On retreat...

I'm on retreat this week (Nov 27 through Dec 4).   I'm making a directed retreat and looking forward to the silence of this week, hoping that in the silence I'll more readily hear what the Lord is saying to me...

I'm off my computer, my iPad and my iPhone - and that's a lot for me to let go of! So, aside from a few posts which I've scheduled, this page won't be as busy as it usually is.  I would be very grateful for your support in prayer while I'm on retreat and you can be sure that I will be praying for you, too.



Tweet  

 
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Word for the Weekend: Advent II, December 4

Mission San Juan Bautista, CA: by musicmuseca
Here's another photo of the same figure.

This Sunday we'll hear John the Baptist echoing the words of Isaiah, "Prepare the way of the Lord!"

Perhaps the best way for you to prepare the way of the Lord into your heart this weekend is to spend some time with the scriptures you'll hear proclaimed on this Second Sunday of Advent.

For the texts and background material, look here. For tips on helping children prepare to hear the Word, check here.

This Sunday's first scripture is one of my favorites: Isaiah's message of God's comfort and the promise that the rough ways (who doesn't know that path?) will be made smooth and straight.

The second lesson offers us a "tough love" lesson but includes the promise of "new heavens and a new earth."

The gospel is one of our two Advent encounters with John the Baptist. Mark's gospel echoes Isaiah and even gives us a review of John's wardrobe and diet!

I wonder... who are the Isaiah and John the Baptist figures in our own times? Are we open to hearing a prophet's voice? a prophet's word? a prophet's call? Isaiah and John were hated and scored by some, yet they preached a word of truth...

Would we listen to them?

Do we listen to them?






Tweet  

   
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Monday Morning Offering - 171

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

With Advent begins a new year of grace, Lord,
the grace that is yours to share and give...

In this new year I want to offer you
an open door to my heart
for you to enter and make your home there...

I offer you the corners of my heart's garden
where I let the weeds grow wild:
Lord, help me weed out
whatever does not nourish my life and my soul...

I offer you the closets of my heart,
stuffed with old grudges and resentments:
Lord, help me discard anything
that fails to help me heal and grow...

I offer you my heart's cartons of wasted time,
boxes of foolishness
and bags of misspent effort:
Lord, help me clear out the trash of my mistakes
and give me a new beginning...

I offer you the cellar of my heart, Lord,
where a locked trunk of hurt and anger
aches to be opened with the key of your healing grace:
unlock what keeps me prisoner
to my memories and disappointments...

I offer you my heart's hopes and dreams, Lord,
for this new year of grace:
my pledge to pray more regularly;
my desire to grow in your love;
my need to rely on your wisdom and word;
my promise to ask for your help each day;
my hope to be more forgiving of those who offend me,
more faithful in serving others' needs,
more welcoming of those who are alone...

I offer you this new year, Lord,
and ask for the strength and resolve I need to live it
as one worthy of the name Christian,
ready for the work of a disciple,
confident of your presence in everything I do
and in all I meet and know...

I offer you the new year ahead, Lord
- one day at a time -
and I pray for the serenity, the grace
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference...

Amen.


Tweet  

 
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Some gifts I really need this Christmas

Homily for the First Sunday of Advent

(Scriptures for today's Mass)

At the beginning of the week I was working on an idea for my homily for this Sunday but it never seemed to gel, to come together satisfactorily.  I looked at some old First Sunday of Advent - B homilies and found one I liked and reworked it, intending to preach it.  Indeed, it was the text waiting for me at the ambo at the Saturday 5:00 Mass.  But then during the proclamation of the second scripture, my original idea crystallized in my mind and after proclaiming the gospel, I ignored my prepared, reworked text and preached what I'd been working on earlier in the week.

And that's the homily I went with for the whole weekend - without a text.  So, this week, I have only the audio to offer you.

Audio for Homily





Tweet  

 
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

On using the new Roman Missal

Image source

Just a few words before I leave on retreat regarding my experience on "New Translation Sunday."

