When is Easter this year?????

Hello Friends!

[In an article in The Christian Century, history professor Steve Ware asks the question, “When Is Easter this year?”

For those of you who didn’t learn this in confirmation class, the date of Easter corresponds to the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Seriously!?

In his article, Ware explains how this came to be. Here’s the short version of the story: In 325 A.D., Constantine, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, convened the Council of Nicea. Among the business before the council was to establish a uniform date for Easter. Out of the discussion and debate came the “Easter Rule,” setting Easter, as I said, on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. As is often the case with church councils, the decision was not unanimous. The Eastern bishops wanted to schedule Easter in conjunction with the Jewish Festival of Passover since, after all, Jesus went to Jerusalem, in the first place, to celebrate Passover. The Western bishops preferred a date corresponding with the beginning of spring, because that was the time already established for a lot of pagan celebrations, and they figured to capitalize on the momentum. This is why, to this day, we have such things as the Easter Bunny and colored eggs associated with Easter. Well, on this, and other issues, the church eventually split. To this day, we, who are descendents of the Western line of Christendom, use a different calendar than the Eastern Orthodox churches. Sometimes our celebration of Easter falls on the same day, and sometimes it varies by as much as five weeks!]

So when is Easter this year? Easter always comes as a surprise to us. Just as Mary and the other women were surprised at the empty tomb, God surprises us with Easter when we least expect it. Some of us may be dealing with the news of a loss of a job, or having to move, or bad news from the doctor, or the words “I don’t love you any more!”, or deployment, or a host of other crucifixions that we may be dealing with. Easter happens when God surprises us with hope and joy even in the most difficult of all circumstances. Easter happens when we see that we are loved more by God even when we feel dirty and unloved. Easter happens when we know God’s forgiveness and peace. The light at the end of the tunnel is when Easter happens. Easter happens when we realize that Christ really does feed us with His life at Eucharist. Easter happens each time that we are encouraged to pray “Oh Lord! I am not worthy!”

Let us each be open to Easter every time it comes to us this year!

Paz,
Fr. Chuck

Hello Friends,

It’s Final Four time! Most of the “talking heads”, including our President, had mostly the number one seeds advancing to Houston. However, as we all know, none of the “best” seeded teams are in. Not even a number two seeded team made it for a chance to play for college basketball’s ultimate title.

I think it is hilarious that Virginia Commonwealth is one of the four teams. On the evening of Selection Sunday, the expert commentators were offended that they were even in the tournament at all. They railed against the selection committee for even considering them as worthy to play at all. Their resumes were not nearly as good as many of the other teams that were not chosen. They had no wins against quality opponents. Their league was weak. No one could even see them winning the play in game that they had to play in order to receive an eleven seed. Yet here they are still playing, while nearly everyone else is on the outside looking in. They believed that they were capable and deserving of being with college basketball’s elite. And now we see that they are.

Usually we think that seeing is believing. St. John’s Gospel and people with deep faith show us that believing is seeing. In the New Testament the word “believe” is used 238 times. In the Gospel of John “believe” appears 98 times. To Jesus, in St. John’s Gospel, belief was the most important quality a person could receive as a gift from God. He tells the Apostles after His Resurrection, “blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Believing that Jesus can help him see enables the blind man in the Gospel to see. Disbelief is the reason why the Pharisees and scribes can not see who Jesus really is. Belief helped Mother Theresa to see the face of Christ in the dying and the miserably poor of the world. Believing that we are capable of receiving God’s grace, compassion, and forgiveness opens the doors for God’s grace into our lives. Believing that all human life is from God, helps us see the unborn, the elderly, our enemies, the poor, criminals, and everyone as sacred and precious.

Believing helps us see God, others, the world, and ourselves as God sees. Today, let all of our prayers include the prayer from Scripture, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!”

paz,
Fr. Chuck

I Double Dog Dare you!!!

Hi Folks!

