Pastor's Column for November 24, 2024
Dear Parishioners,
I have returned from my vacation so will be happy to see you all again. I had a wonderful 2 weeks, which included a drive down to North Carolina to visit a former parishioner who has moved there with her husband to follow in a few months. It was great to visit and to just take a long but enjoyable ride (about 8 hours). I stopped at Belmont Abbey where Benedictine monks live. It’s the only Catholic University in the state of North Carolina (which of course is pretty much a bible belt area). On Saturday I went to Mass at a church where they had pictures of parishioner’s loved ones who had died over the past year. It was very moving to see that as the parishioners prayed for them during this month of November. We will “steal” this idea & do the same next year. But while on vacation I remembered when I read & mentioned in a homily a few weeks back…that vacations are not only an opportunity to get away from work as they are a time to prepare for the work that is ahead. So I return to you now rested and ready to get back in the business of serving you the best I can.
I look forward to joining some of my nieces & nephews and now great nieces & nephews for Thanksgiving at my sister’s house near Akron. She cooks a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner and this year when she invited me I asked if I could bring a guest. When she questioned who the guest would be, I told her that it would just be me coming but I wanted her to cook extra for a meal I could take home with me. It’s amazing to think that I currently have 6 great nieces & nephews and 2 more on the way! It’s wonderful to see the family growing, especially during a time when so few people are having children which will cause some problems if that trend does not turn around quickly. The Catholic Church of course has always encouraged married couples to have children for they are the fruit of love. From the very beginning, God told the human race to “be fruitful and multiply” and here we are now, many thousands of years later, living in a world with over 8 billion people. It boggles my mind. Of course so does the fact that an ant can carry up to 50 times their own body weight.
This weekend we celebrate the last Sunday of Ordinary Time with the great feast of Christ the King. Recently we had the sign put over the head of Jesus on the crucifix with the letters “INRI” which stand for the Latin words that Pilate wrote to show the criminal act that caused Jesus’ crucifixion (as was customary): “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews.” This is our King. A King whose throne is the cross, whose crown is thorns, whose kingly robes are blood and sweat. We are reminded that when Pilate had that sign placed on the cross, others complained that he should have wrote instead, “This man claimed to be the King of the Jews.” To which Pilate responded “Quod scripsi scripsi” which means, “What I have written, I have written.” It makes one wonder if he really believed in who Jesus said he was.
I invite you to join us for our Thanksgiving Day Mass which will be at 9am. I am always pleased to see that this holiday draws the most people to Mass, even though it is not a day of obligation. I believe that is due to the deep gratitude that you have for all that God has given to you and for the many blessings you have received. This is what our whole life must be about: being mindful of all that God has given to us and done for us. If we do this, we will complain far less. We will accept our difficulties much easier. We will be more joyful. We will grow in holiness. All of this and more for doing what? Just being grateful.
Fr. James P. Schmitz
