News - October 2022

On November 1, the Church celebrates the Feast of All Saints. We are a church confident that countless souls have persevered in grace, triumphed over sin and death, and now rejoice in the house of the Father, which we call heaven. The saints in heaven know of us and pray for us. However, they are not anxious, because they know of God’s ultimate victory over evil.

This year, I have been reading classic American Western, novels including Lonesome Dove, True Grit, and Shane. The Ox Bow Incident, the last of these on my reading list, deals with the problem of justice on the frontier. In the wake of cattle rustling and a killing, a local community strays into revenge and mob justice.

This last Monday and Tuesday all the priests of the Archdiocese gathered at the Catholic Pastoral Center off NW Expressway for Continuing Education on the topic of Vocations Promotion. We had a refresher on the importance of and ‘best practices’ for helping a young man consider the possibility that God might be calling him to be a priest.

I believe that I have already spoken about how important pilgrimage is to my personal spirituality. I want to write briefly about another theological concept that has shaped me as a believer. I believe that we have two basic choices in life: the choice to live for self alone or the choice to live for God and others. I don’t think we can make the right choice unless we foster an attitude of gratefulness.