Wow, it is already July, which means we are getting closer to Steelers Training Camp! During this month of July, may the beautiful days and joyful Fourth of July celebrations help us all to fill our lives with thankfulness and praise!
In today’s first reading from the Old Testament Book of Wisdom, we hear “God fashioned all things that they might have being.” “God is love,” Scripture famously says (1 John 4:16), but you could also say with equal truth, “God is life.” Just as love reveals God, so does life itself witness to God. Creation was an act of pure life-giving love. God did not have to make the world: God wanted to make the world. God wanted to share the divine life with creation. Though brokenness and obstacles may lie in their paths, God always desires God’s creatures to return to the source of their lives. Every breath, every thought, every step, sight, sound and taste testifies to your being alive – and to God’s life in you. Be aware and be thankful!
Tuesday, July 3 is the Feast of Saint Thomas. He is famous for his skepticism toward initial reports of Jesus’ Resurrection. Meanwhile, you may wonder if you’d believe in such fabulous goings-on if they were reported to you in real-time today. Good news often seems feeble compared with the magnitude of the bad news that comes to you daily. Thomas is the patron saint when the reasons for hope appear frail indeed. Early traditions say he died as a martyr in India, pierced by a sword. The one whose faith was bolstered by the wounds of Jesus proved his faith with his own torn body. What has faith cost you, and do you have the scars to prove it.
As our nation celebrates its 236th birthday this Wednesday, this text from a prayer by Archbishop John Carroll is most appropriate:
Lord, we commend to your unbounded mercy all citizens of the United States, that we may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of your holy law. May we be preserved in union and that peace which the world cannot give; and, after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those which are eternal. Amen.
A special thanks to all who attended the Parish Picnic last Sunday! It was a beautiful day and a good time was had by all. Thanks to all who volunteered at the picnic.
Our Responsorial Psalm this week, "Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy," reminds us to turn to God to fulfill our needs.
