Dear Friends,
For the past couple of months, you have heard testimony from many of your fellow parishioners about their experience as a member of a Cabrini Community. I trust you’ve enjoyed the variety of stories that were shared within the common framework of a Cabrini Community. We are now coming up against the relaunch deadline. You have one last week to think and pray about either creating or joining a Community. I want to make sure that you have felt invited. If you want help forming a Community or want to be in a Community, just let us know.
As you have heard me say before, our endeavor with Cabrini Communities puts us on a cutting edge of where Catholic parishes are headed. Others are looking to us to see how it goes and if participation in a Community yields the goal of deeper discipleship – a better prayer life, living more like Jesus, and greater friendships with other disciples. When people ask for my evaluation of how it is going, I can only say that it truly has been a Spirit blessed endeavor – better than I ever expected. You’ve heard the witnesses at Masses the past two months.
I had known the power of small faith communities. I had seen how powerfully the short-term approach had worked in Renew and on a CEC and at Alpha and at prior parishes. I knew how important my priest support group had been to me during these 40+ years of priesthood. I had read about how the Church had been dramatically reborn in Latin America through comunidades de base. I just wasn’t sure how ongoing groups would work at a parish level. We were stepping into the unknown and had to trust the Holy Spirit. Now, I would say that they are possible, effective and beautiful at the parish level. Other parishes are learning from us.
Jesus gave me a commission right before he ascended into heaven. It has been my guide throughout my priesthood. It is the commission given to all who have chosen to follow Jesus. So, it is a commission given to you as well: “Go, and make disciples.”
How we fulfill that commission is up to each one of us. Jesus did not set quotas. There is no contest to see who gets the most disciples made in the shortest time. No quality standards have been set. But the first disciple we make is the hardest one – that is our self. It’s pretty hard to make another if we are not doing what Jesus taught us to do. Jesus understood that what he was asking was a challenge which is why he formed a Church and why he sent out the disciples in pairs. Being a disciple is much easier when we are working on it with others. It’s also a lot more fun. That is what our Cabrini Communities are doing in magnificent ways. People are growing in their discipleship and, with the support of others, are finding it’s not as hard as when they were trying to do it alone. What was a challenge has become a joy.
For this next season with Cabrini Communities, we will be using a book in addition to the videos to help us in our understanding. The next season will focus on our prayer life with God. I really enjoyed the book we will be using. It is by Tyler Staton and is titled Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools. Tyler does a terrific job of taking very traditional Catholic teaching on prayer and making it fresh for today’s Christian. He also presents it in such a way that you really do want to pray. You will truly look forward to your next experience of encountering God. I’m sure you will enjoy it as much as I did. And, when this season of Cabrini Communities is over, we will all be better friends with Jesus and as a result better disciples.
Peace,
Fr. Damian