Since yesterday afternoon I've presided at Mass three times with the new translation. The experience has put me in mind of buying a new pair of shoes.

I always find myself telling the salesperson, "I think these are too tight" but the clerk assures me the shoes are my size and that after I've worn them for a while, they'll fit just fine.

Sometimes I go along with that but sometimes I say, "No, these are just too tight - let me try another size or style."

At the shoe store, you get to make the decision but in the case of the new Missal, one size is supposed to fit all and we all leave the store wearing the same shoe regardless of how well we believe they fit.

I'll be walking around in these new shoes for many years and only time will tell how well they'll come to fit.

But this afternoon, my feet are sore.



Tweet  

   
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Advent Wreath: First Week

If you have an Advent Wreath at home, pray for peace this week as you light the first candle each day. If you don't have an Advent Wreath - light any candle and pray for peace. If you have no candle, simply pray for peace...

Pray for an end to war and its violence and bloodshed...
Pray for the safe return of those in the armed services
who are far away from family and friends...
Pray for those who have died in the war
and for those they left behind...
Pray for the poor who suffer war's hardships...
Pray for peace...
Pray for the peace the world cannot give or make for itself...
Pray for our enemies...

Pray, too, for an end to the little wars (and the bigger ones)
waged in our own lives, in our families, our neighborhoods,
at work and in the Church...
Pray for those who have been harmed by our belligerence...
Pray for those we make our personal enemies...
Pray for an end to the wars we fight within and with ourselves...
Pray for peace...
Pray for the peace we cannot give or make for ourselves...
Pray for the peace that only the Lord can give...
Pray for the peace the Lord came to make for us...


Tweet  

 
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

A Thanksgiving weekend sunrise...

H/T to FPO: taken on 11/26 at 6:30 a.m. in Marlborough, MA 


Tweet  

   
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Going on retreat...

I'll be leaving for retreat this Sunday afternoon, November 27, and returning on Saturday afternoon, December 4. I'll be making a directed retreat and I look forward to the silence of this week, hoping that in the silence I'll more readily hear what the Lord is saying to me...

I'll be off my computer, my iPad and my iPhone - and that's a lot for me to let go of! So, aside from a few posts which I've scheduled, this page won't be as busy as it usually is.

I would be very grateful for your support in prayer while I'm on retreat and you can be sure that I will be praying for you, too.



Tweet  

 
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

The Word FOR Advent is the Word ON Advent!

Can't tell you how many times I heard on the radio today that "the Christmas season has officially begun."  One would be hard pressed to find a clearer indication that in American culture, Christmas is intimately linked, even identified, with shopping for gifts and decorating homes, inside and out.  The Thanksgiving turkey isn't even fully digested before folks have hit the stores and plugged in the lights on the tree.

For those of us who haven't ho-ho-ho'ed even once yet, here's a refresher on a whole season that comes between Thanksgiving and Christmas: Advent!

Here's a thumbnail sketch of how the season of Advent developed in the life and history of the Church.

In 490, Bishop Perpetuus of Tours officially declared Advent a penitential season in the Frankish Church of Western Europe, ordering a fast on three days of every week from November 11 (the feast of St. Martin of Tours) till Christmas. This forty days' fast, similar to Lent, was originally called Quadragesima Sancti Martini (Forty Days' Fast of Saint Martin's) - or - St. Martin's Lent. The readings for the Masses in this season were taken from the liturgies of Lent.

By contrast, the Advent season of the Roman liturgy, developing a century after that of the Frankish Church, was a non-penitential, festive and joyful time of preparation for Christmas. When the Church unified the liturgical season, the non-penitential nature of the Roman Advent conflicted with the longer and penitential Gallic Advent. By the thirteenth century a compromise was reached, which combined the fasting and penitential character of the Gallic observance with the Mass texts and shorter four-week cycle of the Roman Advent liturgy. The liturgy of Advent remained substantially unaltered until Vatican II mandated a few minor changes to more clearly delineate the spirit of the Lenten and Advent seasons.

