Pastor’s Corner — February 5th, 2023
Reprint of News on the Deans from the Diocese
A few weeks ago I published the news released from the Diocese on the Deans of the Diocese. There was a problem with the link in the PDF version of the bulletin, so we are reprinting the news release as an insert in this weekend’s bulletin.
Thoughts on Last Week’s Homily
Last week Fr. Miguel gave a profound homily on inner healing and how Jesus frees us from the lies of the enemy. It’s one of those homilies you’ll want to listen to again. The book he recommended to parishioners is Be Healed: A Guide to Encountering the Powerful Love of Jesus in Your Life by Bob Schuchts. Over the years I’ve recommended this book multiple times to the parish and I heartily recommend it again. In fact, if I could have parishioners read only three books, this would be one of them. In my mind “inner healing” is simply another way of allowing Jesus to free us from the lies of the enemy we’ve come to believe so we can live in freedom in his truth. Without such inner freedom, it’s much harder to live according to the gospel. This is why I believe inner healing is the key to the renewal of the Church. This is why we’ve hosted multiple Healing the Whole Person and Undone Retreats.
This leads to me to highlight something that Fr. Miguel said which I think is particularly profound and relevant to all of us. He said something like this, “Fr. Mathias and I preach the truth which challenges the lies we have come to believe in our hearts. While this might cause some to reject the truth in favor of the lies, it will cause others to accept the truth which opens one up to be freed from the lies.” When the pastors of the Church are faithful in teaching the full truth of the gospel, both things happen; people in fact will reject the truth in favor of embracing of the lies and people will accept the truth preached and reject the lies they previously came to believe. The response to the difficult word of truth is divergent precisely because the conditions of the hearts that hear it are different. This means that if we’re doing our jobs well in sharing the gospel, not everyone is going to agree with us. That’s ok. But it also means that some people will likely change their minds (repent) because of us sharing it. This should be really instructive to us as we interpret people’s reaction to our witness.
Sometimes we reject the truth because we are embracing a lie. This is what happened when Jesus who is the truth, was crucified. This is what happens when we sin. The lies that we believe can seem to be so true that unless we continually expose ourselves to the truth of God and his Word, we’ll likely believe those lies for years not coming to know the freedom God has for us. If I am believing a lie and I think it’s true, then I necessarily can’t see it as a lie until someone tells me otherwise. This is the power of the Word of God; this is the power of the truth. This is why people who aren’t reading the Word of God, or who don’t know Church teaching or those who don’t listen to good preaching at Mass, really don’t know what they don’t know. God’s word is good for us. And if we let him, he can speak his truth into places of pain and unbelief so we can live more confidently in his love for us.
Catholic Christian Outreach and the COR Retreat
This weekend Deacon Kevin is preaching about one of our “On Ramps” into our discipleship pathway called Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO). CCO uses a series of Faith Studies to invite participants to a relationship with Jesus (initial or re-conversion) and then leads them to respond to the call to be a missionary disciple. These Faith Studies are designed to be experienced in a small group with a leader which helps people experience tremendous personal growth in one’s walk with Jesus. Here are some key characteristics of CCO:
Personal Holiness – Committing to personal, daily intimacy with Jesus that leads to ongoing growth and transformation in holiness.
One Person at a Time – Engaging in evangelization and personal growth through intentional mentorship and accompaniment.
Gospel – Sharing a clear and simple proclamation of the Gospel message that invites a response that is
transformational.Heart for the Lost – Seeking to adopt and be motivated by the love that God has for those who do not know Him and who do not know Him well enough.
Great Expectations – Having a disposition of expectant faith that God wills and desires to, in His own way, act through us and in those we are accompanying as we engage in mission.
If you’re looking for a way to take a deep dive in exploring a deeper relationship with God and enter the pathway of discipleship, look no further.
The COR Retreat is another part of our On Ramps meant for those who aren’t practicing their faith and those who have fallen away. This retreat is a one day powerful event that can lead them onto the pathway. We specifically designed this retreat as a shorter alternative to the longer Alpha Course.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias