Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
The month of February is now upon us. Later this month (on the 25th) we will celebrate Ash Wednesday and begin our annual 40 day period of retreat. We will pray, fast, give alms to the poor and try and grow in holiness through conversion and change.
As you know, I recently returned from my retreat at Prince of Peace Abbey in California. I joined my fellow bishops for an excellent retreat conference given by Father Richard Tomasek, S.J., Spiritual Director at the North American College in Rome. (Where one of our newly ordained priests, Father Shane Deman, is finishing his fifth year of study and will soon return for work in our diocese.) My retreat was a wonderful experience. I had the opportunity to discover and rediscover many things. A time of reflection, silence and prayer, a time of reorientation and re-prioritizing. As on friend of mine put it: “It is interesting, sometimes frustrating and humbling how over time things can get all mixed up, faults and character flaws excised many times before are found again in new forms, having crept back in without being noticed.” I found this to be true for me on my retreat. I also found this retreat to be a special time set aside for me to promise to put first things first: becoming holy, praying more and committing myself to give myself more and more to you: the priests, deacons, religious and people of our diocese. Thank you for your prayers for me. I pray that when we begin Lent this year, we strive to find the places where God wants us to change and grow.
CONSECRATED PERSONS
On February 2nd our Holy Father asked us to take time to pray for consecrated persons. Every year on the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord, we celebrate World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life. If you haven’t already, done so, please take some time and pray for religious sisters and brothers, priests and consecrated virgins who are such a blessing to our Church. I think especially of our Carmelite nuns and many orders of religious women who serve in our diocese. They are called in a special way to witness to the virtues of poverty, chastity and obedience. We thank God for their lives, lived not according to the values of the world, but according to the treasure that will remain forever in heaven.
MONTH OF PRAYER FOR THE SICK
Our gospel readings this month see the focus on the Lord’s care and concern for those who are sick and physically suffering. I encourage all of us not to forget to pray for the sick in the world and in our own families. Sometimes we get so busy and forget to reach out to them even in a small way: a call, a visit, a card. As Christians we are called to follow the example of our Lord and reach out to our sick brothers and sisters in any way we can.
The book that priest use to celebrate the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick reminds us that “Suffering and illness have always been among the greatest problems that trouble the human spirit. Christians feel and experience pain as do other people; yet their faith helps them to grasp more deeply the mystery of suffering and to bear their pain with greater courage…(the sick) also know that Christ, who during his life often visited and healed the sick, loves them in their witness(PCS,1). The document goes on to say that “the role of the sick in the church is to be a reminder to others of the essential or higher things. By their witness, the sick show that our mortal life must be reclaimed through the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection” (PCS, 3).
One of my favorite Masses to say is the one set aside for prayer for the Sick. The opening prayer is beautiful: Father, your son accepted our sufferings to teach us the virtue of patience in human illness, Hear the prayers we offer for our sick brothers and sisters. May all who suffer pain, illness or disease realize that they are chosen to be saints, and know that they are joined to Christ in his suffering for the salvation of the World.
Let’s not forget the sick among us.
May God continue to bless us in the Diocese of Sioux City. Thank you for your prayers, support and help on my ministry among you. See you next time.
Your brother in Christ,
Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless
Bishop of Sioux City