Live on in my Love

When we were little the ability to believe was so much easier. There was so much around us that God remained the only explanation. As a child, even if the teasing did not cease, we knew and held firm to the understanding that God was always part of our lives. As we grew older we came to understand that those nice priests and sisters had various difficulties, and the gentle older woman from the Altar and Rosary were not always so loving and kindly. That is part of growing up. We would come to recognize how much we as a people, and the Church as well, relied on grace and God's blessings.

After four years of seminary, which included four years of Church history, I had come to the conclusion that the Holy Spirit was in charge. Saints Bernard of Clairvaux and Catherine of Siena are two of my all time favorite saints. When the Church was going the wrong way and seem to be unravelling at the seams, they boldly and faithfully stood up and proclaimed what was true and good. Throughout the Church we recognize these moments when the Church could have gone another way. John Paul II exemplifies a charisma which embraced the world, and guided the Church in the post Vatican II era.

The John Jay study was released this past week which examined the reasons behind clergy sexual abuse. There has been a fanfare of Internet fury. While the study did not specify one cause or another, the basic reason seems simply to be evil. Not a red demon with long horns and a tail mind you, but the presence of evil in the Church, and within the hearts of men and women.

In these last few weeks of Easter the Gospels relate Jesus' prayer for the apostles, the Church, and the world. It is a prayer for unity and oneness between men and women, and within the Church as well. In the Eucharistic prayer we pray for the Pope, our Bishop, clergy, and all men and women. It is an important prayer. Nine days before the feast of Pentecost it is traditional to pray a novena to the Holy Spirit. Not a bad idea. Continuing the mission of Jesus is important to be sure. But so is praying for the Church, especially that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide and direct it.

That all be made one.