Leaping into Puddles

 

When was the last time you jumped into a puddle?

 

I don’t mean walking into one, gingerly hoping your socks stay somewhat dry. I mean starting about 10 feet back so you can gain some momentum and then leaping full-bodied into the air. There are distinct feelings associated both with the moment of leap and the wet slap of your feet on the ground when landing. This reflection, however, is primarily concerned with the feeling that arises at the moment of leap.

 

Recently, I had to make a really big, tough decision. At the pinnacle of my angst, I called up my old friend Ted. “I was writing my Sonshine reflection and I thought of you.” I could tell he was smiling through the phone when he said, “Oh, yeah?” I relayed to him that I had a huge decision to make, and I remembered that he is very good at decision-making. In particular, he is a trusted mentor and very good at taking big leaps of faith. I figured a quick phone call would help some of that rub off on me.

 

“Well, where are you in the decision process?” he asked. “Will you be making pro and con lists and thinking about every angle?” I shook my head and said, “No, I’m more at the stage where I feel like God is about to tell me to start running. I’m at the stage right before I think God is going to ask me to leap.”

 

When I hung up the phone a short time later, I realized that until the exact moment I said it out loud to him, I hadn’t realized how far I was in the discernment process. We are invited to get all the necessary information, have the important conversations, weigh the pros and cons. We are invited to pray all along the way. But the part that has always been the hardest and yet always the most rewarding for all of us is the moment we are invited to leap.

 

I feel like I’ve been standing 10 feet from a lot of puddles. Some are inviting enough that I’m ready to jump right into the awaiting joy, but most of them have me fearing perpetually wet socks. I feel like maybe it’s better if I stand safely away from these puddles and remain eternally locked in my pros and cons. But I know I’m not meant to stand safe and dry forever. I know God wants me to leap eventually. God wants me to risk the wet socks and the discomfort and the uncertainty, because God knows that if I just trust, the joy of the leap will be indescribable. I can’t get to that joy of catching air until I get going on that running start. None of us can.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are stuck on the ground about a decision. If you are stuck on dry land right now looking at that puddle ahead, I invite you to start running with me now. Let’s have a little faith and leap into all God has waiting for us.

 

 

 

 

Married Deacon Ordained Catholic Priest

There's a famous line attributed to Francis of Assisi, "Preach the Gospel at all times. And only when necessary, use words." Deacon Corey Foegan will be ordained a Catholic priest by Bishop John Mack tonight at Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral. As shepherd and mentor to Deacon Corey for the past eleven years, I have had the privilege of guiding this parishioner and friend on his journey to respond to Jesus invitation to serve as a parish priest.

 

For me, to preach the Gospel means we should live lives of integrity, generosity, compassion, patience, and courage, in a way that speaks to the people around us and inspires them to embrace the Gospel in new and dynamic ways?

 

But as I shared with Deacon Corey in his studies, we also need to use words. We need to encourage people with our words. In the past year, Deacon Corey has shared in this ministry by preaching every other week in our parish at Holy Family in North Java. As ministers of God’s Word, we need to use the words of the Gospel to bring truth into people's lives. That's becoming rarer and rarer in our society.

 

We talk a lot about meeting people where they are and leading them to where God is calling them to be. This essentially was Jesus' model of evangelization. Jesus never preached to somebody before he fed them, healed them, comforted them. This was his approach. He went out to the people. He met the people where they were physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. He met them where they were. He ministered to them usually, first, in a human need and then he ministered to them spiritually. He met them where they were and led them to where God is calling them to be.

 

As Deacon Corey embraces the ministry of priesthood, he will have the opportunity to preach to people who would benefit from a deeper experience of God or a richer spirituality in their lives.

 

In sharing my 44 years of ministry, I have had to search my heart and ask, "Are we really meeting them where they're at? Or are we standing down the road and saying, “Hey guys, come down here. Life will be better if you come down here.” Because that's not what God calls us priests to. He calls us to walk back down the road to meet them where they're at to say, "What is troubling your heart?  And they may say, "I am worried about going back to work,” They may say, “I got a whole bunch of credit card debt." They may say, "I just lost my job." They may say, "I don't like my job. I don't get on with my colleagues at work. I'm worried about my son's health. I'm worried about my daughter's education. And my mother’s sick. My dad's sick." The things that are heavy on people's hearts.

 

As priests, the most important gift we have to give people is our time. Time to listen and ask the question, “What's troubling your heart?” Because when we meet people where they are, we are first concerned with what's troubling their hearts. And there are so many ways that we can help people carry their burden.

