“Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:10
“Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord?” Sirach 28:3
Allow me to rephrase the question posed in Sirach … if you harbor anger in your life, how can you expect to experience love? If we don’t surrender our resentment or if we enjoy brooding in our anger, love can’t reside in our hearts. Yes, love conquers all, but without an openness to love, our hearts remain persistently hard. Now, the Lord can heal any stubbornness with his mercy, but one needs to be open to faith – one needs to be open to the wisdom and understanding of the Holy Spirit – to trust that anger and resentment aren’t a solution and harboring both simply leads to a life of bitterness, regrets, and missed opportunities; it leads to anger and resentment in all of our relationship because love hasn’t been given a chance, because love hasn’t been able to heal and dwell in our hearts. Yes, love eventually wins as we experience on the Cross, but without faith, without God’s healing, and without a desire or simply a small opening to change, anger will continue to be nourished in our hearts. And so, if we find ourselves stewing in our anger, let us make an earnest effort toward reconciliation. Reconcile with God, with ourselves, and with those whom we’ve offended or have offended us. Let us be good to ourselves and let the love of Christ heal our broken hearts. Put it this way … we either live in anger or live in love; we can’t have it both ways. Allow Christ to heal your heart this day with his mercy. Be patient and committed though, it may take time to uproot the anger, especially if it’s been in our hearts for a long time.
Finally, it’s blessing to be installed as your pastor, and it’s with much joy and love in my heart that I humbly welcome this opportunity. For the last few years, it has been an honor to serve you as Parochial Administrator but more has been the privilege of being welcomed by this community, allowing me to enter your sacred space by being a part of your lives and entrusting me to serve you and help you grow closer to Christ. During these last few years, I’ve felt as a part of this community and have learned so much from all of you, all things that have helped me to grow as a priest and a servant of God. My hope and prayer moving forward is to continue our growth towards holiness – together – as a community, doing what we can to support, encourage, and serve one another. I’m grateful of how you’ve received me into this community and how you receive one another, and I now, as we look forward to continuing the good work, I’m grateful to all of you for this opportunity and continue to ask for your prayers as I serve you as pastor, that the good Lord may continue to bless me with the heart of a shepherd so that I may better serve you and lead you towards him. Blessings to you all.
In Christ
Fr Robert Marquez
Parochial Administrator – Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic Community