A world free of the threat of nuclear weapons...

Dance Around the Dove of Peace by Picasso

Here are some excerpts from a talk given on July 29 by Archbishop Edwin O'Brien at the 2009 Deterrence Symposium sponsored by the U.S. Strategic Command. The complete text of O'Brien's talk is very much worth time to read it. (O'Brien, now Archbishop of Baltimore, is the former head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services.)

My task tonight is to reflect on the moral questions that face our nation and world as we seek to build lasting peace in the shadow of nuclear weapons with all their massive destructive potential. I have been asked to offer more challenge than comfort. This is not an easy role for me. Within our Bishops’ Conference I am often a defender of the proper role of military action and a skeptic of easy and naïve hopes. I know our world remains a dangerous place. I have been on battlefields. I know the moral struggles that come with battlefield decisions. But I also have great respect for military institutions and for the men and women who serve in them. In this talk I will offer hard questions and directions, not easy answers. I bring the voice of a pastor and teacher, not an expert analyst or policy maker...

In Catholic teaching, the task is not to make the world safer through the threat of nuclear weapons, but rather to make the world safer from nuclear weapons through mutual and verifiable nuclear disarmament. This will require both bilateral and multilateral cooperation...

In Catholic moral teaching, the end does not justify the means, but the end can and should inform the means. The moral end we seek ought to shape the means we use. When it comes to issues of war and peace, and nuclear weapons and deterrence, the end is the protection of the life and dignity of the human person through defending the tranquility of order. Tranquillitas ordinis is peace built on justice and charity.

So in this moral analysis of nuclear weapons and deterrence, let us start with the end and work backwards. The moral end is clear: a world free of the threat of nuclear weapons. This goal should guide our efforts. Every nuclear weapons system and every nuclear weapons policy should be judged by the ultimate goal of protecting human life and dignity and the related goal of ridding the world of these weapons in mutually verifiable ways.

-ConcordPastor

I am the Bread of Life: John 6:24-35

Image source: Bread of Life Tabernacle

I begin my homily preparation a week ahead on Sunday night, reading over the scriptures for the coming Sunday. I then carry those texts in a small notebook in my pocket all week so that as free moments or ideas occur, my homily "tools" are at the ready. My focus on Friday and Saturday is on writing my homily for the weekend. Until that text is ready for the Saturday 5:00 Mass (and its final redaction on Saturday night) my attention and energy on those two days are homileltically directed. This weekend is one of those rare times when I will not be preaching on the Lord's Day and it makes Sunday's approach a strikingly different experience.

Lectionary Year B's summertime excursion from Mark into the gospel of John brings us 5 weeks of scripture centered on the Bread of Life. For the readings for this Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, see this earlier post for links to the scriptures, background material on them and help for those who will bring children to hear the Lord's Word this Sunday.

And, do you remember this?

-ConcordPastor

Prayer for Priests in the Year for Priests

_______-Image by Spreadshirt

Each Friday in this Year for Priests I'll post this prayer and invite you to remember all priests and especially those who have been, who are and who may one day be a part of your life.

Several prayers for the Year for Priests are available through the US Bishops site. As an exercise for myself to enter into the spirit of this year, I wrote the following. For whatever use you make of it on behalf of my brother priests and me, we are most grateful. (Links to other material on the Year for Priests can be found on the sidebar.)

A Prayer for Priests

Gracious God, loving Father,
font of every gift and good,
make of priests for us we pray:

men of faith, men of love,
humble servants of your Word,
prophets of your Spirit’s grace;

men of hope, men of peace,
strong defenders of the truth,
heralds of your holy gospel;

men of prayer, men of praise,
guardians of our sacred rites,
of the scriptures and tradition;

men of changelessness and change,
men who follow you each day,
when and where your Spirit leads;

men of tenderness and strength,
comfort for the sick and weary,
shepherds leading home the lost;

men of counsel, men of wisdom,
gentle guides for the confused,
lights along the darkened path;

men of mercy, patient men,
understanding and consoling
of the grieving and abused;

men of justice and compassion,
reconciling and forgiving,
men of healing in your name;

men of sacrifice and honor,
single minded in your service,
set apart to do your will;

men of holiness and joy,
men anointed by your grace,
men ordained to serve as Christ.

Make us one with them in faith
and in Christ your only Son
in whose holy name we pray.

Amen.

-ConcordPastor

Where the cosmos becomes a living host...

Image source: GreenOptions

I've found a link to the full text (on the linked page, scroll to the second entry) of Pope Benedict's homily at Vespers on July 24th in Aosta. (See reference to this homily in an earlier post.) Here's the section of the homily where the pope refers to what he calls the "great vision" of Teilhard de Chardin and builds on the imagery in Teilhard's "Mass on the world."

This is precisely the content of the first part of the prayer that follows: "Let Your Church offer herself to You as a living and holy sacrifice". This request, addressed to God, is made also to ourselves. It is a reference to two passages from the Letter to the Romans. We ourselves, with our whole being, must be adoration and sacrifice, and by transforming our world, give it back to God. The role of the priesthood is to consecrate the world so that it may become a living host, a liturgy: so that the liturgy may not be something alongside the reality of the world, but that the world itself shall become a living host, a liturgy. This is also the great vision of Teilhard de Chardin: in the end we shall achieve a true cosmic liturgy, where the cosmos becomes a living host. And let us pray the Lord to help us become priests in this sense, to aid in the transformation of the world, in adoration of God, beginning with ourselves. That our lives may speak of God, that our lives may be a true liturgy, an announcement of God, a door through which the distant God may become the present God, and a true giving of ourselves to God.

(Read the whole homily here, in the linked page's second entry)

-ConcordPastor

Word for the Weekend: I am the bread of life

Image: LifeSong

August 2009 begins with the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

"Bread from heaven" is the image that connects the story of manna in the desert (in the first lesson from Exodus) with Jesus naming himself as the bread of life in the gospel pericope from John.

(Recall that in this stretch of the Sunday scriptures in Year B, the lectionary sets aside Mark for five weeks and offers us the Johannine passages on the bread of life.)

The second reading is from Ephesians and invites us to put away our old selves and our former ways of life and to put on a new self, created in God's grace. Wouldn't that be great to be able to "take off" our old selves and bad habits as if we were taking off a coat and putting on a new coat of goodness and truth? That's Ephesians' invitation this week.

Check here for the scripture texts and background material on them and here for tips to help children prepare to hear the Word this weekend.

Might be time to reflect on Christ as the bread of life and how he feeds the deepest hungers we know or to think about the "old coats" we need to strip off and the new garments we need to don...

-ConcordPastor

Père Teilhard and Pope Benedict

Image: AliveStyle

Miss Pariseau, my high school French teacher, once spoke to me of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin with great affection for his understanding of God and the universe. A year later I found myself in my first year of seminary studies and came across Père Teilhard's slim volume, Hymn of the Universe. I was particularly drawn, repeatedly, to the first chapter, "The Mass on the World." An excerpt follows, but I'd encourage you to take the time to read the whole chapter here. (For those unfamiliar with the term, paten in the following passage is the name of the plate upon which is placed the bread to be consecrated at Mass.)

Since once again, Lord — though this time not in the forests of the Aisne but in the steppes of Asia — I have neither bread, nor wine, nor altar, I will raise myself beyond these symbols, up to the pure majesty of the real itself; I, your priest, will make the whole earth my altar and on it will offer you all the labours and sufferings of the world. Over there, on the horizon, the sun has just touched with light the outermost fringe of the eastern sky. Once again, beneath this moving sheet of fire, the living surface of the earth wakes and trembles, and once again begins its fearful travail. I will place on my paten, O God, the harvest to be won by this renewal of labour. Into my chalice I shall pour all the sap which is to be pressed out this day from the earth’s fruits.

My paten and my chalice are the depths of a soul laid widely open to all the forces which in a moment will rise up from every corner of the earth and converge upon the Spirit. Grant me the remembrance and the mystic presence of all those whom the light is now awakening to the new day.

One by one, Lord, I see and I love all those whom you have given me to sustain and charm my life. One by one also I number all those who make up that other beloved family which has gradually surrounded me, its unity fashioned out of the most disparate elements, with affinities of the heart, of scientific research and of thought. And again one by one — more vaguely it is true, yet all-inclusively — I call before me the whole vast anonymous army of living humanity; those who surround me and support me though I do not know them; those who come, and those who go; above all, those who in office, laboratory and factory, through their vision of truth or despite their error, truly believe in the progress of earthly reality and who today will take up again their impassioned pursuit of the light.

This restless multitude, confused or orderly, the immensity of which terrifies us; this ocean of humanity whose slow, monotonous wave-flows trouble the hearts even of those whose faith is most firm: it is to this deep that I thus desire all the fibres of my being should respond. All the things in the world to which this day will bring increase; all those that will diminish; all those too that will die: all of them, Lord, I try to gather into my arms, so as to hold them out to you in offering. This is the material of my sacrifice; the only material you desire.

Once upon a time men took into your temple the first fruits of their harvests, the flower of their flocks. But the offering you really want, the offering you mysteriously need every day to appease your hunger, to slake your thirst is nothing less than the growth of the world borne ever onwards in the stream of universal becoming.

Receive, O Lord, this all-embracing host which your whole creation, moved by your magnetism, offers you at this dawn of a new day.

This bread, our toil, is of itself, I know, but an immense fragmentation; this wine, our pain, is no more, I know, than a draught that dissolves. Yet in the very depths of this formless mass you have implanted — and this I am sure of, for I sense it — a desire, irresistible, hallowing, which makes us cry out, believer and unbeliever alike: ‘Lord, make us one.’

de Chardin was a controversial writer and the Vatican was strong in its warnings about his work. From a contemporary perspective, this Jesuit priest's words seem less threatening than they did some 55 years ago. Last week, Benedict XVI gave Père Teilhard a favorable nod as this story from NCR reports:

Though few might have cast him in advance as a "green pope," Pope Benedict XVI has amassed a striking environmental record, from installing solar panels in the Vatican to calling for ecological conversion. Now the pontiff has also hinted at a possible new look at the undeclared patron saint of Catholic ecology, the late French Jesuit scientist and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

Benedict's brief July 24 reference to Teilhard, praising his vision of the entire cosmos as a "living host," can be read on multiple levels -- as part of the pontiff's rapprochement with the Jesuits, or as a further instance of finding something positive to say about thinkers whose works have set off doctrinal alarms, as Benedict previously did with rebel Swiss theologian and former colleague Hans Küng. The potential implications for environmental theology, however, are likely to generate the greatest interest among Teilhard's fans and foes alike -- and more than a half-century after his death in 1955, the daring Jesuit still has plenty of both. Admirers trumpet Teilhard as a pioneer, harmonizing Christianity with the theory of evolution; critics charge that Teilhard's optimistic view of nature flirts with pantheism.

Benedict's comment came during a July 24 vespers service in the Cathedral of Aosta in northern Italy, where the pope took his annual summer vacation July 13-29. Toward the end of a reflection upon the Letter to the Romans, in which St. Paul writes that the world itself will one day become a form of living worship, the pope said, "It's the great vision that later Teilhard de Chardin also had: At the end we will have a true cosmic liturgy, where the cosmos becomes a living host. "Let's pray to the Lord that he help us be priests in this sense," the pope said, "to help in the transformation of the world in adoration of God, beginning with ourselves."

Though offered only in passing, and doubtless subject to overinterpretation, Benedict's line nevertheless triggered headlines in the Italian press about a possible "rehabilitation" of Teilhard, sometimes referred to as the "Catholic Darwin." That reading seemed especially tempting since, as a consummate theologian, Benedict is aware of the controversy that swirls around Teilhard, and would thus grasp the likely impact of a positive papal reference.

At the very least, the line seemed to offer a blessing for exploration of the late Jesuit's ideas. That impression appeared to be confirmed by the Vatican spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, who said afterward, "By now, no one would dream of saying that [Teilhard] is a heterodox author who shouldn't be studied."

For more and for a look at Benedict's views of de Chardin, read the whole article.

-ConcordPastor

The bared and bended arm of Massachusetts

Cape Cod is the bared and bended arm of Massachusetts:
the shoulder is at Buzzard's Bay;
the elbow, or crazy-bone, at Cape Mallebarre;
the wrist at Truro; the sandy fist at Provincetown,
behind which the State stands on her guard,
with her back to the Green Mountains,
and her feet planted on the floor of the ocean,
like an athlete protecting her Bay,
boxing with northeast storms, and, ever and anon,
heaving up her Atlantic adversary from the lap of earth,
ready to thrust forward her other fist,
which keeps guard the while upon her breast at Cape Ann.

- Henry David Thoreau in Cape Cod
(published 1865)

Monday Morning Offering - 57

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

I'm getting ready to go on vacation, Lord,
and there's a lot of things I need to get done,
well, that I'd like to get done,
that I should get done
before I leave...

You know what I mean, Lord:
loose ends needing to be neatly tied;
unfinished tasks begging for completion;
stacks of papers praying for blessed order;
correspondents waiting for correspondence...

And more than all that, Lord,
there's my unfinished business with you:
prayers half-prayed, needing an Amen;
prayers not even half-begun
so much in need of time with you;
prayers sent up from half a heart
when all my heart is always what you ask...

There's not a moment, Lord,
of any day or night
when you haven't time for me;
not a moment when you wouldn't put aside
whatever you're doing to be at my side
with all the time in the world
just to listen to me
and to speak to me
a word from heart to heart,
from yours to mine...

Why am I so often so busy,
too busy to spend some time with you?

In these finally-summer days, Lord,
slow me down
and give me time for nothing to do
but be with you, to know again
that you're with me...

Help me put the brakes on
my merry-go-round-go-nowhere pace...
Slow me down, stop me in my tracks,
hold me still
and hold me...

Let a doldrum summer lull, calm and call me
to a place of peace, of prayer,
of meeting you again --
like bumping into an old friend,
on the streets of my vacation...

Find and meet me, Lord,
in the days of rest ahead...

Keep me mindful and prayerful, Lord,
of those who know the rough edges
of my unfinished work:
refresh me in these days away
and bring me back a better servant
of all whose hearts and hopes meet mine...

Good God of Monday mornings,
hear my prayer this day
and every day of my vacation...

Amen.

-ConcordPastor

Musing on blogging

Deacon Greg links from his Bench to an article in The Georgia Bulletin about blogging clergy - how they got started and why they do it. That's enough of a nudge for me to share how this page began (just a little more than two years ago) and what keeps me at work on it.

How did this start? I'd been reading blogs for some time and had often thought about writing one but presumed that I didn't have the cyber-savvy to carry it off. Then on a rainy summer afternoon in 2007 I thought I'd just take a look at what blogging entailed. Already a regular reader of Whispers in the Loggia, I clicked on Blogger over at Rocco's place and discovered how easy it was to set up a blog. In about an hour and a half, A Concord Pastor Comments was online. Within a day or two I learned how to post graphics and YouTube videos -- and that's how it all started.

At the beginning, I emailed about 30 friends to let them know I had a blog up. Some time later I put the word out through my parish bulletin. My readership grew in large measure due to other bloggers linking to my page and folks around the world Googling words or phrases that brought them here. Many Googlers stop by and move on but many others have become regular readers. Right now I'm averaging close to 300 hits per day. Prior to the beginning of summer vacation, that number was closer to 400. If last summer's pattern repeats, numbers will go up again around Labor Day.

Anyone who has been reading this page since its beginning has seen its shape evolve over two years. There's been no master plan at work but rather a process of observing what kind of posts readers respond to and what kind of posts I most enjoy writing and sharing.

What do I post? Even a quick glance at my nearly 1800 posts (this is post No. 1788) reveals that the standard fare here includes: a weekly MMO; two weekly posts highlighting the scriptures for the coming Sunday; a weekly Sunday homily; daily reflections in Advent and Lent; commentary on the liturgical year and its feasts and seasons; links to and my own comments on life, ministry and church related news; plus occasional offerings of poetry, music, video and art.

Why do I write this blog? Working on this page has afforded me a new way for using some of the talents God has given me. Keeping this page fresh is a great exercise for my creativity and writing skills. I find writing this blog to be a source of prayer and peace for myself and I'm grateful that many others have found it to be the same for them. Writing this blog has strengthened my study of the Word for preaching and preparing prayers and reflections for this page has deepened my own spiritual life. If all of this touches others in like fashion -- and many of you have let me know that it does -- I praise God for using my efforts in this way.

Blogging is a far more satisfying use of time than surfing the wasteland my satellite dish delivers to my living room. If nothing else, writing this blog has made me a virtual stranger to television - and that's a good thing!

-ConcordPastor

Do you believe in miracles?

Image: Feeding the Five Thousand by Eularia Clark

Homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Readings for this Sunday's liturgy)

Miracles.

Some folks believe in miracles and some folks don’t.
Still other folks just aren’t sure.

But I’ll wager that even folks who don’t believe in miracles
wouldn’t run away if one landed on their doorstep.
And I’ll bet skeptics might become believers
if a miracle landed in their lap
And isn’t it something that people who do believe in miracles
- and pray for them earnestly but don’t get one –
still continue to pray for and believe in miracles!