The interaction between Jesus and the Devil in the Temptation story from St. Matthew's 6th chapter remind me of the dare games we used to play in grade school. The grade school version of this game has become icon-ized in the movie A Christmas Story. It's the scene where all of the kids are out on the playground during a recess. One boy "double dog dares" another to stick his tongue to the icy flag pole with predictable but very funny results. Eventually the fire department has to be called in to "un-stick" the screaming young man's tongue from the icy pole. The final scene is of the young man back in the classroom with a bandage tied around his tongue (all because of a dare).

Our temptations are like dares! They sound good and exciting at that moment, but the repercussions can be awfully painful or hell to live with if we succumb to temptation. Temptations are also usually pretty attractive to us. Otherwise they would have no power to persuade to try them. The Devil knows how to hit us where we are most vulnerable.

In the temptation story from the Gospels, Jesus responds to Satan's attractive temptations with Truth and directness. He can do this because of His very firm and sure relationship with His own Father. All of Jesus' answers reflect a trust that only a Son can have in a rock steady and reliable Father. In many ways Jesus' three responses to Satan can be summed up in one statement; "My Father is bigger than your temptations!"

The Good News for you and me is that we have the same Father that Jesus has. Therefore we have the same possible response to temptations as Jesus had. As attractive and even lucrative that every temptation that tries to seduce us into its web; God has a bigger, better, and more eternal possibility for us. It may be a harder choice to live with, but it is the only choice that can give us real peace and real joy. We all have had experiences of wanting some material or carnal thing so badly that we've lost ourselves to it. Then when we've gotten the thing that we've so desired we've found out that it did not bring us all of the happiness and satisfaction that we thought it had promised us. Only God can do that. But it takes a lot of falling for temptations to figure that out.

It is Lent, and time to renew our efforts at trying to counter our temptations with God's ways. It begins the same way as it did with Jesus Himself. It all starts with a trusting and intimate relationship with His Father and our Father. That's what Lent is about. Yes we do sacrifices. Yes we try to do some extra "holy" and charitable stuff. But ultimately Lent is preparing us for a deeper love and understanding of what God does to show His love for us; Nourishment Forever: Forgiveness; Sacrifice; Eternal Life.

Take some time to develop that relationship this Lent!

paz,
ME

Well Shiver Me Tenders.....

Hi Folks,

I was awoken this morning by the sound of storms coming through Cecilia. I turned on the TV and saw that I was not in much danger, but that there were tornadoes in Southern Indiana, in Eminence, Kentucky, and perhaps in Adair County. Later in the morning the news channels were already showing pictures of flattened houses. When I got to the office and read this weekend’s readings, about the houses that were built on rock and sand, it made me think again of my early morning wake up call.

The folks that help promote Habitat for Humanity say that the houses that they build are better built than other houses. There proof is that, when Hurricane Hugo blew ashore just south of Miami, the only houses that survived the devastation were the Habitat homes. There thinking is that both the volunteers that built the houses were so inexperienced at building homes, that when a joint called for two or three nails to be hammered there, they would hammer in 4 or 5 nails. They also believed that their houses were built on the faith in God of those same volunteers. I’m sure that the Habitat homes in Homestead, Florida were built on sandy ground, just like every other building in Florida is built on sandy ground. But, the reason why the Habitat homes survived in areas where no other homes survived has to be their true foundation.

Again the Gospel of Matthew calls us to build our lives on a trusting relationship with God. “Anyone who hears my Words, and puts them into practice, is like the wise man who built his house on the rock.” We can say we are faithful all that we’d like, but until we are willing to take the risk of living our faith we are just making noise. We say that the Church or somebody needs to do more to help others; or it needs to be more involved in respecting all human life; or we need to invite back those who have left the Church because of the abuse scandal or for some other reason; or we need to be more spiritual, or more forgiving, or more responsible, or more aware or the needs of all of its members and the needs of the community. Guess what? If you think that it needs to be done, DO IT! Make it important by committing to it. If it is meant to be then the Holy Spirit and the helping hands of others will make sure it gets done.

