Prayer

Prayer—By Us and For Us

By Father Greg Paffel, June 2016 Newsletter

Dear Parishioners,

Pope Francis has certainly had an impact on our Church, and maybe even on each of us individually. Do you recall is first words to the world and to us when he appeared on the balcony following his election as pope? He said quite simply, “Pray for me.” That is a feeling I share sometimes when I consider what needs to be done, and what I personally need to do. It may be a feeling each of us has—not just now and then, but relatively consistently.

Praying WomanPrayer—one of the four Pillars of Stewardship—is foundational to our faith and the practice of it. It is through prayer and the sacraments that we prepare ourselves to accept God’s plentiful gifts and blessings.

Each of us needs to develop a consistent prayer life. We should set time aside each day to pray. It is through prayer that we cultivate our personal relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We provide many opportunities for prayer as part of our parish life. This includes time for us to pray as individuals and time to pray as a community.

Our prayer lives culminate at Mass in the Eucharist. The Eucharist, prayer and stewardship are interconnected. In Lumen Gentium, we are reminded that the Eucharist is the “Source and Summit” of our Catholic faith. With the gift of the Eucharist and an active prayer life, we are better equipped to carry out the other three Pillars of Stewardship—Hospitality, Formation and Service. You might say we pray to help us seek and find how to serve the Lord and others.

This is a time of year when we enjoy numerous opportunities to kick back and relax. One of the best ways to spend time is in prayer. In both our individual and communal prayer, we turn to God to perceive our gifts and talents—and then, as steward, we need to place those gifts at the service of one another, and especially of the Lord.

You and I are on a journey together—a journey toward holiness. That journey involves an existence of daily conversion and an awareness of how grateful we need to be. Through prayer, we can better see ourselves as God sees us, and we can seek to find who God is calling us to be.

I want to assure you of my constant and daily prayers for you. Like the Holy Father, however, I also must admit that I need you to “pray for me”. I thank you for your prayers. I am blessed to be your pastor.

In our Father’s hands,

🙂 Fr. Greg Paffel