Individual gifts and talents

This is a draft of a blog posting I stumbled upon when cleaning up the blog.  I had no idea there were so many drafts accidentally saved and never published...oops!  This must have been started sometime last summer when Fr. Louis from the church where we were married in York had an accident and was out of commission for a while. 

Greetings from the Pastor, Fr. Louis Petruha, OFM, Cap

It’s good to be back again in the office. I hope it won’t be long till I am able to have Mass and do the other liturgical functions so essential to our parish. Thank you again for the support, love and well wishes. They have and still do sustain me. Though I am limited at the moment, I am available for you in so far as I am able. Please call if you have need. I will do my best to be of service.

In the meantime, I am amazed at all the upcoming events of the parish. I think that it was Pope John XIII who said that the primary function of the parish is to be ‘home for the personal and spiritual growth of the parishioners.’ I don't know the exact reference of this quote, but it certainly is a good description of our parish. Two things arise. The first is that the parish is to be “home”, a place of security, love, welcome and concern for those who want a spiritual ‘home’. I certainly hope that each of you feel at home here. The second thing is ‘human and spiritual growth’. None of us wants to stand still with our lives. We want to move ahead and to use the God-given talents we have to take those steps. In the same way, we want the ‘best for our children’. We want them to move ahead as well. These attitudes are prevalent in economic and academic dimensions of life. People are
naturally desirous of moving ahead. But the Lord says: “Seek first his Kingship over you and the rest will be given.” This is where the Parish comes in.

Hopefully, each of us wants to move ahead in our relationship with God. We desire internal growth, knowledge and reconciliation within our souls to become better persons; knowledgeable of our faith and witnesses to it as an essential ingredient of the person God wants us to be. He says: ‘be holy as I am holy’! Each in our unique way! Simply put, it means having our life together because of his invitation and Grace within us.

When I read these words, I was inspired.  How can each of us grow in our relationship with our Creator?  What can we do daily to walk just a little bit closer with Jesus?  I know I could stand to carve out more time for prayer and just quieting myself.  That is where the pups come into play.  As much as I wish Hershey would just understand the concept of going outside already, I do appreciate the little moments spent outsides patiently waiting for him to "do business"...last night, this took place between 5:30 and 6:30am...nearly an hour of tending to him outside which yielded in pee and poop outside (YAY!) in the pre-dawn hours but then I couldn't go back to sleep.  So, as I stood outside watching the sky get lighter and lighter as morning approached, I offered up some prayers that I wouldn't have normally offered up due to sleeping.  So, in a way, by having this seemingly impossible task of trying to housetrain this pup who just isn't getting it right now, he's giving me more of an opportunity to have some quiet moments with the Lord.  Dusty Shamrock is contributing too.  He doesn't mind all the extra time outside and is more than happy to explore the yard while we wait on little Hershey.  I need to try to be more like him in these moments of impatience....embrace what's given to me instead of wishing it were a different way like he does.  As Fr. Louis closes out above, I love the idea of each of us being holy in our own unique ways.  We all have talents and gifts to offer to one another and are so unique and special. What I can offer differs from what you can offer and what the next person can offer.  What will you offer today??