- Jennifer Miller

One of the best ways to understand Advent is to survey the scripture readings for the season: not a hint of holly, not a mention of mistletoe!

At the US Bishops site you'll find the scriptures for the Sundays of Advent (First, Second, Third, and Fourth).  Take a look and ask yourself, "Where is the Word taking us in Advent?  For what, for whom are we preparing?  What's Christmas all about?"

I've already posted a link to this Sunday's scriptures and commentary on them, all found on the St. Louis University Sunday Liturgy page.  Spend a few extra minutes looking at this coming Sunday's readings.

Happy Advent! 



Tweet  

   
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Late on Thanksgiving Day...

Image: TaraMarie

Just found this on a FaceBook friend's page and thought it a good reflection to share with you at the end of Thanksgiving Day...

Thanksgiving

I am surprised sometimes
by the suddenness of November:
beauty abruptly shed
to a common nakedness--
grasses deadened
by hoarfrost,
persistent memories
of people I've lost.

It is left to those of us
dressed in the hard
barky skin of experience
to insist on a decorum
that rises to the greatness
of a true Thanksgiving.

This is not a game,
against a badly scheduled team,
an uneven match on an uneven pitch.

This is Life.
This is Life.
This is Life.

Not politely mumbled phrases,
murmured with a practiced and meticulous earnestness.

Thanksgiving was born a breech-birth,
a screaming appreciation for being alive--
for not being one of the many
who didn't make it--
who couldn't moil through
another hardscrabble year
on tubers and scarce fowl.

Thanksgiving is for being you.
There are no thanks without you.

You are the power of hopeful promise;
you are the balky soil turning upon itself;
you are bursting forth in your experience.

You are not the person next to you--
not an image or an expectation.
You are the infinite and eternal you--
blessed, and loved, and consoled
by the utter commonness
and community of our souls.

We cry and we're held.
We love and we hold.

We are the harvest of God,
constantly renewed,
constantly awakened,
to a new thanksgiving.

- John Fitzsimmons



Tweet  

   
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Prayers for Thanksgiving Day

Here are three prayers for Thanksgiving Day

• Grace Before Thanksgiving Dinner

• A Prayer for Those Who Are Grieving at Thanksgiving

• A Blogging Pastor's Prayer on Thanksgiving Day

I hope you find these prayers helpful and would be pleased if you pass them along to others. And I pray you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

 Grace Before Thanksgiving Day Dinner


Saying Grace - Norman Rockwell 

Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation!
Through your goodness we have so much
for which to be thankful.

Make us grateful for all you have given us;
let our needs and desires not blind us to all we have.

Make us grateful for those who love us;
let no grudge or anger keep us from family and friends.

Make us grateful for those who are with us;
let no grief isolate us from their loving embrace.

Make us grateful for the good work we have done:
let our failures not weigh us down
or blind us to your mercy.

Make us grateful for the freedom we enjoy;
let us never take it for granted.

Make us grateful for the peace we find in you;
let no other cause or victory take its place.

Make us grateful for our dreams;
let no disappointment keep us from hope.

Make us grateful for our faith in you;
let no doubt keep us from your love.

Make us grateful for the meal we are about to share
and make us mindful of those who have so much less.

May we be strengthened to change
what keeps so many hungry while others have too much.

Give us grateful hearts, O God,
to praise and thank you
in good times and in bad,
in sickness and in health,
in joy and in sorrow.

This is the day you have made, O Lord:
let us rejoice, be glad
and for it give you thanks and praise!

Amen.

A prayer for Those Who Are Grieving at Thanksgiving

The Empty Chair by Dena Cardwell

For those who are grieving the loss of a loved one, Thanksgiving and Christmas (especially the "first" of each) can be particularly hard to experience. Nothing can make these moments easy but prayer can offer a path to walk through these days with greater peace and even opportunities for healing.

