February 29, 2004
Come to Life!
Ministries
Appeal
Just a few days after I gave an invitation to contribute to the Catholic
Ministries Appeal at the Sunday masses, parishioners have already pledged
over $16,000 toward our parish goal of $91,000. That’s a remarkable
start and I want to thank those who turned in their pledges over the
weekend or early in the week. If you are turning in your pledge card
this weekend, thank you. If you’re still considering how much to
give, I want to assure you that 80% of your donation goes to the pastoral
ministries throughout the diocese and 20% comes back to us. Once we’ve
reached our goal 80% of any donations over the goal will came back to
St.Brigid’s. Please send in your pledge card as soon as possible
since that will save us time and future mailing costs.
At College?
At St. Brigid’s we like to stay in touch through
e-mail “letters from home.”
Once a person has an e-mail address at school (or if he/she uses a personal
address), please let us know what it is so we can include them when
we write.
Here's a handy college link so you
can send this info online.
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past Columns:
Feb 22:
An Adventure to Life
Feb15: A rose by another
name?
Feb 8: If at first...
Feb 1: Our Patron Saint
Jan 25:A View From Inside
Jan 18: Our School
Jan 11: Baptism with Fire
Dec28: Our Holy
Family
Other Colums from 2003
Columns from 2002
Where do you feel most alive? For some,
it’s at a place of great beauty -- an ocean or a mountain. For others,
it’s surrounded by family. For some it’s being immersed in their
work or in service for others.
This past Ash Wednesday, this place was filled
with life. Constant streams of people made their way to the church. The
church was filled over and over again with people who wanted to begin
these holy days with the sign of the cross on their foreheads. Even when
there were no masses or services, people came just to be in our church
and pray.
Even though I know this is what happens each
year on Ash Wednesday, I’m still surprised by the power that a little
dirt has over the lives of people. And some folks are quite frantic about
it too. They seem to panic if they feel they’re not going to be ‘in
time for ashes.’ It’s not like ashes possess some medicinal
power to cure diseases, it’s not like they lead to wealth and power.
They’re merely a sign that we’re sinners. And people rearrange
their whole lives on this day (and note that it’s not a Holy Day
of Obligation) in order to be marked as sinners with this bit of dirt.
I wish I could “bottle” the fervor
that people bring on Ash Wednesday and pour it out on Sundays as well.
For as Catholics we believe that the real source and summit of our lives
is Jesus in the eucharist. When we want to come to life, we find a most
powerful and real presence of Jesus as we gather as a community to celebrate
the eucharist. Listening to God’s word gives life. Singing and praying
together gives life. Receiving the Eucharist gives life.
This Lent we’re hoping that people will
make an extra effort to not only come to the Eucharist each sunday, but
to reach out to others and invite them to come along to find life here.
Who do you know whom you can reach out to and ask if they’d like
to come to church with you? (Eighty percent of Catholics on Long Island
don’t regularly come to church so it shouldn’t be hard to find
someone to invite!) We have more than ashes here. We have life!
You are Person
