My brother Mike and I had a great conversation last Sunday night.  I told him that these days Tybee is very crowded on weekends.  He asked me if we saw the crowds at Mass.  I replied that while our faith community took seriously the task of making our visitors feel welcomed, we would like to welcome a lot more.  Our Mass attendance reflects only a very small percentage of visitors to the Island.  While long lines wait to get into the Sunrise Restaurant or the Breakfast Club on Sunday morning, not many are crossing the threshold of St. Michael’s. 
 
After suffering great persecutions for the first couple of centuries, the Church for the next 1700 years was the leading force in shaping Western culture.  But secularism, consumerism and individualism are now the dominant forces that shape our society.  There are many who do not believe in God.  But most folks are indifferent to the question of whether God exists.  If he does exist, he has little impact on the way we live our lives.  So dilly, dilly – let’s just eat, drink, and be merry shoppers and sports fans in this present moment.
 
The Church has rested on its laurels for too long and sadly we now have very little influence in forming our culture.  And I said to my dear brother something that surprised me, “I am glad for it.”  I am glad for a fresh beginning.  I am glad that we can no longer simply “go through the motions.”  I welcome the challenge of bringing God’s love and gospel values to an indifferent world.  There is so much work to be done in building up God’s Kingdom here and now that we don’t have time to mourn the passing of the so-called good ole days.
 
At St. Michael’s, I hope our visitors will find a loving and compassionate faith community.  We are already working hard to make our liturgies joyful, prayerful, and uplifting experiences.  I hope that our parish will always be a place where our members thrive; a place of fellowship where we passionately pursue our Catholic faith.  I pray that our faith community will help both visitors and parishioners experience the presence of our Risen Lord and encourage all who gather with us to go deeper in their daily walk with Christ.
 
I love Pentecost.  On this day, we commemorate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. It is not only a day to celebrate the birth of the Church, but it is also a time to celebrate the presence of God’s Spirit active in the Church today.  The exciting thing for me as pastor of this faith community is that so many of you are growing in your faith; you are living gospel values and when that happens, the church begins to come alive with new life.
 
Can you identify this new life in your own spiritual journey?  It is not something that we achieve with our own resources.  We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead us deeper into the Mystery of God’s love.  So, Pope Francis tells us to “Rejoice and Be Glad!”  This is the title and the opening words of Pope Francis’ newest apostolic exhortation, Gaudate et Exsultate. In the first paragraph the Pope frames holiness as Jesus’ desire for us “not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence.” It might be hard to imagine ourselves as saints yet throughout the document our Holy Father calls all people to notice the holiness not just in canonized saints but “in those parents who raise their children with immense love, in those men and women who work hard to support their families, in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile.”
 
You need not be a priest or religious in order to be holy. This was the declaration of the Second Vatican Council: a universal call to holiness. And Pope Francis draws out the simple practicality of living this holiness through the small and ordinary activities of daily life: speaking well of others, listening to your children’s dreams, saying a kind word to a poor person.  The Holy Spirit is with us in all of this, but we need to learn how to pay closer attention to the promptings of the Spirit.  He is given to us just as He filled the hearts of the Apostles 2000 years ago.  So, we pray, “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.”

If you would like to explore the Holy Father’s latest exhortation, join us for Sunday School for Disciples beginning next Sunday in the Meeting room at 10:00am.  We will gather there most Sundays and study “Rejoice and Be Glad” each week and conclude the session with a group Lectio Divina on the gospel for the following Sunday.  Many of you have already experienced Lectio Divina during our Lenten “Living the Eucharist” program.  All are welcome.
Fr. Jerry Ragan