Unite Listening Prep
By Fr. Jeff Lorig, Pastoral Services
I’ve only heard positive reviews about ArchOmaha Unite from parishioners and priests. Needless to say, the Holy Spirit was at work in more ways than one to make it a great day for those who attended.
Most of the priests I ran into said they saw me on stage speaking through the monitors after Jim Gaffigan’s performance, but didn’t know what I was saying because the monitors were muted. Trust me, I wasn’t nearly as funny as Gaffigan and yes, it was pretty much the worst time to take the stage. So, in case you missed it, I wanted to use this article to share with you what I said because not only was I prepping the audience for Mass, I was also talking about you, the leaders of our parishes and schools.
Not a One-Time Event
While Pentecost was an event of the past, a moment when something happened, Pentecost is also something that continues to happen.
ArchOmaha Unite is a one-day event and years from now we’ll look back and say, “Remember when”. While it is a one-day event, I think most of us would want to make sure this experience of celebrating Pentecost together continues on after today.
Being Intentional
How can we ensure this happens? Much of it, we will have to rely on Holy Spirit, but we can do our best to prepare our hearts and give permission to the Holy Spirit to guide this hope. To prepare our hearts, I’d like to invite us to listen deeply to the desires of our hearts. In particular, let’s listen deeply to the desires of our hearts for the Church. The beauty of listening to the Holy Spirit is that it takes the pressure off any of us having to creatively, reinvent the Church.
When I talk about desires for the Church, I don’t mean shorter homilies and better doughnuts and I don’t mean programs, buildings, and Mass schedules. When I say Church, look around. This is the Church. What are your deepest desires for the Church? The Church, this local Church, your parish and wherever anyone gathers in the Name of Jesus Christ, is the hope of the world. The Church is still God’s plan for the redemption of the world.
So look around and notice the desire of your hearts for this local Church. “Prayer, St. Augustine says, “is an exercise of desire.” As we prepare our hearts for Mass, let’s prayerfully listen those desires for the Church and lay them on the Altar. Let’s make those desires our Mass intention for the day.
Listening and Acting
In the days and months following this day, we’re asking that your parish and school leaders gather you together for a listening session, which is just a time for you to gather and capture what the experience of this day was like, but primarily to listen to and share those deep desires with one another for the Church. Parish and school leadership are then asked to discern prayerfully where the Holy Spirit is leading the Church and begin taking the necessary steps to follow His lead. Here is an outline for how a Listening Session could go: Listening Session Outline.
Archbishop Lucas is Listening
The Archbishop will be doing the same and then in October he will reconvene the Envisioning Team and evaluate where we’ve been since the Pastoral Vision was first published in 2017. T and listen as well to where the Holy Spirit is leading us.