NO! THE HOLY SPIRIT IS!
Some whine here about their parishes and parish liturgies not enabling them to grow in the Catholic Faith because everything always seems to be in flux and you can’t pin anything down.
Wah! Wah! Wah! SNAP OUT OF IT!
In my 43 years of ordination, I have been very impressed with Post-Vatican II Catholics who have taken the initiative to cooperate with the abundant graces that God bestows on people through the Sanctifying Grace present through Holy Baptism. They take the initiative to grow in their Catholicism even if their parish doesn’t provide many opportunities for them to do so or the priest isn’t up to snuff and there is poor catechesis and no devotions, etc. Even when the Mass is blah and ugly, they still find God’s grace in any poorly but validly celebrate Mass. In other words, they are adults!
There are three groups of laity that I want to commend for their spiritual growth, evangelical zeal and witness to others, those who join one of the new movements; those in Third Orders and Homeschooling families.
All three groups cooperate with the gifts of the Holy Spirit that they have received through the Sacramental Life of the Church. They know where to go to get fed in order to grow in their faith, hope and love. They don’t complain constantly about their Church, the pope, their clergy and religious and other laity.
They are bread and butter Catholics who know their faith, pray at home, go to what is available in their parishes and live happy lives in the world.
Often, these laity are so well formed, they could preach and teach better than the paid personnel on a parish staff.
And let’s speak about independent Catholic Schools founded and run by the laity, social work ministries, also as well as health clinics for the poor and others in need—all laity initiated.
So stop Wah Wahing and take responsibility for your spiritual and moral life and make do and the best you can with what is given you in your parish—it is what it is!
7 comments:
Good advice. Being an activist can have its risks unless the priest is on board. If you form a group that exists in tge parish community it helps to have the priest participate in some capacity.
Rotten parishes, zero spiritual teaching by priests and bishops, terrible Masses all about the people and their own good works despite many of their own parishoners suffering and very few known even by name or even sight (preached to ever greyer and smaller congregations), the parishoners living by and large no different from those who do not attend at all and merely decent folk...
And people who complain should just suck it up and stop being crybabies and continue to support priests and bishops to include housing, insurance, health care, retirements which many/most parishoners lack (of course that class of people nearly invisible to most priests and bishops as they mainly hang with the monied crowd who pay the bills)....
Just suck it up and find your own way.....which then begs the question of why do they need the Church at all, if it is DIY anyhow.
Well, the fact is, ever more people are deciding they don't need it, as all it offers are magic cookies guaranteed to send you to beaven, followed by 20mins of coffee and donuts while being ignored.
Bob: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgme6RfMBJfLjypp_Dbwdg63s9XlgWxqU-OzJQGziiBlrieMWOSJCu0tIpo2ZhWrFGOM1obInhqKc09IpulXoc5iuuvdQHnSjt88_tsvQ7EAb3hbGklm78Mi1964mXnWDpuDftEaYAU0XwtR26VkNRkRa5Q8rL6KB8LxVGpGRKg-YVhSVv8yZN900_V/s400/68B2723C-9306-46BA-992D-9D20D139EA1A.gif
"Moonstruck" Great movie....
Fr. Michael J. Kavanaugh said..."'Moonstruck' Great movie...."
My favorite part: "I put a curse on that plane, that it's going to explode, burn on fire and fall into the sea." Lol.
DJR - The old lady at the airport with Loretta! Gina DeAngeles
Blogger Fr. Michael J. Kavanaugh said..."DJR - The old lady at the airport with Loretta! Gina DeAngeles.
Here's the clip:
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/6abba925-5f46-4d8b-b0a2-7b0fa0f0448f
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