Dear Saints,

The past few weeks have presented me with more than my fair share of challenges. Okay, that’s not really true. It might feel like more than my fair share, but our God is a provident Father: He never leaves us without hope in every struggle, and he gives us what we need when we need it. And I don’t just mean that he gives us what we need to endure difficulties. I also mean that he allows us to face difficulties for our good and the advancement of his perfect plan.

Recently, I’ve been at pains to think through and communicate our parish motto and mission anew. As you know, we exist to be a light to the world. That’s the whole point of the OLMC enterprise. As the Body of Christ, we bring God’s love to life in and for Boonton and beyond.

As I’m sure you know, I’m not terribly interested in a well crafted mission statement if it doesn’t take flesh: I'm desperate to figure out how God wants to love the world through us in every practical detail. How do we know whether or not we’re doing it? How do we advance in this great mission that is entrusted to us? As far as I see, the following three commitments will have us prepared to make necessary progress:

1. Prayer: It’s chiefly by praying that we will discover God’s will, find the way we are to go, and launch the initiatives that both give him glory and meet our neighbors' deepest needs.

2. Personal Mission: The story and the success of our individual lives is that we exist to be a blessing to others. This means that we should try, in every practical way, to bring God’s love (the love we receive from him primarily in prayer) to life for everyone we encounter.

3. Corporate Mission: God has brought us all together at OLMC for a reason. Together, we have to not only be open to, but also try to discover, what God intends for us to do as the Body of Christ in this particular place.

I’m very eager to hear from you on this. Feel free to be in touch whichever way suits you best. My preference is for face-to-face meetings, but I find emails quite easy to receive and respond to: pastor@olmcboonton.org.

Christ’s Peace,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