Old Rusty Fence

July 15th, 2017 | Posted by K Graham in Uncategorized - (Comments Off on Old Rusty Fence)

July 16th 2017 Bulletin Message, Fr. Floyd McKinney

One of my fond memories of childhood is helping dad in the field. By mentioning that, I do not mean that I always liked the work; but there was something about being with the strong man that he was: strong in convictions and values. It did not matter what kind of work we were doing, I knew that there was a purpose. I hated fixing the old fences that were rusty wire ready to break at any moment. However by fixing those fences we were making them last for a while longer and saving the cost of new fences.

St Paul talks about the sufferings of the present and how we are groaning within ourselves as we wait for eternal life. My analogy is that we fixed the fences to ‘get by’ until the new fence could be built. In our lives we sometimes do not do our best work; we try to get by with the least amount of work, or we procrastinate hoping that the work will disappear. So maybe the question is what we expect to achieve with our lack of enthusiasm.

The word of God comes to us to achieve something, and God says it will not return to him without doing something. If the word of God is coming to us, we can ask what it has achieved in us. All of us have to think about what we are doing with our lives. When it comes to spirituality and stewardship, is there a void that we need to fill. Each of us has something of that Word that the Lord has ‘rained down’ upon us. One purpose of that word is to help us to attain salvation; for that reason we all want to be aware of the word that we show to others. We may not like the idea that we are responsible to share God’s word; we are given a task that we might show our love for God and for others.

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Celebrating Our Future

May 26th, 2017 | Posted by K Graham in Bulletin Message | Uncategorized - (Comments Off on Celebrating Our Future)

May 28th 2017 Bulletin Message, Fr. Floyd McKinney

Sometimes we want to know the future; we even dream of a time machine to take us forward so we can see what might happen to us. In the final analysis, we know that knowing the future would not be good for us, even if it were possible. We cannot make our present ‘better’ by knowing about what will happen in some future time. How many times did Jesus talk to the disciples and tell them of his future, where He was going and what would happen to Him. Than we hear that little phrase in the gospel about the eleven disciples…they doubted. Even if we could ‘know’ the future, I think we too would have doubts as to how to handle that information. Yes, we do look back on what has happened in our lives and we might even make the remark, ‘if only I would have known’; yet even knowing what we know today at some previous time may have not changed our options at that time.

As we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord we are, in a sense, celebrating our own future if we are living our faith to the full. Many times, Jesus spoke of where He was going and that He would be with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Advocate who would be with us. If we are going to think about the future, our goal is to remember what the Lord has prepared for us so we do not lose sight of that goal. In the first reading, the two men dressed in white asked, ‘why are you looking at the sky?’ or we could say ‘why are you trying to see where He has gone?’ We live in the present knowing that God is with us. That is why we set our sights, not on the future so much, but in living the commandments here and now. By living our faith now we are working towards that future that God has prepared for us.

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