TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Greetings to everyone in our parish! I know that it has been quite a while since I have sent out a weekly reflection (back in July), and I apologize for not keeping up with you as regularly as I should be. I continue to pray for all those who are keeping safe at home and cautious about venturing out in the midst of the continuing threat of the Coronavirus pandemic. I hope you remain healthy. As you can imagine, we have been busy here adapting to the new protocols as we slowly begin to return to worshipping in person and catching up with things that were postponed earlier in the year. I felt that as we celebrated Labor Day last week and begin a new school year, it is a good time to try to reach out to you on a more regular basis. I don’t know if I will be able to do this weekly, but I will try my best.

I hope that you have continued to be able to take advantage of the many Masses offered through the live-streams of parishes throughout the diocese (and beyond) that are available through the internet or on television. I also hope that you have been able to check out our parish website to see the videos of our young parishioners who received the sacraments of First Penance, First Communion and Confirmation last month. If not, I would encourage you to do so. The website address is www.staloy.com.  I am also grateful to those of you who do not yet feel comfortable attending Mass who nevertheless continue to send in your weekly envelopes to support our parish. You help us to be able to continue to serve God and one another during these difficult times and your sacrifice is greatly appreciated.

As far as this weekend’s readings, I have to confess that they are an example of some of the more difficult teachings of Jesus for me to hear. The parable of the ungrateful servant in the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus offers in response to Peter’s question “if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive?” reminds me that I (like everyone else) is in need of mercy and forgiveness from God. I am confronted with the reality that I sin and as a result, I am indebted to God for my sins. Even more so, if I expect God to be merciful and forgiving of me, I need to be merciful and forgiving of those who have hurt me. Every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are reminded of this – “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” I know the truth of this, but, as with many things, it is easier said than done. Our natural reaction is to seek vengeance and it is easy to react out of that, but we know how much better it is to extend forgiveness. While it is difficult to overcome our natural response, it is something that we can work at doing throughout our lives and hopefully continue to do better. So, ultimately, while I may not enjoy hearing these readings so often, they are a good reminder to keep making the effort to follow them and hopefully live them out more.

Once again, I hope and pray that you are continuing to be safe and healthy and know that we who are able to gather together as a community keep you in our thoughts and prayers and look forward to the time we can all join together once again!

May the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit come down upon you and remain with you forever. Amen.

St. Aloysius, pray for us!

Father Dan