READYING THE WAY OF THE LORD.....AND THAT OF,"RENEW INTERNATIONAL" AT OLOL...........

With heart-filled Anticipation, Watching for the Coming of the Lord Jesus, during these Advent Days before Christmas, OLOL is also getting ready for the start of, "RENEW", Spiritual Renewal process for the entire parish community.  Revitalizing the very core of our everyday spirituality as believers in Jesus The Christ, and as members of the Catholic Church He founded, and this Parish, it is vitally essential we renew ourselves spiritually, personally, and communally, to be the People of God we have been called, chosen, sanctified, and redeemed, to be.  We will begin Season One in January, with part one of, "Longing For The Holy".  Using the resources of RENEW International and the writings and insights of Father Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I., " 'Longing For The Holy', is for those who want to enrich their sense of the presence of God and develop a deeper spirituality.  It concerns the way we channel the deep longing at the core of our being and explores the implications of the central mysteries of faith - the Incarnation, the Eucharist, and the Paschal Mystery, - for spiritually.  Attending to the cultural challenges that keep us from realizing our true desire, it considers the important themes of Church, Community, Justice, Sexuality, the practices of the  Spiritual Life, and being a Mystic of the everyday".  There will be general parish weekly meetings and in time hopefully a number of parishioner small groups meeting in the neighborhoods comprising OLOL Parish, Del Paso Heights, Rio Linda, Elverta, Robla, and this area of, Sacramento.  The RENEW International Ministry has accomplished this in the United States and 23 other countries, since 1978, touching the lives of 25 million people.  I am personally and pastorally optimistic that the success RENEW has had in the Diocese of Sacramento and parishes internationally, will also take place here, as we commit ourselves to the spiritual renewal we need to grow, strengthen, sustain, and grace, OLOL Parish for the paths of Life and Faith that are now and ever before us...........Fr. Troy