Stay Open to the Holy Spirit

I am cutting and pasting from Bishop Battersby’s letter to priests. As the Rebuild my Church initiative is continuing to unfold our Bishop is offering the following encouragement to help open all of us to change and to conversion according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. “I would ask that you regularly celebrate a Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit. Additionally, I would ask that you regularly celebrate a Mass for Various Needs for the Church. You are also encouraged to use the Eucharistic Prayer for Use in Masses for Various Needs I:

 “The Church on the Path of Unity” with its proper preface when using the Mass for the Church. Please celebrate these Masses at least monthly or even weekly, if the liturgical calendar permits it. Perhaps you can rotate between these two Masses. The lion’s share of our sanctification takes place through the sacraments, most especially at the Mass. It is a sacrificial and sacramental process: like the bread and wine, we are, by the Holy Spirit, transformed into something we were not before. 

By celebrating these two special Masses regularly, we can as a diocese discern God’s plan for us, deepen our understanding of the pivot from maintenance to mission, and promote eucharistic living. The critical thing is to be docile to the Father’s plan and allow the Holy Spirit to remake the Diocese of La Crosse in the image and likeness of Christ.” 

I did bold the above statement since I think that is the heart of his message. That we need to be a people of prayer and open to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes our prayer is only for what we want or think best. Yet we see throughout the Scriptures and the lives of the saints that God has a better plan even when at first it does not seem that way. Change or conversion is hard. In the Lenten season we often embrace it since it is only for 40 days. True trust in the Lord can call forth from us a sacrificial effort. That like Abraham or St. Peter we may be called to go where we didn’t want to go. So may your Lent and the coming months ahead, be a time of discerning prayer that leads us to be Church, the Body of Christ in the diocese of La Crosse according to the heart and plan of our Lord Jesus. 

— Fr. John A. Potaczek