9/30/08

For the Second Night of Rosh Hashanah



This 90 second video offers a beautiful image of Rosh Hashana in way that will benefit Jewish and gentile viewers alike.

Blessings of the new year!


-ConccordPastor

Moments of Grace


Image by Starzephyr

It was, indeed, a weekend of grace here at Holy Family Parish...

When I'm standing at the church doors at the end of each Mass, I sometimes think of myself as a flight attendant deplaning the passengers, "Thanks for flying Holy Family - come back and fly with us again!"

But sometimes, even often, it's in the fleeting, seconds-long encounters of saying goodbye to worshippers that the most extraordinary words are spoken and faith shared...

There's a couple I run into frequently in town. They've not been to Mass for some time and when we bump into each other that topic often comes up. I saw them earlier this week and was glad to hear from them that another parishioner had been encouraging them to come to church. They said they'd come this weekend... On Saturday afternoon at 4:55 the rain was heavy and drenching but when I glanced out the window as we formed the entrance procession I saw my friends coming up the stairs, wet and ready to pray! Just a quick hello to them on the way into the church and then great smiles and warm words on their way out after prayer... Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

After one of the Sunday morning liturgies a woman stops on her way past me after Mass and she's in tears - of joy! She mentions that she has been dealing with some difficult emotional issues and was deeply grateful for one of our general intercessions: For serenity and peace in the hearts of those who live with anxiety and depression, let us pray to the Lord... It meant so much to her to recognize her own needs in the prayers and to know that the whole community was praying for her... We pray that intercession every week - and I'm so glad we do... Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

A woman who hasn't been to church for many years came to the 7:30 Mass. I wasn't yet in the gathering room when she arrived but my deacon and pastoral associate greeted her and she mentioned she'd not been to church in a long time but that Fr. Fleming knew her son and she thought it might be time to come back. I didn't see her until I was at the doors at the end of Mass. I gave her a big hug and in a sentence or two she shared how much this time and prayer had meant to her... Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

At the end of one Mass, the next person about to shake my hand as she left was a wonderful woman who's been caring at home for her terminally ill husband. I've visited and prayed with them several times. To share in the love they have for each other and their abiding deep faith in God, has been a gift. As she took my hand she looked me in the eye, as she always does, and said, "Kevin went to heaven..." The beauty in her sad news was captured so well in the rhythm and rhyme of those four simple words. I hugged her and found my arms full of the strength that fills those whose faith cannot be overcome by anything, not even by death... She and Kevin have been preparing for some time for the day when he would leave on this journey to a destination they both know they'll one day share. "Kevin went to heaven..." Because he became a friend over the time I've known him, those words are hard for me to hear and yet, they reassure me that everything I teach and preach is deeply true and that the promise of faith is one to be deeply trusted... "Kevin went to heaven..." Rejoice that he is with God... pray for his dear wife, his children and grandchildren and his friends... And praise God from whom all blessings flow!

-ConcordPastor

9/29/08

L'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem!



The title of this post translates:

A good and sweet year to you,
may you be written and sealed for a good year!


Rosh Hashanah has begun! I'm late in posting this (long after sundown) but on the Christian calendar this was neither a holy day nor a holiday so I've been busy!

For background on this celebration of the Jewish New Year, take a look at Judaism 101.

A Happy New Year to our Jewish neighbors!

Rosh Hashanah in a Nutshell



-ConcordPastor

Respect Life Month



Although not on the liturgical calendar, October is Respect Life Month in the US Catholic Church.

If you hop over to the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, you'll find links to a range of life issues deserving of our study, prayer and action:

Abortion
Assisted Suicide
Capital Punishment
Human Cloning
Contraception
Disabilities
Embryo / Fetal Research
End of Life Issues / Euthanasia
IVF / Reproductive Technology
International Issues
Morning After Pill
Natural Family Planning
Partial-Birth Abortion
Post Abortion Healing
Roe v. Wade
RU-486
Stem Cell Research
Unborn Victims of Violence Act
Women and the Culture of Life

In a statement to mark Respect Life Sunday, October 4, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, Chair of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, called attention to those who are most vulnerable in recent debates on health care reform – the unborn, the poor, the elderly and the immigrant – and called upon Catholics to “examine how well we, as a nation and individually, are living up to our obligation to protect the rights of those who, due to age, dependency, poverty or other circumstances, are at risk of their very lives." (USCCB press release and link to Cardinal Rigali's statement here)

As I write this post, I think of two intercessions we pray in my parish at our Saturday and Sunday Masses, not just in October but on every weekend of the year:

- For respect and reverence for life
in all its shapes and forms,

and for the wisdom and will
to conserve the gifts of creation,
let us pray to the Lord...

- For children waiting to be born
and for the mothers who carry them

and for children waiting to be adopted
and for the families who will receive them,
let us pray to the Lord...

Image from Respect Life Apostolate

-ConcordPastor

Monday Morning Offering - 14


Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

I was thinking last night before I went to bed,
well, I guess I was praying because I was thinking about you...

I was praying, hoping, trusting
that you're very much like a wonderful mom or dad,
or grandmother or grandfather,
who smiles and oohs and ahs
over the simplest things a child comes running
to drop in your lap...

Little kids do this all the time, Lord,
and I know you know that already...

They find some little trinket
or they scribble something on a scrap of paper
with stubs of crayons or magic markers
and they come running, grinning,
to hand such a prize, such a gift to another...

I've got plenty of trinkets and scribblings
to offer you, Lord,
and I hope you like them
not because they're all that beautiful
but simply because they're from me...

I'm pretty sure that's why wonderful moms and dads
and grandmothers and grandfathers love
whatever a child drops in their lap,
simply because it's from their child...

Of course I'm not a child, Lord, I'm a grown-up!
Well, at least I try to be...
Sometimes I'm still a child,
sometimes I'm really childish,
and sometimes I am who I am,
who you made me to be...

