Dear
Parishioners,
Perhaps
you might receive a Christmas card with the inscription Peace on Earth. When Christ was born, there was period of relative peace
known as the Pax Romana throughout
the known world. The power and might of
the Roman Empire and its army allowed for a temporary period of peace. However, where is
the great Roman Empire now? Its eventual
collapse came from within as the moral fiber of the society eventually disintegrated.
Our
world is in desperate need of peace.
Even our Holy Father said that we are experiencing a "piecemeal third world war" recently after the terrorist attacks in Paris. How can we achieve a true and lasting peace?
We
call Christ the Prince of Peace. I suggest that His Gospel message needs to
take deep root in our hearts. We have
heard much about radicalization in the
news lately. Jesus' message is one of love,
forgiveness, mercy and peace. Christians
and all people of good will should know that war, violence, hatred, revenge,
terrorism, and the murder of innocents is never the ultimate answer.
While
there are those who find little time for prayer or may even mock it, I think prayer is the means by which we will
find a solution to our world (as well
as individual) problems. A return to God and a more complete
discipleship to Our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ is the only way we are going to have true and lasting peace. Jesus did not die on the cross so that
everything that He said and did would come to naught. Every subsequent generation must heed His
Gospel message, be converted, and allow the Gospel to be deeply rooted in the
heart. It is Jesus who will transform
hatred into love and offer us true peace now as he did then.
My
hope and prayer is for a better world in which we no longer live in fear. No one likes to be barraged in the news with
stories of an unstable world, hatred and violence. I am not so idealistic or naive to think that
we should not remain vigilant and prepared in this sometimes frightening
world. Yet, If we want to see things change for the better and not just let
this be a bunch of rhetoric, then we will need Divine assistance and a determined commitment on our part to be faith-filled disciples of Jesus.
I
am a firm believer that God's patience and mercy are directed toward our
salvation. God often works slowly and
ever so subtlety. In this Jubilee Year of Mercy may we have the resolve to embrace the cross of Jesus, to accept His mercy, and to do our part
to build up the Kingdom of God.
Then
we will have peace.
Merry
Christmas to you and your family!
Fr. Ed Namiotka
Pastor
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