A Still, Small Voice
Dear Parishioners,
The summer has flown by! I pray that everyone has had safe travels and relaxing vacations. Our students are preparing for another year of athletics and studies, and our seminarians are returning to their seminaries. Let’s keep them in our prayers!
I continue to get a lot of positive feedback about the Prayer Booth at the Summer Festival at St. Bartholomew. Thank you again to everyone who helped make it a success! The festival itself was a great time. Please stay tuned for upcoming parish events, like the Evening for Excellence at St. Clare. I am looking forward to that!
At Mass this weekend, you’ll hear about Elijah’s prayerful experience of God’s presence. God wasn’t in the fire, the earthquake, or the wind. Instead, He was in the still, small voice in Elijah’s heart. Elijah is the prophet that tells us that God lives within us, and speaks in silence in our hearts. This is incredibly important! Mountaintop experiences may be wonderful and impressive, but God speaks in silence. Elijah’s spirit inspires the Carmelite order. His most famous daughter, St. Teresa of Avila, said “God is among the pots and pans.” My favorite Carmelite, St. Thérèse, teaches us that fidelity to small things and daily routines is what matters most. If you are faithful in small things, you will be equipped to walk on the waves during all the storms that life throws at you.
During our Year of Unity, we are starting an initiative to create more connection between parishes and parish councils. This will help unify parishes and parish councils, and parish councils with the Family Pastoral Council. Please find members of your parish councils at the doors of our churches after Mass on weekends in August. You can share with them your questions and concerns, and they will pass them along to me and the Family Pastoral Council. We will listen to your thoughts and answer your questions. I can’t personally be in every place at once and talk to everyone at the same time, but this way, everyone gets a chance to be heard and to get their questions answered. You also get to know your parish council reps better!
One last thought: I want to remind everyone that I will never ask for gift cards or donations via email. Please be suspicious of any email pretending to be a parish staff member or clergy that doesn’t come from an official olodp.org email address. On the other hand, sometimes my real emails are ending up in people’s spam folders. My emails are getting flagged as spam because there are so many scammers impersonating me! If you think I might have emailed you, please check your spam and set frhenry@olodp.org as a safe email to receive emails from.
Yours in Christ, with Mary,
Fr. Henry Hoffmann
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
Feast on August 9
August 9 is the feast day of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein. Edith was a Jew, and a famous European intellectual. She became Catholic, joined the Carmelite order as a nun, and offered her life as a martyr during the Holocaust. She was martyred on August 9 in Auschwitz in 1942. She has been named a Patroness of Europe and may one day be a doctor of the Church. Her writings are very intellectual and influential. Among many other things, she wrote, The Science of the Cross, which is a philosophical examination of prayer and spirituality, and Essays on Woman, which is a courageous, clear-sighted, and authentically Catholic defense of the dignity and value of femininity.
Last week I wrote about the importance of understanding the “Old” Testament to help us understand Christian liturgy. Edith Stein is a living example of the connection between the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures and the liturgy. She was devoted to the liturgy, and emphasized the vital connection between liturgy and contemplation, as her spiritual Father, Saint Elijah, practiced. I would encourage you to read a snippet of her writing on the connection between personal prayer and the liturgy here.
