TWENTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY
Over time, I have come to realize that if you don’t climb a mountain, it is very difficult for you to view the plains. Yet climbing a mountain is never easy. There will be challenges to deal with, obstacles to overcome, and stones thrown from left, right and center that must be dodged.
In the past few months, Coronavirus has tried to stop us from our ways of life. It has brought so many disruptions in our social-cultural behaviors, our spirituality and communal worship, our educational systems, and you name it. And yet, when Peter tried to limit the possibility of Christ redeeming us, as we read in today’s Gospel, Jesus told him, “Get behind me Satan”. It seems to me that time has come for all of us to issue the same command to this pandemic. This virus has thrown so many stones on the path of our planned successes this year. It has disrupted so many programs we had in place to make our Church great, viable, and sustainable; a beacon of faith as a diverse spiritual community in action. You see, whenever life throws stones on the path of your success, life now depends on what you make of them—to build a wall or a bridge.
As we enter into this Fall season, with all the uncertainties surrounding the reopening of schools, our CCD and Youth Ministry programs, etc., I am calling upon all our parishioners to come together and let us use all the stones that this Coronavirus has thrown on our path to build a strong bridge for our parish; to commit ever more strongly to our parish programs; to take greater responsibility for the financial health of our Church; to participate ever more fully in our devotional and spiritual activities; to booster our social and familial activities as a community—when that time comes—and to offer our support, at all levels, to make this parish stronger, more visible, more welcoming, and a Church home. Yes, while challenges are sometimes hard to bear, they do make life interesting, and overcoming them, is what makes life meaningful. This coronavirus has challenged us; we will overcome it and come out of it, healthier, bigger, larger, stronger, and more viable as a parish. I truly believe that we are equal to this challenge and I am grateful to God for it.
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