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St. James Parish |
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| Fr. Ron Bacovin | ||
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St. James Parish |
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| Fr. Ron Bacovin | ||
Weekly Letter from Fr. Ron to his
Parish Pastor’s notes:
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2001
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2002 ARCHIVES
Current
The following contains excerpts from a book review by Judith Bromberg. The book is entitled Resurrection Grace: Remembering Catholic Childhoods by Marilyn Sewell. I haven’t read the book but the review seemed interesting and light as we approach the new year.
"What is about the cult of growing up Catholic that marks us more indelibly than original sin? Marilyn Sewell, now a Unitarian minister and editor of this volume, reflects in her own essay, ‘Like other people who were raised Catholic, I’ve never been able to get it out of my bones. I don’t even want to anymore.’"
Richard Meiber was raised in an orphanage run by nuns. They raised him but he never felt love from them. "Years later in graduate school, he shared a class with a Sr. Catherine of Siena, whose very proximity reminded him that he had never lost that desire for specialness in the eyes of a nun. Late in the term he and Sr. Catherine were studying in the library and became engaged in a deep philosophical discussion that spilled out onto the library steps after closing. All of a sudden Meibers was overcome with a sensation, a deeply religious insight that left him shaken. Concerned, Sr. Catherine reached for his hand. ‘Everything stopped for us there in that pool of light. I say us because for the first time in my life I experienced being part of something with another person. We were together.’ And he concludes his essay, ‘A new vision of God was small change com-pared to Sr. Catherine of Sienna reaching from behind her habit to take my hand.’
If memories of nuns permeated (a particular section of the book… Eight of the eleven essays were written by women... Sex and sexuality! Writers as disparate as Mary McCarthy and Elton John have tried to sort out Catholic hang-ups with virginity and female sexuality… (sic)
…Sandra Cisneros had both her religion and her ethnicity working against her when it came to discovering the mysteries of womanhood. ‘Discovering sex,’ she writes, ‘was like discovering writing. It was powerful in a way I couldn’t describe. Like writing, you had to go beyond the guilt to get to anything good.’
Both Anna Quindlen and Joanne Mulcahy recognized the contribution of reading to their growing up. Quindlen acknowledge a debt to Mary McCarthy from whom ‘I learned about sex and other things I was not supposed to know about.’…
…If you were raised Catholic, you will see yourself in one or more of these essays – and if you were not, you will gain some insight into those of us who were and maybe cut us some slack.
Patricia Hampl describes growing up Catholic as having an extra set of parents… But that is not all bad, because one of the most precious memories of her youth is an elderly woman of her parish who fingered her rosary beads as she walked and whose smile was a ‘flood of light. She loves me, I was sure.’ There is also comfort in being a Catholic.
…The author of the book writes: Over-come with a flood of powerful feelings, she came to the realization that hell is no more than separation, fear separating us from the love of God and others. "I have come to believe that I am somehow held in the Everlasting Arms, no matter what…"
Happy New Year!
December 22, 23, 2001
Pastor’s notes: The following reflection on Christmas comes from a wonderful publication called Magnificat (vol. 3, #11). It was written by Peter John Cameron, O.P. and I found it too good not to pass it up.
"Perhaps the most famous Christmas story of all time ironically is a ghost story: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. What truly terrifies Ebenezer Scrooge isn’t the scariness of the specter of three spirits of Christmas past, present and future, but rather what they reveal to him – namely, the many relationships that Scrooge had betrayed out of self-centered ambition and greed.
The spirits show Scrooge poignant episodes involving his own little sister Fan, his nephew Fred, his big-hearted employer Fezziwig, Dick Wilkins his friend, his sweetheart Belle, his ill-used employee Bob Cratchit, the crippled Tiny Tim, and many others. Scrooge cannot bear to look upon these scenes because of the overwhelming shame and self-condemnation they cause him. These reminders confront him with a royal freedom he had violated, a godly destiny he had trounced in the pursuit of self. And Scrooge cannot bear it.
But he must. And so must we. For what the Incarnation of Jesus Christ reveals to the world is that we need to belong in order to be happy. Jesus is born in human flesh so that we might belong to him, and through him to each other. Christmas is not about the visitation of a ghost but about the birth of God-with-us through the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Paul declares, "You have been called to belong to Christ" (Rom 1:6). Once we know that we belong, that we are loved, we can confront any of the pains, the challenges, the threats, or hardships of life with confidence. The mystery of Christmas is about taking up this calling.
Ebenezer Scrooge had to learn the hard way how fatal it is to spurn the great good of belonging. The cursed ghost of Scrooge’s business partner Jacob Marley bewails his "incessant torture of remorse" and cries out, "Mankind was my business. The common welfare, was my business, charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business… Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!"
Happily, Scrooge’s obstinacy and con-temptuousness give way. He cooperates with the supernatural intervention and converts. The visions convince him just how much his happiness consists in belonging to God and belonging to others. And Scrooge proves it on that exuberant Christmas morning which gives him a second chance at life. To one of the portly gentlemen who the day before had entered Scrooge’s counting house soliciting alms for the poor and the destitute, the regenerate Scrooge offers an unspeakable amount and pleads, "Come and see me. Will you come and see me?" For Scrooge knows that he cannot sustain his new-born happiness and peace without friendship. The repentant Scrooge also renews his long-neglected relationship with his nephew and his family. And to Tiny Tim, "who did NOT die," Ebenezer Scrooge became "a second father." The best way to belong is by generating others with the divine love that generates us moment by moment. Are there any relationships in our lives that we have slighted, abused, or ignored?
Left to ourselves, we would all suffer the same wretched end that the spirit of the future reveals to Scrooge. But we are not left to ourselves; we belong to God. As Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade, S.J., once wrote, "We cannot be settled in the state of pure l love until we have experienced a lot of setbacks and many humiliations. We must reach the stage when all that the world contains ceases to exist and God is everything to us." That is the Truth that inspires every Christmas carol. That is the promise and grace of Christmas. "God bless us, every one!"
A Blessed and Merry Christmas to All!
Pastor’s Notes: December 16th
The beautiful readings we are privileged to hear during this year’s readings for the Advent season can not have the same impact on us as it did on those who first heard it. Simply put, they were written for captives in a foreign land and the visions of liberation and a new world were heaven itself.
If born rich, the rich cannot really know the plight of the poor (oftentimes the rich carry a different cross). If we are hungry it is not the hunger experienced by the people of the third-d world countries. Black Americans may understand best the power of Isaiah’s visions because of their history of bondage in this country (and some will say is still with us – in various forms)… or Native American Indians who suffered the indignities of 5,000 broken treaties with the government. Discri-mination is a terrible curse – but of a different order than either bondage or captivity or concentration camps.
The Church still holds to the vision and the readings. She continues to pro-claim this vision for bondage and captivity are still the lot of many people… and the Church knows full well that there are imprisonments of the heart, the mind and the soul that are as painful (or more so) than physical bondage.
From the very beginning, Jesus people understood that a necessary
conse-quence of their faith was service to those who suffered. This
understanding survives even today as the Pope made clear in his talks at the
United Nations several years ago and as the American Bishops have often done
when they excoriated those in our society who wish to blame the poor and the
elderly and the immigrants not only for their own problems but also for the
problems of the rest of the country. It is not our role to take positions on
specific legislation or suggested public policy. But there is a meanness and an
anger in American public life today that the followers of Jesus cannot accept.
Nor can we pretend that it is acceptable to our tradition that a situation
continue in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The Gospel
remains a stumbling block to those who believe that the way to be a success in
the business world is by cutting the salaries of your workers or firing
them.
Take time to be at prayer this next ten days. I know they are going to be
very hectic for many – but that is all the more reason why you need to do it.
December 21st and December 23rd: we are going to be setting up the gym and decorating church and gym for Christ-mas. If you have the time please come to help us.
Friday, December 21st – we’ll work on the gym. It begins at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 23rd – we work on the church and finish up the gym. That begins approximately 12:45.
It will help if you call us and let us know that you will be there (even if but for ONE hour).
December 8th, & 9th, 2001
Pastor’s notes: When I was a small boy growing up in Trenton there was a little war memorial on a small traffic island not more than 100’ from where I lived. This memorial and thousands of others like it (such as one that is situated in front of the chapel on Eglatine Avenue) listed the names of those who have died in war. Once in a while I would stop to read some names… but as a child they remained only names. Many years later I visited the Viet Nam memorial in D.C. and saw thousands of names. Like many people who visited the memorial, I searched out the names of people from NJ and would go to that spot to get a rubbing on a piece of paper to take the name home with me (a sure indication that we all harbor within each of us a sense of connectedness and community). Though I did not know the person, I was old enough now to understand that this was a unique person, special to many, and whose life was much more than we can imagine. Since 9/11/2001 the New York Times on a daily basis (and the Trenton Times on a weekly basis) has posted a picture and a short commentary on the people who were killed in the terrorists’ attack. They are "great reading" and they are "painful reading". The picture and the name and the resultant paragraph that follows rend the heart as well as lift the spirit. The poignant clash of good and evil (sin) remind me of the power of these "mysteries" that touch all our lives.
This past week, in the land three religions readily call a "holy" land, Israel, we see terrible evil again in the form of terrorists attacks. In Afghanistan (can there be a country much poorer and its citizens more abused?) again we see innocent lives snuffed out in war. A man who worked for National Geographic and lived in that country for years spoke of the great beauty of both the land and the people – and how they love to sing and dance and be together. Perhaps it would help all of the human community to know specific names and what the people were like who died in war and terrorist attacks.
Perhaps God, who calls us each by name, sees us somewhat as do the writers who give us the short sketches that appear in the Times. No doubt - God also sees the horror of the war and indiscriminate killing that takes place in wars, by terrorist attacks, on the streets of our cities, or in our very schools and homes. God sees too the anger, the hatred, the desperation, the back-stabbing, the betrayals and the other things we harbor within ourselves and do to others. And God sees too, the great love and heroism in so many peoples’ hearts. God has been seeing this for thousands of years and perhaps has wondered what to do with all of this. Destroy us (such as suggested in the story of the Great Flood)? Instruct us in better ways to live (giving us prophets and wise men/women)? Tell us shape up or ship out (heaven or hell)?
God has decided to love us! God has decided definitively to get mixed up with us. St. John wrote: Yes, God so loved the world that He gave his only Son,…
God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (John 16 – 17).
If we so believe then we might want to concern ourselves by not only praying for peace – but for ways to build peace. It seems that the people who are willing to take their own lives to do a terrorist deed are not necessarily men-tally insane – but are a very desperate people with a sense of hopelessness and powerlessness. Perhaps some are just outright evil. Still, are there ways to address such perspectives so as to lessen and eradicate the violence?
It might be that this coming Christmas will bring with it a new advent of hope and resolve. Would that it might be just that.
