Why bother with encouragement?

Let not fidelity leave you. Proverbs 3:3

I started writing this column as a way of encouraging discouraged Catholics. I am nearing the end of my first ten years of writing “An Encouraging Word.”

In spite of the overwhelming amount of positive feedback, I have this feeling in my gut that discouragement in the church is on the rise, rather than waning. Writing is hard work and so every once in a while I ask myself, “Why bother?”

Why bother? I bother simply because what is at stake is worth it. Jesus Christ founded the church to be his body in the world to carry on his ministry and mission and promised that he would be with it until the end of time and not even the powers of hell can prevail against it.

Why bother? I bother because I knew from day one that I was going to be a priest at a time when the church would be undergoing tumultuous change. I knew that God was calling me to be a priest at this time in history and that if I was going to be a priest worth my salt, I could not be a manic flight attendant running up and down the aisles of the plane screaming, “We’re going down! We’re going down!” My job as a priest, for this time in history, is to tell people to “Remain calm! Fasten your seat belts! We will be landing soon!”


Read entire article from The Record here...