My Next Preaching Engagement

I will next be preaching on Sunday, June 2 at the 10:00 am and 11:45am masses at St. Joseph Church located at Fifth Street and Franklin Avenue in Garden City, NY. If you stop by, please let me know you follow the page.

Unexplainable Trinity

How does one preach about the unexplainable? This has been the dilemma of every preacher as they ponder the Holy Trinity. There is nothing that exists on earth that can be like it. There are no words man has developed that can describe it. There are no ideas that can understand it. So how does one preach on the unknown and unexplainable?
  Many of us know that St. Patrick, forever famously depicted holding his shamrock, tried using the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to his congregation. He explained how the shamrock, while three distinct leaves, was just one shamrock. This explanation sufficed for many years and has sprung many other examples as attempts to explain and understand the belief in a triune God.
  Other examples are: The egg. One egg, three parts. Shell, white and yolk.
                                       Water. Existing as liquid, solid and gas but always
                                                       the same chemical makeup.
All of these, while valid attempts, fall short. Each contains the same deficiency. Our belief is that God is Triune and exists always as three 'persons,' Father, Son and Spirit. Never separated. Always acting together. And in that belief, when the Word became human, though Jesus left the Father and Spirit to become man, at the same time, He remained with the Father and the Spirit. So for these examples to be valid, I should be able to split them apart and yet they will remain one!  Hmmm..... If I remove one leaf of a shamrock, it is no longer one whole.  If I separate the egg, it is pieces of one egg, but it is no longer still one. If I freeze water it is no longer liquid and gas at the same time, unless we accept that water exists independently as each and heat always as all three somewhere in our world at the same time.
   Here is where the faith of a child must kick in. For it is only through the eyes of faith that we can accept the unexplainable. It is only through the eyes of faith that we can accept the unknown. It is only through faith that we can gain understanding. Faith and prayer. Through faith and prayer we learn to accept that we are not yet complete, that we do not yet know everything. And, just as a child matures, we will learn as a people of God as we continue to mature in faith.

Life and the Mystery of God

It has been an extremely busy week. As the end of the school year approaches there are finals to be created. There are ending tests to be created. There are many late nights of senior awards, proms, senior masses, senior dinners. All designed to remind the graduating class of how important they have been to our school and how mush they will mean to us as good citizens and faithful Christians. Unfortunately, this has also impacted my ability to write on this blog. I can not believe that it has been eight days since I wrote anything here.
  When I began this blog, I was teaching in school, trying to make ends meet and had not yet been thoroughly assigned to St. Joseph parish. Since then, more than four months, I have become more involved in my new parish, more involved at my teaching job, and acquired a part time position at St. Agnes Cathedral. Who knew life would get so busy?  Well......God.
  I began writing as a way to keep in touch with those from my former parish who were seeking where I had gone. There was no announcement in the parish. No farewell party. No chance to sat goodbyes. I was just sent into the night,and suddenly gone. I am saddened at that. I admit that at first I was bitter about how it had been handled, but I am very happy with my new arrangement and new location. So I am saddened. Saddened that I. Could it say goodbye or keep in touch with everyone. Funny how life sometimes moves us a different way then e we want. But God wanted me to have a fresh start. No ties to the past, I guess. Although it would be nice for those who might want me to perform a wedding or baptism to know where to find me.
  This morning I got a wonderful compliment from a parishioner here at St Joe's. I do not know her name,but I recognized her face. She said, "Its such a pleasure to see you there on the altar. You are so human and loving toward the people around you. And when a problem arises, you just talk to the people and let them know what's happening and what to do." I knew then that  I had made myself known in this parish. I know that I have conveyed that I am approachable and will help with understanding and concern.
   So on this solemnity of Trinity Sunday, when we really consider the mystery of our God, I am awarded by the mystery of how he changes our lives and they are changed, even is we do not realize it, to help us grow in faith. Have a safe and blessed Sunday.

