Fr. James E. Fox

God first loved us! When we were unable to save ourselves from our sinfulness and find our way out of the darkness of choices which brought death and destruction to human life, God became the way. The remarkable quality of God’s love is that God did not tell us to find our way and then He would love us. God loved us first. God gave us the pledge of His love; His pledge was a visible sign, the person of Jesus Christ; His pledge was an invitation to enter into a relationship of love – a covenant.

We call ourselves Christian. If this is truly the case, we must allow God to make us new again; we must allow God to recreate us in His own image. One of the signs of God’s saving work in us is our ability to love as God loves: unconditionally. It is easy to fall into the trap of conditional love: “I will love you if...” Whether we are single, married, parents, or just friends, we protect ourselves by laying out the conditions under which our love will be returned. All of us can probably think of a relationship where we can fill in the blanks to all the “if’s” required to reawaken our love. As Christians we are called to live a new kind of love, a love that expresses itself first, a love that remains unconditional.

If we are to grow in our Christian life we must practice the qualities by which we wish to live. A relationship with God requires time. Thus we set aside time to pray – to be aware of the presence of God in whose life we live. To grow more aware of the God who loves us, we spend time in the reading of God’s Word. By this Word, we come to know more completely the God who reveals Himself to us in Jesus Christ. To become more like God, we live in communitybinding our lives to others as witnesses of God’s love. As witnesses of God’s love, we live lives of service, giving of ourselves not only to those we love, but to others with whom we have no outward bond.

Another Christian practice is to make a pledge for the financial support of the community of faith. By making a pledge we promise to give, not because we get anything in return, but because in giving we learn how to be generous as God is generous. By making a pledge we become intentional, making a promise to give not from our leftovers, but from the first fruits of all that we have received.

As our parish community renews its financial commitment to continue the work of God through this parish community, I ask you to enter more fully into the life of God by making a pledge, by doing so prayerfully, sacrificially, and generously. From all that we have received, let us make a return to the Lord, the source of our life and all blessings. God has already expressed who He will be for us. Let us take a step in expressing our willingness to be someone for God.

Fr. Jim Fox For questions regarding Father Jim's comments, please feel free to email him.