Dear Parishioners and Friends,

What unites us as Catholics? The question should really be phrased:  who unites us as Catholics?  The answer is clear:  Jesus Christ.  And the more fully we conform to Christ the more we are united to Him and those who believe in Him, who make up His Church.  Jesus is the foundation of all Church unity.
 In recent years we have often heard that the Church is the people of God.  Yes, that is correct.  However, we are the people of God to the extent that we are incorporated into the Body of Christ. To be united to Christ means to be reborn, recreated, alive in Him.  It means to live in the state of grace with as much certainty as possible.   This is the first and absolute criterion in becoming the people of God.  Without the Lord Jesus we are nothing and have nothing.
 That is why it is confusing when some Catholics speak of being the people of God as if independent from Christ and His Church.  They speak as if the “people of God” is interpreted in a political way such as “we the people”.  They speak as if the people may define what it is to be a Catholic; it is just a matter of taking a poll.  Clearly that view is misguided as we see in Sacred Scripture and in Tradition.  Those who obey Christ and follow Him are truly God’s people. Modernism points us in the opposite direction, that is, away from Jesus Christ,  Lord and Savior.
 To be the people of God means to be in union with the Body of Christ.  St. Paul prayed and worked for Church unity as we must.   Jesus in the gospel shames us lest we take our life in Him for granted.  True believers will always find the way to Him. With the Church of all time we proudly profess and joyfully and loudly proclaim: “at the name of Jesus every knee should bend. . .and every tongue confess JESUS CHRIST IS LORD.”

October is the Month of the Holy Rosary!  Heaven is waiting for your prayers!

Yours in the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Fr. Mark G. Mazza, Pastor