December 1st,& 2nd, 2001
Pastor’s notes: The feast of the Immaculate Conception is December 8th. Unfortunately, the gospel for that day is from Luke (1: 26 – 38). The gospel relates the story of the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and telling her that the Holy Spirit "will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…" It speaks of Mary conceiving Jesus. I say "unfortunate" because people think that this is what the feast day is about. This feast is not about Mary becoming pregnant – it is about Mary’s beginning of life. It is about the time when Mary first existed in her mother’s (Anna) womb… and the fact that from that moment, Mary’s first moment of existence, she was free of sin (especially what we labeled as original sin).
"The dogma of Mary’s being conceived without sin – what we refer to as the Immaculate Conception was defined in 1854 by Pope Pius IX. Like other such definitions it did not just drop out of no where. Discussion of Mary’s being preserved from all sin took place already in the early centuries of the Church. Although prayers addressed to Mary are a rather later development (the late fourth century), esteem for Mary and her role in redemption is evidenced from the very beginning.
Tradition has named Mary’s parents Joachim and Anna, but this is not without manuscript evidence. An early document, Protoevangeium of James, contains a lengthy story of the wealthy and elderly Joachim and Anna who were childless but nevertheless prayed to the Lord for vindication. Drawing on pass-ages from Luke’s gospel of Jesus’ conception and birth, the account goes on to say how an angel appeared to Anna to tell her that she would conceive and the child would "be spoken of in the whole world." Named Mary, she was dedicated to the temple at age three and at age twelve was given by casting lots into the care of Joseph, and elderly widower with sons (one explanation for the gospels’ mentioning the "brothers" of Jesus). The account then goes on to tell that Mary herself conceived (the gospel for this solemnity uses Luke’s account of Jesus’ conception) and bore a Son while remaining a virgin.
The Protoevangelium of James fills in for us details (not to be taken necessarily as historical fact) that our own Christian Scriptures overlook. What is telling in this document is the intentional parallel between Mary’s conception, birth, dedication in the temple, and holy life, and Jesus’. Mary was "full of grace,", as was her Son. The Lord was with Mary, as with her Son. Mary found favor with God, as did her Son. Mary said yes to God’s plan for salvation, as did her Son.
As Mary was chosen, in Christ we are chosen. Mary is the model of holiness who calls us to be who we were meant to be" innocent before God. Mary’s innocence and holiness were God’s special favor to her, to be sure. This feast of the Immaculate Conception reminds us that God’s desire for each of us is to have the same innocence and holiness. When we are so holy, we too bear the Son within us. This is God’s grace working: through adoption we, too, are daughters and sons of God and of Mary, the "mother of all the living."
--from Living Liturgy, 2002 pg. 6
CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENTS: We will have our large tree in the Gathering Area decorated with your homemade decorations. As a suggestion perhaps we can follow the theme of angels… angels carrying banners, blowing trumpets, holding your home in its hands, or holding hands with someone special for you... your imagination is the only limit. Start working on it now -–we Start working on it now -–we need them soon… check the bulletin for more details.
"Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the Lord of hosts." Malachi 3:19
When asked about what signs will appear to foretell the destruction of the temple Jesus said: "When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; "…Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines and plagues from place to place, and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky…"
These are a few quotes from this week’s scripture readings. They were written for specific times (and have already occurred). The scripture readings these few weeks have been trying to focus our attention on our own deaths, our preparations for living and dying, and ultimately Christ’s victory over death. Is the end just around the corner? When Jesus was asked about when the end time would come he simply said that only the Father knows – and He’s not telling anyone (not even Jesus)! If God didn’t tell Jesus when it was to come – do you think it would it be revealed to another?
John Nelson Darby came as a missionary from Britain to the US in the 1830’s. He brought with him new theories about how the world will end. His views took much deeper roots in the US than they ever did in Britain. The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey (19 million copies sold) widely popularized the end-of-the-world theories.
Tom Sine writes about Tim LaHaye. You may have never heard of him but some consider him the most influential Christian leader of the last quarter century – outdistancing Billy Graham. Tim LaHaye (with co-author Jerry Jenkins) has written a series of novels, the Left Behind series, about the end times – with 28.8 million sales at the last count. His influence with many rank-and-file (especially among evangelical) Christians has not been positive. Their novels tend to foster both an eschatology (those things that pertain to the end-times) of disengagement and the politics of fear.
Serious scripture scholars note that those theories about how the earth will come to an end are not supported by scripture.
Implicit in such books is a fatalistic view of the future and a degenerative view of history. As a consequence many Christians who ardently embrace this view insist that "the Bible teaches that everything is destined to get worse and worse, so it makes absolutely no sense to work for social change. The best we can do is to get a few more people in that salvation life boat before Jesus comes back."
Mr. Sine writes "No where else in the Western world do I hear the raging anger about the "threat of big government" that I hear in the United States. Elsewhere, one might find Christians who are cynical about their government, but they don’t display the rage and fear common among many American believers." In his Left Behind novels, Mr. LaHaye reinforces a fictional fear that there is some sinister group (he calls them the "council of ten" or the "council of wise men") actively at work creating the much feared one-world socialist gulag for all those who are left behind.
Why are so many people attracted to such literature? Well, there does seem to be something in our culture in which we love to be scared to death. Too, many embrace the TV series, the X-Files, not merely as entertainment but as reality. Along with that many of us are strongly attracted to simple black and white explanations of what has gone wrong in our world. For some reason, we Americans seem to be more visceral and less reflective than our English-speaking cousins… and we do seem to be more motivated by fear-mongering than reasoned discourse.
Do not fear life! With Jesus as your Lord and Savior do not fear death! Engage the world continue to build up the Kingdom of God! And when "your time" comes, turn and face the Lord. It is your day of salvation!
November 10th,& 11th, 2001
What do Muslims want? Is it a "holy war"- a "jihad"- between East and West? President Bush has said many times that the current conflict is not with Islam but for church historians the images of the conflict between Muslims and Christians from the Middle Ages are much more vivid. Arthur Jones interviewed people involved in religions and comparative religion studies. Parts of his article follow.
Zahid Bukhari of Georgetown U., and a Pakistani, explained that during a period of great transformation "the Crusades were a clash of religions. In the transformations of modern times, we have a clash of civilizations. To some extent there is the same connotations, the whole West as a symbol of Christianity, the entire Muslim world as the symbol of Islam." He goes on to note that there is an evolution underway among the Muslims and one aspect is "the evolving debate within Islam about living according to Islamic beliefs, to divine guidance." It has been very animated since the end of WWII and so far he thinks it has gone in a positive manner.
Fr.Fredericks (a priest of the diocese of San Francisco whose field is comparative religions) comments, "We Americans are so concerned with the violent (Islamic) fringe we miss what’s going on at a deeper level." He goes on to say that these two religions are the bases of entire cultural outlooks! Christian nations today are, by and large, secular societies… "Christianity has grudgingly yielded its place at the center of culture. It isn’t that anymore…"
"The other thing – and it’s such a complicated picture," he said, "there is something in the very character of Christianity that resists privatization. Christianity wants to be a very public religion…" The same statement, he said, can be made about Islam. "Islam wants to be a very public force, a very public reality. Islam wants of its very character to be the basis of society. It always has."
Fredericks notes that if he reads the situation correctly then "what we’re hearing from Indonesia’s Muslims today (the largest of all Islam nations.) is ‘We want to be a nation. We don’t want to go back to the Middle Ages. And – the West doesn’t get this – we want to be a modern nation. We just don’t want to be modern the way you’re modern. We think that’s sick’… secularism – with all the immorality that comes with it – isn’t going to cut it for us. We’re not that kind of people. We want to be an Islamic state."
Scott Bartchy, director of the Center for the Study of Religions at UCLA, said "Americans need to understand that at the deepest level that they have been moving away from cultural values built around honor-shame – still the dominant framework for values around much of the world. In contrast the US ‘has an achievement-guilt culture focused almost entirely on the individual."
"Certainly we have very little sense of honor," he said. "Most Americans will say honor is nice but give me the check instead. And if we had any shame we wouldn’t have had the last 20 years of U.S. politics." He goes on to note how in other countries, leaders of government and business would resign from dishonor whereas in America "if you get caught out, you back and fill. You don’t resign, you just tough it out."
…"Basically," he said, "what Muslims in the Near East want is the same things we want. Even the most conservative bring their kids to the U.S. to be educated. What they don’t understand is how we say we’re so strong for democracy and participation and yet we continue to prop up regimes in their part of the world they regard as terribly oppressive and corrupt." The article would go on to say that we do not "hear" the concerns of the Muslims – as Westerners, we do not understand. + + + + + + +
In the U.S., there are more Muslims than Episcopalians. Muslims are, for most of us, invisible and it is only recently that we are noticing the mosques in our midst (note the crescent on some buildings). Our children have more exposure to them than we. In spite of present and clear dangers, the world is in transformation. Perhaps all will benefit from this transformation – so we hope,
November 3rd,& 4th, 2001
If you have ever been confirmed what do you remember of your Confirmation? If
you were a teenager when you were confirmed did the next day seem pretty much
like the other days with no noticeable change within you? Can you trace back in
any way how (or when) the bestowal of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation has made a
difference in your life? These are not meant to be trick questions but
thought-provoking questions. We will have approximately 93 children from our parish community receiving
the Holy Spirit this week. I don’t sense that anyone thinks the parish (or any
other parish) will feel any dramatic "heat" resulting from this gift, this Fire
of God, to be placed in their hearts. Experience seems to show that a small
flame will be set in their hearts and will grow in intensity as they mature. But
we must be aware that there is an awful lot going against them (and us) which
stops those small flames from developing into a raging fire of Divine Life. How we think, how we understand the experiences of our lives and how/why we
choose to live can be influenced by the Spirit. The Spirit can and does work
through the power of symbols. Let me use an everyday experience to illustrate
the power or the absence of the Spirit in our lives and you decide if can enrich
your life. (The following is from a book by Fr. Rolheiser, The Shattered
Lantern). We can eat without symbols (for our purposes this means to eat
without the working of the Spirit). Eating would be little different than
fueling up a car. We pull up to the table, or to a fast-food restaurant, and
quickly and non-reflectively gulp down our food and leave. We’ve nourished our
bodies – but nothing else and it is a little like animal eating. Picture now this scenario: two people deeply in love set out to dine
together. They spend time talking before the meal – may even have a drink. They
approach a table that has been carefully laid out, complete with linen cloths,
candles, china and crystal. They hold hands and say a special prayer. Slowly,
over the course of a few hours they eat a meal together and bring the meal to a
gracious close. Now, something more than being fueled up has happened here (and
I bet all sorts of positive feelings were running through you as you read this).
