Reflection as we enter a new year by Fr Tim Kelly
Grace and Peace in the Lord Jesus.
The New Year opens with much reason for us to rejoice and to give thanks. This parish is close to completion of our building project and soon we will be in the fine new facility. We have kept up our numbers in spite of all the mud and the confusion of the construction stage. Each week, we welcome new families. We now have a permanent deacon serving in the parish.
In this last year we have begun in earnest to help families in need. The Alms Committee distributes 10% of our income each month and over Christmas, we have helped many families to celebrate the festival with some dignity. Each week we help people who get into arrears with their power bills and water bills.
The call of the Gospel is that we feed the hungry and clothe the naked. The Church cannot postpone obeying these commands until after we pay off our debt for the building project. The task of being a Christian does not wait until we are comfortable. It challenges us each day. Conscious of this, I have decided to start a Society of St. Vincent de Paul here in St. Mary Magdalene parish. I hope that we can begin this process during the Lenten period. It is my greatest wish that the good works done by so many of you for God’s poor through the S.V.d P in the Cathedral continue to be done here. It is my hope that the two S.V.d P. groups work together in harmony and to the same end, the comforting of those in trouble. Bringing the great ministry of this Catholic Society into our parish is also a milestone on our journey as a parish. The new society will be able to raise its own funds, and also to draw from the 10% Alms tithe which we set aside each month. I look forward to being part of this great organization.
There is so much else I need to tell you about at this time, but we will have to wait for a while. For now just want you to know how much I love you all. I have spent three Christmases among you and they have been the best of my life. In these years, I have never sighed and wished to be anywhere else. I take very seriously the mandate of the Bishop that I lead you all in holiness and in prayer. I take it seriously that I must devote time each day to pray for you, and I offer Mass for you each Sunday, pro populo.
The ministry of parish priest is a ministry of being present to people every day. Some have been offended by me and by decisions I have made in the course of the year. In making pastoral decisions, I do not seek to impose my will or my own personal tastes. I take advice from the Pastoral Council, listening very seriously to what they say. In matters of finance, I listen to those who devise the Budget and who have expertise in these matters. I don’t claim to be the most sensitive pastor in the world, but I try to be authentic and I try to be fair. Please forgive my shortcomings and pray for me.
To close, I leave you with a short poem called “At the gate of the Year.” In the darkest hour of Britain’s resistance to Nazi Germany, when all looked lost, King George VI gave a radio broadcast to the nation for New Year 1940. In it he cited this poem, reminding his subjects that in the dizzy strife of things they must seek out and trust God. He reminded them that trusting God in the darkness was better than any light they could get from humans.
At the Gate of the Year
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.'
And he replied,
'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!'
So I went forth and finding the Hand of God
Trod gladly into the night
He led me towards the hills
And the breaking of day in the lone east.
So heart be still!
What need our human life to know
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife of things
Both high and low,
God hideth his intention."
by Minnie Louise Harkins 1875-1957