Bishop's Perspective: Being made new in Jesus' love

When we hear the word “renewal,” the first thoughts we have may be of mundane tasks like renewing our license plates or our library cards. Or we may think about renewal as in going on a vacation and taking a break from our everyday tasks, chores and work. However, when we speak of spiritual renewal, it’s a more complex, deeper process, one where we strengthen our relationship and undergo a conversion of heart. Many beautiful renewal occasions happen within our faith lives. We renew our baptismal promises at Easter Mass. Our 50th anniversary couples renew their sacred wedding vows and their sacramental commitment to each other at our annual diocesan Mass. As priests, we renew our priestly promises at the annual Chrism Mass and at Ordination Masses.

This year, on the birthday of Our Blessed Mother (Sept. 8) our diocese began the observation of “The Year of Priestly Spiritual Renewal and Prayer for Vocations.” Why a year of renewal now and what does it mean? First, I’ll address the Why now? I am convinced this special year, focusing on priestly renewal and voca-tions, directly flows from the Jubilee Year of the Holy Spirit, in which we have all been praying for an increased openness to the Holy Spirit’s gifts, and a desire to allow the Spirit to bear his fruits in our lives.

The idea began earlier this year when I was preparing for our annual diocesan Chrism Mass. This beautiful Mass is where all the priests come together, and during the liturgy we renew our priestly promises. As I reflected on my homily, I was inspired by the Holy Spirit to call us to do something more. I believe the need for spir-itual renewal is necessary in light of the world situation we are all witnessing and expe-riencing. I don’t need to enu-merate the many examples of our culture moving steadily and quickly away from God, no longer living according to God’s ways. Dictates of faith, the values of religion or even efforts to protect the most vulnerable of all human life, unborn babies, are criticized as restrictive of personal freedom; People of Faith are ridiculed as being out of step with progress. Within our own Catholic faith, the long-standing statis-tic that two-thirds of baptized Catholics do not practice their faith regularly remains of great concern. Even more alarming is the staggeringly high percentage of Catholics who do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Additionally, there seems to be a certain com-placency about the growing priest shortage, which should be very troubling. These are all clear signs that we are in great need of a major time of renewal in our faith. What is this special year? It’s a year devoted to three key things: 1) prayer, 2) the Eucharist and 3) strengthen-ing our priestly fraternity. We are praying to be renewed in our vocations and to be better prepared to guide our people through these very challeng-ing times. Priests, by our vocations, are called to be “another Christ” for our people in our world. We need to be renewed so as to be the face of Easter hope and joy to a world that so desperately needs Jesus and his Good News. How do any of us sustain the hope and joy of Jesus? Through a strong prayer life and a deep, close, relationship with Jesus. This time of spiritual renewal will begin with us: I, and all our priests, are ded-icating the next nine months to a time of collective spiritual renewal of our own priestly vocations, with the hope that our renewal will lead to a re-newal of faith throughout the entire diocese. I am asking ev-ery member of the faithful to fervently pray for us — to pray for your priests in a particular way during this year, for a re-newed and revitalized love for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and for a deeper willingness to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Come Holy Spirit, come into our lives, our parishes, our diocese, and our world, and lead us always to live our lives in union with you and one another through Christ our Lord.