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February 17, 2022
As we gather this week for the seventh Sunday of Ordinary time, we are reminded that God’s way is always all inclusive and can be challenging. We are to be radically generous because God has first been radically generous to us in our lives, in our talents and all that we have. The concept of loving our enemies seems so foreign, but historically even warring countries and difficult situations have shown how people rose to a higher nobility on specific occasions. I am thinking about Abraham Lincoln’s desire to have the country return to unity by not punishing the soldiers of the confederacy, or the famous scene during World War I that brought the soldiers from both sides of the battle to the field between them to share small gifts, drinks, and to sing Christmas carols together. Locally, I am reminded of man who, in court, forgave the woman who killed his wife in a drunk driving accident, and wished her well and hoped she would get help. It reduced the entire court to tears, such is the power of loving forgiveness.
If these examples are too much, we can start smaller and in fact, that might be the solution to getting us to where Jesus wants us to go in this weekend’s Gospel. When we begin to exercise, we start with small efforts, it can be the same with our “forgiveness muscle” As we get closer to the beginning of Lent, we are asking all parishioners to think of ways to be more generous during the Lenten season. As a parish, we hope that this year’s almsgiving will be in acts of generosity and civility. What we hope to do is to line the entrances to the church with small paper flowers on whose petals share a report of Lenten sacrifices that are rooted in prayerful, generous and lifegiving actions and speech. Whether it is as simple as thanking the cashier at the grocery store to assisting someone in need or responding by the sacrifice of our time and talent, we hope that this Lent will allow us to concentrate and celebrate the generous love God has poured into our hearts. It is forty days of generosity that we seek to foster across the entire parish, for all ages and all parishioners according to our ability.
We will be out of IC church for two weeks (see below) but when we return, we hope that everyone will enter the spirit of Lent with a generous heart and maybe we will all see just how powerful God’s love in transforming us and the world when we apply it as He wants.
Peace,
Father Murray
Building news: At this writing, we are halfway done with the floors at Immaculate church.
We started them rather abruptly because the floor company was ready and there were no weddings during this period. We expect that we will be returning to the main church on the first week of March. Thanks for your patience during this period. The work will also include moving the benches that are blocked by poles so that in the future it will be easier to get in and out of all the benches. We also had an ice dam over the side entrance on the parking lot side. It was repaired and there will be some repair of the ceiling where water came in.
