Saint John the Baptist had a simple purpose in life: his entire life pointed to the Messiah. Don't think that your purpose in life, or mine, is any more complex than that. Let all that you do and all that are you point to the Messiah, and everything else will fall into place.

June 24, 2012 

Rev. Msgr. William J. King

Mr. Joseph Bahret, owner of Bahret's Religious Goods in the West Shore Farmer's Market, joins in invoking God's blessing on the new store. Given the short period of time since its opening, the store's inventory of books, cards, devotional items, and church supplies is impressive. Even more impressive is the constant wit and faith of Joe Bahret, whose knowledge of the faith and of religious goods is matched only by the depth of his spirituality.

June 21, 2012

Rev. Msgr. William J. King

The chairs await the new Knights of Columbus who received the First Degree of the order last evening at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton church. Congratulations to the nine Catholic gentlemen who became Knights of Columbus during the ceremony. The Venerable Father Michael McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus at a time of religious and ethnic intolerance, as a means of helping Catholic men and their families support and encourage each other in living the values of the Gospel in an unaccepting world. As we prepare to begin a Fortnight for Freedom across the United States – 2 weeks of intense prayer for the preservation of our first and most cherished liberty, freedom of religion – we can be proud of the Knights of Columbus and their witness to Catholic life, family, virtue, and patriotism.

 

June 21,2012

Rev. Msgr. William J. King

Matthew 5:48 — "Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Perfect? The Greek word in the Gospel text refers to an end point, a target, a destination. It means having the destination in sight and keeping it as a constant goal. To "be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" in practice means to act as though you were arriving at your goal, your destination. In other words, "Act right now as though you were already in Heaven." That's a challenge worth embracing!

June 19, 2012

Rev. Msgr. William J. King

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish is preparing a new photo directory, and we need every parishioner's smiling face to be in it for our family photo album to be complete! Go to the parish website at www.steas-mech.org and look on the top of the right-hand column for how to schedule a photo appointment on-line, or stop by the parish center to sign up after any Mass this weekend, or call the parish volunteer office for help in scheduling a time. If you're a parishioner, you're part of the family, and the family photo album won't be complete without you! As our parish grows it helps to put faces and names together, so let's get 100% participation. Say cheese, or better yet, smile and say "Jesus."

June 16, 2012

Rev. Msgr. William J. King

 

It’s striking how many of the New Testament letters begin in a similar way. Historians may tell us that it is a stylized greeting format, but there were many such greetings at the time. The Biblical authors chose to begin their letters with potent reminders of a simple truth we all need to hear.
> Saint Paul to the Christians in Corinth: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He wrote the same to the church in Galatia, in Ephesus, in Philippi, in Colossae, and in Thessalonika: “Grace to you and peace.” To Timothy he wrote, “Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”
> Saint Peter in his first letter: “May grace and peace be yours in abundance,” adding in his second letter, “through knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
> Saint Jude in his letter: “May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.”
> GRACE, MERCY, PEACE, LOVE: all of these are signs of God’s presence. Where they are present, God is there. Where they are lacking, God is not. Are they not road signs for us to follow in life? As a plant or flower reaches out toward the sun, do not our souls grow toward grace, mercy, peace, and love? Where we find these things in life, let us rest in God’s presence. Where they are lacking, let us move away to seek them elsewhere. It is a simple but profound rule. Seek the things of God, flee from whatever leads away from them.
> And so the question becomes, “What leads you closer to grace, mercy, peace, and love?” Pursue it rabidly, for there God is leading you. Conversely, know that where you find the opposite it is not God who leads you but the enemy. Linger not there, it is darkness, and we are children of the light.
> Grace, mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.

June 7, 2012

Rev. Msgr. William J. King

A little reminder from a Jesuit scientist-theologian of the past century, whose deep spirituality led him through challenges time and again:
...
Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages, We are impatient of being on the way to do something
unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability— and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you. Your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste. Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.
—Rev. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

June 7, 2012

Rev. Msgr. William J. King

John 17:20-26 — “Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed…that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them." What consolation we can find in the prayer of Jesus. It was the love of the Father that protected the infant Jesus from Herod’s troops; it was the love of the Father that safeguarded a precocious 12-year-old runaway in the Temple. It was the same love that enfolded Him when He was attacked by Satan in the desert, that gave Him courage in the midst of persecution, that held Him in the garden of Gethsemane, that infused strength for carrying the cross, that raised Him to life anew on Easter, and that drew Him to Heaven in the Ascension. And Jesus prays that the same love be in us! Secure in that love, we can weather any storm and rejoice in every good thing.

May 24, 2012

Rev. Msgr. William J. King