A Letter from Fr. Paul - Sunday, June 20th

Happy Father’s Day to all our fathers!  I pray for you in a special way as you perform the awesome task of modeling for your children how to be loving, caring Catholics.  I pray that you always remember that
actions speak louder than words.
 
Last weekend, we presented the final reflection on Living the Gift of Sunday. I thank the parishioners who were willing to share their experiences in short videos that accompanied various chapters.  If you have not taken advantage of these reflections during the last 10 weeks, I invite you to do so: they continue to be available here.
 
Our Gospel this Sunday invites us to ask ourselves if we really believe that God is in control.  That all will be OK.  Really!  The disciples were in a boat on very rough seas.  Talk about not having control!  Jesus was there but they were still afraid.
 
Jesus is in our boat, but when things are tough it can be difficult to “feel” that; the important thing is that we BELIEVE it.  The older I get, and as I look back on my life, the clearer it is to me that God has been in control.  I share one incident from my life:
 
When I was 17, I was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was confined to a sanatorium in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  Since there was no medicine at that time, it was possibly a life sentence!  I struggled to calm myself and trust that all would be OK.  The following happened: my parents agreed for me to take experimental drugs, they worked (they became the go-to T.B. drugs), a hospital administrator asked a friend in the State Legislature to get me released ahead of what was allowed by law, and I was released a couple days before I had to report to the Salvatorian novitiate to begin my official entrance into the community.  It is incredible all the things that fell into place, allowing me to continue my journey to be a member of the Salvatorian Family. For me, it was a miracle: Jesus took control and calmed the seas of what seemed to be an impossible situation.
 
This is a rather dramatic example from many incidences in my life where I can see that God was in control, even though I couldn’t see it at the time.  I invite you to take some time this week to reflect on your life.  Were there times you felt that things were going badly but they turned out to be a blessing?  Can you see God’s hand in what has happened to you?  How easy is it for you to trust that God is in control? 
 
Let us pray with St. Thomas: Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.  God bless.
 
Church sign of the week: The quieter you become, the more you can hear.