Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear St. Peter Parish family,

By now, many of you have figured out that I must like desserts. In fact, it runs in the Frank family, as all my relatives will tell you; and after I write this, I’m going to try to bake my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe using our gas oven. We’ll see how they turn out… So I’m looking forward to gathering with you and your group of parishioner friends in your homes and enjoying some conversation and dessert (I love homemade desserts most of all)… or, if you aren’t into desserts, other kinds of foods or drinks are totally fine, if you feel like mixing it up! Already quite a few of you have reached out to schedule your gatherings, so July will be a fun month for me!

Speaking of baking and cooking, I was told that there aren’t many restaurants in Reserve and Garyville because most people around here can cook really well themselves, and enjoy eating their own cooking or each other’s. (But if you have restaurant recommendations for me, let me know.) Now, many parishes hire someone to cook for the priests, which, believe it or not, isn’t always a good thing. At the moment I’m honestly relieved that we don’t have a hired cook here. It just means that I need to learn how to cook more recipes. I’m also considering having a sign-up where once a month someone can sign up to cook a meal for me, so I can have something in the fridge to eat for a few meals, or freeze the leftovers for another day. If that would be fun for you to make me a meal occasionally, maybe that’s what I’ll do. Just remember, I’m only one person, so I can’t accept multiple meals at a time, or I won’t be able to eat it all! And I hate being wasteful. If you’re interested, keep an eye out for how to sign up in the future. I don’t think I’m a picky eater, so this could be a lot of fun. 

At the time that I wrote this, the Independence Day fireworks event put on by St. John Parish on July 2nd had not yet taken place, but I have been looking forward to it so much! I’m excited that St. Peter Parish gets to be a part of this celebration each year. As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (which was in a way the birthday of our country) by shooting fireworks and eating all sorts of foods that are pretty unhealthy (but like most things, they’re so good…in moderation!), let us remember that freedom is about so much more than being able to shoot fireworks and eat whatever we want. In our own country, where we value freedom so highly, it is easy to get confused about what freedom is. Freedom is not “being able to do whatever I want without anyone getting in my way.” Freedom is being allowed to do what is right. In many other places in the world, people are persecuted for being Christians, far more intensely than we experience here. But wherever we are, whether in a free or oppressive society: when we are living our lives in Christ, we are truly free. So we want our civil society and liberties—which can be easily lost and which we must never take for granted—to reflect that deeper, interior freedom that can never be taken away by force, but can only be lost by our own straying away from living in Christ and following God’s commandments. If we have that interior freedom—if the Son makes us free—then we will be free indeed!