Dear friends,
("Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’.” That line, delivered by the character of Reverend Sykes in To Kill a Mockingbird, is one of the most moving passages in a novel filled with affecting moments.
Atticus Finch, the father in question, is a lawyer who has just lost a case that ensures the death of his client, Tom Robinson. But despite his failure, Atticus—a white man in 1930s Alabama—is revered by the black community for agreeing to take on the defense of Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a white women. In unison, the men and women viewing the trial from the “colored balcony” stand up out of respect for Atticus as he exits the courtroom at the end of the trial.
In 2003 Atticus Finch was voted the greatest hero in American film—ahead of James Bond and Indiana Jones, who, unlike Atticus, never fail to accomplish their missions.
As difficult as it is to accept at times, surely each of knows, not only from characters in literature but from the life of Christ, that true heroism has nothing to do with winning and everything to do with love.)
–Patrice J. Tuohy (From the website PREPARE THE WORD)
Today’s Gospel reading shows us Jesus at the very beginning of His ministerial life. He comes home to Nazareth and reads from the scroll of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. He announces: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Then He boldly claims that this prophecy is fulfilled by His life.
Jesus clearly understood from the beginning that the human life that He was given by God was not to be used for His own purpose. BUT, He was mandated to live to fulfill God’s purposes.
GUESS WHAT? SO ARE WE!
peace,
Fr. Chuck
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord
Hello Friends,
I heard many comments over the past weekend from people complaining about the noise at the Saturday night Mass celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany and our multi-cultural heritage. It seemed that a different baby was vocalizing their unhappiness throughout the whole Mass. The people that approached me seemed upset that I wasn’t upset. My attitude is always that I am happy that they are at Mass making noise than not at Mass at all. Yes, parents could be more prudent about when to walk to the rear of church with an unhappy baby. But, I’m rarely distracted by them. Actually I have not found the child that I cannot be louder than. So bring ‘em on!!!! On the Feast of Epiphany, in fact, I thought it was quite appropriate that we got to celebrate another dimension of how broadly God’s Salvation really reaches. While we were at Mass hearing the music and the Scriptures proclaimed in many languages to represent Christ coming to all the nations of the Earth, we also got to be reminded that Christ has come for all generations of people from our oldest to our youngest parishioners.
This weekend’s Feast of the Baptism of the Lord builds upon the celebrations of Christmas and Epiphany in similar multidimensional ways. Just as Jesus’ availability and offer of Salvation and Eternal Life are universal, so is His calling to responsible lives of discipleship. Discipleship begins with Baptism! When we are Baptized we become part of the Universal Church, the family of God. We are also called to live the life of Christ with the gifts that God has uniquely blessed us. The Sacrament of our Baptism does not end with water on our heads. This Sacrament continues day by day by the ways we live our calling from God. Just as the Father called Jesus to be His Beloved Son from the waters of the Jordan River, we are His Sons and Daughters. We are to be His priests sanctifying and praying for the world. We are His prophets speaking the truth and pointing God out in each person created in His image. We are His kings leading others to God with compassion, mercy and tender care.
On this Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord let us look at ways that we can better live as His disciples.
Peace and Blessings,
Fr. Chuck
I heard many comments over the past weekend from people complaining about the noise at the Saturday night Mass celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany and our multi-cultural heritage. It seemed that a different baby was vocalizing their unhappiness throughout the whole Mass. The people that approached me seemed upset that I wasn’t upset. My attitude is always that I am happy that they are at Mass making noise than not at Mass at all. Yes, parents could be more prudent about when to walk to the rear of church with an unhappy baby. But, I’m rarely distracted by them. Actually I have not found the child that I cannot be louder than. So bring ‘em on!!!! On the Feast of Epiphany, in fact, I thought it was quite appropriate that we got to celebrate another dimension of how broadly God’s Salvation really reaches. While we were at Mass hearing the music and the Scriptures proclaimed in many languages to represent Christ coming to all the nations of the Earth, we also got to be reminded that Christ has come for all generations of people from our oldest to our youngest parishioners.
This weekend’s Feast of the Baptism of the Lord builds upon the celebrations of Christmas and Epiphany in similar multidimensional ways. Just as Jesus’ availability and offer of Salvation and Eternal Life are universal, so is His calling to responsible lives of discipleship. Discipleship begins with Baptism! When we are Baptized we become part of the Universal Church, the family of God. We are also called to live the life of Christ with the gifts that God has uniquely blessed us. The Sacrament of our Baptism does not end with water on our heads. This Sacrament continues day by day by the ways we live our calling from God. Just as the Father called Jesus to be His Beloved Son from the waters of the Jordan River, we are His Sons and Daughters. We are to be His priests sanctifying and praying for the world. We are His prophets speaking the truth and pointing God out in each person created in His image. We are His kings leading others to God with compassion, mercy and tender care.
On this Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord let us look at ways that we can better live as His disciples.
Peace and Blessings,
Fr. Chuck
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Epiphany
In my thirty-one and one half years of being a priest I have never had an assignment as diverse as these three parishes of St. James, St. Ambrose, and St. Ignatius. You all are remarkable in how different you are from any other group of Catholics that I know of. We have every economic range represented in our parishes. I cannot imagine a parish or cluster of parishes with folks from all of the nationalities that you represent, from all of the professions that you hold, from your political stances that you take, and from the cultural backgrounds that you come from.
Also, you all enjoy your Catholic Christian faith with a love beyond words. You express it and take pride in it in ways that inspire and teach me. It is an exciting and humbling role that I have to be the pastor of folks who are so plain and so complicated. I enjoy witnessing how you get along with one another though you all know how very different you are. What you have taught me is that there are many ways to be CHURCH and that there are many ways to be Catholic. I am learning from you that we can be different from one another in deep and diverse ways; but at the same time we can be respectful and even loving toward each other despite (or possibly because of) our differences.
On this Feast of the Epiphany we celebrate that God is our Father and Jesus is our Savior and Brother no matter who we are, no matter where we are from, no matter what we own or fail to own, no matter that none of us are worthy of such great Love.
Peace,
Fr. Chuck
Also, you all enjoy your Catholic Christian faith with a love beyond words. You express it and take pride in it in ways that inspire and teach me. It is an exciting and humbling role that I have to be the pastor of folks who are so plain and so complicated. I enjoy witnessing how you get along with one another though you all know how very different you are. What you have taught me is that there are many ways to be CHURCH and that there are many ways to be Catholic. I am learning from you that we can be different from one another in deep and diverse ways; but at the same time we can be respectful and even loving toward each other despite (or possibly because of) our differences.
On this Feast of the Epiphany we celebrate that God is our Father and Jesus is our Savior and Brother no matter who we are, no matter where we are from, no matter what we own or fail to own, no matter that none of us are worthy of such great Love.
Peace,
Fr. Chuck
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