March 29, 2009
Going Forth
Our Lenten Mission was a wonderful time for our parish -- hundreds and hundreds of people came out for the various segments of the mission. We really had a sense of God’s blessings as we celebrated our uniqueness, our diversity and our unity as one Body in Christ.
The question we face now is “Where do we go from here?” The difference between a “mission” and a “retreat” is that during a retreat, we take time out of the busyness of life to get away from things and recharge our spiritual lives. A mission energizes us to go forth and do something.
What is that “something” that the Holy Spirit wants us to do? Our staff and our pastoral council will be taking some time to consider what the ongoing mission of St. Brigid’s can be. For me, an obvious blessing of our Lenten mission was seeing people come together for mutual support and prayer. It becomes more and more obvious that it is the relationships between one another that is so important in being the Body of Christ. And while there is still some natural discomfort when people gather with others who speak different languages or share different cultures, there seems to be a genuine desire to become more comfortable in praying and being with one another.
As our mission prayer says to God, “We give you thanks and praise for you have brought together in a single church people of many nations, cultures and languages. Our diversity is our strength and our unity is a gift of your Holy Spirit. We, though many, are one Body in Christ.” This is not only a prayer for a mission week; it is a prayer about our past and for our future.
We’ll be looking for ways to continue to grow as one in the days ahead. The most beautiful time of unity is during our holy week celebrations when even more of the parish family comes together to pray. As usual, we’ve added extra masses on for Palm Sunday (click here for the schedule) and the crowds who come to praise Jesus and then meditate on his Passion are our brothers and sisters with whom we seek unity. Let’s enjoy each other, even amidst the cramped conditions. Let’s look beyond our own family and friends to see who is sitting and standing around us: gifts from God!