I want to offer you gifts from who I am, Lord,
today, this Monday morning, this week...

I want to offer you what I have right now:
not what I've lost and wish I still had...
not what I hope to find but haven't yet...

I want to offer you the heart of me,
who I am, today...

What I have this day is unfinished, Lord...
It's incomplete, has rough edges,
isn't as pretty nor near as neat as I wish it were...
But it's what I have...

As I lift it up to you,
I see that it's falling apart in a few places...
And the patches on old mistakes are showing
just in the places I wish they didn't show...

But as I stand before your giant lap this morning,
I believe there's a place for what I have to offer you today...

And when I look up into your face,
I'm pretty sure I see you smiling at me
and marveling at my little gift,
just like a wonderful mom or dad
or grandmother or grandfather would...

And for that I'm thankful, Lord, so very thankful!

Help me see the beauty you see in what I offer...
Help me look beyond its unfinished edges...
Help me to accept what's falling apart
as work for your mending hand...
Help me learn to love the patches
as the places where you have healed me...
Help me to see that it's the giver you love
and that my simple gifts are but the tokens
that bring us together...

Accept me, Lord, and what I have to offer...

Help me offer my simple gifts
to those I meet this day...
Open me to the gifts others have for me...

And most of all,
open me to the gift of this day,
the day you have offered me...

Amen.

-ConcordPastor

Not just angels but ARCHangels!


Image from Chapel of the Angels (Click on image for larger version)

In its prayer today, the Church honors the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

The Anchoress has an informative post for this feast with some good background on this angelic trio.

And here are the scriptures for today's Mass.

-ConcordPastor

9/28/08

A little candy bar theology...


Image by Wikipedia (Click on image for larger, gooier version!)

Homily 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time September 28, 2008

Ezekiel 18:25-18
Philippians 2:1-11
Matthew 21:28-32


The scripture from Ezekiel asks, "Whose way is fair?"
Good question! And a contemporary question, too.

-What’s the fair and just way to settle the present economic crisis?
-What’s the fair and just resolution
of competing rights in the abortion debate?
-What will bring a fair and just conclusion to the war in Iraq?
-What’s the fair and just response
to questions about aliens and immigration?

These are big issues and there are no easy answers to any of them.
How do we determine what’s fair? What’s just in God’s eyes?
Do Christians determine fairness and justice differently than others do?

We’ve all found ourselves saying at one time or another:
“Hey, that’s not fair!”
but often what we really mean is,
“Hey, you’re not being fair to me!”

Too often, what I determine to be fair is what I think is fair
for me, for my needs;
or for us, for my family, for our side,
for our country, for our best interests.

We honor the scales of justice,
but we'd prefer that the balance of fairness tip at least a little,
to our wants and will, our desires and demands.

When my sister and I were children and it came to sharing an extra dessert, or the last cookie in the jar, or a Snickers Bar, my mother would always say, "OK - one of you gets to cut the Snickers in two, and the other one gets to choose first between the two pieces."

Imagine the precision and caution as one of us cut that candy bar in two, being oh-so-careful that neither piece
was the slightest bit larger than the other.
(Image by The Sun)


When I was the one cutting the Snickers in half
I made sure of two things:
(1) that I got my fair share, and
(2) that she didn’t get a speck more than her fair share.
So, was that fair? Indeed it was.
If nothing else, it was equal.
Is that what the Lord asks of us?
Oh, it should be so easy! But it’s not.
What the Lord asks is much more demanding.

Being fair and just in the Christian scheme of things
is more than just dividing things down the middle,
even if, in many instances, that would be a step forward.

Rather, Christian justice calls us to offer more than a fair share,
more than an equal share to the other person,
especially if the other is
poor, defenseless, oppressed or marginalized.

To return to my childhood illustration:
Had my sister and I been Christian in sharing the Snickers Bar,
I would have cut the two pieces with one larger than the other,
offering her the opportunity to have more than a fair share,
and she, choosing the first piece, would have taken the smaller one.

And my-oh-MY but that goes against the grain!

And no, my sister and I never did it that way!

But that’s just what the Lord asks us to do:
to go beyond the inclinations of self-interest and to put the other first,
or as St. Paul put it today,
Humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for your own interests,
but also for those of others.


I don’t intend, with my candy bar theology,
to trivialize the questions
of an economic crisis, abortion, war and immigration.
It’s just that the options in dividing a candy-bar
do
have larger application.
Our faith, our God, our God’s vision of what’s fair and just
call us beyond our own needs and wants, and often radically so.

As we prepare to make decisions this November,
we could do worse than contemplate a Snickers Bar
and how, and how much of it, we might be willing to share.

(Image by ConcordPastor - for a closer look at the goodies, click on the image!)

(The baskets at the foot of the altar are filled with little Snickers bars
and I hope each of you will take one as you leave here today. They're small, but you can still share them. Parents might use them to help children understand what we're talking about here. And even if you eat your Snickers in the car on the way home, I hope you'll save the wrapper and keep it in a place where, between now and November, you can contemplate a Snickers bar as you make some decisions.)

They say a good marriage isn’t built by the spouses each giving 50%
but rather by each spouse striving to give 100%.
They also say that the church is the bride of Christ
and he the bridegroom.
We pray each week in the shadow of our loving bridegroom
giving 100% of all that he had – for us.

At this altar we are nourished by his giving more than his fair share.
The Lord let himself be broken, poured out, divided and emptied,
taking nothing for himself and giving everything to us.

May the generous share of his love which is ours in this sacrament
move us to give even nearly as generously to others, and especially to
the poor, the defenseless, the oppressed, and the marginalized.


-ConcordPastor

9/26/08

How many sons?



Remember the TV show, My Three Sons? (Click the link for a tribute to the 60's sitcom.)

Well, this week's gospel might be titled, My Two Sons. The two sons in the scripture here don't offer sitcom material, but rather a question of what's fair and just.