Peace

Hatching Catholics

I have begun to think about my new role as a confirmation coordinator. While I am excited about the possibilities when dealing with just a small section of religious education students, rather than a whole program as I have done in the past, I am awed by the sense of responsibility. Not responsibility to the parish, or pastor, although that certainly exists, but responsibility to the students. Here are young people on the verge of deciding if they will practice our faith, just call themselves Catholic, or leave our faith altogether. This is decision time and I am handed the goal of giving them enough informant so that they can make a good, well informed choice.
  Now I have always believed that  there certainly is a choice in the matter. This goes back to the gift of free will that God has given each of us. We each choose to accept God or not, to become a Christian or not, to become a fully participating Catholic or not. I also believe that those who do not fully participate do not fully understand ow much this faith can add to one's life.
  And I can understand the importance of this time for them. I remember my confirmation. Well,I remember wearing the gown and taking pictures in the yard, but I really did not understand what was being asked of me at the time. And the rest of the rite is a lost memory. So how can I make this time that they can learn to love our faith a beautiful learning moment that they will carry forever?
  The experience must be theirs. On their level. Too often, I think, we adults teach on our own level and share what we loved, only to miss the fact that the world has changed. We must move on to what the children of God seek. Tis is a more learned group. Information is at their fingertips. They not only want to know why, but also how this faith will affect their lives.
  So I begin, trying to create a new program. An out of the classroom program. Where these young people will become their own community that they will look forward to being with, just as I look forward to being with my parish community every Sunday, and my school community every week day.
  Please join me in praying that the Spirit will guide me so that I can share the spirit with them.

Peace.
 

Life Distracts from God"s Love

The alarm goes off so I jump out of bed and start my morning routine. Lunches, walk the dog, try to cram in breakfast. I am out the door before I even get a chance to do any of the other things my wife is them left to take care of. And she is on her own schedule. Fight the traffic to get to work on time. Throw together some last minute lesson ideas for classes. Run from bell to bell. Cover the extra classes for those who are not in to day. The final class bell rings, take care of the after school activities. Make the long ride home where dinner is already waiting even though my wife had a similar day. Eat, mark papers that need to be marked or just collapse on the sofa. Suddenly it is bedtime. And I haven't even acknowledged the true love of God in my life.
  Oh I managed to get in a little prayer, but the true love of God is what completes my life. The true love of God is what originally brought me to the ministry of deacon. The true love of God is the reflection of his love in the sacrament of marriage and too often I fail to remember that. And I bet there are others who do too.
   The other day there was a discussion online about removing the celibacy rule from the priesthood and I started to try to find out how that worked out in other religions. As I researched I came upon several site written by wives of ministers about their life as the minister's wife. Instead of reading these sites and trying to see how they relate to a married priest idea, I should have been paying attention to haw they related to a deacons wife.
  My wife, Mary, is the reason. A a deacon. When we first met, she was a church goer. She played in the folk group. I had turned away from Sunday mass, like most teens do. But I went to the masses that she was playing at. When we got married and were having our first daughter, it was Mary who suggested we start attending mass again as a preparation for bringing our child up in our faith. It was Mary who got involved in the music ministry again, as I sat with the children as a pew person. As the children got older, it was her involvement that led to the leader of this group asking me to get involved as well and when I first heard the word deacon, it was Mary who knew more about what a deacon was than me.
   As we went through our training to become ordained, our wives had to be single parents, if we had children. We were asked to do a great deal of studying and retreating and reflecting and our wives held down the fort at home for five years. And at the end of each year, each wife was requested to write a letter to the Bishop, allowing the deacon candidate to move forward. If my wife was not behind what I was doing, the church did not want me. And Mary wrote those letters faithfully every year.
   Now that I am ordained, my job, my ministry and many other things (other family members, etc) fight for my time and too often I lose sight of my first ministry. The ministry to my first love. The ministry of my marriage.

The New Evangelization

There has been much talk about the new evangelization in the Catholic Church. Just what is the new evangelization and how does it differ from the old evangelization or from what we were doing previously. Actually, I think many of us are afraid of that E word. Evangelization seems to bring to mind bible thumping, preaching on street corners and knocking on doors. These ideas seem uncomfortable to many of the European Heritage Catholics. It is just not the way we were brought up.
   If the message of the good news is to be spread, however, we need to embrace some change. The days of sitting quietly in the church while father tells us how to live our lives to avoid hell are quickly fading, if not already gone. Young people are looking for religion. Young people are looking for spirituality. And they are looking for views that really mean something I their lives. And their lives are busy. Constantly connected to each other, constantly and instantly in touch with the rest of the world, they thirst for something that will not just eat time, but be meaningful. How can we, faithful followers of the risen Lord, help them to understand that this word of Christ resurrected is that meaningful and life fulfilling way?
  We need to make our message meaningful. We as preachers need to make the scriptures meaningful to everyday life. And I do not mean any disrespect to any other preachers,  but I myself am not interested in the roots of the words used in the bible and their meaning. I am also not particularly interested in hearing the newest interpretation of what words actually should be written to convey the ideas of the times. I am interested in how the scriptures will help me be a better Christian. I am interested in how the scriptures can help me to be Jesus in today's world. How I can be His hands, words, love, compassion and mercy. And I believe that this is what society is seeking right now.
  Society needs to know not only that we are different, but why we choose to be different. And not in a defiant way, but in a loving, sharing, helping to understand way. With acceptance of those who are different with a smile on out face, a welcome word, and a loving attitude.
  Start small on your own. Say good morning to anyone you see with a smile on your face. You'd be surprised how people you do not know will respond with the same and in doing so, we have taken one step closer to the path of the kingdom. Let them wonder why we, followers of Jesus, greet them like a friend. And maybe, just maybe, they will seek the good news and then we can share it.
 

