Posts
The Pastor’s Corner
We are rapidly approaching the end of the liturgical year (next Sunday) and the end of our secular year (December 31). During this time, we will celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas and in general the holiday season. In addition, this coming year we celebrate a "Year of Mercy" beginning on December 8, the date of our observance of The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. The observance of the Year of Mercy will continue until Sunday, November 20, 2016 (The Feast of Christ the King).
"Mercy" has many different and nuanced meanings in our spiritual life, such as the forgiveness of sins, giving a helping hand or even just some kind words that sooth someone's suffering. Over the course of the Year of Mercy we will examine several different meanings of "mercy" as it relates to our life in Christ. However, for now, and in preparation for the Year of Mercy, it is good to reflect on the ultimate mercy of God, which is our salvation. In our salvation, mortal man has been lifted up and out of the despair of sin and death by our Savior Jesus Christ, and then given the gift of immortality, that is, eternal life in union with God. This "mercy" was made known to us by God coming to earth in the life The Incarnate Son, Jesus the Christ, who by allowing Himself to be lifted up on The Cross lifted us out of the pit that we had dug for ourselves and could never have gotten out of without Him. Not only that, He bailed us out while we were still sinners, and because of His Love for us, continues to bail us out even when we sin again.
We also must show mercy towards others. It is critical to our salvation because Sacred Scripture teaches us that in order to receive a merciful judgement, we must be merciful to others. However, in order to be merciful to others, we must first learn what mercy is. Studying the life of Jesus during the coming year will help us to see the different ways we can be merciful to others, especially in more nuanced and particular ways. The beauty of this design by God is that we not only experience God's Mercy in direct ways, but also experience it in the work of The Holy Spirit in ourselves and other people, that is, in the entire Body of Christ.
As stated, we are coming to the end of the liturgical year, a time when we should reflect on the previous year as well as put forward renewed effort to cooperate with God's Grace in the year to come. This year, a good focus for our end of year reflection is to honestly examine our hearts to make sure we are attentive to God's teaching as given to us in Sacred Scripture and as taught by His Church, to search our lives for the areas where we are in need of His Mercy and in humility ask for it, and in light of His Mercy for us, to look for ways to show mercy to others.
St. Landry Awarded the 2015 Preservationist of the Year Award
As I mentioned a few weeks back, last weekend St. Landry Church was awarded the 2015 Preservationist of the Year Award "in recognition of its ongoing effort to preserve and renovate the historic St. Landry Church in Opelousas, Louisiana." We are so grateful to the Preservationists of St. Landry, Inc. for their recognition of our work. As I mentioned at the award ceremony, "preservation" for us a church community, at the core, is observing and preserving the faith that's been handed down to us for our salvation and for the next generation. In this case, it meant providing a fitting place for the worship of God by our community. In our ongoing work as a community of faith, we must always remain focused first on our salvation...the most precious gift God has given to us!
God Bless
"Mercy" has many different and nuanced meanings in our spiritual life, such as the forgiveness of sins, giving a helping hand or even just some kind words that sooth someone's suffering. Over the course of the Year of Mercy we will examine several different meanings of "mercy" as it relates to our life in Christ. However, for now, and in preparation for the Year of Mercy, it is good to reflect on the ultimate mercy of God, which is our salvation. In our salvation, mortal man has been lifted up and out of the despair of sin and death by our Savior Jesus Christ, and then given the gift of immortality, that is, eternal life in union with God. This "mercy" was made known to us by God coming to earth in the life The Incarnate Son, Jesus the Christ, who by allowing Himself to be lifted up on The Cross lifted us out of the pit that we had dug for ourselves and could never have gotten out of without Him. Not only that, He bailed us out while we were still sinners, and because of His Love for us, continues to bail us out even when we sin again.
We also must show mercy towards others. It is critical to our salvation because Sacred Scripture teaches us that in order to receive a merciful judgement, we must be merciful to others. However, in order to be merciful to others, we must first learn what mercy is. Studying the life of Jesus during the coming year will help us to see the different ways we can be merciful to others, especially in more nuanced and particular ways. The beauty of this design by God is that we not only experience God's Mercy in direct ways, but also experience it in the work of The Holy Spirit in ourselves and other people, that is, in the entire Body of Christ.
As stated, we are coming to the end of the liturgical year, a time when we should reflect on the previous year as well as put forward renewed effort to cooperate with God's Grace in the year to come. This year, a good focus for our end of year reflection is to honestly examine our hearts to make sure we are attentive to God's teaching as given to us in Sacred Scripture and as taught by His Church, to search our lives for the areas where we are in need of His Mercy and in humility ask for it, and in light of His Mercy for us, to look for ways to show mercy to others.
St. Landry Awarded the 2015 Preservationist of the Year Award
As I mentioned a few weeks back, last weekend St. Landry Church was awarded the 2015 Preservationist of the Year Award "in recognition of its ongoing effort to preserve and renovate the historic St. Landry Church in Opelousas, Louisiana." We are so grateful to the Preservationists of St. Landry, Inc. for their recognition of our work. As I mentioned at the award ceremony, "preservation" for us a church community, at the core, is observing and preserving the faith that's been handed down to us for our salvation and for the next generation. In this case, it meant providing a fitting place for the worship of God by our community. In our ongoing work as a community of faith, we must always remain focused first on our salvation...the most precious gift God has given to us!
Father James Brady
The bulletin for the week of November 15, 2015 has been posted. Click here to see it.
The calendar on the website has been updated with all events for the coming week along with prayer intention information and information on the second collection for all of the masses. Take some time to look at our calendar here.
Updates are also being made to our St. Landry Catholic Church blog. You can get to the blog from the church home page under the Bulletins and News section or you can just click here to go to it.
Don't forget, we're also sending out live updates via Twitter. Our Twitter name is StLandryCath. You can see updates by clicking here.
And we're also on Facebook --- friend us! You can see our updates on our page SaintLandryCatholicChurch.
0 comments:
Post a Comment