Pastoral Corner for November 17, 2024

Dear Parish Family,

The changing of the seasons, as we move from summer to Fall, then Winter, brings to mind some reflection of what we hear in Sacred Scripture today.

The mood is set, as we embark upon change that we cannot stop, and Jesus makes it perfectly clear that “times are a changing” and we are moving toward such change whether we like it or not. What change might we be speaking of is the change that moves us closer and closer to our death and the reality of eternal life. After all, formally this season causes us to purposefully reflect about these mysteries and our place within them.

The month of November in the Church is kicked off immediately with All Hallowtide for a reason as we commemorated the Eve of All Hallows, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day. We cannot help but have Heaven on our minds, as well as Purgatory, and even Hell. The stark reality of our human frailty comes most bluntly in our mortality. It’s not something we can escape. Every one of us must and will die! The question we must ask ourselves is if I were to die today would I go to heaven? The answer many people may see is a resounding NO! To say that we are going to heaven says that we have achieved sainthood prior to dying. To achieve sainthood means we strive for holiness at all cost and that we strive specifically to live the virtuous life. Heaven is for saints, for Jesus, and God Himself. People are often frustrated because they find themselves always worried or fearful, it doesn’t help that we are in political transition, and many people have lost sleep because of being overly preoccupied with all things political or all things of the world. The biggest balance for the Christian is to live JOY even in spite of these grave circumstances we find ourselves. In our JOY, we are capable of change, and therefore are open to our conversion. Authentic conversion is the heart of the matter because by attaining it, we are less focused on taking other’s inventories, but more concerned with taking our own. The life we live as a testament to God is the best judge of our authentic conversion, and if we measure things with the heart.

The four pillars of authentic conversion require:

Reconciliation- because there by God’s grace go I. Every day we must have a mindset of our sinfulness. To be sensitive to our sin puts us into a place of humility in order to go to confession. We cannot have authentic conversion if we go around being toxic to others, or by wagging our tongues, talking bad about people, or our family, constantly taking the inventories of others but forgetting ourselves.
Discipleship- because as a Christian we are followers of Christ, and we embolden in ourselves a desire to emulate the master. How are we like Jesus? Often, we fail miserably at this prospect, because simply put, Christians and our fellow church goers are often too busy judging and not loving. Let that sink in.
Evangelization- is key not so much that we must be biblical scholars, or theologians but we must be committed to living our lives by example and testifying always to the love of Christ who strengthens. How have we shared Jesus to one another, how have we strived to live for Christ and to become Christ-centered.
JOY- is the big one, because in spite of all life dishes out, we are called to live the true spirit of JOY which requires of us to be steeped in the Paschal Mystery. When we live the Paschal Mystery, we totally understand the mission of Christ. We live JOY by embracing the cross, as Catholics living the sacramental life boldly. Time is of the essence, and the tacit is we never have enough time. Today is the day that we decide for ourselves how we will choose heaven over anything else.

Fr. Michael D. Accinni Reinhardt, MA, Mdiv, MS
Parochial Administrator/Pastor
St. Catherine Laboure Parish