That Your Joy May Be Complete pt. 2

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post featuring my bishop’s pastoral letter entitled “That Your Joy May Be Complete.” My bishop wrote this letter to mark the 25th anniversary of his conversion to Catholicism. He writes about seven things in the Church that he takes joy in as a bishop and they are things that each Catholic has access to as well. In my previous post I offered a summary of the first thing within the Church that my bishop finds joy in: The Holy Eucharist.

The second aspect that my bishop has experienced joy in is prayer. He describes the different types of prayer that he finds solace and consolation in. He gives the analogy of daily prayer as the light for our day. Without light we can do very little and the same goes for the spiritual life. If we do not foster our own personal prayer life, it becomes difficult to carry on a healthy relationship with God. If there is one thing that I have noticed about my bishop is that he is a man of deep prayer. This came most recently at our ordination liturgies and although I was serving the mass, it was very easy to pray because of his ability to preside and allow the different aspects of the liturgy to sink in.

The third aspect of our faith that my bishop reflects on is the joy found in the liturgy of the Church. While still “investigating” the Catholic Church he would sit in Mass and “the presence of God engulfed me.” One of the first things that we do when we enter into the Mass is ask God for his loving mercy and forgiveness. Bishop Swain emphasizes God’s mercy because, although he is a successor of the apostles, he is still a man in need of God’s forgiveness. After the first ordination liturgy he presided over, he was made aware of the responsibility that had been placed on his shoulders.