April 3, 2019
Coming into the Church in a few short weeks, I continue to be overwhelmed and humbled by the welcome of the community, and the increasing draw I feel from above. Isiah 49: 8-15 touches strongly on my understanding and image of God as The Father and The Son. "...I have heeded you, and in the day of salvation I have assisted you. And I have preserved you...."
Similar sentiments are found in John 5:17: "Even now, My Father is working, and I am working." This strikes me as a call to greater work and service in this time of Lent. As we approach and prepare for the celebration and remembrance of the Lord's arguably greatest work on earth, we are called to increase our own work: through sacrifice, reconciliation, and humility. Parishioners of St. Anthony certainly exemplify these principles, perhaps no more visibly than in the Parish commitment to service. Service to our neighbors, loving those who too-often are marginalized. It is this visible spirit of service, and the love and obedience to Christ it embodies, that drew me to St. Anthony's, and will continue to animate my spiritual life. "Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself." Matthew 22:39. I have been blessed to experience that love throughout my RCIA journey, and equally blessed to have joined my new Parish family in demonstrating its obedience to Jesus' charge.
"For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wills."
Today I reflect and am grateful to have been given the opportunity for a new and purposeful life through Jesus, an apostolic Church with the Authority of Christ to guide me in that life, and a loving community at St. Anthony's to live and grow in that life.
Sam Bailey
St. Anthony Church Parishioner (and becoming Catholic at the Easter Vigil)
