Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

      Where did summer go?  Our children will be heading back to school this week -some happy to be with their friends, others needing more time on their bicycles and in their swimming pools or lakes (like I used to be).  Be that as it may there is no stopping the course of time and soon we will be back in the swing of things.  This, of course, requires a certain amount of discipline, like getting up early and designating time for homework and extracurricular activities.  Discipline is part of our human experience if we expect to succeed and accomplish tasks and duties in life.  No less so is this extended to spiritual life and our Scripture today from Hebrews stresses this very point.

     Our Catholic life requires discipline because God knows what is best for us.   His revealed Word to us is that gentle but direct discipline we need in order to accomplish our goal, which is Heaven. The beauty of spiritual discipline is that it comes with God’s grace fashioning and forming us into the Christians He wants us to be and which we ourselves hope to be.   That means getting rid of the sins that weigh us down and prevent our progress in the spiritual life.  Confession/Reconciliation is God’s grace of discipline that scrapes away the impediments to growth.  Perhaps as we are ratcheting up to this Autumnal season we can get in the groove of making Confession a disciplined practice on our life’ journey, kind of like an oasis where we stop and get refreshed and renewed as we trudge through the vicissitudes of this world on our way home to God.

      Throughout these past years tremendous works of charity have been done through our St. Vincent de Paul Society.  Countless volunteers under the guidance of Mimi Gambino have provided food, shelter and clothing, not to mention spiritual consolation to those in need within our expansive community.  God has blessed these labors, but our ministry has grown so large that it is too much for one person to administer.  Therefore, we will soon be having a restructuring of the Society to more evenly distribute the workload.  We thank Mimi for her exceptional commitment to working for the poor and needy and extend an invitation to others to come forth and help continue the blessed work she has accomplished.

    Remember that next week we return to St. John’s for the 10:30 Mass.

With Blessings,

Father Langan