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Sunday, July 6, 2025
Hello folks,
The Lord be with you all!
Finally, after the many weeks of Lent and Easter, and then the special Solemn Sundays of the Trinity, of the Sacred Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) and finally of Saints Peter and Paul, we truly have an “ordinary time” Sunday. Yet, the Gospel is one of the most exciting, energetic and mission oriented in the whole Bible! Our Lord sends out the 72 with very specific instructions. They must have left with much uncertainty, but also with trust in the Lord and an intention to do what He told them. They come back, however, rejoicing and seemingly almost incredulous for what they have seen on this mission! “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name!” They start to understand the power of God, and how they and we can be instruments of his grace!
Someone mentioned to me recently with certainty: “Sincere prayer can very easily change the world!” Sincere prayer puts us in relationship with the Lord to allow us to do as He says. Nothing in our lives, even our poverty or apparent failures, need to go to waste. All can be offered sincerely and lovingly to the Lord that we might become ever more effective instruments of His grace to ourselves and those around us. The Lord longs for us and for those around us. Don’t be afraid to give Him permission to bring you close to Him, and to allow yourself to be His instrument in bringing more people close to Him and away from the evil one and his followers who do not want our happiness.
I want to thank you all for your support of Father McLaughlin’s Mission Appeal last week. He and his Marist brothers work hard to show the love of Christ to the poor and suffering. You help him to do so!
At Saint John’s, you can already see the preparations are well underway for the temporary move of the Church liturgies to the Parish Hall from July 14 until the end of August. While the primary work being undertaken is the removal of the old flooring, we are adding a few other projects to take advantage of the time that the pews will not be there. The base cost for these projects is about $120k, but will probably grow with a few additions. We are planning to pay for this with the remaining $23k of Inspiring Hope Capital Campaign funds and then some of the insurance funds from the burned down rectory. However, if anybody would like to make specific donations for this work, that would also be appreciated!
Once again, I want to remind people that if you get any emails or text messages supposedly from me and asking you to buy gift cards or to make any other odd donation without speaking with me, they are almost certainly scams! Be very careful of any emails or texts of this type (and likewise texts supposedly from Mass DOT or EZ-Pass etc.)!
God bless,
Father Maher
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