Words of Gratitude…
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We are down to our final three weeks together. I would like to continue to express my gratitude to God for all the ways that he has been good to us over the few short years I have been here at Holy Family.
So many of you deserve my thanks also. While I know I can’t get to each of you one at a time, as would seem fitting, better to make a start than to give up before beginning. This week there are some who come particularly to mind. Each and every one of you who has lived your faith with joy, who has so often surprised me with your humble confidence in God: thank you. It is hard to express the strength and consolation you give to me when you live our faith not just in words, but in your daily actions, particularly when it is not easy. Thank you.
Thank you to all you married couples who are courageously living this incredible vocation. Thank you to those who have been married a lifetime – some of you have even made it to your 70th wedding anniversary in my time here. Wow! What an inspiration and witness you are to us in our times, when so many question even the possibility of such faithfulness. Thank you to you newly married couples, those starting their covenantal relationship of love in the past few years. It is no small thing, your sacramental commitment to each other and new life, in a society that is so quickly taking away its privileged (and rightful) support of you. Thank you – perhaps especially -to all you married couples who are in the midst of raising a family, with years under your belt, but with years (God willing) still ahead of you. You know daily the great storms and challenges that your vocation brings, and every time you continue to choose to forgive, to pray and trust God, to commit again to the vows you made to one another on your wedding day, you are a blessing and an inspiration to your family, to me and the world. Thank you.
A priest once told me that he experienced how not only each believer has unique gifts from the Holy Spirit (called charism), but also each parish exhibits unique gifts too. Two gifts that I have seen in a particular way here at Holy Family are a generosity with your treasure and your time in service to the needy. Our Outreach program is one of the clearest examples of this, but it truly is only one of many. I wish everyone in our parish, and our Grand Blanc community, would see the countless hidden ways that many of you give so selflessly. When there is a new need (and there is always a new need, isn’t there?), you continue to respond with compassion and enthusiasm. The world is blessed by your love. I have been blessed by your love. Thank you.
This week I am grateful for the varied ways that so many of you continue to respond to God’s good will for you and the joy that this brings me.
May God bless you and your family abundantly this week.
Fr. Jonathan