What great faith!

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This Sunday we hear of the great faith of the Canaanite woman who cried out to the Lord on behalf of her daughter. Her perseverance is inspiring as she continues to cry out to the Lord in spite of the many obstacles she faces: she knows she is an outsider, the Apostles rebuke her and the Lord seems to remain silent to her pleading. Nevertheless she cries out, revealing her strong faith. This reading is a reminder to us to keep asking the Lord to increase our faith and make it stronger. Sometimes we may forget that faith is God’s gift to us, not something that we have to create on our own. As a gift, it is something that we simply ask the Lord to give us.

A few weeks ago I mentioned our plans to re-pave and stripe a portion of our parking lot, including the circle outside the main entrance to the church. Unfortunately, this work will have to wait as we now undertake a major replacement of the water line that feeds the church and school from Ilchester Road. The experts tell us that the line may break at any point and needs to be replaced. It is obviously better to do the repair before we begin another busy year of school and religious education. I’ll share more details as we learn more about this unexpected project. As always, thank you for your generosity with our Sunday offertory that makes these (and many other projects) possible!

I hope you have a very blessed week!