SPIRITUAL MATTERS
On The Journey, Judy Bowman
“Young hearts”
A young man that I know is considering becoming a Catholic priest. He’s a junior at a fine college, studying electrical engineering. He’s been offered graduate scholarships to some of this country’s most prestigious universities. He’s handsome, athletic, and has a great sense of humor. In short, he’s one of those guys you could easily imagine happily married with kids, making a sixfigure salary and living in a gated community on a golf course. But he believes that God has called him to another kind of life, a radically different life. He believes that Jesus Christ has called him to the priesthood. While his friends are dating and planning for life and work after college, this young man spends his weekends visiting seminaries and volunteering at a local soup kitchen.
Two thousand years ago, a group of men also heard the call of God to His greater purpose. Simple men, flawed and imperfect men, whose “yes” to God changed the world. They left their lives, their jobs and their families and, owning almost nothing, preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to an unbelieving and hostile world. For living out their call, they were imprisoned and tortured. All but one of them was killed for their belief in Christ. Their lives were laid down for the Savior they loved and
Who had loved and died for them. Looking at this young man I know, I can see some of that same commitment and faith which empowered the Apostles to become more than the fishermen or tax collectors they had been before their calling. Does that make this young man unusual in today’s world? I don’t think so.
Young people want to change the world. They want to give themselves over to a great cause that will give meaning and purpose to their lives. So why are so few young people being called to religious life today? Why do we have a shortage of priests in America? In my own opinion, it’s because we Catholics aren’t teaching our children the Gospel of Christ. To begin with, we don’t know our own faith well enough to discuss it with our children. We can’t expect a couple of hours of religious education classes each week to ground our kids in the faith the Apostles died for. We have to know and to live out our faith each day as examples to them. When they come to us with questions about Jesus or His Church, we need to give them the right answers, or at least know where to find the right answers. Talking about Christ and our faith should be a natural part of family life, as natural as talking about school or sports. And yet how many of us have talked with our kids about Christ during the last week?
While family life is the garden that grows vocations to the priesthood and religious life, the larger
Church also has to live up to her responsibility as the depository of our faith. Sunday homilies need to challenge us more. We need to leave Mass inspired by the truth of Christ and convicted of the changes we need to make in our lives in order to live out the truth of His Gospel. We need more Jesus and less Oprah, more courage to live as Christ and less fear that what we say or do as Christians might offend someone. Sometimes the truth isn’t easy to hear, but truth is what saves us and transfigures us into the God we adore. The Church needs to focus less on appearing “relevant” to a modern congregation and courageously proclaim Christ crucified. If we preach the Gospel, we’ll have vocations to the priesthood. If we live out that Gospel, we won’t be able to build enough seminaries to hold all the men called to serve Christ and His Church. We need fearless leadership within the Catholic Church in this country, to stand up for the Gospel, to challenge the Church to preach Jesus Christ to the modern world. As Catholics, we should pray that God will send us this leadership, these shepherds who can guide us out of the doldrums of the past generation. Throughout the history of our Church, God has raised up Saints among us whenever His Bride is in need of reformation. May our prayer for the Church our children will inherit be: “Lord, send us your Saints!”
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” — Proverbs 29:18
Glenda Smiley, Pleasant Valley Baptist Church
Pleasant Valley Baptist invites you to in-person Sunday morning and evening worship services. Services request social distancing, hand-sanitizing, and mask-wearing. Please join us worshipping the Lord while practicing recommended safety measures. PVBC continues to have people slowly returning to worship the Lord by attending inperson services. Wednesday in-person services continue to be temporarily suspended.
Pastor Flood continued the study of Matthew 13 with a focus on the soil in which seeds are being sown. This is the first parable of seven presented in this portion of scripture. The seed, sower and the soil. Nothing wrong with the seed or the sower. The problem is the soil upon which the seed falls. The seed which penetrates the soil brings forth fruit. The Word of God is the seed. Each of us is in one of the four types of soil. The packed hard soil, the somewhat prepared shallow soil, the thorny brier patch soil, or the good soil, fertile and ready to receive the seed. Follow along with this study by watching on Facebook or Youtube. Better yet, come and join with us in person as the study will look at the second parable this coming Sunday.
Much to pray about. Pray for these last days in which we are living and souls to be saved. Be expecting Christ’s return in the air to gather all believers and snatch them away with Him to heaven (Rapture). Remember our country with pandemic, economy, and social upheaval, our leaders, our citizens. Special requests are Richard Comer (missionary), Debbie and Brian O’neill, Betty Pitts, Denise Pitts, Larry Armstrong, Dot Mcallister, and for our pastor and his family. Pray for our shut-ins Carolyn Denton and Lula Petty and others with high-risk situations shut-in. Pray for our churches, missionaries, and evangelists. Ministries are finding it difficult with so many closings due to the virus.
Pleasant Valley Baptist continues to live-stream Facebook and Youtube Sunday morning/evening services 11 AM, evening 6 PM, and streaming mid-week Bible study. Visit or view our services for encouragement from God’s Word.