Developing in Our Faith

The theme for the 41st annual Synod of the Diocese of the Eastern United States, held this July in Gainesville, Georgia, is ‘Developing in Our Faith,’ an appropriate description of what the entire Christian and Catholic life should be. What a timely topic for us at this moment! We are called to live a supernatural life, a totally different kind of life, a heavenly life on earth nurtured and fed by grace, nourished and sustained by the Word of God found in Holy Scripture and the Blessed Sacrament. Christians are a People set apart, consecrated to the worship and service of God. They will know we are Christians by our love… and by the holiness that permeates our lives through real formation and growth in the things of the Spirit.

How frequently do we make our Holy Communions? How often do we prepare for our Holy Communions with thorough self-examination and prayer? How often do we pause immediately after our Communions to make a heartfelt thanksgiving for what we have received? How often do we say our personal prayers, and the Prayer of the Church in the Daily Offices? How often do we attend the celebration of the Holy Eucharist? How regularly do we study and meditate upon the Holy Scriptures? How often do we attend Bible Study and receive Christian instruction? How earnestly do we seek out spiritual direction and counsel and find forgiveness and intensification of grace in the Sacrament of Penance? In what ways do we search out those in need, so that we may joyfully perform corporal and spiritual works of mercy? How free are we with our time, talent and financial resources in the ministry of the Church? As we ask ourselves these questions, we can begin to take stock of our spiritual lives, our true lives, and begin to grow. The state of the soul is the genuine measurement of a human being – and God is calling us a state of communion and love with Him.

In an age marred by cynicism, doubt, materialism and secularism, we are called to be formed into the Image and Likeness of Jesus Christ, so that we may show Him to the world - by who we are and what we are becoming. We are called to be salt and light to a generation that has in many areas of its corporate existence abandoned God. There has never been a more important or exhilarating time in which to live, and in which to live as a committed orthodox Christians. We have been appointed and ordained for this very hour in human history – it is not by chance, but by Providence, that we live now in this time. The transformation and conversion of the culture and society around us will only take place to the degree that we ourselves are transformed and converted. As the Lord Jesus reigns in our hearts and lives and truly becomes King and Lord to us, so will he come to reign in the minds and consciences of others and reign as King of society.

The age of Christendom, of a cultural and nominal Christianity, is rapidly coming to an end, and men and women will soon have to choose whom they will serve. The time is likely coming when faithful Christians will bear witness to the Faith in personal sacrifice; the nominal or cultural Christian will easily lapse into apostasy because of the threat of persecution. What kind of Christians will the future find us to be? Our Blessed Lord is calling us in love to fidelity, to obedience to the Gospel. Only mature and well-formed Christians will withstand the prince of this world.

With this sense of holy urgency, we know the key to our calling, our mission to manifest the love of Jesus Christ and to proclaim the Gospel, is personal and life-changing formation.

Please pray for the deliberations of our Diocesan Synod and for the work and mission of our beloved parish. Let us endeavour to ‘Develop in Our Faith.’ Come and grow with us!