Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

01-20-2019Weekly ReflectionFr. James Aboyi

Dear Parishioners,

It is wonderful to be back and celebrate Mass with you again. Thank you all for your prayers and support. My special thanks to those who visited me in the hospital, those who brought food to the house, those who sent prayer cards, those who prayed for my healing, and all those who assisted me in different ways. It was a very terrible illness and I have never been sick like that before. If there is one thing I learned from this illness, it is to trust in God and the Power of Prayer. I thank God for his mercy and kindness and for granting me the healing. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as I go through this period of recovery.

I have been looking forward to this week, praying that I recover enough to be able to join in our next Dynamic Speaker Series coming up on Wednesday this week. I personally follow Trent Horn on Catholic Radio and Catholic Answers. I invite you to join us on Wednesday for this engaging and inspiring evening.

Congratulations to our school! We received news this week that SJB was selected by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) as a representative of private schools across the country in demonstrating what our students learn. NAEP is often described as "the nation's report card." This assessment examines the knowledge base of 4th graders across the nation in public and private schools. This is a big achievement for our school and let us keep our fourth-grade students in our prayers. We look forward to the results coming up in late Spring.

The week of January 18-25 is traditionally dedicated as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. That the different Christian churches together agree to set aside one week for intensive prayer and action in view of Christian unity shows that they all feel the need for more unity among believers in Christ. The World Christian Encyclopedia has documented 34,000 different Christian denominations. The figure keeps rising. Many people feel uneasy when they hear of Christian unity. They fear that Christian unity means putting everyone into the same box, the same form of worship, the same way of serving God. No, Christian unity is not Christian uniformity. It simply means unity in diversity. In the various services we see diversity, in the one Lord we see unity. As St. Paul explains in the second reading today: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6). Let us pray for the unity of Christians as Jesus prayed on the last night before the passion that we all remain one in him (John 17:20-21).

Fr. James

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