We attended the third annual Gala Event for John Paul II High School last night. Attendance numbered over 400, with the dinner, charity auction, and dancing held at the Legacy Village Marriott.

The impressive take away for me, was not only the tremendous support and charity for JPII HS in Plano, but also a 20 minute kick off talk by Bishop Kevin Farrell, recently in 2007 installed as leader of the Diocese of Dallas. Comfortable in front of this crowd with a hint of an Irish accent, he spoke to the history’s of cultures who’ve been desolated by mindsets of individualism and relativism, where each individual decides for him or herself, what is right and what is wrong. Segueing into how God the Father is what America’s success was built on from this country’s inception, Bishop Farrell spoke to the huge contribution of private Catholic education throughout American history, to values,  morals, faith, and a person’s base – a child’s base, which have impacted every level of the success historically across the spectrum of our society.  With a smile Bishop Farrell said, “Time has past us by, at least it’s past me by. Now is the time of our children. Our children need the values, morals, faith in God, the basis for living, that are taught in Catholic schools, which are the opposite of what American medias’ teach us in present times – they teach relativism and individualism, a base without God.”

Catholic leadership, as demonstrated by Bishop Kevin Farrell, must continue this proactive message, engaging the public with these clear positive distinctions, and message. I truly believe the state of the American Church can be turned around in this manner.

The Archbishop of Portland Oregon, John Vlazny, writes a weekly column, which I receive via email – how I came across this, I cannot remember. His latest filled more than just me with the holy spirit, as I shared it… Here are a few excerpts….

“This coming weekend, November 24-25, 2007, Catholics around the world will be celebrating the feast of Our Lord, Jesus Christ the King. It is the final weekend of the liturgical year and soon our hearts will turn to thoughts of Christmas as the Advent season begins the following weekend. With Christ as our King, we Christians are citizens of the kingdom of God Jesus came to build on this earth. But all the work wasn’t accomplished two thousand years ago during his public ministry. He established a church to carry on the work of kingdom-building throughout the ages. Now that evangelizing task is ours.”

“As we prepare our hearts for a new liturgical year and the many challenges that confront our church’s evangelizing mission, we would do well to remember what it means to be true evangelizers of God’s Kingdom. The work of evangelization is at heart the work of the Holy Spirit.”

“Evangelization happens in our families when parents pass the faith onto their children. It happens in our churches through the proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the saving deeds of Jesus. It is evident to the community when we go about our work responsibly, share our blessings with our neighbors and care for the stranger, the poor and the needy. It is simply through the ordinary activities of our Catholic life that we proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God and call ourselves and others to conversion and new life in Christ.”

“What about building the kingdom? How do we do it? Making the presence, the love and care of our God felt in today’s world typically occurs in two ways: by our witness, which is the simple living of the faith, and by our sharing, which is spreading the good news of Jesus in a very explicit way. It is clearly our hope that the story of Jesus will be influential far beyond our own church communities. It is not enough for us to live as the gospel teaches on our own. Our faith must also touch the values of our communities, our nation and our world.”

With the advent of the new liturgical year, let my resolution redouble, conversion – renewal – witness…

A dream in 1917 came true for a young Russian girl.
On February 13, 1917, the Most Holy Mother of God appeared in a dream to the peasant girl, Eudocia Adrianova, and spoke to her these words: “There is a large, dark icon in the village of Kolomenskoe. It must be taken from there; the people must pray.” On February 26, in a second dream, the girl saw a white church and a majestic Lady within it. The peasant girl decided to search for the church she had seen in her dream. On March 2 in the village of Kolomenskoe, near Moscow, she recognized the Church of the Lord’s Ascension as that very church. A diligent search by the girl and the church’s rector revealed a large, dark icon of the Mother of God—the very image that had revealed itself to Eudocia in her dream

The miracle-working “Reigning” icon of the Mother of God was found the same day on which Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne— March 2/15, 1917. The Russian Orthodox people accepted this occurrence as a witness that the ultimate authority over and care for Russia had passed to the Heavenly Queen Herself.
Found the same day…

Our Lady of Fatima explained her rule as protector of Russia, later on that year, to four children in Spain, also on the 13th day of the month. The picture above, is the famous Russian icon the young peasant girl found, in search of what she visioned in her dream. Many miracles have transpired through prayers offered up in its presence. 

our daughters, our sons, our mothers, our fathers, our sisters, our brothers, our families, our friends – protect us from the snares of evil….

Hope springs eternal - At Holy Trinity Sunday mass today, I listened to a spectacular short reading from Romans this morning.

Boasting of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. Hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the holy Spirit that’s been given to us.

Hope feeds our hearts, as does the holy Spirit.

From the ‘Happy Catholic’- not always happy, but always happy to be Catholic…

“We most truly serve the common good by having the courage to be disciples of Jesus Christ. God gave us a free will, but we need to use it. Discipleship has a cost. Jesus never said that we didn’t need a spine. The world doesn’t need affirmation. It needs conversion. It doesn’t need the approval of Christians. It needs their witness. And that work needs to begin with us.”

Through the Lenten season, I heard this message at our church in Allen. So when I read this yesterday before work, I was struck at not only running into this again, but how much I buy into it. It’s a good feeling to know what you want, have that in hand, and share it with others.