Blessing Prayer for First Responders

 

My brother priest, Fr Erick serves as chaplain for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. This past week he offered a blessing prayer for all police officers. The above photo shows Fr. Erick with his comrades. I shared that I received an invitation to offer blessing prayers for first responders in my community in Bethany, New York at their annual appreciation gathering on February 6^th. This will be my blessing:

Firefighters and EMTs embody courage, sacrifice, and selflessness as they place their lives on the line to save others. Their work is physically demanding, emotionally taxing, and often dangerous. As believers, we are called to lift up these heroes in prayer, asking God for protection, strength, and guidance as they serve our community. In praying for them, we entrust their safety to God and ask for His grace to sustain them as they carry out their critical work.

Heavenly Father,
I come before You to lift up the firefighters and EMTs in our Bethany Volunteer Fire Department who risk their lives to protect and serve. Lord, I thank You for their courage, dedication, and willingness to face danger for the sake of others.

“The Lord will keep you from all harm—He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore” (Psalm 121:7-8).

Father, I ask for Your divine protection over each firefighter. Guard their hearts and minds as they face dangerous situations. Keep them safe from harm, and guide their steps as they work to save lives and property. Lord, bless their families, who also make sacrifices so that these brave men and women can serve their communities.

Grant them physical strength, mental resilience, and emotional peace. Lord, let Your presence surround them in every emergency, and may Your wisdom guide their decisions. I pray for unity and support among their teams, and may they always know that their work is valued and appreciated by their community.

Thank You, Lord, for these heroes and for Your faithfulness in protecting and sustaining them. May they find strength and peace in Your presence every day. Amen.

Bethany Fire Department “first responders” include firefighters, emergency medical technicians, volunteers, critical incident and chaplain. Kind pray for the safety of these volunteers:

 

GLENN ADAMS

LYLE BOUNDY

STEVE BRECKENRIDGE

BRIAN BRITTON

DEBBIE DONNELLY

TIME EMBT

JASON EVERETT

JEFF FLUKER

SANDY FLUKER

JAKE HOWLAND SR

JACOB HOWLAND

CARL HYDE JR

GREG JOHNSON

PEGGY JOHNSON

BRITTANY JOHNSON

KAITLYN JOHNSON

GEORGE LARISH

TIM { TJ } LEWIS

TODD MOGENHAN

CHRISTOPHER PAGE

JIM PHILLIPS

TERRY SMART

GAIL SMITH

JOHN SZYMKOWIAK

WILL THURLEY

SCOTT THURLEY

WAYNE WALKER

WALTER WHENHOL

JEFF WOLAK

VICKI WOLAK

LILLIAN SZYMKOWIAK

HUNTER SZYMKOWIAK

JENN HOWLAND

MAELYNN HYDE

DIANE FOWLER

FR MATTHEW KAWIAK 🙂

 

 

 

How Do You Talk About Religion?

 

Question: How do you talk about religion that doesn’t cause conflict?

 

The answer is not to bury our heads and never talk about religion. Or use social media to express your opinion by degrading people, hitting them over the head, chastising them by demanding an apology or judging them that they are not a “good bishop.”

 

Catholics are not accustomed to talking about our faith. History tells the story of people who came from another country and were Catholic and lived in a Catholic bubble “ghetto.” No one was going to ask you about your faith because we all assumed we knew about the holydays and fasting. We didn’t have to talk about our faith because nobody was asking.

 

The Catholic bubble has burst, we live in much more secular world, We tend to stand out and I think that’s a good thing. We wear ashes on our heads, and people snicker and ask what is it with you Catholics with ashes on your forehead.

 

Are you ready to talk about your faith, are you ready to explain what you believe and why? Sadly, the temptation is to ‘blend in” and that’s not what we want to do. We treasure our faith. We have no need to be embarrassed or afraid about talking about our faith because it is about our relationship with God.

 

Unfortunately many Catholics feel ill equipped to respond when people ask us about our faith. We’re not sure how to explain ourselves, we fear we might get it wrong.

 

The trick is to talk about your faith like ou are talking about your best friend. Remember, the disciples were fishermen and no great theologians. Keep it simple and talk about your faith in everyday language in a simple way that is not simplistic, but it makes sense to people. Talking about our faith is not about winning a debate. People debate online forget to be civil.

 

First simple suggestion when speaking to others about your faith is speak from the heart. Catholics can be very sterile and stern when talking about our faith, we quote Scripture or the catechism. Might I suggest you simply share what God has done for you. How God has changed you. What God brings to your life.

How has Jesus touched your life, transformed your life. Simply speak about yourself and your relationship with God. How and why does God make you a better man and better woman.

