Note from the Bishop
My dear faithful,
I’m thinking of the cats again today. They’re funny little critters with “personalities” of their own; and these two furballs have really grown on all the SGG clergy. Someone (I think it was Fr. McKenna) pointed out how much cats learn to adapt to new situations. I pondered that and found it to be true. They have learned what their new cat-life is like without their beloved Bishop; it only took them a few days. Bishop Dolan would wake up very early to feed them. So, at first, they would scratch and meow right outside my door “valde mane” each morning to tell me to feed them. It worked for a few days until I decided not to be trained by cats. Gradually, they learned to wait until a more normal wakeup time before coming to my door. They are fed well, but now on a new schedule. But they adapted to the situation. What a lesson!
Roll with the punches! When life flips upside down all of a sudden we must learn to adapt to the situation. Life at St. Gertrude’s has been topsy-turvy as of late and there has been many an opportunity to learn to adapt and even to endure. As the Little Flower says: “It is the hand of Jesus that directs all things.” If nothing else, we Gertrudians must remember this truth, for when we remember that Our Lord’s is a Fatherly hand who orders all for our own good, it is much easier to adapt to the sudden changes of life, and we become trained (not by a mere cat, but by the Lion of Judah) to endure all things for the love of Christ.
So many of you have stepped up in these last few weeks and I am both edified and grateful. People from all over the world have offered their well-wishes and prayers. Most of all, we must be most thankful to Bishop da Silva who came all the way from Brazil and made it clear that he would stay as long as needed to help get things accomplished. It is thanks to his fidelity to duty and charity for souls that you now have four new priests and a new bishop. He has done a great deed not only for us here at St. Gertrude’s, but for the whole Catholic world. Ad multos annos, Bishop da Silva!
Thanks must also be given to the clergy who supported us and even encouraged us to accomplish all that we did in the last three weeks. Bishop Pivarunas, Fr. Lavery and so many of the CMRI clergy; good Fr. Thielen, Fr. Mardones from Mexico; Fr. McMahon, Fr. Larrabee, Fr. Ahern; and Fr. Ercoli, who has been such a blessing to us. I will not name each priest who comforted us when we most needed it, but their charity and kindness will never be forgotten.
Bishop da Silva was the last of the visiting clergy to depart and so now we are back to the usual work that we have always done. This week is a week of serious and public prayer, and I hope you will dig down deep to find the strength to join us in church to thank the Good God for His protection. We have the three Rogation Days and processions this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and don’t forget the Holy Day on Thursday! Prayer is what has always kept us going and is vitally important for the individual soul as well as for the Church at large.
I send each of you a blessing and hope to see you in church this week.
– Bp. McGuire