Dear God,

There is an empty chair at our table,

an ache in our hearts

and tears on our faces.

We may try to shield one another

from the grief we bear

but we cannot hide it from you.

We pray for (names)

whose presence we miss 

in these homecoming days.

Open our hearts and minds

to the healing and warmth

of the light of your presence.

We pray, Lord, and we trust 
that those we miss

have found their place at your table,

their home in your heart.

Open our hearts to joyful memories 

of the love we shared

with those who have gone before us.

Help us tell the stories

that make present the past

and bring us close again 
to those we miss.

Teach us to lean on each other

and on you, Lord,

for the strength we need 

to walk through difficult times.

Give us quiet moments

with you, with our thoughts,

with our memories and prayers.

Be with us, Lord,

and hold us in your arms

even as you hold those 
who have gone before us.

Help us to trust that one day
we shall be with those we love
when your mercy gathers us together
in the joy of the life you promise us.

This is the day you have made, Lord:

help us to rejoice in it

and in the promise of your peace.

Amen.


A Blogging Pastor's Prayer on Thanksgiving

Today I thank God
for the gift of faith:
that strength, power and source within
showing me the way,
guiding me in the dark,
making sure my unsteady step,
giving light for finding the truth
and hope for living in troubled times...

Today I thank God
for the gift of the Church:
that wounded, rag-tag, joyful company
of sinners and saints
whose faith is our strength,
binding us to one another in Christ...

Today I thank God
for all the people
around, behind and before me:
the ones who gave me life
and shaped my life;
those who bring me joy today
and hope for tomorrow;
and I thank God, too,
for the people I've not yet met...

Today I thank God
for the simple tools
I have for doing his work:
words, wonder, witness, wit and wisdom-
roughly in that order!

Today I thank God for you, my readers!
Aliased, named or anonymous
commenting or silent:
you are solidly more than half of an enterprise
that brings me more joy and peace than you know.

For being here, for reading, for commenting,
for sharing and spreading my posts,
for coming back again and again:
I thank God for you!

And may God bless you and yours this day!

Amen.

Tweet  

 
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Word for the Weekend: November 27

This coming weekend brings the First Sunday of Advent, the new year of grace on the Church calendar for 2012.

Here's a good "resolution" for the new year of worship: pledge to read and pray over the scriptures each week for the coming Sunday.

You can begin right here with this weekend's readings and background material on them, for greater understanding. One of the best ways to prepare for Mass is to become familiar with the scriptures we will hear.

Got kids?  Are they fidgety during the readings at Mass?  Here's a link to helpful hints for preparing young ones to hear the Word at Mass on Sunday.  Helping your children prepare to hear the Word might help you, too!

The first scripture this weekend (Isaiah) reminds us that we are clay in the hands of God, the potter.  The second lesson promises that the grace of God will keep us irreproachable (!) in preparation for the coming of the Day of the Lord.  And in the gospel, Jesus calls us to be watchful and alert for we know not when the thief may come in the night.   Pottery, preparation and a perpetrator - read all about it at the links above!


Tweet  

   
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Comfort, in November, the month of All Souls

Ascent of the Blessed by Hieronymus Bosch

Comfort

by May Doney

Ah! if we only dreamed how close they stand
Who were our flesh and blood once, and are still
A part of us in sympathy and will,
We should not grieve so, thinking death had banned
All sweet communion with life’s spirit-land,
But fancy in each faint delicious thrill
That stirs us when Heaven’s cisterns overfill,
Droppings of comfort some near love had planned.
Death brings them nearer to us: human sense,
Earth-dulled, is all the barrier that hides
The adjacent country where each one abides;
And we shall wonder, when we too pass hence,
Our hearts were thwarted by so frail a fence,
And could not break the weak wall that divides.


(H/T to Phil at Blue Eyed Ennis for the poem and illustration)




Tweet  

   
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Monday Morning Offering - 170

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

This week is a special time
to do something we should do always and everywhere
and that is to give you thanks and praise, Lord!

