Invitation to st. rose day ministry fair

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, the Holy Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Rose of Lima, on August 23. As she is our heavenly patroness, we celebrate it as a community next Sunday (Aug.20) with liturgical celebrations, ministry fair and other activities. It is an opportunity for us to renew our commitment to God and to the Church. I think it is important to reflect, at this time, on our life as members of the church.

What is the purpose of a Church?  When we read the Acts of the Apostles, we see the life of the early church. “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers” (Acts 2:42). Primarily there are five purposes or functions we are to carry out as a church. They are,

1.  Worship - “Give to the LORD the glory due his name! Bring gifts and come before him; bow down to the LORD, splendid in holiness”. (1Chronicles 16:29).

2.  Faith Formation - Matthew 28:20 says “…teach them to obey everything I have commanded you”. Jesus entrusted the apostles the responsibility to teach. The Church continues this responsibility through preaching the Word of God (homilies) and different ministries like CCE, RCIA, Bible Study Groups, Retreats etc.

3.  Evangelization - “... you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts1:8). It is the responsibility of the church and each one of us to share our faith and Christ-experience to others and to support the missionary activities of the church.

4.  Community or Fellowship - St. Paul instructs the community saying, “We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another…” (Hebrews 10:25).

5.  Service - “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace”. (1Peter 4:10).

Dear brothers and sisters, we have more than 50 different groups or ministries in our church. It is through these ministries we fulfill the above-mentioned functions of the church. One of the important activities of next week’s St. Rose Day is the Ministry Fair. It is meant to introduce the different groups and their activities to our parishioners and to invite them to be part of it. Let us think about it and pray over it and find out to which ministry God is calling me to be part of. Finally, I would like to thank all the members of the different ministries of our church. Jesus said ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Mt. 25:40).

Happy St. Rose Day. God Bless you all.                  

Fr. John Samuel