From Our Pastor

From Our Pastor

Dear Folks,

This week we welcome a seminarian to St. Mary IC for the summer: Gabe Gaudet. We have enclosed a note from him here so that you might get to know him. He will be with us through August 6th.

Occasionally I actually have time to read blogs/surf the interwebs, and find something interesting. I found a post that gave me some pause for reflection, considering summer is a great time to spend out in nature: https://bit.ly/3H9uI46

The blog post is titled “How Can We Know What’s True” and it is an interesting reflection from a convert, Marcus Grodi, about insights to the spiritual life from his farm. I will greatly abbreviate them as:

  1. Nature, and our spiritual lives, without the willful input of energy will quickly move from disorder to order. Think of failing to tend your garden, and how quickly it is overrun with weeds. Weeding last month does not exempt from weeding this month.
  2. His land is unique and good stewardship means finding what the land is suited for. This required the advice of ‘farm’ experts and an authoritative voice. The same is true in regards to our souls and discovering the purpose for which God made us. What are our unique gifts and talents? And finding the best fit for that requires good spiritual advice.
  3. Boundaries are important and must be constantly tended. Fences keep predators out and farm animals in. In regards to our souls,
    we generally do not regress to our completely disordered state (see 1 above). But proper maintenance of spiritual boundaries through contrition, repentance, and the sacramental grace of confession can prevent us from presuming on our past or present relationship with God.
  4. Reflection on the land he has been given, led him to conclude that some thorn-bushes are actually diamonds in the rough. What might otherwise be despised (as the cross), with discipline, sacrifice, and even suffering are extraordinary gifts of the glory of God!

Go ahead and read the post yourself, as my efforts to summarize are limited at best. Furthermore, the post goes on to describe how we can measure the trustworthiness of our insights, a very good explanation of the teaching authority bestowed on us by Christ.

pax,

Father John Mosimann

June 12, 2022
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