On the road again
Goin’ places that I’ve never been
Seein’ things that I may never see again
And I can’t wait to get on the road again
Bishop Zurek: skipped a bishops’ retreat called by Pope Francis because he had a previously scheduled vacation; has not celebrated Catholic Schools Week’s Masses during Catholic Schools Week because he was on vacation; stipulated that no activities on the parish or diocesan level were to be scheduled on the morning of the annual Respect Life Mass and Walk, but was absent himself due to a vacation; did not open the Roman Synod of 2023 last Sunday as expected because…?
If Bishop Zurek believes that the Master will plan His arrival around His Excellency’s vacations, then that would certainly be another current sign of the “serious mistake”!
Today is the 12th day since the solemn opening in Rome of the 2021-2023 Synod entitled “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission” . Three days ago all other dioceses of the Universal Church, presented themselves to God by answering the call to “journeying together”. In four days Bishop Zurek will finally receive a sort of annunciation, and open the process in the Diocese of Amarillo.
A Double Dynamic of Conversion: Peter and Cornelius (Acts 10)
Cornelius is a pagan, presumably Roman, a centurion (a low-ranking officer) in the army of occupation, who practices a profession based on violence and abuse. Yet, he is dedicated to prayer and almsgiving, that is, he cultivates a relationship with God and cares for his neighbor. It is precisely in his home that the angel surprisingly enters, calls him by name, and exhorts him to send—the verb of mission! —his servants to Jaffa to call—the verb of vocation! —Peter. The narrative then becomes that of the conversion of the latter, who, on that same day, received a vision in which a voice ordered him to kill and eat animals, some of which were unclean. His response is decisive: “By no means, Lord” (Acts 10:14). He recognizes that it is the Lord who is speaking to him, but he emphatically refuses, because that order demolishes precepts of the Torah that are inalienable for his religious identity, and which express a way of understanding election as a difference that entails separation and exclusion from other peoples.
My prayer today is that those of us in the Diocese of Amarillo come to know that our help is in the name of the Lord , not Bishop Zurek, who is often on vacation at times when the Son of Man comes; and although His Excellency may face severe punishment for not making preparations nor acting in accord with God’s will, we will still face consequences even though we were ignorant of the same!