The scriptures report two miracles for us today.
Both the prophet Elisha and the Prophet Jesus
feed hundreds and even thousands from a very meager supply.

I’m sure that some among us believe that Jesus, with divine power,
multiplied the five loaves and two fishes
right before the very eyes of those who were watching.

And maybe others will wonder if the real miracle
was Jesus somehow convincing all these people
to share with one another whatever they’d brought along with them
for this mountainside revival meeting.

And others among us just don’t know:
maybe he really did this or maybe it’s just an allegory.

Of course the Church has always understood this to be a true miracle
and interpreted this scene in terms of the Eucharist:

Jesus takes some simple elements
(here bread and fish, later bread and wine)
gives thanks for them, breaks and shares them,
and feeds everyone,
drawing the many into one through himself.

Another age might not have questioned miracles but we look at life
through the filters of scientific knowledge.
We ask questions about such things and try to reason things out.
But our faith does not ask us to put those questions away.
Faith never asks us to believe something contrary to our reason.
Faith and reason are friends, not enemies of each other.
If reason can live in harmony with our passion for those we love
so can our reason live in peace with faith in realities spiritual.
One need not abandon reason to trust in love, in hope, in faith.
In fact, it’s the blending of reason with faith, hope and love
that yields a life marked by depth, trust and intimacy.

Thousands of years after the event,
we’re not able to submit Jesus’ deed to scientific inquiry.
But there are harder, deeper questions we might apply here
and their answers may be more telling
than wondering whether or not we believe in miracles.

Here are the questions I have in mind:

- Do we believe our hearts hunger for something
a word from God can feed and nourish?

- Do we believe we might find in ancient words
a wisdom of value for today?

- Do we believe that even today, this morning,
Jesus might use our prayer and our hands,
to take, bless, break and share bread and wine
to feed us with his life and love and make us one in him
in the bread and cup of the Eucharist?

- Do we believe that Jesus is with us here,
speaking to us in his word, praying with us in our prayer,
offering himself for us at this altar as once he did on the Cross,
feeding us as once he fed the thousands on the mountainside?

- Do we believe?

I believe we DO believe these things:
that we come here every Sunday
for more than meets the reasoned eye
and leave here strengthened in faith,
comforted and challenged, healed and fed
by Jesus himself, present in Word and sacrament.

If that’s what you believe, too,
then come to the table, with reason and with faith,
remembering that the most reasonable thing we can do
is to give ourselves,
in faith,
to love
- and therein find our hope.

-ConcordPastor

Here comes the bride!

Where does Deacon Greg find these great videos? Do you suppose folks leave them under his Bench? Here's what he writes about this one:

I know I should probably be shocked and wringing my hanky into knots over this. It's clearly not what most of us would have in mind as the proper way for beginning the celebration of a sacrament. (N.B., it wasn't a Catholic wedding.)

But: I loved it anyway. I couldn't stop grinning. Married life is a dance, and this just fits. Beautifully. Bless 'em. And bless 'em, especially, for having such great friends to dance with them.

Once you've had a chance to take a look at this, I'd be interested in your response to a few questions:

1) What did you like and not like about this entrance procession?

2) What does a "standard" entrance procession accomplish at a wedding? What did this procession accomplish? In other words: how does a procession (and its style) function best in the liturgy?

3) Do you wish you'd been invited to this wedding or are you glad you weren't? And why?

4) What's the best, what's the worst wedding procession you've been in or experienced?

5) Other comments?

Update: A friend with far more sophistication in contemporary music writes, "The heavily Autotuned recording artist is Chris Brown. The track is from the 2008 repackaged album called "Exclusive: the Forever Edition." (It did not appear on the original "Exclusive" album when it came out in 2007.) "

-ConcordPastor

Ever met this guy?

Found this at The Deacon's Bench about a week ago and meant to post it before now. As Deacon Greg noted, this is not a how-to on the new evangelization!

Welcome to CathNewsASIA!

Last week this blog was featured on CathNewsUSA. I'm pleased to note a spike in my stats which I've traced to ConcordPastor being featured on CathNewsASIA.

A warm welcome to CathNewsASIA readers - pleased to have you with us!

-ConcordPastor

Five loaves, two fish: more than enough for all!

Just a couple of days left to take a look at this weekend's scriptures and get ready to hear the Lord's Word at Mass on the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Check out my earlier post for links to the readings and background material on them - and for help in preparing children to hear the Word at Mass this weekend.

As you can guess from the image above, the gospel tells the story of the "multiplication of the loaves and fishes," five and two, respectively. Not much to work with, for sure, but in the hands of Jesus and for those who trust there's a source of nourishment beyond the local farm or supermarket, this meager store was (literally) more than enough.

In the liturgical year that began with Advent in 2008, we have been reading mostly from the gospel of Saint Mark. At this point in Ordinary Time in the year of Mark, however, there's a series of five Sundays on which we will hear from the gospel of John and especially the Johannine teaching on the Eucharist.

Image source: IBC

-ConcordPastor

In the Year for Priests: a local policy is amended

_______-Image by Spreadshirt

The following arrived from the Archdiocese of Boston in this afternoon's email:

After consulting with the Presbyteral Council, His Eminence, Seán P. Cardinal O’Malley has promulgated an Amendment to the Archdiocesan Policy for the Life, Ministry and Support of Senior Priests, effective August 1, 2009. This Policy can be found in the Archdiocesan Pastoral Guidelines and Policies, Book II, pages 2307 et seq.

The Amendment states that priests are normally expected (health permitting) to remain in active ministry, as pastor, parochial vicar, or special assignment, until the age of 75. This is in keeping with The Code of Canon Law, wherein both pastors and bishops are asked to submit their resignation at age 75. Under this Amendment, upon reaching the age of 70, priests may request senior priest status but must agree to provide temporary emergency response until they reach the age of 75.

