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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
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2007
This Sunday celebrates the feast of the Holy Family.
“Happy families, said author Phyllis McGinley in The Province of the Heart, share a similar good cheer. (Dell, NY: 1959) Above all else, they like each other, which can be quite a different thing from loving. Such families almost always have a sort of purse full of homemade humor that they bring out against rainy days and difficult times. Their humor is not necessarily witty. Their jokes may not be appreciated by outsiders and their laughter can arise from the most trivial sources. But the joys and the laughter belong entirely to the family.
While they may have had their own personal treasures of humor to ease the struggles of daily living, families in the ancient world were also bound to one another by a strict code of honor. Even if children should harbor no natural love for their parents, they were duty bound to honor them. This societal ethic was affirmed in the Decalogue, where the mandate to “honor your father and your mother” followed immediately after the commandments pertaining to God and right before those that conceived other human relationships (Exod. 20:2). The term “honor,” as Brevard S. Childs has pointed out, carries with it a range of connotations far broader than mere obedience… To honor was “to prize highly,” “to show respect,” “to glorify and exalt,” “to care for.”
Others before Jesus ben Sira (author of this Sunday’s 1st reading) had alluded to the reward or blessing that would come to those who honored their parents. In the Deuteronomic recension (sic) of this commandment, for example, the call to honor parents was followed by the stipulation: “that you might have a long life and prosperity in the land which the Lord your God is giving you”. (In the giving of the 10 commandments there are no punishments or rewards listed for obeying: God is God, God has spoken – nothing else needs to be added. Nothing before or since has been given so definitely in the law.) By the time the author of today’s first reading offered his wise counsel on the subject the “ante” was increased and honoring parents was described as atonement or a hedge against the debt of one’s sins…. (it) would also guarantee people that their prayers would be heard and they would have the gladness of their own children.”
(Preaching Resources, 12/30/07 P. Sanchez)
January 1, 2008 approaches. January – named after the two-faced Roman god, Janus, who looks to the past and to the future.
The past is completed – how does it look? Betcha there are more (many more) blessings than sorrows. What does 2008 hold for us?
Well, Pope Benedict will be coming to the USA in April and celebrate Mass at Yankee Stadium and at St. Patrick’s cathedral in NYC.
We will have an election and choose a new president! Some may not look forward to the campaigns and advertisements that are sure to bombard our radios and TV’s and computers – but we are selecting a person for a pretty powerful office… can’t take that lightly.
People will meet Christ in their Baptisms, marriages, in the sharing of the Hoy Eucharist, etc. It will be new each time and yet quite familiar.Our faith and hope may be challenged time and again and time and again they will bring us peace and elation. I say HAPPY NEW YEAR!
As a young man I applied to the diocese of Trenton to enter the seminary. I remember that on the test we were asked to identify the greatest feast of the Catholic Church. Without hesitation I wrote that it was Christmas! Wrong answer – it is Easter. They did not throw me out – I got the others right. But it had always seemed to me that there was a heck of a lot more attention and preparation for Christmas than Easter (I should note that the Holy Week and Easter were celebrated in a much different fashion. You had to be at church at 6:00 a.m. to celebrate the Easter Vigil. As a former altar boy I can tell you the crowd was small.)
We should ponder why Christmas is far more intensely felt than Easter. Christmas comes to us in a way we understand. Easter goes beyond us in ways we can only hope for. One is joy we feel right now and the other is a joy we can only surmise, like the first faint rays of a day we have not lived.
The Advent Sunday readings (and those during the week) spoke eloquently of justice, compassion, humility and hope. They were in competition with the commercialism and consumerism that people equate with the Christmas season. Many of us long for simpler times and religious depth… were Christmases past really uncomplicated and simple? For some, yes, it was. An 80-year old priest recalls how his German-born father celebrated Christmas. He did not open his gifts until days afterwards. Presents were not that important – church, worship, family, the magic and the mystery of the Holy Eve and the Midnight Mass were everything – or, the heart of everything else.
The birth of Jesus is a trans-historical event. I never much favored a liturgy where a birthday cake would be brought in and the congregation would sing “Happy Birthday”. Jesus is not 2007 years old – the Lord God transcends history and is greater than a measure of time. The nativity stories are given to announce Good News and then to instruct us about the meaning of this child’s birth into the world. The news of this birth would is lost and/or misunderstood if it is not seen in relation to His passion, death and Resurrection.
