Gulf Pine Catholic

18 Gulf Pine Catholic • March 9, 2018 2018 Catholic Sharing Appeal -- “Prayer and our Call to Discipleship” BY BISHOP LOUIS F. KIHNEMAN AND DAVE WYRWICH As we continue our Lenten journey with the Lord Jesus and accompany Him through His passion, death, and resurrection, I want to invite you to reflect on what we are truly called to, dur- ing this holy season. As we heard in Matthew’s Gospel on Ash Wednesday, Lent is traditionally when we turn our attention to Fasting, Prayer and Almsgiving. It is a time of reflection, a time to turn inward to focus on our rela- tionship with the Lord and a time to put others before of ourselves. The Lord’s call to journey with Him is really our call to Discipleship, the call to surren- der ourselves to the Lord Jesus wholly and completely. In a world so focused on the here and now, so focused on instant gratification, on phones and tablets, on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, the Lord is calling us to a much quieter place in our world, in our homes and most importantly in our own hearts. Our relationship with God is based on our ongoing cooperation with His Will, especially in prayer. It is in prayer that we come to know who we are called to be and what we are called to do each day by God as Catholic Christians. It is in prayer, both personally and as a Church that we come to know, love, and serve our Creator. Take a moment and reflect on that thought. The God of all creation who made the heavens and the earth, the God that has made you and me in His image, desires to know us and to have a personal relationship with us. Not only does He desire to have a relationship with each one of us, He gives us the ability to be able to talk and listen to Him through prayer, and enter into God’s love. It is in prayer that we hear the call to be His dis- ciples and thus to be good stewards of all the gifts He has given us. Our stewardship of God’s gifts touches every part of our lives because all that we have, all that we possess, is from God. This includes the stewardship of our prayer life. As good stewards of prayer we are called to pray daily as the Church, as family, and as disciples, especially in those times when we go to Him with joy and thanksgiving for blessings received, and those times when we go to Him in our sorrow and lone- liness, when we feel as if the whole world is moving against us. It is in those special moments that we grow personally in our relationship with our loving God. There is a simple prayer that we can use each day to place ourselves in the midst of our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is a prayer that only takes three min- utes. We spend the first minute with the Father offering Him praise and thanksgiving for the blessings we have received. As we review our day we call to mind those moments of blessing, and for each specific moment of blessing, both big and small, we give thanks to the Father. We spend the next minute with the Son Jesus praying for His help and compassion. Again, as review our day, we call to mind those specific moments of weakness or sinfulness, and ask Jesus for forgiveness and healing. Lastly, we spend a minute with the Holy Spirit and pray for the grace of God to continue to flow in our lives, especially for those specific graces we need at that moment or during the coming day, when we need God’s help and His presence. During this Lenten sea- son I invite and encourage you to seek the Lord in your own prayer life daily. As we focus more on our prayer life, I would ask that you please remember those on the fringes of our community in your prayers in a special way. There are many of our brothers and sisters that have no permanent home, and many others that don’t know where their next meal is coming from. As disci- ples of Jesus, He asks that we always be aware of our brothers and sisters and make a special effort to help them in any way and as often as we can. Our Savior Jesus Christ really does want us to reach out to help the most vulnerable of our communities, especially in prayer and as good stewards of God’s gifts. Since my arrival in the diocese I have been deeply touched with the work that the Church in Southern Mississippi has done and continues to do, to meet the basic needs of those of our community who are in the most need. In 2017, through the efforts of our diocesan Church community, over 2.8 million pounds of food were served to over 560,000 people. Over 900 people received direct aide in the form of shelter, food, clothing and other basic needs assistance resulting from disasters in our area with a large portion of that going to aide those who suffered tremendous loss due to the tornado in the Hattiesburg area. Through your prayers and support, we are able to continue to provide for the educational, social, and spiritual needs of over 400 of our deaf and hard of hearing brothers and sisters and those who directly serve them. We were also able to help over 4,000 people through our com- munity outreach centers and I have asked that a new outreach center be opened in the coming year in the Hattiesburg area to help serve the needs of the people in our Northern deanery. It is through your prayers and finan- cial support that we have been able to continue the work of the Lord. As we continue our Lenten journey this year, I would ask you to prayerfully consider mak- ing a pledge with me to this year’s Catholic Sharing Appeal. No pledge or gift is too small, and each gift has the ability to make a change for the good in someone’s life. For your generosity of prayer and support I thank you. Please be assured of my prayers and remembrance of you in the Masses that I offer daily, and May Almighty God bless you the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Wyrwich is Director of the Office of Stewardship and Development. Bishop Kihneman makes his contribution to the 2018 Catholic Sharing Appeal during Commitment Sunday Mass at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral. Photo/Juliana Skelton