A Letter from Fr. Paul - February 24, 2019

This weekend we start our discernment for a trustee and four pastoral council members. More information can be found on the nomination form online, in the bulletin, and in our newsletter, which will go out this week. Please prayerfully reflect and nominate good leaders for our community.

Congratulations to parishioner Ron Schwartz who turned 108 on February 14 and was featured in the Journal-Sentinel last Sunday with an article and photos! 

Keep our Lenten Reflection in church from 7 to 8 pm on Tuesday, March 12, on your radar. Childcare will be provided.

We all have heard of Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount,” which begins with the beatitudes. Luke has a “Sermon on the Plain,” which we started to read last week with his version of the beatitudes and which continues this weekend with a call to love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke then rachets up the pressure by noting that God will treat us as we treat others: Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.

Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and gifts will be given to you… All of this challenges us to act in ways that are extremely difficult, some would say impossible. But, to use a cliché, “nothing is impossible with God!”

We won’t be able to do this in one day or one week or one year or one lifetime: it will be a lifelong process of growing in our ability to do so. And the important thing is that we are growing.

But we need help and support, first from God. That is why building a personal relationship with God is so important. And we need the support of the community, others who are struggling to be compassionate, loving, and forgiving. That is why it is so important that we stay connected to the community and the graces that come from receiving the sacraments. 

I invite us this week to reflect on whether we are growing in our ability to incorporate these difficult demands into the way we act. Are we improving? How can we do better? And let us support each other in prayer.

-- Paul James Portland, SDS