When we reach the Feast of the Assumption on the calendar it always reminds me of how few days are left of the summer! While summer is still here I am going to enjoy a few days this week on Conesus Lake with some of my classmates from St. Bernard Seminary. For the last few years we have been meeting together in August spending time to relax and catch up with one another. I am looking forward to seeing my brother priests from Worchester and Albany Dioceses as well as my classmates from the Rochester Diocese. We don’t get many opportunities to get together.
Labor Day Weekend is only two weeks away! On that weekend, September 1/2, we will be having a “Fuel Collection” as a second collection. If you receive envelopes please use the envelope marked Utilities & Energy Costs. It has been our practice in the past few years to have a “Fuel Collection” on the July 4th and Labor Day Weekends; the collections help us greatly in meeting the high costs of heating our churches in the winter months. Your support is greatly appreciated.
.As Labor Day arrives so does the beginning of the school year for our young people. I would like to remind parents of the responsibility you have of helping your children grow in their faith. In the rite of Baptism parents are reminded that, “you are the first teachers of your children in the ways of the faith, may you be the best of teachers bearing witness to the faith by what you say and do through Jesus Christ, Our Lord.”
So parents, I especially ask you to take seriously your role as the primary teachers of your children in the ways of the faith. It is so important for parents to model for their children what it means to be a disciple of the Lord. It is your responsibility to teach your children about the love of God, to teach them how to pray, and to make sure they attend Sunday Mass. Talk with them at home about the Sunday readings, Teach them about the seasons of the Liturgical Year when they notice that the priest is wearing different color vestments. Share with them how Jesus through his birth, death, resurrection, ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, has given us eternal life. Above all teach them that God loves them in a very personal way and wants to be their closest friend. Encourage your children to invite Jesus into their hearts and lives. Teach them to ask Jesus to fill them with the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that they become more and more like Jesus themselves. And model what you are teaching by continuously inviting Jesus into your own life and asking for the help and grace of the Holy Spirit to teach you and lead you. If you do so I believe you will, “be the best of teachers bearing witness to the faith by what you say and do through Jesus Christ, Our Lord.”
A reminder to parents, Faith Formation classes begin on Sunday, September 16th at St. Patrick, Moravia following the 8:30a.m. Mass and at Our Lady of the Lake, King Ferry at 9:30 a.m. if you haven’t registered your children yet, please do so. Registration Forms are available in the church vestibules.
May we always remember that our children deserve the best that we can give them. May they receive from all of us the gift of faith and the gift of God’s love.
May you all enjoy the final days of summer, & May God’s blessings and peace be with you,
Father Bill
P.S. I will be speaking at the Magnificat Breakfast on Saturday, September 8, 2018 at the Diplomat Banquet Center in Rochester. I have been asked to share on my journey to the priesthood and the role the Holy Spirit has played in my life. The Magnificat Breakfasts are a time of sharing food, prayer and hearing Christian witness. They are held four times a year. I encourage the women of our parish to attend. A flyer /register form are available in the church vestibules.
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