Our faith has been built upon the faith of many saints and relatives going before us. We are called today to be the faithful rock for the next generations.

paz,
Fr. Chuck

"Love your Enemas!"

Hi Friends,

I am not a very patient driver. Although I would not classify myself as a road rage warrior, I do fuss and cuss a lot behind the wheel. I get angry when someone cuts me off. And if the windows are down you might hear my temper being expressed toward the offender. I seem to always be in a hurry to get to my destination. So that makes me even more frustrated when another driver impedes me. (It would probably help if I left for destination five minutes earlier!)

A few years ago I attempted something in Lent that sadly didn’t get carried forward after that Easter. Instead of cussing and fussing at my road “enemies”, I resolved to ask God to bless them. I said a prayer for them. Sometimes I even made the sign of the cross towards them as an act of forgiveness and blessing. I’m sure some of them saw this, but I have no idea if it had any effect on the way they drove. BUT it changed me (for 40 days :o( ) and made me a happier driver. (I think I’ve just talked myself into a renewed Lenten penance.)

The Gospel this weekend is a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is still talking to His crowd about how to really live the Commandments. He continues to say, “You have heard it said…., but I say…..” Today, in particular, He addresses revenge and how we must live love. No more “eye for an eye” or only “love your neighbor” Jesus tells us. Instead, we are to turn our cheeks to violence done toward us and love those who wish us and do us harm. YIKES!

Jesus is setting standards for us that will make us stand out as “different” from the rest of the world. Rather than going along with our society’s understanding that justice is the same as revenge, we are called to help people be better in loving ways. Instead of returning violence done to us personally or as a nation with more violence (through torture, the death penalty, or war), we disciples are called to seek compassion, help, and understanding with our “enemy”.

These are hard teachings, but they are the Word of God that most need to be lived in our day and in our time. And they may have to start being lived in the real and practical world of our own day to day lives; on Ring Road or Dixie Highway while we are driving; or in our families with the misfit or rebel child; or in Church with the fellow member that seems to know what button to push that makes us clinch our jaw.

“LOVE YOUR ENEMIES!” The Commandment never changes! But with the help of God we can change.

peace,
Fr. Chuck

Are You Holier Than a 5th Grader?

Hello Friends!

I got to speak to one of our fifth grade classes about sin this past Monday. It was fun seeing again how 10 and 11 year old minds work. I described sin as the New Testament defines it as “missing the mark”. Whenever we attempt or fail to attempt anything that does not reach its ideal target it is a sin, as St. Paul writes about sin. We can miss the mark by a little bit, as in telling a white lie, or in very serious ways, like taking someone’s life or intentionally trying to hurt someone with our words or actions.

What was entertaining to me about talking to the 5th graders about the topic were the questions afterwards. They had all sorts of “what ifs?” Like: “What if a “certain fifth grader” had a “certain little sister” who tried to push the “certain fifth grader” down the stairs. Would the “certain little 3 year old sister” be committing a sin?” Another example was: “If you were working in a haunted house and scared someone so much that they had a heart attack and died, would that be a sin?” Some of the kids were very serious and I could tell that there were behaviors that they or “someone that they knew” needed to be changed.

Jesus talks to us disciples about a needed change in attitude and behavior today also. In the Gospel from St. Matthew Jesus addresses the crowd on the mountain with His teaching about following the “law”. He says, “I have not come to abolish (the law), but fulfill (it).” Then he improves the commandments and Jewish teachings to say that even having the desire to steal, commit adultery, divorce, tell lies or slander, or wish harm upon another person is as sinful as actually following through with the sinful act. His standards for us disciples to follow are necessarily on a higher plane than others. Later He will say, “To whom much has been given, much will be required.” That statement is directed at us, since we have been given the very life, soul, Body, and Blood of Christ. We also have been given the promise of Eternal Life. With such wonderful gifts come huge responsibilities.

