Friends,

     “Shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life.”  (Phil 2:15). You and I are called to do exactly that.  Hold on to God’s Word and show it by how we live our lives each and every day. 

     Our Church is opened once again.  It’s time to worship the Lord formally and very importantly to carry the message we receive into our everyday activities.   Faith without good works is pointless.
  
     May your good works and mine reflect our love and commitment to Christ and help others to be drawn to Him. 

God Bless,
Father John
 
     Elijah in the first reading was a prophet of the Lord, one of the few remaining ones.  He tells us that the children of Israel have forsaken the Lord and His covenant, torn down His altars and killed a number of the prophets as a result of their turning away from God.

     What Elijah is saying could at times in your life and mine been what we have done to our relationship with God.  When things are going our way, we follow Him and praise and worship Him.  But when bad things are happening to us or to our family, we can easily turn away from the Lord and blame Him for all the wrong in our lives. 

     You and I were made for God; that’s just the way the Lord has formed the human race.  St.  Augustine so aptly tells us:  Our hearts are restless until they rest in you Lord.   The Psalmist is reiterating this when he says:  I long to see your face, O Lord.   You and I long to see the Lord face to face; there’s no doubt about that.  But we at times want that to be on our terms.   We want to be on good terms with Christ but we want to follow Him the way we want which is not always the way we should. 

     The world has a great hold over us and it sometimes pulls us in a direction that is contrary to Christ.  It’s easy for all of us to get pulled away from the Lord. 

     We pray that we set our priorities straight and that the Lord give us the courage and stamina to be steadfast in our faith.