Hi Folks,
What a huge weekend this is. The Feast of the Ascension of Christ & the weekend of commitment for our Building a Future of Hope campaign. I promise you these two dates do not coincide on purpose, but I'm glad they have. The Feast of the ascension is all about HOPE. And we are in the process of sacrificing some of our treasure to empower future generations find hope in their faith by what we build and by the ministries of our parish and archdiocese.
It took me a while to get a bit of a grasp upon the meaning of this feast that we celebrate today. (I know I'm sort of dense, but I can understand deep theological concepts if you talk slow enough.) But I see the Feast of the Ascension as a celebration of hope. One of the prayers we pray at Mass today says "that where (Jesus) has gane, we hope to follow". So we have hope today that we too will enjoy eternal life with Jesus and God the Father and the Communion of the Saints, becasuse Jesus has blazed the path for us. I also find a lot of hope in the belief that Jesus was a full blown human being just like you and me AND now he is also GOD in HEAVEN forever. This gives me a lot of hope and comfort to realize that God has a human face & skin. It makes me pray easier knowing that the God I'm talking to was tempted like me, loved and was loved like me, suffered worse than I can ever imagine suffering, and defined what it means to sacrifice for God and others. Having a God in Heaven who was human makes a difference in the way I live and believe. God gives me HOPE.
I have been very inspired by your participation in the Building a Future of Hope campaign. YOU GIVE ME HOPE. Your generous sacrifices for the sake of our archdiocese and for our parish are simply awe inspiring. I couldn't begin to imagine the total of hours that more than 325 of you have sacrificed to make this campaign work. All of the effort that you have given to planning, meetings, setting things up, taking things down, stuffing, writing, editing, refining, mailing, phone calling, counting, scheduling and on and on. THANKS!!!!!!!! You are also very very generous with sacrificing your treasure. No other parish in the Archdiocese is responding to this campaign like you are. I am humbled and honored to be your pastor. Thanks for filling me with hope of this Feast of Hope!
paz,
Fr. Chuck
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Thanks Mom(s)!!!!!!!!
Hi folks,
Thank God for the wonderful celebration of Mothers Day. It is the most popular day for the restaurant industry, the flower stores and in the memory departments of most of us. Graduates refer to their schools as their “Alma Mater” which literally means “Nourishing mother”. Religious orders refer to their foundation buildings as “Mother Houses”. Miners hitting a large strike of ore would call that hitting the “Mother Load”. We refer to this planet as “Mother Earth”. We even call our Catholic faith Holy Mother Church. There is something precious, like gold, nourishing, sustaining and stable about the vocation of being a mother. I thank God for the gift of my Mom and later today I’ll go to St. Francis of Assisi cemetery and pray the rosary with her again.
In the reading from the Gospel of John today Jesus says that He wills to give us peace, but not as the world gives peace. I believe that was a gift my Mom had. She was the disciplinarian of the family. She and Dad discussed proper punishments for my misbehaviors, but she was normally the one who meted out the proper punishment. Of course, as a child I thought all punishment was harsh and unfair. But now I see how Mom and Dad made me a man of faith and strong values. They practiced, “let the punishment fit the crime.” I’m now glad they did. I remember in high school when several of my classmates all agreed that if they had the chance to switch mothers, they would all choose mine. I thought they were crazy then. But they saw the love and strength that lay very shallow beneath her disciplinarian disguise. I do too.
Thanks Moms for your vocation as our Mothers. I’ll pray part of my rosary today for you too.
paz,
Fr. Chuck Walker
Thank God for the wonderful celebration of Mothers Day. It is the most popular day for the restaurant industry, the flower stores and in the memory departments of most of us. Graduates refer to their schools as their “Alma Mater” which literally means “Nourishing mother”. Religious orders refer to their foundation buildings as “Mother Houses”. Miners hitting a large strike of ore would call that hitting the “Mother Load”. We refer to this planet as “Mother Earth”. We even call our Catholic faith Holy Mother Church. There is something precious, like gold, nourishing, sustaining and stable about the vocation of being a mother. I thank God for the gift of my Mom and later today I’ll go to St. Francis of Assisi cemetery and pray the rosary with her again.
In the reading from the Gospel of John today Jesus says that He wills to give us peace, but not as the world gives peace. I believe that was a gift my Mom had. She was the disciplinarian of the family. She and Dad discussed proper punishments for my misbehaviors, but she was normally the one who meted out the proper punishment. Of course, as a child I thought all punishment was harsh and unfair. But now I see how Mom and Dad made me a man of faith and strong values. They practiced, “let the punishment fit the crime.” I’m now glad they did. I remember in high school when several of my classmates all agreed that if they had the chance to switch mothers, they would all choose mine. I thought they were crazy then. But they saw the love and strength that lay very shallow beneath her disciplinarian disguise. I do too.
Thanks Moms for your vocation as our Mothers. I’ll pray part of my rosary today for you too.
paz,
Fr. Chuck Walker
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