Dear Sisters and Brothers,
The great Christian writer, C. S. Lewis wrote that the most emphatic noise is the one we are trying not to listen to. My grandmother and grandfather lived less than 100 yards from the railroad tracks in St. Mary’s, KY. Trains would go by at all hours of the night. Yet I slept like a lamb when I stayed the night there. That is I slept well until my grandmother started snoring. She had one of those irregular snores. The sound was rafter rattling, and it came in different tones and at different rhythms. While I could easily get used to the roar and rumble of a passing train, Ma Ma Lee’s snoring pierced doors, ceilings, pillows, blankets, and fingers. If we had known then what we know now about sleep apnea, I would have gladly spent my allowance (selfishly) on a breathing machine for her.
In John’s Gospel today, Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” Sometimes that voice of Jesus is like the lulling train noise. Amid the other voices that are going on from the media and that may seem more appealing, the truth of Jesus and the Gospel can be ignored. Our preferring to hear other voices above His call dulls the gentle and challenging voice of Christ. But there are times when God’s call comes at us like a like a piercing siren. As much as we would like to silence it the truth of the Gospel screams at us.
A lot of the times that happens when we are not living the truth and justice of the Gospel. For instance we know that we are all made in the image and likeness of God and that we are all considered children of God. Yet we allow the unborn, the poor, folks with different skin tones, different beliefs, immigrants, and many others be treated as “not valuable”.
The truth and compassion of the voice of Christ screams at us also to tell us how much we are loved and forgiven. Yet the voices of our culture tell us that we are only valuable when we look a certain way, or when we wear certain clothes, or when we comply with certain cultural standards, or when we own an adequate amount of stuff. We let the false voice of Sin be more persuasive than the truth of God.
This week let’s spend some time listening to the Good Shepherd. Just fifteen minutes a day would do us all good.
paz,
Fr. Chuck
Monday, April 19, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Happy Easter!!!!!
I read a story of a school teacher who was assigned to visit children in a large city hospital who received a routine call requesting that she visit a particular child.
The teacher took the boy's name and room number, and was told by the teacher on the other end of the line, "We're studying nouns and adverbs in this class now. I'd be grateful if you could help him with his homework, so he doesn't fall behind the others."
It wasn't until the visiting teacher got outside the boy's room that she realized that it was located in the hospital's burn unit. No one had prepared her to find a young boy horribly burned and in great pain.
The teacher felt that she couldn't just turn around and walk out. And so she stammered awkwardly, "I'm the hospital teacher, and your teacher sent me to help you with nouns and adverbs." This boy was in so much pain that he barely responded. The young teacher stumbled through his English lesson, ashamed at putting him through such a senseless exercise.
The next morning a nurse on the burn unit asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" Before the teacher could finish her outburst of apologies, the nurse interrupted her: "You don't understand. We've been very worried about him. But ever since you were here yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He's fighting back; he's responding to treatment. It's as if he has decided to live."
The boy later explained that he had completely given up hope until he saw the teacher. It all changed when he came to a simple realization. With joyful tears, the boy said: "They wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a boy, who was dying, would they?"
This story invites us to celebrate the gift of life even when all we seem to see around us is pain and disappointment and brokenness. It shows us that on the other side of pain, there is resurrection. It reminds us of what is possible whenever there is hope. Let us be people who live as fully as God has intended us to live. Let us believe and live the Resurrection.
Happy Easter,
Fr. Chuck
The teacher took the boy's name and room number, and was told by the teacher on the other end of the line, "We're studying nouns and adverbs in this class now. I'd be grateful if you could help him with his homework, so he doesn't fall behind the others."
It wasn't until the visiting teacher got outside the boy's room that she realized that it was located in the hospital's burn unit. No one had prepared her to find a young boy horribly burned and in great pain.
The teacher felt that she couldn't just turn around and walk out. And so she stammered awkwardly, "I'm the hospital teacher, and your teacher sent me to help you with nouns and adverbs." This boy was in so much pain that he barely responded. The young teacher stumbled through his English lesson, ashamed at putting him through such a senseless exercise.
The next morning a nurse on the burn unit asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" Before the teacher could finish her outburst of apologies, the nurse interrupted her: "You don't understand. We've been very worried about him. But ever since you were here yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He's fighting back; he's responding to treatment. It's as if he has decided to live."
