Rector’s Reflections

September 14, 2025

Dear People of God,  

Thomas Groome wrote a book titled “Educating for Life” some years ago. Groome succinctly says:

“Spirituality is not necessary like food and drink, but in the sense that without tending to our souls, we live less humanely. Humans are spiritual beings. To neglect our spirituality is to be less than who we are. There is even a danger in not caring for our souls. If the innate desire for God is unmet, the temptation is to allay it in other ways—fame or fortune, power or prestige, work, drugs, or alcohol. None will satisfy, and when we make such substitutes a ‘god,’ they destroy us. As the French mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) wisely wrote, ‘There is a God-shaped hollow in the human heart that nothing else can fill.”

A vibrant spirituality lays a foundation for integrating all the bits and pieces of our lives, keeping us to live a whole and balanced life. As believers, we seek to connect the mystery of God with the mystery of our lives. Yet, our lives were stunned into shock, disbelief, horror, and myriad questions after the horrific terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. A man told Newsweek magazine, “I don’t know what to tell my child because I don’t know what to tell myself.” Of this, I am sure.”

We need God. I’ll repeat it – We need God more than ever! The same can be said of the horrible tragedy on August 27 in Minneapolis at the opening of the year School Mass at Annunciation Catholic Grammar School.

The words of the following poem may help us seek the Lord in simple ways we never imagined.

The man whispered

“God, speak to me.”

But the man did not hear.

So, the man yelled, 

“God, speak to me!”

And thunder rolled across the sky

But the man did not listen. 

The person looked around and said, 

“God, let me see You.”

 And a star shone brightly

But the man did not notice.

And the person shouted

“God, show me a miracle.”

 And a life was born,

But the person did not know. 

So the person cried out in despair,

“Touch me, God. Let me know you are here!”

 Whereupon God reached down and touched the person, 

But the person brushed the butterfly away and walked on.

Everything is God’s blessing, even if it is not packaged the way we expect.

And may you leave with the following to ponder…

Rivers do not drink their own water. 

 Trees do not eat their own fruit. 

 The sun does not shine on itself.

 And flowers do not spread their

own fragrances for themselves.

 Living for others is a rule of nature.

 We are all born to help each other. 

No matter how difficult it is…

 Life is good when you are happy,

But it’s much better when others are happy because of you.

Walking with you,

Fr. Greg