“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
This question is asked of Jesus in today’s Gospel. Jesus then lists the Commandments and the response is: “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus then challenges the man to do more. When you think about it, there is not just one way to “inherit eternal life.” While there are similar actions and attitudes and beliefs that a person must have and grow in, each person is unique in how they live out their beliefs at the various stages of their lives. Each stage of our life, especially our adult years, has its own challenges. Our work situation can be stressful, our relationships may change, our health can demand more attention. All of these have an effect on our day to day living out of the Gospel. Jesus challenges the young man to look at what holds him back from being more committed. I don’t think he expected the response that he received from Jesus.
Today you will hear about the Renew and Rebuild Campaign to raise funds to take care of major repairs on our buildings. All
the parishes in the Archdiocese of New York are participating in this capital campaign. Each parish keeps 74% of the funds raised and 26% are for projects of the Archdiocese. There is a brochure that further explains what we have done with major repairs over the past five years and how Renew and Rebuild will give us the funds for the list of repairs that we need to do over the next five years. Your participation is essential if we are to reach our goal of $1,000,022.
We already have $710,000 in pledges that were made over the summer when we met with individuals who pledged various amounts. Consider the Five Year Pledge: this helps us the most. Thank you sincerely for participating. We need everyone’s help!
-Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.