New!

Message from our Pastor

May 11, 2008

Dear Friends in Christ:

The celebration of Pentecost is one that reminds our hearts of the movement of the Spirit in obvious and clear ways at St. John the Evangelist and around the world. We hear of events that bear witness to the presence of the Spirit of Jesus in the lives of so many people. We saw evidence of this in the recent visit of Pope Benedict. We need to pay attention to our own experiences as well. Jesus made the promise of sending the Spirit with the Father. This is rooted in the Word and verified in the teachings of the Church, but how is this truth shown to you, and all of us in our daily lives? How do we pay attention to the signs that announce the evidence of the Spirit moving and being alive for us right now?
This weekend we had an opportunity to listen to witnesses representing the 18 people from the RCIA group that were either baptized, or received into full com-munion in the Catholic Church here at St. Johns. This is a sign of the movement of the Spirit, with each story unique because each person is very unique. The Spirit moved their hearts in a variety of ways and their witness bears this truth. There is no ?cookie cutter? approach to the grace of being called and say-ing ?yes?, but an experience of correspondence with heart changes everything. We celebrated the beauty of their ?yes? at the Easter Vigil with the exception of Cory Wulf, an orthopedic resident at Mayo, and husband of Carin. They were in Jacksonville at Easter for his residency, and when they returned with their three children we had an opportunity to listen to his profession of faith last week-end. He was also confirmed and received the Eucharist for the first time. It is clear that coming to the Catholic Church and following Christ corresponds to Corey’s heart as it does to Carin and their children. Perhaps a few years ago, and I don’t know this for sure, this may have appeared to be an impossible corre-spondence as Corey came from another Christian tradition. He knew his tradition and followed in a faithful way, but the Spirit moved his heart through our wel-coming community, as well as through his family, and he took these steps seri-ously to prepare and be welcomed into full communion in the Catholic Church.
This experience of being struck is possible for you too! We need to listen to our heats. This requires some work, study and prayer which allows the Spirit to move us where we need to go. Perhaps you have been a catholic for 75 years, but openness and readiness to the surprise of the Spirit is for you as well; we need to make ourselves available and to ask. You may have noticed in the news the recent retirement of Archbishop Harry J. Flynn, the retired Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, as he reached 75 years. It is clear that while he has en-joyed a wonderful pastoral life and been an exceptional Pastor, he is open for the Spirit. He states: ?In my life as a bishop, there are so many demands. One must always have time for prayer, but I would like to spend more time in prayer. As we get older, we realize we want to prepare ourselves to meet God, and we want to be able to take the time so that we can come to know Gad a little more. I look forward to the luxury of having the time to do that.? He has not arrived, even in retirement; he is ready for more correspondence with his heart for the one he loves and serves, Christ Jesus!
How about you? Whatever our place in life and circumstances, we ask for the guidance of the Spirit and the desire to be renewed and reawakened. Everything is possible with Christ in the gift of the Spirit!

Come Holy Spirit!