There's still time to read over the scriptures, background material on them and some hints for helping kids get ready to hear these passages. Spend some time preparing to worship on the Lord's Day and your time spent in prayer will all that more rich and rewarding.

-ConcordPastor


As I write this I'm not sure what will become of tonight's scheduled debate between the candidates for president. Whether it takes place or not, these questions posed by America in preparation for the debate lay out some important issues for all of us to consider as we face the national election in November. Here are the first five questions, the rest can be found at America.
What should American foreign policy look like?

One week from tonight, the eyes of the electorate will turn to the University of Mississippi, where Barack Obama and John McCain will meet for the first face-to-face showdown of the 2008 general election. Although the candidates have already been asked thousands of questions in this campaign, their answers have revealed more about their political styles than their substantive policy proposals. Moreover, what has been almost totally absent from this campaign has been any real discussion of their competing worldviews or political philosophies.

Our hope is that the upcoming presidential debates, while affording voters a good look at the candidates’ different policy proposals, will also provide us a glimpse of their basic political principles, the values that make them tick and would necessarily inform their decisions as president. Accordingly, the editors of America present the following ten groups of questions for the consideration of the moderator and presidential candidates. The first debate will focus on foreign policy and national security. A second online America editorial will pose questions for the subsequent debate on domestic issues.

1. In your judgment, what are the conditions that must be satisfied in order for an armed conflict to be morally justified? Do you believe in a doctrine of “preventative war?” Are the classical requirements for a just war necessarily suspended in the so-called war on terror?

2. A frequent refrain in foreign policy debates is that the U.S. ought to act on the global stage only when it is “in our national interests.” Do you subscribe to this view? If so, how do you define the “national interest” of the United States? When is something “in our national interest” and when is it not?

3. Do you believe that when a foreign government has failed to fulfill its duty to protect its citizens either through neglect or through active persecution, that the international community has a legal or moral duty to intervene? If so, should such interventions be undertaken only under the auspices of the United Nations or other international organizations or can you envision circumstances in which the U.S. should intervene unilaterally?

4. Do you believe that the U.S. has a moral or legal obligation to stop genocide when and where it is occurring? Do you find the current definition of genocide contained in the Genocide Convention of 1948 and endorsed by the U.S. State Department to be adequate?[1] Can you envision circumstances in which the U.S. should not act to stop genocide by any means available? Has the U.S. ever failed to stop genocide? If so, when?

5. There has been much discussion in this campaign about how the U.S. ought to approach its relations with its designated “enemies.” Could you tell us: what is “appeasement” and what is the difference, if you think there is one, between appeasement and negotiation and compromise?

...

See America for questions 6-10

9/25/08

A new house of prayer in Oakland, CA


Photo by Inhabitat

For a remarkable video on the opening of the new cathedral (photos) in the diocese of Oakland, visit Rocco's place. This 15 minute piece is instructive not only about the new Cathedral of Christ the Light but about cathedrals in general as well.


-ConcordPastor

Comfort-Junk Food!


Image by K. Cammarata (For a closer look at the yummy stuff above, click on the image!)

My parish recently conducted a drive for "comfort and junk food" to send overseas to men and women serving our country in the military. Working with a local supermarket, we distributed flyers at church and advertised in the local paper. Volunteers (some sporting their old uniforms) stood outside the store on two consecutive Saturdays, handing flyers to those not yet aware of the drive and entering the store and collecting what folks had purchased while shopping on their way out.

We collected the kinds of food the gover
nment doesn't issue but for which there is a real hunger overseas. In addition to edibles we were happy to receive batteries, hand cream, playing cards and other small items to make life "over there" a little more comfortable.

From our collection post at the store, volunteers brought the goods to a collection center run by Local Heroes in Wilmington, MA. where donations were separated and sorted and "care packages" put together. The boxes go to individual local service men and women whose names have been submitted by family and friends.

The photo above shows volunteers at the collection center sorting donations. The photo below shows some of the boxes put together from our efforts. After the first Saturday drive 97 boxes were mailed and after the second Saturday, 86 more: that's a total of 183 Care Packages!

In addition, the effort collected $1,300 in cash donations which helps with the postage. (No, the government does not ship these boxes for free.)

Finally, a number of the care packages included a homemade greeting card of support crafted by the children in our Vacation Bible School in August!


Image by K. Cammarata

-ConcordPastor

Fall is afoot, and so is God...


Image by ConcordPastor

This afternoon and on Sunday, too, I found myself driving around the Concord area, enjoying the beautiful days and looking for signs that nature was afoot for fall and beginning to change the palate of my neighborhood and environs. I found a lot more green that I expected - these past few cool days have pushed my imagination closer to mid-October.

The times when seasons overlap in the changing are unique opportunities to observe the hand of God at work around us. Once you're in the middle of the summer or winter you live with and in the season's weather and brightness of the sun or the whiteness of the snow. But at the in-between seasons when the change is perceptible and palpable - that's when you get to see God rearranging the furniture and doing a little exterior redecorating.

It's good to look for the movement and artistry of God's hand at this time of year, especially if his touch has seemed missing, his hand withdrawn, his artistry in our lives dulled...

The Lord is here and as sure as fall will fill us with beauty before winter's stark days so will the Lord find ways to fill us with the colors and beauty of his touch upon our hearts...

Keep your eyes open... the season is changing and it's a beautiful thing to see...

And keep your heart open... the Lord looks to bring forth in you a new season of grace...

-ConcordPastor

9/24/08

Cheers!


Image by Wendy

Got together last night with an old friend. Well, he's not actually that old and our friendship only goes back a few years. But we've been out of touch for a while, separated by schedules, geography and all the many things that keep us too busy to be with the folks whose company we most enjoy.

