Today was a golden day at our parish! We celebrated 50 years as a parish!! I've only been a part of it for about 8, but I love my little community. More details about that celebration in another post, perhaps.
The Bishop celebrated Mass today. He is so personable; he speaks our language. The homily ranged here and there - about what we do as a church parish, etc, but he also tied it in to today's Gospel. He gave us a lesson in wheat harvesting, explaining that when the wheat grains are picked off of the wheat stalk, a lot of trash ends up in the pile of wheat. That's where the winnowing fan comes in. One person picks up a shovelful of wheat and tosses it in the air, while another fans. The fan blows the trash away, leaving the wheat.
Are we in need of winnowing? Where is the winnowing room? He pointed to the back of the church where the confessional is - where we bring our lives to Jesus, and He blows away the trash, leaving just the good. As we wait for Jesus, as we prepare our lives to be more open to Him, let us take advantage of the opportunities that we have. Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!
Side note: We attended Mass celebrated by the Bishop two days in a row. Yesterday, he was at the Boy Scout retreat that my guys attended. One of them remarked that he is going to think we're stalking him.
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Great tie-in between winnowing and the sacrament of confession. It's encouraging to see a bishop who promotes the use of the sacrament. Sometimes that's all it takes to get a soul in need to take the plunge.
ReplyDeleteI too like the winnowing/confession analogy. I probably don't take enough advantage of this "winnowing fan" that the Church has for us!
ReplyDeleteEvan