Pastor's Note from Fr. Szparagowski 📝 - [August 30th Bulletin]

Dear St. Philip Neri Family and Friends,
We give praise and thanks to God for His graces and blessings!
Today's readings remind us that following God is not always easy. Sometimes, doing God's will means saying things we would rather not say, doing things we would rather not do, or carrying crosses that we would rather not carry. We see this very clearly in the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah was called by God to speak His word to the people. But the message Jeremiah was asked to deliver was not always a message of happiness and blessing. Many times, it was a message of warning, sorrow, and judgment. And because of this, Jeremiah suffered. He became discouraged. He felt the weight of what God was asking of him. At one point Jeremiah even says, in effect, I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to speak your word. Yet something inside him would not allow him to remain silent. He says that the word of God becomes like a fire burning within his heart. He may have wanted to walk away, but the love of God was stronger than his fear, his discouragement, and his desire to give up. I think we can all understand something of what Jeremiah experienced. There are times when we know what God is asking of us, but we don't necessarily want to do it. Perhaps we know we need to forgive someone. Perhaps we need to have a difficult conversation. Perhaps we need to speak the truth, even when it is uncomfortable. Perhaps God is asking us to see where He is leading us. It is not always easy to say yes to God. But when we open our hearts to Him, God gives us the grace and strength to do what we could not do on our own. The love of God begins to burn within our hearts, just as it did in Jeremiah. That love gives us the courage to say what needs to be said and to do what needs to be done. Then, in today's Gospel, Jesus speaks very directly to His disciples:

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

Those are difficult words. Jesus never promised His disciples that following Him would make life easy. He never said there would be no suffering, no disappointment, no illness, no loss, or no challenges. Instead, He tells us that there will be crosses. Each of us has a cross to carry. Sometimes that cross is something we have chosen; many times, it is something that has been placed before us by circumstances we cannot control. The important thing is this: we do not carry our crosses alone. Jesus carried His cross before us. He knows what suffering feels like. He knows what it means to be tired, discouraged, rejected, and misunderstood. When we carry our own crosses, He walks with us. The cross is never the end of the story. For Jesus, the cross led to the Resurrection. It led to redemption. It led to salvation. Our crosses, when united with Christ, can also become instruments of God's grace. Sometimes we may wonder, why is God allowing this to happen? We may not have an answer. But we can always hold on to the promise that God is with us in the midst of it. That is where faith comes in. Faith does not mean that we will understand everything. Faith means that even when we don't understand, we continue to trust that Jesus is there.
He is walking with us, carrying the cross with us, and giving us the grace we need each day.
I pray for you every day, especially at Mass. Please pray for me.
Please invite someone to Mass today.
St. Philip Neri, pray for us.
Have a blessed week,
Fr. Szparagowski