SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: This past week I took my leadership team at St.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph to Houston, Texas.
SPEAKER_00: We asked, why would you take them to Houston, Texas in this blazing summer heat?
SPEAKER_00: I wanted them to experience purgatory.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: I took them to a leadership conference called the Amazing Parish Leadership Summit.
SPEAKER_00: And the summit really lived up to its name.
SPEAKER_00: It was truly amazing.
SPEAKER_00: There were over 250 priests from across the country and beyond other countries as well.
SPEAKER_00: There were seven bishops who were there, as well as probably a couple of thousand lay leaders across the United States and beyond.
SPEAKER_00: Even there was even a group that came from Fiji.
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, you're coming here, we would like to go over there too.
SPEAKER_00: But the whole point of this leadership summit was to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, to discern his will for our lives and for our parish communities.
SPEAKER_00: And so we came back yesterday, we arrived, and right now we're in the process of discerning, okay, what are some of the things that we learned during this leadership summit that we can apply to our parish?
SPEAKER_00: So in the next days and weeks and months, I would love to ask for your prayers for our community and especially for our leadership, that we discern where the Holy Spirit is calling us to go with this renewed uh vision that we learn.
SPEAKER_00: I'll just share like one thing that stuck out.
SPEAKER_00: There's a I have a whole list of things that I wrote down, but I'll share just one thing that really stuck out to me during this conference.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things the speakers were saying is that if you want your community, your parish to be transformed, you first, your staff, your team, your leaders, they all have to be transformed first.
SPEAKER_00: Each and every single person, every staff member, every leader, every vote, we have to be transformed first if we want to bring transformation and renewal to our parish community.
SPEAKER_00: That was one thing that really jumped out at me during the conference.
SPEAKER_00: So please pray for us as we continue unpacking the things that we learned over these past few days.
SPEAKER_00: You know, yesterday we celebrated a great feast.
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys remember the feast of yesterday?
SPEAKER_00: Transfiguration, right?
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't that also a summit experience?
SPEAKER_00: It was a mountaintop experience, right?
SPEAKER_00: Just like we experienced a mountaintop, a summit experience.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it's very good to step back from the day to day, step back from daily living, step back from ministry, to go up to the mountain, to experience Jesus in a new way.
SPEAKER_00: To experience his, well, what happened when they went up the mountain?
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus do there?
SPEAKER_00: He was transfigured, right?
SPEAKER_00: He became glorified.
SPEAKER_00: They saw Jesus in a new way so that they could come back down the mountain, still carrying their cross, but with renewed faith and renewed vision.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think it's it was true for our leadership team to experience that.
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's also true for us.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe if it's been a while since you've had a mountaintop experience, for example, like going to a retreat, uh experiencing a Curcio, uh, coming to Alpha, which also has a retreat experience, I'd like to invite you to experience that.
SPEAKER_00: You feel like, okay, I've been going to Mass every day, it's kind of a day-to-day thing, but I haven't had a mountaintop experience for a little while.
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to encourage you to experience something like that.
SPEAKER_00: So a couple of action items as I bring this homily to a close.
SPEAKER_00: First thing, please pray for our parish and especially for our leadership, and especially for me, that we truly discern the voice of the Holy Spirit, the voice of God in our lives leading our community.
SPEAKER_00: And second, if it's been a little while since you've had a mountaintop experience, a retreat, I'd like to invite you to consider that.
SPEAKER_00: To listen to God in a new way, so that we can come back down the mountain with renewed faith and renewed vision.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.