 

But the first way is just to recognize that people are carrying a burden. To listen to the burden that they're carrying. And then, to do an inventory of our lives and say, "Okay, how can I help this person? What talents or resources do I have available to me that can help this person?" And the person may say, "I'm struggling with this." We may think, "I know this person was really good at that or an expert at that. Maybe I can connect the two, and they can help each other?" We're here to help each other.

 

Serving as a priest is not about just putting a Bible in every person's hand. Serving as a pastor is not just about baptizing every person. The priesthood is about bringing God's grace to each other's lives. It's about being people, for people. And I think when we try to bring a message to people in a way that lacks humanity, or ignores the humanity that they're wrestling with at that moment in their lives, then the message falls on deaf ears. Because you cannot preach to a starving person. A starving person cannot hear the message. You have to feed the starving person. And then their ears become open.

 

In my role as shepherd, pastor and teacher, this has been the focus of my mentoring Deacon Corey that every person’s life would be improved if they moved closer to God, if they had a deeper experience of the Gospel, if they had a richer spirituality, they're all starving in some way.

 

My humble gratitude to Deacon Corey and my praise and thanksgiving that he has accepted the invitation of Jesus to work out how people are starving, how he can feed them so that they can hear the life-giving, life-changing words of Jesus in the Gospel.

 

Fraternally yours,

 

 

Father Matt

 

What Kind of Friend Are You?

 

Do you have friends? I hope so. Here's the good question, though. What kind of friends do you have? Or better question might be, what kind of friend are you? Jesus gives us a really good measuring stick when he says: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Right there, Jesus summarizes the key quality of a great friendship in one word, love. Love that gives, love that sacrifices, love that's selfless, love that's patient. That's what Jesus said about true friendship. Love each other as I have loved you. So we're talking about real, true, deep, lasting friendships. Do you have any really good friends? And what kind of friend are you?

 

One sure way to learn whether you have a real friend is in a moment of crisis. You will see certain qualities. One thing you'll absolutely see is loyalty. Do you have friends who are only there when they need you, but nowhere to be found when your life lands in the ditch? Talking about loyalty, a friend is one who walks in when others are walking out. Love means a real friendship will be rooted in loyalty.

 

You also find that real love produces honesty in a friendship. A true deep friend speaks the truth in love. They don't just tell you what you want to hear. They actually tell you when you are doing something stupid. And they tell you things that are even harder to hear. A good friend will confront you when you're making a mistake, even when it hurts, because that friend doesn't just want to make you feel better. The real friend hopes to make you a-better-version-of-yourself. Do you have a friend like that? Someone who loves you enough to come to you and say, "You really ought to consider that again," or "if I were you, I think about this," even when they know you probably won't want to hear it. That's what a true deep friend does. They love you enough to speak the truth to make you better.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that they have friends who come to our side in times of crisis. They are loyal, forgiving and honest. What kind of friends do you have? What kind of friend are you?

 

 

Let the Tears Fall

 

This Sunday, I was greeted with tears as a parishioner shared her fear about her mother in the ICU on a respirator with Covid. Worse, the family is not allowed to come to the hospital because their mother is on the restricted Covid unit.

 

I can only imagine this daughter, her sister and brother wanting desperately to be with their mom at this time. However, I have no doubt that the intensive care nurses are providing comfort to their mom to let her know that she is not alone. So why did she feel like crying?

 

We often try to avoid giving into tears. Maybe we do not want to upset others. Maybe we do not want to look ridiculous coming to church with tears in our eyes. Or maybe we do not want to look weak. But why do we think showing emotion is weak? Is it not just human?

 

I wonder sometimes: what if instead I thought showing emotion was a sign of strength? After all, paying attention to emotions is central to be spiritual. Jesus taught that the movements in our souls tell us something about what God wants us to hear. If I am not willing to sit with and feel those emotions, however, how can we get out of them what God intends?

 

As this daughter places her mother into the hands of Jesus, I wonder what it would look like if I considered a crisis moment to be a time to experience emotion with Jesus. What would happen if we walked with Jesus down the road to Calvary and tried to feel with Him every step of the way? What if we let ourselves experience the emotions that He must have been feeling as he was rejected, scorned, whipped, and made to carry a cross? What if we stood by him while he hung on the Cross and just let the tears fall?

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who have tears in their eyes. Let them know this is a sign of strength. This be a way that allows us to connect with others. May our tears become a prayer that connects us with Jesus and makes His passion our passion as well and brings us comfort and peace.