FAITH Saginaw Summer 2007 : Page 2
f r o m t h e e d i t o r J of the world!” (Mt 5:13-14). ust a few months after I entered the church at the Easter Vigil in 2002, I had an amazing opportunity to make a small pilgrimage to Toronto for that year’s major World Youth Day celebration. The theme of that World Youth Day was “You are the salt of the earth! You are the light I remember the words our former pontiff, Pope John Paul II, spoke to the estimated 850,000 faithful in attendance for the closing Mass. He told us, “The world you are inheriting is a world which desperately needs a new sense of brotherhood and human solidarity. It is a world which needs to be touched and healed by the beauty and richness of God’s love. It needs witnesses to that love. The world needs salt. It needs you – to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world … “You are young, and the pope is old, 82 or 83 years of life is not the same as 22 or 23. But the pope still fully identifies with your hopes and aspirations. Although I have lived through much darkness, under harsh totalitarian regimes, I have seen enough evidence to be unshakably convinced that no difficulty, no fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young. You are our hope, the young are our hope. “Do not let that hope die! Stake your lives on it! We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.” What a challenge that was for that 22-year-old baby Catholic, three months out of the waters of baptism. What a challenge it still is, for all of us, really. I have come to understand that one of the greatest challenges of being “salt” for the earth is realizing that you are just one grain. Alone, we cannot fill the entire shaker. Our strength is found in a combined effort with others who are like ourselves. I am reminded of the lesson of St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians: the body of Christ has many parts. “If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body.” (1 Cor 12:17-20) In this Summer 2007 issue of FAITH Saginaw, you will meet a few members of Christ’s body, both young and old, who labor to spread hope to the world through their own unique gifts. You will meet Katherine Espinosa, a teen who will share a story of her own service experience; Bob Looby, who works to see that sound investments help the church meet its financial needs; and Father Michael Wolf, who has lived more than two-thirds of his life in service as a priest for the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw. These people, like many people in our diocese, are dedicated to living out their FAITH. They are salt for the earth and light for the world. Are you up for the same chal- lenge? - Matt Treadwell is editor in chief of FAITH Saginaw and communications director for the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw. ‘‘ Salt + Light ‘we are the sum of the f love for us’ FAITH Saginaw Liturgical Calendar: St. Thomas, Apostle July 3 | St. Elizabeth of Portugal July 4 | St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria, Priest July 5 | St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr July 6 | St. Augustine Zhao Ro Spring 2007 I have come to understand that one of the great- est challenges of being “salt” for the earth is realizing that you are just one grain. Alone, we cannot fill the entire shaker. Our strength is found in a combined effort with more who are like ourselves. ‘‘
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