Teach Me Lord

When you know you have to wait one year for something it seems like it’s an eternity away.  When the year has gone by and you look back over it, a year seems like a day.  Today is my one year anniversary here at Holy Family, yes, one year gone by, and very quickly.  The days are filled with meetings, liturgical events, ministry activity, socials, pastoral responsibilities, and with these all the days go by.  The days are filled with their challenges but also with God’s great blessings, meeting someone for the first time, ministering to them and sharing God’s Word with them.

People will ask me, “are you enjoying Holy Family, are you settled in yet,” and I can honestly say that I am enjoying it.  My greatest enjoyment is being with the people, especially at mass.  At heart, as you know, I am a teacher and a coach, it’s in my blood.  If you are a teacher you know what I mean when I say, the classroom is a sacred place.  For me then, the parish has become my classroom, that sacred place.  It is a place where we all learn from one another and share the Gospel.  I pray that continues.

I must also say how impressed I am with the people of Holy Family, in their generosity to us clerics, Fr. Sanjai, Deacons Joe and Jerry and how generous you are with the parish both with your time and resources.  Your kindness does not go unnoticed and soon we will call on that generosity again as the House of Charity campaign will begin for 2015.  I also take this time to apologize if I have not given you the time or attention that you deserve or if I misunderstood you or even wronged you in anyway, no one is exempt from making mistakes and sadly we are not even exempt from sin, how I wish we all were exempt from that one.  Please forgive me for any lack of charity; I pray that I will be more like Christ each day.  Please also pray for me that I will strive for that with all my heart.  I ask that you also pray for Fr. Sanjai and Deacons Jerry and Joe, as I know they too desire so much in their hearts to be there for all of you.

Reflecting back on my first year here my immediate goals were simple, just to get to know people, spend time with them, and to learn the business aspects of running a parish.  Those goals have not ended but I have added more to the list and have already begun the process of some.  Know that we, the staff, pastoral and finance council along with our ministries have been working very hard to put together a vision-mission statement that incorporates all of our history, tradition, and future vision for our parish, which we will begin to pray together on Easter Sunday.  From that vision we are also working diligently in restructuring our evangelization plan and team in order to reach out to all, those in the pews, those who come once in a while and those who have not been around for a long time.  Our model of evangelization will be based on John Paul the Great’s vision of the “New Evangelization” and Pope Francis’ “Joy of the Gospel.”  A vision based on joy, hope, and deep personal encounter with Christ and neighbor.  When I speak of this evangelization I mean a very personal one, one that is done face to face.  Jesus sat with the people, he went to them, and he did not wait for them to show up at the Temple, we will embrace that call and do the same.

All of these goals cannot be accomplished by just one person or even a small group, these efforts will only be fruitful if we all are involved, it can only work if the entire family is together and working for the same goal, bringing everyone to Christ.  It will start by our actions towards others and by our words in teaching others, by living out our vision.  I pray that this year will be even more fruitful for all of us.  I ask that you continue to pray for me, Fr. Sanjai, Deacons Jerry and Joe, that we will be good servants and know that you are all in our prayers as well.  God bless you, Fr. John

The Greatest Conversation

The first and most important step and aspect that remains throughout our lives of faith is relationship.  That relationship begins with persons, the person of God calling out to the individual and the individual responding.  From our first reading today, 1 Samuel chapter 3 and following, as well as the Gospel of John chapter 1 and following, it is clear that it is all about relationship and that in that relationship each and everyone is made a friend of the Lord’s.

The first reading of Samuel “being called by God” is a great story for us.  It has so much meaning and on many levels.  One level is the human level, the other the Divine level, and finally back to relationship.

In the Divine, it is God who reaches down to us to speak to us, i.e. God speaking to Abraham, to Moses, Jesus speaking to Paul and in today’s reading, God speaking to Samuel.  God takes the initative or makes the first move to speak to us.  It was not Samuel who called on God, nor did Abraham or Moses or Paul or anyone else make the first move, it is God who does so, “The Lord called to Samuel, who answered, ‘Here I am.’”  This calling out to us should make us feel good that God desires to be with us, that He loves us, and wishes to speak to us.

On the human level we hear God, sometimes though we do not hear or we do not understand who it is that is calling.  In Samuel’s case he was listening and responding on the human level, he heard the voice but thought it was Eli that was calling him.  The beauty here is that God does not give up on Samuel nor does He give up on us.  God called a second time and Samuel ran to Eli, “did you call me,” Eli tells the boy, “No my son, go back to bed.”  God is patient and calls a third time, it was then that Eli understood and instructed Samuel, and God called again until He could get a response from Samuel, they entered into conversation.  Samuel as many of the prophets and apostles responded, “Here I am Lord; speak for your servant is listening.”

The dialogue we have with God is like any other human conversation except that our conversation with God is Divine.  The two most important things we can take from these readings are that God wants so badly to be in relationship with us, not out of some need, but simply out of love.  We are truly made complete when we are in relationship with Him.  The second great thing here, derives from the first thing is that we can simply speak with God.  Isn't it awesome to know that our conversation with Jesus can take place anywhere and at anytime?  It doesn't matter if we are at work, on vacation, in school, getting ready for bed, not just the classic times we associate with prayer, but all the time.

