Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Conclave to elect our next Pope begins tomorrow morning in Rome. We pray in solidarity with the entire Church all over the world for the Conclave, for the Cardinals, and for our Church, as the Holy Spirit helps us to select our next leader. All parishes have been asked to have a special Mass to pray for the Conclave. Ours will be tomorrow evening, April 18 th, at 5:30 PM. It is my sincere hope that many of us will come and join in praying at the Altar of the Lord for what is going on in Rome. In addition, the Diocese has asked that each Parish plan now to have a Mass for the new Pope as soon as possible after he is elected. Our Mass for the new Pope will be celebrated at the next daily Mass after the new Pope is elected. Again, it would be fantastic if as many of us as possible could come together to pray for the new Pope, whenever the election takes place. These are exciting days. We pray. We trust. We look forward to where God is going to lead us next.

One of the challenges that Pope John Paul II issued on a continual basis to the Church in the West was a constant call to fight materialism. The late Holy Father recognized the spiritual dangers of living in a culture of rampant materialism. Our “things” are only things. One day, we will leave them all behind. Only now do we realize just how good of a role model Pope John Paul II was, as at the time of his death, he left behind very little. The Holy Father did not cling to worldly-possessions. Instead, he held on to his faith and treasured the people that God brought into his life. What a beautiful example for all of us!

It is so hard in the world that we live in today. I think that it is even harder for all of us who live in Hamilton County. We live in one of the wealthiest counties, in the wealthiest nation on the face of this earth. We have in front of our eyes every single day all that money and wealth can provide. We see the big houses, the new cars, the nice clothes and the amazing electronics that people have all around us, and that becomes the norm. We think that everybody lives this way and that everybody “has” to have these things. Even the poorest people in Hamilton County have it so much better than so many in the rest of the world. As followers of Jesus, we must be extremely careful about how we let the rampant materialism that is all around us, affect us. We cannot “buy” into the life and the values that so many around us have. The never-ending game of constantly seeking the newest, biggest, brightest, fastest, most-expensive next big thing is a lie. It will never bring us happiness or peace. And, it quite possibly might lead us straight to Hell. Having false gods is in direct confrontation with the First Commandment. Clearly, we all need to be most careful when it comes to our “things”.

We are very blessed. As people of Faith, we KNOW that our blessings come from God and that a certain responsibility comes with having those blessings. God is going to ask us some day what we did what He gave us. And it is not that being wealthy or having nice things is a sin. There are several of the Church’s saints who were very wealthy people. They may have had wealth, but there were not attached to their wealth or things. They kept God first in their lives. We are to do the same.

Perhaps one of the things that we need to be better at doing is distinguishing between what we need and what we want. Too often, we confuse the two. Our “needs” can be fairly basic. We don’t need that much. Our “wants”, however, can be very different. This is especially true when our “wants” are fueled by what we see that the great “everybody” around us has. Just because our neighbor has something, does not mean that it becomes a “need” for us to have something similar. Remember that Tenth Commandment about coveting your neighbor’s goods? God meant that. He wasn’t making a suggestion.

We’ve got to all think and pray about this more. We’ve got to let our Church’s teachings challenge us more on this issue, because nobody else is going to want us to ask these questions. It’s bad for business. And certainly the media and Madison Ave. are a lot happier when Christians just buy into their lies rather than really think about what we’re doing. As a Diocesan priest, I know I need to think and pray about this more. How about you?

Have a great week! Let us keep one another in our prayers!

In Christ,
Fr. Kevin