Pastor's Letter-- August 16, 2020

Here's one way I saw God this past week: at my niece's Confirmation, the reading from the Acts of the Apostles was read (Chapter 2). "Suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were." You may recall the crazy winds experienced in South Bend around 6:30 pm that evening. Meanwhile in Fort Wayne, about an hour later, the ritual for the Sacrament of Confirmation began with the Intercessions by all and the prayer of Confirmation sung by the celebrant. Afterwards, we go directly to the anointing. Precisely at this time, exactly as the anointings began, the wind hit. The building creaked and the cupola whistled as if there were a bunch of nervous birds in the building. Eventually the lights went out for a few seconds, but everything continued safely. The Holy Spirit was clearly trying to make an impression on us all that evening, deciding not to be subtle this time! It was really amazing. Sacraments usually don't have such external signs, but they are always powerful, like the power of a tiny seed that can one day be an orchard, as was mentioned in the homily. Where did you see God this past week?

Yesterday was the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary! This time of year I begin my personal prayers in preparation of a personal consecration to Jesus through Mary. This tradition was made popular through the priest St. Louis de Montfort, whose writings on Mary give us a great insight into why this consecration to Jesus is best done through the hands of His Blessed Mother. There have been some updates of this consecration since St. Louis' time, and the most commonly known one today is the book by Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC, titled 33 Days to Morning Glory. In fact, Bishop Rhoades invited the whole diocese to participate in this act of consecration about five years ago (time flies!). I think it is a very readable book and I recommend it to all of you, especially to get to know four saints a little better: Mother Teresa of Kolkata (Calcutta), John Paul II, St. Louis de Montfort, and St. Maximilian Kolbe. They are great examples of lives transformed by drawing closer to Mary our Mother. September 8th honors the Birthday of Mary (9 months after the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception) and the 15th recalls Our Lady of Sorrows (the day after the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross), which is the great celebratory day for the Holy Cross religious communities.

Our Next Generation Parishes Envisioning Team has been working hard to help the parish grow in its vision for the future. Please keep us in your prayers as we formulate pastoral priorities for the next years focusing on the needs of our local community and the shifting dynamics of the Catholic Church in the USA. We want to be a parish that can help to grow real faith in Jesus as people come to know Him among us and in the way we show forth His love. Come Holy Spirit of wisdom!

Today would have been the day of our parish picnic. While I am always happy to see you all at the parish, I do not want to put people in danger. So even though we will miss this great chance to spend an afternoon together, we all know waiting until next year is wiser. To 2021!

Saint Thérèse, pray for us!