The good news is that we are also loved by the most perfect Forgiver that we can imagine. As imperfectly as we attempt to be good disciples and do as Christ teaches, we have a Loving Father Whom always welcomes and heals a contrite heart. This is not permission to sin though. It is an encouragement to try our best and then trust in the Lord.

paz,
Fr. Chuck

The State of Communion Address

Hello Friends,

A couple of Tuesdays ago our president gave his “State of the Union” address to the entire U.S. Congress and to all of us in this great country of ours. On Sunday, January 23rd we started hearing from the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew. We will continue to hear from the Sermon on the Mount until the beginning of Lent. In many ways the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ “State of Communion” address. From the Beatitudes at the beginning of chapter 5 in Matthew’s Gospel until Jesus tells us to imitate the wise man who built his house on the rock at the end of chapter 7 we have words from the Master on how to put our faith into practice. He tells us how to forgive, love, believe, trust, and live as God would want us to. From the collected words of Christ we hear from His mouth how to live in UNION with each other. The crux of His words tell us to make union with God our 1st priority, and how we treat others and ourselves will fall into place.

This is also the goal of our “Why Catholic?” renewal process that we are about to begin. (Sign up Sunday is next weekend!) During Lent we will study God’s word and the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a parish and in small groups to study and discern how God is calling us to live our Communion in deeper ways. It is a very important and exciting time for us.

We are growing as a parish. We now have more families here at St. James Church than we have ever had. More folks are joining us weekly. We’re on schedule to start building to accommodate our growth. There are folks who have children in school here that only know each other through that ministry. There are people who are sitting on one side of the Church for Mass who have no idea who are sitting at the other side of Church. There are some of us who are involved in the St. Vincent de Paul Society who are unaware of others who are volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. A lot of us grew up in a time when the catechetics and formation in the Church was at a time of flux. Now it is time to grow as a parish where it really matters.

“Why Catholic?” comes at an important time for us. We need this time of renewal to help us to understand our faith more and to grow as a parish. This time of renewal will do at least three things for us. 1. We will have a chance to learn about Sacred Scripture and the teachings of our Church. 2. We’ll get to know one another better. 3. Spiritually we will be a better parish because we will each become holier people.

God seeks Communion with us! Prayerfully, let us enter this time openly so that we can be in union with God and one another.

paz,
Fr. Chuck

Be the 1st one on your block to be a T. Tude!!!!!!

“Is that your final Answer?”

That is the question that Regis Filburn used to ask contestants on the popular game show, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”

I thought of that question when I was reading the Beatitudes from St. Matthew’s Gospel. He says to the early community of disciples and to us that only God has the final answer for those who trust in Him.

In normal circumstances people live with grief, poverty, meekness, persecution, insults, hunger, and lack of right relationships with others and with God for a long time (and some time for their entire life time). Those conditions are devastating and life changing. Most of the time people who are grieving, poor, and the other conditions, at the very least, carry those burdens with them forever. Yet Jesus says in the Beatitudes that those folk are BLESSED! It is hard to imagine that someone who is mourning the loss of someone very dear to them would ever consider themselves blessed. And I could probably try to put myself into the shoes of any of the “blessed” people in Jesus’ list and feel either burdened or cursed. But Jesus says, “Blessed are…” all of them. Why?

Because God has the final answer! God promises richness, laughter, comfort, mercy, THE KINGDOM, God’s inheritance, satisfaction, ETERNAL reward, and being with God face to face for disciples willing to trust in God through the turmoil of life. These promises of God are especially for those who are heavily burdened in life. But they are also for us disciples who choose to make the burdens of others our own. When we choose to be empathetic to the grieving, to care for and share with the poor and hungry, to make ourselves humble, to be concerned for those living in violent circumstances, to want peace, collaboration, and good relationships with all of our neighbors in this world and with God, to choose forgiveness over revenge; then we too have the same promise from God. We have the chance to receive rewards that nothing or no one on other can offer. That is God’s final answer!

