Missive

It is always a special time each year when we celebrate our annual Mission Co-op.  Not only is it about hearing the good news of God’s grace at work in various parts of the world, nor is it only about hearing of the needs of missionaries and the people to whom they have been sent.  It IS also about recognizing the part we have been called to play in spreading the Gospel to every corner of the earth, so that “at the name of Jesus every knee will bend on the earth, above the earth, and under the earth; and every tongues proclaim to the glory of God, Jesus Christ is Lord!”

Do remember, if you would like to make a gift for the work of the Franciscan Conventuals in Kenya and other part of Africa and the world, put your gift in an envelope marked “Mission Co-op” and place it in the collection basket or send it in to the parish office.  We will send it on to the diocesan mission office who will get it to the Franciscans so that more of those hearing the call of God to service in His Church may be trained, educated, and formed to be the missionaries God has called them to be, and whom the world needs them to be.

I was reading the blog of a brother priest who happens to be an exorcist.  One of his posts discussed how gleeful the demons have been over the past several months.  It seems that the corona virus pandemic and the social unrest of the past couple of months has prepared very fruitful ground for their efforts at taking souls away from God and preparing them to be all the more fit for hell.  Demons delight in fear, discord, anger, hatred, and destruction.  These are precisely what opens the door, widely, to their influence and even, outright control. 

You have heard me address this over the past several weeks as I’ve encouraged calm, serenity, and most of all – trust in God’s goodness and love for us.  When we are tempted to react to the events around us with fear or anger, it is precisely then that we must react with love and trust.  And if we find a moment in which we have reacted in anger or any other negative emotion or act, whether we mindfully chose to react in such a way, or have just given in to an impulse: Go to Confession!  Know the power of God’s love and the peace that it can bring.  One good Confession is worth 100 exorcisms!  Know, then, His final victory and our salvation.

“May Christ our Lord help us all with His bountiful grace, so that we may know His holy will and perfectly fulfill it.” (St. Ignatius of Loyola)