Anyone familiar with gardening knows that proper and timely pruning is essential. The health of the plant depends upon it. An unpruned tree can quickly produce suckers that zap many of the essential nutrients from its body. Pruning requires patience and vision. Studies reveal that plants often respond defensively to being pruned, displaying reactions that are similar to hurt or discomfort. Pruning is not easy but necessary. A hard lesson for us to learn is that we also need to be pruned. We become far healthier when we allow God to stretch, refine, and form us into the best version of ourselves. The fruit that then comes from our vines will be more abundant, nutritious, and robust. Left to our own devices we can easily find ourselves running amuck and spiraling out of control. Without a proper vision and trust in the Master Pruner, we will never find the contentment we desperately desire. Nor will the work of the Gospel stand a chance of succeeding.

April 26, 2021

My Dear Friends in Christ,

The sin of racism is a “particularly destructive and persistent form of evil” in our country. In our pastoral letter, Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love, the bishops of the nation explained, “Racism arises when—either consciously or unconsciously—a person holds that his or her own race or ethnicity is superior, and therefore judges persons of other races or ethnicities as inferior and unworthy of equal regard” (p.3). This definition may be readily understood, but, like all sin, racism can be more challenging to recognize when it creeps into the complications of our everyday lives. Yet, the love of Christ compels us to not turn away from these challenges. As my brother bishops and I stated, “This command of love can never be simply ‘live and let others be.’ The command of love requires us to make room for others in our hearts. It means that we are indeed our brother’s keeper” (p.17).  Click here to read the full U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter.