What is in a name? For us and our Area Catholic Community: a lot!

When tasked with choosing a name for our newly established Area Catholic Community (ACC), Lester Burscheid (Saint Joseph’s, Grey Eagle) proposed the name ‘Five Star.’ This name, when joined to the church and stars logo (designed by Rafael Arias), truly characterized the name and vision for our Area Catholic Community.

On the surface, five star is a common reference to the quality of a product and service; something you might find on an Internet review. While here in our Catholic communities we do strive to live our Catholic Faith with excellence, there is more to the name.

Scripture recounts an important exchange between God and Abraham (Abram):

“Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you [Abram] can. Just so, he added, will your descendants be.” Abram put his faith in the LORD, who attributed it to him as an act of righteousness” (Gn 15:5-6).

Here in the Five Star Area Catholic Community, we are among those stars: the spiritual descendants of Abraham. This is why the Christian faithful may call him, as Saint Paul teaches, “… the father of all of us” (Romans 4:16). With God’s help we strive to live the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and imitate the virtues of Abraham.

Yet, what else do we see in a star?

Stars are bright. They are radiant and visible to be seen. So too, we remember the words of Jesus Who says, “… your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Mt 5:16).

Stars are burning. God uses fire many times to communicate His presence and His power. The tongues of fire settled upon the apostles at Pentecost, and afterwards they were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4). The bush burned before Moses as an emblem of God’s presence but was not consumed. And fire evokes the image of a fervent desire within us to live firstly for God.

Stars are seen both night and day. The good deeds of the Christian Faithful are not to appear only in the difficult, ‘night time’ moments of life, nor are they only to be shine brilliantly from those far away (e.g. – saints, popular figures in the world, etc.) but, like our sun in the sky, they are to illuminate God’s presence especially in the ordinary, brighter moments of life, too. The prophet Daniel writes, “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever” (Dn 12:3).

Lastly, stars are ordered. With power and wisdom God wishes to lead us to Himself. The Psalmist writes, “When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place — What is man that you are mindful of him, and a son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him little less than a god, crowned him with glory and honor” (Ps 8:4-6). We are intelligible persons living in an intelligible world, and God leads us to Himself through such things as beauty, truth and goodness.

Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, and we are His stars. Therefore, with God’s help, we shall strive to illuminate our world through the light of God’s Truth and the radiance of our good deeds.

Holy Mary, Queen of angels and saints, pray for us.