Dear Friends in Christ,
There’s a lot of information in this Cornerstone. The big announcement is that in accord with the Governor’s phased approach to reopening, we will begin to once again open our churches for times of private prayer. In addition, there will be time for confessions at St. Patrick from 3:00 – 5:00 pm on Saturdays. See the guidelines below for socially distanced prayer and sanitation, as well as who is best suited to venture out to the parishes for prayer.
Spiritual Reflection
The Easter readings turn our focus to the first disciples and apostles of the Lord Jesus, most notably Peter. In all of them, but especially Peter, we see a dramatic transformation. They all go from being fearful, anxiety-ridden followers during the week of The Passion. All but one abandoned Jesus. The apostles are then found in the upper room behind locked doors fearing that they will be arrested and crucified next. Peter, of course, is also dealing, as he has in all of his time with Jesus, with his shortcomings; his presumptuousness, his temper, and especially his denials of the Lord.
All of that changes after they encounter the Risen Lord Jesus and fully receive his peace and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Their belief turns to faith, which then turns to trust in the Lord rather than in themselves or even in others. Their fears melt away. They begin to think not in a prideful, narcissistic way, but through trust, they have the freedom to become who God planned them to be from the beginning! The evidence is astounding. Peter and the others become bold proclaimers of the Risen Lord and amazing signs, wonders, and healings are done in the name of Jesus through their ministry.
The scriptural basis of this is found in one of my favorite verses from the Book of Proverbs: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence do not rely; In all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.” - Proverbs 3:5-7
If we trust in the Lord and not in ourselves, we become open to all that the Lord desires to give to us in any situation we might find ourselves in. We too often rely upon our own “intelligence” and ways of doing things and are left disappointed. We end up being fearful and anxious. If we begin to trust in the Lord, through his peace we are not so much transformed as we simply “become” who we are meant to be. Don’t we all want that? Don’t we all want freedom from what binds us and keeps us down and susceptible to the lies of the enemy and our fallen world?
I don’t know about you, but I am really tired of listing to the social and political culture; the media pundits, and even our leaders who try to convince us of what we should or should not be doing during this pandemic. The TV and social media have become instruments of fear and anxiety rather than realistic information. It wears on me, so I have been tuning them out. Instead, I have been deepening my life of prayer and trusting in the Lord Jesus more and more. The prayer is simple: Jesus, I trust in you! This, of course, is the Divine Mercy prayer. Consequently, I have been given much peace of mind and heart. I do what I am called to do in the present moment and I take things as they come. I rely upon the Lord and not myself. COVID-19 and seemingly all that surrounds it is a source of fear for us. We need to begin to approach it all differently. But not differently based upon our own ways and designs. Rather, we need to trust in the Lord Jesus and ask for his guidance and direction. Jesus is “the” source of peace for us. Saint Peter and the other disciples learned that powerful lesson and it changed them forever. But that is a different way than we are used to. We normally don’t think and act in such a different way. But I think it’s time that we all get used to different!
Fr. David Mulholland
Pastor
