The Long Slow Work of God

Dear Friends,

In the readings this week we will hear that God cultivates patiently and lovingly. When a disciple’s heart and mind are conformed to God’s ways, fruitfulness and a good harvest are the result. The launch of our Pepper Tree Gathering space last weekend was evidence of this long, slow work of God. I was privileged to witness the patience and creativity of parishioners who brought this beauty to life over the course of months. So many details! A big thank you to Charlie and Sanja Bogue for leading the way!  

In a similar way, Michael, Kevin, and Carlos (see cover) journeyed through their novitiate year, opening themselves to the Spirit and God’s patient cultivation of their hearts as friars. They have made their first vows as Franciscans and are headed toward their next experiences of missionary formation, new responsibilities and studies.  

The long slow work of God is captured well in these words of Jesuit paleontologist Pierre de Chardin: 

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through some stages of instability —
and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually — let them grow..

Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.

May the Lord give us peace!

Gratefully,

Father Dan ofm, Pastor