Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Baikauskas,
Associate Pastor
~ Dear Friends in Christ,
This weekend’s readings for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time bring us face to face with fear—and with the call to “fear not.” Jeremiah, in our first reading, gives voice to a fear so raw that he wishes he’d never been born. And yet, even there, in that diary-like confession of weakness, God’s faithfulness holds.
I’ve thought about that passage this week, because this is my last bulletin article with you, and my last weekend at Saint Margaret of Scotland.
When I arrived here, I came in some ways like Jeremiah—uncertain, feeling perhaps “worth less” in this new assignment, wondering how I would fit into a parish with such a long and rich history. What I found instead was a community that made me feel anything but worth, less. You welcomed me. You trusted me with your joys and your sorrows, your baptisms and funerals, and your children’s first confessions. You let me be a small part of your lives, and in doing so, you gave me far more than I ever gave you.
That’s really the heart of this Sunday’s message. We live in a world that constantly tells us we’re worth less—less than our neighbor with the nicer car, less if we don’t have the right job, the right body, the right family situation. But the Gospel tells us otherwise: we are known intimately by God, down to the hairs on our heads, and we are worth more than we could ever imagine.
What I’ve learned here, though, is that this truth doesn’t just stay in our hearts—it gets lived out in community. You have been the voice of God to me, again and again, in ways large and small. The job some of you have done—of reminding me, and each other, that we are loved and we matter—is not a small thing. It’s the most important work there is.
I want to offer my deep gratitude to Fr. John Vien for his pastoral leadership and the trust he placed in me; to Msgr. Michael Turek, for his wisdom and support; and to every one of you, for the kindness, generosity, and genuine welcome you showed me from day one. Serving here has been one of the great gifts of my priesthood.
As I prepare for this next chapter, please know that Saint Margaret of Scotland will always hold a special place in my heart. I ask for your continued prayers, and I offer mine for all of you—that each of us may know, more deeply each day, just how loved and how worthy we truly are in the eyes of God.
With gratitude and in Christ,
Fr. Patrick Baikauskas, O.P.
