From Our Pastor: SNOW DAYS!
SNOW DAYS! Snow is so beautiful and yet so much work. The nice thing I think snow does is slow us down. When we get these snow days, pause, rest, and enjoy the break. At least slow down, and rest in the Lord. We have a tendency to fill up and fill up our schedules and lives. It’s good to pause and rest, and most especially to rest in Him. On days of rest know that it isn’t just not doing things, but for the purpose of our well-being and recovery. Add a little prayer to the rest and it becomes even more effective. Read a Scripture passage, and say thank you to the Lord for the pause and rest and snow. In one of the Psalms we say, “Snow and ice bless the Lord.”
Isaiah peers into the heavenly liturgy and we echo those words at every Mass we hear, “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts.” Paul tells us very clearly that God’s grace doesn’t just cover us, but it is effective. It makes us new. The gospel tells us that no matter how useless a work we do feels, when it is done in the Lord, God showers His abundance down upon you. His abundance is too much for us to handle on our own that we need each other to help in sharing in God’s abundance together. We need those around us in the pews at Mass at our parish. As we wrap up Catholic Schools week, we remind ourselves, and most especially our parents at the school, that we need you at Mass as Catholic education begins with Sunday Mass. It is not enough for you to send your kids to a Catholic school, and it is not enough that your children go to Mass every week. If you aren’t bringing them to Sunday Mass every weekend, you are failing them completely. We all must answer to the Lord for how we teach our children how to love the Lord or how we didn’t teach them. Challenge yourself now. Teach your children the importance of Sunday Mass. Otherwise, it’s just a private education, as Catholic education is only fully effective if it begins in the home with you. We need you here and you need the parish here all to support and pray and love one another. We need each other.
Lastly, this past Friday we had our farewell to our beloved Franciscans. We never really got to have a proper goodbye because of COVID, so I have been looking for a way to do that at a time when things were open enough to gather to truly say thank you to them. We dedicated the statue in the entry way and had a reception to enjoy the stories of those who have shared with us and to spend this time in thanking them. We also launched an endowed scholarship for our school to memorialize all we have been given by our beloved religious at St. Francis Solanus School. It will always be available to give to, and to remember it in your wills. This is a great way to remember all you have been given by our religious in your education and formation.
-Rev. Steven Arisman