Not much has changed in his life or in mine: some things are better, most remain the same and nothing's really worse - thank God. The best part, our connection undisturbed by those missing-months, was there as if we had never been apart. Like riding a bike, finding a street in your old neighborhood or remembering how to play cribbage after years of not playing - we picked up right where we left off.

There's joy in a bond whose easy tending is but quaffing its comfort when time and temperament pour and toast the friendship shared.

Cheers!

-ConcordPastor

9/23/08

Word for the Weekend of September 28


Image from the San Francisco Sentinel

God's ways are not fair!

If that's what you think, the Lord responds to your complaint in this weekend's first reading from scripture. And then Jesus adds another illustration of how God weighs things out.

Take a look and see if you agree - and spend a few minutes with the background material, too!
Got kids? What's their take on justice? Here's some help for kids to prepare for Sunday Mass this weekend.

-ConcordPastor

9/22/08

Love at sunset


Image by Bridget

Unfortunately, on most days I don't see the sun set.

She quietly slips away for the night while I'm busy about something or someone - or me...

I wonder if she notices when I don't notice that she's left the room?

On vacation last month, I was much more attentive... Was that only last month? Actually, not even a month yet although it seems like, well it seems much longer than three weeks ago...

Most evenings on vacation I sat and kept faithful vigil as she tricked me into thinking that she was going somewhere for the night while I stayed put...

I fell for it every time.

For her daily departures she never wore the same outfit twice. She always varied the style, the colors, the tones and textures of her heavenly haute couture. Some evenings she left in a dazzle, dressed, I thought, for a grand ball in a palace beyond the horizon... Other nights I think she just slipped away to a small jazz bar on some faraway solar shore to sit and sip a Viognier and spend some time unwinding before rising for the dawn... And on a couple of nights, clouds kept me from seeing how she was dressed... I had to guess at her evening plans and trust that she'd be home in the morning...

How can anything keep me from this nightly rendezvous? What could be more important than this affair with the universe? How could I be too busy for her? Does she miss me? Why don't I miss her more than I do? Why do I take her for granted?

And I do...

Perhaps I do because I know that when I have the time, when I make the time at day's end to look for her, to call on her... she'll be there, right where I left her, waiting to say goodnight again and to kiss my eyes with her beauty...

-ConcordPastor

Monday Morning Offering - 13


Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

I know that much of my prayer
is a kind of
give and take:
I offer you something
and then I ask for something...

Today is no different
so please be patient
with how little I have to offer
and how much I know I need from you...

I offer you my challenges this day
and pray for strength to accept them...

I offer you my failures this day
and pray for wisdom to rise above them -
and to try again to tomorrow...

I offer you my sorrows this day
and pray that I carry them with grace...

I offer you my joys this day
and pray I put the happiness of others
ahead of my own...

I offer you my fears this day
and pray for courage
to make it through the night to tomorrow...

I offer you this day's unexpected problems
and pray for serenity to cope with them...

I offer you my work this day
and pray I do it well, with honesty
and in fairness to others...

I offer you my laziness this day
and pray you shake and waken me
to this day's opportunities to live fully,
change gracefully
and become the person you made me to be ...

I offer you my eyes, Lord:
let me see as you do...

I offer you my ears:
help me hear the cry of the poor...

I offer you my voice:
use my words for healing
and for making peace...

I offer you my thoughts:
give me your Spirit's counsel...

I offer you my imagination:
keep it true and pure...

I offer you my hands:
work through me for good of others...

I offer you my feet:
lead my steps
on the path you have marked out for me...

I offer you my heart, Lord:
mold and shape it
according to your Word...

I offer you this day
, Lord,
for this is the day you have made,
the day you have given me,
the only day I have...

Keep me in today, Lord,
and keep my day in your loving care...

Amen.

(See the sidebar for a song to accompany this prayer...)

-ConcordPastor

9/21/08

Homily for September 21


Image: Windows of Opportunity by Anna Hegert (Click on image to enlarge for more detailed version of this tapestry)

Homily 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time -
September 21, 2008
Isaiah 55:6-9
Philippians 1: 20c-24, 27 a
Matthew 20:1-16a

Ya gotta love this time of year
when cool breezes slip through open windows,
fall-cleaning your home with crisp September air…

Or driving along in your car on a sunny afternoon
with the windows down and the rush of fresh air
that brushes your arm and your face…

Windows are wonderful when they keep out the rain and the snow
but they’re even greater when they let in the fresh air
on an early fall day.

Windows of opportunity for enjoying God’s creation…

There are windows of opportunity in the scriptures today, too:
“Seek the Lord while he may be found…”
because on another day he may not be easy to find…
“Call on the Lord while he is still near…”
because on another day the Lord may seem to be far away…

Isaiah is telling us:
When it seems like the Lord is close by, don’t hesitate!
let other things go, especially anything selfish
and turn to him, be with him, sit with him, speak to him,
work with him, work for him, seize the moment:
let his presence slip into your heart
like kitchen-windowed breezes in September…
let his Spirit rush you and waken you
like wind through the windows of a car doing 60…

There are windows of opportunity in the gospel passage, too...

In the parable of the workers in the vineyard,
God opens the window to heaven at several different times in the day:
at dawn, at 9 in the morning, at noon,
at 3 in the afternoon, and at dusk, around 5…

You might think, at first glance then, that it really doesn’t matter
what time the workers come to the marketplace
- but it does.

In the parable,
the vineyard owner comes looking for workers 5 times,
but he doesn’t come at 7 or 8:00, nor at 10 or 11,
nor at 1 or 2, and not at 4.

Does that mean God is sometimes on a coffee break
or taking a nap?
No.

It means that we have to
“Seek the Lord while he may be found…
Call on the Lord while he is still near…”
It’s a way of speaking of moments of grace,
windows of graced opportunity,
when God reaches out in particular ways to each of us.

In reality, God is available to each of us
at every moment of the day
because God is with us every moment of the day.
But we know there are times, moments, windows
through which we see God more clearly than at other times.