 

When you talk to other people about your relationship with Jesus tell them how He has made you a better person. This is what our relationship with God does. We don’t follow the commandments out of fear of God, better do the right thing or we get in trouble. Rather, we do it because this is how God treats us with such great love that we want to treat others in the same way.

 

Simply put, Catholic, Christians, or persons of all faiths want to conform to the way God thinks, speaks and acts. Jesus came into our world to show you how God thinks, speaks and acts. Respect for all people wherever they were born, compassion for the poor and a heart that accepts and welcomes people of all genders, nations and cultures.

 

We live a moral life because God is a Gpd of justice, mercy, compassion, fairness, charity. We strive to treat other as God treats us. Moral life is practicing the spirit of the commandments and the beatitudes. Not just memorizing the chapter and verses. Beatitudes compel us to go out and do things, to be peacemakers, hunger and thirst for righteous, to except being persecuted for righteousness.

 

What would Jesus have us do?

 

This past week, at the National Ecumenical Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington DC, the Rt. Reverend Mariann Budde, asked the President of the United States for mercy for those who are afraid—the LGBTQ+ community and undocumented workers. I would consider these people to be under the heading of the poor and the oppressed, the folks for whom Isaiah and Jesus seemed to be concerned. I listened to the bishop’s gentle and sweetly phrased homily, and I did not hear her scold or condemn the president. I only heard a plea that our government should have some feelings for those on the margins.

 

But some folks got upset.

 

And that’s okay. Sometimes our faith should challenge us. Sometimes we should wrestle with the practical and the ideal. Sometimes we should reject simple, safe answers—especially when we are followers of Jesus.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that we find the grace of love in our hearts and share our faith with people. It’s time to take a stand and stand out. These things may stretch us beyond our comfort zones and compel us to love the way God loves us. Human dignity is our starting point, not pointing fingers or dividing our people. We need to stand out and talk in the way Jesus thinks, speaks and acts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prayer of Thanks

 

Karen, the widow of my good friend Ken, who died unexpectedly in November wrote me a very kind thank you note on behalf of her family.  Her words were very humbling. In response, I wrote the following prayer of gratitude to Karen that expresses my sadness and desire to bring comfort to her, his son joe and all their family. May I suggest if you have a family or friend who has suffered a recent lost, to email or write a note to express that they are still in your thoughts and prayers.

 

My dear Karen:

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about your beloved Ken and offer my prayers that he is safe in the arms of Our Lord in heaven.

 

Your thoughtful card and prayers from yourself and family are much appreciated. Ken was not only my mentor but my best friend who understood my ministry as a priest. He stood behind me when I made a decision to help reopen the closed RC parish in North Java into a PNCC Catholic church. He knew the RC bureaucracy would expunge me from their church. However, it did not deter my vocation to serve and reopen a Catholic faith community and serves the people of Wyoming County with a hospice services open to people of all faiths and traditions.

 

He helped me cut down thousands of grapevines that were killing the trees on our farm. He also supported my vision to make our land into an educational center. At the current moment, I am negotiating with Brockport College inviting their students and faculty to use our land as a resource to study the environment. To date, we have no signed agreement but I pray Ken’s spirit is helping from heaven to make this dream a reality.

 

As I shared at the funeral service, he was my uber for all those adventures to the National Parks where I enjoyed taking landscape photos while he would explore the seashore or climb a mountain. I knew that after each adventure he planned to bring his grandkids along for future adventures.

 

Since the funeral, I have met with his wonderful son Joe several times. We have discussed several topics about his studies at school, his career decision to work at the office, religion, and to his relationship to God.

It would seem that my new role in life is to mentor Joe to become the

best person that he can be. I welcome this opportunity to help this young man to follow in the footsteps of his dad. To help him learn that happiness in life is not found in fame, wealth or power but in relationships where our purpose in life is to be of service to people by being generous and compassionate in all our relationships with them.

 

I have you in my daily prayers that Our Lady who understood sorrow at the foot of the cross of her son will be by your side to give you strength and comfort in the coming days. Thank you again for the humble privilege to lead the service and allow me to share stories about Ken and our adventures. Keep me posted on any family gatherings in the future, I would love to join your family. May Our Lady protect you always and keep you in good health.”

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are grieving the death of family members and friends. Remind them that our God is a God of life and not death. As my friend Ken would often say: “You got to be lucky.” Yes, we are lucky that as children of God we are destined to be reunited with all our family and friends in Paradise.

 

 

 

We Are Children of God

 

In the Baptism of Our Lord, the voice from heaven declares the newly baptized Jesus to be his Beloved Son, with whom God is “well pleased.” The phrase “well pleased” sounds a little tame to me, like something you’d say if the restaurant that cooked your steak the way you wanted it. If I had to translate this sentence from Luke’s gospel, I’d say, “You are my Son, the Beloved; I see something really, really special in you!”

