Good Day, Bishop Muhich,
We farmers, trust and love God, and therefore, believe that He will elevate those in His Church to levels of authority necessary for good shepherding as is necessary for the time of this age in which we live. Therefore, we trust that you, as our new Bishop, are blessed with an adequate measure of grace necessary to help dispel, away from our Diocese, the obvious, dark clouds, which have been progressively spreading to chock Light and Life out of our nation and this world. We are pleased and excited to have you!
Now it is only fair that you beware of an issue in our diocese, which you might not know about. It is a gross absence of troubled believers in regularly receiving the ‘Bread of Life’ (Holy Eucharist, Holy Communion). I am certain that we can agree that it is active participation of Holy Communion’s grace filled gift from God that provides strength and spiritual alertness most needed to help us find and follow the best path through life.
Of course, we all have troubles, and sometimes, we can become too overwhelmed by them to keep focused on the Light upon the Hill and find ourselves hopelessly lost… This no small reason why our Lord provided us with His Church with doors opened wide, so that none might remain eternally lost. Praise God for The Church!!! This I truly mean and so say it again — praise God for His Holy Church!!!
Yet, our loved ones who are missing out on the manifold gifts from Heaven saddens, and to no small degree, perplexes us, especially when, in their youth, they sang vibrantly before the altar of the very same church our families attended. What could cause the cessation of their unity and eagerness of God’s Providence…?
Sometimes it is a mystery that only they know, but other times, it is obvious… In the case of two of members of my family, two nieces who did most eagerly participate regularly in Church and sing most wonderfully before the altar, it was caused by another person, perhaps, too human for them to understand. They were still young, innocent and perhaps a bit too naive to comprehend that that man was only just human…even though he was also the priest at their Church.
Two other loved ones left out of frustration when my sister’s husband, a new believer, wished to receive communion with his new wife but was told he had to re-take all the many CCD lessons again before being accepted into the Church because he had missed one class too many. Why would he be so careless as to miss a class? That was obviously more important than him receiving communion with his wife…?
Well, we must ask who in this equation was careless. Was it my brother-in-law who had to work late one night because of an emergency at the hospital where he worked as a nurse or was it someone in the Church…a human just like the rest of us?
Bishop, these are not isolated examples. You are a Teacher. You are the Bishop of the diocese in which these examples continue to often reoccur. Perhaps you are God-Spirited enough to address these kinds of problems in a Godly manner.
We are eager to see our loved ones return to Church. Do what you can.
With respect and love,
Vincent Brechtel
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