Bishop Neary’s Column

May all who encounter us on a daily basis find a community of believers that lives the message of Jesus in a credible way.

When you light your Advent candles this season, may it be a reminder to reflect on how you will fan the flames of hope in the year to come.

The goal of baptized Catholics is to be totally changed into fire: full of the Holy Spirit, full of love, … In essence, to become something new.

Despite the worrisome and unpredictable political landscape, let us be propelled and guided by our faith to work together with people of goodwill for the common good of our land and her people.

In the words of Blessed Basil Moreau, the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, “Education is the art of helping young people to completeness.”

There are many things in our lives, even our religious lives, like language, that are capable of a rich expression. We hold them close, promote them, even call them essential to our faith. But it is always good to remind ourselves that they can never fully contain the infinite love of God.

“When we receive Communion, we become a tabernacle of Christ and become like the host on display in the monstrance … We must now become his chosen disciples sent on a mission to carry him to everyone we meet.”

Let summer be a time to be renewed spiritually and emotionally as a family.