It may seem foolish in the eyes of the world to believe and trust in something like this but if we look at the life and ministry of Jesus in all four of the Gospels, living the Beatitudes is what He did. He CHOSE to welcome the outcast, to make all people His concern, to want all people to live in harmony with one another, and to suffer insult and persecution for God’s and our sakes. He did so to the point of giving up His entire life for us and so that God’s will could be done. He gave us the model so that we would be able to live the Beatitudes also, and know the beauty of the Resurrection and life with God forever.

The Beatitudes are ideals for us to try to attain. They are glimpses into the mind of God regarding our lives. Knowing God’s “final answer” can help us live the lives we need to live here and now.

Pizza,
Fr. Chuck

"I could be wrong, but I may be right......"

Hello Friends,

Have you seen the front license plates with a Cardinal on one half and a Wildcat on the other? Superimposed over the two school mascots are the words “A House Divided”. That is part of a Gospel quote that completed says, “A house divided against itself will soon fail!” I hope that college sports are never so important in a family that marriages break up on that account.

In the second reading today St. Paul wrote to the new Christians in Corinth who were divided. The rich ones thought that they didn’t have to share with the poor ones in the community. They also believed that they were “more special” than the other new Christians and wanted the best seats at the celebrations for the Lord’s Supper and first pickings of meals that followed. Those who were sailors and prostitutes thought that they could continue their promiscuous lifestyles, which divided them against those who were trying to remain chaste in their commitments. There must have been divisions over where people were getting their religious education, and which of those teachers were the correct ones to follow. Religious snobbery began early on in our Church’s history evidently. So St. Paul wrote to try to stem them divisions and focus his plebes in Corinth on the redeeming sacrifice and the person of Christ.

We are not much different than the folks in Corinth. We too seem to like to think that our brand of Catholicism is the better one to follow. We want to judge as wrong others who either have different ideas about how to live their Catholicism or those who are of a different Christian religion. We want to be right. We want to consider ourselves best. We want to know that we are number one in God’s eyes.

St. Paul’s admonitions to the Corinthians apply to us very well today. We were not baptized into Dorothy Day or Thomas Merton. Nor was Mother Angelica or Padre Pio crucified for us. We are Christ’s! He suffered for each and all of us. We were all baptized into Him. We receive Him at the altar. Let Him be the center of our life. Let’s devote ourselves to serving, following, and loving Him.

If we can make Christ our focus then we will hopefully be more tolerant of other’s differences from us, and we may even begin some humane dialogue with one another.

paz,
Fr. Chuck

Hey, Watch This?

Hello Folks,

As you all might know by now, I am a nature and outdoors lover. I got this avocation hereditarily. Mom passed it on to our whole family, especially her love for birds. Even Dad caught Mom’s bird fever.

When I was pastor of Emmanuel Catholic Church in Albany Mom and Dad would often come to see me at this time of the year. The Army Corp of Engineers would host eagle watching weekends on Dale Hollow Lake while those majestic birds would be wintering there. The Corp would have barges meet bird watchers at the Dale Hollow State Park and then take them out to cruise the lake looking for bald eagles. The first time Mom and Dad came down to do this we called to late to get seats on the barge. So another couple from the parish offered to follow the barges in their runabout so we could participate in the eagle watch. Mom was very excited, I was looking forward to a weekend with them, but Dad was a little apprehensive. I believe Dad thought we were going on a wild goose (eagle) chase. He couldn’t believe that there were bald eagles in Kentucky, even though our hosts, Hal and Betty, and I all attested to seeing eagles while we had been fishing there. So, imagine Dad’s shock when we saw an eagle 50 yards away from us while Hal, he, and I were putting Hal’s boat in the lake. Dad didn’t show surprise often and he was normally not a very talkative man. But when we saw the big bird with a glowing white head and tail chasing a flock of water birds looking for breakfast, Dad’s jaw dropped. Then, when we got to Hal and Betty’s dock to pick up Mom and Betty, Dad kept on saying, “Kitty, I wouldn’t believe it until I saw it! There are eagles here! We saw one as soon as we got to the boat ramp!” He would retell the story to the rest of our family, his sisters, and other friends with the same excitement as the first day he saw an eagle in Kentucky. And somewhere in the story he would always say, “I wouldn’t (or couldn’t, or didn’t believe it until I saw it…”.

