Reflections from Our Partner Parishes: Where Did You See God? Dec 2022
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
“Honestly the past 4 months have been such a challenge personally with sickness, various family crises and all the rearranging, rescheduling and omitting that must happen when dealing with not being at ‘100%.’ God is speaking to me so clearly about prioritizing, letting go, trusting others and trusting Him. Some of it seems relatively insignificant — like allowing my husband to cook almost all the Thanksgiving meal or volunteers at church contacting me to take charge of things that I usually get all set for them. They were all happy to do so, and nobody died because I did not personally manage (control) it all. But God had to ‘force’ me to see that. I can forget He is in charge, not me. I cannot and should not do it all. There is so much value in letting things play out, creating community by sharing responsibility and staying aware of God in every moment. BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD. Amen!”
“One Sunday, we had more than 50 young adults at our 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass. I was so excited that they find a home here.”
“God is helping me to reach out to a friend interested in becoming Catholic. The Holy Spirit is definitely at work during difficult conversations and is helping me share the Church’s teachings with love and compassion.”
“This past month, God has used my mentors in the faith to challenge me and spur growth in my faith journey. I am always happy to lend a hand at church when my schedule permits, but this past month, my mentors have been asking me to pray about where God really wants me to invest my time. One of my mentors told me, ‘It’s not really about whether I have enough volunteers — if the Lord asks you to do something, that’s what you should be doing, and trust that he will take care of the rest.’ As I go into this Advent season, my prayer is that God will reveal where he wants me to invest my gifts for the coming year.”
“I have seen the power that prayer truly can have in people’s lives. In Alpha, we recently had the healing night. And I witnessed physical and emotional healing through the power of prayer.”
“This month has been filled with the Holy Spirit. Last week, we got to pray with someone who had lost their faith a couple years ago when she lost her father. Her mother was now sick, so we prayed together for her healing. At that very moment of us praying while she was getting a second opinion from the doctor on her illness, she was completely healed and felt zero pain. This has led to beautiful conversations about her newly-found faith.”
“I have been actively discerning the direction of ministry in our parish for a while now. Between great conversations and prayer at the gathering at St. Meinrad and a few very spirit-filled and inspiring meetings…I feel like many of my prayers have been answered and I am able to see the movement of the Holy Spirit for where the youth and young adult ministries may be headed. I am still listening and feeling hopeful and excited for where the Spirit is leading.”
“One of the ‘older’ young adults in our parish (about 35) is going through the process of becoming Catholic, and it has been a blessing to witness the healing work of the Holy Spirit in this person’s life — just an abundance of incredible grace, plus their own grace-aided courage and vulnerability to face and receive it.”
“I have been given opportunities for rest and reflection.”
“I have seen God in the generosity of so many people to those in our community in need: from the Giving Tree to the blanket drive.”