Pentecost VI
✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
What great things are being done these so hot July days! Some are on vacation except for the devil, who never takes any time off. We here are busy. July, month of the Precious Blood, is so fruitful a time for working with, and for, our youth. The numbers participating in the Third Annual Young Adult Get-Together swelled our own for the Saturday evening Rosary Procession (over one hundred in the heat) and the Sunday Masses. Oh, and don’t forget the Square Dance.
But I did mention the devil. Although he didn’t register or wear a nametag, he was surely active. But we thank God it was mostly the small inconveniences which try us, but not mortally so. Last Saturday morning the water main burst (again) and many a fervent prayer was offered up that morning at Mass. After all, how do eighty use this facility all day without using…the facilities? Patience! Within a few hours the water returned. The County people worked very hard. Next, the newly installed cooling unit in Helfta Hall failed. Fans were called for, and we survived. Any significant cold or heat quite overwhelms our system, but we soldier on.
An interesting twist for this year’s YAG was Charlie Henry’s fun and fascinating presentation on marriage finances, complete with a spreadsheet. It was both entertaining and informative. Common sense must always inform our sense of dollars and cents in daily life.
The Girls’ Camp featured wonderful and imaginative crafts, and much good fun inside, while the heat blazed without. We thank the Sisters of Our Lady of Reparation, Michelle Mikesell, and the ladies who provided these three wonderful days. Tomorrow the McFathers are welcoming the boys and some dads for their camp. Wednesday the fun gives way to the solemn and stirring ceremony of Tonsure, the first step of our four seminarians “ad altare Dei.”
But all of these get togethers and camps have this end in view, to gather our youth together and lead them all to God’s altar. Those who are called will indeed “go unto the altar of God” whether for Holy Orders or Matrimony. What a joy for them, what a privilege for us to help them along the way. Be encouraged. Good work is being done. The devil has not won. God is claiming yet the next generation. It was great to meet and get to know even some of these fine young people.
Our seminarians arrived yesterday and some will be spending part or all of the rest of the summer with us. Some food from time to time would certainly be appreciated. I was just reading that when St. Vincent de Paul made his first appeal for a poor family in 1617, they were inundated with food, and much of it spoiled. In response, he set up a Confraternity of Charity, to organize things. We have a website. Times change, but the Cucina Clerical serves the same purpose. Take a look, and take a day every now and again. The generosity of many is helpful to all. “I was hungry and you
gave me to eat.”
God reward all who worked through the heat, and all who gave faithfully. May yours be a “hundredfold return.”
Yours in the Precious Blood,
– Bishop Dolan