Pastor’s Corner — November 12th, 2023
Becoming Catholic - The Rite of Acceptance
This weekend during the 9:30 Mass, eight candidates will celebrate the Rite of Acceptance. During this Rite, the candidates publicly declare for the first time their “intention to the Church and the Church in turn accepts them as persons intending to become members.” From this time on the Church embraces them as her own and they become part of the household of Christ. Please keep each of them in your prayers as they continue their journey toward receiving the Sacraments of Initiation during the Easter Vigil. If you know someone who might be open to Catholicism, please invite them to consider it. Then have them contact Anne Guminik (aguminik@stpatchurch.org) if they are.
Outpouring Event at St Pat’s: Saturday November 25 at 7:30pm
You’re invited to a special parish event called “Outpouring” in the Church in which we will be praying for a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit for those who want more of what Jesus promised. We do this event a couple times a year now (Solemnity of Christ the King in November and Pentecost in May/June). The event is particularly geared toward those who may not have much or any familiarity with the grace of baptism in the Spirit and are eager for more of God’s love and power in their lives. Along with preaching and beautiful praise music, we usually have a testimony or two of parishioners who have experienced God’s love powerfully in past parish events.
God is on the move. This past weekend we had powerful outpourings of the Holy Spirit on both our Confirmation retreat and on our Alpha Retreat. It’s one thing to hear about God doing this elsewhere, but it’s quite another thing for God to be doing these things often in our parish. The testimonies have been great! Below is a testimony from a teenage girl that attended our last Outpouring event back in May:
“As soon as I walked in, I looked up, and I knew the Lord had something ready for me. After about an hour, it was time for anybody who wanted to get prayed over. I waited and waited and finally I stepped in line for Father. As soon as it was my turn I got warm. Father placed his hands over my head and immediately I was full of the Spirit….I felt heavy then ‘boom’ I was as light as a feather and just was stuck lying down for close to 15/20ish minutes. As soon as I opened my eyes, I didn’t hear God, but I sensed God. He was right in front of me. Father came over and sat next to me for a little bit. I told Him my story about how I hadn’t had peace in months, but finally I felt at peace and everything was going to be okay. I had never in a million years experienced the Holy Spirit like I did that night.”
Her whole testimony is too long to publish here. But she was going through a difficult time and the Lord is faithful and really loved her where she was. That’s how good he is.
In case you might be wondering, this is not an Encounter Ministries event. This has always been a parish event that is open to everyone, especially friends and family who wish to pray for more of the Holy Spirit. People’s whole lives can be changed by an event like this. Plan on bringing your friends whom you want to know the love of God. I hope to see you there!
Kids are Pro-Life
This past week we had the March for Life at the State Capital Building in Lansing Michigan to mark the one year passing of the awful Proposal 3. Now in light of the devastating pro-abortion victory in Ohio this week, I think it’s fitting to share with you an email that a St. Pat’s parishioner wrote to me this week regarding what her 8-year-old son said about the pro-abortion win in Proposal 3 last year:
The kids and I were talking about the virtue of the week which is patriotism stemming from justice. I asked them what patriotism looked like and what does that have to do with our faith. They gave some examples such as saying the pledge of allegiance respectfully, acknowledging it says “one nation under God”, as well as examples of being grateful for those who protect our freedoms. I expected these kind of answers but then when talking through examples [my son] asked, “But mom what about proposal 3”? I was a little confused by this question and asked what he meant. He explained that voting was an example mentioned in how we can practice patriotism but it said we need to vote in ways that our faith guides us (or as how he put it, “would make God smile”). He asked why proposal 3 went through if people could vote. I explained that living virtuously is a choice that we all have to make and that as humans we don’t always get that right, but there is always hope we can get better. He replied, “Why don’t they just let kids vote? We wouldn’t have let something like that happen.” Kids always seem to see the world so much more clearly.
All life is sacred. No matter what causes adults not to see this, we who know the redeeming love of God need to tirelessly proclaim the dignity of every human being made in God’s image, even when it is unpopular.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias