Teach Me Lord

When you know you have to wait one year for something it seems like it’s an eternity away.  When the year has gone by and you look back over it, a year seems like a day.  Today is my one year anniversary here at Holy Family, yes, one year gone by, and very quickly.  The days are filled with meetings, liturgical events, ministry activity, socials, pastoral responsibilities, and with these all the days go by.  The days are filled with their challenges but also with God’s great blessings, meeting someone for the first time, ministering to them and sharing God’s Word with them.

People will ask me, “are you enjoying Holy Family, are you settled in yet,” and I can honestly say that I am enjoying it.  My greatest enjoyment is being with the people, especially at mass.  At heart, as you know, I am a teacher and a coach, it’s in my blood.  If you are a teacher you know what I mean when I say, the classroom is a sacred place.  For me then, the parish has become my classroom, that sacred place.  It is a place where we all learn from one another and share the Gospel.  I pray that continues.

I must also say how impressed I am with the people of Holy Family, in their generosity to us clerics, Fr. Sanjai, Deacons Joe and Jerry and how generous you are with the parish both with your time and resources.  Your kindness does not go unnoticed and soon we will call on that generosity again as the House of Charity campaign will begin for 2015.  I also take this time to apologize if I have not given you the time or attention that you deserve or if I misunderstood you or even wronged you in anyway, no one is exempt from making mistakes and sadly we are not even exempt from sin, how I wish we all were exempt from that one.  Please forgive me for any lack of charity; I pray that I will be more like Christ each day.  Please also pray for me that I will strive for that with all my heart.  I ask that you also pray for Fr. Sanjai and Deacons Jerry and Joe, as I know they too desire so much in their hearts to be there for all of you.

Reflecting back on my first year here my immediate goals were simple, just to get to know people, spend time with them, and to learn the business aspects of running a parish.  Those goals have not ended but I have added more to the list and have already begun the process of some.  Know that we, the staff, pastoral and finance council along with our ministries have been working very hard to put together a vision-mission statement that incorporates all of our history, tradition, and future vision for our parish, which we will begin to pray together on Easter Sunday.  From that vision we are also working diligently in restructuring our evangelization plan and team in order to reach out to all, those in the pews, those who come once in a while and those who have not been around for a long time.  Our model of evangelization will be based on John Paul the Great’s vision of the “New Evangelization” and Pope Francis’ “Joy of the Gospel.”  A vision based on joy, hope, and deep personal encounter with Christ and neighbor.  When I speak of this evangelization I mean a very personal one, one that is done face to face.  Jesus sat with the people, he went to them, and he did not wait for them to show up at the Temple, we will embrace that call and do the same.

All of these goals cannot be accomplished by just one person or even a small group, these efforts will only be fruitful if we all are involved, it can only work if the entire family is together and working for the same goal, bringing everyone to Christ.  It will start by our actions towards others and by our words in teaching others, by living out our vision.  I pray that this year will be even more fruitful for all of us.  I ask that you continue to pray for me, Fr. Sanjai, Deacons Jerry and Joe, that we will be good servants and know that you are all in our prayers as well.  God bless you, Fr. John