Dear Parishioner,

The letter which Paul writes to us today, begins with some of the best wisdom one could hope for, “Brothers and sisters; watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons, but as wise ones, making the most of every opportunity.”

I recently had a conversation with a friend during which he was trying to explain why his marriage and life were falling apart. I listened with heartfelt sincerity and concern, but I quietly marveled at all the poor choices my friend had made to lead up to this state of personal disarray. Throughout my life as a priest, in countless conversations, I have been struck by the inability of seemingly intelligent people to make wise choices about living life — even some of the time. I suppose it goes back to childhood and adolescence. I can recall sitting in my office as a young high school teacher listening to teenagers recount the latest disaster to have befallen them only to find out that they had made every possible wrong choice to get to that moment. With teenagers you can be somewhat stronger in your guidance, but with adults we must often feign mock sincerity as they reveal a disastrous series of missteps that led to their current problems.

Coming to church to hear the Word of God helps us to make informed choices about the way we live our lives. If the gospel we hear in church does not travel with us for at least the remainder of the day, then what have we learned. Our faith is nurtured and strengthened through it because it is a lived experience.

If we live our days in this way, then we can pray before we rest in the evening the very prayer that ends Paul’s letter and know that we have lived a good and faith filled day in the Lord. “Giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.”