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Why Catholic? Meet Bishop Edward C. Malesic
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Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special

News of the Diocese

March 8, 2021

Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special
Bishop’s visit to St. Francis of Assisi Parish makes pastor’s birthday special

As parishioners filed into St. Francis of Assisi Church in Gates Mills on March 7, they thought it was for a regular Sunday morning Mass.

But instead of the pastor, Father Steve Flynn, or Father Peter Kovacina, the parochial vicar, processing in, they were surprised to see Bishop Edward Malesic joining Father Flynn to celebrate Mass for the Third Sunday of Lent.

Father Flynn introduced the bishop and welcomed him to the parish for his first visit.

“It’s good to be here at St. Francis Parish. I appreciate your warm welcome,” the bishop said. He also offered his thanks to Father Flynn, Father Kovacina, Deacon William Elwood and the lay staff for their work to make the parish a place of worship, service and evangelization in the Diocese of Cleveland. “It is good to be out and about.”

In addition, the bishop noted that it was Father Flynn’s 40thbirthday and wished him a happy birthday – a sentiment echoed by many parishioners after Mass.

The first reading told the story of how the Jewish people escaped Pharaoh’s clutches and were wandering in the desert. Instead of being grateful that they had escaped slavery, they were grumbling. “We are sometimes like that, too – wandering and grumbling,” the bishop said. However, they deserved the benefit of the doubt because their existence was hard. The desert was hot, dry and dangerous and they weren’t sure where they were going.

Worse than their grumbling, he said they began to doubt and ask if the Lord was in their midst. God can – and does – use our doubts to strengthen our belief in him, Bishop Malesic said. However, some doubts led to despair and those that we allow to cling to us and drag us into unbelief – the ones that make us stop looking for an answer to the question of God – these types of doubts are never good for the soul, he said. “Jesus wants us to find him. He does. Often he is right in front of us,” he added.

In the story of the woman at the well, the bishop explained that she likely was an outcast who had a tough life. Why else would she be alone at the well in the midday heat instead of coming earlier with others while it was cooler, he asked. He noted that Jesus engaged the woman in conversation and she realized that he was special, that she was loved and that God was within her -- so she went and told everyone about Jesus.

“She became an evangelist,” he said, but her conversion was slow. As they engaged in conversation, she gradually opened up to him. “But in the end, she came to know him as “The Christ” – the savior – the source of life. Jesus draws us closer to him year by year until we also say he is our savior. But that fundamental question of God’s existence is always before us. Is the Lord in our midst or not?” the bishop asked. “We must have at least enough faith to want an answer.”

And that leads to another question: Is God with us or against us? Today, we may ask if he will take this pandemic away from us. “Yes, I trust in scientists, but I trust in God even more,” Bishop Malesic said.

He compared us to the Israelites wandering in the desert as we journey through life. And some of us are like the woman at the well searching for something better than what we see and better than this world can provide. In the end, he said we want to know whether Jesus – our creator – still loves us.

“I can assure you that Jesus is standing right in front of you. Certainly, he is in our Eucharist ready to feed you. He is in our Scriptures ready to speak to you. He is in your heart ready to love you. Open the eye of your soul and see him looking at you with eyes of love, just as he looked at the thirsty woman at the well. Let the well of his life-giving spring fill you. And when you doubt, don’t despair,” the bishop said, explaining that Jesus is never far from us.

“Just look and see. And, finally, we might be able to believe in Jesus, not because of the testimony of other people, but because we, too, have come to know him for ourselves as the savior of the world,” he said, adding that is the personal relationship that we long for – and so does Jesus.

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