Sometimes we seize the moment…
sometimes we see the window but let the opportunity slip by…
sometimes we even miss seeing the window…

We need to see that when the vineyard owner came to the marketplace,
the potential workers had shown up!
That’s what we need to do:
be there when the Lord opens the window.

There are some times and places
when you can always count
on the window of God’s grace being open.

This time each week offers a better-than-average chance
of a window of opportunity for meeting the Lord.

Why?
First, because God has promised to meet us here weekly
in this “marketplace” of gathering and worship.
Second, because everything here works to open our eyes and our ears
and hopefully, our hearts, to God’s presence, word and grace.

But we need to keep our eyes and ears and hearts open all week long
for the many times and places when God’s path will cross ours
in particular, sometimes peculiar and always personal ways.

In the religion column in this week’s Concord Journal
I wrote about three "windows" of God’s grace I experienced
while I was away on vacation.
Had my eyes not been open, I would have missed these moments.
Keeping your eyes open and looking for the windows –
that’s a great start!

Before we return here next weekend,
God will be strolling through the marketplaces of our lives,
perhaps as a gentle breeze or maybe as a strong wind,
looking for us, looking to meet us, looking to walk with us
and looking for us to look for him.

Will we see him? Will we meet him?
Will we come to him through the window he opens?

The Eucharist is our greatest window of God’s grace
and the opportunity to be with the Lord and with each other.

May the sacrifice, the sacrament we celebrate and receive at this table,
open us to the grace God has in store for us
in the windows of the week ahead.

-ConcordPastor

9/20/08

Harvesting the grapes... harvesting the Word...


Image by Cohabinitiative: grape pickers in Slovenia

The weekend is upon us and so are the scriptures for Mass.

And there's still a little more time to read and ponder those texts in preparation for the Lord's Day.
I'm about the business of writing a homily so I've got to get back to work!


-ConcordPastor

9/19/08

What Mass are you going to?

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Across the United States, Catholic dioceses are formulating pastoral plans which often include closing, clustering parishes and merging parishes. The people of the Archdiocese of Boston are no strangers to this painful period in church history.

In the Lansing Diocese in Michigan, Bishop Earl Boyea said that "changes to parish life may be painful, but on the other hand, like the cross of Christ, it leads us to something new, to a resurrection."

At a news conference on Monday, Boyea announced plans that will affect every parish in his diocese, including a decision that all parishes will reduce their number of weekend Masses by at least one service.

That's an interesting move and one I've not heard that other dioceses have made. It makes a good deal of sense for a diocese to be pro-active on this question since it's only a matter of time before Mass schedules (weekend and daily) will be reduced by the impact of the dwindling number of priests available to celebrate the liturgy.

In many parishes Mass on the weekend is celebrated more often than is necessary. By that I mean that the number of Masses actually needed to seat all worshiping parishioners on a weekend is often fewer than the number of Masses now scheduled. That would be the case in my own parish. And this is not just a matter of making a pastor's schedule lighter. Scheduling more Masses than necessary often gives short shrift to priorities much higher on the liturgical scale than the convenience of worshipers.

Fewer Masses in parishes is a reality that U.S. Catholics will face soon if it is not already their experience.

What do you think?

-ConcordPastor

9/18/08

Summer snapshots...


Image by ConcordPastor

(A
warm welcome to those who may be visiting here for the first time by linking from The Concord Journal to this corner of the blogosphere.)

The leaders of faith communities in town rotate authorship of a column in the Concord Journal titled, Voices of Faith. My turn comes round again this week and, as I did a year go this season, I've offered some "snapshots" of my summer vacation. Here's the article for those who live outside the Concord Journal's hardcopy reach and here are the other contributions I've made to this column.
Summer Snapshots

Remember when folks used to come back from vacation with photos and slides to share with family and friends? Now it’s not unusual for the images to arrive back home before the vacationers do, courtesy of email. My vacation snapshots are prose, not photographic, but I hope they’ll offer you a few glimpses of how the divine reveals its beauty in the simplest of scenes.

Snapshot one: I was sitting on a bench on MacMillan Wharf in Provincetown, waiting to meet a friend for lunch. A collage of God’s creative design sauntered by on a summer’s day as perfect as the place for people watching.

That’s when one man’s feet caught my eye. He was shepherding two youngsters, grandchildren I’d guess, from a souvenir store to the pizza place and as they passed by I saw he was wearing Crocs: a blue Croc on his left foot, an orange one on his right. (Think of a Howard Johnson’s and you’ll have just the right palate!)

I began to wonder… Where were the blue and orange mates to this man’s pair? Was someone else wearing them? Was he aware of what he’d done? Why had I even noticed? These are, after all, CROCS! Were such shoes ever meant to be taken seriously? Maybe this color scheme was the man’s choice, or whimsy. Perhaps he was just in a hurry getting dressed – or he’s colorblind. Might the HoJo colors have been part of an altogether-joyful-getting-ready-to-go-out moment with his grandchildren? How stuck am I in convention that his shoes should come to my attention? on a summer’s day? on vacation? in Provincetown?

Of the many colors in the divine collage called humankind, are not blue and orange noble hues? I looked down at my own feet: two perfectly matching non-descript Tiva’s. I tucked my feet beneath the bench.

Snapshot two: Parked near the shore’s edge at Veterans’ Beach in Hyannis, I was working the New York Times daily crossword puzzle but found my attention drawn to an older couple, seated on a park bench just to my left. Their gaze fell on the boats in the harbor or on the horizon just beyond so I never saw their faces. Still, I was taken by how much they revealed in how they sat together.

They were close, but not too close. His left arm stretched over the back of the bench, his hand teasing, sometimes brushing, almost holding her shoulder, small enough to fit in the cup of his palm. Shorter than he by a foot, she didn’t quite lean on him but sat close enough so that every move of hers found her hair and cheek caressing his arm.

