine worship and religious study. Jesus spoke the Galilean dialect of Aramaic.)
Abwûn Oh Thou, from whom the breath of life comes,
d'bwaschmâja
who fills all realms of sound, light and vibration.
Nethkâdasch schmach
May Your light be experienced in my utmost holiest.
Têtê malkuthach.
Your Heavenly Domain approaches.
Nehwê tzevjânach aikâna d'bwaschmâja af b'arha.
Let Your will come true - in the universe (all that vibrates) just as on earth (that is material). Hawvlân lachma d'sûnkanân jaomâna.
Give us wisdom (understanding, assistance) for our daily need,
Waschboklân chaubên wachtahên aikâna daf chnân schwoken l'chaijabên.
detach the fetters of faults that bind us, (karma) like we let go the guilt of others.
Wela tachlân l'nesjuna
Let us not be lost in superficial things (materialism, common temptations),
ela patzân min bischa.
but let us be freed from that what keeps us off from our true purpose.
Metol dilachie malkutha wahaila wateschbuchta l'ahlâm almîn.
From You comes the all-working will, the lively strength to act,
the song that beautifies all and renews itself from age to age.
Amên.
Sealed in trust, faith and truth. (I confirm with my entire being.)
God Bless, Fr. Tim
FYI: “A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine.” (Anne Brontë)