Your Pastor fulfilled a promise to meet with a group of Knights and Dames of the Order of Malta. On Saturday, at Annunciation parish, a delightful group of these dedicated Roman Catholics had expected me to share thoughts about the Sunday gospel reading. Well, so charged by the new United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, I used Saturday's first reading to discuss the importance and readability of the new catechism.
In a very few minutes these faithful people were in a great discussion of our faith and the challenges that confront Catholics in our modern culture, our contemporary society. The discussion was truly refreshing both spiritually and inspirationally (if there is such a word ... But I am sure you get the picture).
When we departed the gathering, I had the strongest impulse, hopefully a "visit" from the Holy Spirit. If we Catholics of today want our faith to be strong for ourselves as well as other Catholics, we have to know what it is, how it impacts our lives and what our Church teaches it to be. Simply reading a book is helpful to a degree. However, shared reflection on any topic greatly strengthens our awareness of our faith. For me it was an experience of helping me, as a priest and pastor, to strengthen what is the most critical concern of my life: developing an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
The group was made up of men and women from Annunciation Parish and our own OLV. It was clear that meetings such as the one to which I was invited to attend is a source for the strong faith of the Malta members.