The eating has been surrounded with a symbolic understanding with ritual,
mystique, aesthetics, romance and providence. Some deeper meaning has been
revealed to us in this scenario. Read on and where the word "contemplative " appears read
"Spirit-filled" and when the word "non-contemplative" appears read
"Non-Spirit". "Thus, where the contemplative (of past generations) might
refer to his erotic aching as "immortal longings," the non-contemplative is more
prone to speak of "being horny"; where the contemplative speaks of "a
providential meeting," the non-contemplative is more prone to speak of "an
accident"; where the contemplative speaks of finding a "soul-mate", the
non-contemplative is more prone to speak of "great chemistry"; where the
contemplative speaks of "being caught up in a painful romance," the
non-contemplative is more likely to speak of "obsessional neurosis," and where
the contemplative speaks about human restlessness as a "nostalgia for the
infinite and a sign of being a pilgrim on earth," the non-contemplative is more
likely to feel the same discontent and wonder if he needs a career change or a
new marriage. Over a course of time perhaps the Spirit chooses to gradually change us and
reveal to us deeper longings and other realities. Perhaps the Spirit knows that
our total being will respond in positive ways to what we will have discovered –
and our lives will be changed. Perhaps one day we will look back on our lives
and see that we were, and still are, alive with the fire of God in us.
Lord, send forth your Spirit and enkindle in us the fire of your Love. Then
we shall renew the face of the earth
October 27th,& 28th, 2001
Brother Michael McGrath, who conducted our parish mission this past week,
reminded me again of the power of images and the fantastic imagery that is
inherent in our Catholic faith/heritage. It is so much a part of my life (and
possibly yours) that it is only when you can step back and reflect on it can you
realize the wealth and power of this treasure and it’s influence on our lives.
To lose it is to lose a lot of the music and beauty of our faith. Time and again
Brother Michael taught (though he did use these words) that if religion is not
liberating then it is not true religion. He constantly quoted St. Frances de
Sales – and reminded us that the God of Love has been pro-claimed throughout the
centuries (and makes one wonder where some of us possibly picked up our image of
God as harsh lawmaker and judge who is oh-so-difficult to please?). From Good News: Years ago the Very Rev. John D. Payne (an Episcopalian
priest) wrote on counter-culture, the Sabbath, and conservative Episcopalians
(substitute conservative Christians in any of our churches – the following
may apply to "liberals" as well): "Many Episcopalians deplore the cultural
captivity of the Church. Conservative Episcopalians particularly want the Church
to be counter-culture and resist feminist movement pressures, the advancement of
homosexual issues, and the erosion of the sexual moral standard. But many of
these same Episcopalians do not have the will or the desire to be
counter-culture and observe Sunday as a holy day. In our culture, Sunday is a
holiday, the second day of the weekend, a day off from work, a day to goof off,
a day to have fun. In short, it’s everything but a holy day, the day to be
renewed spiritually. Sometimes in a first confession, the penitent timorously
admits a sexual offense and passes lightly over neglecting his daily prayers and
regular Sunday worship and is then very surprised when the priest concentrates
on the spiritual neglect rather than the sexual sin. For many reasons, our
shabby treatment of Sunday may be the worst form of cultural captivity. The more
sensational and blatant forms of accommodation that vex Episcopalians,
particularly conservatives, get center stage; but the uncriticized and
unconscionable of our habits and priorities to the cultural celebration of
Sunday as a holiday (by liberals and conservatives alike) may be far more
pernicious and dangerous. Not only does this do something to us individually,
but think also of the kind of signal that we send to visitors and newcomers on
many Sunday mornings. Think of the very loud and clear message that we send."
(Was he just angry or do you think he has a point? If you picked up this
bulletin at church – well, obviously it’s not intended for you!) Less I offend those who consider them-selves conservative – read on (I really
don’t like those titles – but people do use them, so…): Fr. Richard McBride
wrote a little passage that I recently read, but could not find, in high praise
of the true conservative. They are not quick to run after fads (they know their
faith), they seek to "conserve" the very roots of their faith and to make sure
this is what is handed on to future generations. They do not hinder real
progress (for they know the faith rests on truth and the truth some-times needs
new language to be expressed accurately).
TOP
Pastor’s Notes: The times are such that it is an act of bravery to work in a tall building or in the mailroom. People may still take to the skies but it is likely they are not very much at ease (at least for the first hour or so). The news reports that the sale of alcohol is up by about 8% or so since 9.11.01. People who gather at Mass find that many of the psalms (e.g. such as the Responsorial psalm between the first and second reading: "…you need not fear the terror of the night nor the arrows that fly by day; under God’s wings your refuge…") strike quite a responsive chord to their needs. There is no doubt about it. Life is quite different these days.
The fragileness and uncertainty of life is not a new discovery. It is our sense and awareness of this truth that fades in and out of our daily lives. A friend of mine oft quoted the phrase: "Tomorrow is promised to no one."
Throughout the centuries spiritual people have reflected on this truth. Their reflections were not so much morbid as they were practical and faith-filled. By that I mean they understood the beauty of the present time in which they lived alongside their longing for heaven. The Good Pope John XXIII reflected that understanding when he once stated that "today is a good day to live and a good day to die."
To live each day, in some way expecting it is your last day (and so you want to live it at its "highest pitch") can be sustained for only so long. But you can develop a sense of preparedness and satisfaction that will not only sustain you in the long run but also will enhance your living. Live your life in such a way that, whether it would continue or end within the next hour or so, you will have nothing to regret. You may not get to experience everything you think you want to experience – but every life is, in some way, an unfinished symphony. Choose wisely what is most important… and to do that you need to have a good sense of values and priorities. Take a minute or two to reflect on the gift of ordinary events that you go through each day. How many people who have died in the WTC and the Pentagon do you think would like to have gone back to their families and say or do something different as they left their homes that morning on their way to work? Do not let anger go to bed with you in the evening. Always seek to be at peace with God. Do not put aside prayer, reading the scriptures, or being with the community for giving thanks on the weekend… for where else does your spirit find nourishment? Seek to know the eternal verities (truths). Know that in your baptism you are called by name and cherished by God.
And in our "new times" should there be some residual feeling of fear of terrorism within you - you might find comfort in praying one or more of the following Psalms: Ps 23, Ps 27, Ps 54, Ps 77, Ps 91, Ps 121 and Ps 140. You might want to pray also Ps 111, Ps 116, and Ps 150 as prayers of praise and thanksgiving.
Festa Italiana: A huge and heartfelt thank you to the organizers and the workers who did it all so well as evidenced last Saturday. And a thank you to those that came and shared a table that evening. Our deacon Rich Currie, ET al knows how go about providing some magic.
Brother Michael O’Grady will provide some special "magic" as he conducts our parish mission this week.
October 13th,& 14th, 2001
Pastor’s Notes: October is Respect Life Month. One would think that respect for life would be a natural thought and an imperative stance for the followers of Jesus. For Catholics in the USA it seems to focus on the issue of abortion - but that would be a misreading. Respect Life Month is offered to us so that we might reflect in order to hold sacred the lives of all: from the most helpless to the most robust; from the youngest to the oldest; from the healthiest to the infirm. It is difficult for us to see all the facets of life at any one time --- but this month is opportunity to reflect on those facets we would otherwise avoid. One day we shall all be old, or infirm, or suffering. To be aware now is to prepare ourselves as well as offer the opportunity to be brother or sister to another… and that would be a graced moment.
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In his memoirs, Gen. George Patton reminisced about a soldier in the American Third Army who was sent to a rest camp after an extended period of active service. When the soldier returned to his outfit, he wrote a letter to the general, thanking him for the fine care he had received. Patton wrote back to the tell the young man that for 35 years he had sought to provide all the comfort and convenience he could for his soldiers and added that his was the first letter of thanks he had received in all those years.
What can account for such a rarity of genuine gratitude on the part of so many? Even the overwhelming majority of the lepers featured in today’s gospel failed to thank Jesus for the gift of their healing. Surely, though, no malice should be attributed to all these seeming ingrates.
Few of us are intentionally ungrateful. Richard Carlson suggests "Spend a moment every day thinking of someone to thank." Therein lies the key; thinking people will necessarily become thanking people – it certainly seems to work that way. (If you cannot find someone to thank each day for some-thing then I can only surmise that you are from another planet.)
Granted, there are times when it is a struggle to maintain a sense of thankfulness. Dr. Alexander Whyte of Edinburgh, was a pastor who was famous for his ability to be grateful even in difficult times. On one Sunday in particular, a blizzard had left the city without power and candles were the only source of light and warmth in the damp and cavernous cathedral. As the congregation delivered in their pews, one member thought to himself, "The preacher will have nothing for which to thank God on a wretched morning like this." However, true to form, Whyte prayed, "We thank you God that every day is not like today!"
Of course thankfulness is at the very heart of our Sunday liturgies. The very word Eucharist means thanksgiving.
I think that those who are loyal to prayer at Mass each weekend cover a multitude of sins of those who refuse to go. I know for a fact that many who refuse to go and have been absent for so long a period have been blessed by the prayers of those who do gather – and to you, I say
October 6th,& 7th, 2001
As of this writing we have received almost $10,000 to be sent to the bishop
for his 911-FUND (relief for those victimized by the events of 9/11). Since the
parish "tithes" itself we will add to what we have already received and the
total contribution will be approximately $15,000. Thank you so much for
your expressed generosity.
3rd of a 3-part series. Reflections on Sundays by Getrud Mueller Nelson…
"Every Sunday needs to be preceded by a Friday, just as Good Friday was necessary was necessary to the resurrection on Easter… We have to die a little…" – getting some of the tasks we avoided all week done. Friday night, after we have died a little, then allows us to celebrate a little. "I know a family who has… a family night on Friday evening. They have a lovely family dinner followed by a family meeting, which heals and resolves and makes everyone equals once more before God and family. On Saturday some of the "catch up work" that you vaguely felt compelled to do is now behind you. (The laundry is done or the grass is mowed, etc.) Read the scriptures for this Sunday’s Mass (CF our parish bulletin to locate them).
On Sunday we gather ourselves up. We gather up the household. We gather at the church door in community. We know what we are about and we bring the whole of us, our experiences, our broken-ness, and our joys and offer them on the altar. We take time out of time – time away from our grinding enslavement to work, to consumerism, to the pressures of this world’s values. We give the morning to worship… and the afternoon to recreation.
A big communal pitfall is to muddy those two levels of prayer and play and end up with neither. Wear "Sunday clothes" to church and leisure clothes after brunch to help you change from worship to play time. (Go to any black Baptist church on a Sunday to see this. We once knew how to do it – not so much now… it is a lost art to many Catholics today.) Maybe don’t read the newspaper before church, save it for after church. Reinstate the Eucharistic fast so that you are hungry for the body of Christ. Divide with clarity the two goals of Sunday - worship and recreation – by the manner in which you undertake to gather yourself for church and feast and play after church. The continuing erosion of Sunday, from which we all suffer, and our confusion over what it means to be fully human, is best described by an astute observer who says that today we still are out of sync. Today we worship our work, work at our play, and play at our worship.
These are the rituals and customs we need to reconstruct for ourselves and our families or the parish family. In rites and ceremony, we seek the form that transforms. We asked to be touched by the Divine.