St. John the Baptist seems that excited in the Gospel today. He has just baptized the Son of God that he came to foretell. And his excitement keeps on expressing itself: “Look who I’ve seen!” “He’s the One I’ve been talking about!” “He’s the reason I’ve been doing and saying all that I’ve been doing and saying!” “I saw the Holy Spirit come down on Him!” “It’s Him!” “He’s the One!” You can almost see him trying to get the attention of everyone he is trying to tell that the Messiah is here. He points Jesus out and wants everyone else to see what he sees.

This weekend we celebrate Vocation Weekend. All of us share the vocation of pointing out Christ among us in the people and the world around us. One way that we can promote religious and priestly vocations is letting people know that you see something religious or priestly about them. Maybe if you see it in them, then they too will notice it in themselves and pursue it. At first they may not want to believe that you see what you see in them. But once you point out the Godly in someone, I believe the Holy Spirit will help them see it too. Tell someone you know that you see something priestly or religious about them this week.

Paz,
Fr. Chuck

Who are you calling "beloved"?

“This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!”

That is what God the Father said about His Son, Jesus, as He was coming up from the waters of Baptism in the Jordan River. This is what God also says about us as Baptized disciples of Jesus Christ. We who have been immersed in Christ by being baptized are likewise ordained to listen to what God also says about us. If we are in Christ, then we belong to the “belovedness” with which God embraced the human Jesus. We are not divine, but divinely blest into a new identity which has a hook.

It is great to know that we are God’s beloved. Most of the time we find this too hard to believe. We know our sin, our faults, our mistakes, and our meanness. We mistakenly think that there is no way that we can be beloved by God with these flaws and marks on our souls. (Actually I think those thoughts of our inadequacies are temptations that Satan plants in us to make us doubt God.) Yet we are God’s beloved children nonetheless. We are not loved by God because He sees our potential or because He overlooks our sins. God loves us, period! He loved us into being, loves us enough to forgive us, and keeps on loving us. We can’t understand it or earn it. There are no conditions on God’s love.

But there is a hook! If we begin to listen to who God says we are then we are ordained for life to keep listening to God’s voice. That’s the hook. God calls us His “beloved” at birth, then especially at Baptism, and then over and over throughout our lives. God never stops calling us to hear His voice calling us to live as His beloved from conception until being born again into eternal life. Then we’ll understand completely the depths and reality of God’s love. The problem is that God sometimes speaks His love to us through prayer, sometimes through people who are trying to love us, sometimes through strangers on TV, or at times through the Sacraments or sacramental moments where God is trying to get our attention.

Being attentive and aware that God speaks in all sorts of voices and languages is the spiritual work of our lives. Prayer, coming to Mass to be in Communion with God and the People of God, reading scriptures, and studying our faith, are just a few of the ways to keep our souls open to the voice of God. Most of the time God speaks to us through unexpected people and ways, and He speaks at unexpected times. But the time and effort we spend at prayer and study help us hear God better.

As we celebrate this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus at the beginning of a new year let’s spend a little time with God. It could be a nice resolution in fact. Ten minutes reading scriptures, in front of the Eucharist, or even without the radio on in the car may plow the ground that God needs to plant His Word brand new in you. Take the risk of being beloved by God!

paz,
Fr. Chuck