The boy later explained that he had completely given up hope until he saw the teacher. It all changed when he came to a simple realization. With joyful tears, the boy said: "They wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a boy, who was dying, would they?"
This story invites us to celebrate the gift of life even when all we seem to see around us is pain and disappointment and brokenness. It shows us that on the other side of pain, there is resurrection. It reminds us of what is possible whenever there is hope. Let us be people who live as fully as God has intended us to live. Let us believe and live the Resurrection.
Happy Easter,
Fr. Chuck
Monday, March 1, 2010
Hello Friends,
After Hurricane Katrina several TV preachers got in their pulpits and said that the reason that the storm devastated New Orleans was because of the decadence that goes on there. A famous evangelist also said the same thing about the horrific destruction that we’ve recently witnessed in Port au Prince. People blame God for cancer, wars, accidents, divorces and all sorts of silly things. In this weekend’s gospel we hear Jesus’ response to some deadly occurrences of His day.
Apparently, folks in Jesus’ time liked to blame God for tragedies as well as we do. They approached Him with questions about two recent deadly incidents that they were concerned about. Pontius Pilate and the Romans had killed some Galileans and a tower had fallen in Siloam near Jerusalem and eighteen more Jews had died. The response from the faithful disciples was, “Why would God do such things to us?”
Jesus’ answer was both assuring and challenging to His listeners. First He tells them that both sinners and saints die. We all have accidents. We all can be the victims of disease, violence, accidents, and tragedies. More importantly, God doesn’t pick on sinners any more than He picks on saints. Then Jesus challenges His audience to be prepared for their own death by repenting NOW for their sins.
Since we don’t know the when the axe will fall for us, Jesus calls His listeners then and us now to take the necessary steps in our own lives to be in the right relationship with God and our neighbor. We cannot guarantee that when we wake up in the morning, we will see the sunset. Jesus calls us to continue to be prepared.
Finally, I have two requests. I will be at my favorite place in the world this week on retreat. From Sunday afternoon until Friday evening I will be making my yearly retreat at Gethsemani. Please keep me in your prayers during this time. Lastly, you may have noticed that my hair is getting very wooly these days. I will be shaving it all off on St. Patrick’s Day to benefit research into cancers that effect children. Several other parishioners will be doing the same thing at other occasions in the next couple of weeks. Whether you contribute for them or me does not really matter, but please contribute so that we can all do a little part in keeping kids from suffering. If you’d like to contribute online, my link is www.stbaldricks.org/participant/frchuck. You may also give cash or checks to any of us participants in person. Write the checks to St. Baldrick’s Foundation for “haircut”. Thanks for any help you can give.
paz,
Fr. Chuck
After Hurricane Katrina several TV preachers got in their pulpits and said that the reason that the storm devastated New Orleans was because of the decadence that goes on there. A famous evangelist also said the same thing about the horrific destruction that we’ve recently witnessed in Port au Prince. People blame God for cancer, wars, accidents, divorces and all sorts of silly things. In this weekend’s gospel we hear Jesus’ response to some deadly occurrences of His day.
Apparently, folks in Jesus’ time liked to blame God for tragedies as well as we do. They approached Him with questions about two recent deadly incidents that they were concerned about. Pontius Pilate and the Romans had killed some Galileans and a tower had fallen in Siloam near Jerusalem and eighteen more Jews had died. The response from the faithful disciples was, “Why would God do such things to us?”
Jesus’ answer was both assuring and challenging to His listeners. First He tells them that both sinners and saints die. We all have accidents. We all can be the victims of disease, violence, accidents, and tragedies. More importantly, God doesn’t pick on sinners any more than He picks on saints. Then Jesus challenges His audience to be prepared for their own death by repenting NOW for their sins.
Since we don’t know the when the axe will fall for us, Jesus calls His listeners then and us now to take the necessary steps in our own lives to be in the right relationship with God and our neighbor. We cannot guarantee that when we wake up in the morning, we will see the sunset. Jesus calls us to continue to be prepared.