Pastor’s Notes:
2nd of 3-part series…
Gertrud Mueller Nelson notes that we have our Semitic heritage to thank for the institution of time-out-of-time. It is a powerful contribution to human progress and preservation. The Jewish celebration of Sabbath is a participation in the rest of the Creator who made the 7th day holy so as to view what has been made know it was "very good." It is a day which gives dignity to the work we do during the week, a day to stand back and "see that what we do for this world is very good." With God, in holy leisure, we accept the nature of things. We let go of our controlling grip on things and allow things to be as they are.The Sabbath was a day of universal equality. It celebrated Israel's release from slavery in the past and continues as a safeguard and protection of the people. We remember each creature's worth before God.
Sunday is meant to be radically different. It is a day lifted up out the cycle of repetition. It is meant to be a day of enlightenment, a vision of wholeness, a taste of eternity. It is humankind's festive companionship with God.
"…it was Jesus who chose to renew and reinstate the healing mystery of a day of rest if we could just give ourselves to it. So, he rattled everyone's rigidity: He broke the law by curing people on the Sabbath. He rose from the dead on the "eight day." In his risen body, he appeared to his disciples on a Sunday. He stormed them with the Holy Spirit--all on a Sunday. The new Sabbath says that since the resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week unto the end of time, the "eight day" is the NOW that is always new. Beyond a remembrance of the past creation and of God's great deeds of liberation for his chosen people, it points to a whole new way of being. "Behold, I make all things new."
If Sunday is to be our weekly foretaste of heaven, it behooves us to create for ourselves the Sunday worthy of the way we want to live eternity. Our weekends, our Sundays, our vacations, our sabbatical leaves, even our retirement years, while full of promise, too often dissipate into a season of panic because we still have not learned to embrace the art of being. We have forgotten that what we yearn for is to be "re-souled" by a touch with the Transcendent--indeed by companionship (!) with the Transcendent.
"Something more" is what we long for. Thank God it's Friday--indeed--please God--it is a taste of heaven that we long for. Close the gap. Touch us in companionship.
To be continued
TOP
September 15th,& 16th, 2001
Pastor’s notes: Part 1 of a 3-part series. Gertrud Mueller Nelson makes some observations regarding Sundays. (Celebration, Sept. 2001, pg. 429ff). "Sunday, as a special day of celebration, rest and worship is an endangered day… As the people of God keep Sunday, so will Sunday keep and sustain us as a people."
A few years ago she went to a small, medieval church with old frescos. An old fresco caught her attention and as she tried to puzzle out its message, one of her friends – a medievalist who like to tease her for practicing her faith – looked at it and said with a knowing grin: "It’s called "The Christ of Sunday." See, here’s graphic evidence of how you hurt Jesus on Sundays." Indeed, it was a kind of "you-will-make-the-angels-cry morality…" and he didn’t want her to miss it.
The image was a large Christ dressed in an ochre robe. He stood there, dotted with dozens of little bleeding wounds, tears in his flesh and garment, and each of these wounds had a line drawn from it to an image of an occupation, a tool of a trade or a craft. There were curry combs, a thick braid, tongs, a hammer, spools, wheels, plows, rakes, a figure carrying a huge load, oxen drawing a cart, a hand counting out coins… and my friend was anxious for me to notice, a couple in bed. All occupations and actions that, if performed on Sunday, wounded Christ’s body.
The message promptly called to mind that curiously specific list of occupations forbidden by the Jewish Sabbath: plowing, sowing, reaping, grinding, tying a knot, untying a knot, writing, erasing, traveling, etc. The only major difference was that the Jews count it a mitzvah, a grace or blessing, to make love to your spouse on the Sabbath.
She was feeling a little defensive with her sensible friend who was watching her reactions. On the other hand, perhaps the image did still speak a truth – for is it not we who are the body of Christ? Don’t we wound ourselves? When we persist in our modern endless grind of producing and consuming, of using and disposing, of containing and controlling and making love routinely or impersonally, or holding mastery over God’s creation, don’t we deplete our earth? Aren’t we, in fact, killing the human soul? Sunday, as a special day of celebration, rest and worship is an endangered day. As the people of God keep Sunday, so will Sunday keep and sustain us as a people.
In the past 30 years of renewal, we no longer trouble ourselves too much with all the ways in which we are forbidden to work on Sundays, or with the obligations of a work-free feast day for worship. But – have we turned the next corner? Have we discovered yet how a Sunday is meant to be our invitation to be fully human and to rest with and in God? God doesn’t need our Sunday celebration. We do. "The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath." (Jesus said that.)
To be continued…
It may surprise Catholics to know that the shortage of clergy is also evident in many Protestant churches. When asked "why" in The Christian Century magazine one of the answers came in a letter from a UCC pastor in La Mesa, CA. He made a number of points. One was the disparity of age between his church members and himself. In his first parish the average age of the members was 61 and he was 24. He learned to revere them but says "Let’s be honest, how many 24-year-olds desire a vocation where most of those they work with are their grandparents age? Second point: he finds "hundreds of young adults who are on a seeker’s path of spirituality and meditation. Often it does not occur to them to seek anything spiritual from the church." (Ouch!) Third: there is no striking leadership by the churches now, as in the past with the civil rights movement and the anti-war protest. "The church was on the cutting edge of social change."… Four: "Ministry is perceived as a socially irrelevant, low-paying, highly demanding, privacy-deprived job." The students he meets enrolled in divinity schools are often planning social work or politics, or Ph.D. studies in religion. "They are not interested in working for $30,000 a year and not having a private life or week-ends off." His final comment, however, is one that fits many gospels, especially the one about seeking riches not on earth but in heaven. He says, "I must add that I have found being a minister is a great way of making a difference in the lives of people and in society. I will never be rich. But my life has been enriched." How? "In countless ways by the people of all ages I have known and loved as a young minister."
CATHOLICISM: THE POSITIVE SIDE: Richard McBrien writes a critique of a work of Fr. Hans Kung and he notes that Kung’s severest criticisms of various religions fall heaviest on the Catholic Church – and perhaps that is how is should be. One might legitimately ask, however, why he (Hans Kung) did not, at the same time, acknowledge more explicitly the distinctive and enduring strengths of the Catholic tradition, shorn of its medieval excesses and modern authoritarianism; namely, its sacramental imagination, its sense of community, its missionary outreach, its vigorous social doctrine, its capacity for change (what other tradition has had a Vatican II?), its spirit of inclusiveness, and, in a word, its catholicity.
Fr. Joseph Nolan notes that teaching Catholicism in depth at a university,
"I have found this approach essential. It is the stress no longer that
"we are so right" but rather, "we are so rich" – in piety,
schools of theology and sanctity, the arts, and much more."
TOP
September 1st,& 2nd, 2001
Pastor’s Notes: In this day’s gospel the one we call the "Prince of Peace" and the one who prayed that all "may be one" speaks about bringing division – not peace or unity. Is his message a contradiction?
Jesus speaks of baptism, probably referring to his approaching passion, his trial by fire. But we who are baptized reflect on his words in a broader sense. The sacrament, particularly as we confirm it by participating in the Eucharist commits us to many choices that will bring us into conflict with those who have another set of values.
There are those in the nation whose goal is to make war, not peace, who serve greed, not need, and who seek to multiply desires, not control them. A Christian committed to integrity – or call it just plain honesty – will not go along with covering up bad work. He or she will become a whistle-blower – not a bad term because it means one ceases to grumble in private and now protests publicly, via the newspaper or to Congress, calling for a halt to deception, insisting that the truth be told. When this happens the whistle blower may indeed expect conflict, even the loss of promotions or one’s job in an industry that places public image and profits above all.
Those who follow the gospel will risk being misunderstood (even by one’s family), persecution and even personal attack (verbally and physically).
Some may read the gospel today in a doctrinaire or absolutist fashion in defense of the church, even Christian doctrine. What do I mean? Here is an example: "Jesus gave his church – ours – the truth. The truth is sometimes hard to take. But take it or leave it – leave the church. There is no accommodation. Out! Your are in heresy or schism, and we cut you off. If the price of truth is a house divided, so be it. Truth cannot be compromised."
It does sound fine to many. What is wrong with it since we believe that he gave his church the truth? The answer is that we don’t believe we have such an absolutely clear perception of what truth always is that we should quickly or easily condemn those who have a different understanding. Their difference might turn out to be a contribution, another way to see into the mystery of God’s life and human relationships. Consider what did happen when we divided the house of Christendom in what is called the Great Schism. Christianity in the 11th century was rent in two, eastern and western, and only now, with meetings between patriarchs and pope, are we trying to all this back together. And in the sixteenth century the Protestant Reformation occurred, so that Christianity fell into a 3-way split. If the Great Schism had not taken place perhaps the second would not have occurred.
The West developed a juridical (legalistic) style. The East has never taken this approach, and now we might be willing to see that different approaches to the mystery of God and creation and the human are complementary and should not be quickly condemned as errors or deviations from a narrow perception of the truth. The Master Himself often taught by way of parable – giving no final or standardized answers in many cases (which might have changed as perceptions of the world have changed). He did, however, say "I am the Way" – and that road we can follow.
TOP"Once upon a time, a long time ago…" there was the Baltimore Catechism. In the US it was the ultimate teaching tool for studying our faith. There were four levels: the first was for children, the second was for older children (7th and 8th grades) and then the 3rd level was the highest level for the laity. The fourth level was the actual text the Catholic Bishops of the US drew up as the teaching instrument for its people – I know of no one who actually saw this text but I am sure it resides in archives throughout the US.
In today’s second reading, from the Duoay translation of the Bible, we have a classic definition which is found in the Baltimore Catechism #3 and some of you may remember it: "Faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see." God, of course, is the principle ‘thing’ we do not see, and God is no thing, but the underlying principle of all things, all reality.
Because that kind of language is too difficult (and because faith is much more than the definition given above), Jesus brought God closer, someone we could see and touch – in his body and in our humanity. The ‘confident assurance’ we have about these things – the great truths of all religions and the heaven we hope for – has much evidence to support it but is ultimately a gift. It is a gift of meaning from God to us. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews (it was not St. Paul) gives examples of men and women of great faith, all Old Testament figures, and only a few out of ‘whole cloud of witnesses,’ as he calls them, in the next chapter.
It is more difficult today to talk of faith, and those who practice it. Why? - because we live in a secular and scientific age. It does not seem ‘scientific’ to give assent to ‘things we cannot see.’ And although there are still many churchgoers (at least in this country), believers are not in a majority. When religious questions like faith in God, eternal life, or Jesus and the resurrection come up, people are polite but really not interested; often they simply wait you out, or suspect you must be a fundamentalist hoping to convert them. The thought that religion might be a fascinating subject just to discuss doesn’t occur to many. Presumably a lady or a gentleman was told in the past that there are three things that should not be discussed: religion, politics, and sex. And there is a rejoinder that those were the only things worth discussing!
TOPPastor’s notes: War is, of course, the most violent of actions enacted upon earth. In practice there is little distinction between the military and the civilian – especially with the advent of air bombing and nuclear missiles.
There are 3 well-defined approaches to using violence. 1) No restraint at all. 2) Violence restrained by certain laws and regulations. 3) Refusal to use violence at all. The 2nd way is by either moral or legal restrictions, such as not killing captives, not injuring civilian populations, or not engaging in wanton destruction of property. The total war crowd thinks this is all absurd. It isn’t; it is the way we try to stay sane when we are called upon to do nearly insane things.
