Sunday November 5, 2023
I thumbed through the record of days gone by in my calendar for October. The month ended with the funeral of Bishop Tod Brown. Holy Family was the cathedral and Tod was the Bishop of Orange when I was ordained and sent there for my first assignment in 2000. Bishop Tod and I celebrated many liturgies together and shared breakfast most mornings. I learned so much from a man who really valued education. He was a visionary leader but also had the ability to endure gracefully whatever might come.
Speaking of education, Bishop Kevin was here and presided at a school Mass and blessed our new learning center. Most significantly, Martin Concha was ordained a deacon at Christ Cathedral for service to our parish. We celebrated the event with a wonderful fiesta!
I shared an evening with young adults from here and neighboring parishes. We spoke about holiness and the saints. I love learning about the saints because they show us how God’s grace works through individual people, even with their all too human foibles. I am giving thanks that God is granting me the help, the grace, to fulfill my role.
Often, this grace, this help, comes from members of our pastoral staff. I was reminded of this when we gathered for a day of retreat. The words of Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622), the Doctor of Charity, are manifest in their service to our community of faith.
Insofar as divine love enriches us it is called grace, which makes us pleasing to God. Insofar as it gives us the strength to do good, it is called charity. But when it grows to such a degree that it makes us not only do good but rather moves us to do it carefully, frequently and promptly, it is called devotion (Introduction to the Devout Life).
In Christ,
Rev. Robert P. Capone