Finally, I have two requests. I will be at my favorite place in the world this week on retreat. From Sunday afternoon until Friday evening I will be making my yearly retreat at Gethsemani. Please keep me in your prayers during this time. Lastly, you may have noticed that my hair is getting very wooly these days. I will be shaving it all off on St. Patrick’s Day to benefit research into cancers that effect children. Several other parishioners will be doing the same thing at other occasions in the next couple of weeks. Whether you contribute for them or me does not really matter, but please contribute so that we can all do a little part in keeping kids from suffering. If you’d like to contribute online, my link is www.stbaldricks.org/participant/frchuck. You may also give cash or checks to any of us participants in person. Write the checks to St. Baldrick’s Foundation for “haircut”. Thanks for any help you can give.
paz,
Fr. Chuck
Monday, February 22, 2010
How big is your God?
Hi folks,
I may have told you all before about one of my favorite things to do while I was assigned as pastor of Emmanuel Church in Albany and Holy Cross Church in Burkesville. I would have a group of students from Holy Cross College in Worchester, Massachusetts come and spend their spring break doing service and outreach work with the poor in Clinton and Cumberland Counties. Most of these young adults were from the cities of the Northeast. So even being in rural Kentucky was quite a big change in what they were used to. I’d make it a point to take them out on one of the nights they were there to a place out in the middle of nowhere to look at the night sky. For some it was the first time they had seen the Big Dipper. For most it was the first time they had seen the Milky Way. For all it was a religious experience as they got a glimpse of the vastness of God’s creation and their humbling privilege to be a part of it.
Again I’m reminded of those students when I read the first line from this weekend’s first reading from Genesis. God makes a promise to Abram (soon to be Abraham). He asks our first patriarch to look up at the numbers of stars in the sky and try to count them. Then He promises him that his descendants will be that numerous. Abram then makes a covenant with God showing that our God will be his only God.
In the Gospel (from Luke 9) God shows Jesus’ favorite Apostles the completion of the covenant that He started with Abraham. Jesus is transfigured before James, John, and Peter. They get a sneak preview of God’s plan for Jesus and us. God shows the disciples Jesus in a glorified state talking with Moses and Elijah about His trial, death, and resurrection in Jerusalem. Then God identifies Jesus to the three followers as His Beloved Son with the instruction to “listen to Him.”
We are part of that same legacy and promise given to Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and the Apostles. St. Paul says that “our citizenship is in Heaven.” When we truly grasp the love that God has for us; when we catch a glimpse that the design of our lives is meant for so much more than what we can fathom; when we begin to see that we too are part of the compassionate and forgiving Body of Christ; then we too begin to live our lives only for God.
Peace and Blessings,
Fr. Chuck Walker
I may have told you all before about one of my favorite things to do while I was assigned as pastor of Emmanuel Church in Albany and Holy Cross Church in Burkesville. I would have a group of students from Holy Cross College in Worchester, Massachusetts come and spend their spring break doing service and outreach work with the poor in Clinton and Cumberland Counties. Most of these young adults were from the cities of the Northeast. So even being in rural Kentucky was quite a big change in what they were used to. I’d make it a point to take them out on one of the nights they were there to a place out in the middle of nowhere to look at the night sky. For some it was the first time they had seen the Big Dipper. For most it was the first time they had seen the Milky Way. For all it was a religious experience as they got a glimpse of the vastness of God’s creation and their humbling privilege to be a part of it.
Again I’m reminded of those students when I read the first line from this weekend’s first reading from Genesis. God makes a promise to Abram (soon to be Abraham). He asks our first patriarch to look up at the numbers of stars in the sky and try to count them. Then He promises him that his descendants will be that numerous. Abram then makes a covenant with God showing that our God will be his only God.
In the Gospel (from Luke 9) God shows Jesus’ favorite Apostles the completion of the covenant that He started with Abraham. Jesus is transfigured before James, John, and Peter. They get a sneak preview of God’s plan for Jesus and us. God shows the disciples Jesus in a glorified state talking with Moses and Elijah about His trial, death, and resurrection in Jerusalem. Then God identifies Jesus to the three followers as His Beloved Son with the instruction to “listen to Him.”
We are part of that same legacy and promise given to Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and the Apostles. St. Paul says that “our citizenship is in Heaven.” When we truly grasp the love that God has for us; when we catch a glimpse that the design of our lives is meant for so much more than what we can fathom; when we begin to see that we too are part of the compassionate and forgiving Body of Christ; then we too begin to live our lives only for God.
Peace and Blessings,
Fr. Chuck Walker
Monday, February 15, 2010
Don't Tempt Me
Hi Friends,
This First Sunday of Lent shows us Jesus fighting off the temptations of the Devil by turning to the help of God. His temptations were real and strong just like ours. But He was able to overcome their lure by His trust in His Father.
