A WORD FROM THE PASTOR

We need to use our God-given Authority to build up lives

No doubt we can think back to people who have made a lasting impression on our lives – either for good or bad.  Perhaps it was a grandparent, an uncle, or a parent, who loved us and cared for us.  Perhaps it was a Sunday school teacher who encouraged us in our faith and exerted a positive impact on our lives.  Perhaps we remember the kindness as well as the firm discipline that a school teacher gave us.

On the other hand, there may be people in our past whom we remember with pain and discomfort.   Are children learning something from us as parents that will stand them in good stead for the future? We want our children to grow into strong, wise, confident, capable, mature adults.  But we want more than that.  We want them to grow in their Faith, to accept Jesus as their Lord and personal Savior. We want children to see in us the love of Jesus and how our Christian faith affects our lives. 

A good question for parents, teachers and all of us is:  "In what way am I helping the children I know grow in amazement at Jesus and his love for them?” When God's Word and God's ways are taught and spoken about with authority – with conviction – our children (and others) will see with amazement God's love for them in his Son Jesus.

Teachers are powerful because they change lives. They have, within their hands, power terribly to hurt or wonderfully to heal young lives. Most of us are deeply, forever indebted to some caring teacher in our past. Some people never get over the damage done to them by some cruel or uncaring teacher. So today, when we hear that Jesus entered the synagogue at Capernaum and began to teach, we need to take note. Jesus was a teacher. They never called him “Reverend,” or “Father,” or “Priest.” They called him “Rabbi,” which means “teacher.” Let us all become good teachers and use our authority to mold young lives in the right way.

Let us build our family and our church parish by using God given authority as teachers!