Today is the second Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Occasionally I read or hear something that inspires my blog post. That’s what happened to me this week. I attended Confirmation Mass yesterday (Saturday) for 19 11th graders from our parish who were being Confirmed by our archbishop. His homily was essentially Congratulations on your Confirmation. Now go and prove to the world that Christ lives in you and you possess the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He used the phrase “prove it!” again and again in his homily.
It made me think about my own Confirmation and yours. How are we doing at proving to the world we are little Christs as Sherry Weddell famously said in her book, Forming Intentional Disciples. How do we make Christ present for others? How do we continue His Kingdom building work? How do we heal or teach or nourish others as He did when He walked among men?
As readers of this blog you’re someone who is pretty engaged with the Faith so I suspect we are all doing something to prove to the world whose we are, but we can always improve what we’re already doing, or do more.
And how are we taking care of ourselves so we have something to give? We all know we can’t pass on what we don’t have. Us Marthas who like to stay busy need to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves, sharpening the saw as Stephen Covey famously wrote. Connie calls it refilling our bucket.
Where you are you have the great gift of an Adoration Chapel and perpetual Adoration. Jesus is ready when you are. Here we don’t have a dedicated chapel but we have Adoration for an hour three times a week (just before evening Mass) and pretty much all day on First Fridays. We need to make sure we’re taking advantage of those opportunities.
There are also lots of podcasts, videos, etc. Without paying anything yourself you can access the materials on Formed. I assume Blessed Sacrament still has a parish subscription to Formed just as my parish here has.
Lots of stuff on the Ascension Presents site that’s also free to you. I’ve been a member of the Word on Fire Institute for a number of years and I get a lot out of that. I pay a monthly fee for it but it’s worth it to me. Not a month goes by that I’m not doing something through the Institute.
My point is that there’s a lot of things you can do to stay engaged in the faith and feel fed, in addition to attending Mass, that can help you go out into the world and prove how we’re disciples of Jesus Christ.
Looking around this world we can easily see the need for active disciples. Let’s prove to the world that how we love and who and what we value matters, even if it’s just to one person at a time. Like the starfish in the story, it matters to that one.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace, Bob
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