His Eminence Metropolitan SABA Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of All North America         His Grace Bishop Alexander

Pastor: Fr John Vazquez| fatherjohnvazquez@gmail.com | stgeorgealbany.org | 1 St George's Pl Albany

Office Hours: Mon/Fri 10am-5pm/Confessions: After weekly services or by appointment

Parish Council Leadership: Chair—Michella Rizk, Treasurer—Ranya Palmer, Secretary—Daniel Palmer, Vice Chair—Linda Grady

Beloved,

One of the most important things for us to understand as Christians is the importance of our thoughts. The first thing to understand is that many thoughts we have are not our own—they are suggestions to us. They can be suggestions from the evil one or suggestions from our guardian angel. Next, it is important to remember that every sin starts with a thought. If we allow the thoughts that are suggested to us from the evil one to take root in our heart and grow without any kind of awareness on our part these sins can become very difficult to uproot form our hearts—like a plant that grows deep roots, or worse, like a tree! 

Well, if we do some weeding every day—uprooting the seeds of sin that have only begun to sprout—we will have a much easier time of things. This daily weeding can take several forms: it can be daily repentance—asking God to forgive us of the things we have done through the day; it can be regular confession to a priest—bringing our sins to the Church through bringing them to the light of Christ; it can be apologizing whenever there is a conflict between us and another person—because we almost always play a role in the conflict, whether we realize it or not. 

Be aware of these spiritual realities and ask God to strengthen you to walk this path of repentance which extends not only to how we act but even to the way we think.

With love in Christ,

Fr John