Wake Up and Smell the Incense

Rebecca just sent me this statistic, released on Friday from the Office for Research and Planning in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia:

"There are 1,204,818 registered Catholic parishioners in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. In addition, in parishes where there is a large unregistered population, Pastors estimate that there are another 87,804 unregistered parishioners. There are other unregistered Catholic people living in universities, institutions and other group settings and others who identify themselves as Catholic but are not counted in this report. The most current estimate of all Catholic people (registered and unregistered) is 1,458,642."

That's just NUTS.

1,458,642 Catholics in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia alone....

Not to don those 'ole cranky pants again, but..... what difference are we making?

Why is Philadelphia slowing becoming the murder capital of the country? Why is the "City of Brotherly Love" an expression always said sarcastically these days? What's with all the getting and spending, the bitterness and the laziness and the rampant desecration of the sacrament of my neighbor? What's going on??!!

Could you imagine if all of us, all 1,458,642 of the Catholics here in Philadelphia, were on fire with faith, open to the power of the Holy Spirit, unashamed and giddy at the thought of loving Jesus and serving others as He has served us? Taking time to pray each day..... 1,458,642 souls praying all over the five counties, being still, asking the deeper questions, looking for ways to love and serve God and others... wanting and willing to be become SAINTS! No matter what the cost! I can only imagine...

Oh man, we need to wake up and smell the incense! We are called to be a light to the nations, salt of the earth, leaven in the midst of a flat and tasteless materialistic culture!


The story goes that the Devil appeared to Saint John Vianney one day, the man so renowned for his faithfulness and devotion to the confessional and to counselling others. "If there were three souls like you in the world," the Devil said, "My kingdom would fall."

What the?! Only three saintly souls, THREE open and ready to do the Master's bidding, to follow His lead into Calvary, to run a rescue mission for the lost and lonely hearts out there, and they could take out Satan?

1,458,642.....

Let's start with 1.