 

It is the same for us in each of our own individual baptisms. It is the Spirit which comes upon each of us at baptism which enables us to live Christian lives. And with the Spirit of Love within us, we too can do wonderful things, selfless things, things which enable the unconditional love of God to shine forth through us to others.

 

For example, a young husband has a crippling, terminal neurological disease. His wife is carrying a baby which this young man may never live to see. So he writes a letter to this unborn child to say something very important that is in his heart. "Your mother is very special," he writes. "Few men know what it is like to receive appreciation for taking their wives out to dinner when it entails what it does for us. It means that she has to dress me, shave me, brush my teeth, comb my hair, wheel me out of the house and down the steps, open the garage and put me in the car, take the pedals off the chair, stand me up, sit me in the seat of the car, twist me around so that I am comfortable, fold the wheelchair, put it in the car, go around to the other side of the car, start it up, back it out, get out of the car, pull the garage door down, get back into the car, drive off to the restaurant. And then, it starts all over again. She gets out of the car, unfolds the wheelchair, opens the door, spins me around, stands me up, seats me in the wheelchair, pushes the pedals out, closes and locks the car, wheels me into the restaurant, then takes the pedals off the wheelchair so I won't be uncomfortable. We sit down to have dinner, and she feeds me throughout the entire meal. And when it's over she pays the bill, pushes the wheelchair out to the car again, and repeats the same routine. And when it's over, finished, with real warmth, she'll say, 'Honey, thank you for taking me out to dinner.' I never quite know what to answer...

 

If you have ever been the recipient of unconditional love, you know what this young man felt. If you ever get a grasp on all that Christ has done on your behalf, you will understand what it means not to know what to say. You and I are the recipients of an amazing self-giving love. The Lord of all life came into our world and gave his life for us. That is who Christ is and what he has done. He is not simply a good teacher who gave us some insightful lessons about life. He is the Cornerstone that was rejected. He is the Lily of the Valley crushed under the heel of humanity's sins. And because he left his throne and entered our valley, the valley of suffering and pain, he knows our hurt, our disappointment, our fears, our frustrations, our anger.

 

And how do we know that God knows? Because Christ has walked where we walk. He has experienced what we experience. At Jesus' baptism, we are introduced to Jesus as the Father's Son, with whom the Father is well pleased. Jesus was baptized to show us who he is and to show us how much God loves us. Because we have been baptized, we know who we are. We are children of God.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that just as Jesus received his commission at his own baptism, we received the Spirit of Love into our lives at our baptism and with that Spirit, we too can do wonderful things, like the wife in the story. When we were baptized, the heavens did not open nor a voice come forth as when our Lord was baptized. However, the Spirit of Love, which we have all received, should lead us to live lives as children of God, so that one day our Father will look at us face to face and say: "You are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased. Enter into the joy of your Master."

 

What is Your Shooting Star?

 

I am at Cathedral Gorge in Nevada taking sunset reflections of the landscape, but as I scout this location my real goal is to come back in the pitch of night to do some astro photography. Yes, I came back at 9pm into the park, carefully driving into the parking lot, finding my way in the dark. I set up my tripod, shined some light on a cliff while looking up into the night sky. The above photo is a “God moment” for while you see the stars shining bright, there is a shooting star streaking across the night sky. Awesome!

 

This reminds me of the following Scripture verse: “Where is the child who has been born King of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage.” (Matthew 2:2) 

 

Epiphany comes from a Greek word meaning “manifestation” or “appearing” is the day after the Twelfth Day of Christmas and celebrates this story in Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 2:1-12) about some astrologers from “the East”—possibly from Babylon (which is modern-day Iraq)—who’ve determined that an unusually bright star is a heavenly sign that a new king is being born. 

 

Being good diplomats, these clever fellows set off to follow the star to Judea where they intend to offer some pricey birthday presents to the new little sovereign, possibly on behalf of their nation and the folks back home. The trouble is, as you can readily tell from the gospel reading, the guy who currently occupies the throne of Judea isn’t too tickled to know there’s a new king on his turf, so he plans to use the stargazers as spies so he can find the little tyke and snuff out his competition.

 

Here's a little back story: The Wise Men, as we call them, may likely have been Zoroastrian priests who were revered for studying the heavenly bodies and predicting their influences upon the earth. The miraculous star may have been a comet or possibly a close conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter which astronomers believe occurred around the end of the reign of King Herod.

