September 24, 2021

Dear Parish Family, 

         It’s amazing how often some of the ideas for these communications come from meme’s that I have seen. The following meme, which is more of a quote, really spoke to my heart - “Speak to people in a way that if they died the next day, you’d be satisfied with the last thing you said to them.” What a powerful statement this is! I feel that as time continues, we forget this.

         I am reminded of one of the apparently more infamous caffeine fueled homilies I once preached (and am often reminded of by certain people). The actual title of the homily in my head was don’t be a hole. You can figure the rest out, but since obviously you shouldn’t say they one word in church and the second absence of the offending part of the phrase, is just strange to say. The actual homily was focused on the phrase don’t be a jerk” Oh that was a fun homily. Yet, I feel it is more relevant now than ever.

         We live in a day and age where there is the phrase “don’t be a Karen” or apparently the male equivalent is Ken. The fact that there is an entire group of people called this distresses me. Don’t get me wrong, I sometimes feel the urge to lose my temper when something doesn’t go my way.  I usually tend to be able control it. The only time where I came close to not keeping my cool was the infamous day of multiple canceled or delayed flights that eventually saw me flying into JFK airport at 2:30 am, with my car parked at Newark airport. 

         It is easy to let these things upset us and make us get nasty with someone. While some people will say, this is the only way I can get things done, there is a difference between being firm in what you should be getting and going unhinged yelling and screaming. 

         I could spend pages on this, but I think I’ve said enough. We need to remember in all that we do, we must be aware of what it means to follow Christ. One of the biggest ways to do this, is to be more mindful of our actions, words and deeds in how we treat others. We know the power our words can have (both good and bad).  It is important that we do our best to be mindful of our words when we interact with others. Things we say can have lasting impressions and implications. Don’t let the words we speak haunt us down the line. As the quote above reminds us, if this was the last time you spoke to someone before they pass, how happy would you be with what was said?

         This last paragraph is just a few reminders. Our parish picnic will hopefully be next Sunday, October 3. Please RSVP by this weekend so we can start planning out food and things like that. On Saturday, October 2 at 10:00 am, we will have the annual Blessing of Animals in the church parking lot. There will be a few locations in the parking lot, as we did last year. Lastly, this weekend, we will again have our children joining us for mass with their Faith Formation classes.  I remind you of the importance of being masked, indoors in general, for the protection of these children who are unable to be vaccinated from COVID-19.

         Have a safe and happy weekend, enjoy the cooler mornings and the varying hot days.

God Bless, 

Fr. Brian