During the Jesus Caritas Fraternity of Priests International Assembly in the Philippines, I became fast friends with Fr. Jean Zougouri (who spoke just a little more English than I spoke French) and Fr. Honoré Savadogo (a brilliant priest who spoke at least 5 languages).  I introduced them to the game of Farkle.  I loved their joyful spirit.  The Fraternity here in the United States is old and fading but in Burkina Faso where they are from, it is young and vibrant.
 
Four people were killed at a Catholic church in Burkina Faso last Sunday, the latest in a series of attacks on Christians in the African country.  At least 10 Catholics, including a priest, Father Simeon Yampa, were killed in two extremist attacks on Catholic parishes earlier in May. Gunmen also killed a Protestant pastor and five members of his congregation in late April.
 
Muslims make up just over 60 percent of the population of Burkina Faso, with Christians accounting for nearly a quarter. The remaining population belongs to indigenous religions.  Government officials have blamed the attacks on Islamist militants based in neighboring Mali.  The upswing in anti-Christian violence is threatening to overturn traditionally peaceful relations between Muslims and Christians in Burkina Faso.
 
Please keep Fr. Jean and Fr. Honoré and the Church in Burkina Faso in your prayers.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will keep them strong in faith, hope, and love as they give witness to God’s love even with the threat of ongoing violence hanging over them.  And whether it is in Africa or America, all of us who have been baptized with the Holy Spirit are called to give witness to the love of God.  Today, we celebrate Christ’s ascension by carrying on the mission of the first disciples: witnessing to the Risen Lord to the ends of the earth.
 
St. Luke reports in today’s first reading that when Jesus ascended into heaven there were two angels who appeared and questioned the disciples.  The angels asked them, “why are you standing there looking up at the sky?”  They were more or less telling the disciples that Jesus had given them a mission and they needed to get to work.  So, a good reflection question to ask ourselves on this Feast of the Ascension might be: how can we here on Tybee witness to the Risen Lord?
 
Our witness begins first of all with an awareness because you can’t give what you don’t have. If we are active in the practice of our faith then I think the Holy Spirit will guide our hearts to find the Risen Lord in the Mass, in the Great Eucharistic Sacrament, in prayer, in the people around us, in those we help.  And then I think each of us needs find the time to pray and reflect upon what it is specifically that God wants us to do.
 
For me, the Holy Spirit led me to ministry as a priest.  At this point in my life, I am aware that there are just too many issues that could attract my energies.  Realizing I can’t do it all, I’ve tried to focus on just five.  Two have been long term pastoral focuses: being a good parish priest (at St. Michael Church on Tybee, of course) and helping my brother priests find a path to being spiritually healthy (Jesus Caritas Fraternity).  The other three have evolved more recently since I began living on Tybee: intact families (last week I wrote about the incident that happened outside of Church two Saturdays ago), affordable housing (workers in our hospitality industry can’t find affordable housing on the island), and climate change (our church has stood on this island for 128 years, will it be here in another 128 years?).  Moving forward I will be writing and speaking about these issues but for now, this is what the dashboard version of my pastoral priorities looks like:

5. Church Renewal
5. Spiritually Healthy Priests
5. Intact Families
5. Affordable Housing
6. Climate Change

 
As you pray about it, what is the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart about the witness you are called to give to the Risen Lord here on Tybee?  Maybe you’d want to create your own dashboard version of your priorities.  I’d love for you to share it with me as we move towards Pentecost.
 
Fr. Jerry Ragan