A Word From The Pastor
Do Not Be Afraid: Our Scripture readings for this Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time challenges us to preach Christ through our words and lives without fear. Today’s Gospel passage is taken from the end of Jesus’ instruction to his disciples as he sends them forth to carry on his mission of preaching and healing. He asks them to live simple lives and to expect opposition and rejection. After having foretold future opposition and persecution, Jesus encourages his disciples to stand firm. Two times they are urged, "Do not fear!" "Do not be afraid!" Sometimes we are afraid that we will make a wrong decision. We are afraid of what the future will bring our children. We are also afraid of growing old. Sometimes we are afraid of what bad health will bring us. At the root of these fears is the fear of loss. Every fear we have is grounded in the knowledge that we have something or someone to lose. I can lose my job, family, house, money, health and even life itself. Rejection and loss are the basis of our fears. But we forget one thing: whatever trouble or crisis affects us, we know that God understands it better than we ourselves. Our Heavenly Father knows exactly what is happening. What a release from fear it is to know that God is on our side; that our life is in the hands of a loving God. Let us remind ourselves that God cares – we are each a dear child of his and He cares for each of us. "Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
One Call Now: Effective communications play a big role in building a strong sense of community within the congregation. One Call Now makes it easy to reach out to people. Parents of the school kids are aware of this. It is a powerful way to inform parishioners of special events, special prayer needs or deaths related to the church family. In doing so we can add only one phone number for each family. We have a few phone numbers recorded in our system for most families. You will be receiving a call from the Parish Office to check and see which number you would prefer to be added for One Call. Now If you are unavailable at the time of our call we will be leaving you a voice mail. Please return our call to the Parish Office.
Two Pillars of the Church: On the 29th of June the Church celebrates the Feast of two most important men who molded the Church in the early stages. As different from each other Saints Peter and Paul were referred to as “the two pillars of the Church”. St Peter was a native of Bethsaida on the shore of Galilee. Married and settled at Capernaum, together with his brother Andrew he earned his living “fishing” until the Lord called him from being a fisherman to become a fisher of men. Peter was christened Kepha, meaning rock. We read in Matthew 16: 18- 19 Jesus says “upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven’. St. Paul may be the greatest religious genius that Christianity has ever known. As we have heard he was a persecutor of Christians until he had the Christ experience on his way to Damascus. St Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles. His Epistles have remained a wellspring of truth, testimony and teaching down to our own day. Both Peter and Paul were men of action, the work of each complementing that of the other. Both ardent lovers of the Lord, each could rightly say: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Peter was crucified on Vatican Hill (where today stands St Peter’s Basilica) upside down in deference to his feelings of unworthiness at dying in the position in which the Lord had been crucified. Paul was beheaded at Tre Fontane, where now stands the magnificent basilica of St Paul outside the Walls. May Sts. Peter and Paul inspire us to be a living witness to our Lord.
Priest and the Horse: The old time pastor was galloping down the road, rushing to get to church on time. Suddenly his horse stumbled and pitched him to the ground. In the dirt with a broken leg, the pastor called out, “All you saints in Heaven help me get up on my horse!” Then, with superhuman effort, he leaped onto the horse’s back and fell off the other side. Once again on the ground, he called to Heaven, “All right, just half of you this time!”
God's blessings
Fr. Suneesh Mathew
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