I offer you, Lord, for all the people
I so often take for granted:
those who serve me in a hundred, quiet ways each day;
those who work with me and around me and by my side;
those who so often make my life easier, my work lighter;
those whose work so often makes my work fruitful...

And I thank you for those who stand ready to protect me,
in the town where I live and at posts far away;
I thank you for those who keep me safe
and those who safeguard my freedom and liberty...

I thank you for those whose work
brings me food from farms,
delight from poetry and song and all the arts;
news from the world, truth from study
and knowledge from a million different sources...

I thank you for those who deliver heat, light
and clean water to my home;
those who keep my home, my church
and my town the beautiful places they are;
those who bring the mail to my door;
those who deliver all the comforts I take for granted...

I thank you for all the people
who fill my mornings, days and evenings
with their smiles, their friendship,
their company and conversation...

I offer you thanks for the beauty of the world around me:
the light of sun and moon and stars;
the pull of ocean tides, the depths of lakes,
the flow of streams, the ripples on ponds;
the colors of nature, birds on the wing,
flowers in the fields -- and all of Cape Cod...

I thank you for my faith, my trust, my hope in you;
I thank you for my ministry and the people I serve;
I thank you for the message of the gospel I preach
and the history of salvation
we inherit from your chosen people...

I thank you for the beauty of worship,
the depths of your Word,
they lyrics of the psalms,
the grace of the sacraments
and the life that is ours
through faith in you...

Make me truly and more deeply grateful, Lord,
for all you have given me and for gifts
I have yet to find, to open, to discover...

I thank you, Lord,
for all things bright and beautiful
and for all things bruised and broken:
let me find in everything
and in everyone around me
a trace of your presence,
the fingerprint of your grace,
the signature of your artistry...

I thank you, Lord, for the gift
of all who have gone before me,
marked with the sign of faith:
bring them and all the departed
into the light of your presence...

I thank you for all those
whose paths will cross mine this week:
help me to walk in peace with them
and to lift up those who may need help
along the way...

Help me, Lord,
always and everywhere
to praise and thank you
for every good gift
that comes from your hand...

Amen.


Tweet  

   
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Beginning to pray with a new book

I will celebrate Mass this week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with the current Sacramentary but this weekend was my last time to use this book with larger assemblies of the people in my parish.

At each Mass I spoke about how the Sacramentary as been my "instruction manual" for 38 years of my ministry as a priest. I've grown to regard the Sacramentary as an old friend and while I'm not unaware of its deficiencies, I've found it to be a good and nourishing book of prayer for me and for the communities I've served.

I told my parishioners that it took me close to 20 years before I found myself truly able to pray the Mass without being distracted by what I should be doing, what I should be saying, and keeping everything and everyone together. When the book became part of me and my prayer I was free to pray what was in the book.

I noted, then, that if it takes me 20 years to become accustomed to the new Roman Missal, I'll be 84 years old!  But since I estimate that I'd then be only a decade away from retirement, I'm sure I can make it!

After the laughter, I asked the people to be patient with me as I work with a new book for prayer and I invited all of us to be patient with one another and with the book until we have had the opportunity to make it our own.  It will not happen overnight.  It will take a long time.

The road to this Missal has been long, difficult and not without controversy. Please pray for priests and music ministers introducing the new texts and working to make the new Missal our prayer book. And please pray for priests and people whose affection for the former book makes this task a difficult one. These may not be easy times ahead but if we work together to pray together, we can depend on the Spirit to make us one in prayer and praise. 



 Tweet

   
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

"Keeping Christ in Christmas"

My Random Brain Droppings

It's not quite Thanksgiving yet but the social media and the blogosphere have already taken up the chant, "Keep Christ in Christmas!"

I'm all for that - no argument here.  But I sometimes wonder...  what are we protesting?  Can anyone actually take Christ out of Christmas?  Before we bemoan the anticipated loss, it might help us to review how Christians celebrate Christmas.

