 Fr.
Tom's Tomes April 2, 2006
In a couple short weeks we will be celebrating Easter. Easter is an important date for all Christian faiths as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. To fully experience the feast of Easter I would invite all parishioners to actively take part in the celebrations on Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Each of these days of Holy Week we do experience part of Jesus' journey towards his resurrection. It is not enough to just come on Easter Sunday because the liturgies of the other days of Holy Week gives us so much of the story and participation in the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Put aside the times during Holy Week for the different liturgies and come and pray with us. Beginning this weekend I am also going to begin talking about the discipline of giving alms in our lives. The disciplines of Lent include prayer, fasting and giving alms. Giving alms is our response of thanksgiving to God for what God has blessed us with. Giving alms is the way God has given us the ability to reach out to those who are in need to bring the message of God's love to them. This season of Lent we have had the opportunity to help others through the BEAF (Bishop's Emergency Assistance Fund), the Catholic Relief Services collection and Project Rice Bowl. All of these collections are designed to help us assist those who need food and shelter in our neighborhood, country and the world. We all have the opportunity to help others through these efforts. Besides giving alms to the poor there is a need for all of us to support the local parish. Since I have been here I have taken time to begin to learn a lot about the parish and school. I believe it is my responsibility to begin to talk about financially supporting St. Columban. There is a long and rich history of the Catholic Church in Chillicothe. There has been a Catholic presence here for over a hundred years. I have heard many people talk about how proud they are of the Church building and Catholic education but always in terms of the past. I think we need to put an emphasis on the present and into the future for this parish and the ministries of the parish. It is not just the past we should be concerned about but the future. As parishioners of St. Columban's we need to understand each one of us has a responsibility to support the Church now and into the future. I would begin by asking you how you are supporting St. Columban's parish and ministries now? How much financial support and time and talent do you give to the parish? Beginning with the stories in the Book of Genesis of the Bible each person is asked by God to give a tithe back to God. What is a tithe? It is the first 10% of our time, talent and financial resources to God. During this past week how much time have you given to the parish? There were 168 hours this past week. How much time did you give to helping God through this parish or other charitable organizations? How much money did you make this past week? Did you make $100, $400, $1,000 or more? This would also be before the company or employer takes the taxes out of your pay check. Are you placing $10, $40 or $100 in the collection? It is truly pretty easy to answer the question about am I returning my tithe to God. There are many reasons why a person may not be returning to God. But my question would be are they reasons or excuses? Because a person is in debt does not constitute a true reason not to return the first 10% to God. From the beginning of time God asks us to return from what we have to God. Tithing and stewardship are not ideas which come about to see if we can afford them but rather are right from the scriptures. Tithing and stewardship is our response to God. It is what I am going to do for God. Lent is a good time to begin talking about this area since many people are not responding to God in this way. Lent is a time to ask hard questions and to say I need to give God my time and my money. I will continue to talk and write about this over the next several weeks as we move towards a pledge Sunday for my time and treasure to the parish. Please watch the bulletin for more details. God Bless you this week. |