The First Reading entreats us to call for God - NOW!
While we live, we can find Him and turn our hearts to Him.
Any wicked person who lives can repent and be brought back into the the fold for eternal life.
We do not know the ways of God
- we can't presume to know better than what He has revealed to us.
It is our role and responsibility to obey what He has revealed and taught through Christ.
God knows the greater Plan - He created it.
All-Knowing, All-Loving, and All-Just, He created a flawless Plan.

The Psalmist encourages us to trust in God's aid. Call Him
- and He will hear and act. He is not a fairy-godmother granting wishes, but every call for aid will be met with aid - although not always
the aid for which we ask. But our perfect and loving God,
more perfect than every parent, knows what we need before we ask it.
Let us pray that we will pray for what He knows we need.

 In the Second Reading, St. Paul faces trial and death. Trustingly, he places his life at the in the hands of God's Divine Will. He accepts whatever comes with equanamity - staying close to our God, St. Paul has the confidence to know he is following God's path for him. If this si true and he believes in all that Christ taught, then he is can accept life, death, and suffering, knowing God has the prize that will last forever waiting for him.

This Gospel finds Jesus relating the parable of the laborers who begin employment at different times in the day, but all receive the same wage. It seems unfair - I would be disappointed if after working 8 hours someone who worked 2 hours received the same pay is I did.
But did those people not work?
Sometimes waiting for what we want is more difficult than actual labor. We tend to connect the laborers with those who come lately to the faith but still receive the same reward of heaven. Consider though that these laborers were not carousing and partying. Instead they were seeking employment. Lest some think they can put off God until it is more convenient, consider that those paid the same wage were those already seeking. This parable might be more about people who are seeking but finding it takes longer to have that breakthrough to complete fulfillment in God. It might not be about about the people who remain home sleeping or turned to their own pleasures of life
rather than trying to draw closer to God.
Newsy Notes
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Current 9th grade Confirmation - October 4, 2020
Noon Mass at St. Thomas More Parish
No rehearsal!
Candidates and sponsors share one pew with guests.

Current 8th grade Confirmation
You should have received an email notice
of new Confirmation schedule through the end of this year. Contact us if you did not!
First Communion Celebration
September 20, 2020!
Noon Mass for First Communicant Families Only
  • Arrive Early at 11:40 am for brief instructions on the Mass
  • No rehearsal day
  • Lifetouch Pictures after The Mass
Meditation

“My past, O Lord, to Your mercy;
my present, to Your love;
my future to Your providence."
- Saint Padre Pio
Greetings Parents!
            It has again been a peaks and valleys week at our household. What was rolling smooth hit hiccups and the planned became the questionable, along with all of the craziness of 2020's upsets. It can be hard to maintain our calm! We try to portray calm, but sometimes my insides are a roller coaster of screams! It seems I'm rolling in the rapids and unable to find that rock to which I want to cling.

            But as a Catholic and Christian, anything that happens was known to God before all time and was addressed by Him then too. We are in His hands and we should remain confident in His care of everything in our life. St. Paul remains calm in all that is happening, despite facing death. I think I could face that if needed - I do believe in God's loving care and eternal life. In St. Paul's sandals, I might look forward to death which brings me more quickly home to the Father, Christ, and Holy Love of the Spirit. !

            As a parent I find this harder - I can accept hardships for myself, but worrying about my children is a form of worry I cannot release. Should something happen to me, I hurt for the hurt my loss would cause them. Should something happen to them, I hurt for the sufferings they endure and that I cannot seem to ease. I need to remember that my prayers alone have power to ease - but it is hard when I don't see the fruits of those prayers the way I want to see them. It is hard not to fear and not to seek to take control. It's our job to be stewards of their lives - how can I relinquish a sense of control and still be the steward? 

            Only in a life immersed in which I can trust in God. I can say it and even feel it to my depths in some measures, but faced with the actual situations when full relinquishment is needed, it is far more difficult. Heaven for ourselves and our loved ones is the end of a path paved by full trust in God. I should not fear or worry. I should not sleeplessly toss and turn trying to think of what I should have done differently or stressing over what to do next.

           Unfortunately, I still do those things. Sometimes I can relinquish, but other times it is so very hard! We remain works in progress until the end, and this laborer is still seeking to labor in the manner God knows is most fruitful for all.

            Hug your children tight, say prayers together, especially at night, and recall with them all of the times when God's loving action could be seen in their lives.

-- Linda Bader, Coordinator of Religious Education

P.S. Did you know... St. Padre Pio would be sometimes be attacked physically by demons. Still, he had full faith, and from him we have the quote, "Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer." St. Padre Pio, pray for us!