We hope your summer is going well. Hopefully this season brings you the opportunity to get away, spend more time with family, read that book, or perhaps take up a new hobby. Summer and its slower rhythm is the perfect time to reflect and recharge.

The Catholic church celebrates the season of summer in Ordinary time. Contrary to its name, ordinary time is anything but ordinary, as this is the time of year when we are encouraged to deepen our walk with Christ and reflect on His life here on earth. It is so beautiful how our church aligns every detail of daily life so perfectly to our daily walk with the Lord. The less structured cadence of summer is our invitation spend some of our extra time getting to know Him.

Thanks to today’s world of technology there are so many resources available to learn and grow in our Catholic faith. Formed.org is a phenomenal resource, this service has everything from books, movies, podcasts, family and children content all streamed to any connected device.   The best part is, Formed.org is sponsored through Blessed Sacrament so as a parishioner there is no cost to you. Here is the link to get you started.

Another website that recently caught my attention is called Many Parts Ministries. This website is all about charisms. Different than the gifts of the Holy Spirit, charisms are special abilities given to us to help us be a channel of God’s goodness to others. As it says in Matthew 10: 29-31 where even all the hairs of your head are counted, charisms have been given to each of us in perfect measure according to our strengths and abilities. There is a charism assessment, which takes about 15 minutes, but it will tell you which charisms are more pronounced in you. Learning about charisms has energized the way I serve the Lord, as it was a look at how our Lord blesses us personally. I didn’t really know much about charisms, but learning about them has brought my relationship with the Lord closer and my prayer life more fruitful.

We are all called to Love, Know and Serve our Lord. What better way is there to know and love Him than by serving Him? Are you curious to learn about your specific charisms? Just go to www.manypartsministries.com. This website is a deep dive into charisms, they have a charism virtual retreat, a regular podcast and even a date night charism for you and your spouse to enjoy an engaging conversation on how your charisms work together.  There is a small, but reasonable fee for the assessment and retreat, however, I did find a free online charism assessment only at activateyourbaptism.com.

Do you have a favorite website, podcast etc. that helps you with your faith walk? We would love to hear about great Catholic resources that help in your journey.

The Pastoral council is not meeting this month but we will be back in August. We are excited for what the future has in store for our parish community and our new leadership with Fr. Kilian. We are so thankful that Fr. Williams will remain with us. Good is good all the time and all the time God is good. On behalf of the entire Pastoral Council, we wish you a relaxing, refreshing and faith filled summer.