Mother Teresa, the Festival, and Summer at the Beach

Jul 29

Letter from the Pastor
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 30, 2023

Mother Teresa, the Festival, and Summer at the Beach

In my homily last weekend, I read the poem, Anyway, which has been attributed to Mother Teresa. A number of people have asked for a copy so I have included here. It was actually written in 1977 by Dr. Kent Keith and entitled The Paradoxical Commandments when he was an undergraduate student. Mother Teresa somehow found it and had it inscribed on the dining room wall at her children's home in Calcutta, India. In 1997, Dr. Keith wrote a book, Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments: Finding Personal Meaning in a Crazy World.

Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God; it was never between you and them, anyway.

If you are looking for something to do on Wednesday, Aug. 2nd, you might want to consider Swimming under the Stars. This is an open swim from 6 PM – 8 PM in our outdoor pool behind the Center. What makes it fun is there will be a complementary showing of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on the big screen. Passes are $10 and can be picked up at the Community Center Front Desk.

Next week we will host our annual Festival of the Sea, from Aug. 8-12, 6 PM – 10 PM. We are still in need of some volunteers. If you would like to help out, please call the Center during regular business hours. I do hope you can join us for the Festival, either as a volunteer or for just some good summer fun!

St. Francis Parish is a Stewardship Parish. I ask our summer residents, our summer guests, and our online participants to also consider becoming a steward of St. Francis Parish. There are stewardship envelopes with commitment cards in the pews, at the doors of the churches, or you can find the information on our webpage, www.stfrancisparishlbi.org. Please prayerfully consider becoming a steward of the parish through your weekly, monthly, or one-time contribution to support your church away from home.

On behalf of all the friars, sisters, and Parish Staff, thank you for coming to worship with us and for your continued support of St. Francis of Assisi Parish.

May God bless you and your families.

Peace and All Good!