Now and again he took his eyes off the shore and looked towards her face. How I know she felt his glance is still a mystery to me but I don’t for a moment doubt that she knew every time his eyes took her in. He seemed not so much to study her beauty as much as to appraise and appreciate, muse and marvel at it anew after all these years. How many years? I do not know. But the way they fit together on that bench tells me they have a history of sitting side by side and quietly telling each other, without a word, of the love they share.

Snapshot three: Late afternoon traffic on Main Street heading into Hyannis center was inching along, matching the snail’s pace of an elderly man on the sidewalk. Although he was clearly bent on searching the ground, he seemed permanently weighted by age to that posture. I wondered what burdens his heart and back had shouldered, molding him to a curve between his past and what remained of his future.

He carried a pail. A standard issue, 10 quart galvanized pail: not a new pail but still decades younger than the one who held its arced handle. He inched along on the grass strip between the sidewalk and the curb. While I wondered if he might be looking for coins or returnable cans and bottles, the standstill traffic gave me time to discover what he was after: the cigarette butts and paper wrappers that marked the tourists’ trail through his community.

No nearby residence gave hint that he was policing his own front yard. This was an individual civic effort: an old man quietly contributing to the upkeep and beauty of his hometown. I wondered who knows of his initiative or thanks him for his work, although I doubt that praise or recognition are his motives. The years have slowly bowed him to the ground, the dust to which he will one day return. And so, with pail in hand, he makes his way. He shuffles along in the shade towards tomorrow but not before leaving the earth a finer place at the end of all his days.

* * * * *

My camera is an open eye and my film an open heart. You have the equipment, too, and the technology is simple. Take a few snapshots in the week ahead!

-ConcordPastor

9/17/08

He sent them into his vineyard...


Photo by AP

Word for the Week of September 21
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time


Time to sit down with the scriptures and begin to prepare for celebrating the Lord's Day this weekend, the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Spend some time with the texts and background material on them and invite your kids to do the same.

This Sunday's familiar gospel story challenges American sensitivities about fairness and justice but the greater challenge in the parable comes from God's generous desire to open his kingdom to all.

The photo above shoes a contemporary scene of workers going into the vineyard... If you were in that photo, would you be heading out to work at dawn, at 9:00 in the morning, at noon, or at 3:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon?

-ConcordPastor

The election, the Church and the IRS



Thanks to The Hub, via Rocco, for this letter on the coming election from John C. Favalora, Archbishop of Miami. The archbishop writes in response to an announcement from the Alliance Defense Fund that it plans a nationwide challenge September 28 to Internal Revenue Service rules that prohibit preaching in support of one candidate over another from the pulpit.

My dear friends,

A group called the Alliance Defense Fund is urging pastors across the country to join their Pulpit Freedom Initiative by preaching a sermon “that addresses the candidates for government office in light of the truth of Scripture.”

The group’s goal is to challenge the Internal Revenue Service’s restriction on tax-exempt organizations “by specifically opposing candidates for office that do not align themselves and their positions with the scriptural truth.”

Needless to say, none of our Catholic churches or priests will be participating in this initiative. For one thing, we can do a lot for our communities with the money we save by being tax-exempt. That is why we accept that status and agree to abide by IRS rules that ban religious organizations from becoming involved in partisan politics.

For another, “scriptural truth” is not that easy to attain. Which is more “true” in terms of scripture: The Old Testament passage that says “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” or Jesus’ admonition to “turn the other cheek”?

The problem is that people often quote selectively from Scripture in order to back their own opinions. The other problem is that rarely, if ever, does an individual candidate or political party embody the gamut of “scriptural truth.”

The Catholic Church values Scripture, but we also value 2,000 years of oral and written tradition handed down from the apostles and their disciples, and another 2,000 years of ongoing theological reflection by some of the greatest thinkers and saints.

When we teach on a particular moral issue, we rely on the whole of that tradition rather than on any individual’s opinion or interpretation of Scripture.

That is not to say that we are not involved in politics. Catholics do not give up their right to vote or take political sides when they are baptized.

But the role of the church is not to be like the “party boss” who goes around telling people how to vote. Our responsibility is to remind people to vote wisely; to reveal to them the wisdom of Scripture, the wisdom of the church’s moral tradition, so that they can base their votes on solid moral ground.

Too often, people vote based on their feelings, or on the partial sound-bites of candidates pushing a particular point of view. More often than not, decisions based on feelings or partial information turn out to be wrong.

That is why it is especially important for voters to study all sides of an issue — or candidate — and examine that information in light of their own beliefs and values.

When church leaders speak on issues such as immigration, poverty, health care, abortion, war or embryonic stem cell research, we are not telling people how to vote. We are reminding them of the moral teachings that should inform their lives, and as a result, their votes.

We will not speak on behalf of individual candidates or parties. But we will speak in support of legislation that we consider to be morally sound and beneficial to the whole community — regardless of which party or candidate proposes it — and we will speak against legislation that we consider harmful to individuals and society as a whole.

In the coming weeks, you will be hearing from the bishops of Florida regarding important issues that we believe will impact the future well-being of all the people in our state.

That is our duty as teachers and successors of the apostles.

Your duty as Catholics is to listen to those teachings before making rational, informed, conscientious decisions regarding whom or what to vote for.

+ John C. Favalora,
Archbishop of Miami

9/16/08

Monday Morning Offering - 12





A Monday Morning Offerin...
A TUESDAY
Morning Offering!

Morning Offering Archive Icon
This weekend was very busy in the parish and Sunday was one one of my busiest days ever! I didn't get my homily posted until late in the evening - and only today, when one reader inquired, did I realize I'd not posted a
Monday Morning Offering. (H/T to my faithful reader!) Well, there's NOTHING in our lives that can't be the subject of prayer, so here goes...


Good morning, good God!

I know you're eternal and timeless,
without a beginning and without an end,
and so I'm trusting you don't keep track
of the days of the week
or live by a calendar
as I do...

