| Amen Corner By Fr. Mike Tauke |
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| Sept 6 Enjoy the Labor Day Weekend! Pray for those who seek honest labor to meet their daily needs. May our work benefit all humankind! Next weekend is our Involvement Fair. It is a weekend where we ask parishioners of all ages to share their talents and gifts with the rest of our parish family. It is putting what God has generously given to us at the service of others. At the recent Celebration of Life Mass, many of our guests spoke of the energy and excitement one feels when you enter St. Mary’s. They encountered it in the liturgy, the meal and the hospitality expressed by the members of this parish. I would like to see us grow even more in our sharing of our gifts and talents. I know there is tons of untapped energy ready to explode. If it is at Mass, preparing meals, helping with Generations of Faith, doing homebound ministry, working on service projects, this is how discipleship in Jesus is made visible. We, have some new ministries for people to consider. We desire to increase our work with justice and assisting the poor. There is the Pals of St. Mary’s, a reach-out to our older parishioners. We’d like to form service groups ready to work along NEHMIAH (the Jewish disaster rescue group who worked in our area during the floods of 2008). We need ministers – men, women, teens, young people, and children – to help with weekend worship. This is the central event of our parish community. Worship is the work of the people, along with the priest. We help train you and encourage you. We don’t require perfection; we ask for a willingness to share your time and talents. Faith formation is essential to passing on the faith. Our “Catholic school” is our Generations of Faith process. It provides the opportunity to make our faith not only knowledge but experience. Creating strong faith in households makes strong faith in individuals, especially our young. Sign up to help in any capacity with this process. This is a great parish. Every weekend I marvel at the number of young children and young people at our Masses. They are a gift, but also our responsibility. We need to model and provide them the greatest experiences and sources of Catholic life. We are waiting for you! Stop by the Involvement Fair, check our website or call the parish office to be an active and participating member of this parish. Respond: Hear, I Am, Lord! And the people say… Fr. Mike |
| Sept 13 I am a visionary. I believe there is great potential in life. God’s creative power and God’s unconditional love is the story of God’s presence in the world. God’s presence is manifested in us. We hold the possibilities of God’s infinite imagination and possibilities in our very core. See what our parish is doing when people share their time, talent and treasures. When people comment on how beautiful our new church is, I always comment that what is really amazing is what is happening in it. We are becoming a visible and alive community which embraces the gospel of Jesus. This weekend’s Involvement Fair is a testimony of the many ways our parish invites people to enter into discipleship and community. We are known as a “welcoming parish.” To make it a parish where everyone feels they belong, every parishioner needs to engage in the hospitality, mission and faith formation essential for our growth. As visionaries, we need to assess our needs and dream our future. God’s creative power is made visible by the work of our hands and the openness of our hearts. People need to feel they are respected, acknowledged and accepted for who they are. Here is the hard part – we will have to sacrifice and even suffer to make this vision come to life. Jesus says in this weekend’s gospel, “You need to take up your cross and follow me.” It means denying what the world may say is important – fame, fortune and security. It will mean taking risks, challenging systems and facing rejection. Suffering is not something put upon us by God. Suffering comes with our human condition. We are susceptible to age, sickness and eventually death. However suffering is also brought about by injustice, violence, discrimination and hatred. These can only be changed by the conversion of our hearts and lives. Recognize the people who are caused to suffer in the name of religion or politics. It’s usually the weak, the outcast or the people we see as “different” from us. Many times they are deemed a threat and, yet, in Jesus’ story they are the ones he comes to save. I’d like for you to come this Sunday evening to the adult session on the Ten Commandments. What does it mean to follow the commands of God and Jesus? It means visioning life in an entirely new way – in God’s ways and not our own. And the people say… Fr. Mike |