When it comes to “smarts” Albert Einstein and I have next to nothing in common, but I do love one of his quotes: “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous”. Late last year when I was inspired to introduce A Year of Discipleship at Our Lady of Lourdes, I was unaware that the Partners in the Gospel Initiative would soon follow. Now God’s part in equipping us for Partners in the Gospel through A Year of Discipleship is very clear. It is extremely convicting to see the Holy Spirit working so deliberately through Our Lady of Lourdes and inspired by that, we must do our part in discerning the purpose that the Holy Spirit has set forth for each one of us.
Put simply, the goal of Year of Discipleship, the goal of Partners in the Gospel, and the goal of God for each one of us are the same: That is to know God, love and be loved by God, and to lead others to God. To do this, and live life abundantly, we grow in knowledge of Him through the study of scripture, receive fortification from the Sacraments and hear Him speak to us through prayer. All of these practices not only help us know and hear Him, love and be loved by Him, but also equip us to lead others to Him. Throughout this Year of Discipleship (and beyond) it is our goal, as a parish, to help you live this abundant life and offer you ways to grow in your knowledge, experience and comfort of Scripture, the sacraments and prayer.
As part of our Year of Discipleship, we have communicated and published our bi-monthly message in the following four ways: 1) A blog post published on the website. 2) An emailed Wednesday eblast. 3) A facebook post linking the website. 4) A parish bulletin insert. I invite and encourage you to follow along with the next three publications and explore individually the Study of Scripture, fortification by the Sacraments and hearing God through Prayer. We’ll start on Wednesday, April 5th (Holy Wednesday) with our first segment on the study of Scripture.
As we dig deeper into these three areas of Discipleship and look at ways the parish is prepared to offer opportunities for growth, I encourage your feedback. Your recommendations, insights and personal experiences of growth will help us all learn and put our best foot forward. There are opportunities to comment and respond at the bottom of the blog post and facebook page. You may also send a reply through email from the Wednesday eblast. If all else fails, you are welcome to email me directly at [email protected].
I can’t speak for you or Albert Einstein, but I do find the journey of discipleship we are on very exciting and I close this post with so much expectation for what’s to come.
With Love,
Mary