What does that mean? It means that when God looks at you and your family he doesn’t see something that happened by chance, or by accident. He doesn’t see simply an odd collection of people you have to deal with.
No.
When God looks at you and your family he sees something He created for a purpose and mission. More than anything this world needs to encounter our God who is Love. God is the supplier of our greatest need. And do you know whom He entrusts this most important mission to? Families.
So by God’s design,
being a family is a mission. And as with any mission, we have challenges. There are things that stand in our way. And one of the greatest challenges to fulfillment of our mission as families is simply busy-ness. We are so busy doing many good things… but have we stopped to consider: Are we doing the most important things? Is our busyness guided by our mission?
While many of us struggle to know God’s love, to know His purpose and meaning in our lives, do we make the time to prepare well to Encounter Jesus at Mass?
While we experience emptiness do we approach Him with awareness of our poverty, confident that He alone is our provision? With each Encounter do we find that our lives are being changed? Do we even believe this is possible? As your bishop, I want to tell you that it is. God wants to make Himself all the more known to us. He wants us to really Encounter Him. He wants that Encounter to overflow into our homes and to spill out into the world around us.
If you share this desire to more deeply Encounter God, and to live our great mission and purpose--
I want to invite you right now to commit to a great adventure.This September many in our diocese will be joining me for the World Meeting of Families. This is an important moment for our church and our world-- to more fully understand and live God’s design and mission for our families.
For our diocese this great adventure will launch on Saturday, August 8 at Holy Trinity Parish in Swanton with the IGNITE Catholic Family Festival. Driven by Mass Impact (
MassImpact.us), the Festival is an opportunity for all the faithful throughout our diocese to be united in this mission.
Like any great adventure, it’s not going to be easy. We are all busy doing good things. But with our Blessed Mother, I’m inviting you right now to say “yes” to this great thing.
Please go right now and register at http://IGNITEFestival.eventbrite.com. And please know that “family” means everyone. All are welcome.
