FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK
Dear St. Mary’s Parishioners:
By the time you read this, I’ll be somewhere in the middle of the Wind River Range of Wyoming. I’m with the incoming Freshman class of Wyoming Catholic College. As part of their orientation before the school year begins, they embark upon a 3-week backpacking adventure deep into the mountains. Carrying 50 lb. packs, sleeping in tents in the harsh outdoors, going to Mass each morning before the day’s hike, we’ll be forced beyond our comfort levels. We’ll only have one another and our Heavenly Father’s providence to survive. The program is designed to take the Catholic faith of these college students to new heights. Our Lord tells us in today’s Gospel reading that the “kingdom of heaven” is like a treasure hidden in a field. We must do all that we can to acquire that field by working, sweating, crawling, and disciplining ourselves to get to that treasure. This treasure, of course, is none other than Jesus Christ himself. When the college founders started this new school in 2005, the mission was absolutely clear – Jesus Christ in the Eucharist would be the throbbing heart of all that they did. They go to great lengths to hire priests to celebrate the Holy Mass, even in the wilderness. There is nothing greater than the Eucharist here on earth; the Eucharist is Jesus.
Many years ago, I received a text message from someone who converted from Protestantism to Catholicism. At first, she was very suspicious of the Church. She held many of the same stereotypes that many of our non-Catholic brothers and sisters have against us, such as incorrectly thinking we worship the Virgin Mary, the saints, statues, etc. Her animosity melted away one Sunday when she attended Mass with her Catholic boyfriend (she is now married to him with three beautiful children). She wrote me the following:
“I was really just in this place of feeling like there had to be more to my faith. The Eucharist was really that answer. That you can have a real and true physical union with Christ in the Eucharist stunned me (I think the homily that got me was when you used the metaphor of marriage and the Eucharist). The idea that Jesus gives you his FULL SELF in the Eucharist, just as he did on the cross, blew my mind! And thinking about how much love I have for Sean and how much more love Jesus has for us (infinite!) is still overwhelming but at the time it was a big aha! Moment. And then the hunger to have that union really made me evaluate my life because I wanted to receive Him worthily. And it is still a huge point of conversion for me daily. Point of reflection... am I living as a tabernacle of the lord?
I sobbed the whole time during that Mass. It was the first time my heart felt what my mind knew. I had done all the reading and research and “believed” practically but that was the first time I felt it in my soul. The true pretense of Christ, right in front of me. Available to me. It was the “more” feeling I had been searching for so long. The hole that I felt in my Protestant faith was finally filled. Tears of Tears of joy!! She found the “treasure” in the field. A few weeks later, she joined the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults and joined the Catholic Church that Easter.
A Servant of Jesus Christ,
Fr. Brian J. Soliven