You might remember that several weeks ago we heard the apostles asking Jesus to send down fire upon a town that would not accept him. Jesus simply said no. Before the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima – fire, the likes of that seem unimaginable, was dropped down on several cities of Japan in WWII. Atlantic Magazine (March 1998) gives this following account… which ought to make us pause and think… and think hard.
The account says that Curtis LeMay "had several ‘precision’ bombing raids against military targets in Germany, but had by this time abandoned the idea of precision bombing in favor of terror attacks on civilians." When he arrived in the Marianas and took command of the 21st bomber command and their huge fleet of B-29 Superfortresses, he went to work. "He experimented with bombing patterns and with mixes of explosive and incendiary bomb loads. His goal was to create firestorms like the ones that had consumed Hamburg and Dresden, conflagrations so vast and intense that nothing could survive them -–not mere fires but thermal hurricanes that killed by suffocation as well as by heat, as the flames sucked all available oxygen out of the atmosphere.
"After practice runs on Kobe and on a section of Tokyo in February, LeMay launched 334 Superfortresses from the Marianas on the night of March 9. A few minutes after midnight they began to lay their clusters of M-69’s over Tokyo, methodically crisscrossing the target zone to create concentric rings of fire that soon merged into a sea of flame. Rising thermal currents buffeted the mile high B-29s and knocked them about like paper airplanes. When the raiders flew away, shortly before 4:00 A.M., they left behind them a million homeless Japanese and nearly 90,000 dead. The victims died from fire, asphyxiation, and falling buildings. Some boiled to death in superheated canals and ponds where they had sought refuge from the flames. In the next five months LeMay’s bombers attacked sixty-six of Japan’s largest cities, destroying 43 percent of their built-up areas. They demolished homes of more than eight million people, killed as many as 700,000, and injured perhaps one million more. Hiroshima and Nagasaki survived to be atomic-bombed only because LeMay’s superiors removed them from his target list."
If we must wage war we cannot fight this way. In the Bosnia conflict NATO conducted a war from the air with an attempt to bomb only military targets. There was "collateral damage." But how does one go about restricting the use of weapons that destroy the innocent and even have the potential of destroying the world?
Since God has a great vested interest in this world and in us it behooves us to consider these issues while we are at peace. In the seminary there was a wise moral theologian who stated that "in war you’re going to do what you’re going to do." He was only observing human nature – but perhaps if we can draw limits now – we may be able to keep them in times of extreme duress so that we can do sane things in what will seem to be insane times… perhaps.
Pastor’s notes: How do you talk to God? That’s a question Larry King, renowned journalist, radio talk show personality and host of CNN’s highest ranked show for over 15 years "Larry King Live" had not thought of asking the hundreds of people he has interviewed. However, one evening in 1997, while he was having dinner with his daughter, Chaia, she suggested, "You’re always having conversations with powerful people, why not ask them abut their prayers?" King was reluctant at first because he claimed that as an agnostic he didn’t know to what or whom to pray, so he had always left it alone. Nevertheless, with continued prompting of Chaia and the help Rabbi Irvin Kat-sof, King did begin to ask people how they talked to God.
For example, Arizona Senator John McCain told King that when he talks to God it’s not about legislation or political successes. "I talk to God and ask for the wisdom to do the right thing and the tenacity to see it through." When McCain was a POW in Vietnam, he said he talked to God about survival and deliverance, but there was a strong caveat to that: "Only if it was God’s will."
Kirk Douglas, who rediscovered his Orthodox Judaism late in life told of his experience at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. There the energy emanating from all the praying Jews was overwhelming. As he drank deep of the heady prayerful ambiance, he suddenly remembered the often-told story of the blind, poor, and childless man who came to the Wall each day to talk to God and ask that his fortunes be reversed. One day he heard the voice of God: "I’ll answer your prayers. I’ll give you one thing. What do you want the most?" Thrown into an emotional frenzy, the man agonized over his options. If he asked for sight, he’d still be poor and childless. If he asked for wealth, he still couldn’t see and had no one to share it with. And if he asked for children, how could a poor, blind man take care of them? Finally, the man summoned his courage and began to talk to God, "Dear God, grant me just one thing – the joy of seeing my children eating off of gold plates." (Said Douglas, "Only a Jew could come up with a prayer like that!)
One of Martin Luther’s contemporaries once said of him, "I overheard him in prayer, but good God, with what life and spirit did he pray! It was with so much reverence, as if he were talking to God, yet with so much confidence as if he were talking to his friend." Isn’t this precisely the way that Abraham talked to God? … with reverence, yes, but the patriarch’s prayer also exuded a loving familiarity and trust in his divine Friend.
Former President Jimmy Carter had met with Menachem Begin, a Jew, Anwar Sadat, a Moslem, and he himself was a Baptist Christian. They all wanted to pray – and on 9/5/78 they issued the following prayer: "Conscious of the grave issues that face us, we place our trust in the God of our fathers from whom we seek wisdom and guidance. As we meet here at Camp David, we ask people of all faiths to pray with us that peace and justice may result from our deliberations. Whereas Begin, Sadat and Carter prayed to the "God of our fathers," Jesus, in today’s gospel, encourages all to pray to the God who is Father
TOPJuly 21st,& 22nd, 2001
"We should never be so busy that we have no time for love." This is how Fr. Greeley would summarize the story of Martha and Mary in the gospel that is proclaimed today.
For anyone who reads this gospel and in his/her first two or three sentences begins to defend Martha – exactly why are you doing that? If you think about it, you’re making excuses for Jesus because he seems insensitive to Martha’s complaint (he is not). Perhaps you are defending your own life’s priorities. It might be that you believe no one appreciates you for all the hard work you do (which is an 85% probability)… and worse yet, when you ask for help your plight is not recognized. Maybe (no, it would be certain) you need to hear what Jesus is saying. Perhaps after working extremely hard to prepare a great dinner you are too tired to enjoy your company. "We should never be so busy that we have no time for love."
For those of you who think Mary is getting away with something – what does she see that you don’t see? Would you be uncomfortable just "wasting time with a friend" – even if it is the Lord? One way to measure this might be acknowledging the time you take to speak with the Lord each day… 5 minutes? 2 minutes? 30 seconds? a quick cry for help when in trouble? Can’t build much of a relationship with your God that way I would think. (Come to think of it – how much time do parents "waste" with their children… and in turn, how much time do children "waste" with their parents? It seems to of some import.) "We should never be so busy that we have no time for love."
Perhaps Mary did not help with any of the preparations… made no effort to be sure that the hospitality offered to Jesus was more than adequate. If so, you have a point to make… and in Jesus’ time that would certainly be a faux pas.
Since this gospel brings out all sorts of emotional responses it might be a great deal more beneficial to us if we simply take the gospel as it is presented and wrestles with our response. If it can stir up some strong feelings it has to be touching our heart, our spirit. Be attentive to that sort of thing (but don’t over analyze either).
Anchor House: to our St. James Parish Anchor House Team: – congratulations on your achievement and we thank God you came home safe. To those who sponsored them: you made their work productive and they needed you not only to make their trip worthwhile – but they will sleep easier because the kids they worked for will have safe haven and maybe a good chance to become the great person that is within them – in great part because your financial support TOPJuly 14th,& 15th, 2001
I have received a letter from the office of the Bishop informing us that Bishop John Smith will celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation at St. James Church - Pennington, NJ on November 7, 2001 at 4pm
Fr. James Smith, who often writes for Celebration (a liturgical publication), had a piece about anti-Catholicism in the July issue. Fr. Andrew Greeley, priest and sociologist, writes about anti-Catholicism and he claims that it is still very much present. Fr. Smith wrote the following:
"It is a twist of history that Catholicism is not the national religion of America – because Catholic France and Spain did not capitalize on their holdings. It is another historical twist that Catholicism survived at all, since it was English culture that prevailed. England was blatantly anti-Catholic; and the settlers were publicly committed to keeping "papish" influence and that "whore of Babylon" (as Rome was affectionately called) out of this virgin land.
It was illegal to celebrate Mass in public or for the church to own property; or even for Catholics to vote. Our stock rose a little in the revolution because we helped win it. General Washington wrote: "I presume your countrymen will not forget your patriotic part in the Revolution – nor the important assistance of Catholic France." Second-hand thanks; but better than none.
But someone did forget. In the first half of the 19th century, Catholic immigrants poured into America. And, during the economic panic of 1819, Nativists grew restless about so many "foreigners" in their country. The first anti-Catholic weekly was published; the "Know Nothings" got clever against Catholics; there were religious riots, burning of Catholic churches and religious pornography about nuns.
By the last half of that same 19th century, continued immigration from the Irish potato famine and the German revolution had made 3 million Catholics the largest group in the country. When industrialization brought tension between capital and labor, the church sided with labor, partly because most Catholics were laborers in large cities. This is unlike European history, where the Catholic Church lost the working class by default.
During the Civil War, the law forbidding the Catholic Church to own property was quietly repealed in a trade-off to fill New York’s army quota. In World War I, Catholics were only 16 percent of the population but 35 percent of the army. But after the war, Nativist stirrings made Congress restrict immigration, which cut off the greatest source of Catholic growth.
A new wave of bigotry erupted over Catholic Al Smith’s presidential bid. Even so, he got 40 percent of the popular vote, which paved the way for Democratic majorities. Then the American bishops wrote their epic-making document called "Social Reconstruction." Eleven of its twelve proposals became law under Roosevelt’s New Deal Social agenda.
We finally reached the peak of public acceptance in 1960 with
our first Catholic president. 44 million Catholics – one-fourth of the total population – finally achieved an influence commensurate with their strength. Or did we? A historian wrote: "In no modern society is the intellectual prestige of Catholicism so low as in the country where its wealth, numbers and organization are so strong."And before that, Santayana had warned: "Those who do not know their history are doomed to relive it," That’s why we should not forget our place in our national history. Because there is a better way to live in a country in which, even now, the major prejudice is not anti-black or anti-Jew but anti-Catholic, we do not look back in anger, but forward with hope in that indestructible American attitude of fairness."
TOPJuly 7th,& 8th, 2001
From Celebration come these wonder insights of Patricia Datchuck Sanchez.
"…most of us will, no doubt, …agree that, for the most part, our images and imaginings of God, particularly as derived from the Judeo-Christian scriptures, are decidedly masculine…
As Walter Burghardt, S.J. has noted, it is true that God is revealed to us as masculine, and particularly in the New Testament, as Father and this is highly important for the way we think about God, the way we pray to God: take for example, the Our Father that Jesus taught us. But the peril of a single pre-dominant is that, over the centuries, Christians gradually come to identify God with maleness. Certainly, the face of God is readily understood as male in the person of Jesus, who was born as Son and lived and died as a loving Brother for our sakes. The beautiful and brotherly image of Jesus notwithstanding, Burghardt suggests that one unfortunate result of representing God as masculine has been what is called "patriarchy," i.e., the dominance of the male in religion and society, in our thinking and in our living, to the detriment and unjust subordination of woman. To search for other less numerous, albeit nonetheless poignant, images of God in scripture alleviates this injustice while affording us what Elizabeth Johnson… has described as the "benefit of even richer insight into the incomprehensible Mystery that is God." Therefore, it seems exceedingly fortunate that today’s liturgy provides us with an opportunity to glimpse another face of God, viz., that of the divine feminine.
