“Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another” (Romans 13:8). 

This weekend is our Parish Festival Weekend!  Praise God!  During this weekend, we continue to celebrate 75 beautiful years of parish life!  In light of this, I would like to share something from the booklet for the Dedication of the new St. Francis de Sales Church on July 11, 1971…on page 16, you can find a poem titled “Problems at Church.”  

What a gift it is to be a part of a broken, messy, imperfect church!  Read this poem a few times.  Let it soak in.  Sometimes in life, we keep searching and searching for something that doesn’t exist.  Take a moment to remember and give thanks to God that we are here, that we have God and we have this community to help us turn to Him in the midst of all the imperfections.   

Now, I want to go to the other Dedication booklet from 1951 and share the first page, which is an appeal to our patron, St. Francis de Sales…. 

St. Francis de Sales, patron of our parish, come celebrate with us today.  Walk with our Bishop as he gives our gift to God, then walk with us when, pridefully, we show our church and school to friends!  Inspire us to see our gift in its true light.  OUR GIFT TO GOD. . . .?  Is it not . . . rather . . . a GIFT FROM GOD . . . TO US . . . ? . . . this opportunity to build a Church to harbor His Real Presence . . . this privilege of building up a school wherein our children’s souls will find as much enrichment as their minds . . . this pleasant task of making friends around our Church and working with them . . . joyfully . . .  

This parish is a gift!  Let’s never forget the opportunity, the privilege, the joy that having a church community brings to our lives.  And let’s not keep this good news to ourselves.  Let’s continue to share this gift with the world!  

Where do we go from here?  As we head toward the next 75 years of parish life here at St. Francis de Sales, let us take to heart the words of St. Francis de Sales.  These words were found on the back of Fr. Diederich’s Funeral Card…Have Courage…“Do not look forward to what might happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take of you tomorrow and every day.  Either He will shield you from suffering or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it.  Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.” 

With gratitude for all God has done and will continue to do!  

Fr. Jeremy