Pastor’s Weekly Letter – Page 68 – The Annunciation-Fatima Parish

October 20, 2017

Letter From the Pastor – October 22, 2017

I remember reading a story several years ago that I believe is relevant for today. During the severe cold of that winter, a reporter, who writes a syndicated column that appears in many of the major newspapers, told a story that deals with a problem that subtly confronts many people. It was about a man whose car got stuck on the ice while he was on his way home from work. The man was white, and the community in which he was stranded was predominantly black. It was after dark and the man was frightened. To make matters worse, he […]

October 13, 2017

Letter From the Pastor – October 15, 2017

Not everyone can preach beautiful sermons or deliver learned lectures but anyone of us can make God visible. We can paint a picture of Him with our own lives. When a person says, “I have been saved by grace of God through Christ,” what does he mean? The New Testament doesn’t make it something vague and abstract, but something clear and concrete. It talks about specific qualities of life. Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that you are my followers, that you love one another.” The Book of Acts says, “When the people saw the courage of the […]

October 6, 2017

Letter From the Pastor – October 8, 2017

Let us for a moment today consider the destructive effects of hate on the human soul. Find someone who is consumed by hatred and then see the results. It may be bad for the person who is the object of that hatred but it is infinitely worse for the one who does the hating. Hatred is to the soul what cancer is to the body. Untreated and unchecked, it utterly consumes and destroys. That is not theory; that is fact. One person hates another so intensely that he cannot hear his name without a flush of anger. His hatred so […]

September 29, 2017

Letter From the Pastor – October 1, 2017

I read an old story about a New Englander and his son who were fishing in the Atlantic, off the coast of Maine. They had been at it all day, and the sun was sinking low in the west. A storm was moving in and the waves were building higher. The boy, partly afraid of the storm and partly tired and hungry, was ready to go home. He said to his dad, “Papa, right now mother is probably praying for our safe return.” The father understood and said with a smile, “You’re right; I’ll hold the rudder while you run […]

September 22, 2017

Letter From the Pastor – September 24, 2017

All of us know what it means to have experiences of illumination and insight. We have had those experiences when even for a moment, vision cleared, doubt and cynicism fled, and faith seemed the most real and reasonable thing in all the world. We all have those days when we need to remember the mountaintop moments of life. Pessimism seems to be the prevailing mood of the time. There is a general distrust of the political system. There is doubt and uneasiness concerning the economy. There is growing skepticism concerning the ability of society to correct its course and […]