Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
This Sunday we have the readings from the Gospel of Mark and we hear of Jesus proclaiming the good news and healing various ailments throughout Galilee. Jesus has just appointed the twelve apostles to preach tot eh crowds about the mystery of the Kingdom of God through parables. Both parables in the gospel call to mind the images that were very recognizable to the audience of Jesus’ time. However, we are called to go deeper to understand the time and place in which these parables were said.
The parable of the mustard seed speaks to the frustration of the small Christian communities of the time and how they viewed themselves in relation to rest of the faith communities of that time. Jesus wanted to emphasize that even the smallest community can ‘grow’ into and have major influence to bring about change in a community. That God is in all our beginnings and endings and He will be glorified even in our small actions.
The first phase of the Church renovation has started with the instillation of the new boiler system to provide heat for the Church, Religious Education building and offices. In the next few weeks with the replacement cooling systems for the Church and Church complex will start. The existing HVAC system is currently failing and needs to be replaced due to its age. The instillation will be a major undertaking to replace our aged system of the parish. The HVAC systems of the Church are interconnected with the Religious Education building and the work will be extensive. Thank you for your generosity towards STHY.
Furthermore, we have signed a contract with Studio Red Architects who will help guide us on phase two of the renovation of the Church. Studio Red Architects have provided their services to several of our parishes here in the Archdiocese, and I am confident they will be able to lead us in the renovation of our fifty plus year old church. Thank you for your generosity to St Hyacinth.
One of our parish goals in 2021 is to increase the number of families supporting St Hyacinth using Faith Direct. Currently we have 211 families using Faith Direct and hopefully by the end of the year we can have at least 325 families of STHY on Faith Direct. The number of 325 families represents 20% of our parish population of registered parishioners. You can register in less than five minutes by logging on to www.faithdirect.net and entering our parish code of TX526 or by just simply scanning the QR code found on the poster in the Narthex.
This year we will celebrate the 56th anniversary of the founding of St Hyacinth. For this year’s celebration, the weekend of August 21st and 22nd there will be a weekend of prayer, remembrance, and celebration. There will be giveaways, and fun throughout the weekend culminating with the long-anticipated raffle of wonderful prizes. Soo, please pick up your raffle tickets from one of the volunteers at the entrance to the Church. We have the same wonderful raffle prizes that were going to be raffled off at the 2020 spring festival, however, those tickets will be added to this raffle for the Parish anniversary.
Please mark your calendars for this wonderful event of homecoming and celebration as we return to the Church. Please take this time of preparation to invite any of our past parishioners and families who have moved to come and celebrate the anniversary and life of our STHY.
God Bless,
Fr. Reginald Samuels
