Put Out Into the Deep

Since my arrival in 2011, one of my persistent prayers has been for a New Pentecost for the Church in central and western Oklahoma. 

In the final weeks of the Easter Season, we are celebrating an important yet difficult mystery of our faith. Compared to the shocking truths we celebrate in the Lord’s passion, death and resurrection, Jesus’ ascension is less accessible at face value. 

What does it mean to belong to the Catholic Church? To be a member of the Church?  Is it membership in the sense of belonging to a club or a political party, that is, something that we can join and leave as we please? Though many Catholics may consider it so, our baptism has more durable consequences.  

On April 19, 1995, the Wednesday following Easter, a bomb strategically placed in front of the Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City extinguished the lives of 168 people, many of them children in the building’s day care center.

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!  Another Lenten season has concluded with the joyful celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter. Lent provided an opportunity for us to reflect on our deepest identity as human beings, as children of God, and particularly as Catholics. 

It is common for people to express their intense interests as something they are “passionate about.” Someone can be passionate about golf or food or the Oklahoma City Thunder or exercise. For each of these passions, there is something deep within us that moves us to action.

For weeks, the nations of the world have watched with a growing sense of horror and helplessness the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine that has brought untold suffering to a sovereign nation. 

Each year during Lent, the Church invites us to set out on a journey of repentance and renewal. It’s that time of year again! We began our journey on Ash Wednesday. 

Our two principal holy days are Christmas and Easter. These are so pivotal that the joy of these celebrations cannot be expressed in a single day’s observance. 

Since 1993, the Catholic Church has observed the World Day of the Sick on Feb. 11, the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. This non-liturgical observance was initiated by Pope John Paul II shortly after receiving his own diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. 

It has been nearly 20 years since the spotlight of media attention made us all too aware of human frailty, sinfulness and even criminal behavior within our beloved Catholic Church and its institutions.

At the beginning of a new year, it’s impossible to predict the dominant headlines and impactful stories that will shape our lives in 2022.

“O Come All Ye Faithful” is one of our most beloved Christmas carols. We repeat its joyful refrain throughout the hymn, “O come, let us adore him.”

Those who travel I-35 on the south side of Oklahoma City these days likely will catch a glimpse of the large church under construction as they pass 89th street. It is the site of the future Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine, which is rapidly taking shape. 

During November as we see the natural world around us preparing for its long winter rest, the Church’s liturgy and many popular customs invite us to reflect on what we call the four last things: death, judgment, heaven and hell. 

This past Friday evening, Nov. 5, the Lord blessed the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City with 27 new deacons.

Since the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the bishops of the world have gathered in “synod” periodically to reflect on how the Holy Spirit is prompting and guiding the Church on its pilgrim journey. 

Oklahoma state officials plan to carry out seven executions over the next five months. They will be the first executions in Oklahoma in nearly seven years.

Discipleship is a way of life! Like life itself, it is a journey filled with rich blessings and difficult challenges. Bearing good fruit over the course of this lifelong journey is our goal. The fruit we bear glorifies God.

I can’t remember how long we have been living with this COVID pandemic. It seems like a long, long time. And, it has taken a toll on all of us.