I love being a priest!  I love being at this parish!  Thanks for your support, kindness, love and compassion!  It is great!   Thank you for the support you offer to our seminarians, as well as our deacon in training!  This weekend, we welcome our very own seminarian, Ryan Arto, who will share his vocation talk with us.  I also encourage you to continue to support the activities Andy Davis is offering here at the parish.  He needs your help as he completes his formation here.

One privilege priests get to participate in is having Mass at nursing Homes.  One nursing home I visited and celebrated at this past week was the Village of St. Edward in Green.  It is always a joy to pray with the people there.  But this time the Holy Spirit inspired me at the end of Mass to ask them what the most important thing we do as Catholics is…(I feel that oftentimes when individuals reach this stage in life, their voice is left unheard.  So, I wanted to give them a voice.) Their answers were great!  Here is what they said:  The most important thing we do as Catholics is:  Pray…..spend time in Eucharistic Adoration….foster friendship with each other….spend time with each other….celebrate Eucharist….devote our lives to the Blessed Mother….and so forth.  At the heart of all that they mentioned was building up the spirit of community within the life of the parish.   Coming together and enjoying each other’s presence, united in Christ, is what its all about.  I thank the good people of St. Edwards for those words.

Is this not what the life of Jesus was all about—coming together and sharing life with others?  In the gospel this weekend, Jesus shows us that he desires this with everyone, even the greatest of sinners.  Time and time again we see how Jesus surprises everyone when he decides who he wants to dine with.  The gospel says that they grumbled….“He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.”  Because Jesus accepted this man into his life, it changed his life forever.  “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”  Jesus brought salvation into the life of Zacchaeus by simply accepting him, spending time with him, eating with him and reminding him where he came from.  Who in your life do you struggle with?  Who in your life do you feel God is calling you to spend time with and help them along the way?  Don’t be afraid.  Be Jesus to them.  Remind them of their goodness today.

You too are very good and blessed,

Fr. Jeremy