Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I've been talking a lot lately about prayer and how utterly necessary it is in our lives. The fact of the matter is that God desires to communicate His love to us, and there's no reason why we shouldn't want to receive this love to the deepest degree possible! Of course, sometimes we desperately want to receive it and we may try really hard to do so, but it seems as if we're left waiting and if God isn't listening or answering. As you all know, I'm on a pilgrimage to Rome with a group of our parishioners. As I write this I'm sitting on the plane waiting for takeoff and it is 1:00am Monday morning as our 8:30pm Sunday evening flight has been majorly delayed! We all prayed for a quick resolution to the problem, and God answered: He said "No." But the beautiful thing is that all of us in the group know and believe that God has beautiful plans for us for our future and that even though God isn't working within our desired timeline, that He knows best. The worst thing that we could do would be to give up on Him because things aren't going our way. If right now you're praying and it seems as if God isn't answering, don't give in to the lie that it's because He isn't listening! HE IS and He is always working for your good at every moment just like the aircraft workers were working behind the scenes during the delay. So keep praying, keep trusting, and I look forward to seeing you all next week when I get back (after we actually leave that is!)

God bless, Fr. Romke