With richly expressive metaphors of caring and love, Trito-Isaiah has joined his voice to others of his prophetic colleagues to enable us to know God’s unconditional, covenental love as that of a mother for her child-(ren). About two centuries earlier, Hosea had likewise describes the maternal compassion of God who claimed, "It was I who taught Ephraimn to walk. I took them up in my arms… I led them with hands of love; I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them." (11:3-4) Trito-Isaiah’s 6th century B.C.E. literary partner, Deutero-Isaiah, had similarly represented the divine redemption of the exiled people of God in terms of a woman "in labor, crying out, gasping and panting. (Is. 42:14), until the child, Israel, is reborn unto freedom. So also, when despair threatened to overwhelm the exiles and God appeared to them to be the most distant, the prophet assured them, "Can a mother forget her nursing child or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Yet, even if the love of a human mother should wane, I will not forget you. I have your name written on the palms of my hands." (49: 15-16) In today’s first reading Trito-Isaiah continues to illumine the divine maternal face for his readers. Drawing on the ancient tradition that regarded Jerusalem as the umbilicus of the earth and the holy city as a nursing, doting, fondling mother of it inhabitants, the prophet promised that his contemporaries would similarly experience the comforting, protective love of God.
That love became incarnate in the person of Jesus and something of the protective concern of a mother is manifested in today’s gospel. Therein the Lucan Jesus offers detailed advice to the disciples before sending them forth into what would be a hostile and unwelcoming world. Who among us has not been comparably counseled by a loving mother concerned for every aspect of our safety and success? In my own home, I recall what I later dubbed "the Litany of the Doorway/" Each time one of us children went out, our leaving was prefaced by a series of loving reminders from our mother: "Be careful. Look both ways before crossing the street. Don’t talk to strangers. Call me if you’ll be late," etc. As we matured, so did the level of motherly advice; however my mother’s last words to each of us as we took to the door were always the same: "I love you."
Although Paul’s boating of the cross of Christ in today’s second reading seems to depart completely from the theme of the divine feminine, a popular image borrowed from the Middle Ages may help us to appreciate the death of Jesus as the supreme act of motherly love. Frequently featured n both art and hymnody, (e.g. Adoro Te Devote, often attributed to Thomas Aquinas) was a mother pelican with her brood of chicks. IJ the process of feeding her young, the pelican presses her feed sack, full of fish, against her neck in such a way that she seems to pierce her breast with her bill. The reddish tinge of her breast plumage and the redness of the tip of her beak fostered the notion that the pelican actually drew blood from her own breast so that her young might live. Hence, the mother pelican, nourishing her own at the cost of her own life, became an apt image for understanding the life-giving and saving sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. This sign of our salvation is also a lasting reminder of the maternal love of God we are privileged to celebrate today.
TOP December 29th,& 30th, 2001
Pastor’s notes: A story: Visitors out
west were on a guided tour that brought them to a place where the giant sequoia
trees grow. They are magnificent trees and some are thousands of years old. The
guide told the people that the roots of the tree grow just under the surface of
the ground. A man spoke up: "I’m a country boy and I know that roots have to
grow deep into the ground – otherwise the winds and the rains will destroy
them." The guard answered: "Not so the sequoia trees. They grow only in groves
and their roots intertwine with the roots of the other sequoia trees. In that
way, when the winds and the rains come the trees support one another and they do
not fall down." This Sunday is the feast of the Holy Family – and a blessing
day for your family.
The following contains excerpts from a book review by Judith Bromberg. The book is entitled Resurrection Grace: Remembering Catholic Childhoods by Marilyn Sewell. I haven’t read the book but the review seemed interesting and light as we approach the new year.
"What is about the cult of growing up Catholic that marks us more indelibly than original sin? Marilyn Sewell, now a Unitarian minister and editor of this volume, reflects in her own essay, ‘Like other people who were raised Catholic, I’ve never been able to get it out of my bones. I don’t even want to anymore.’"
Richard Meiber was raised in an orphanage run by nuns. They raised him but he never felt love from them. "Years later in graduate school, he shared a class with a Sr. Catherine of Siena, whose very proximity reminded him that he had never lost that desire for specialness in the eyes of a nun. Late in the term he and Sr. Catherine were studying in the library and became engaged in a deep philosophical discussion that spilled out onto the library steps after closing. All of a sudden Meibers was overcome with a sensation, a deeply religious insight that left him shaken. Concerned, Sr. Catherine reached for his hand. ‘Everything stopped for us there in that pool of light. I say us because for the first time in my life I experienced being part of something with another person. We were together.’ And he concludes his essay, ‘A new vision of God was small change com-pared to Sr. Catherine of Sienna reaching from behind her habit to take my hand.’
If memories of nuns permeated (a particular section of the book… Eight of the eleven essays were written by women... Sex and sexuality! Writers as disparate as Mary McCarthy and Elton John have tried to sort out Catholic hang-ups with virginity and female sexuality… (sic)
…Sandra Cisneros had both her religion and her ethnicity working against her when it came to discovering the mysteries of womanhood. ‘Discovering sex,’ she writes, ‘was like discovering writing. It was powerful in a way I couldn’t describe. Like writing, you had to go beyond the guilt to get to anything good.’
Both Anna Quindlen and Joanne Mulcahy recognized the contribution of reading to their growing up. Quindlen acknowledge a debt to Mary McCarthy from whom ‘I learned about sex and other things I was not supposed to know about.’…
…If you were raised Catholic, you will see yourself in one or more of these essays – and if you were not, you will gain some insight into those of us who were and maybe cut us some slack.
Patricia Hampl describes growing up Catholic as having an extra set of parents… But that is not all bad, because one of the most precious memories of her youth is an elderly woman of her parish who fingered her rosary beads as she walked and whose smile was a ‘flood of light. She loves me, I was sure.’ There is also comfort in being a Catholic.
…The author of the book writes: Over-come with a flood of powerful feelings, she came to the realization that hell is no more than separation, fear separating us from the love of God and others. "I have come to believe that I am somehow held in the Everlasting Arms, no matter what…"
Happy New Year!
Pastor’s notes: The following reflection on Christmas comes from a wonderful publication called Magnificat (vol. 3, #11). It was written by Peter John Cameron, O.P. and I found it too good not to pass it up.
"Perhaps the most famous Christmas story of all time ironically is a ghost story: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. What truly terrifies Ebenezer Scrooge isn’t the scariness of the specter of three spirits of Christmas past, present and future, but rather what they reveal to him – namely, the many relationships that Scrooge had betrayed out of self-centered ambition and greed.
The spirits show Scrooge poignant episodes involving his own little sister Fan, his nephew Fred, his big-hearted employer Fezziwig, Dick Wilkins his friend, his sweetheart Belle, his ill-used employee Bob Cratchit, the crippled Tiny Tim, and many others. Scrooge cannot bear to look upon these scenes because of the overwhelming shame and self-condemnation they cause him. These reminders confront him with a royal freedom he had violated, a godly destiny he had trounced in the pursuit of self. And Scrooge cannot bear it.
But he must. And so must we. For what the Incarnation of Jesus Christ reveals to the world is that we need to belong in order to be happy. Jesus is born in human flesh so that we might belong to him, and through him to each other. Christmas is not about the visitation of a ghost but about the birth of God-with-us through the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Paul declares, "You have been called to belong to Christ" (Rom 1:6). Once we know that we belong, that we are loved, we can confront any of the pains, the challenges, the threats, or hardships of life with confidence. The mystery of Christmas is about taking up this calling.
Ebenezer Scrooge had to learn the hard way how fatal it is to spurn the great good of belonging. The cursed ghost of Scrooge’s business partner Jacob Marley bewails his "incessant torture of remorse" and cries out, "Mankind was my business. The common welfare, was my business, charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business… Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!"
Happily, Scrooge’s obstinacy and con-temptuousness give way. He cooperates with the supernatural intervention and converts. The visions convince him just how much his happiness consists in belonging to God and belonging to others. And Scrooge proves it on that exuberant Christmas morning which gives him a second chance at life. To one of the portly gentlemen who the day before had entered Scrooge’s counting house soliciting alms for the poor and the destitute, the regenerate Scrooge offers an unspeakable amount and pleads, "Come and see me. Will you come and see me?" For Scrooge knows that he cannot sustain his new-born happiness and peace without friendship. The repentant Scrooge also renews his long-neglected relationship with his nephew and his family. And to Tiny Tim, "who did NOT die," Ebenezer Scrooge became "a second father." The best way to belong is by generating others with the divine love that generates us moment by moment. Are there any relationships in our lives that we have slighted, abused, or ignored?
Left to ourselves, we would all suffer the same wretched end that the spirit of the future reveals to Scrooge. But we are not left to ourselves; we belong to God. As Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade, S.J., once wrote, "We cannot be settled in the state of pure l love until we have experienced a lot of setbacks and many humiliations. We must reach the stage when all that the world contains ceases to exist and God is everything to us." That is the Truth that inspires every Christmas carol. That is the promise and grace of Christmas. "God bless us, every one!"
A Blessed and Merry Christmas to All!
Pastor’s Notes: December 16th
The beautiful readings we are privileged to hear during this year’s readings for the Advent season can not have the same impact on us as it did on those who first heard it. Simply put, they were written for captives in a foreign land and the visions of liberation and a new world were heaven itself.
If born rich, the rich cannot really know the plight of the poor (oftentimes the rich carry a different cross). If we are hungry it is not the hunger experienced by the people of the third-d world countries. Black Americans may understand best the power of Isaiah’s visions because of their history of bondage in this country (and some will say is still with us – in various forms)… or Native American Indians who suffered the indignities of 5,000 broken treaties with the government. Discri-mination is a terrible curse – but of a different order than either bondage or captivity or concentration camps.
The Church still holds to the vision and the readings. She continues to pro-claim this vision for bondage and captivity are still the lot of many people… and the Church knows full well that there are imprisonments of the heart, the mind and the soul that are as painful (or more so) than physical bondage.
From the very beginning, Jesus people understood that a necessary
conse-quence of their faith was service to those who suffered. This
understanding survives even today as the Pope made clear in his talks at the
United Nations several years ago and as the American Bishops have often done
when they excoriated those in our society who wish to blame the poor and the
elderly and the immigrants not only for their own problems but also for the
problems of the rest of the country. It is not our role to take positions on
specific legislation or suggested public policy. But there is a meanness and an
anger in American public life today that the followers of Jesus cannot accept.
