Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,<\/p>\n
Blessings and peace to you all! Thank you so much for all the well wishes and kind gifts for my birthday\u2014it really was a joyful day! I will admit I started celebrating a little bit early this year, beginning with a beautiful day last Sunday\u2014I did enjoy the Trunk or Treat\u2026but I am happy to tell you I didn\u2019t enjoy too many treats! Thanks to everyone who helped organize and participated\u2014it really was a great event for our parish family! Several people thanked me and gave me credit for the wonderful weather\u2026it reminded me of a time people asked me to pray for good weather. Many years ago, when I was a brand new priest, the local Knights of Columbus asked me to pray for favorable weather, since they were hosting a Special Olympics track meet the next day. Very dutifully, I went over to the church and knelt down at one of the side altars. I really prayed from the heart and ended by entrusting that intention of good weather to the intercession of St. Scholastica (remind me to say more about her next summer when we have her feast day). I went to bed thinking everything was set\u2026I woke up the next morning to discover almost knee deep snow! I couldn\u2019t believe it! I called the priest in the next town over to lament that the prayer wasn\u2019t answered the way I had hoped\u2026I concluded by saying, \u201cI\u2019m really not sure what happened; I really prayed from the heart.\u201d The priest paused just a bit and then said, \u201cFather, I can definitely tell you what happened. The children here at the school asked me to pray for a snow day!\u201d Needless to say, if you need a priest to help with the weather, let me know and I\u2019ll connect you with that priest!<\/p>\n
After taking a week off last weekend for our annual pastor\u2019s report, we are jumping back in to our tour of the Five Foundations\u2026 wrapping up this week and next by reflecting on the life and wisdom of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. I regularly talk with some of our seniors who vividly remember listening to Sheen speak on the radio while they were growing up\u2026or perhaps watching him on television for his famous show, \u201cLife is Worth Living.\u201d Can you imagine today a Bishop hosting a primetime television program on network TV? Not only did he do that, he also won an Emmy! Besides these media, many others have come across his wisdom through reading his many books. I remember as a seminarian reading his book, \u201cThe Priest is not His Own.\u201d While I have many pages of notes from this great classic, one line that recently jumped out to me: \u201cEvery priest, when he goes before the Lord for judgment, will be asked, \u2018Where are your children?\u2019 The vocation of the priest is primarily to beget souls in Christ\u201d(p.104). This passage was a great reminder of the gift of the priesthood and what it means to be a true spiritual father.<\/p>\n
In many ways, Archbishop Sheen is a great summary of the other foundations we have been talking about. Certainly in his upbringing and in his life as a priest, he did strive to follow Jesus faithfully\u2014to be a good disciple. Without a doubt, he was a fantastic evangelist and teacher\u2014as much as he is known for his books and media shows, there are also many stories of how he took the time to individually meet with someone and help bring him or her to the Faith. Of course, Sheen also was a great promoter of Eucharistic devotion, especially through the daily holy hour. Over and over in his talks, he would exhort everyone to set aside this great time of prayer and unity with our Lord. Some may know that Sheen fulfilled an ordination day promise to pray a holy hour with Jesus in the Eucharist every day. It is believed he fulfilled this promise even to the last day, having died near the doorway to the chapel in his residence. Certainly his life, witness, and teaching were also great promotions of vocations\u2014seeing the beauty in a particular pathway of life and encouraging people to trust in God in following that path.<\/p>\n
Along the lines of living out these Foundations, Joan Sheen Cunningham (Archbishop Sheen\u2019s niece) noted in her book, \u201cMy Uncle Fulton Sheen,\u201d that Archbishop Sheen participated in the Second Vatican Council and was \u201cmost passionate about the mission of the Church. He wrote, \u2018Nowhere in the New Testament is any mention made of a distinction between the Church and its missionary activity. The Church in its very essence is missionary. Priests are ordained for the mission of the Church. The distinction between \u201cmissionary\u201d and \u201cnon-missionary\u201d priests is merely geographical. Every priest and every bishop is a missionary.\u2019 He wanted the Church to remember the command to \u2018go and tell all the nations\u2019 and to make it a top priority. He had the privilege of being the last speaker on the subject of the missions, and his heartfelt speech (which went over the allotted time, but he was not stopped or penalized for it) was well attended and met with applause at the end. His hard work paid off when the bishops voted in his favor, agreeing that \u2018mission\u2019 was the essential work of the Church\u201d (p.101).<\/p>\n
Archbishop Fulton Sheen, pray for us! Know of my prayers for all of you this week!<\/p>\n
In Christ,<\/p>\n
Father Luke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"