Symbolon

09-08-2024Weekly ReflectionFr. Fred Adamson

Dear Parishioners,

September 8th is the day we celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Mother. Because it is a Sunday – we celebrate the Sunday liturgy and honor her in a special way. One of the prayers for the liturgy states, “Come, let us celebrate the birth of the Virgin Mary; let us worship her Son, Christ the Lord.” We see in this prayer that all things point to her son. The same is true for us – all that we do should in some way points to Christ, who gives us new life.

This week kicks off many opportunities to grow in faith for children and adults. Formation for children, teens, those who desire to enter into the Church, etc., as well a new Grief Support group begins this week. Be sure to look over the bulletin for the details of all the opportunities. Engage in the community.

As always, I encourage you to share the Good News of our faith and parish life with friends and neighbors. The faith spreads by personal invitation and relationships with one another. By inviting people we allow the Holy Spirit to begin to work in their lives. Just like the early Church, the invitation to come and see is an important one for us to foster in our day and time. Invite and let God do the rest.

As part of our parish Learn – Grow – Be Formed and in partnership with the Augustine Institutes FORMED Catholic content, we encourage you to begin a weekly journey through the SYMBOLON series.

A symbolon is an ancient clay token or disc that could be broken into parts and given to two people that symbolized – identity and relationship. This term was used in the early Church to help understand our identity and relationship in Christ and it where we get the term symbol of faith. We have a clear identity and relationship with Jesus and His Church.

SYMBOLON is a 16 week journey through the foundational teachings of the Church. We encourage you to watch as a family or with friends and to share your insights with one another. I will be reminding you every week at our mid-week check in videos. This journey is meant to help us to grow in listening to God, responding to His invitation and enrich our parish community. If we embrace the journey and watch one session per week for 16 weeks, we will finish up the week before Christmas. Hopefully this will give us all the great Christmas gift of renewal in our Catholic faith.

Next Sunday we will have an information session for parents and teens about the new format for High School ministry. It will be family-based – fostering relationship with Jesus, family and fellow teens on the journey here at our parish. I am inviting all parents and High School students to attend a meeting at 12:30 pm on Sunday, September 15th in the Parish Center. This is not a program but rather away to connect and supports teens, parents and families on the Catholic journey of faith. It will include service opportunities, Bible and faith study, social events, retreats and prayer. I hope every teen will be involved in some way in your parish Community.

Grace and peace in Him,

Fr. Fred