MenuDear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Willkomen! Bienvenue! Benvenito! Welcome to Buffalo! I must say your Holy Cross welcome to my wife, Rachel, our daughters, Natalie and Laura, and to me has been overwhelming in its kindness and generosity. Your welcome to our family surpasses my ability to express it in just one language! Thank you so much. I am reminded of what Jesus says in Matthew 25:35, “… I was a stranger and you welcomed me….”
Jesus says He will recognize this when He returns, and the faithful will say, “Lord, when did we do this?” Don’t be too surprised if He mentions something about July/August 2015 to you. In fact, He will make many things clear that we do not recognize today. One of the things He will show us is actual good works that we did without realizing it. The fact that we don’t always realize we are doing a good work is simply that it proceeds from the heart of a baptized Christian because that is who the Holy Spirit is remaking you to be. Remember the prayer in Psalm 51:10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” He is doing it!
And when we don’t even realize we’re doing a good work, it’s because it arises from our new identity – our identity as one Baptized and claimed by the Triune God. It’s just who we are.
St. Paul explains the wonder of our new life in Christ this way: “Even when we were dead in our sins, [God] made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and [God] raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:5-10.
I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in the hearts of all the faithful at Holy Cross, that we may be renewed in the power of our Baptism so that we will serve Christ continually through acts of hospitality and mercy to others.
~Pastor Nickel