January 18, 2023

Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. John’s,

 

In our Gospel this weekend as well as last weekend, we see the Apostles respond to the Lord’s invitation to follow Him. They are invited to make a commitment to live in the kingdom of Christ, that is to follow the Lord and trust in His plan. We celebrated a few weeks ago the birth of our Lord. We then celebrated the Feast of the Holy Family and witnessed that Jesus desires to live and work here in our parish family. Two weeks ago, we reflected on the Divinity of Christ as revealed on the Feast of the Epiphany. God is truly in our midst! For the second week in a row, the Lord is calling His apostles to follow Him. Do you think the Lord is trying to tell us something? We are being drawn in to commit to Christ! We desire to live in His kingdom and further His kingdom. (The beautiful thing is that I did not choose this weekend to be the Restore to Gather Campaign commitment weekend based off the readings, but rather it was the right timing for the campaign cycle. Clearly the Lord brought the timing to line up with what He is telling us through His word!)

At this time in the 122nd year of our parish, the Lord is calling us to follow up by restoring our campus so that we can further His kingdom. Just this past week we celebrated the 4th and 5th funerals of the year at SJB, bringing comfort to the families and praying our departed brothers and sisters into Heaven. We have served many local residents through our food shelf already this year. We helped four families have the necessary supplies for their infants and children through our Kidz Closet this past week. We continue to assist over 600 children and youth to encounter the Lord’s love and follow Him through our school and faith formation programs. We have celebrated the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick with twelve individuals in need of healing. Christ is meeting, loving, healing, guiding, and strengthening those who come through our doors here at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and School. It is a joy and honor to be part of His work at this time. I invite you to join me in committing to following the Lord through our Restore to Gather Capital Campaign for St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and School. With your support, we can restore our campus and further Christ’s kingdom. 

Jesus not only called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow Him, but He also calls you and me. May we respond with a resounding, “Yes!” knowing that the Lord is working through each one of us here. He worked through the Apostles and He is working through you to reveal the Father’s love and Truth to our world, which so clearly needs it.