Dear Parishioners,

This week there will be no daily Masses Tuesday-Thursday (22nd -24th ). I will be on a family vacation. We will have Mass on Friday the 25th when I am back.

Camp Survive is a youth camp organized by the diocese for junior high students. It takes place in our diocese this week and next week. Many high school students and young adults also go to camp to help as staff. Thanks to all who are participating in camp this year. Please pray for our youth that they may have an encounter with our Lord. I pray all those who participate will be blessed by the experience.

The St. Joseph church building project is moving along. The foundation is nearing completion, and they are working on the underground plumbing and elements that need to be installed before the slab is poured. Please continue praying for the safety of those who are working on the project. We will be doing another novena in August ending on August 15th . These novenas we do are a way to participate in the building project together. We can pray for unity and clarity, and that God would help the project get completed.

The stain glass windows in the current church will be taken out sometime this fall, probably in September to get refurbished. As I understand it, a clear glass will cover the window openings. This will be a pretty noticeable change for us; it is all part of beginning to make that transition.

I’ve been reading part of Sr. Faustina’s diary where she shares about God’s Divine Mercy. I’ve tried reading it before, but it is a bit difficult to fully grasp what she is experiencing. A mystic who writes about their spiritual experiences is hard to understand. In order to fully understand, I think we would need to experience similar things, and I don’t think most of us do. She has conversations with Jesus who appears to her often. She is very articulate about the ups and downs of her spiritual life. It can swing from one extreme to another. I do not typically experience life in that way, so it makes it feel a little other worldly. However, I do believe Sr. Faustina had these experiences.

There is a tension in the Catholic understanding of the spiritual life. On the one hand, all people are capable of a deep and profound spiritual life. Yet, at the same time not many people have the kind of spiritual experiences that Sr. Faustina, St. Francis, St. Teresa, St. Therese, or St. John of the Cross have. They help us to see what is possible, but it requires great virtue, and often great purification from self- love, attachment to worldly things and a stable prayer life. These are things not everyone has. Not many people even desire to undergo the purifications needed to attain this level of relationship with God in this life. Many Christians want to be holy, or close to God, but not many are willing to undergo the spiritual trials that would allow us to overcome the obstacles that stand in our way to greater union with God.

For this reason, most people will need to undergo purification after this life. Union with God will be accomplished in heaven, and it might be a surprise to many of us how many attachments we have. I do not share this to discourage you, or make you afraid. Rather, I just want to encourage you to do all you can to seek union with God. It is so much easier to seek comfort. It is easy to see the trials or purifications we undergo as something going wrong. The reality is, we need to allow God to put us in a place where we are challenged if we want to grow. So do not be discouraged when you struggle spiritually. Do not be distraught when the Lord allows us to undergo trials and events that make us rely more on him.

As Pope Benedict said and is often quoted as saying: “the world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort, you were made for greatness.” This is not just a pithy saying. It is true… and we can either seek comfort now, or we can seek greatness. Comfort comes in the form of settling for what is easy, what is mainstream, what is acceptable. Greatness in the sense which Pope Benedict was talking about comes when we deny ourselves to purify the tendencies that lead us to seek worldly comfort. When we ask God to help us do our purgatory now rather then later. When we love God so much, we are willing to undergo many trials to prove our love, and show our love. This is the greatness which was achieved by Sr. Faustina and many other saints. It is a worthwhile venture to try to emulate them.

In Christ,

Fr. Eli