This week Deacon Mike, Delilah, and I will be in Sheridan for the Diocesan September Institute. This year's topic is the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist). It is one dimension of our diocesan response to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' initiative for a Eucharistic revival going on this year.
Pope Francis said this in his recent letter,Desiderio Desideravi, on the liturgy: "...the Incarnation, in addition to being the only always new event that history knows, is also the very method that the Holy Trinity has chosen to open to us the way of communion. Christian faith is either an encounter with Him alive, or it does not exist. The Liturgy guarantees for us the possibility of such an encounter. For us a vague memory of the Last Supper would do no good. We need to be present at that Supper, to be able to hear his voice, to eat his Body and to drink his Blood. We need Him. In the Eucharist and in all the sacraments we are guaranteed the possibility of encountering the Lord Jesus and of having the power of his Paschal Mystery reach us. The salvific power of the sacrifice of Jesus, his every word, his every gesture, glance, and feeling reaches us through the celebration of the sacraments."
I am convinced that the more our hearts are awakened to encountering Jesus at Mass, the more we will yearn for more and the more our Church will grow.
This week Deacon Mike, Delilah, and I will be in Sheridan for the Diocesan September Institute. This year's topic is the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist). It is one dimension of our diocesan response to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' initiative for a Eucharistic revival going on this year.