-ConcordPastor

Musing on blogging

Deacon Greg links from his Bench to an article in The Georgia Bulletin about blogging clergy - how they got started and why they do it. That's enough of a nudge for me to share how this page began (just a little more than two years ago) and what keeps me at work on it.

How did this start? I'd been reading blogs for some time and had often thought about writing one but presumed that I didn't have the cyber-savvy to carry it off. Then on a rainy summer afternoon in 2007 I thought I'd just take a look at what blogging entailed. Already a regular reader of Whispers in the Loggia, I clicked on Blogger over at Rocco's place and discovered how easy it was to set up a blog. In about an hour and a half, A Concord Pastor Comments was online. Within a day or two I learned how to post graphics and YouTube videos -- and that's how it all started.

At the beginning, I emailed about 30 friends to let them know I had a blog up. Some time later I put the word out through my parish bulletin. My readership grew in large measure due to other bloggers linking to my page and folks around the world Googling words or phrases that brought them here. Many Googlers stop by and move on but many others have become regular readers. Right now I'm averaging close to 300 hits per day. Prior to the beginning of summer vacation, that number was closer to 400. If last summer's pattern repeats, numbers will go up again around Labor Day.

Anyone who has been reading this page since its beginning has seen its shape evolve over two years. There's been no master plan at work but rather a process of observing what kind of posts readers respond to and what kind of posts I most enjoy writing and sharing.

What do I post? Even a quick glance at my nearly 1800 posts (this is post No. 1781) reveals that the standard fare here includes: a weekly Monday Morning Offering; two weekly posts highlighting the scriptures for the coming Sunday; a weekly Sunday homily; daily reflections in Advent and Lent; commentary on the liturgical year and its feasts and seasons; links to and my own musings on life, ministry and church related news; plus occasional offerings of poetry, music, video and art.

Why do I write this blog? Working on this page has afforded me an opportunity for using in a new way some of the talents God has given me. Keeping this page fresh is a great exercise for my creativity and writing skills. I find writing this blog to be a source of prayer and peace for myself and I'm grateful that many others have found it to be the same for them. Writing this blog has strengthened my study of the Word for preaching and preparing prayers and reflections for this page has deepened my own spiritual life. If all of this touches others in like fashion -- and many of you have let me know that it does -- I praise God for using my efforts in this way.

Blogging is a far more satisfying way of using and passing time than surfing the wasteland my satellite dish delivers. If nothing else, writing this blog has made me a virtual stranger to the television in my living room - and that's a good thing!

-ConcordPastor

Welcome to my blogroll, Sr. Joanne!

Image by Joanne Gallagher, C.S.J. (Click on image for a larger version of this glorious hanging basket!)

I'm pleased to share with you a link to a blog I just discovered: A Sister of St. Joseph's Blog.

It's written by Sr. Joanne Gallagher, C.S.J. whom I've known for many years but haven't been in touch with for some time. I was glad to find Joanne's blog which I'm sure relates to her work as the Director of Communication for the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Boston.

Joanne's most recent posts included the image above and many more from a week she spent in Weston, Vermont which, as you may know, is the home of the Benedictine Weston Priory.

For posting on "being a Sister of St. Joseph in today's world: connecting neighbor to neighbor and neighbor to God," check out A Sister of St. Joseph's Blog which will now be linked on my sidebar.

-ConcordPastor

Word for the Weekend - July 26

This coming weekend we celebrate Eucharist on the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The scriptures offer us a summertime fish fry both in the lesson from Second Kings and in the gospel from John.



There's plenty to eat here - more than enough - so bring your friends and family!

Between the two stories of feeding the multitude comes a "word from our sponsor" in Ephesians on the source and importance of our unity as Christians, sharing one faith, one Lord, one baptism and one Father of us all.

The scriptures for the day can be found here along with background material on these texts. There's a young boy in the gospel story and you may be bringing a young girl or boy to Mass this weekend. If that's the case, look here for help in preparing them to hear the Word.

Image source: Your Daily Inspiration

-ConcordPastor

Monday Morning Offering - 56

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

There are times, Lord,
when we think we don't now how to pray,
when we can't find the words to say,
when we wonder if we pray "the right way..."

How did we become so misinformed
about something so important, Lord?

When did we begin to think of prayer
as a rare gift? a specialized skill?
an art we haven't mastered?

How did we come to forget that every
thought, sigh, hope, cry, word of ours
sounds in your ear and touches your heart
as soon and as surely as any saint's
pure and perfect prayer?

And help us to trust
that simply sitting in your presence,
... in silence ...
is a prayer whose eloquence delights you...

Our very desire to pray, Lord,
is a sign you're already with us:
nudging our hearts to trust you're near;
inviting us to voice and vent
joys and sorrows, hopes and hurts
known to you long before
we even thought to pray...

Before they have a word to say
even infants speak a prayer:
cooing, mumbling, sputtering forth
their stories of wonder, hunger, fear, joy
and their desire to be held
by mothers and fathers who hear in every sound
the beauty of a prayer that has no words...

Be mother and father to us, Lord,
and hear our prayer...

We offer you this morning
the prayers we sputter from our souls:
prayers that have no words
and prayers that have too many words;
prayers we sob upon your breast
and prayers we sing from happy hearts;
prayers that rise from our confusion,
still prayers you understand so well...

We offer you every thought, sigh,
hope, cry and word of ours
that pleads and pulses from within:
let the beating prayer of our hearts
be heard and held in your heart of hearts
for surely, Lord, that is the right way to pray...

Receive our morning offering, Lord,
and keep us mindful in prayer
of the joys and sorrows, hopes and hurts
of those whose paths cross ours this day...

Good God of Monday mornings,
hear our prayer this day
and every day this week...

