Last weekend, I celebrated four Masses and preached homilies that differed in overall content (at least three of them) but all focused on one point; that God's mercy, which is beyond our comprehension (and perhaps appreciation) leads not only to forgiveness, but also to GENEROSITY which shows itself in the most widespread way through the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
At the 8:00 a. m. Mass I spoke about policemen and teachers who, in these difficult days continue to show generosity in protecting the public and teaching our children and young people in a less than ideal atmosphere. I also spoke of an abundance of generosity being offered by Catholics in Arkansas and parishioners here at Sacred Heart in the money that has been contributed to the Catholic Arkansas Sharing Appeal (hopefully $84,000 from some of our Sacred Heart parishioners, if all pledges are paid off and the recent virtual "Taste of Faith" Arkansas seminarian fundraiser that netted a total of around $500,000 including $46,000 from our parishioners through the efforts of our local Knights of Columbus).
Of course there are so many ways that generosity is shown besides money as has certainly been the case for the last number of years by Cathy Silk, first as a volunteer on our prish life commission and in the last few years as a paid employee who was often generous of her time and talents and her positive helpful demeanor in countless ways and for the benefit of many people! Sadly, I tell you that she and her husband Jeff will soon be leaving our parish and Hot Springs Village to move back east where Jeff will accept a new position is his career in law enforcement. While the generosity of both (including Jeff being our head parking attendant for our outdoor Mass) will be sorely missed, I am so encouraged by last weekend's scripture readings and my knowledge of so many generous people in our parish to be confident that as many of our parishioners as are needed will agree to step up to the plate and generously give of themselves to continue and even expand on the good work that has been done by Cathy here, including (and maybe especially) her efforts to protect our parishioners when they are here and even elsewhere from sickness from the coronavirus as well as promoting good health practices like our exercise groups that are led quite capably by Linda Broome.
We will be blessed to have Cathy and Jeff with us for a part of October which should be enough time to identify people with generous spirits and the skills needed to be trained to do the Lord's work in a variety of ways here at Sacred Heart Church. It's a little early to say good-bye to Jeff and Cathy Silk, but not early to wish them the best in the furture and offer to help them as they get ready to leave. God bless them and all generous people who give of themselves so quickly and so often for people in need!
At the 8:00 a. m. Mass I spoke about policemen and teachers who, in these difficult days continue to show generosity in protecting the public and teaching our children and young people in a less than ideal atmosphere. I also spoke of an abundance of generosity being offered by Catholics in Arkansas and parishioners here at Sacred Heart in the money that has been contributed to the Catholic Arkansas Sharing Appeal (hopefully $84,000 from some of our Sacred Heart parishioners, if all pledges are paid off and the recent virtual "Taste of Faith" Arkansas seminarian fundraiser that netted a total of around $500,000 including $46,000 from our parishioners through the efforts of our local Knights of Columbus).
Of course there are so many ways that generosity is shown besides money as has certainly been the case for the last number of years by Cathy Silk, first as a volunteer on our prish life commission and in the last few years as a paid employee who was often generous of her time and talents and her positive helpful demeanor in countless ways and for the benefit of many people! Sadly, I tell you that she and her husband Jeff will soon be leaving our parish and Hot Springs Village to move back east where Jeff will accept a new position is his career in law enforcement. While the generosity of both (including Jeff being our head parking attendant for our outdoor Mass) will be sorely missed, I am so encouraged by last weekend's scripture readings and my knowledge of so many generous people in our parish to be confident that as many of our parishioners as are needed will agree to step up to the plate and generously give of themselves to continue and even expand on the good work that has been done by Cathy here, including (and maybe especially) her efforts to protect our parishioners when they are here and even elsewhere from sickness from the coronavirus as well as promoting good health practices like our exercise groups that are led quite capably by Linda Broome.
We will be blessed to have Cathy and Jeff with us for a part of October which should be enough time to identify people with generous spirits and the skills needed to be trained to do the Lord's work in a variety of ways here at Sacred Heart Church. It's a little early to say good-bye to Jeff and Cathy Silk, but not early to wish them the best in the furture and offer to help them as they get ready to leave. God bless them and all generous people who give of themselves so quickly and so often for people in need!