It’s Thursday, September 19th, and we’re just returning from our pilgrimage to Medjugorje. Those of you who were following along on petersboat.net will have some sense of our time there.

You may recall my telling you last weekend that I travelled here on pilgrimage with some people of the parish. We left last Tuesday and will be returning on the evening of the 18th.

When my sister and I were little, our mother would show us a video about Medjugorje. “Look at these children,” she would say to us. “They’re seeing the Blessed Mother. She’s appearing to them from heaven.”

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about how grace breaks in - how grace just shows up.

Have you ever heard of the town in Pennsylvania called, Centralia? Neither had I, but I learned of it this week. The YouTube algorithm gods deigned to reveal to me the little known story of this mysterious place, and I’m glad they did. It is amazing.

“Father, will we ever have a Youth Group here at the parish?”

Yes! In fact, next Sunday, the 25th, Natalie Niemann and I will be hosting a Meet & Greet in the Siena Room following the 12 PM Mass for young adults who are interested in belonging to a team of youth ministers for the teens of the parish.

I know that Mother Teresa famously said that God wasn’t calling her to be successful, but to be faithful. But it is nice to know that sometimes God gives us the grace to be successful too! This past week, our annual parish summer camp was a great success!

I know my parents are not perfect. That might be self-evident to others, but I need to admit that. I need to permit that, and even to love that. Because it seems to me that the perfect love of God can come to us when we allow ourselves to be loved imperfectly by others, and that the fear of being ashamed of the imperfection of our family is not from God.