Nor can we pretend that it is acceptable to our tradition that a situation
continue in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The Gospel
remains a stumbling block to those who believe that the way to be a success in
the business world is by cutting the salaries of your workers or firing
them.
Take time to be at prayer this next ten days. I know they are going to be
very hectic for many – but that is all the more reason why you need to do it.
December 21st and December 23rd: we are going to be setting up the gym and decorating church and gym for Christ-mas. If you have the time please come to help us.
Friday, December 21st – we’ll work on the gym. It begins at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 23rd – we work on the church and finish up the gym. That begins approximately 12:45.
It will help if you call us and let us know that you will be there (even if but for ONE hour).
December 8th, & 9th, 2001
Pastor’s notes: When I was a small boy growing up in Trenton there was a little war memorial on a small traffic island not more than 100’ from where I lived. This memorial and thousands of others like it (such as one that is situated in front of the chapel on Eglatine Avenue) listed the names of those who have died in war. Once in a while I would stop to read some names… but as a child they remained only names. Many years later I visited the Viet Nam memorial in D.C. and saw thousands of names. Like many people who visited the memorial, I searched out the names of people from NJ and would go to that spot to get a rubbing on a piece of paper to take the name home with me (a sure indication that we all harbor within each of us a sense of connectedness and community). Though I did not know the person, I was old enough now to understand that this was a unique person, special to many, and whose life was much more than we can imagine. Since 9/11/2001 the New York Times on a daily basis (and the Trenton Times on a weekly basis) has posted a picture and a short commentary on the people who were killed in the terrorists’ attack. They are "great reading" and they are "painful reading". The picture and the name and the resultant paragraph that follows rend the heart as well as lift the spirit. The poignant clash of good and evil (sin) remind me of the power of these "mysteries" that touch all our lives.
This past week, in the land three religions readily call a "holy" land, Israel, we see terrible evil again in the form of terrorists attacks. In Afghanistan (can there be a country much poorer and its citizens more abused?) again we see innocent lives snuffed out in war. A man who worked for National Geographic and lived in that country for years spoke of the great beauty of both the land and the people – and how they love to sing and dance and be together. Perhaps it would help all of the human community to know specific names and what the people were like who died in war and terrorist attacks.
Perhaps God, who calls us each by name, sees us somewhat as do the writers who give us the short sketches that appear in the Times. No doubt - God also sees the horror of the war and indiscriminate killing that takes place in wars, by terrorist attacks, on the streets of our cities, or in our very schools and homes. God sees too the anger, the hatred, the desperation, the back-stabbing, the betrayals and the other things we harbor within ourselves and do to others. And God sees too, the great love and heroism in so many peoples’ hearts. God has been seeing this for thousands of years and perhaps has wondered what to do with all of this. Destroy us (such as suggested in the story of the Great Flood)? Instruct us in better ways to live (giving us prophets and wise men/women)? Tell us shape up or ship out (heaven or hell)?
God has decided to love us! God has decided definitively to get mixed up with us. St. John wrote: Yes, God so loved the world that He gave his only Son,…
God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (John 16 – 17).
If we so believe then we might want to concern ourselves by not only praying for peace – but for ways to build peace. It seems that the people who are willing to take their own lives to do a terrorist deed are not necessarily men-tally insane – but are a very desperate people with a sense of hopelessness and powerlessness. Perhaps some are just outright evil. Still, are there ways to address such perspectives so as to lessen and eradicate the violence?
It might be that this coming Christmas will bring with it a new advent of hope and resolve. Would that it might be just that.
December 1st,& 2nd, 2001
Pastor’s notes: The feast of the Immaculate Conception is December 8th. Unfortunately, the gospel for that day is from Luke (1: 26 – 38). The gospel relates the story of the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and telling her that the Holy Spirit "will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…" It speaks of Mary conceiving Jesus. I say "unfortunate" because people think that this is what the feast day is about. This feast is not about Mary becoming pregnant – it is about Mary’s beginning of life. It is about the time when Mary first existed in her mother’s (Anna) womb… and the fact that from that moment, Mary’s first moment of existence, she was free of sin (especially what we labeled as original sin).
"The dogma of Mary’s being conceived without sin – what we refer to as the Immaculate Conception was defined in 1854 by Pope Pius IX. Like other such definitions it did not just drop out of no where. Discussion of Mary’s being preserved from all sin took place already in the early centuries of the Church. Although prayers addressed to Mary are a rather later development (the late fourth century), esteem for Mary and her role in redemption is evidenced from the very beginning.
Tradition has named Mary’s parents Joachim and Anna, but this is not without manuscript evidence. An early document, Protoevangeium of James, contains a lengthy story of the wealthy and elderly Joachim and Anna who were childless but nevertheless prayed to the Lord for vindication. Drawing on pass-ages from Luke’s gospel of Jesus’ conception and birth, the account goes on to say how an angel appeared to Anna to tell her that she would conceive and the child would "be spoken of in the whole world." Named Mary, she was dedicated to the temple at age three and at age twelve was given by casting lots into the care of Joseph, and elderly widower with sons (one explanation for the gospels’ mentioning the "brothers" of Jesus). The account then goes on to tell that Mary herself conceived (the gospel for this solemnity uses Luke’s account of Jesus’ conception) and bore a Son while remaining a virgin.
The Protoevangelium of James fills in for us details (not to be taken necessarily as historical fact) that our own Christian Scriptures overlook. What is telling in this document is the intentional parallel between Mary’s conception, birth, dedication in the temple, and holy life, and Jesus’. Mary was "full of grace,", as was her Son. The Lord was with Mary, as with her Son. Mary found favor with God, as did her Son. Mary said yes to God’s plan for salvation, as did her Son.
As Mary was chosen, in Christ we are chosen. Mary is the model of holiness who calls us to be who we were meant to be" innocent before God. Mary’s innocence and holiness were God’s special favor to her, to be sure. This feast of the Immaculate Conception reminds us that God’s desire for each of us is to have the same innocence and holiness. When we are so holy, we too bear the Son within us. This is God’s grace working: through adoption we, too, are daughters and sons of God and of Mary, the "mother of all the living."
--from Living Liturgy, 2002 pg. 6
CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENTS: We will have our large tree in the Gathering Area decorated with your homemade decorations. As a suggestion perhaps we can follow the theme of angels… angels carrying banners, blowing trumpets, holding your home in its hands, or holding hands with someone special for you... your imagination is the only limit. Start working on it now -–we Start working on it now -–we need them soon… check the bulletin for more details.
"Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the Lord of hosts." Malachi 3:19
When asked about what signs will appear to foretell the destruction of the temple Jesus said: "When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; "…Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines and plagues from place to place, and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky…"
These are a few quotes from this week’s scripture readings. They were written for specific times (and have already occurred). The scripture readings these few weeks have been trying to focus our attention on our own deaths, our preparations for living and dying, and ultimately Christ’s victory over death. Is the end just around the corner? When Jesus was asked about when the end time would come he simply said that only the Father knows – and He’s not telling anyone (not even Jesus)! If God didn’t tell Jesus when it was to come – do you think it would it be revealed to another?
John Nelson Darby came as a missionary from Britain to the US in the 1830’s. He brought with him new theories about how the world will end. His views took much deeper roots in the US than they ever did in Britain. The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey (19 million copies sold) widely popularized the end-of-the-world theories.
Tom Sine writes about Tim LaHaye. You may have never heard of him but some consider him the most influential Christian leader of the last quarter century – outdistancing Billy Graham. Tim LaHaye (with co-author Jerry Jenkins) has written a series of novels, the Left Behind series, about the end times – with 28.8 million sales at the last count. His influence with many rank-and-file (especially among evangelical) Christians has not been positive. Their novels tend to foster both an eschatology (those things that pertain to the end-times) of disengagement and the politics of fear.
Serious scripture scholars note that those theories about how the earth will come to an end are not supported by scripture.
Implicit in such books is a fatalistic view of the future and a degenerative view of history. As a consequence many Christians who ardently embrace this view insist that "the Bible teaches that everything is destined to get worse and worse, so it makes absolutely no sense to work for social change. The best we can do is to get a few more people in that salvation life boat before Jesus comes back."
Mr. Sine writes "No where else in the Western world do I hear the raging anger about the "threat of big government" that I hear in the United States. Elsewhere, one might find Christians who are cynical about their government, but they don’t display the rage and fear common among many American believers." In his Left Behind novels, Mr. LaHaye reinforces a fictional fear that there is some sinister group (he calls them the "council of ten" or the "council of wise men") actively at work creating the much feared one-world socialist gulag for all those who are left behind.
Why are so many people attracted to such literature? Well, there does seem to be something in our culture in which we love to be scared to death. Too, many embrace the TV series, the X-Files, not merely as entertainment but as reality. Along with that many of us are strongly attracted to simple black and white explanations of what has gone wrong in our world. For some reason, we Americans seem to be more visceral and less reflective than our English-speaking cousins… and we do seem to be more motivated by fear-mongering than reasoned discourse.
Do not fear life! With Jesus as your Lord and Savior do not fear death! Engage the world continue to build up the Kingdom of God! And when "your time" comes, turn and face the Lord. It is your day of salvation!
November 10th,& 11th, 2001
What do Muslims want? Is it a "holy war"- a "jihad"- between East and West? President Bush has said many times that the current conflict is not with Islam but for church historians the images of the conflict between Muslims and Christians from the Middle Ages are much more vivid. Arthur Jones interviewed people involved in religions and comparative religion studies. Parts of his article follow.
Zahid Bukhari of Georgetown U., and a Pakistani, explained that during a period of great transformation "the Crusades were a clash of religions. In the transformations of modern times, we have a clash of civilizations. To some extent there is the same connotations, the whole West as a symbol of Christianity, the entire Muslim world as the symbol of Islam." He goes on to note that there is an evolution underway among the Muslims and one aspect is "the evolving debate within Islam about living according to Islamic beliefs, to divine guidance." It has been very animated since the end of WWII and so far he thinks it has gone in a positive manner.
Fr.Fredericks (a priest of the diocese of San Francisco whose field is comparative religions) comments, "We Americans are so concerned with the violent (Islamic) fringe we miss what’s going on at a deeper level." He goes on to say that these two religions are the bases of entire cultural outlooks! Christian nations today are, by and large, secular societies… "Christianity has grudgingly yielded its place at the center of culture. It isn’t that anymore…"
"The other thing – and it’s such a complicated picture," he said, "there is something in the very character of Christianity that resists privatization. Christianity wants to be a very public religion…" The same statement, he said, can be made about Islam. "Islam wants to be a very public force, a very public reality. Islam wants of its very character to be the basis of society. It always has."
Fredericks notes that if he reads the situation correctly then "what we’re hearing from Indonesia’s Muslims today (the largest of all Islam nations.) is ‘We want to be a nation. We don’t want to go back to the Middle Ages. And – the West doesn’t get this – we want to be a modern nation. We just don’t want to be modern the way you’re modern. We think that’s sick’… secularism – with all the immorality that comes with it – isn’t going to cut it for us. We’re not that kind of people. We want to be an Islamic state."