To celebrate Christmas, Christians set aside four weeks (called Advent), a time of joyful anticipation, in which they sweep clean and refresh their hearts and minds to make room for the One who found no room at the inn - and no one can take Christ out of Advent if we keep it as a season of vigil, of waiting to celebrate the Lord's birthday on December 25th.

Christians also celebrate Christmas by buying gifts (for the poor), remembering the One who was so poor He was born in a box of hay - and no one can take Christ out of our care for the poor, if we serve them generously, at Christmas time and all through the year, in the name of Jesus.

Christians also celebrate Christmas by praying more often and more faithfully to the One who hears our every prayer - and no one can take Christ out of our prayer when we are faithful to it and to the church community whose prayer supports us in Advent, at Christmas and all through the year, especially on the Lord's Day.

Christians also celebrate Christmas by making every effort to grow closer in faith to the One who became one just like us, taking on our human flesh and blood and dwelling among us - and no one can take Christ out of our hearts if we truly invite him to come in  -- not just for a “holiday open house” visit -- but to really move in and live within us and among us!

And oh, yes! Many Christians also celebrate Christmas by decorating trees and homes (and themselves) and eating too much and drinking too much and buying too many things for people who already have too many things -- and playing and singing lots of songs that really have very little to do with the One whose birthday we’ll celebrate on December 25.

And you know what? All the doodads, falderal and schmaltzy music that sometimes masquerade as Christmas - aren’t really Christmas at all. Christmas is Christ and Christ is in the scriptures and the sacraments and our sacred song. He's in our faith.  He’s in the prayer of our hearts. He’s in the poor and in our reaching out to them. He’s in our souls and in our longing for the peace, reconciliation, mercy and joy He comes to bring us. And you can’t take Christ out of any of those places because that’s where He lives and breathes and waits for us to find him on December 25 and on every day of the year.

So, don’t be afraid of others “taking Christ out of Christmas” in their greetings, commercial frenzy and holiday harmonies. No one can take Christ from what Christmas truly is. We Christians will lose the Christ in Christmas only if we fail to prepare for and celebrate the truth that Christmas is:  

Unto us a Child is born, unto us a son is given

and the government shall be upon his shoulder

and his name shall be called:

Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, 

the everlasting Father, 

the Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

The image at the top of this post comes from a related and interesting piece on Ken Armstrong's blog, My Random Brain Droppings.


Tweet  

 
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Music for the Feast of Christ the King

Image source

Tweet  

   
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Christ Who Reigns!

Christ the King by Donna Rathert

There's still time to sit with the Lord's Word before you hear it at Mass this Sunday.  I can't think of a better way to prepare to hear the scriptures on the Lord's Day than to read and ponder those same words in advance of setting for church.

If you can come up with a better way - please let me know!

And if you can't, then link to this earlier post with the readings, brief commentary on them and hints for helping children prepare to hear the Word.

This Sunday brings us to the 34th or Last Sunday in Ordinary Time which is also, always, the Solemnity of Christ the King.  A week from this Sunday will find us celebrating the First Sunday of Advent and a new year of grace - and the beginning of our praying with the new translation of the Roman Missal!

A confluence of scheduling factors finds me without a preaching assignment this weekend - a rarity!  So, I'll not have a homily to post on Sunday afternoon.


Tweet  

 
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

A headline that can't make up its mind!

Image source

From the MetroDesk of Boston.com comes a headline, apparently unable to make up its mind about being politically correct or incorrect:

Beginning to look a lot like the holidays -- 

Christmas tree arrives at Boston Common

And if that's not enough, here's the lede (emphasis added):

The traditional Boston Common Christmas tree arrived this morning, marking the beginning of the holiday season, officials said.

Perhaps I should just be happy that the word Christmas made two appearances in Amanda Cedrone's article on the tree's arrival.

This is the 40th year the people of Nova Scotia have sent a Christmas tree to the city of Boston. Wondering why?  You can read all about it here and here.

