My Dearest Parishioners,

With broken hearts this past week we have heard about the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus, God Himself being desecrated in the theft of our parishes’ Tabernacle. Theft always leaves us feeling violated, and we feel violated, but simple theft did not occur – an assault against God occurred in this assault against the Eucharist. People came into our parish and attacked God, not a pretty metal box, God Himself. For this reason, I am inviting us to offer prayers and do penance for those who attacked God in our church and to pray for them the words of Jesus on the cross, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” The eternal hell that awaits these individuals, and each of us who dies with a mortal sin on our soul, is eternal and unimaginable. For this reason, we fervently pray for their conversion and our own ongoing conversion.
As we move forward in considering how to respond to this, we must first ask ourselves, “How does the enemy Satan want us to respond, and how does God want us to respond?” Satan the enemy seeks to move us to hatred for the perpetrators, fear of our community, and for us to close in upon ourselves. Satan always desires the opposite of God, so knowing what Satan wants, we can understand that God desires us to move from hatred for these perpetrators to forgiveness, to move from fear of our community to living with courage in our community, and from closing in on ourselves to reaching out to share the great deeds that God has done for us. We are not called to retreat, but to charge and ride forth in courage with Christ.
We charge forward knowing that from the cross came resurrection and from Romans 9:28 “We know that all things work for good for those who love God.” Not some things. ALL things. Including an attack against the Eucharist and God Himself in the theft of our tabernacle. One way that this event can work for good is that it has everyone talking, and it’s important to consider how we talk about it. Don’t simply say, “The tabernacle was stolen,” say “God was stolen.” A “what” wasn’t stolen from our church, but a “who.” With Mary of Magdalene at the tomb of Jesus we are horrified that He is missing saying, “They have taken my Lord and I don’t know where they laid Him. John 20:13” In no other church can the body of God be stolen. God does not live in any other Protestant or non-denominational church in El Campo, but He does live here. God physically lives here. Do I believe that? Have I taken that for granted? Have I become forgetful of Who I am receiving as I come forward in the Communion line? Have I neglected visiting God here during the week? I pray this assault on God violently shakes us and wakes us up to realize Who we have present here at St. Robert’s and that He is the reason for our existence and the cause of our joy, and the meaning behind everything we are doing here in leading others to God. In this Year of the Eucharist, maybe we can thank God our tabernacle was stolen because it woke us up. Maybe we can appreciate what we have taken for granted and maybe we have been given a golden opportunity to express our belief that GOD PHYSICALLY LIVES HERE AT 512 TEGNER.
Going forward we will be having discussions about how to continue to offer hospitality and keep St. Robert’s as a place of prayer that is open 24/7 while keeping God’s home secure. If you have any recommendations, please present them to Fr. Augustine. Satan would be so happy if this event were to limit people’s access to Jesus in the Eucharist, but Satan’s will will not be done here. God has come to dwell with us in order to be with us, and because of that God lives here. This is God's home and ours.
My beloved parishioners, please know I have been praying for you on this retreat and I have received overflowing graces because of your prayers. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Obviously our enemy Satan is losing in our parish and in our souls because he always lashes out when he is losing, but God always punches back harder. My fellow soldiers in Christ, the victory is not to be determined; it is already won. It is certain. Christ is our victor and he valiantly leads us into battle. We will fire light into darkness and barrage despair with hope until all souls are conquered for Christ. We will not be disheartened. Instead, we will be roused to courage to fight at the side of Christ our King. Squadrons of angels are already in the air, so suit up, get prayed up, “put on the armor of light, hold faith as a shield, to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit" and let’s do this thing! We fight the great battle for souls for the greater glory of God!

Onward!

Your Soldier for Christ,
Fr. Philip Brune