Blessed Michael McGivney – pray for us!
by Fr. Gary Studniewski, Associate State Chaplain
On this first feast day of Blessed Michael McGivney all Knights of Columbus are thankful to Almighty God for the heroic virtues of our founder and the inspired principles that he used to ground our worldwide order, especially unity and charity.
Father McGivney’s life (38 years) and priestly ministry (12 Years) mirrored that of our Lord Jesus, not only in its brevity, but in its import for building the Kingdom of God. Jesus prayed that “all may be one” in the unity of the Godhead, and he gave us the universal precept of charity as the Church’s lodestar. Father McGivney instituted our order with the same principles of unity and charity that still expands the hearts of millions of Knights and enlarges our vision for the good of the world. Now that is a legacy!
With all of you, I am so proud to be a Catholic and a Knight, dedicated to the divinely commissioned work of building the Kingdom of God. That Kingdom must be inclusive of all of God’s children. The Church encompasses men of every nation, race, and culture. And the Knights of Columbus is ordered to do the same. Just look at the marvelous unity in diversity of the Knights of Columbus in the District of Columbia! We are men of different races, economic, educational, and social backgrounds. Yet, together, we manifest a unity and a fraternity that transcends our individual stations. We bond together, as brothers in the Lord, to fulfill the sacred obligation of our founder, charity.
Knights of Columbus are such a force for good in the world, as our District Knights are for the good of our local community. Father McGivney, modelling Christ, dedicated himself to touching the lives of those who needed a helping hand. We continue his legacy. Our unity, our fraternity, is ordered to this end—to offer ourselves in service to the Church in expanding the Kingdom where all are welcome, and all are cared for.
On this feast day of Blessed McGivney, we ask for his intercession, that we may be worthy Knights that expand, not only his legacy, but the mission of our Savior, to reach out to souls for inclusion in the Kingdom of God.
Pray for us, Blessed Michael McGivney, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
