Welcome to Most Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Church.
If you’re a parishioner then you are already a part of our community of faith. If not, I invite you to discover what our “community of faith” is all about.
Let’s begin with faith and an obvious reflection: for an unbeliever no reason will ever be good enough to convince him/her to believe. For the believer no reasons are necessary.
Faith is the very fiber of our beings. We may not see the air we breathe, but it is always there; otherwise, we die. We may think of ourselves as fish in water—it is unnecessary to look for the water because we are in it. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews gives us the best definition of faith.
“The confident assurance concerning what we hope for and evidence of things we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)
Faith, therefore, is future-oriented. Why is the future so important to our Christian ideology? Charles Kettering, the genius and inventor of the automotive industry, explained its importance succinctly when he said, “I am interested in the future because I have to spend the rest of my life in it.”
The future is indeed unknown, so we must choose to face it with fear or with faith. Abraham chose faith.
“He set out, not knowing where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8)
The Bible teaches us that history leads us somewhere and has a purpose. History without faith, however, doesn’t make sense in much the same way that the present without future would simply be the end rather than the beginning of the rest of our lives.
We all desire to find meaning in our lives, don’t we? Life is too important to be wasted. In a Peanuts comic strip, Lucy and Charlie Brown engage in an earnest conversation about the meaning of life. Lucy feels that it’s a matter of prospective and explains: “Life is like a deck chair. Some people place it so they can see where they are going. Some people place it so they can see where they have been. Some people place it so they can see where they are now.”
Charlie Brown ponders Lucy’s insight then replies, “I can’t even get mine unfolded.”
It’s okay to find ourselves unfolding chairs and making a mess of them, but it’s not okay to ignore what is really important: LOVE. Of God. Of our brothers and sisters.
Faith, finally, is a risk worth taking. Faith involves courage and determination. Faith doesn’t involve making compromises to be “politically correct.”
A story from the book titled: One to One by Jay Trachman illustrates this principle . . . A Japanese company and an American company had a boat race, and the Japanese company won by a mile. The American company then hired experts and analysts to figure out what went wrong. These experts and analysts reported, after extensive investigation and research, that the Japanese company had one person managing and seven rowing while the Americans had seven managing and only one rowing. The American company immediately restructured its team. Then they had one senior manager, six management consultants and one rower. In the rematch the Japanese company won by two miles. The American company, therefore, fired the rower.
Faith is not a goal, but a process. Faith is not what we look for in our journey; faith is our journey which is always a personal commitment as well as a team sport.
The love story of our parish is told by the Beatitudes of Most Holy Redeemer:
- Blessed are you, rich, because you can help the poor and improve the financial situation of
Most Holy Redeemer.
- Blessed are you poor, because you are the wealth and the gospel of Most Holy Redeemer.
- Blessed are you, staff members, because you work so hard, so well, and so faithfully with a small salary.
- Blessed are you, volunteers, because you give time, energy, enthusiasm, and love to make our parish beautiful.
- Blessed are you, children and teenagers, because your presence gives us hope for a better future.
- Blessed are you, adults and elderly, because your witness makes our parish grow in the way of the gospel.
- Blessed are you, newly baptized and newly wedded, because through the sacramental signs, you become the light for others.
- Blessed are you, involved in various ministries, because by serving others you serve Christ.
- Blessed are you, Capuchin Friars, because through your example, you teach us how to love God and one another.
Reverend John Aurilia, OFM Cap.
Pastor
