Spiritual fuel

“I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me” Phil 4:13

One of the children from our Faith Formation program made a plate for me with the above quote from St. Paul (Phil 4:13 from today’s second reading) painted on it. What a beautiful and thoughtful gift! And, a truly powerful verse from Scripture. I don’t use it personally as much as I should, but just in the past few days I have suggested it to others a few times. Once was to a devout mother who was trying to summon the strength to deal with her troubled child. Another time I referenced it to a woman who said she was struggling to find the strength to do what is right. My favorite all-time example of Phil 4:13 is the high school volleyball team in Nebraska which used it as their theme for the year and won the state championship!

Christ is the source of strength and the source of goodness. Sometimes at weddings, I say to the couple that they have been good naturally to this point in their relationship, but now their relationship will be off-the-charts good supernaturally. With the Grace of Christ in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, they will be strengthened to do amazing things like sacrifice for each other (and their kids) in small and big ways. The strength I have as a priest is from Christ and the Sacrament of Holy Orders. It’s His power in the sacraments as well as the strength for daily service.

One way to look at our parish is that we are a spiritual fueling station. We offer different grades of fuel (sacraments, prayer, community) from the same company (Christ). It’s the finest quality of fuel in the world with an unlimited quantity. Depending on the size of our tank (openness of heart), it can really last us. Please gas up here when you’re low on spiritual fuel!