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
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
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
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
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
"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
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
Monday, January 10, 2011
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
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
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
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
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
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