Good Afternoon

I had the pleasure of sharing my morning with three young people of my aquaintance. We met for Morning Prayer (part of the Liturgy of the Hours) and then went for breakfast at a local restaurant.

One of these people is a young man who entered the Church this year. The mastermind, as I understood it anyway, was another young man who is currently studying to be a priest. The third is a young woman who is in university.

It is always a joy to share faith stories with people. To see young people so focussed and themselves joy-filled is 'over the top'.

I have to add here that two of these people are less than half my age. I am forced to think of where I was at their ages. I am impressed by all of them.

Praying the Liturgy of the Hours is pretty much second nature to all of us. The Second Vatican Council strongly encouraged lay people to take up this practice. It is slowly growing, but still rather scarce among the laity. Clergy and those in consecrated life are required to pray at least some of the hours by virtue of their vocation.

I"m not sure I'd even HEARD of the LOH when I was in my 20s! So it was very neat to just sit and pray together. We were, literally, all on the same page!

Do not be put off by stories of empty seminaries and bad behaviour in the Church.

Bad things do happen...everywhere. I agree that the Church should be held to a higher standard, but it's still made up of sinners. This can include spectacular sinners.

But the seminaries and convents in faithful dioceses are starting to fill up again. Many are already full to over-flowing. Now that the bad stuff has been brought to light, it can be dealt with, and is being dealt with.

The Church has gone through and survived bad spells in the past. These times tend to produce great Saints.

I'd say the future is bright.

The future is bright.