Dear friends,
For three weeks now we have celebrated First Communion, beginning in Orting, then last weekend with our Hispanic community, and this weekend we finish up at all the Masses in English at St. Andrew. These days fill my heart as I get to see these children so excited to receive Jesus for the first time in the Blessed Sacrament. Their sense is heightened as they have been preparing for this day for some time. If only we had that heightened awareness of the great gift and how special it is to receive Jesus each time we come to Mass. I heard recently of a saint whose whole existence was a preparation for Mass. Does this mean that he spent all his time in prayer in the church? Definitely not, as our best preparation for the Mass is to follow Christ’s command, “Love one another as I have loved you.” To love is nothing new and should be the guiding principle of our lives even without Christ, as it is for many who do not believe in Him yet love deeply in their lives. As St. Augustine says, “This is the kind of Love that renews us. When we love as He loved us, we become new men, heirs of the new covenant and singers of the new song.” This love flows from the Eucharist as Jesus gives His life for us, offering it on the cross and then offering it to us. So our lives then, united to His, become a sacrifice of Love poured out for the salvation of the world as we love as He loves us.
Our lives united to Christ are full and we long for more, yet so often we stray and need a bit of encouragement along the way. For all those who began the Forty Weeks program of Sacred Story prayer at the beginning of Lent I hope you have been able to persevere. If not, don’t worry. Pick it back up and begin again. The enemy does not want you to get to know your sacred story and so will do the best he can to discourage you. The Lord wants to help you along the way and will give you the grace you need to persevere if you so choose. For those who have kept the pace with the program you are nearly ready to make a whole life confession. Some hear this term and are intimidated, don’t be. Once again it is the enemy trying to discourage you and you are now familiar with how he creates fear and anxiety to keep you from realizing God’s plan and the freedom He want to share with you. This is an essential and beautiful part of the Ignatian Exercises. In order to facilitate the whole life confession I will be offering special times for you to come and make your confessions. Beginning next week, I will be in the confessional just to hear the confessions of those making their whole life confession. You need to call and sign up for a spot on the evenings that I will be there. The dates and times are: Wed. May 28 beginning at 6pm, Thurs. May 29 beginning at 7pm, Fri. May 30 beginning at 6pm, Wed. June 4 in Orting beginning at 10:30am and in Sumner beginning at 5pm, Thurs. June 5 beginning at 7, Wed. June 11 beginning at 6pm, and Fri. June 13 beginning at 6pm. Once again this is for the whole life confession only. You will sign up for a ten minute spot. We will fill the times on a first come first serve basis.
DO NOT BE AFRAID.
This will be a great and liberating experience for all of you who partake. If you have put down the book and not kept up with the exercises pick it up again and when you are ready to make your whole life confession give a call to the office and make a ten minute appointment for the whole life confession. If you need some encouragement to get back into the exercises, talk to me or to Monica Rodrigues and we can give you some help. I look forward to walking with you in these days as we come to know our Sacred Story through these exercises.
Pax,
Fr. Jack D. Shrum