“We can get a fairly accurate measure of our spiritual progress by examining our speech.  The more we speak well of our brothers and sisters, the closer we will come to God.”    

“Virtue must be sought out and can be acquired only by continual practice.  You learn to ride a bicycle by riding a bicycle.  You learn to play baseball by playing baseball.  You learn to be patient by practicing patience.”

    “Even though God has the power to renew the face of the earth with mighty winds and powerful forces, he does not do so.  He chooses to use you and me - he wants to bring renewal in his people through his people.”

Catholic Rural Life - February Blessing

“Birth is an elusive mystery: an everyday occurrence in nature and rural life that is nonetheless marvelous to behold.  Its wonder and splendor are fresh with each new entrance into creation.”

You Belong to God

At issue here is the question: “To whom do I belong? God or to the world?” Many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world than to God. A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down. Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves. All the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventing myself from being tipped over and drowning shows that my life is mostly a struggle for survival: not a holy struggle, but an anxious struggle resulting from the mistaken idea that it is the world that defines me. . . .

As long as we belong to this world, we will remain subject to its competitive ways and expect to be rewarded for all the good we do. But when we belong to God, who loves us without conditions, we can live as he does. The great conversion called for by Jesus is to move from belonging to the world to belonging to God. 
 

Month of the Passion of the Lord

    The month of February is traditionally dedicated to the Passion of Our Lord in anticipation of the liturgical season of Lent. In this month, we begin to meditate on the mystery of Jesus' sufferings which culminated in his death on the Cross for the redemption of mankind. Saints who had a special devotion to Christ's passion include St. Francis of Assisi, who was the first known saint to receive the stigmata; St. John of the Cross; St. Bridget of Sweden; and St. Catherine of Siena.

We are currently in need of additional ministers of Holy Communion. If this is a ministry that would interest you, please visit with Deacon Phil about serving.

“Because God has first loved you, he calls you to imitate that love and share it. We are conduits of God’s love to other people.” “If you want more love, begin giving more love away. And then watch as a harvest of love returns to you. Give what you wish to receive.” “Regardless of the best plan you can put together for yourself with the greatest of your imagination, God has something much greater planned. If only you will surrender.”
 

Bishop Steven invites you to join him and Father Tom Cronkleton on a Pilgrimage to the 2020 Oberammergau Passion Play from September 26-October 5, 2020. In addition to the Passion Play, we will visit the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, King Ludwig’s Castle, Liechtenstein, Lucerne, the Cathedral in Cologne with the relics of the Magi and a Rhine river cruise ending with a wine tasting. The costs are a Pilgrim Fee of $180, which includes pilgrim materials, parking and transportation from Holy Trinity in Cheyenne to Denver and the Tour Package of $4,558, includes meals and transportation from Denver. Registration and the brochure are available online at: https://bit.ly/2NUuvIT. Tour is limited to 40 on a first come basis, but will have a waiting list in case someone cannot go.

God Longs to Bring me Home
For most of my life I have struggled to find God, to know God, to love God. I have tried hard to follow the guidelines of the spiritual life—pray always, work for others, read the Scriptures—and to avoid the many temptations to dissipate myself. I have failed many times but always tried again, even when I was close to despair. Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently realized that during all this time God has been trying to find me, to know me, and to love me. The question is not “How am I to find God?” but “How am I to let myself be found by him?” The question is not “How am I to know God?” but “How am I to let myself be known by God?” And, finally, the question is not “How am I to love God?” but “How am I to let myself be loved by God?” God is looking into the distance for me, trying to find me, and longing to bring me home.


************************************

 

On Friday the 25th of January we celebrate the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle. A most auspicious occurrence in the early Church that still guides us today. Although Caravaggio shows Paul lying under a horse, the Gospel does not bear this out. However, the encounter was certainly life-changing for him and for all of us.

The Story of the Conversion of Saint Paul

Paul’s entire life can be explained in terms of one experience—his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus. In an instant, he saw that all the zeal of his dynamic personality was being wasted, like the strength of a boxer swinging wildly. Perhaps he had never seen Jesus, who was only a few years older. But he had acquired a zealot’s hatred of all Jesus stood for, as he began to harass the Church: “…entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment” (Acts 8:3b). Now he himself was “entered,” possessed, all his energy harnessed to one goal—being a slave of Christ in the ministry of reconciliation, an instrument to help others experience the one Savior.

One sentence determined his theology:
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5b). Jesus was mysteriously identified with people—the loving group of people Saul had been running down like criminals. Jesus, he saw, was the mysterious fulfillment of all he had been blindly pursuing. From then on, his only work was to “present everyone perfect in Christ. For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise of his power working within me” (Colossians 1:28b-29). “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and [with] much conviction”
(1 Thessalonians 1:5a).

Paul’s life became a tireless proclaiming and living out of the message of the cross: Christians die baptismally to sin and are buried with Christ; they are dead to all that is sinful and unredeemed in the world. They are made into a new creation, already sharing Christ’s victory and someday to rise from the dead like him. Through this risen Christ the Father pours out the Spirit on them, making them completely new. So Paul’s great message to the world was: You are saved entirely by God, not by anything you can do. Saving faith is the gift of total, free, personal and loving commitment to Christ, a commitment that then bears fruit in more “works” than the Law could ever contemplate.

Reflection

Paul is undoubtedly hard to understand. His style often reflects the rabbinical style of argument of his day, and often his thought skips on mountaintops while we plod below. But perhaps our problems are accentuated by the fact that so many beautiful jewels have become part of the everyday coin in our Christian language. franciscanmedia.org