Strengthening the Spiritual Life of All...

Spirituality might be defined as our quest as finite beings for the Infinite: our search for God. Our parish accepts the responsibility to strengthen the spiritual reality that this extra-ordinary, unconditional loving God is present in our ordinary everyday compassion.  Viewing all life as belonging to God, we see ourselves, not human beings on a spiritual journey to God but rather as spiritual beings on a human journey with God.   Silence is God's first language and in a not-so-quiet world an attitude of contemplation awakens us to a felt-sense that God truly is with us (Emmanuel), calling us to discipleship as Christ's Resurrected Body, the Church.  Parish meditation, Eucharistic Adoration, the Rosary and retreat groups call us to gather as individuals and as a community of faith, aware of God's gifts of life and thankful for them. 

Never separating the Jesus of Christmas from the Resurrected Christ of Easter, our parish spirituality is rooted in the reality that Sunday is the microcosm of Easter. The Sabbath is the reminder that presence is God's way of being in our midst, our way of being with God and one another.  We take the Mystery of God's presence in the Eucharist seriously and continue to look for ways to awaken us to this sacramental Mystery by creating a prayerful worship environment for all of us that gather around God's altar.  

Becoming what we eat, our identity is found when we say, "Amen!" to the prayer, "Through Him, With Him and In Him in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is Yours, Almighty Father, now and forever."   Looking through His Word (Scripture) as a lens, we focus on being with Him as we walk in His footsteps. "Waiting in joyful hope," Christ's life gives parish spirituality a grid or ethic for discipleship experienced through a variety of relationships, experienced through education, evangelization, social, and pastoral ministries.:  Our environmental team highlights an added dimension of holistic spirituality, urging us to recognize that as stewards of creation, we must take practical steps to protect the earth and its inhabitants.  

Thus parish spirituality, grounded in the truths found in our Judeo-Christian Scripture, reveals our Creator as partner with us "from womb to tomb." Listening to God's call to community in Baptism, we journey in loving relationship with God and one another. Nourished by the Eucharist, we reach out to the world as an interdependent global community.  Strengthened by God's Real Presence, we invite others to be one with us in this local church called St. Patrick, serving as a bridge between the finite and the infinite, inviting us to share our gifts, keeping divine hope alive during our human journey just as Jesus did during His human journey so long ago.

Where is Jesus staying today?
St. Patrick's Parish? Come and See...