Time for the Harvest: The harvest of the wheat is currently taking place amongst farmers. In today’s Gospel, Jesus discusses the fact that some weeds (tares) grow up with the wheat. Pope Francis reflected on this parable: “The teaching of the parable is twofold. First of all, Jesus says that the evil in the world comes not from God but from the enemy, the devil. This enemy is cunning: he sowed evil amidst the good, so that it is impossible for us to clearly separate them. But God, in the end, will do it. And here we come to the second theme: the contrast between the impatience of servants and the patient waiting of the owner of the field, who represents God. We are sometimes in a hurry to judge, classify, place the good here and the bad beyond. But God knows to wait. He looks at the ‘field’ of every person’s life with patience and mercy. He sees much better than us the dirt and the evil, but he also sees the seeds of good and looks forward with confidence for them to mature.”
Amazing: This week our parish staff will get together for a couple of days to watch and discuss the ‘Amazing Parish’ video series. It’s an opportunity to discuss as a staff what we do well and what we need to work on to better serve you. Please pray for this endeavor.
Our sports teams: Please support the 18th annual Athletic Boosters Golf Outing taking place on Saturday, September 16, at the Flint Elks Golf and Country Club beginning at 1 pm. All the proceeds go to support our school’s athletic teams. Please see page 7 for more details.
City Meeting: On Monday, July 17, architect Brad Klein went over our plans for the renovation of the Church and campus with the Grand Blanc City Planning Council. A few parishioners attended as well. It was a positive meeting. I especially appreciated one board member’s request to make our campus more attractive from the SaginawStreet view. Brad explained that we will try to do this in phases. The first phase will be the Church renovation beginning in June of 2018. The second phase (hopefully in 2019) will be the main parking lot with landscape and the following year other improvements including a new garage, etc. We are hoping in the fall to have updated drawings on all of these projects. Thanks for your patience and support.
House: Unless someone wants to move the current house next to the Church (the one currently lived in by Sr. Sharon), it will be demolished in mid to late August. Sr. Sharon will be moving to the ‘yellow house,’ the house directly across the school entrance on Orchard Street. By the way, thank you to Steve Samson, Jim Ridley and a host of youth who painted and cleaned the ‘yellow house’ for Sr. Sharon’s arrival during Mission Makeover week. They did an incredible job!
Mass times: We are switching back the Mass time on Sunday evening. It will be at 5 pm during the school year and 7 pm during the summer starting September 10. This is due to events happening on Sunday evening. Please see page 4 for more information. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Spiritual Jolt: Some of our men from our parish are planning on making a retreat at Manresa Jesuit Retreat House the weekend of August 25 – 27. You are welcome to attend as well. It’s an opportunity to spend quiet time with the Lord in a very beautiful setting. Please call Norm Fulton at 810.344.7316 for more details.
I hope you are enjoying the fresh fruits and vegetables and the beautiful weather! May God bless you abundantly.
With love and prayers.
Msgr. Jerry
During these summer months we find Pope Francis’ words on Recreation and Leisure:
“Together with a culture of work, there must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport. But this is being destroyed, in large part, by the elimination of the Sabbath rest day. More and more people work on Sundays as a consequence of the competitiveness imposed by a consumer society.” In such cases, he concludes, “work ends up dehumanizing people.”