St. John Neumann
Catholic Church

The Ascension of the Lord is the remembrance of the Church, that the Risen Lord left this earth, and is now  with God our Father, in the mystery of the Kingdom, beyond time and space and imagination.  Those disciples that witnessed his departure followed his commandment, and began to do what he said to do. They proclaimed the Kingdom, and the Lord worked in a mighty way with them and through them (Mark 16.19-20).

Today's Solemnity of the Ascension remembers his absence and his promise. Next week's Solemnity of Pentecost celebrates the blessing of his promised presence, in the gift of the living Spirit of God. The age of the Church begins in this dynamic revelation of absence and presence, of Ascension and Pentecost. In this age of the Church, we are invited to become members of his Body, and carry on the work of redemption, in the way we live and love, as disciples of the new Way of Life. We do this in the Spirit of the Lord.

The parish family of SJN exists to do what he said to do. We are seeking a renewal of mind and heart and spirit, to do what he said to do. The construction of a new worship space and eight meeting rooms, the refurbishing of the current worship space into a parish fellowship hall, the ongoing improvement to our liturgical prayer and our ongoing formation, these are all signs that we are doing what he said to do: growing stronger as a parish family, proclaiming the Kingdom with our lives.

But in order to continue this renewal of mind and heart and spirit, we need every member and every family to be a part of the work of God.  Some of you reading this column have never given your time to the work of the parish as a volunteer. I am asking you to find a ministry here and give a bit of yourself to it. Many of you reading this column have volunteered time and talents before, but it has been a while now. Same thing... get involved, find a place to contribute something of yourself.

The Ascension of the Lord is the remembrance of the Church, that the Risen Lord left this earth, and is now  with God our Father, in the mystery of the Kingdom, beyond time and space and imagination.  Those disciples that witnessed his departure followed his commandment, and began to do what he said to do. They proclaimed the Kingdom, and the Lord worked in a mighty way with them and through them (Mark 16.19-20).

Today's Solemnity of the Ascension remembers his absence and his promise. Next week's Solemnity of Pentecost celebrates the blessing of his promised presence, in the gift of the living Spirit of God. The age of the Church begins in this dynamic revelation of absence and presence, of Ascension and Pentecost. In this age of the Church, we are invited to become members of his Body, and carry on the work of redemption, in the way we live and love, as disciples of the new Way of Life. We do this in the Spirit of the Lord.

The parish family of SJN exists to do what he said to do. We are seeking a renewal of mind and heart and spirit, to do what he said to do. The construction of a new worship space and eight meeting rooms, the refurbishing of the current worship space into a parish fellowship hall, the ongoing improvement to our liturgical prayer and our ongoing formation, these are all signs that we are doing what he said to do: growing stronger as a parish family, proclaiming the Kingdom with our lives.

But in order to continue this renewal of mind and heart and spirit, we need every member and every family to be a part of the work of God.  Some of you reading this column have never given your time to the work of the parish as a volunteer. I am asking you to find a ministry here and give a bit of yourself to it. Many of you reading this column have volunteered time and talents before, but it has been a while now. Same thing... get involved, find a place to contribute something of yourself.

The whole question of our financial health follows the same trajectory. For those of you that provide regular support to offertory, to the BLF project, to our Archbishop's Annual Appeal... know that your fellow parishioners are grateful. You are the strength of the parish.

But for those of you that offer little in the way of regular giving, I want to suggest this simple challenge:

Most of you go to a restaurant from time to time. My challenge to those that are not giving regularly to our offertory collection is to take the cost of one restaurant meal, say a meal for $10, sacrifice the cost of that one meal each week, and give SJN that $10. If you do that, you will be giving SJN $40 a month, and that's $480 for a year. If those 752 families that have given our parish family nothing this year accepted this challenge, and sacrificed a meal a week, that portion of our parish would give us $360,960!

So, for those of you that have not contributed in any consistent way, please take up the challenge: give the family of SJN the cost of one meal a week! The age of the Church is our time. Living His life is our way. Let us love as he loves. Let us do what he said to do... beginning today!

AMDG

Msgr. David Talley