Before I Forget…

§ Voltaire, as most people know, had little use for religion. He was one day walking with a friend when they passed a church. Voltaire raised his hat as they passed.  'I thought,' said the friend, 'that you did not believe in God.'  'Oh,' said Voltaire, 'we nod, but we do not speak.'
      -William Barclay

§ God is not an idea, or a definition that we have committed to memory, he is a presence which we experience in our hearts.
      -Louis Everly

American Catholics are good people.  They are people of faith, trying to live the gospel of Jesus.  That has been my experience as a priest for 31 years.  If you only listen to Catholics to the left and to the right , you would think all of us are failing to live as good Roman Catholics.  American Catholics are yearning for God.  If there is a sense of emptiness in people's lives, that emptiness is waiting to be filled. I believe that they are looking for God to fill that emptiness.  Maybe bishops and priests need to talk less about roles and regulations, less about exciting ideas and programs, less about this and that, and quite simply more about the God that they know intimately, and make the  reality and presence of God come alive.  Maybe that has been the problem since Vatican II!  Too many talks about good liturgy, renewal, the role of the laity, collegiality, the Church in the modern world, etc., and too little about God!
People are hungry for God!  Yes, your kids, your spouse, your neighbor, your co-workers, your siblings, that person you disagree with theologically and politically, all of us are hungry for God!  Only God can fill the emptiness in our lives.  Giving to Church and obeying the commandments is not enough, as Jesus taught us.  God must be a

part of our everyday lives.  God wants our total love.  That is why Jesus told us that sinners and prostitutes and tax collectors who are honest with themselves are more open to God and that they will enter the Kingdom of God before us. 
The days that you and I feel empty are days of  blessings, because it is God calling us to give ourselves and all our love to God.  All of us experience this emptiness and dryness.  God waits for each one of us to surrender the gift of self totally to God in love.  All of life is a preparation for that last moment of our lives when we give the gift of self to God forever.
We have to help each other in this great adventure of falling in love with God.  How do we help our youth to know and to love God?  So many people feel the absence and silence of God.  What do we say to them about a God who is present to us… in silence and apparent absence?  As you and I live each day, some days in darkness, how do we surrender ourselves unreservedly  to God's love? 
May the Reign of God consume us!       
             

Fr. Bill

The Mounds View High School Choirs cordially invite all veterans, their family and friends to attend a concert in their honor on Tuesday, November 11, at 7:00 PM in the high school auditorium.  The program will include patriotic selections and dramatic readings.  All vets will be honored during the performance!  Please join us!!