Pastoral Blog

Fr. Ron’s Reflections 10/27/19

This weekend we welcome Bishop Robert Fisher to St. Isidore. Bishop Fisher is presiding at the Confirmation Liturgy for our ninth graders on Saturday evening. As you know, it is through Confirmation that our young people complete their initiation into the Catholic Church. Our young people have much to contribute to our parish life, and we need to give them a warm welcome and our support. A major way we receive their gifts and offer them our support is through our Youth Ministry program. Hopefully, our Confirmandi and their parents do not view Confirmation as a sort of “graduation” from their faith formation, but rather the beginning of their life and discipleship as fully-initiated members of our community. It is though our Youth Ministry that they continue to grow in their faith through engagement with our parish community and building friendships with their peers. We have a great group of young people participating in Youth Ministry. We thank our parishioners for their generous support of our Youth Ministry. We also acknowledge and thank all in our Faith Formation program who have ministered to our Confirmandi through the years in preparation for Confirmation.

Prayer was an important part of Jesus’ life. In the Gospel of Luke, from which our Gospels at Sunday Mass have been taken during the current Liturgical Year, Luke reports more occasions of Jesus praying than he does performing miracles. The form of Jesus’ prayer was “contemplation” or “meditation,” a very common form of prayer in his day. In this form of prayer, through an extended period of silence, we become one with God’s own light or consciousness. This is quite different from the way most of us pray, in which we pray “verbally,” “saying” prayers. It is good to engage in both forms of prayer. However, many of us have not learned how best to meditate. We are not comfortable with extended periods of solitude to connect with God’s Spirit within us  Happily, Lisa Chretien, a parishioner and “Mindfulness” or “Meditation” teacher, has offered to hold classes on this form of prayer. The hour-long sessions will be offered on Wednesdays at 9:30 AM and again at 6:30 PM beginning the first Wednesday in November. I strongly urge you to join us if possible. I guarantee that it will have a great impact on your spiritual growth! Look for more details in next week’s bulletin.

I love Halloween! What I love most about it is the hospitality. We turn on our lights and welcome strangers (especially strangers!) into our homes, and offer them treats. It must be much of what heaven is like.

And mentioning heaven, don’t forget to join us this Friday to celebrate All Saints Day!

Have a Boo-tiful Halloween,

Fr. Ron