Well, I wanted to write my “Pastor’s Notes” with something that would touch some heart-felt and spiritual need. I should know better. The liturgy, the scripture readings, the words of the hymns, the presence of fellow believers, and your family traditions (I hope) will make my words pale in comparison and will bring about what I cannot. I can live with that. So that being said: Be at peace, be merry in this feast day, and God bless you all!
Oh yes, check the bulletin for times of the Christmas Masses and keep it handy.
Fr, James Smith in Celebration (12/16/07) tries to imagine the disillusionments of John the Baptist as he sat in the dungeon. John knows he received his message from God and he’s sure he got it right: prepare the way of the Messiah. But when the Messiah showed up it wasn’t what John expected. Who hasn’t had this type of experience? We have often done our duty only to see it undone by our successor. We have often seen our carefully planned projects botched by an incompetent friend. So, poor John sends out his messengers to Jesus and who ask “Are we stuck with you or shall we wait for someone more like what we wanted?
Disillusionment is not (always) a bad thing. It is, simply, the loss of illusion about our God, about the world, about our self. Although often painful, it is never a bad thing to loose the lies that we have mistaken for the truth.
Disillusioned, we discover that God does not conform to our expectations. We glimpse our own relative place in the grand cosmic scene. Did God fail to come when I rubbed the lantern? Then maybe God is not a genie. Did God fail to punish my enemies? Then maybe God is not a cop. Does God not make everything run smoothly? Then maybe God is not a mechanic.
Think upon this: over and over again my disappointments draw me deeper into the mystery of God’s being and God’s doing. Every time God refuses to meet my expectations, another of my idols is exposed: another curtain is drawn so I can see the puppet I have propped up in God’s place. Disillusioned, I realize my human error and am graced with divine truth.
As Fr. Smith concludes… “Blessed are those who do not let the minimal Messiah they want overshadow the majestic Messiah that the world needs. Blessed are they who name the things that God is doing instead of the things God is not doing. Blessed are they who are not afraid to change their plans, to adjust their hopes, to bend their will to God’s will. Blessed are they who trade their private illusions for God’s saving truth.”
The Golden Compass: what an uproar this movie has brought! From what I have read and heard (I have not seen the movie so read this with that in mind) on the surface it is much ado about nothing… the movie that is. Children seem to enjoy it and do not read into it what many adults do. This movie ought not to be a challenge or detrimental to people of solid faith. Nicole Kidman (who stars in it) is herself a strong Catholic and stated that if she thought the movie was anti-Catholic she would have had no part of it.
In the Catholic Digest (by no means a burning liberal publication) a writer finds many good points (e.g. the movie does attack distorted images of God – or as I have just written: makes us face our illusions that do not lead us to God.” “The villains in the books serve an all-powerful theocracy called “the Magisterium,” which some people believe, incorrectly, is a stand-in for the Roman Catholic Church; the trilogy’s title is an allusion to Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” (Newsweek 12/3/07 pg 57) The attack is against a rigid theocracy – something theologians and even many of us have been ‘attacking’ – most often expressed when we speak of the Church (in a negative tone of voice) as an “institution”.
What seems to be the real problem is that if people, especially children, like this first movie then they would want to read and follow the other two books, which I have been told, are anti-Catholic [remember, I haven’t read the book(s)] – or worse, planting powerful thoughts of atheism in young minds. So far, the bishops throughout the US are reluctant to speak out against seeing the movie for fear that they will give it more publicity and attention then they think it may deserve. You know the routine: say “no” to something and everyone can’t wait to do it. I have great faith in the ability of parents to be able to judge what is harmful to their children and what is harmful to their children’s faith. They can speak with their children about their questions – and they speak with a trust they have earned from their children.If you believe the movie to be harmful, then by all means do not go to see it. Speaking of the movie only, perhaps I underestimate its force – but I don’t think so.
A noted theologian was often invited to give talks at colleges, parishes, etc. Of course his main “topic” was Jesus Christ… and often about the humanity of Christ. When questions came from the audience it was not unusual for him to hear “do you believe in the divinity of Jesus?” Of course he did but to speak of Christ’s humanity was too much for people to hear. He observed that in all of his years of speaking and teaching he was never asked the question “do you believe in the humanity of Christ?”
For God to take on human existence was a scandal for the Jews, foolishness to the Greeks and a real problem for a great number of other groups who could not understand it and would end up in denial.
