June 30, 2024 - 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

   Happy Independence Day!!! Happy 4th of July!!!

   On behalf of the Parish clergy and staff, I wish you a great time with your family and friends. May the Lord give you good health and keep you safe in all your travels this coming week and all Summer. May the Lord bless all your family, especially your children and youth during their vacation time. May they have good rest and may they grow in love of God and of their neighbor. Have a great summer! We ask God’s blessing upon our country and we pray for justice and peace for all. God bless America now and always!!!

   In the Gospel of today, Jesus cures the woman sick for many years, and raised from the dead a little girl. He has the power over life and death, he has the power to heal. Our life and good health is a gift from God. When we have good health, often we are even not aware how precious it is. We presume that we have it and we will always have. On other side we understand, that we will have to face some health difficulties eventually. It is very necessary that we monitor our health even when we are well, because God gave us capacity to be reasonable about our health. So, when we have it, we should take good care of it by monitoring it. We need to do what is necessary to maintain a healthy balance of diet and exercise. Often, we know what is good for us, and yet we may disregard it, because of our imprudence. Moderation in all things, it is a good way to maintain a balance in our life, and especially in regard to health.

     Prayer is a great way to help our health, because it helps us to monitor the level of stress in our life. We all heard, that stress it is one of the leading causes of many sicknesses, as it lowers our defenses and makes our body and the spirit vulnerable to malfunction and sickness. Prayer helps us to let go of the stress. Our trust in God brings us peace and rest to our bodies and souls. As Jesus said: “come to me all who are burdened and I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Those words are very true in regard to stress. Prayer helps us to maintain our spiritual balance of trusting in God, after we have done what we can do for our own good. That confidence is necessary for our normal functioning.

     Having Faith in God helps us to let go of all that is out of our control. And God is not expecting of us to do the impossible, but he is expecting us to do our part in all things, especially those regarding our own health. Then, if our health should be failing, we should go to the doctor and follow the doctor‘s advice in order to regain our health. We need to pray for all doctors, that they will be able to use their wisdom and talent to bring health to their patients. So, in part, our health may be maintained by natural means of medicine, but in other parts it is maintained by supernatural faith and trust in God. Together they both work best, together. But if the medicine should be helpless in the face of some sickness, then we can ask God for a miraculous cure.

   May God give good health to all those who struggle with it. God bless everyone with good health of mind and body, and having it- let us be grateful in prayer and worship of God. May God bless you in all things today and always!!!

God Bless America!!!

Fr. Stan