Lord, hear us!
Lord graciously hear us!

Amen.

-ConcordPastor

Tips for Daily Prayer

The Angelus by Millet

Here are some tips for daily prayer from Loyala Press. Although billed as tips for families, most will work well for singles, too!

5 Ways to Help Families Make Prayer a Priority

The hectic pace of family life can often mean that prayer gets lost in the shuffle. Here are five simple, practical tips to encourage families to pray more often:

1. When you rise from bed, get down on your knees
Try this method for morning prayer: Put your bedroom slippers or shoes far under your bed at the end of the day. Each morning, while on your knees retrieving your footwear, say a quick prayer offering the whole day to God.

2. Communicate with God whenever you climb into the car
Many families spend a whole lot of their time in the family vehicle. As you buckle up, say a quick prayer that you will be aware of God’s presence in your day.

3. Place a prayer jar in the kitchen
Keep a jar in the kitchen in which each family member, each day, places a note listing a “special intention” that others in the family can pray for. Before each family member goes to bed, he or she pulls a note from the jar and prays for that need.

4. Fold your hands before you unfold your napkin
Before each meal, take a few moments to thank the One who provides all that you need and blesses you with the lives of those around the table. Try mixing up rote prayers with spontaneous prayers, silent prayers with sung prayers.

5. Pray when people or events upset you
If you want a sure-fire way to pray more each day, make a habit of saying a short prayer whenever someone irritates you. A quick “Help me, God” is sufficient. You’ll never run out of opportunities!

Homily for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Image: The Good Shepherd by Hanna Varghese

Scriptures for today's liturgy

As is the case every Sunday, the scripture readings we just heard
are the those read in every Catholic church in the world today.
And I can assure you there’s not a priest in the world
who takes the pulpit today without some soul-searching
as he considers the first reading --

Woe to the shepherds
who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture,
says the LORD.

-- and the ways he’s been a careless or unfaithful shepherd,
the ways in which he may have mislead,
scattered, lost or harmed those entrusted to his care.

Through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord’s judgment falls heavy
on shepherds who have failed to protect and nurture,
defend and love those in their flock.

I’ve been reflecting on this for the past week,
looking back over many years, remembering mistakes I’ve made,
some small, some much bigger,
and wondering, too, about mistakes I’ve made
that I'm not even aware of.

Each week on my blog on the Internet
I write and post a prayer called, Monday Morning Offering.
This past Monday found me working with Jeremiah's words
and I’d like to share with you the prayer that came from that.

Good morning, good God!
You know, Lord,
I try really hard to say the right thing,
to write the right thing, to do the right thing -
but despite my best efforts
my words and deeds can miss their mark
and, even worse, end up hurting
just where I wanted to heal...

Sometimes my efforts at honesty
become a hard lesson in humility
and while I'm grateful for what I've learned
I grieve the cost to those who taught me,
at whose expense my newfound wisdom comes...

Sometimes, Lord, my best intentions
fall apart in my own hands
and, try as I might, it's hard to see
how and when and why something went wrong
- but it did...

So this morning, Lord, I offer you my garbled words
and any harm they've done
and I pray you might speak a healing word
upon whatever unintended hurt I've caused...

And I offer you all I've learned the hard way, Lord:
the way that's paved with others' hopes,
the path that bears the prints of my rough steps.
I ask forgiveness of any whose hearts I've trespassed
without care...

I offer you all my good intentions, Lord:
help me see them for what they are,
to discern the selfish from the selfless
and to act upon the wisdom gained...

I offer you all the mistakes I've made, Lord:
the ones I didn't see coming,
the ones I should have seen coming,
and the ones I saw only when it was all too late.
I pray for your forgiveness
- and for the healing of any whom I've hurt.

I offer you the foolish pride that tempts me to think,
too often to believe,
that I am always right and never wrong.

Help me see myself as you see me, Lord:
help me see what is good and true
and help me take honest stock
of what should have no place in this heart of mine...

Tame, heal, shape and mold my heart for you, Lord,
and for all whose paths cross mine...
Good God of Monday mornings,
take hold of my heart this day and night
and through all of the week before me....

Amen.

It’s a good thing, even if it’s a hard thing,
when the scriptures call us to accountability.
I hope that this moment this week
will sharpen my own shepherd’s eye
and strengthen my shepherd’s heart
to make me a more faithful servant of God and the church.

And for all of us --
in whatever ways each of us is called to shepherd others in faith,
in our families, among friends, in the parish, in the community,
where we work or play --
perhaps this will be a moment for each of us to review how carefully,
how faithfully we shepherd those in our care.

In the gospel today, Jesus is moved deep in his heart
when he sees others who look to be “sheep without a shepherd.”
Perhaps that’s what we might do this summer,
you and I, each in our own way:
we might keep an eye out for any who seem to be
“sheep without a shepherd,”
and see what we might do to shepherd them,
to bring them closer to us and to God's love.

The Good and faithful Shepherd of us all gathers us to his table now
to nourish us with the gift of his own life.

May his careful shepherding of us
lead us to shepherd one another with greater and more faithful care.

-ConcordPastor

Welcome to CathNewsUSA readers

Welcome to any new readers who have arrived here via CathNewsUSA which offered this blog as its Featured Website of the Day!

-ConcordPastor

Woe to the shepherds

Image source (click on image for a larger version of this beautiful icon)

(Looking for this weekend's readings and background on the scripture? Check out this post for quick reference!)

Each Friday in this Year for Priests I'm posting the prayer in the post below and inviting you to pray for priests. This Friday I also ask you to pray for priests who will preach this weekend.

