A Letter from Fr. Paul - Sunday, October 4th

Congratulations to our children who receive their First Communion (finally) at the 10:30 am Mass this weekend.  May you always walk close to Jesus.  I thank the parents for bringing them to this point in their faith journey.  May God bless them.

If you have not yet supported our sister parish collection for this year, please do so soon, if you are able.  Information on how to do so is elsewhere in this bulletin or at www.stpiusparish.org/news/sister-parish-collection.  God bless Santa Maria Nebaj, Guatemala.

In the first years of my priestly ministry, one of the most difficult questions I encountered was “Why do we pray? After all, we believe that God knows everything and wants the best for us.”

The beginning of our reading from Philippians gives the answer: Brothers and sisters: Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

We “make our requests known to God” for ourselves, not to manipulate God or tell God what to do.  When we pray to God, we are connecting, we are relating.  Add that personal relationship to our belief that God wants the best for us and we can move toward “having no anxiety at all.”  And when that anxiety drops, “then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding” is ours.  It doesn’t mean the concern is gone, it doesn’t mean the problem is gone (e.g. a relative in serious condition), but it does mean that we “know” that God is in control and all will be OK, even if it is not what we want.  That anxiety deep in our hearts is lessened.

This is a great gift of faith, a great gift of connecting 
personally with the Lord in conversation and prayer.  If I ever had any doubt about this, it was taken away by the innumerable times I have ministered to dying friends of Jesus, who had the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.  It is awesome and humbling to experience that.

The secret is making sure that our experience with God is a relationship of conversation in prayer, not simply believing dogmas.  I pray for all of us that we may deepen our personal relationship with the Lord by speaking to Him and listening.  Then, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard [our] hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

This is my prayer for all of us.  Have a good week and stay safe.  God bless.