On Sunday, Jan. 22, we celebrated the seventh anniversary of the rededication of Sacred Heart Cathedral, the mother church of the Diocese of Rochester.
It is always an occasion of grace and renewal to remember that cold winter evening in 2005 when people from all 12 of our counties gathered in prayer to ask God’s blessings on our renewed place of worship.
We prayed for all of you whose generosity made it possible to do the work. We also prayed for the thousands of people who have worshipped at Sacred Heart in the last seven years. They have come from all parts of our diocese and all parts of our country. They have come for Sunday and weekday liturgy, ordinations, confirmations, weddings, funerals, the sacrament of reconciliation, the sacrament of the sick and eucharistic celebrations.
Sacred Heart has been the site for ecumenical and interfaith prayer services, Taize prayer, prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours, gatherings honoring Scouting and sports achievements.
People have been enriched by musical programs and dramatic presentations. Many have been drawn to prayer by our Advent-Christmas displays of crèches from all over the world. Artists have built up the community by allowing us to display their work for the enjoyment of all.
The cathedral is a place to which people bring food for the hungry, clothing for those who need it, and support and consolation for those who mourn the loss of loved ones.
To celebrate the anniversary liturgy last Sunday was to appreciate anew the life of the community and the good that they do day in and day out through all of the years.
If that day at our cathedral church was an opportunity to remember God’s faithful love to all of us, Tuesday of the same week was a day of anticipation of blessings we will all enjoy in five years.
I refer to the appointment to the major seminary of seven men who in August will begin their theological studies in preparation for ordination as priests of the Diocese of Rochester. As you might expect, it is with great gratitude to God and joyful anticipation that we send these good men on to the new phase of their formation.
You will be learning more about them and their seminary assignments in the near future. In the meantime, I ask you please to pray for them that they will respond with generous hearts to what the church will ask of them in the deeply formative years to come.
At this time in both the world and in the church there are many challenges and much change that seems like loss. It is good at such times to pray in gratitude for blessings received and to pray for grace and gifts that serve life and build up the community. Such prayer draws us in the present to an awareness of God’s faithful, enduring love.
Let me invite you -- even as you engage in life’s daily challenges -- to take some time to name and thank God for the blessings in your life, and to pray to God for the graces you would like to receive in the future.
Peace to all.
