Happy Commemoration of All Souls!

Massive congratulations and special thanks to the entire cast and crew for last weekend’s Back From the Dead Cemetery Walk. I hope you were able to see it and learn the lessons of those who’ve gone before us. In the Catholic faith, we dedicate this month of November to prayer for our beloved deceased and for all saved souls who are still being purified by the love of God.

In order to prepare for our own death, the Church especially commends to us the words of Christ, who urges us in Luke 6:36, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Mercy is powerful beyond measure. When born from the genuine love of God and our neighbor, it helps us atone for our own sins and shortcomings. The Lord’s apostles taught this very lesson to the first generation of Christians: “Above all, hold unfailingly to your earnest love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pt 4:8).

In God’s holy will, we are called to be merciful to those we walk with in this life and also to those who have walked before us into the next life. Thus, among the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, we are called to bury the dead and to pray for all the living and the dead. I invite you today to pray specifically for your entire family lineage. Pray for all those who have preceded you back to the beginning. God knows every last one of them, even if you and I don’t. Keep in mind that you already have over 2 billion direct progenitors among the last 30 generations. How many more have there been since the foundation of the world? I certainly imagine that at least some of them need your prayers today to help them make it home to heaven. If you have time, visit a cemetery today, or else go sometime this month and pray for the deceased who are buried there.

As for our Saints and Scholars campaign, our official in-pew pledge weekend will be November 22–23. On that Sunday or in any of the upcoming weeks, you may mail or drop off pledge cards to the office, place them in the Sunday basket, or mail them straight to the diocese. As of early this week, we were at $30,000 in pledges.  Signs abound of God’s faithfulness to us—and ours to Him. Since my first days here, I have prayed continually for our parish health in all its dimensions. Healthy things grow, and growing things change. May our transformation in the Lord continue.

Fr. Brian

Entry Three: God’s Faithfulness

One thing that I have been amazed by and incredibly grateful to God for is the Lord’s faithfulness to me. It is a weird sentiment to express audibly about the Lord’s faithfulness, because how can God be faithful? Are not we the ones who are called to be faithful? Yes, we are called to be faithful—to God, to his commands, and to one another—by our acts of love, self-denial, and sacrifice. But God is infinitely and perfectly faithful to us. Why? Why is God so faithful to his children—to the children who constantly rebel, who believe we can handle everything on our own, who believe that our ways are better than the One who created us? Because that is simply who God is. God is love. God is faithful. God is good. God desires us to be with Him.

This past month, I have certainly experienced God’s faithfulness in my life, especially in prayer. Every morning when I wake up, I know the first thing that I must do is pray. It is in those quiet moments before the sun rises that I place myself before the Lord and simply recognize his presence. I know that there is absolutely nothing I can do on my own. I know that on my own, I will never be able to do anything good on this day unless God empowers me. Unless I am guided by the Holy Spirit, I can do nothing good. How do I know this? Because I know myself. I know how much I like to do things that give me pleasure; I know that, given the option of doing the lazy thing or the hard thing, I always want to do the lazy thing. It is the reality in which we live—it is the reality of the effects of original sin from which we all suffer. But when I place myself before God’s presence, regardless of whether I subjectively experience God’s peaceful presence, I know he is there.

As a priest, I know there is nothing I can do unless God is the one doing it through me. Every time I celebrate the sacraments is a perfect example. I, myself, cannot change bread and wine into Jesus’ Body and Blood. Only God is capable of doing that. When I say the words of consecration, God shows up and does the work; I am simply a vessel. This is an example of God’s faithfulness to his children.

God uses his children and creation to bestow his grace and love upon us. He uses the priest to give of himself to those who desire to receive it. God wants us to participate in his saving mission. Could God have saved the nation of Israel from the Amalekites in our first reading this Sunday with a snap of his finger or a thought in his mind? Of course—but God desired Moses to participate in his saving work. This participation from us serves as a sign to others of God’s faithfulness. God wants us to know his presence and how he works in the world.

Our prayer with the Lord develops our relationship with Him. We come to know who God is, and we reveal to him who we truly are—not pretending to be accomplished or that our lives are perfect, but coming before the Almighty as we are. This is how an authentic relationship develops. Because God is faithful, if we approach him honestly, without hiding anything from him (not that we can possibly do that, because God is all-knowing—but you know what I mean), our prayer time starts to shape us and empower us.

We must always remain faithful to our prayer because God is faithful to us. He never abandons us, because we are his beloved children, and it is in prayer that we come to understand this.

We are in serious need of volunteers to work Bingo.  You would only need to work once per month or you can volunteer to be a substitute to fill in as needed.

Bingo is an important fund raiser for our parish.  Please consider helping out.

Please call the parish office at 810.639.7600 for more information or to volunteer.

Thank you!