-
August 5, 2022Drinking with the Saints
Friday, August 12th | Evans Dock | 7pm
Help us to speak with respect and kindness, and heal divisions among families, communities, and people of faith. This intercession is from this past Tuesday’s morning prayer. Given all the discord in the world today, it is a prayer spoke to my heart. Our Mission, as disciples of Christ, is to bring God’s love to the world. It is a mission that begins at home within our own families.
As we begin a new pastoral year, I will bring an ever-greater focus to our theme for this year, “Families, Strong in Faith.” I am a proud Knight of Columbus, and the Knights have a great program called “Family Fully Alive.” In founding the Knights of Columbus, Blessed Fr. Michael McGivney sought to respond to the crisis in family life affecting Catholics in 19th-century America.
As a young man he witnessed firsthand the challenges his widowed mother faced with seven children at home. Later, as a priest, he confronted on a daily basis the problems affecting the families of his parish community due to poverty, violence, alcoholism, immigration, anti-Catholic prejudice and discrimination.
Blessed Michael McGivney’s vision for family life was that holiness is the calling of all baptized Christians. And considering that two brothers followed him into the priesthood, we can understand how truly important the sanctuary of the home was to the McGivney family. His family was a living example of what the Second Vatican Council later taught: Each man, woman and child is called to holiness through proclaiming the Gospel and communicating the divine gift of love in the activities of their daily lives.
When Christian families respond in this way to the design of the Creator, they become a “domestic church” that, as St. Pope Paul VI explained, mirrors “the various aspects of the entire Church.” In the coming weeks and months. I look forward to sharing with you how to make your domestic Church more vibrant. The key to it all will of course be prayer – connecting to God in an intimate way.
Getting Started
Sometimes the best way to start a new routine is to take a deep breath and jump right in, realizing that it may take some trial and error to get it right. This advice is especially important for families who are not accustomed to praying together. This week I’d ask you to designate a space in your home where your family can gather together for prayer. The space should be free from distractions and, if possible, decorated with religious images and sacramentals to help direct the family’s thoughts toward God.
And for this week, the grown-ups should reflect upon these questions: How important is our relationship with God? How are our faith values reflected in our daily lives? Is prayer at the center of our family life? If not, why? How can we better build a rhythm of prayer into our family’s life? In what way can we mark significant family moments throughout the year with prayer? Then stay tune next week for some suggestions of how to deepen your relationship with God.
I commend to your prayers, Karen Johnson, Delia Robinson’s sister who died on Thursday afternoon. May the Lord surround her husband Tom and the entire family with his love. Anne Blanco would also be grateful for your prayers as she makes her journey towards eternal life. She was entered into home hospice last week and is in rapid decline. Lord, bless her family as they keep vigil by her side.
On the way Home: Jesus says to be “vigilant” and “like servants who await their master’s return, be ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks”? Do you “watch” for God in your everyday life? Where do you find him?
