It does not seem possible, but I have already been at Saint Kateri for six months! These months have been filled with great joy, and I want to thank you all for your kindness and gracious welcome. Each day I wake up excited to see what the Lord is going to do, who he is going to allow me to encounter, and where he is going to lead me.
Most days, I go to bed tired and full of gratitude for what has unfolded. Saint Kateri Parish is alive, and I see the Holy Spirit at work within our community. As I mentioned in a homily back in November, I pray daily that the Lord will provide our parish (and our Diocese) a new Pentecost, a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit, to enliven us and make us a community of disciples who are seeking to live our faith and share it with others.
Over the past months, especially the past several weeks, I have been seeing glimpses of how the Lord is answering that prayer in our parish community, how he is answering that prayer through you!
I would like to make two requests in today’s reflection: First, please continue to join me in praying for this New Pentecost here at Saint Kateri; second, please be bold in responding to the Lord and his invitation to you to be part of this New Pentecost. Each and every person in our parish community has a role to play and we need you! Each of us has a responsibility because of our Baptism to give of our time, talent, and treasure to build up the Body of Christ, the Church! God has blessed each of us with different gifts, talents, and abilities that the Holy Spirit can use to bring about this New Pentecost! Each of us is an important actor in the unfolding story of what God is doing here and now! As we heard in our second reading at Mass this weekend: There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit (1 Cor 12: 4-7). With each of us praying for the New Pentecost and each of us being generous in response to the Lord’s invitation to use our gifts and talents for the building up of the Body of Christ, I cannot wait to see what is happening here at Saint Kateri in the days, weeks, and months ahead!
~ Fr. Aaron Kelly, Parochial Vicar
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