So please, Lord, accept my Monday Morning Offering
on a Tuesday morning...

I just didn't get to it yesterday
and I'm trusting that you'll give me a listen,
even 24 hours late...

Truth is, Lord, I know you'll accept my prayer,
even a day late,
because no prayer of mine goes unheard
by you who live
and love me
in the present moment,
now and always and forever...

You do not dwell on the mistakes
of all my yesterdays,
not a one of them...

You do not hold me to tomorrows
I've not yet met,
not even the day after today...

But you are with me, ever, in the present:
indeed, this is the day you have made,
the one on which you wait for me,
the day you come to meet me...

Heal me of living in my past, Lord,
and open me to your mercy
flowing, rushing in a river
from your heart to mine...

Save me from my anxiety,
deliver me from fear of days
yet to dawn and pass,
days whose blessings
I've not yet met...

Hold me in the present moment,
keep me in today:
remind me all day long
that this is the day you have made for me,
the day you walk with me:
from moment to minute, from hour to hour,
from the rising of the sun to its setting,
through the night of moon and stars...

No prayer of mine comes too early, Lord,
no prayer of mine arrives too late,
for in every moment of the day and night
your heart listens for mine
to beat, to speak,
to plead, to pray, to praise
and glorify your holy name...

I offer you this day, Lord,
this Tuesday,
for this is the day you have made
and this the prayer
your Spirit has stirred in my heart...

Amen.

Monday Morning Offerings I - XI

-ConcordPastor

9/15/08

Our Lady of Sorrows


Pieta on the grounds of Holy Family Parish, Concord: photo by Ellen Bullock, for a Concord Journal report on the restoration of this statue.

September 15 is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. Follow the link for some background on this liturgical day.

What are Mary's seven sorrows?

The Seven Sorrows (or Dolors) are events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary which are a popular devotion and are frequently depicted in art.
  1. The Prophecy of Simeon over the Infant Jesus (Luke 2:34)
  2. The Flight into Egypt of the Holy Family (Matthew 2:13)
  3. The Loss of the Child Jesus for three days (Luke 2:43)
  4. The Meeting of Jesus and Mary along the Way of the Cross (Luke 23:26)
  5. The Crucifixion where Mary stands at the foot of the cross. (John 19:25)
  6. The Descent from the Cross where Mary receives the dead body of Jesus in her arms. (Matthew 27:57)
  7. The Burial of Jesus. (John 19:40)
From one of the options for today's Gospel at Mass:

Jesus’ father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
Luke 2:33-35

-ConcordPastor

9/14/08

Homily for September 14

Homily for the Exaltation
of the Holy Cross

Numbers 21:4-9
Philippians 2:6-11
John 3:13-17


The scene in the first lesson today reminds me of those old westerns where the medicine man would arrive in town, set up shop on his buggy, and peddle a remedy for snake bites!

What Moses does here may seem to be primitive superstition or magic but there’s an abiding wisdom in this story, one we’re familiar with – but without the bronze serpent. The wisdom is this: the first step towards healing is naming one’s demons. That’s what Moses did for the people, at the Lord’s instruction. He lifted up an image of the demon snake, the consequence of the people’s grumbling dissatisfaction with the manna, their God-send in the desert. And in facing the image of the demon snake, a vivid reminder of the sin, the people found healing.

It’s obvious why such a scripture passage would be chosen for this feast and paired with the gospel which quotes it. Two of the most important words in today’s gospel are these: “Just as…” Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so was Jesus lifted up on the cross.

Of course, Jesus is not our demon – he’s our redeemer! But the lifting up of Christ on the cross allows us to confront our own failings, our grumbling dissatisfaction's, our sin. As the snakes and their lethal bites were the consequence of the Israelite’s sin, so is the suffering and death of the crucified One the consequence of our sins. Christ, dying, is the vivid image of the pain, the hurt, the death our sins visit on us and on others when we are not faithful to the law of love, the law of God who so loved the world that he gave us his only Son.

There are times when we lift our gaze on the crucified Jesus to remind ourselves both of our need for the Lord’s mercy and the depths of the mercy he offers us. And there are times, like today, when we lift up the cross as the sign of victory. Christ’s victory over death is the healing he offers us: forgiveness of our sins and the promise of life forever.

What demons do you and I need to face this morning? What sins of ours need confronting?
What demons do our world, our church and our culture need to face and confront so that in naming them, in confessing them, we might open ourselves to receive God’s healing?

Just as the Israelites began to take for granted the gift of manna, falling from the heavens like bread, so might we sometimes begin to take for granted the image, the power, the healing of the cross of Christ.

Today the scriptures and our prayer invite us to “lift high the cross” that it’s healing light might illumine our need for the mercy it offers and give us the strength and courage we need to name and face our demons.

At this table, prepared in the shadow of the cross, we share in the meal Christ prepared for us first by offering his body and blood on the cross, his innocent life for the forgiveness of our sins.

May the sacrifice of his body and blood, broken and poured out for us in the eucharist, remind us of the sacrifice he offered for us and in his name.

May the cross of Christ, lifted in glory, be our hope, our life and our peace.

(I used our bronze processional cross and a "saraph serpent" as visuals at the beginning of my homily, affixing the serpent to the cross as I spoke of Moses' actions and then turning it around and showing it to the whole assembly illustrating that "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so was Jesus lifted up on the Cross..." Click on the images for larger versions.)

-ConcordPastor

9/13/08

Take a break!

Having a dull weekend? Need a break? Looking to add a little color and fun to your day?

Check out this video which comes from Padre Vic (another blogging pastor) via the Deacon's Bench:


EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

Want to find out how to do this? It's the brainchild of the guys who did the Diet Coke and Mentos extravaganza - but this one is much drier! It takes lots of sticky notes but this is something you CAN do at home or at the office - maybe even at the parish office!

Enjoy!