Another legend, which I like, says that they were of three different ages. Gaspar was a very young man. Balthazar was in his middle age, and Melchior was an old man. When they arrived at Bethlehem, they went into the cave one at a time. When Melchior, the old man, went into the cave, there was no one there but a very old man his own age with whom he was quickly at home. And they spoke together of memory and of gratitude. The middle-aged Balthazar encountered a middle-aged teacher when he went into the cave and they talked passionately of leadership and responsibility. And when young Gaspar entered, he met a young prophet, and they spoke words of reform and promise. And then when they had all gone outside after going in one by one, the three of them took their gifts and went in together. And when they went in together there was nobody there but a twelve-day-old infant. And later on they understood. The Savior speaks to every stage of life. The old hear the call to integrity and wisdom. The middle-aged hear the call to generativity and responsibility. And the young hear the call to identity and intimacy.

What jumps out at you about this story? Jesus is constantly inviting us. What is he inviting you to today? And will you accept his invitation? Will you say yes? Will you say no? Will you say maybe? Will you vacillate on whether or not to accept his invitation? Or will you just boldly say, "Yes, I will follow"? And that's what we see with the magi; we see them boldly responding to Jesus's call, boldly responding to Jesus's invitation. And so whatever it is he's inviting you to do today, I encourage you, I challenge you to boldly say yes. Our purpose is to cultivate the way of the Savior in our everyday lives. It’s a call to be loving, compassionate, inclusive, generous, and forgiving. It’s also a call to see the way of Christ in other human beings and to celebrate that holy presence when we recognize it. 

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that we will be less hung up on doctrines and traditions and just, like the Wise Men, seek Jesus. We won’t care about our position in society, but we will care about the hungry, the hurting, and the lost. We won’t insist on conformity, but we will open our churches for the healing and comfort of all people, no questions asked. May this New Year be a time when you draw closer to Jesus.

 

Calm

 

This morning as I am watching the London New Year’s parade, I was humbled to receive the following email from a Sonshine Friend. “Pray you take time to take care of yourself- remembering we are all human- you’ve had a lot going on in your personal life-the scare you had earlier with your wife, the loss of Ken, tending to his family, of your close friend Father Erick’s daughter being murdered, and checking in on his family, all the loss, crisis, struggles and difficulties you assist with… and especially when feeling a wee bit run down-  and it’s one of the busiest times of the year- none of us want anything to happen to you!!!  So please do take care of yourself, know others care.”

 

Let me share this reflection about being “calm.” “Let it be done unto me according to your will,” Mary had said.

A real Archangel had appeared, handing out shocking news. What a jolt the Annunciation must have been for someone so unassuming, as Mary. Did she flinch?

No. She reacted with calm. She said simply, “I accept. Tell me how this wonderful birth will happen.”

But the series of events that followed do not seem to warrant calm. Mary became a betrothed woman found pregnant. Her husband-to-be had been about to divorce her until an angel explained things in a dream.

And since walking was the usual mode of transportation in those days, sometimes for astonishing distances, the census call did not make her promise easy. It was the last part of her pregnancy—the most difficult time of all to travel from Nazareth in the far north of Israel down to Bethlehem, which is south of Jerusalem. Not an impossible distance, but in the last month of pregnancy, a real challenge. This was God’s will and she had accepted it. Joseph in his kindness got a donkey for Mary to ride.

This Sunday we see Mary just days after the grueling journey and the amazing birth. She is carrying out the promise she made to Gabriel. All is well. The child is healthy and cute, and the angels, unable to contain their joy, have once more danced into Mary’s life. Even the animals understand. It is breathtaking.

It would seem that Mary’s calm would now seek some quiet and rest after all that had happened. But no. Unkempt shepherds, straight from the fields, “went in haste” to the shelter, announcing in their craggy voices that they knew who this baby is. Angels had told them. Wise men, or as we now say, kings, found the holy shelter and barged right in, bearing royal gifts.

Does this all impinge on Mary’s peace? No. She is good to her word. The Gospel says that she quietly "kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”

How could she do this? Part of it was her personality, but even more, it was the presence of God deep within her, so deep that she let her life become one with his, and produced a son. Life on this earth is never free from hazards and setbacks and stunning difficulties, but as Mary let her heart reflect, and as she watched each movement of the newborn baby, she breathed in a holiness, a degree of holiness that even she had not known before.

“May it be done unto me according to your will.” Her acceptance was complete.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends in this New Year that we witness this calm, in ourselves, within a crowded, difficult, surprising stable, as we keep the picture of it within our own hearts, may each of us be able to echo her words, “May it be done unto me according to your will.”

May the intercession of our Blessed Mother bring you closer to her Son and fill your year with grace, hope, and peace.

 

Wishing you a happy and blessed New Year!