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August 2, 2022This week’s readings are a continuation of the Gospel readings from the past few weeks. They remind us that our lives reveal how the love of God can work through us. Throughout the ebb and flow of our lives we should expect and prepare to see God’s presence. We have been given a tremendous number of gifts and they should always be used wisely and carefully; so, that when the Lord appears we can present ourselves to Him and show Him how we used our gifts. He is part of our lives, and we are a part of His.
In this week’s readings, we are given a couple of reminders. First, we are reminded that we should use our time wisely. We may sometimes forget that the gift of time is also a gift from God. Secondly, we are taught that God has put different people in our life, and how we treat them matters to God. In all the readings this Sunday, we learn that God has a plan, and He shares His plan with us. It is somewhat simple: He wants to share His love with us and in a way that prompts us to want to do the same to others, with compassion, mercy, and justice. Lately, a phrase that has been commonly appearing in the news and in regular conversation is “to be clear” and then it is followed by clarification. Today’s readings are clear also. God has shown us, from the beginning, what He is and what He wants from us. So now, to be clear, we need to do it.
July was a busy month for sacraments! We celebrated the weddings of (the new) Maeve and Patrick Moriarity, Cody and Theresa Peterson, Anthony and Lisa Tedesco, and Emily and Alexander Giotis. Congratulations to all of them and we wish and pray that they have long, loving lives together. This August, we will have several more weddings and baptisms. Please pray for all those who come here to experience the love of God in baptism and marriage.
This week, we say goodbye to Rose Tramontozzi. Rose is our part-time business manager, but she is leaving to devote more time to another parish. We are grateful for her time here, her stewardship of the parish’s resources, and her faithful witness to how using your gifts to support the Church are sources of blessing.
I hope you will mark your calendars to be part of a team that will welcome new resident students at Salem State. This group will help new students move in and give them a good experience on their first day. We plan to have t-shirts made for our volunteers that will help advertise our parish (Ask me about MQOA, Pideme Sobre MQOA), that they can wear when helping first-year students move into their dorms. We also will invite them to our evening Mass at 5 PM on Sundays. More information to follow as the day gets closer.
Building news: This week, the paving company finished the repair project at St. James. They will also be cleaning up the area they used, repairing any places they damaged, and helping us with painting new lines. We also have new signs for the parking lot at IC. This has helped us with our monthly income as we sometimes collect as much as $600 a weekend. This month, you might see a dumpster at IC. It is for the building behind us to use while its roof is being replaced.
