Catholic Lite

Today is the (transferred) feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This year we had a bit of a shake-up when we started off thinking it was not obligatory when transferred to Monday, but then come to find out it is obligatory. So what did some Bishops in these USA do? They gave their people a dispensation to skip it. Ugh.

I do not know their reasons (and probably do not want to), but the principle of making Catholicism as easy as possible is rampant today. I am not trying to make the Catholic faith as hard as possible, but we have got to stop being so horribly nice to people. It seems as though many Bishops and Priests are afraid that someone might be unhappy with them for telling them to live the faith even if it is inconvenient.

It is always a joy to my heart when I hear a parishioner say to me (as I did a few times in the past week) something akin to, "I will do as you say, but can you please help me understand why this is so hard?" This should always be our attitude. It goes right along with the Blessed Virgin's words, "Let it be done to me according to Thy word". Let us seek obedience, not convenience.