11/5/2023

This past Solemnity of All Saints two people entered the Catholic Church, received the sacrament of Confirmation, and received their First Communion later at Mass: Karma Coleman and Linda (Godsey) Tadlock. Karma is the Prinicipal in our school and Linda has worked at Conception Abbey for a long time. Since it was a Holy Day, All Saints, all the school children were there as well as other parishioners. It was a wonderful chance to talk about the seal of Confirmation, which is the anointing with Sacred Chrism on the forehead in the form of a cross. The first reading (Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14) referred to the angels postponing the destruction of the old creation “until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” It was a great lead into explaining that an essential sign of Confirmation is the anointing of the candidates (those becoming “servants of God”) with Chrism (blessed oil) on their foreheads in the form of a cross. This is in keeping with the vision of Ezekiel 9:3-4 where a man is told to go throughout Jerusalem putting a “mark” (Hebrew word refers to tau, or a ‘t” shaped like a +) “upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed” in the city. It was a great occasion with many “teaching moments” for the children and the rest of the congregation. In the end we welcome the two new members to the parish.
Speaking of entrance into the Church, Fr. Karl is working hard on the RCIA process of preparing people to enter our Church. If you know of anyone who is curious or thinking about entering, please refer them to Fr. Karl. He has invested a lot of time and energy into making this a quality program, and it would be wonderful if we could have a big class coming in at Easter. The gift of our faith, the good news of a God who loves us and saves us, is too good not to be shared. With the continued secularization of the culture around us, fewer and fewer people know what Christians believe or why we do the things we do (fast, pray, symbols or signs in sacraments and what they mean, etc.). So invite them into the space where God forgives, then reconciles and saves all who approach Him in faith. We have a precious gift in our faith which is meant to be shared.
That gift of faith is never more apparent than when we come together to offer the sacrifice of the Mass, or Eucharist. It is the source of our spiritual faith lives in that we receive Jesus Christ as the culmination of the sacrifice. It is the summit of our spiritual lives because Christ is the answer to all our deepest desires, and when we receive Him and recognize Him as our Lord and Savior, all else in life is in its proper order. So we offer the trials and joys of the week/day to God, and then look for Him to transform and integrate them into experiences of grace. Only Jesus and His Holy Spirit can truly make us holy, can truly integrate even the sinfulness of our lives into something positive. Into something that makes us happy. The main thing to look for in the Mass is an encounter with the living and risen Christ. Only when we can do that does the rest of our life make sense.

Father Albert, O.S.B