This Sunday, our Gospel reading tells us of Jesus sending out his disciples on a missionary journey. He tells them to travel light, as he does not want them to be burdened down on their journey. He does not want their focus to be distracted by extraneous things on their journey. He sends them out to bring his Good News to the world and to cure the sick. Today’s short Gospel reading inspires us on our own missionary journey as we ourselves proclaim Christ’s Good News through our own words and our own actions.
As I write this reflection today, my heart is heavy with the news we received of our beloved staff member of St Jude, Stacy Wolf, entering into eternal life on Wednesday evening. As I thought about Jesus sending out his disciples into the world, I thought of the example of faith and the joy of our faith that Stacy embodied in his words and her actions, of her ministry here at St Jude. We just finished up our Wednesday evenings of Vacation Bible School in the month of June. That event so represented Stacy and the joy she brought to everything she did as a disciples of Christ. The Bible lessons, the stories, the activities, the arts and crafts, the games, and the lovingly prepared meals were all a part of that Vacation Bible School experience. She so loved our children and youth. She loved bringing the message of faith to our children, our youth, and our families. It is such a shock knowing that Stacy is no longer with us here on earth, but the joy of her faith touched so many lives and will live in so many people. I thought of the Good Shepherd pillar that we have at the beginning of our stations of the cross in front of the rosary garden at the edge of the parking lot at St Jude. The Good Shepherd who takes cares of his sheep is the symbol of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program that we have at St Jude. That Good Shepherd pillar also has the vine and the branches carved into the side, which is another symbol of our catechesis program that speaks so strongly to our children and youth. Those symbols of the Good Shepherd and the vine and the branches symbolize how Stacy lived here life of faith, of the characteristics of the goodness and connectedness of our faith that she taught our children and youth.
In the community of saints that we celebrate in our Church, we have so many examples of the men and women who passed down the faith to us and whose prayers and intercessions accompany us our own journeys. As we lift us Stacy and her family in our prayers, we can be reassured that she is with us as a member of the community of saints.
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