Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, The Importance of True Recreation Last week I took a few days off to travel to the Hocking Hills area of Ohio with some priest friends. This has a become a go-to event for us about once a year when we know we need to recharge the spiritual and physical batteries. We rent a house for a few days and while not an official retreat it is retreat-ish. We are away from the city, have nature surrounding us, the ability to go for hikes. There were no planned events or set schedule other than our celebrating Mass together. We each could make the time to relax and pray. We shared stories of ministry and of course through our discussions solved all the problems in the church (well that last one didn’t quite happen). Thank you all who kept things moving smoothly at the parish while I was away.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, The Important Symbolism of Candles Not only was there the practical reason of needing light by which to see and read, but candles show a great elemental symbolism for human beings. Their use is common in most if not all religions. For Catholics, we continued the Jewish practice of connecting candles with prayer and God’s presence. A candle’s light calls to mind Christ who is the Light of the World.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Prayerful Remembrance The events of September 11, 2001 are forever etched in our memory. I remember when I was in high school in the 1990’s my parents reflecting back on the day President Kennedy was assassinated. They described in great detail what they were doing and how they felt during the whole tragedy and its aftermath.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, RCIA and Evangelizing We all want to do our part of spreading the faith. Our world, our country, our neighbors, and our families will only find our true happiness in Christ and His Catholic Church. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is the Church’s process of bringing more people to encounter Christ the Lord in His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Often this process is implemented as a “program” at a parish that meets weekly with a group usually from September until Easter. However, this process really should be ongoing year-round. This is because all of us should be evangelizing and reaching out to others all the time!