Thanking Jesus For Healing Us?
In this familiar Gospel story, we hear about Jesus healing a leper who is not a Jew but a Samaritan. This large group lived in the Holy Land between Galilee in the north and Jerusalem and Judea in the south. There was great animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans, who were descendants of Israelites who had married the conquering Assyrians eight centuries before Jesus. They were no longer considered a part of God’s People. Nevertheless, Jesus healed the one Samaritan leper who was the only one to come back glorifying God and to thank Jesus for restoring his health and enabling him to go back to his family. The other nine Jewish lepers who were healed failed to come back to Jesus or express gratitude for Jesus’ miracle.
Do we sufficiently express our gratitude to our Lord Jesus for healing us of our sins? Probably not as much as we could! But when we come to the Holy Eucharist faithfully each Sunday, we are thanking the Lord in the very best way possible. The Eucharist is a sacrament of gratitude to God; it is an “attitude of gratitude” for salvation through Jesus Christ!
Again, “THANK YOU!” To All Who Made the 75th Parish Jubilee a Rousing Success!
So many parish members and visitor were excited and grateful for our Jubilee Mass and dinner last month. As your pastor, I was indeed privileged to celebrate this parish milestone with you.
Even Archbishop Rozanski sent a personal thank you note expressing his deepest thanks for having him at our Parish Jubilee Mass and banquet.
Father Tom Donaldson, our Parish Mission preacher, also expressed his gratitude to the St. Bernadette Parish Family for the invitation to preach at our parish and for the generous collection of almost $4,000.
This Month Is Our Annual “Stewardship” Month
Usually September is the month to revisit our Stewardship commitment to the Lord and his Church, but because of our Parish Jubilee, it is in October this year. This weekend at each Mass, Mr. Dave Majchrzak, a member of our St. Bernadette Finance Council, will be previewing our annual parish Financial Report (July 2021- June 2022). You will be receiving a copy of our annual report in the mail in a week or so, along with your Stewardship Covenant Card.
Stewardship is a key part of our Catholic belief and practice of recognizing that everything we have comes from the Lord, and we absolutely need to be good stewards of all these good gifts and stewardship opportunities in our day-to-day life and in our parish life. We let the Lord know we are grateful by sharing these gifts here at St. Bernadette Parish by – by sharing generously of our valuable time, our unique talents and gifts and our hard-earned treasure!
Now is the ideal time to pray and reflect on God’s blessings to each of us. And then see how we can be responsible stewards of our gifts with our St. Bernadette Parish.
A couple of messages from God’s Word about stewardship:
- Psalm 116:12 “How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?”
- Deuteronomy 16:16-17 “No one shall appear before the Lord empty-handed, but each of you with as much as he/she can give, in proportion to the blessings which the Lord, your God, has bestowed on you.”