Father Gervan Menezes - May 31

St. Philip Catholic Church: Today we celebrate the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. At first glance, the Trinity can seem like a difficult doctrine to explain. But the readings today invite us not to simply understand the Trinity intellectually, but to experience what the Trinity means for our lives. The Trinity is a relationship of perfect love. The Father gives himself completely to the Son. The Son receives that love and gives himself completely back to the Father. And the Holy Spirit is the living bound of love between them. God not solitary. God communion. God is And because we are creating the image of God, we are made for relationships too. Relationship with God ⁓ and with another. This is why today's reading are so beautiful for this time that we talk about our stewardship here at St. Philip. In the Gospel Jesus says, God so loved word. That he gave his only son. Notice that word, gave. very nature of God ⁓ self-giving love. The Father gives the Son, the gives his life. The Holy Spirit gives the gifts ⁓ of into our hearts. Everything in the is gift. And his stewardship it begins there, ⁓ recognizing that we have is a gift from God. Our life a gift. Our family is a gift. Our talents are gifts. Our faith is gift. Our parish is a gift. Stewardship is mainly about fundraising and maintaining buildings, but as we know, part of it. Stewardship is about reflecting on the life of the Trinity ⁓ in the way we live. If God's nature is generous self-giving love, then discipleship means to live generously too. In the first reading, Moses encounters God ⁓ is merciful and gracious, ⁓ to anger and rage in kindness. God remains faithful even when his people ⁓ him. That is the kind of relationship that God desires with us: a covenant relationship rooted In love and trust. And our parish should reflect the same spirit. St. Philip Parish is not simply a place that we attend. It's a spiritual family, a community of relationship, a reflection, however, imperfect, the perfect communion of the Trinity. It means that each one of us matters. The parish becomes alive ⁓ people don't ask. What can I receive? instead, ⁓ can I give? That is the heart of stewardship. Some ⁓ give in time, some can give talent, some can give financial resources, some can encourage, visit, teach, sing, ⁓ pray, ⁓ serve quietly behind the scenes. But every baptize. ⁓ Has something to offer because every baptize in the life of the Trinity. St. Paul tells us ⁓ today's second reading live in peace, and God of love and peace will be with you. A stewardship parish is not built on ⁓ only on money, built on communion, on participation, on crying babies, on responsibility, on love. That's awesome. There's all crying babies. That means that we are alive. And if you don't like, ⁓ well, get over. The Trinity teach us that love is never passive. Love always moves outward. Love serves. sacrifice. Love unity. And this is exactly what our stewardship appeal at St. Philip is inviting us to rediscover. Not simply how do we sustain the parish, but how do we become more fully the Body of Christ together? When parishions generously share their gifts, the parish becomes stronger. Children are forming faith, children are baptized, the poor are cared for, worship becomes more vibrant, ministry nourish, and people encounter Christ. other words, Jewish ⁓ make visible the love of the Trinity in our community. Every time That we make the sign of the cross, we say, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps today we should ask ourselves: my love reflect ⁓ divine communion of love? Am I living only for myself? Or am I belonging, becoming a gift for others? The Trinity teaches us that meaning of life ⁓ not possession, but Self-giving love. And the Eucharist we celebrate today is the greatest school of stewardship. Jesus gives Himself completely to us. Then He sent us to go out and do the same to another. So during this stewardship, sees it at St. Philip, let us not think about pledges and programs only. Let us think about relationship. Our with God. With our parish family, with our mission that Christ has entrusted to us. inviting every parishioner to reflect on three ways of sharing God's mission. The first way is stewardship in our parish family here at St. Philip, supporting the ⁓ ministry, faith formation, outreach, and the daily of our community. This is what we call keeping the lights running, paying the employees. ⁓ And this is very important because without that we can't do anything else. second way is stewardship towards our diocese, the wider church, ⁓ our diocesan support, recognizing that we belong not only to one parish, ⁓ to a large family in the diocese. That's when the bishop's appeal comes ⁓ help places like university Catholic, Catholic schools. But also on the formation of seminarians. We have two seminarians here, William, that is gonna be spending the summer with us. And then we also have Seb, ⁓ he just his ⁓ first year of formation. So that is we when we support the diocese, we support forming the future priests and many other things that the diocese do. That we as St. Philip cannot do ourselves. And the third way to stewardship through our global outreach, ⁓ for those beyond our immediate community, especially the poor and the vulnerable, the suffering, and in most in need in India, Honduras and Haiti. question today is not how little can I give, but ⁓ how can reflect the generous love of God in my life? The Trinity teaches us that life finds meaning not in holding on, but in giving ourselves away in love. And this is exactly what Jesus does for us in the Eucharist. He gives himself completely. Then he sends us to become gifts for others. So during this time of stewardship season at St. Philip, let us pray, prayer for ask. Who, how Is God calling me to participate more fully in the life of this parish? How can my gifts help build up this community? can our parish become a stronger reflection of the love and the unity of the Trinity? And this is one of the things that no pastor likes to do: ask for money. But here's what we're gonna do. I promise you, we're gonna do this once a year. Instead of you being kind of Target from everywhere. We are combining this appeal all together. You are not receiving letters from the diocese. not gonna be being asked for anything from the diocese. But I invite you as a family to think about. If you are registered family, you this week last past week you received a little stewardship brochure ⁓ tells us a little bit about our campaign, our our appeal. If you're not a reserve parish, that's no problem. I have you on the end of each pill you find the same pamphlet there, the flyer, and you can take a look on that after mass. Next week is gonna be our commitment weekend. You can bring your ⁓ little ⁓ commitment card, or you can go online and do your commitment, and if you forget about it, don't worry, I'll have some more cards for you next weekend. But we're gonna talk about this. One time a year and all done. If you go online, there are the three different buckets that you can donate, and you can choose how much you can give and you want to give for each one of those buckets. And then we can move on and preach the gospel and go do the other things that we are called to do and not worry about money. Can I count on you guys? can answer. Thank you. May parish ⁓ become ever a reflection of the Trinity. A community rooted in the Father's love, of Christ ⁓ alive in the Holy Spirit. Amen.