Pastor’s Corner — December 11th, 2022
Recap of #2 and a Look to #3 in our Gospel Preaching Series
Last weekend, Fr. Miguel preached an excellent homily on the “Captured,” which spoke about sin and its consequences. (If you missed his homily, please watch/listen on our YouTube Channel). He talked about sin and its powers from which none of us can escape. Our condition cries out for a Savior to rescue us.
Of the two lies the Devil wants us to believe (a) that he’s not real or b) he’s more powerful than he really is, I believe the vast majority of self-identified Catholics are tempted to believe the first lie while a substantial minority are tempted to believe the second. Both are deadly, but for very different reasons. On the one hand, when we don’t believe in the enemy with which we’re engaged in spiritual battle, it’s much more likely that we’ll lose the battle because it’s hard to defeat a superior and more intelligent foe you’re not aware of. On the other hand, Catholics who are aware of the spiritual battle can at times unwittingly exaggerate or amplify the power of the devil, thereby falling into one of his main tactics: to get us to take our eyes off of Jesus so that we give into fear of the Devil.
As we’ll see this week in Homily #3: Rescued, the Devil and evil spirits are no match for Jesus. A significant part of my growth in faith in Jesus is witnessing Jesus’ power over the demons. I’m not talking about simply in helping people fight temptations; I’m taking about the significant freedom gained in people’s lives when people are delivered from demonic bondage as they address with Jesus significant areas of unbelief, unforgiveness, patterns of sin and emotional trauma.
We have a wonderful Savior who rescues us from the power of Satan, sin and death! It’s because of what he’s done that I became a priest. It’s because of what he’s done that all of us have hope. That’s the subject of this week’s homily on Rescued.
Parish Penance Service
We have our Parish Penance Service next Saturday, Dec 17 at 10am. We should have seven priests there. This is an excellent way to prepare for Christmas.
Congrats Kim Pavlock, St. Pat’s Parishioner now Principal of Holy Spirit School
A note from Kim: “After serving as associate director of the University Writing Center at Eastern Michigan University for the past 12 years, I have accepted a position as principal at Holy Spirit Catholic School. My career in education started as a secondary English teacher. I am currently completing a PhD in educational leadership. I feel grateful and blessed to be able to serve God and the families at Holy Spirit Catholic School in this new role.” Congrats Kim!
Significant Update on RRM: New Governance Structures and New Parish Grouping
On Monday the Diocese sent out a significant email update on the implementation of the Realign Resources for Mission. In this update, the Diocese explains the shift to a new governance structure that’s a little different from the one we recommended to the bishop. It also explains that some of theparish groupings have changed (ours is one of them).
I’m also sending this update and some of my commentary on the new changes in an email to the whole parish. If you’re not signed up for parish emails, please go to our home page to sign up.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias