Year of Gratitude

 

I walked into Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral on Christmas morning to prepare for Mass. When one of the choir members came up to thank me for a homily I had preached six months ago in the summer. She shared the gospel message was difficult for her to accept and practice. Jesus was teaching the need to forgive our enemies. Easy for Our Lord, but she had a falling out many years ago with her sister. She could not remember the details why they had not spoken to one another, but she had been really hurt by her sister’s remarks.

 

Then a God moment occurred. She prayed about forgiveness and struggled with how she was going to find a way to talk to her sister again. But a moment happened in which she had contacted her sister and she found to courage to share how she had been hurt in the past. To her relief, her sister did not explode with emotion, nor deny her past actions, but actually said that she was sorry. I shared that’s how the grace of the Holy Spirit works. When the moment comes, the Lord nudges us to let go of our past resentments and provides the grace to give courage and the words that bring healing and peace. Mass didn’t even start yet and I already received a Christmas gift.

 

Another grateful moment occurred when my next door neighbor’s water well starting working again. Yes, it took a well digger and plumber many attempts to get her water running back into her home. Once the new pumps were in place, there were several frantic calls to unplug the clogged lines loaded with mud, then a fearful call that there was no hot water but that got repaired and the final ironic call came that her shower faucet was leaking. A new shower head and handle took care of that problem. But there was this God moment when I asked the neighbor, “Maggie what’s it like to have water back in your home again. ”With a big grin on her face, she folded her hands, looked up with a twinkle in her eyes, and said, “it’s wonderful to take a shower again.”

 

Oh, yes, let me add that I am grateful that I have water coming into our home, but prayers are needed for the other 99 local residents whose wells have gone dry. My town has declared a state of emergency and a tanker with water from the state emergency department is on loan for people to pour into their dry wells. The town supervisor is working hard to reallocate funding to bring water to these families. However, the construction won’t start till August.

 

As we begin a new year, I might suggest that we take five minutes at the end of our day and pray: “what am grateful for today?” My green tea for breakfast, feeding Mittens our outdoor kitty in his igloos, nursing Carmella, a recused outdoor kitty recovering from a major illness in our patio converted into an ICU unit for sick kitties, for that well digger and plumber, for all my Sonshine Friend for 24 years sharing Jesus love for us.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that we pause throughout this new year and express our prayerful gratitude for all the beautiful gifts You bring into our daily lives. We are truly grateful for being children of God.

 

Gifts of Patience and Peace

 

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, no. Another pair of underwear, no. Another video toy, absolutely not. No, what I really need is when my computer or TV crashes, someone like Santa’s elf magically appears and connects me back online.

Last week, I am watching a program on our TV and instead of sound, I get this humming, thumping sound. Annoying to say the least. So I called Spectrum and customer service reboots the system, but again, no sound just this low humming, thumbing sound. If you go online and look for help, I learned that this happens all the time. It appears our machines are having a meltdown. Online, there are tutorials how to reboot, like simply unplug the TV, the tuner, the computer for 60 seconds and it will magically come back on. No this did not work.

Now I am coming unplugged. I have no patience, not knowing what to do to repair this technology. Interesting, I can help a neighbor get water back into her home, or assist my wife to rescue another abandoned kitten. I can help comfort and support a mother of three children whose husband was murdered this past week, but I don’t have a clue what dial to turn to get the darn audio to work on the TV.

So I scheduled an appointment with a tech to come to the house thinking that he most likely will say it’s not their problem, and I need to buy a new $1,000 TV. I didn’t sleep well that night and prayed for a miracle. The following morning, impatient and moody I went to work and on my way home I would fuss with the controls to try to repair. However, to my surprise and delight, the sound “just came back on.” That was a gift, but what was the lesson God was trying to teach me

God was teaching me the difference between worldly waiting and faith-filled waiting.

One of my good friend’s was recently diagnosed with a pulmonary condition that could eventually be life-threatening. After the initial diagnosis, he had to wait a month to see a specialist and get his many questions answered. Then there were numerous tests scheduled to determine the cause, severity, and subsequently, the treatment. Between each test, there was a waiting period before he received the results. He had to admit that those waiting periods were harder to go through than the medical tests! All in all, it took four months from diagnosis to beginning treatment.

During this time, he had several projects to complete, and one project in particular turned out to be quite a blessing. He had agreed to develop an Advent prayer service for his parish. As he prayed for inspiration, images of the very first Christmas and the faith-filled people of that time kept resonating with him. He was inspired by their trust in God’s promise of a Savior. They and their ancestors had lived in hope. Theirs was a faith-filled waiting. Their faith assured them that God’s promise was heartfelt and certain. Even when they doubted, God sent them people whose trust in God could bear fruit: the prophets, John the Baptist, Mary and Joseph. They trusted. They waited. They followed God’s will. They lived in hope for all of us. And their waiting bore fruit for all of us.

This insight of faith-filled waiting changed his perspective on his medical situation. He could see how those four months of waiting were a holy time given to him to accept his illness, educate himself about it, and share his anxiety and hope with others in his life. Most importantly, it gave him time to pray for a deeper faith and trust in God’s will. God was teaching him, as God had been teaching me, through the example of our spiritual ancestors, how to wait, not in our way—we get upset, grumpy, impatient, but in a faith-filled way. And just as the faith-filled waiting of the people of that first Christmas bore fruit, my lesson in faithful waiting also bore fruit. Waiting and hoping in faith has brought him and myself to a deeper trust in God and God’s will for me. It has freed me to accept this journey and to pray that it will bear fruit.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshone Friends on Christmas morning. Waiting in a worldly way can bring anxiety and fear. Faith-filled waiting bears the fruits of patience and peace. That’s my gift for all of you this Christmas morning, the gifts of patience and peace. May our waiting bring us closer to God. And may we continue to be blessed with faith-filled waiting throughout the new year.

Poinsettia Prayer

 

Many people enjoy decorating their homes or offices with poinsettias during the holiday season. Poinsettias, or flores de Nochebuena, are associated with Christmas on the basis of a Mexican story about a girl who wanted to bring a gift to Jesus at Christmas Eve services but lacked the means. On the way to church, she grabbed some weeds from the roadside to bring to Jesus. However, when she entered the church to make her offering, they blossomed into poinsettia flowers. This tale reinforces a common Biblical theme of God’s tender and protective care for those who are poor and the special love that God has for people whom the world sometimes forgets. The story also reminds us that no matter who we are, God loves and appreciates our offerings, no matter how “poor” those gifts may be.

In Advent, I try to pray regularly. Sometimes my prayer time is full of a beautiful kind of silence in which God is present. Other times my mind is so preoccupied with what I need to get done that day that it would be fair to say that my prayer is full of weeds rather than flowers. I may find myself saying a few words to the Lord and then being pulled off into distractions stemming from the tasks of the day ahead, or perhaps I simply feel restless. How I’d like to get rid of the weeds of distraction! Where are the flowers of consoling and tender silence?

The story of the poinsettia, however, reminds us that God appreciates our gifts, however “weedy.” Perhaps God can even transform those gifts into “flowers.” Simply by showing up to prayer, no matter how well the experience of prayer goes on our end. Even offering my distractions to God is something that I can let God embrace. Those few moments of quiet may well be just the moments that God needs to enter into my heart so that I am a little more patient or compassionate with my equally busy family or friends.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends during this Advent Season. Like the girl who offered what she had to God, we also can offer whomever we are in any particular moment to the Lord. Our prayer is enough, and we are enough, for it is God who takes our prayers and transforms them in ways hidden even to us.

 

Mary--Reach the Unreachable Star

 

My friends in Las Vegas will be celebrating a wonderful feast this Tuesday in honor of the Blessed Mother. The feast of Gaudalupe is a story about a woman of great faith and courage.

In 1531 Juan Diego, a native Mexican, was walking to Mass when the Blessed Mother, dressed as an Aztec princess, appeared to him. She spoke to Juan Diego in his native language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico with a request to build a church on the site. When Juan Diego told the bishop, he demanded a sign before he would believe the story. The Blessed Mother told Juan Diego to pick roses on the site. Although it was December and freezing, roses were in full bloom. Juan Diego gathered the roses in his tilma, a cactus-cloth cape. When he shook them out in front of the bishop, an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was imprinted on Juan Diego’s tilma.

 

 

 

In the musical “Man of La Mancha,” when Dulcinea asks Don Quixote what it means to “follow his quest,” he responds by singing “The Impossible Dream.” Mary, who awaited the birth of Jesus some 2,000 years ago just as we do this Advent, could have written the song. She certainly lived it.

 

Imagine how young Mary—probably no more than 15 or 16 years old—must have felt upon receiving the news that the impossible was about to take place within her, that she would give birth to the Savior. How could she tell her betrothed, Joseph? What would her family think? Who would believe her?

 

“Do not be afraid, Mary,” the angel says to her. “Nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:30, 37). We know the rest of the story. The impossible was indeed made possible, not only at the birth of Jesus, but in the many miracles he performed, and most of all at his Resurrection. If God could accomplish all this, imagine what God can do in your own life. Advent is the season for imagining what is possible, for dreaming new dreams, for hoping beyond hope.

But it is also the season when hope can be hardest to find, dreams hardest to believe. The days draw short, the nights are long and the air turns. Expenses may loom at a time when resources are scarce. Separation, grief, loneliness, and depression are no strangers to the season. Hope may be in short supply during this time. We need Mary’s inspiring example of courage and trust in the face of uncertainty more than ever.

 

Mary can’t guarantee us a smooth ride, however. Look at her own difficult journey: first, she had to travel to Bethlehem late in her pregnancy (Luke 2:1–6). Have you ever tried riding a donkey? Now imagine doing so nine month’s pregnant! Later, she had to flee to Egypt with Joseph and the baby when their lives were in danger (Matthew 2:13–23).

Nor can Mary promise us a season free of anxiety and worry. Imagine how she must have worried about what was ahead for her beloved child as his messianic destiny was revealed to her, first by shepherds who left her pondering the news in her heart (Luke 2:16–19), then at the Temple by the prophet Simeon, who spoke to her of the sorrowful times ahead: “A sword will pierce your soul too” (Luke 2:22–35).

 

What Mary can offer us is a remarkable and inspiring example of courage in the face of adversity, patience in the face of uncertainty, and hope beyond hope that the impossible is indeed possible.

 

Mary stood with her son as he was crucified (John 19:25–27); she stood with his fearful followers who huddled after his death (Acts 1:13–14). She knew that the story wasn’t over yet. And she was right.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends, our story isn’t finished, either, no matter what challenges or wounds burden us this season. All things remain possible with God. This is the miracle of Advent. We can once again dream the impossible dream—and reach the unreachable star.

 

 

 

Time to Know Your Deepest Longings

 

 

One day on a winter's walk in the woods I came face to face with a deer. Our town is in the midst of a water crisis. Over 60 homes and farms wells have gone dry. The stream I was walking along was mostly frozen over. I had stopped at a place where the swift current of the stream broke through to the surface and swirled around in eddies before it disappeared back under the ice.

 

As I sat for a while watching and listening to the gurgling water, a deer quietly appeared. We stared at one another for a few moments and, sensing I was no threat, the deer moved to the edge of the water and drank deeply.

 

I recalled the words, “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.” I had been experiencing a kind of winter in my soul. There were few signs of life, and the Spirit of God seemed to have become frozen over within me. Somehow, I was drawn to this external image of my internal longing—flowing water finding a way to bubble up from beneath solid ice.

 

Like everyone else I had been caught up in the busyness of Christmas preparations. Though we had lit the Advent candles at home and I had tried to pray, I needed more. I needed time to really allow my sense of longing to swirl up and become clear to me as it did on that winter's walk in the woods. I knew then that I needed a closer relationship to God and that I had to stop just going through the motions of my prayer life. My longing, once acknowledged, turned out to be an invitation to live with a deeper awareness of God's presence and care all around me.

 

What are you longing for? What is your heart trying to tell you? The gift God offers this first week of Advent is the invitation to explore your inner longings. The Church, through our Advent customs, and even the weather of the season itself support such inner work. During the first week of Advent, give yourself time and space to contemplate what you are truly longing for in life. Know that this is the season when your longings will lead you to the Christ Child, in whom the hopes and fears of all the years are known and responded to with generous love.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends, as individuals and as a community, we are longing for your presence. My neighbors water shortage makes life very difficult. How can we say God is present when so much seems to be unstable? However, I am grateful when I heard this week several corporate companies are bringing bottles and gallons of water to be distributed to the community. I pray and ask your prayers that the state legislators who are meeting this week in Albany hear the cry of my Bethany residents and release funds to bring water to the community.

 

Where IS Jesus?

 

Where IS Jesus?  Jesus IS found in the Eucharist.  Jesus IS found in the Holy Bible.  He IS found in our hearts – and some believe that crucifixes and even painted Icons carry a sacred image of Jesus.  But none of these places is Jesus’ “primary residence.”  Where is Jesus?  Look at the reading from Matthew’s Gospel.  “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”  Jesus is living on the streets.  Jesus is in soup kitchen lines.  Jesus is waiting at the Salvation Army to get a coat.  Jesus is in the hospital, or more likely, suffering and sitting, because He cannot afford to go to the hospital.  Jesus is in prison.

 

Don’t blame me.  I didn’t say it.  Jesus said it.  There’s no way we can misread what this Gospel account says.  “Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”  In other words, wherever people are in need, wherever people suffer, wherever people do without their basic needs, Jesus is there.  And He’s not just there to comfort those who suffer.  He is suffering right along with them.  That’s where Jesus is.

 

I live in a small farming community whose wells have gone dry. My next-door neighbor Maggie and fifty-five neighbor homes have gone without water during this summer because their wells have run dry.

 

Maggie’s neighbors in Bethany have trucked 1500 gallons of water in pouches for the past six months and they will need to do this throughout the winter months. Maggie is a frail senior living on social security and SSI with no truck, no able-bodied relatives, no Genesee County grant assistance, and no water.

 

Susan brings twelve gallons of water in milk jugs every third day so she can boil water to wash dishes, cook food, bathe and drink.

 

Tragically, Maggie has three choices. Move out of her home, get her neighbors to bring her water or dig a new well. In reality, due to the drought conditions in her county, there is no guarantee that her land has any more water. But she told Fr. Matt, “I want to die at home.”

Maggie made her decision to stay in her home and signed the well digger contract last week with an estimate over $10,000 depending how deep they have to go to find water again. Prayers are needed that they find clean and drinkable water.

The final words of Jesus to the people of Divine Mercy in Vegas, the farmers of Holy Family in North Java, the people at Holy Mother of the Rosary in Lancaster and to my neighbors in Bethany is how we are to live our faith on this earth: “clean water, warm clothes, plenty of food will come to everyone on the planet when those of us who have surplus of any kind live fully moral lives, namely when we accept that is it not right to have surplus while other lack necessities:

Giving drink to the thirsty, clothes to the homeless and food to the hungry involves looking at these principles with more moral courage than we have up to now.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends and give thanks for you all.  I give thanks that Jesus rose from the dead and lives today.  And I give thanks that He still needs and wants us to meet Him in everything we do and every place we go.

 

 

Blessings on Thanksgiving

 

My favorite holiday of the year is Thanksgiving. It’s the one day of the year we formally celebrate being grateful. If it were up to me, we would have Thanksgiving on the calendar once a month. Other than loving God and your neighbor as yourself, there is nothing more important than practicing gratitude. Meanwhile, thank you, Lord, for your many blessings, and help us to be mindful that every day should be a day of thanksgiving. 

"Thanksgiving Table Blessing"

Heavenly Father, as we gather around this table, we lift our hearts in gratitude for Your bountiful blessings. We thank You for the gift of this nourishing food, for the hands that have prepared it, and for the love that brings us together. Bless our time of fellowship, and may our conversation and laughter be pleasing to You. 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends sitting at a festive table with family and friends and especially for those home alone with their pet companions by their side. May we pray together in gratitude for all of God's good gifts. Fr. Matt

Glitter Glue with Jesus

 

BATAVIA NEWS published November 16, 2023

NORTH JAVA — Holy Family Parish in North Java has made great strides to achieve a new look in its Sunday School room as it continues its community outreach efforts.

Renee Bagwell took over as the Sunday School teacher at Holy Family last year in December. As she approaches one year of teaching Sunday School at the Polish National Catholic Church parish, there are now about 14 children who attend the class, ranging from 4 to 12 years old.

“It is going amazingly well,” said Bagwell regarding her first year of teaching. “I had some trepidation about volunteering to do it because of the importance of the role but since I can easily harness my inner 9-year-old who still loves stickers, glitter, crayons and googly eyes, it has been fun and rewarding.

“It helps that the children are amazingly well behaved and love the interaction,” she continued. “There have been some learnings on my part from mishaps that luckily the parents have not come after me for with pitchforks and torches, like using washable markers to decorate Styrofoam cups to hold Mother’s Day flowers, which resulted in very colorful palms when carrying the cup back into church to present to the moms.”

Bagwell wanted to create a more inviting environment for children to learn in, so she did just that.

“Sunday School is about helping raise kids to be good humans, with empathy, understanding and integrity. Most importantly, Sunday School has to be fun, so that they want to come,” said Bagwell.

Holy Family Parish at 4316 Rt. 98, North Java welcomes residents with open arms during Sunday Mass each week at 10 a.m. Children are encouraged to attend Mass and Sunday School at the parish.

After Fr. Cory gives absolution and the starting prayer, the children and teacher go to the front of the church for a blessing and then head to the schoolhouse for Sunday School. Bagwell wants children to get the most out of the class each week.

“Kids love colorful spaces, fun activities and glitter glue,” said Bagwell. “The parents may not be as big of fans of the glitter, but they are a fan of the updated Sunday School room.”

Since becoming the Sunday School teacher, Bagwell has implemented some changes including making the program more fun and interactive with less use of booklets. Though there is no formal Sunday School held during the summer, Bagwell still tries to get the children together during Mass to spend time on the playground or work on some projects at the picnic table.

In September, Bagwell and her helper, Ron Eddy, spent a week transforming the Sunday School room from drab and dreary paint colors into a colorful and fun space for learning.

“The wainscot under the windows and chalkboard were painted a pastel rainbow scheme,” Bagwell said. “Besides the cheerful colors, the rainbow also ties into the lesson of Noah’s Ark when after the great flood, God placed the rainbow in the sky to remind us of his promise to never flood the whole world again. The walls were painted sky blue with inspirational quotes placed throughout the space, along with a few small stickers hiding here and there that kids have fun looking for, such as a mouse reading a book or a fairy playing with butterflies.

“To finish the room, the 66 books of the Bible were painted around two sides of the room perimeter with handmade stencils,” she said.

In addition to Sunday School, Holy Family also offers religious education from 10:40 to 11 a.m. starting in April that continues for eight to 10 weeks depending on how well the children learn the material.

The opportunity is available to children 7 or older to achieve their First Communion. Last year, according to Bagwell, seven children achieved their First Communion.

“My main hope is that during these highly charged times they [children] learn that God loves absolutely everyone, even those who you fundamentally disagree with,” Bagwell said. “I want them to learn empathy, patience, understanding and to be grateful for what they have and not so worried about what they don’t have.”

In addition to the changes to the Sunday School room, the church also rents out the schoolhouse for events. There is also an outside pavilion and playground use patron to rent and utilize for birthday parties.

For more information about Holy Family, visit its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HolyFamilyPNCC or on its website at holyfamilyncchurch.org.

The church also hosts a Sunday Social on the first and third Sunday of each month. All are welcome.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends at Holy Family in North Java. Miss your smiles, compassion and love for God. Spread the word on Facebook that Holy Family welcomes all God’s children with open arms to enjoy the glitter glue and fun. Fr. Matt & Spinach

 

Can You Help Maggie?

 

“This is Maggie, can you bring me some water…”

Susan, my spouse, received this voicemail from our next door neighbor on Saturday that broke my heart.

 

 “This is Maggie, can you bring me some water…” Sadly, Maggie lives in East Bethany where currently over fifty homes have gone without water during this summer because their wells have run dry.

 

Maggie’s well went dry five weeks ago. She hired a water pump contractor who delivered 1500 gallons of water into her well. He returned several times to repair her plugged water pump. However, last week he returned again and told Maggie: “there’s no more water in your well and you need to dig a new well.”

 

Maggie’s neighbors in Bethany have trucked 1500 gallons of water in pouches for the past six months and they will need to do this throughout the winter months. Maggie is a frail senior living on social security and SSI with no truck, no ablebodied relatives, no Genesee County grant assistance, and no water.

 

Susan brings ten gallons of water in milk jugs every third day so she can boil water to wash dishes, cook food, bathe and drink.

 

Maggie signed a contract with a well digger who heard her plight and he said: “we can’t let that lady be without water.

 

Tragically, Maggie has three choices. Move out of her home, get her neighbor to bring her water or dig a new well. In reality, due to the drought conditions in the GLOW area, there is no guarantee that her land has any more water. But she told Fr. Matt, “I want to die at home.”

So Maggie made her decision to stay in her home and signed the well digger contract last week with estimate over $10,000 depending how deep they have to go to find water again.

 

Maggie’s home was built in 1945 and she has lived in this home all her life. Her father hand dug the well that has provided water until a month ago. Prayers are needed that they find clean and drinkable water.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who find themselves in desperate situations, no water, no job, no health and look to You for courage and strength. Give this lady and all her neighbors good drinkable water again. Let me know if you have any thoughts on how you or your church can help Maggie.

 

 

 

 

All Puffed Out

I received a kind invitation to offer a blessing prayer for Holy Family’s newly remodeled school of religion classroom. Renee worked to refurbished the classroom into cheerful, happy place where children come to learn how much God loves them. So, I brought along my puppet Spinach and together we shared the following lesson based on this Sunday’s gospel story.

“Everyone who makes himself great will be made humble. But the person who makes himself humble will be made great.” Luke 14:11 

 

 

This morning I have a balloon with me actually their teacher had bought ten balloons in the shape of different animals. A balloon is a simple toy, but it brings a lot of pleasure to people of all ages. There are so many things you can do with a balloon.

You can use balloons for decorations at a party or you can bat them around in the air like a ball. If you have a long, skinny balloon, you can even make it into the shape of an animal. Yes, a balloon can bring a lot of happiness, but it can bring sadness and disappointment too. If a you pop the balloon, the sudden noise can make you scared and cry.

You and I are sometimes are like a balloon. We sometimes get all puffed up and think we’re better than other people. We start blowing up the balloons.

Sometimes we may think we’re better than other people and we expect everyone else to think so too. (The kids blow into their balloons). Maybe we think we’re smarter than the other kids in our class. ( The kids blow more air into their balloons). Or maybe we think no one is as good as us in sports (They keep blowing more air). Or perhaps we think we are a better singer than anyone (They keep blowing). Sooner or later, if we keep getting puffed up by thinking we’re better than others, something will happen to burst our balloon. Some of the balloons began to deflate and some pop!!!

"Everyone who makes himself great will be made humble. But the person who makes himself humble will be made great.” Luke 14:11 

 

 

Jesus teaches us not to be too proud and think we’re better than other people. Jesus says we are to be humble and realize that when we are good at something, it is because it is God blessing us with special gifts.

From now on, when you see a balloon, I hope it will remind you that we should not become too puffed up and think we’re better than other people.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine friends especially the children, who have come to learn how much you love them. Help us be humble and not think we are better than other people. Remind us that whatever abilities we have are a gift from you and that you are the one who deserves the praise!

 

A Tribute to Rosemary

 

In Matthew’s Gospel, the Pharisees ask Jesus yet another “test” question: “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  Jesus answers without a moment’s hesitation: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all our mind.’  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

 

Love God.  Love your neighbor.  On these two commandments hang everything else that matters in this world.  Period.

 

May I take a moment here to point out what Jesus doesn’t say in response to the Pharisees’ question?  Remember, at this point in the story, Jesus’s crucifixion is just days away.  Death is literally breathing down his neck, and he is rapidly running out of opportunities to communicate the heart of his message.  But when he is asked what matters most in a life of faith, Jesus doesn’t say, “Believe the right things.”  He doesn’t say, “Maintain personal and doctrinal purity.”  He doesn’t say, “Worship like this or attend a church like that.”  He doesn’t even say, “Read your Bible,” or “Pray every day,” or “Preach the Gospel to every living creature.”  He says, “Love.”  That’s it.  Love God and love your neighbor.

 

Okay.  But what does it mean to do this?  How are we to love?  This is where, I fear, our overuse, misuse, and even abuse of the word “love” gets us into trouble.  We claim to “love” many things.  We “love” our favorite celebrities, movies, bands, and television shows.  We “love” going on vacation, or reading a well-crafted novel, or watching the Buffalo Bills play football.  We “love” chocolate or bacon or sushi or spicy chicken wings. 

 

The invitation to love comes from our God who first and foremost wants our love — not our fear, penitence, or piety.  And we have a God who wants every one of God’s children to also feel loved.  By us.  Not shamed.  Not punished.  Not chastised.  Not judged.  But loved.

 

For several months, I have had the humble privilege of visiting and praying with Rosemary in the hospital. She is a beautiful witness of love for her devoted spouse Ted, her children and grandchildren. Ted shared that two weeks ago, a long lost goddaughter who we haven’t heard from in ten plus years heard about Rosemary’s plight from their daughter on Facebook and she hopped on a plane in Florida and flew in on Saturday morning.  His daughter picked her up at the airport and brought her to see Rosemary in the ICU. She brought a collage of photos of how much we were a part of her life as she grew up, a very emotional reunion.  She and our daughter talked and laughed for four hours with Rosemary.  Rosemary’s condition on that Saturday was transformed with joy and hope.  Ted could hardly believe it she was on a high on Sunday as well and their doctor was astounded as well. The goddaughter flew out back to Florida on Sunday. Ted shared that God works in strange ways…

 

So here is a beautiful example of what is it that we are commanded to do?  I believe the call is to follow in the footsteps of the one who stood in the presence of his accusers and enemies, and declared love the be-all and end-all.  The call is to weep with those who weep.  To laugh with those who laugh.  To touch the untouchables, feed the hungry, welcome the children, release the captives, forgive the sinners, confront the oppressors, comfort the oppressed, wash each other’s feet, hold each other close, and tell each other the truth.  The call is to guide each other home.

 

In remembrance of Rosemary who I had the privilege visiting in her home,  listening to her stories about her children and praying with her in the ICU, let me share this blessing prayer. 

 

The world now is too dangerous and too beautiful 
for anything but love.
May your eyes be so blessed you see God in everyone.
Your ears, so you hear the cry of the poor.
May your hands be so blessed
that everything you touch is a sacrament.
Your lips, so you speak nothing but the truth with love.
May your feet be so blessed you run to those who need you.
And may your heart be so opened, so set on fire,
that your love, your love, changes everything.
And may the blessing of the God who created you, loves you,
and sustains you, be with you now and always.

May it be so.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends and especially for the gift of Rosemary's faith, courage and her love of God and neighbor. To know Rosemary’s touch, her smile and joyful heart is a gift that guides us home close to the heart of God. May she rest in your tender loving arms and bring comfort to her beloved Ted, her children, family and friends.

 

Being Blessed by my Unchurch Friends

 

As Christians, we need to both bless our good “unchurch” friends and let ourselves be blessed by them. I am not comfortable with the term “unchurch” a reference to folks who no longer attend Mass on Sunday. However, when I research the internet, the labels include jargon like atheist, dechurched, or worse pagan. 

 

I have friends who aren’t professed agnostics or atheists, but they don’t exactly fit the description of a practicing Christian either. They rarely go to church, mostly disregard church teachings, pray only when in crisis, and are basically too immersed in life here-and-now to think much about God, church, and eternity.

 

But, even so, I love them dearly because they radiate life, sometimes in ways that shame me. There’s something about them that’s very right, inspiring even. They are volunteer firefighters, a grandparent providing legal custody of their grandchildren, or caregivers to elderly neighbors and family. Their presence brings positive energy, goodness, love, intelligence, humor, and sunshine into a room. 

 

Don’t get this wrong: this is not to imply that those who do go to church and try to follow the church’s rules are hypocrites and immature, while those who don’t go to church and make their own rules are the real Christians. No. There’s nothing enlightened about people drifting away from the church, thinking they are beyond church, living outside its rules, or believing that a passionate focus on this life justifies a neglect of the other world. That’s a fault in wisdom and maturity. 

 

However, the wonderful energy that we see, and should bless, in the many good persons we know who no longer go to church with us is precisely that, wonderful energy, not depth. But it’s on the right side of things, on the side of life. It’s wonderful, it helps bring God into a room, and it should be blessed. 

 

And that’s why, as Christians, we need to both bless our good “unchurch” friends and let ourselves be blessed by them. God is the ultimate author of all that’s good, whether that goodness, sunlight, energy, color, and warmth is seen inside a church building or outside of it. 

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends, bless my unchurch friends, at their energy, their generosity, their warmth, what they bring into a room, and my heart lifts and I believe in God more deeply. God also made their sunshine and their warmth. They don’t go to church, and our faith community sadly misses their energy and spirit, but they’re on the side of life and that implicit faith, is a challenge for me to remain too on the right side of things.