“A sower went out to sow…”

Growing up in Allegany, New York, we had a large garden every year. By this time in July, seeds that had been sown in late May had sprouted and were maturing. Some had already yielded vegetables such as beans, lettuce, carrots;  flower seeds had grown and were blooming. What would stunt their growth was too much rain or not enough rain or weeds. Those weeds were always a problem and every day you had to do some weeding or it got out of control.

God’s life has been sown in us and it is meant to “produce abundantly.” We have to take care of this gift from God so that it will grow and enrich our lives, but there are those “weeds” which can stunt our growth: inattentiveness, business, prejudice, a bad attitude, lack of humility and more. Every day we have to be good gardeners and do a little “weeding” whether we want to or not.

You have probably noticed that Fr. Jeffrery Jordan is back with us for the summer. Fr. Jeffrery is continuing his studies at the Biblicum in Rome, Italy, and is here during these summer months. We are happy to have him here again. Watch for the course that he will be teaching in a few weeks.

Since work on the elevator in the church will not begin until sometime in September, we have moved the daily Masses, Monday through Friday, to the Lower Church. This helps us save energy and money by not air conditioning the Upper Church for these summer days. Doing this has saved us as much as $40,000.

-Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.