Dear Parishioner,

Imagine if we woke up this morning with only those things we thanked God for yesterday. What would our lives look like? What things and people would we still have?  I personally find these questions motivate me to be more aware, grateful, and to pray in thanksgiving for the blessings in my life. For example, they lead me to not take for granted that I am assigned here at St. Francis Borgia and that I live in this beautiful part of the world.
 
Gratitude is central to our life in Christ. In gratitude, we open our hearts to God’s love and mercy. We allow Him to transform our lives, our families and our relationships. Gratitude is also central to a life of stewardship – recognizing that everything we have and are is a gift from God. As a parish family, we have so much for which to be grateful!
 
Living with gratitude, we become filled with a joy that radiates God’s love, a joy that cannot be contained or go unnoticed by those around us. As your pastor, I want nothing more than for each of us to experience the joy that Jesus promises – the joy of placing our trust in God and freely sharing our gifts generously with others.
 
I invite you to think and pray about your contributions to the life of our parish. Consider how you might be involved in our parish community this year. Use these questions as a guide for personal prayer and reflection: 

• Where in parish life and ministry would I like to get involved?
• Could I devote a few more minutes to prayer each day?  
• Could I be more generous with my resources of time, talent, and treasure?
• Is there someone I could reach out to in order to invite them to join or rejoin our parish family?

Please review the Stewardship Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021.  As you can see, our parish is blessed in many ways by many people!  We are, however, more complete when more people gather to worship and enter into service.  Please consider how you might grow your involvement and investment in our parish family.

I am asking every one of us in our parish to spend a few minutes in quiet prayer, asking God how He is calling us to share our gifts with our parish community. I pray we can open our hearts to God’s love and be willing to follow His lead as we thank God for all the good gifts in our lives!

 
Gratefully yours in Christ,

Reverend Michael P. Boehm
Pastor