To My Spiritual Family of Holy Redeemer and St. Anthony,
The Meaning of Life: God created each of us to know him, to love him, to serve him, and to be with him forever in heaven. To embrace that reality is to live the great adventure of human existence. To turn away from God, on the other hand, is to dissolve into a life of emptiness and alienation. God is love. Sin – my sin, your sin – warps and disfigures our love relationship with God. Mortal sin breaks that relationship. We cannot save ourselves from the guilt incurred by sin. We need a savior and God provided a Savior in Jesus Christ. He loved us enough to die for us. Thanks be to God! Yet we must choose to turn away from our sin and to freely accept the gift of mercy offered by Jesus. To do so is to step out of the darkness and into the light of God. That’s our story. That’s our hope.
Vacation Bible School (VBS) Redux: VBS week is a great week because our leaders put so much work into it. More than that, though, they put so much love into it! Christianity is about relationships. To be a Christian disciple is to enter into a relationship with Jesus. Christian discipleship is also about entering into a relationship with all of our brothers and sisters, our neighbors and fellow pilgrims on this earth. At it’s core, VBS is about those relationships, centered first on Jesus, but then expanding out in concentric circles to embrace each and every person. That is the love God envisions. Thank you to Jennifer and her cast of thousands for making VBS an oasis of love in our too often loveless culture. One soul at a time, the Kingdom is built and bears fruit.
Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA): One of the great responsibilities and privileges of being a follower of Jesus is to invite others to share in our Christian journey. Last Easter, our Warren Catholic Community took great joy in welcoming six new disciples to the Church and into our parish families. Very soon, another year of OCIA preparation will begin. Already, a new group of about a half dozen individuals have expressed interest in entering the Catholic Church during Easter ‘24. My assumption is that there are more people out there that simply need to be asked. Will you do that? Will you invite another to consider entering the Catholic Church? The team that leads OCIA is a group of faithful, compassionate, and dedicated men and women. Dates and times for the new OCIA year will be announced shortly. In the meantime, let’s be intentional about inviting others to share in the treasures of the Catholic Church.
Baptisms and Weddings: I am really blessed to be celebrating a good number of baptisms and weddings in the next few months. Those sacramental events are signs of Christ growing and enriching his Church with new life. Young men and women who seek a church wedding or who make provision for the baptism of their child are giving witness to the world that God matters and the Church matters. I invite you to share in my ministry to these couples and to these babies by praying for them. Your prayer matters. It really does!
August Saints: Finally, I remind you that (in my humble opinion) August is the best-est month of the year for saint feasts! From Dominic to Lawrence to Edith Stein to Maximillian Kolbe and more, August is just chock full of Catholic role models and exemplars. I invite you to attend daily Mass this month when one of your favorite saints is being celebrated!
Mary, Mother of the Redeemer – Pray for us! Our Lady of Guadalupe – Pray for us! St. Anthony – Pray for us! St. Joseph – Pray for us!