Before He was tempted Jesus had just spent forty days in prayer and fasting. As we begin our Lenten journey of prayer and fasting let’s get serious about fighting the sin and temptation that we face. The best way to do that is by practicing some penance. Practicing penance not only helps us stop sinful and unhealthy behaviors, it also helps us involve God in fighting off the temptation to sin, and it helps us establish virtuous and healthy habits to replace what was sinful. The following is an article concerning penance from Creighton University’s Online Ministries Lenten Website. I hope you find it helpful.
Practicing Penance
When I sprain my ankle, part of the healing process will involve physical therapy. It's tender, and perhaps it is swollen. It may be important to put ice on it first, to reduce the inflammation. I may want to wrap it an elevate it and stay off of it. Then I will need to start moving it and then walking on it, and eventually, as the injury is healed, I'll want to start exercising it, so that it will be stronger than it was before, so that I won't as easily injure it again.
Penance is a remedy, a medicine, a spiritual therapy for the healing I desire. The Lord always forgives us. We are forgiven without condition. But complete healing takes time. With serious sin or with bad habits we've invested years in forming, we need to develop a therapeutic care plan to let the healing happen. To say "I'm sorry" or to simply make a "resolution" to change a long established pattern, will have the same bad result as wishing a sprained ankle would heal, while still walking on it.
Lent is a wonderful time to name what sinful, unhealthy, self-centered patterns need changing and to act against them by coming up with a strategy. For example, if the Lord is shining a light into the darkness of a bad pattern in my life, I can choose to "stop doing it." But, I have to work on a "change of heart" and to look concretely at what circumstances, attitudes, and other behaviors contribute to the pattern. If I'm self-indulgent with food, sex, attention-seeking behaviors and don't ask "what's missing for me, that I need to fill it with this?" then simply choosing to stop the pattern won't last long. Lasting healing needs the practice of penance.
Peace and Blessings,
Fr. Chuck
This First Sunday of Lent shows us Jesus fighting off the temptations of the Devil by turning to the help of God. His temptations were real and strong just like ours. But He was able to overcome their lure by His trust in His Father.
Before He was tempted Jesus had just spent forty days in prayer and fasting. As we begin our Lenten journey of prayer and fasting let’s get serious about fighting the sin and temptation that we face. The best way to do that is by practicing some penance. Practicing penance not only helps us stop sinful and unhealthy behaviors, it also helps us involve God in fighting off the temptation to sin, and it helps us establish virtuous and healthy habits to replace what was sinful. The following is an article concerning penance from Creighton University’s Online Ministries Lenten Website. I hope you find it helpful.
Practicing Penance
When I sprain my ankle, part of the healing process will involve physical therapy. It's tender, and perhaps it is swollen. It may be important to put ice on it first, to reduce the inflammation. I may want to wrap it an elevate it and stay off of it. Then I will need to start moving it and then walking on it, and eventually, as the injury is healed, I'll want to start exercising it, so that it will be stronger than it was before, so that I won't as easily injure it again.
Penance is a remedy, a medicine, a spiritual therapy for the healing I desire. The Lord always forgives us. We are forgiven without condition. But complete healing takes time. With serious sin or with bad habits we've invested years in forming, we need to develop a therapeutic care plan to let the healing happen. To say "I'm sorry" or to simply make a "resolution" to change a long established pattern, will have the same bad result as wishing a sprained ankle would heal, while still walking on it.
Lent is a wonderful time to name what sinful, unhealthy, self-centered patterns need changing and to act against them by coming up with a strategy. For example, if the Lord is shining a light into the darkness of a bad pattern in my life, I can choose to "stop doing it." But, I have to work on a "change of heart" and to look concretely at what circumstances, attitudes, and other behaviors contribute to the pattern. If I'm self-indulgent with food, sex, attention-seeking behaviors and don't ask "what's missing for me, that I need to fill it with this?" then simply choosing to stop the pattern won't last long. Lasting healing needs the practice of penance.
Peace and Blessings,
Fr. Chuck
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Whoa! I said WOE!!!!!
Dear Sisters & Brothers,
I'm impressed with how generous the parishioners of St. Ambrose, St. Ignatius, & St. James are. We're especially generous in times of need & to people in need.