It would be impossible at any one moment to know what all the Catholic priests in the world are doing but I believe I can tell you something that's on the minds of priests everywhere as this weekend approaches. What's on our minds is this Sunday's first scripture lesson from the prophet Jeremiah:

Woe to the shepherds
who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the LORD.
Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
against the shepherds who shepherd my people:
You have scattered my sheep and driven them away.
You have not cared for them,
but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.
I myself will gather the remnant of my flock
from all the lands to which I have driven them
and bring them back to their meadow;
there they shall increase and multiply.
I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them
so that they need no longer fear and tremble;
and none shall be missing, says the LORD.

There's not a priest who's reading these words who's not pondering his own ministry, his own call to shepherd God's people. And each of those priests is reflecting on all the people who have been entrusted to his care over the years, and in his present circumstances, and recalling the times when he has failed to care, lovingly and fully, for those who depend on him and his ministry. I certainly know that's what's on my mind and heart as I read Jeremiah here.

So, on this particular weekend in this Year for Priests, I ask you to pray for those who have shepherded you and your loved ones... Pray for priests who have been unfaithful in any way, large or small... Pray for people who have left the Lord's flock, hurt or betrayed by a priest's words or deeds... Pray that the Lord might send good shepherds to care for his people... And pray that all of us, shepherds and flock, might support one another in fidelity to the Good Shepherd of us all...

-ConcordPastor

Prayer for Priests in the Year for Priests

Update: Cards with the text of the prayer below are at the doors of my church and it's been disappointing to notice how few of my parishioners have taken one home. So I was delighted to receive an email today from a parishioner who mentioned that she and her husband are praying this regularly for all priests and for me in particular. To all who might be remembering priests with this or another prayer - thank you!


_______-Image by Spreadshirt

Each Friday in this Year for Priests I'll post this prayer and invite you to remember all priests and especially those who have been, who are and who may one day be a part of your life.

Several prayers for the Year for Priests are available through the US Bishops site. As an exercise for myself to enter into the spirit of this year, I wrote the following. For whatever use you make of it on behalf of my brother priests and me, we are most grateful. (Links to other material on the Year for Priests can be found on the sidebar.)

A Prayer for Priests

Gracious God, loving Father,
font of every gift and good,
make of priests for us we pray:

men of faith, men of love,
humble servants of your Word,
prophets of your Spirit’s grace;

men of hope, men of peace,
strong defenders of the truth,
heralds of your holy gospel;

men of prayer, men of praise,
guardians of our sacred rites,
of the scriptures and tradition;

men of changelessness and change,
men who follow you each day,
when and where your Spirit leads;

men of tenderness and strength,
comfort for the sick and weary,
shepherds leading home the lost;

men of counsel, men of wisdom,
gentle guides for the confused,
lights along the darkened path;

men of mercy, patient men,
understanding and consoling
of the grieving and abused;

men of justice and compassion,
reconciling and forgiving,
men of healing in your name;

men of sacrifice and honor,
single minded in your service,
set apart to do your will;

men of holiness and joy,
men anointed by your grace,
men ordained to serve as Christ.

Make us one with them in faith
and in Christ your only Son
in whose holy name we pray.

Amen.

-ConcordPastor

Pray always - at least frequently!

Image: Creative Signs

In an email today to the lectors in my parish I invited them to feel free to speak with me after a Mass at which they've lectored to see if I had any observations on how they had proclaimed their assigned scripture.

I did ask, however, that they wait until I'd had an opportunity at the church doors "to deplane the exiting parishioners and thank them for flying Holy Family."

A great response from one lector came right back:

"I was wondering if Holy Family Airlines has a "Frequent Prayer" program?"

Hope that might have brought a smile to your day as it did to mine!

-ConcordPastor

Billboards and religious messages

CathNews reports that bulletin boards are appearing around the country bearing this message from the Freedom From Religion Foundation and causing a stir. Those old enough will recall the John Lennon song with those three words in the lyrics.

Another group, In God We Trust USA, is striking back with this counter message along the roadways of America:



I'm pleased to note that this page featured a virtual "bulletin board" over this past Sunday's homily bearing a quote from the pope's recently published letter on the economy and human development, Charity in Truth.



-ConcordPastor

Would a rose by any other name...?

Image: Articles of Faith

I know I have at least one reader who's a lover of roses so I couldn't resist sharing this with you all.

Michael Paulson at the Boston Globe has posted on his blog this photo of a John Paul II Tea Rose which has bloomed in his garden.

It's a beauty, Michael!

-ConcordPastor

Sheep without a shepherd: Word for the Weekend

Image by EssJay in NZ (Click on image for a wonderful larger version!)

It's time to take a look at the scriptures for the coming weekend, the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The scripture texts and background material on them can be found here and if your helping youngsters prepare to hear the Word then you'll want to check out this site.

This Sunday's first scripture, from the prophet Jeremiah, is a condemnation of unfaithful shepherds and the Lord's pledge to replace them with more faithful shepherds. In the gospel passage (Mark), Jesus is moved to pity the crowd who seem to him to be like "sheep without a shepherd."

The middle text, from Ephesians, never mentions no shepherd nor Jews nor Gentiles but the passage is about the way the God shepherded both of these groups into one through the blood of Christ, the Good Shepherd.

The shaping of conversation and discourse

Image by Simona84

Popping up in many blogs is a link to a talk given by Denver's Archbishop Charles Chaput on the topic,"Catholics and the Fourth Estate." It's a lengthy essay but one deserving of the attention of all of us who feed on the news prepared for us by the media.

Chaput reflects on dynamics and presuppositions that influence us daily news consumers. A great strength in the archbishop's presentation lies in his framing the issues in broad terms, of value to a wide audience. Though he closes with reference to some issues of particular concern to the Catholic Church, his argument here has wisdom for much wider appeal. When was the last time you heard a Catholic bishop strengthen his thesis with reference to the Federalist Papers, Thomas Jefferson and even Oscar Wilde? Chaput acknowledges that Wilde was "not exactly a model of piety and Spartan virtue" but nonetheless one who had "the gift of very keen perception" -- and that "we should think about what he said."

