Reflection - Our Present Challenges

      This time last year, I was finishing up the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola in the Basque Country of Spain.  It was a wonderful, faith-filled experience for me, a time of prayer and reflection that helped me look at the reality of my life through the lens of my faith and through the lens of the spiritual exercises.  My heart is filled with gratitude for those who accompanied me throughout that experience.  

      Last weekend at Mass, I spoke about the feast of St James the Apostle that we are celebrated on July 25.  As most of you know, pilgrimage has been a very important part of my life as a priest.  This upcoming weekend, I had reservations to travel to California to start hiking the California Mission Trail founded by St Junipero Serra in the 18th century. I had hoped to visit many of the old historic California missions. Unfortunately, with the up-surge in the pandemic, those travel plans are now postponed.  However, as I think of the significance of the California Mission Trail to me, I think of how some in our society are attacking our Catholic faith right now, targeting the destruction of statues of Jesus, the Blessed Mother, and other saints that are located on church grounds, not even publicly owned property, protesting the existence of these statues on church-owned property.  Yet, at the same time, what I have experienced in pilgrimage is a spiritual experience that welcomes anyone from any walk of life, to travel beyond their daily lives and their comfort zone, to experience something different in their lives, to experience both an inward and an outward journey of spirituality and renewal.  The love and welcome I have received from different pilgrim support groups and those I have met on pilgrimage has had a huge effect on me.  It gives me hope and energy during the challenging times in my life.  

      At a time when we see so many people lash out in ugly words on social media sites, at a time when we see many people want to loot, vandalize, and destroy, I know that this is not what our faith is calling us to do.  Our faith calls us to hope, action, life, and love, not to vandalism and destruction.  I know that this has been a difficult time in our faith.  But we have been through many other difficult times throughout Church history.  I just read a book about the history of the Jesuits.  With the founding of the Jesuits in the 16th century, they swiftly became one of the largest religious orders of priests and brothers in the world.  Then, they were banished from certain countries and from the entire Roman Catholic realm for a period of time, with their schools and property confiscated.  Yet, they came back and once again became a very influential group within the Catholic Church and the field of education.  They met great opposition and challenges at different times throughout history, yet have survived to continue their lives of faith and their ministry.  As a society, we are going through a very difficult time right now.  Yet, through it all, God will give us the faith to endure.  

        Blessings to all of you.  Have a blessed week.  Father Lincoln