Through your generosity our St. Vincent de Paul Society gives well over $100,000 (and closer to $125,000) to help our neighbors who can't afford their monthly staples. We're always there to pitch in when Helping Hand Ministries needs volunteers to make phone calls, deliver toys & Christmas baskets, serve meals, run & contribute unselfishly to a fund drive, or donate needed coats, food, clothing, & anything else that's needed. We completely outdid ourselves recently in our response to our sisters & brothers in Haiti. So far you have contributed probably more than $30,000 for their relief from the desperate conditions they find themselves as a result of the earthquake that hit them a month ago. We are very generous indeed.
Today I'd like to ask you to answer the question, "Why is that so important?" Do we give and volunteer just to make us feel better about us? Do we give to hear others say good things about us or to think well of us? Do we give begrudgingly or out of guilt? Why is it that we are so generous?
I'm hoping that we are so unselfish for the same reason that Jesus spoke the words of the beatitudes in the Gospel of Luke this weekend. His beatitudes are different from St. Matthews version. He has four "Blessed are you(s)", followed by four "Woe to you(s)". He says blessed are the poor, the hungry, the weeping, & the insulted and hated. Then He says woe to the rich, the well fed, the laughing, & the well thought of. The point of His sermon was to tell His disciples to put pleasing God & serving others (especially those the world thinks are insignificant or not blessed) in front of their own needs. Only by putting God & others first in our lives will we disciples ever be really happy (or blessed).
This was completely upside down thinking when Jesus spoke it in some little Galilean field 2000 years ago. It is still upside down thinking to our ears today. But it is the honest truth.
We try to make ourselves happy by filling our lives up with stuff, luxuries, entertainment, power trips, inflated egos, & sensuality. We think that we can make our ownselves blessed, holy, & happy. Jesus' "woes" are a wake up call to us disciples. Only by completely emptying ourselves for God's sake and for the sake of others (as He was going to do for us) will we ever know what happiness & holiness is.
Is this why we are so generous? Let's keep on sacrificing of ourselves until that is the reason why we give.
Peace & Blessings,
Fr. Chuck
I'm impressed with how generous the parishioners of St. Ambrose, St. Ignatius, & St. James are. We're especially generous in times of need & to people in need.
Through your generosity our St. Vincent de Paul Society gives well over $100,000 (and closer to $125,000) to help our neighbors who can't afford their monthly staples. We're always there to pitch in when Helping Hand Ministries needs volunteers to make phone calls, deliver toys & Christmas baskets, serve meals, run & contribute unselfishly to a fund drive, or donate needed coats, food, clothing, & anything else that's needed. We completely outdid ourselves recently in our response to our sisters & brothers in Haiti. So far you have contributed probably more than $30,000 for their relief from the desperate conditions they find themselves as a result of the earthquake that hit them a month ago. We are very generous indeed.
Today I'd like to ask you to answer the question, "Why is that so important?" Do we give and volunteer just to make us feel better about us? Do we give to hear others say good things about us or to think well of us? Do we give begrudgingly or out of guilt? Why is it that we are so generous?
I'm hoping that we are so unselfish for the same reason that Jesus spoke the words of the beatitudes in the Gospel of Luke this weekend. His beatitudes are different from St. Matthews version. He has four "Blessed are you(s)", followed by four "Woe to you(s)". He says blessed are the poor, the hungry, the weeping, & the insulted and hated. Then He says woe to the rich, the well fed, the laughing, & the well thought of. The point of His sermon was to tell His disciples to put pleasing God & serving others (especially those the world thinks are insignificant or not blessed) in front of their own needs. Only by putting God & others first in our lives will we disciples ever be really happy (or blessed).
This was completely upside down thinking when Jesus spoke it in some little Galilean field 2000 years ago. It is still upside down thinking to our ears today. But it is the honest truth.
We try to make ourselves happy by filling our lives up with stuff, luxuries, entertainment, power trips, inflated egos, & sensuality. We think that we can make our ownselves blessed, holy, & happy. Jesus' "woes" are a wake up call to us disciples. Only by completely emptying ourselves for God's sake and for the sake of others (as He was going to do for us) will we ever know what happiness & holiness is.
Is this why we are so generous? Let's keep on sacrificing of ourselves until that is the reason why we give.