For everything there is a season...


Image by South Dakota FFA

I must have had a very good summer because I've never mourned a summer's passing as much as I have this one. Over the last couple of years I've noticed I've grown more sensitive to the change of seasons and there's something pleasing about that. Perhaps I'm more attuned to nature and the world around me. Perhaps I'm slowing down enough to notice what I've passed by and rushed through for too many years. Perhaps I'm just getting older and the passing seasons are more telling than in my youth.


Some warm days are still in store for New England before the trees are fully dressed in their fall finery but cool nights are already upon us and just today I rode an elevator with a man taking a purple chrysanthemum to his mother. Mums are a sure sign
of autumn.

I exited the elevator on the fifth
floor to visit an older couple whose accumulated seasons are many more than mine. In fact, they were married before I was born. As I calculate it, they've passed through nearly 250 seasons as husband and wife: 62 winters, 62 springs, 62 summers and 62 falls...

Now has come a season for her to care for him in new ways, as old ways slowly slip away. He has become something of a prisoner in his own body and she has become his cell mate.
No crime, no wrong doing here: they are but living out the binding sentence they spoke to each other, the words that yoked them as one: for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part...

You would hope and wouldn't you pray that their 62 years of faithful love might end with a glorious spring of warmth and rosebuds and lengthening days... but their days dwindle down in an autumn of bright afternoons, chilled by hints of falling leaves and winter...

Still a summer warmth burned in her eyes as she looked at him and I saw in her gaze the strength of all they have shared and the faith that binds them as one... When I asked him if she were a good nurse, his whole face answered before his lips said yes...


For these two this is a
good season, a hard season, yet another season of love...


I must have had a very good summer because I've never mourned a summer's passing as much as I have this one. Perhaps I'm slowing down enough to notice what I've passed by and rushed through for too many years. Perhaps I'm just getting older and the passing seasons are more telling than in my youth. And there's something pleasing about that...


-ConcordPastor

9/12/08

Lift High the Cross!


Image by LHTC Ministry (Want a bigger hot air balloon? Click on the image!)

Have you looked at the scriptures for this weekend's Mass? For the readings and background material -and hints for kids, too- check my previous post.

A reminder: this Sunday's ordinary readings are trumped by the feast celebrated every September 14: the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The link above will also take you to a link for understanding this day on the liturgical calendar.

God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son,
so that all who believe in him
might not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

-ConcordPastor

9/11/08

Some geography - and a prayer



UPDATE: At the excellent suggestion of a reader in the combox, I've added a line to the last verse of the prayer below...

My sister called as I was compiling the locations of the readers who arrived at my blog by Googling "school prayers" or similar phrases. You'll recall that I posted a Prayer For When Your Child Leaves Home; and a Student's Prayer and a Parent's Prayer for Students.

I have no way of knowing what those reader/visitors did with the prayers they found here, but my hope is that they found them helpful and that, perhaps, a few teachers or pastors may have distributed copies of these texts to others.

Those who Googled their way to my back-to-school prayers arrived from places around the world:

Dublin, Ireland; Toms River, NJ; Feasterville Trevose, PA; New Ulm, MN; Biggar, South Lanarkshire, UK; Port Colborne, Ontario; Souris, Prince Edward Island; Kansas City, MO; Chester, VA; Paducah, KY; Calgary, Alberta; Bridgewater, NJ; Austin, TX, New Delhi, India; Newark, NJ; Swindon, Swindon, UK; Cleveland, TN; Mississauga, Ontario; Madison, WI; Whitehorse, Yukon Territory; Tehachapi, CA; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Columbia, MO; Bridgewater, MA; Huntington, WV; Grand Rapids, MI; Rochester, NY; Toronto, Ontario; New Castle, PA; Oswego, NY; Santa Rose, CA; San Luis Obispo, CA; Wilmington, DE; Sherwood Park, Alberta; Green Bay, WI; Thatcham, Berkshire, UK; Ossining, NY; Freemont, CA; Chicago, IL; Montclair, NJ; Winston Salem, NC; Swansea, Swansea, UK; New Canaan, CT; Silver Spring, MD... among others!

If geography is an interest of yours, check out the widgets at the bottom of the sidebar to see where my readers hail from.

Back to my sister's phone call...

In speaking about these prayers she asked me why I hadn't written a "Prayer for Teachers." She may have asked this good question because she's a teacher! When I told her that next September I'd write one for teachers, too, she cautioned me that it would need to be something more than, "O God, help me!" - because that's a prayer that teachers already know.

But why wait? I'm sure that teachers can use all the help they can get!

A Prayer for Teachers

Dear God,

A new school day is about to begin
and my classroom door will soon open
to the students you've assigned to my care...

Open my mind and heart to each of them
and especially to the ones
who will challenge me the most...

Help me challenge my students, all of them,
to study, to learn, to grow in knowledge
and even in a little wisdom...

Help me remember, Lord,
how young my students are:
give me patience to help them grow up, at least a little,
and insight to know the help they need...

Help me understand that sometimes
my students may not understand me:
may I be clear in the things I say and do,
and in how I say and do them…

These children don't know the burdens and worries
my heart may bring to the classroom,
so help me remember, Lord,
that their hearts may be anxious and heavy, too...

Keep me from favoring any particular students, Lord,
except for those who most need my help...

Let my decisions in the classroom
be fair and just, honest and true...

Send your Spirit to fill me with gifts
of knowledge and understanding, counsel and wisdom…

Lord, open my mind and heart to my students' parents,
especially those who will challenge me the most:
help me challenge them to challenge their children
to study, to learn and to grow...

Help me teach as you teach, Lord:
make me firm when I need to be,
gentle in all things,
and patient until the last bell rings…

A new school day is about to begin
and
I wonder...
What will the children teach me today?
And, Lord, what will you teach me today?

Amen.
(Rev. Austin Fleming)

-ConcordPastor