For God to take upon itself “human estate” (as St. Paul would say) is for God to become approachable, accessible, available, vulnerable, lovable and touchable. Truth is that many people are bothered by a God who became “living flesh” because it seemed that people could deal more easily with a distant God and unseen realities. In fact, they could handle principles, dogmas, systems and ideas more easily than they could handle God as a living person. Think of the various ways we “sanitize” Christ in our paintings, sculptures, literature, etc.
“However, no matter how logical and plausible they are, impersonal ideas that are vague, general and simply academic can never replace the irresistible force of the one who said, ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ (John 12:32). No wonder one could proclaim with Francois Mauriac, ‘Once you get to know Christ, you cannot be cured of him.’”
To embrace the quest of transcendence and divinity is a noble longing of the heart. But the coming celebration of the Incarnation can catch us unaware. If God became full human, the followers of Christ must embrace his way and become fully human ourselves. That includes embracing all the scars, faults, brokenness, and more, of the human condition. The Lord Jesus did not come into this world embracing wealth and privileged position. “Humility is not God’s disguise, it is somehow His reality; his humility is his Kingship.”
Faith and Fun Night, held last Sunday, seemed to be a big hit with those who make it there despite some quirky weather. When originally conceived, the goal of 40 sign-ups was our hope. Before we started we had a 100 sign up and a good number showed up at the door – 150+ of all ages graced our family center. People like being with other people… and doing things with other people. A special thank you to Joann Held and her crew that not only “pulled it off” but made it look as though they’ve done this time and again.
St. James Parish Blood Drive – December 29th. We’ve said every year that blood donations are especially needed at this time of the year and St. James answered this need over the years. And we’ve been recognized by the Red Cross for our efforts and success.
We are in need of new donors and I ask you to please consider taking time to donate this year. Bring a friend with you to donate as well. You may not know whose life it is that you might save but what an act of love to give such a gift to a stranger! God bless you!
Next Saturday, December 8th, is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Since the USA is dedicated to Mary under this mystery the bishops have decided to keep this day holy and as a day of obligation to be at Mass. If you know your local canon law you will remember that if a holy day falls on a Saturday or a Monday then the obligation, not the feast, is lifted. Not so for the I.C. Thus, we will have Mass for the feast of the Immaculate Conception at the church on Friday evening (Dec. 1) at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. – both Masses will be at the church.
Some still remain confused as to what we celebrate here. This feast has nothing to do with a virgin birth. What it means is that God has prepared for the coming of the Son, Jesus, through a woman who is worthy and free from sin. The church has reflected over the centuries and came to the understanding that from the first moment Mary herself was in her mother’s womb she was free from all sin… even that which St. Augustine first named as “original sin”. This honor is accorded to her by God.
Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing.
You reign now in heaven with Jesus our king.
Ave Maria!
(From “Prepare the Word” for 12/1/07). “Hikers are familiar with the saying” The journey is the destination. You go on the hike not simply to reach the top of the hill or the end of the trail but to enjoy the scenery all along the way. There is a genuine pleasure in testing endurance, surmounting obstacles, and encountering the unexpected detour. And around the next bend, something truly amazing may take your breath away, even compel you to fall on your knees in awe and wonder. If the point of taking a hike is to get from point A to point B, surely there are quicker ways to achieve that goal.
In the same way, Advent becomes a trail we travel, not simply to make it to Christmas, but for its own sake. Anticipation makes us wakeful and watchful. Just recall a time when you were waiting for a loved one to walk through the door after a long absence. How many times did you straighten the rug, plump the pillows, check the temperature of the food, and glance at the clock until the door finally opens? You become alert to every sound on the street, the length of each minute, the beating of your own heart. Waiting makes your senses keen and sharpens longing. It also increases the delight of it final resolution.
When Jesus tells his disciples to stay awake, to be prepared, he is inviting us to this kind of vigilance. He is also welcoming us into a heightened awareness of being alive, of what the gift of life is for. In a world of instant gratification, too often we become dulled by having nothing to wait for – maybe even nothing to live for – because tomorrow loses its allure when our focus is always hungrily on today and right now.”
Advent is not just an exhortation to practice patience, to be still, to be more attentive. We need a “why” to be answered so that we can understand and be involved in the waiting process. We need a “why” to be answered to see where our heart’s desire(s) is placed. Children may wait for Santa Claus but how much more so for their dads who may be in Iraq or Afghanistan? For the one who holds faith – how much more so for the Lord Jesus?
email to stjames1@bellatlantic.net