In the gospel today, the apostles ask Jesus, “Increase our faith.” Jesus doesn’t instantly do as they ask. Instead, he tells them that they first need to get their priorities in the right order. And it isn’t right, Jesus says, for the master to come in and serve dinner to the field hand. This isn’t about doing a nice deed for the hired help. Jesus’ point is that—if we really want to increase our faith—we first need to “walk the walk”. Our priority should be to give ourselves body and soul to God’s plans for us.

“The Church’s faith is essentially a eucharistic faith, and it is especially nourished at the table of the Eucharist.” In other words, all the Scripture readings, songs, and prayers in the Mass communicate to us what the church believes.

What grounds all our prayer and worship is the powerful vision described in the first reading. Yes, our world suffers from greed, violence, destruction and sin. We who follow Jesus try to bring peace now by living his life here on earth. But we also hope for his coming again in glory to fulfill all his promises. The Lord says: “Write down the vision clearly… For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; if it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late.”

We believe in God, and God’s timing, and God “will not be late.” Thank God, we are waiting together! And we can hope together, too, because "... faith is not an isolated act…. The believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others...I cannot believe without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support others in the faith." (Catechism of the Church., para. 166).

Priest Multi-Day Convocation – All the priests of the diocese will be attending a multi-day convocation Monday afternoon – Thursday afternoon. Masses on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be celebrated at 11:30 a.m. at St. Thomas More church. In case of emergencies, please call the parish office and press “9”. Your call will be responded to as quickly as possible.

Parish Mission – Next weekend, we welcome Father Robert Gielow, a Vincentian Priest, who will conduct our Parish Mission. Information concerning the Parish Mission is contained in this bulletin. We hope that you can plan to attend this spiritual renewal.