24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

FROM THE DESK OF FATHER JACOB LIVECCHI YOUR PRIEST IN RESIDENCE AT EPIPHANY OF THE LORD PARISH

Greetings! 

It is hard for me to believe how fast the summer has gone by, it has been an absolutely wonderful summer. I have been very humbled by and grateful for your hospitality and warm welcome. While it has been only a very short time that I have been with you all, you all have become very near and dear to my heart and it is hard for me to leave. I can assure you that this parish will always hold a special place in my heart. It has been a gift to serve you as a priest. This has been my first assignment and so I am grateful for your patience as I learned how to serve you and be a priest for the first time in a parish. 

When you say yes to God he will lead you to places you would never imagine. In saying yes to following God and his invitation to this vocation, He has taken me to many different places and brought many different people into my life. In saying yes to God, he has brought to me to the Eastside. I came to this parish as a stranger, but I leave feeling that you all are very much a part of my spiritual family. It was definitely God’s will that I come here for I have learned and grown so much. I offer this final word of reflection: Always say yes to God. His plans will always be greater than your plans. He will lead you to places you would never have thought possible and he will bring some of the most wonderful people into your life. It can be scary and challenging to give up our plans but when we say yes to God we are made free. I thus challenge each of you in your own life, look and see where is God inviting you to follow His plans and I encourage you to respond yes! 

I also want to leave you with a challenge of hope. Your parish has the opportunity to grow, but this is only possible through you, so I encourage each of you to reach out and invite people to come! The parish grows through your witness! I have been edified by your perseverance and witness of hope continue to show that to others and invite them to this wonderful parish. 

Know that I will be praying for you all and look forward to seeing what God has in store for the Catholic Church here on the Eastside. Again I am so grateful for all you have done for me and I will be praying for you. I ask that you pray for me as I return to Rome for further studies. I will forever be grateful to God for the chance to serve you here at Epiphany of the Lord Parish. 

If you would like to get in touch with me: 
My email is jlivecchi@pnac.org 
My address in Rome will be: 
Fr. Jacob Livecchi 
Pontifical North American College 
00120 Vatican City State 
Europe 

God bless! 
Fr. Jay