Parish of the Holy Savior

This past week together as the community of disciples “following Jesus in the foothills” we set us out on a new journey to rediscover Jesus with the aim of deepening our relationship with Him. Our Catholic identity is rooted in the mission to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ in word and in action. But our witness and effectiveness is hopelessly inadequate if as individuals and as a community we are not intentional about our discipleship. This year my hope is that we become more truly what we profess to believe and are united in our desire follow Jesus in the foothills of Western Maine. Yet how can we follow someone we do not truly know? So let’s get to know Jesus better. Let’s rediscover Jesus.

Over the next 52 weeks, I’m going to try and focus my weekly homilies around some aspect of the person of Jesus, or our relationship with him, and I will try and coordinate my message with the weekly bulletin, Facebook, and Twitter. To help us focus, act and pray I’ll give us a point to ponder, a verse of Scripture, a question to consider, as well as a prayer for us all to pray. It is my hope that these could help us to share our faith at home, among friends, online, in parish groups, or whenever we gather with one another.

I hope to also inspire parishioners to make use of the tremendous resources that are now available to us through FORMED.ORG. Formed has wonderful Catholic movies, audio talks by some of the best Catholic speakers, and many books that can be downloaded. There are also a number of programs that could be used for small groups, either at home or in a parish setting. All the resources are there- videos, participant guides, everything one would need to study and share the faith.

You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. All of these new opportunities are provided to all of you for but it’s up to you to freely choose to take advantage of them. As we enter into a new year thinking about new beginnings and all the hopeful possibilities, I am reminded of something a friend of mine often says, “If you want something you have never had before you have to be willing to try something you’ve never tried before.” Let’s try. When you look at the Cross recall the words of our Holy Savior, “Behold! I make all things new…” Happy New Year!