Friends speak to one another often; great friends speak with each other all the time.  God desires to be our great friend and wants our relationship with Him to grow, do we want the same?  I think we do and the story of the Apostles as recorded and handed down to us in the Gospels, the stories of Abraham, Moses, and Samuel mean so much to us, though we may not be called the father of faith or a great prophet like Samuel we nevertheless have the same access to God and God loves us just like he loves them.  So if tonight, like Samuel, you hear your name called, say, “Speak Lord for your servant is listening.”  You just may wind up in the greatest conversation of your life.

The Day You Find Out Why!

Mark Twain says, “The two most important days in your life are the day your are born and the day you find out why.”   The day we are born is a great day indeed; it was a wonderful moment for our parents as they celebrated new life.  It was a great day for our extended family and friends as they also rejoiced with our parents.  It may have been a painful moment or moments for our mothers, as they had to endure delivering us and maybe even a somewhat painful day for us who are born as we take our first breaths and our lungs take in air for the first time, hence the cry of a baby.  I am sure as we reflected on the Nativity, though beautiful and extraordinary, it was not free from turmoil, pain, and even high anxiety as Mary and Joseph desperately searched for a place for the child to be born.  As for the Holy Family, Jesus’ birth was an important day.  But the more important day was in the future, the day when He realized or at least made public the reason for his birth, as confirmed by His Father, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

                                                      

Our celebration today is the day Jesus found out why he was born.  I realize in his divinity he always knew, but if we are to believe that Jesus was like us in all things except sin, then he had to learn how to walk, how to talk, he had to learn how to deal with and fight off temptations as Scripture tells us.  So in some way, too long to explain here how Divinity and humanity work in Jesus, I think it is sufficient to say that Jesus did have those moments of awareness, realizing the reason for his birth, we can see that already when he was in the temple at twelve years old and having theological discussions with the elders of Israel.

Today the Christmas season comes to and end, liturgically speaking but Christmas and this day, the Baptism of the Lord are connected, just as Mark Twain realized that the day of one’s birth and the realization of why are also two days that are connected in every human person.  Once Jesus realized it (the why) he went into his public ministry and began teaching that true religion is based on relationship, forgiveness, and compassion and when pressed for rules he would only commit to two rules, bless his heart for that.  In his own ministry he brought people Truth, that truth was the love of God and neighbor, but also in that Truth challenging us to know not just about the day we were born, but more importantly why we were born.  This truth or moment of awareness is pivotal in our lives, without it we do not have direction nor do we have meaning.   Jesus entered the water and was baptized upon coming out of the water the heavens opened up and God’s voice affirmed His Son’s birth, we too are invited to the water, in our baptism and at every mass we celebrate we partake of the life giving waters so that we may know for what it is we are created.  Since you have come to these life giving waters I will leave you with one question for you to consider and ask yourselves.  Do you know why you were born?  I pray that you know and know it well.  God bless you, FJ

Epiphany: Moment of Awareness

The Epiphany of the Lord is when he made himself manifest not just to Israel, but to the nations, as our three kings represent the Gentiles.  We know this feast; it is rich in the tradition of our Christmas season.  It is in our Scriptures, and many cultures exchange gifts on this day as well, I’m sure the children would love that. 

There are many theological points to consider when reflecting on the Epiphany, they can be about realization, what do the gifts of the three kings represent, when they did actually visit the child, who exactly are these three kings, did they know Herod, where they led to him, they also had dreams and visions, etc., etc.  For our purposes I think this feast is about recalling and reflecting on the theological within the Scriptures but to also reflect on our own Epiphanies, if you will, and our encounters with Christ.

As Catholics we encounter Christ in the sacraments, the grand summit of that encounter happens in the Eucharist.  The sacraments are a cornerstone of our theology and Tradition.  And yet, Christ reveals Himself to us in many other ways, i.e. through His creation, through others, in our prayers, in the silence of our hearts.  For all of us there is also that “Moment” when we truly and deeply feel His presence right down in the center of our being.  Some call these moments, “conversion,” “born again,” “enlightened,” etc.  Some may have felt these Epiphanies on numerous occasions, many of our Saints had beautiful mystical experiences of Jesus, and some may have had that “one moment” that shaped the rest of their lives, i.e. St. Paul, St. Augustine.

We crave these moments because in them we feel the Divine life, we get a quick taste and glimpse into heaven.  I truly pray that you have all had that one moment, maybe less intense for some and more intense for others, but that moment when you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Christ is with you and not just with you, but residing in you, “For it is no longer I who love but Christ who lives in me.”

The three kings had their moment when they lay their gifts before Christ the King and did him homage and worshiped him.  Like the three kings we desire those moments, that is what Epiphany is about.  We will get the opportunity and already have in the reading of the Word, but more intensely and profoundly when we break the bread.  Jesus will reveal himself to us, we just have to want him to and to open wide our hearts.