The Church is standing the test of time and we are growing. For our diocese, The Little Way, may this summer be a time of peace, thanksgiving, and welcoming hospitality.

I write this from Orlando, enjoying the sunshine and fellowship of the USCCB at our annual June gathering. This message will be short and sweet. God is good, the Church is in good hands, we have a wonderful Holy Father.

Summer has arrived, with its promise of recreation and rest. This is a special time to give thanks to God for all the gifts that are given, and to plan the next months as special occasions of grace.

This month marks the one-year anniversary of the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost as Pope. It has been exciting following our very own American-born Pope through his first year – although what has most edified me is that Leo XIV has not allowed himself to be pigeonholed as an “American Pope.” He is a missionary who belongs first to the Lord and, for his sake, to the entire world.

The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops will soon gather for the June Assembly in Orlando. On Thursday June 11 the U.S. bishops, united in prayer, will officially consecrate the United States of America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (the Solemnity is June 12) in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of our country.

It is in faith that we learn of the hidden, invisible dynamics of the supernatural realm, the divine wind that breathes heaven through our soul into creation, and the most important reality of our lives: God loves us, God is with us, God will never give up on us.

All signs throughout the diocese pointed to a blessed celebration of the Holy Triduum, and so it was. Throughout the preparation of the Lenten Season, and into Holy Week, we were led into new signs of resurrection in our hearts, families, and parishes.

As many are aware, according to canon 401 of the Code of Canon Law, bishops are requested to submit a letter of resignation to the Supreme Pontiff upon reaching their 75th birthday. Accordingly, prior to my own 75th birthday of March 3, I have submitted that letter to Pope Leo XIV via the Papal Nunciature. My present status as Bishop of Pueblo continues until my resignation is accepted by the Holy See, and my replacement is announced.

I was struck by the pressures and anxieties experienced by young people today, and by the number of times the speakers tried to convince them to believe in God’s personal, unconditional love. I started to wonder why this message was being repeated with such insistence. It seemed a little cheesy. Doesn’t God’s love go without saying?

We have just celebrated the Rite of Election in Pueblo, and I am now on a prior scheduled retreat with brother bishops in Florida. These Rites will be completed in Durango and Grand Junction upon my return, and I wish to share some thoughts about their significance.

This Wednesday we shall take the ashes in the form of the cross on our forehead. We begin the forty days of Lent with the reminder of our mortality, as dust unto dust, and our salvation, the cross of Jesus Christ. The symbolism is powerful.

Who exactly was St. Valentine? His identity is sketchy, at best. Two saints of the same name are honored as Roman Martyrs – one who was a bishop of Terni, Italy, and the other a priest and physician in Rome. More than likely, St. Valentine, as pointed out in Butler’s Lives of the Saints, was a Roman priest who assisted martyrs under the persecution of Claudius II.

We have experienced the blessings of the Nativity, the Holy Family and the Epiphany, and now, with the Baptism of Jesus, we move into Ordinary Time. In a few weeks, we will be entering the season of Lent. Although we will be given hints of what lies ahead for Jesus and for those who are his disciples, during this interim period our readings invite us to reflect on what it means to encounter him and become his disciple.

All gifts will lead to a new relationship with God, a new plan, a new king; clearly, God’s king, beginning here: with a little child to guide them.

I recently returned from the annual Baltimore assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. One urgent message released nationally from this meeting was a letter, composed and approved in assembly, regarding many concerns about the present state of detention and processing of immigrants, whether documented or not.

The Diocese of Pueblo has a new hire!

On this past Monday morning in Baltimore, the Bishops of the United States began the November Plenary Conference in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. As we have followed the path of Pope Francis through this Jubilee Year of Hope, so now we have been gathered under the leadership of our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV.

In the 2017 animated movie Coco, inspired by the Mexican holiday Dia de los muertos, we hear sung, “Remember me, though I have to say ‘good-bye.’ Remember me, don’t let it make you cry. For even if I’m far way, I hold you in my heart… remember me.”

I tend to be very literal, and I have a tendency to not believe unless I see it with my own eyes. Nevertheless, like I was taught from toddlerhood, I believe in God, Heaven and all the things I was taught, but I believed them in a subconscious sort of way. Because they tell me to believe. So, when praying the Rosary in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary, I was praying to that statue I was looking at. Not to an invisible person dwelling in an invisible Heaven.

In his first public Exhortation, Delixit te--- I Have Loved You, Pope Leo has announced the foundation of his papacy, a renewal of our commitment to our relationship with Jesus Christ.