While enjoying being treated to coffee and a muffin this morning, my friend commented on how discouraged she had become at what she saw as the lack of leadership she was finding in our local church and diocese. I replied that discouragement was the stage I had gone through a while back and now I wasn’t discouraged at all.
I have come out of that phase. I know that most of the leadership that comes out of the local churches and the diocese is geared to maintaining the existing physical structures and has little opportunity to invest in new approaches or methods to bring the Good News of Jesus’ gospel to the atheistic folks that surround us. And this has been very freeing because now I also know that when Jesus said “Go out into the whole world and preach the Good News!” He was not just speaking to the Apostles. He was SPEAKING TO ME! And to YOU! Speaking to US, all of us that are faithful Catholics who mourn the loss of faith in spouses, children, grandchildren and friends, and to the culture encompassing us.
It is absolutely up to all of us to take up the charge and to engage in doing what He told us to do even if there is no leadership from our hierarchy. God gave each of us talents, some skills and our brains and He expects us to use them, not for our own amusement or betterment but for the salvation of those around us. It doesn’t even matter if you are paralyzed and stuck in a bed, you can and must contribute your sufferings and prayers and your words to those who serve you. And if you are able-bodied, take stock of what you have and then look to the needs of others. How can you encourage, or even just speak the truth of what you know, to those in your own circle who are lost?
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All for the Honor and Glory of God,
Charles Stein
Suncoast Catholics 