Holy Spirit App

One of my students in school suggested I download a list maker app so that I could carry the list of names of my students since I sometimes have trouble remembering them. The student told me it helped his grandmother out a lot! Now I like to think am not old but I use a lot of apps on my phone to keep me on time, current, and in the loop. I have the GPS app so I don't get lost, a weight watchers app so I know when to stop eating, even a confession app so I can get ready to go to confession.( if someday I can do confession on the Internet I'll probably have that one too!)
  So when I read the gospel and Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will remind us of all He taught I thought, hey, maybe there is a Holy Spirit app.  So I checked it out.
   Now there a re some apps like WWJD and the Path to Jesus that are designed for guidance, but all these apps do is quote bible verses on various days or for various needs. I was really looking for an app that would tell me the right from wrong decision immediately.

  Well, my friends, we do have that app. But it is not on the any phone or tablet. In fact, the app has been around for thousands of years if we just avail ourselves of it. It is called prayer. In this busy would, how many take the time to pray in silence and open their hearts and minds to the entry of the Spirit? There are just so many distractions. Work. Family. Society. They pull us every way and leave little time for ourselves and when we do find that time, prayer just doesn't seem to be high on most people's list. It if we take the time. Ten minutes. A half hour. Just to sit in silence and focus on opening ourselves to God, we can feel the swell of the Spirit within. We can feel a sense of calmness and peace. And in that moment of clarity, the Spirit reveals to us the answers we need at that particular fork in the road.
   So over these next few days, as the weather gets nicer and the temperature gets warmer, take ten minutes. Sit outside. Feel the warmth of the sun God created on your skin. Listen to the rustle of the trees in the gentle spring breezes. And on those breezes, hear the voice of God and the swell of the peacefulness of the Spirit within you. And use the prayer app to get the answer you are looking for.

Comfort and Wakes

This evening I had the opportunity to visit the local funeral home to perform a wake service. I always find this to be a special moment in my ministry. I head off to the home knowing that people will be there dealing with a variety of emotional issues. Anger. Sadness. Emptiness. Doubt. Fear. And somehow, I hope, that I can alleviate those feelings if only for the moments that I let the Spirit work through me. These are emotionally gratifying times. Knowing that I can bring comfort to those who may be at a low point in life or a crossroad of doubt in their faith.
  These a special moments to me because I never dealt well with death while growing up. Perhaps it was fear. Or perhaps it was the voices I was hearing as I had told my mother while a child (see previous post). Either way, I feared going to see a dead body and my parents, knowing this fact, shielded me from death altogether. I did not attend a wake until my grandmother died while I was in high school, and that's a pretty long time to avoid dealing with death. It was just that much harder.
  I have, however, come to understand this ending of life in a better way. I o longer am disturbed by it and I  certainly do not fear my own demise. I have accepted the idea of a life beyond this and absolutely know that it exists. In my prayers and visions, I have seen it and those who have gone before me have been telling me this for years, I was just never ready to hear it until now.
  So with great comfort, I bring God's message to those who need to hear it. And the events of the voices and visions? Well I don't use them in the service, they have no place there. But they do exist. In the heart of my preaching and praying for these families.

His Plan

Sometimes we feel like we are carrying the heaviest cross in the world and no one has it any harder. It is on those days, those weeks that we do not feel like starting our day, let alone getting through it. We want to hide in our little cave (our homes) and avoid anyone and everything in an attempt to avoid the inevitable, reminders of our problems.
   But life need not be that way. Life in prayer, meditation, and devotion to God allows us to understand how peace and acceptance can find itself in our hearts. And also how in this peace, the clarity to find answers and strength is restored.
  I do not think I could deal with the world without my support structure. My wife and family. My friends and coworkers. My fellow parishioners at church. And my relationship with Jesus. In each of theses people, God constantly sends me reminders of His love and dedication to my life. All I need give in return is my love, dedication and trust.
  It has never been more apparent to me that if I leave something that is troubling me at the foot of the cross, Jesus will raise me up from it and lead me on to a new life. The old adage, "let go and let God," has played a major role in all this. It is at work once again as a mini crisis looms, but I know God will pull me through, even if the outcome is not what I hope for. It is after all God's plan and it would be foolish to think I have total control. I only provide what I put in to it. God produces the result based on this and my faith.