St. Gerard Majella Church A REDEMPTORIST FAMILY 5354 PLANK ROAD • BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA 70805 Phone: 225-355-2553 • Fax: 225-356-7472 Email:
[email protected] www.stgerardmajellachurch.org # # ! "#$O"#$ & ! '( & # )* + , # # # P Q " ! # # $% & ' ( )( * + , " # # - . '/ ' ( 01 2/3'4 45 ''67 ' SEPTEMBER 8TH, 2019 A HALF CUP OF INSPIRATION WITH FR. TAT “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come af- ter me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:2533) One of the comments I’ve received when I moved to St. Gerard’s in Baton Rouge to work for the next four years is “Fr. Tat, you will be close to your family. You can go to New Orleans every week to visit your Mom and your family.” That is true and not true. It is true because yes, it is much more convenient to drive home to see Mommy in New Orleans. It takes me only one hour and 30 minutes. I will enjoy Mom’s food more easily compared with the last times when I stationed in Chicago and New York City. But it is not true because I am a Redemptorist missionary. I belong to everyone. Wherever I am sent, I call it home for myself. Every parishioner is part of my family. My parents have generously offered me to God to serve the Church since I entered into the Redemptorist formation in 1998. The most difficult cross for those who want to follow Jesus is not about the cross of family but the cross of their own.