Scott Bartchy, director of the Center for the Study of Religions at UCLA, said "Americans need to understand that at the deepest level that they have been moving away from cultural values built around honor-shame – still the dominant framework for values around much of the world. In contrast the US ‘has an achievement-guilt culture focused almost entirely on the individual."
"Certainly we have very little sense of honor," he said. "Most Americans will say honor is nice but give me the check instead. And if we had any shame we wouldn’t have had the last 20 years of U.S. politics." He goes on to note how in other countries, leaders of government and business would resign from dishonor whereas in America "if you get caught out, you back and fill. You don’t resign, you just tough it out."
…"Basically," he said, "what Muslims in the Near East want is the same things we want. Even the most conservative bring their kids to the U.S. to be educated. What they don’t understand is how we say we’re so strong for democracy and participation and yet we continue to prop up regimes in their part of the world they regard as terribly oppressive and corrupt." The article would go on to say that we do not "hear" the concerns of the Muslims – as Westerners, we do not understand. + + + + + + +
In the U.S., there are more Muslims than Episcopalians. Muslims are, for most of us, invisible and it is only recently that we are noticing the mosques in our midst (note the crescent on some buildings). Our children have more exposure to them than we. In spite of present and clear dangers, the world is in transformation. Perhaps all will benefit from this transformation – so we hope,
November 3rd,& 4th, 2001
If you have ever been confirmed what do you remember of your Confirmation? If
you were a teenager when you were confirmed did the next day seem pretty much
like the other days with no noticeable change within you? Can you trace back in
any way how (or when) the bestowal of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation has made a
difference in your life? These are not meant to be trick questions but
thought-provoking questions. We will have approximately 93 children from our parish community receiving
the Holy Spirit this week. I don’t sense that anyone thinks the parish (or any
other parish) will feel any dramatic "heat" resulting from this gift, this Fire
of God, to be placed in their hearts. Experience seems to show that a small
flame will be set in their hearts and will grow in intensity as they mature. But
we must be aware that there is an awful lot going against them (and us) which
stops those small flames from developing into a raging fire of Divine Life. How we think, how we understand the experiences of our lives and how/why we
choose to live can be influenced by the Spirit. The Spirit can and does work
through the power of symbols. Let me use an everyday experience to illustrate
the power or the absence of the Spirit in our lives and you decide if can enrich
your life. (The following is from a book by Fr. Rolheiser, The Shattered
Lantern). We can eat without symbols (for our purposes this means to eat
without the working of the Spirit). Eating would be little different than
fueling up a car. We pull up to the table, or to a fast-food restaurant, and
quickly and non-reflectively gulp down our food and leave. We’ve nourished our
bodies – but nothing else and it is a little like animal eating. Picture now this scenario: two people deeply in love set out to dine
together. They spend time talking before the meal – may even have a drink. They
approach a table that has been carefully laid out, complete with linen cloths,
candles, china and crystal. They hold hands and say a special prayer. Slowly,
over the course of a few hours they eat a meal together and bring the meal to a
gracious close. Now, something more than being fueled up has happened here (and
I bet all sorts of positive feelings were running through you as you read this).
The eating has been surrounded with a symbolic understanding with ritual,
mystique, aesthetics, romance and providence. Some deeper meaning has been
revealed to us in this scenario. Read on and where the word "contemplative " appears read
"Spirit-filled" and when the word "non-contemplative" appears read
"Non-Spirit". "Thus, where the contemplative (of past generations) might
refer to his erotic aching as "immortal longings," the non-contemplative is more
prone to speak of "being horny"; where the contemplative speaks of "a
providential meeting," the non-contemplative is more prone to speak of "an
accident"; where the contemplative speaks of finding a "soul-mate", the
non-contemplative is more prone to speak of "great chemistry"; where the
contemplative speaks of "being caught up in a painful romance," the
non-contemplative is more likely to speak of "obsessional neurosis," and where
the contemplative speaks about human restlessness as a "nostalgia for the
infinite and a sign of being a pilgrim on earth," the non-contemplative is more
likely to feel the same discontent and wonder if he needs a career change or a
new marriage. Over a course of time perhaps the Spirit chooses to gradually change us and
reveal to us deeper longings and other realities. Perhaps the Spirit knows that
our total being will respond in positive ways to what we will have discovered –
and our lives will be changed. Perhaps one day we will look back on our lives
and see that we were, and still are, alive with the fire of God in us.
Lord, send forth your Spirit and enkindle in us the fire of your Love. Then
we shall renew the face of the earth
October 27th,& 28th, 2001
Brother Michael McGrath, who conducted our parish mission this past week,
reminded me again of the power of images and the fantastic imagery that is
inherent in our Catholic faith/heritage. It is so much a part of my life (and
possibly yours) that it is only when you can step back and reflect on it can you
realize the wealth and power of this treasure and it’s influence on our lives.
To lose it is to lose a lot of the music and beauty of our faith. Time and again
Brother Michael taught (though he did use these words) that if religion is not
liberating then it is not true religion. He constantly quoted St. Frances de
Sales – and reminded us that the God of Love has been pro-claimed throughout the
centuries (and makes one wonder where some of us possibly picked up our image of
God as harsh lawmaker and judge who is oh-so-difficult to please?). From Good News: Years ago the Very Rev. John D. Payne (an Episcopalian
priest) wrote on counter-culture, the Sabbath, and conservative Episcopalians
(substitute conservative Christians in any of our churches – the following
may apply to "liberals" as well): "Many Episcopalians deplore the cultural
captivity of the Church. Conservative Episcopalians particularly want the Church
to be counter-culture and resist feminist movement pressures, the advancement of
homosexual issues, and the erosion of the sexual moral standard. But many of
these same Episcopalians do not have the will or the desire to be
counter-culture and observe Sunday as a holy day. In our culture, Sunday is a
holiday, the second day of the weekend, a day off from work, a day to goof off,
a day to have fun. In short, it’s everything but a holy day, the day to be
renewed spiritually. Sometimes in a first confession, the penitent timorously
admits a sexual offense and passes lightly over neglecting his daily prayers and
regular Sunday worship and is then very surprised when the priest concentrates
on the spiritual neglect rather than the sexual sin. For many reasons, our
shabby treatment of Sunday may be the worst form of cultural captivity. The more
sensational and blatant forms of accommodation that vex Episcopalians,
particularly conservatives, get center stage; but the uncriticized and
unconscionable of our habits and priorities to the cultural celebration of
Sunday as a holiday (by liberals and conservatives alike) may be far more
pernicious and dangerous. Not only does this do something to us individually,
but think also of the kind of signal that we send to visitors and newcomers on
many Sunday mornings. Think of the very loud and clear message that we send."
(Was he just angry or do you think he has a point? If you picked up this
bulletin at church – well, obviously it’s not intended for you!) Less I offend those who consider them-selves conservative – read on (I really
don’t like those titles – but people do use them, so…): Fr. Richard McBride
wrote a little passage that I recently read, but could not find, in high praise
of the true conservative. They are not quick to run after fads (they know their
faith), they seek to "conserve" the very roots of their faith and to make sure
this is what is handed on to future generations. They do not hinder real
progress (for they know the faith rests on truth and the truth some-times needs
new language to be expressed accurately).
TOP
Pastor’s Notes: The times are such that it is an act of bravery to work in a tall building or in the mailroom. People may still take to the skies but it is likely they are not very much at ease (at least for the first hour or so). The news reports that the sale of alcohol is up by about 8% or so since 9.11.01. People who gather at Mass find that many of the psalms (e.g. such as the Responsorial psalm between the first and second reading: "…you need not fear the terror of the night nor the arrows that fly by day; under God’s wings your refuge…") strike quite a responsive chord to their needs. There is no doubt about it. Life is quite different these days.
The fragileness and uncertainty of life is not a new discovery. It is our sense and awareness of this truth that fades in and out of our daily lives. A friend of mine oft quoted the phrase: "Tomorrow is promised to no one."
Throughout the centuries spiritual people have reflected on this truth. Their reflections were not so much morbid as they were practical and faith-filled. By that I mean they understood the beauty of the present time in which they lived alongside their longing for heaven. The Good Pope John XXIII reflected that understanding when he once stated that "today is a good day to live and a good day to die."
To live each day, in some way expecting it is your last day (and so you want to live it at its "highest pitch") can be sustained for only so long. But you can develop a sense of preparedness and satisfaction that will not only sustain you in the long run but also will enhance your living. Live your life in such a way that, whether it would continue or end within the next hour or so, you will have nothing to regret. You may not get to experience everything you think you want to experience – but every life is, in some way, an unfinished symphony. Choose wisely what is most important… and to do that you need to have a good sense of values and priorities. Take a minute or two to reflect on the gift of ordinary events that you go through each day. How many people who have died in the WTC and the Pentagon do you think would like to have gone back to their families and say or do something different as they left their homes that morning on their way to work? Do not let anger go to bed with you in the evening. Always seek to be at peace with God. Do not put aside prayer, reading the scriptures, or being with the community for giving thanks on the weekend… for where else does your spirit find nourishment? Seek to know the eternal verities (truths). Know that in your baptism you are called by name and cherished by God.
And in our "new times" should there be some residual feeling of fear of terrorism within you - you might find comfort in praying one or more of the following Psalms: Ps 23, Ps 27, Ps 54, Ps 77, Ps 91, Ps 121 and Ps 140. You might want to pray also Ps 111, Ps 116, and Ps 150 as prayers of praise and thanksgiving.
Festa Italiana: A huge and heartfelt thank you to the organizers and the workers who did it all so well as evidenced last Saturday. And a thank you to those that came and shared a table that evening. Our deacon Rich Currie, ET al knows how go about providing some magic.
Brother Michael O’Grady will provide some special "magic" as he conducts our parish mission this week.
October 13th,& 14th, 2001
Pastor’s Notes: October is Respect Life Month. One would think that respect for life would be a natural thought and an imperative stance for the followers of Jesus. For Catholics in the USA it seems to focus on the issue of abortion - but that would be a misreading. Respect Life Month is offered to us so that we might reflect in order to hold sacred the lives of all: from the most helpless to the most robust; from the youngest to the oldest; from the healthiest to the infirm. It is difficult for us to see all the facets of life at any one time --- but this month is opportunity to reflect on those facets we would otherwise avoid. One day we shall all be old, or infirm, or suffering. To be aware now is to prepare ourselves as well as offer the opportunity to be brother or sister to another… and that would be a graced moment.
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In his memoirs, Gen. George Patton reminisced about a soldier in the American Third Army who was sent to a rest camp after an extended period of active service. When the soldier returned to his outfit, he wrote a letter to the general, thanking him for the fine care he had received. Patton wrote back to the tell the young man that for 35 years he had sought to provide all the comfort and convenience he could for his soldiers and added that his was the first letter of thanks he had received in all those years.
What can account for such a rarity of genuine gratitude on the part of so many? Even the overwhelming majority of the lepers featured in today’s gospel failed to than
email to stjames1@bellatlantic.net