I offer below a few snips from the archbishop's talk and the link to his complete text. I believe that we who gather on this page (both blogger and commenters) can benefit from these words.

Here’s a simple fact: You and I have just begun a relationship. The moment you started listening to me, we struck a deal. You agreed to give me your attention. I agreed to give you my opinions. It’s a pretty common arrangement. But sometimes it can have unhelpful consequences.

Most of what we know about the world comes from people we’ll never meet and don’t really understand. We don’t even think of them as individuals. Instead we usually talk about them in the collective – as “the media” or “the press.” Yet behind every Los Angeles Times editorial or Fox News broadcast are human beings with personal opinions and prejudices. These people select and frame the news. And when we read their newspaper articles or tune in their TV shows, we engage them in a kind of intellectual intimacy in the same way you’re listening to me right now.

This isn’t necessarily a bad practice. Most readers who follow the columns of George Will or Paul Krugman do so because they share the author’s views or because they want to know what the other side is saying. And because Will and Krugman are both opinion journalists, we expect them to argue a certain set of ideas.

In like manner, anyone reading my own writings gets a pretty clear sense, pretty quickly, of how I think about issues. As a Catholic bishop, I belong to a believing community with a widely accessible and carefully articulated understanding of the world.

In contrast, we usually know very little about the person who writes an unsigned editorial or the people who create the nightly news. And that’s worth talking about. Here’s why. In an information society, the people who shape our information control the public conversation.
…

Here’s my point. The news media, despite their claims of impartiality, and despite the good work they often do accomplish, are just as prone to prejudice, ignorance, bad craftsmanship and tribalism as any other profession. But unlike other professions, the press has constitutional protections. It also has real power in shaping how we think, what we think about and what we like, dislike and ignore. America’s media, including its news media, are the greatest catechetical syndicate in history. And if that kind of power doesn’t make us uneasy, it should at least make us alert.

(Read the complete text)

-ConcordPastor

On being called to become a priest

Our local weekly paper, The Concord Journal, offers column space for faith community leaders to share on a rotating basis. Last week's edition included this essay of mine which drew on a homily I preached about a year ago and served as an opportunity to give announce the Year for Priests to a wider audience. I'm often asked how I decided to become a priest. Well, it all began with a postcard...

Voices of Faith
July 9, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI has called for a year of prayer for priests which began on June 19, 2009. I take this opportunity to share with you some of the story of how I came to spend my life as a Catholic priest.

In 1963 when I was in high school, a classmate and friend, Kathy, sent a post card to a “priest vocation director” requesting “more information about becoming a priest” - and she filled in my name and phone number without telling me what she had done!

A few weeks later, she asked me if any priest had called to talk to me. I told her no and asked her why. She told me what she had done - and I told her what I thought of what she had done! I wasn’t happy about it and asked her why in the world she would do such a thing. She answered simply and seriously, “Because I think you’d be a good priest…”

Well, at that point in my life I wanted to be a teacher or a lawyer – not a priest. But sure enough, a week or so later a priest called me. I explained what Kathy had done and told him I wasn’t interested. He was kind and said that students often did that to their friends. End of the phone call - but the beginning of my thinking about what Kathy had said to me, “I think you’d be a good priest…”

Well, we can fast-forward here because you already know how this story ends!

I’ve been a priest for 36 years. And I wouldn’t I’d trade those 36 years for any other life. I have a full life, a rich life, a rewarding life. My life is not without loneliness, pain, hurt, disappointment and maybe a few regrets - but it is, after all, the life of a human being, not an angel, so I think in that respect it’s a fairly normal life.

The world, Church and culture in 1963 were very different than today’s. When I first told people I was entering a seminary, just above everyone thought it was a great thing. That might not be the response today. “A seminary? You want to be a priest? A Catholic priest? But don’t you know…? Haven’t you heard…?”

Without a doubt, these are tough times for recruiting men to the Roman Catholic priesthood.

Of course, the greatest reason anyone should consider becoming a priest is simply this: the growing conviction and belief that this is what God wants of you. I believed that 44 years ago when I went to the seminary and I’ve believed that over the 36 years I’ve been a priest.

It ain’t all been perfect! And I have not been perfect. My faults and failings are many more than even those who enjoy logging my errors might imagine. To date, however, my sins have exhausted neither the supply of God’s mercy nor my desire to repent and reform my ways.

Year after year after year I continue to believe that I am what I am and I do what I do because the Lord has drawn me to this work and given me gifts, talents and a spirit for harvesting the vineyard of faith in the hearts and lives of God’s people.

These past seven of my 36 years in ministry have been the most difficult. The tragedy of sexual abuse by priests and the painful decision to close parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston have taken their toll on pastors as well as the people they serve. Although a cloud of mistrust and anger still shadows church life, the work and worship of my parish sustains my congregation and me as we prepare for a future when only a continually declining number of priests will be available to serve the Catholic population. Jesus was correct when he said, “The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few.”

The joy of my life as a priest is the privilege of preaching the gospel and gathering the people of my parish to celebrate the sacraments. Word and worship are the food that nourishes us for the demands of charity and the work of justice. To walk and pray with God’s people as they seek to grow in faith through their good times and bad, their joys and sorrows, makes me a man of many families -- and that is a great gift.

Thirty-six happy years which began with a friend’s post card…

Depending on your own faith’s way of doing things, might there be a man or woman you know whom you think would be a good priest, minister or rabbi? Why not let that person know what you think? That’s what Kathy did in 1963 and I’ll always be grateful for her seven simple words, “I think you’d be a good priest.”

And if you would take a moment now and then to pray for those who minister to you, I can assure you that they will be grateful.

Image: Spreadshirt

-ConcordPastor