
Glitters: tiny little bright sparkles that reflect light. They catch your eye, especially if the light hits them. I know because I've just finished taking down all my Christmas decorations, and despite diligent vacuuming, wiping and mopping, I still see glitter here and there. Those tiny bright sparkles are the inspiration for this intermittent blog series for the coming year...a series where we will highlight glitters of hope, as together we celebrate the Jubilee Year of Hope.
Why? Because celebrating the Jubilee Year of Hope is how Pope Francis wishes the universal Church to embark on implementing synodality. So, we will shine light on the tiny sparkles of hope so that they glitter for others to see as well. Our wish is that you take time to share your glitters of hope with us so we can shine the light of our blog and website on them, giving others moments of joy and hope! And any of you who have ever worked or played with glitter know that once it's out of the container, it's around for a VERY long time. Glitter seems to beget glitter, and in this Jubilee Year of Hope, we are counting on that!
I'll go first...one parish, one initiative, one piggy-back ...1000 cups of coffee. Our guest blogger Jean Hawley shared with you how her parish, Immaculate Conception in Hampton, VA kicked off the Jubilee Year of Hope with this initiative. Their goal: to strengthen the bonds of connection, first between those who came to the event (disclaimer: I was their guest speaker!), by sharing what breaks and warms their hearts about the Church. BUT, they are then heading out of their doors, to build heart connections with those who have left Catholicism, left the parish, never had any religious practice, are lonely or hurting...to let them know they belong heart-to-heart, to the people of the parish and therefore to God.
In our nation, characterized by deep division, and in our Church, echoing that same divisiveness, Immaculate Conception is setting out to strengthen the bonds between people, to build bonds where none exist for all the reasons that happens, to offer bridges and companionship, to listen with their hearts and eventually, to listen to the Holy Spirit tell them how to respond to what they hear. It's a glitter of hope within their parish, and like glitter, far beyond it. Parents to distant children, neighbor to neighbor, former parishioner to parishioner, leaders to people, people to teens and children...listening and creating heart bonds that begin to restore the tapestry of humanity.
For as the first paragraph of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World says, nothing human fails to echo in the hearts of those who follow Jesus. Immaculate Conception has found a pathway and agents to head out on it...spreading glitters of hope!
And now, it's your turn. What glitters of hope are you seeing, sharing in, creating? Let's shine a light on them as we become pilgrims of hope! Share your glitters here!
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