942 Hopmeadow St. Simsbury, CT 06070
Mailing Address: PO Box 575
860.658.7627
Mailing Address: PO Box 575
860.658.7627
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January 13, 2022This weekend, our second reading features St. Paul’s poetic rendition of how the Holy Spirit gifts the Church with a diversity of talents, unique to each individual but given for the benefit of the whole community. This list of gifts leads up to St. Paul’s famous passage about love which is often chosen as one of the readings at weddings: “Love is patient, love is kind,…” (1 Cor. 13)
This truth that the Holy Spirit provides each one of us certain gifts to be used to benefit the Church at large, is also true at the local level of the parish. At St. Mary’s we are so blessed to have so many who willingly share these Spirit-given gifts to benefit the whole community.
Most recently we have been blessed with a beautiful Christmas season through the lovely church decorations arranged (and now put away) by a team of volunteers; musicians – some professionals and others volunteer – who grace us with their vocal and instrumental talent; liturgical ministers who faithfully serve as lectors, Eucharistic ministers, greeters, ushers and altar servers; a team of volunteers who offered their time and expertise to ensure that Christmas gifts were collected and then distributed to individuals and families in need to make their Christmas a bit brighter.
When we speak of “stewardship” in the church, it is this recognizing and sharing of our gifts and time, as well as our financial resources that makes parish ministry flourish. Some of these are quite visible, while many others happen “behind the scenes.”
The planning and overseeing of parish and school operations through the efforts of the Parish Council, Finance Council, School Board and other such committees involves many hours of meetings and deliberations on the part of those involved that we all benefit from. Faith formation instructors who mentor our young people in the faith, helping them grow in love of the Lord. The planning by ministries such as the Women’s Guild, the Adult Enrichment and Spirituality Committee, and Liturgy Committee, enables prayer, educational and social opportunities to help us grow in faith. And there are so many others (my apologies if I haven’t named your committee) too numerous to mention in this brief column.
I wish to take the opportunity to thank everyone at St. Mary’s who so willingly offer their gifts of the Spirit to benefit the communal experience of Church here. At the same time, I put out the challenge to those who may still be discerning those gifts, to pray about how you might share those gifts with and among us.
We have had a rough couple of years having to dampen down activities and opportunities to be involved in various committees, ministries here in the parish. However, as we make our way out of “pandemic lock-down,” we want to be thinking about how we rebuild and revitalize ministry here. The key to this renewal is to remember that God has gifted us all, through the Spirit, without exception (young and old, women and men, working and retired, etc.) with gifts to share for some benefit to the Church.
Please take some time at the start of this new year, to pray about how the Holy Spirit has gifted you, and how you will generously share those gifts with our Church!
