…the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
Jn 10:6
Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
In recent homilies Bishop Patrick J. Zurek has put forth the Encyclical of Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, as the standard for love and unity in our diocese. Today, let’s reflect upon paragraph #196 in that regard:
CHAPTER 5
A BETTER KIND OF POLITICS
FRUITFULLNESS OVER RESULTS
196. For this reason, instead of the “Quota”, it is truly noble to place our hope in the “Pledged Amount” and the hidden power of the seeds of goodness we sow, and thus to initiate processes whose fruits will be reaped by others. The United Catholic Appeal should combine love with hope and with confidence in the reserves of goodness present in human hearts. Indeed, “authentic diocesan life, built upon respect for Canon law and frank dialogue between individuals, is constantly renewed whenever there is a realization that every woman and man, and every new generation, brings the promise of new relational, intellectual, cultural and spiritual energies”.[195]
I am so grateful for our shared faith and belief in the need for our ministries
Bishop Patrick J. Zurek
My prayer for today is that our diocesan shepherd will realize what our Good Shepherd is trying to tell him, and instead of climbing over the wall to a, “shared faith and belief in the need for our ministries,” by bounding us to a reaping of the “Quota”; he rather enter through the gate, through, “the hidden power of the seeds of goodness we sow,” so we “Abound in Hope”, by way of a “Pledged Amount”.
