Kingdom of Heaven---Priceless

A woman had been a religious education director in her parish for over 30 years.  She had worked tirelessly in her parish preparing kids for First Communion, Confirmation, supervising all the other grades whether in CCD classes or in the Parish Elementary School.

When she had completed her 25th year, she said she had felt burnt out.  She was busy, she was tired, she was working hard.  But it seemed year after year was just flowing one year into another.  There were lots of kids in CCD, but few at Mass. The Parish School was getting smaller and fears that it would close were becoming more real.  The parish itself seemed “stuck”.  So she had gone to this conference sponsored by “Renewal Ministries.”  The goal of Renewal Ministries is to help Catholics discover or recover an appreciation of the love that Jesus Christ has for them individually. With the goal that once they’ve met Jesus or come to know him more intimately, more personally – the response is people want to grow in holiness themselves.

After this conference, this particular religious ed professional said she had an earth-shattering realization.  She went up to one of the presenters whom she had been listening to all weekend, and said that after 25 years of service she didn’t believe that she had ever brought a single person into relationship with Jesus Christ.

Imagine that?  There’s a part of us that wants to dismiss that saying she’s being hyper-critical of herself.  But she was brutally honest saying the kids looked cute at their First Communion; the young men and women behaved appropriately at their Confirmations. But for her, when she heard the Gospel presented to her anew.  When she heard the story afresh of how Jesus Christ has this personal, intimate love for her, that were she the only person to have ever lived in the whole world, he would still accept the Passion, the Cross, the Death for her – that’s how much God loves her – she realized that she and all of those with her in her parish had lost sight of what was essential in the faith.  In the process they had taken all these other beautiful, important things of our faith and in a sense made them empty.

She went back to her parish and with her Pastor and her Bishop’s approval, they simply asked over and over “Is Jesus Christ the Lord of my Life?”  “Is He the Lord of this Classroom?” “This parish group?” “This school?”  If He wasn’t, then they made Him such, or they got rid of it.  Within 5 years the parish had been transformed.  The school went from near closing to having a waiting list.  The Parish was thriving in every way imaginable.

When we find the “treasure” – When we find the “pearl of great price”:  – When we truly believe what we say we believe and realize that nothing else compares to it… nothing else matters, even remotely in importance, then we start to see, experience the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the lives of all those around us.  That one woman felt convicted in her heart that Jesus wasn’t Lord of her life or her parish, so she made him it.  She might have doubted she brought people to Christ before, but ever since, Jesus had changed her and many others lives.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that despite the fears and uncertain times, we realize that You walk as our companion and you our treasure that brings us hope and the gift of eternal life-now that's priceless!

We Are Never Alone

I had just returned from Zooming another Sunday Mass with 40 parishioners that included two families with their children wearing masks. I was asked by an online Zoomer to pray for her dad who died three weeks ago. She is the niece of Bishop Peplowski, who inspired the rebirth of our parish and a man who was like a grandfather and spiritual mentor to me.

A few days before he died, he shared his wisdom of priesthood: “Tell people that they are not alone. Promise me you’ll keep telling people the Good News.”

With tears rolling down my face, I cannot count the number of times I have replayed this conversation between the two of us in the last two years since it took place. I recall the memory of what it felt like to have this jovial man of God lovingly gaze at me and understand what mattered to me at my core. I cherish the bond that we had, not only as priest colleagues and bishop, but also as two kindred souls who knew what it was like to be loved by God.

He knew in those last moments of his life what I now understand better than I ever did what it was like to discover the promises of God. His understanding of the promises grew in him through the lived experience of 81 years of a life full of joys and sorrows, weaved together with the stitches of his journey of faith. Life, prayer, and his community experience of faith taught Bishop that there were some things in life that were unchangeable and that served as firm foundations upon which to build our lives.

If I were asked, “Why do you have hope?” during this pandemic, my immediate reply would be because I know that I am not alone. God is with me. God is within each one of us, always residing in that sacred space within us, the inner chapel. By visiting the inner chapel every day, I discover that I am not going to an empty silence but  to be with the One I belong to, who loves me unconditionally, who offers me rest and mercy, and who is a companion to whatever I am facing in life.

The promises of God are available to all of us. They are there for us to discover as we go to our inner chapels daily. These promises tell us:

• We are never alone.
• We belong to someone.
• We are unconditionally loved.
• We are fully seen and offered mercy.
• We have a companion in our suffering.
• We have a unique call.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that they embrace these promises of God, but to generously sharing this Good News with those who need it during these challenging times.

Eyes of Christ

I had just returned from Zooming another Sunday Mass with 30 faithful parishioners wearing their masks. My story was about a young man who proposed to his future wife. But there was a catch. His future wife was a caregiver to her sister with Downs Syndrome and diabetes. If he wanted her hand in marriage, he would have to include her sister in their life together.

No problem for this young man. The image I projected on the screen showed a field of flowers and he is giving a family heirloom ring to her sister. Next, he was on bended knee for his future spouse was next in line. What a friend!

So now home from Sunday Mass, I decided to take a book and head for the stream, set up my chair in the stream, listening to the water spilling over the rocks. A book, cup of iced tea, and a shady tree—the perfect afternoon! As I opened my book, I said to myself, “I cannot believe this is happening!” The story I am reading is about a mom who also had a quiet moment from being quarantined when she experienced the following moment.

“About 20 minutes into reading, I saw two brown eyes on top of a blonde head suddenly peer at me from over the edge of my book. Instantly, I knew it was my six-year-old daughter, who had apparently made her way quietly downstairs. I guess in her attempt not to interrupt my reading, she had crawled on the floor so that she was now right in front of me, eyes peering over my book.

My first internal response to seeing her was not, Oh, how cute! I’ll be honest. I felt agitated, and my interior monologue was going something like this: How dare she interrupt me! Doesn’t she know I’m reading a spiritual book, trying to grow my relationship with God?
Thankfully, none of these words came out of my mouth. Instead, we just starred at each other for a few minutes in quiet, those big brown eyes of love just peering into my eyes. She finally said, “Mom, do you want to play with me?”

I thought to myself, No, I just want to read this book about God and about finding God in all things. Again, thankfully, I didn’t speak any words out loud.

Internally, I was trying to calm myself down from being interrupted from doing the reading that would help me find God in all things and people. As I did, I continued to peer into my daughter’s eyes. Then, clear as day these words came into my mind: Becky, don’t you see me?
I’m right here.

Tears welled in my eyes. I suddenly saw Christ peering right at me in the shape of a blonde-haired, brown-eyed six-year-old inviting me to play.

I closed my book, set it aside, and invited my daughter up onto my lap. As I embraced her, I knew I was embracing not only her, but Christ as well. Is there anything more extraordinary than that?”