Peace & Blessings,
Fr. Chuck
Monday, February 1, 2010
I'll Be Calling YOU- OOO- OOO
Hi folks,
When I was a fifth grader at St. Francis School in Loretto the 5th-8th graders went on a field trip to the Kentucky Fairgrounds. There in the East Wing were Catholic missionaries from all over the world and representing religious orders from all over. Their goal was to interest us in religious, and particularly in missionary, vocations. There was a priest dressed in an all white robe who was playing a game that really fascinated me. He smelled like cigars. But he had mazes on sheets of paper and we had to work them with a pencil by looking at what we were doing through a mirror. When I got my chance to do it I zipped right through it, while other kids were having a real tough time trying to do all of the lefts and rights while looking at things reversed. His point in doing this kind of puzzle was just as this exercise forced to think in a different way, so we were being asked by God to think about our lives and our future in a different way. I spent a long time at his booth eventually helping him get more kids to do the puzzle. Before I left with my school mates to return to Loretto he told me that he thought God had a special purpose for me and that he thought I could be a good priest. God had planted a new seed in me!
All three of today’s readings are about God’s callings. We hear Isaiah’s call in the first reading. St. Paul gives his account of his own call from God in his First Letter to the Corinthians. In the Gospel we see Jesus (a carpenter and travelling preacher) trying to give fishing instructions to professional fisherman. It would be similar to me going into the operating room and telling the surgeon, “Cut right there!” But Jesus was trying to get Peter, James, and John to start doing some reversed thinking themselves. Instead of fishing for smelly fish Jesus was asking them to help Him fish for needy people. Their tendency was to blow Him off and humor Him. But Jesus changed their whole lives and they received a new purpose and a new vocation in life.
We are all called to serve God. More importantly, God never quits calling us to service. Whether we are 11 or 111 God wants us and needs us to take a look at our lives and ask God, “Where do you need me now?” But we need to have ears, eyes, minds, hearts, and souls receptive to God’s call. Sometimes it takes a priest who smells like cigars to wake us up. Sometimes we have to be challenged in our normal daily routine. Sometimes we think that we’re too old, or too young, or too dumb, or too smart, or too (you fill in the blank) to be something special for God. But God is always trying to step into our “sometimes” and help us be something new for Him. Please pray that you will hear God and respond with generosity the next time He calls.
peace,
Fr. Chuck
When I was a fifth grader at St. Francis School in Loretto the 5th-8th graders went on a field trip to the Kentucky Fairgrounds. There in the East Wing were Catholic missionaries from all over the world and representing religious orders from all over. Their goal was to interest us in religious, and particularly in missionary, vocations. There was a priest dressed in an all white robe who was playing a game that really fascinated me. He smelled like cigars. But he had mazes on sheets of paper and we had to work them with a pencil by looking at what we were doing through a mirror. When I got my chance to do it I zipped right through it, while other kids were having a real tough time trying to do all of the lefts and rights while looking at things reversed. His point in doing this kind of puzzle was just as this exercise forced to think in a different way, so we were being asked by God to think about our lives and our future in a different way. I spent a long time at his booth eventually helping him get more kids to do the puzzle. Before I left with my school mates to return to Loretto he told me that he thought God had a special purpose for me and that he thought I could be a good priest. God had planted a new seed in me!
All three of today’s readings are about God’s callings. We hear Isaiah’s call in the first reading. St. Paul gives his account of his own call from God in his First Letter to the Corinthians. In the Gospel we see Jesus (a carpenter and travelling preacher) trying to give fishing instructions to professional fisherman. It would be similar to me going into the operating room and telling the surgeon, “Cut right there!” But Jesus was trying to get Peter, James, and John to start doing some reversed thinking themselves. Instead of fishing for smelly fish Jesus was asking them to help Him fish for needy people. Their tendency was to blow Him off and humor Him. But Jesus changed their whole lives and they received a new purpose and a new vocation in life.
We are all called to serve God. More importantly, God never quits calling us to service. Whether we are 11 or 111 God wants us and needs us to take a look at our lives and ask God, “Where do you need me now?” But we need to have ears, eyes, minds, hearts, and souls receptive to God’s call. Sometimes it takes a priest who smells like cigars to wake us up. Sometimes we have to be challenged in our normal daily routine. Sometimes we think that we’re too old, or too young, or too dumb, or too smart, or too (you fill in the blank) to be something special for God. But God is always trying to step into our “sometimes” and help us be something new for Him. Please pray that you will hear God and respond with generosity the next time He calls.
peace,
Fr. Chuck
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