And here's the... Christmas Tree! 

David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

 Tweet  

   
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Trusting trees

Image by victormeldrewsyou

Trusting Trees 

 
Every Friday afternoon
I have reason to drive into Boston and back.

Over many weeks, I've watched the trees along my way,
their green leaves turning,
painting the road's shoulders with a last gasp of color and beauty,
then taking a bow in a coppery brown farewell...

One night since last Friday
-I'm sure it was under the cover of darkness-
the trees quietly conspired and, all together,
shook off their faded frocks.

Now they stand bare
against the chill of November's afternoon skies.
They stand still without a hint of a shiver,
their branched arms stretching strong,
braced for the weight of snow and ice,
their December sparkle, their winter's armor...

Would that I were bold enough
to stand so naked before my God,
arms stretching strong
to reach the warmth of winter's love...

And I prayed, as I drove, for a tree's trust
that spring will come again and melt away the frost
to dew and life and leaves, green again...


Tweet  

 
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Prayer for those who grieve at Thanksgiving

The Empty Chair by Dena Cardwell

In my parish tonight we had our annual gathering for those who find the holidays to be a difficult time. Thanksgiving is still a week away but it's a day that has a way of touching our minds and hearts long before a turkey is put in the oven for roasting.

For those who are grieving the loss of a loved one, Thanksgiving and Christmas (especially the "first" of each) can be particularly hard to experience. Nothing can make these moments easy but prayer can offer a path to walk through these days with greater peace and even opportunities for healing.

I'm posting this prayer a week before Thanksgiving because it might help to sit with it for a while, to pray it over several days.

Some might find it helpful to use a prayer like this as the blessing before Thanksgiving Day dinner. Others might find it helpful to pray it alone, or to share copies of it with other family members and friends.

The Lord was a man well acquainted with grief: no stranger was he to a broken heart. He is with us in our pain as surely as he is with those whom he has welcomed to his arms of peace.

In those same everlasting arms he gathers us this Thanksgiving...

Dear God,

There is an empty chair at our table,

an ache in our hearts

and tears on our faces.

We may try to shield one another

from the grief we bear

but we cannot hide it from you.

We pray for (names)

whose presence we miss 

in these homecoming days.

Open our hearts and minds

to the healing and warmth

of the light of your presence.

We pray, Lord, and we trust 
that those we miss

have found their place at your table,

their home in your heart.

Open our hearts to joyful memories 

of the love we shared

with those who have gone before us.

Help us tell the stories

that make present the past

and bring us close again 
to those we miss.

Teach us to lean on each other

and on you, Lord,

for the strength we need 

to walk through difficult times.

Give us quiet moments

with you, with our thoughts,

with our memories and prayers.

Be with us, Lord,

and hold us in your arms

even as you hold those 
who have gone before us.

Help us to trust that one day
we shall be with those we love
when your mercy gathers us together
in the joy of the life you promise us.

This is the day you have made, Lord:

help us to rejoice in it

and in the promise of your peace.

Amen.

Tweet  

 
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Dan Avila comments

The National Catholic Register has coverage of Dan Avila's comments on his recent article in The Pilot and his resignation from his USCCB position.



Tweet  

 
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Word for the Weekend: sheep and goats!

Image by Robert Andrews on Sheepleblog

Goats can be very annoying!

If you really want to know what's up with this "sheep and goats" thing in the scriptures, take a minute to read this very interesting explanation!

For an even deeper understanding, read this Sunday's scriptures and some brief commentary on them.   Got kids? Here are some hints for helping youngsters prepare to hear the Word at Mass this weekend.

This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King: this is the last Sunday of the current liturgical year; on the following Sunday we'll begin a new year of grace with and the season of Advent.
(Oh!  and that new translation, too!)

Baaaaaah! 



Perhaps you'd like to listen to this music as you read, ponder and pray over this Sunday's scripture readings for the Solemnity of Christ the King...




Tweet

   
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments