What Would You Ask For?

 

Jesus is walking down the road and the blind man, Bartimaeus, starts calling out to him. He says, "Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me." And the people say, "Oh, be quiet." But, he doesn’t pay attention to these naysayers and he just cries out more, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me." The people keep telling him to be quiet. Finally, Jesus stops, and He walks over to the blind man, and He says to him, "What do you want me to do for you?” And Bartimaeus says, "Lord open my eyes so that I may see." 

 

 

Think about his answer. When is the last time you came to God and begged God to do something for you that you desperately needed? Most likely during the pandemic, you asked for God’s help more than once. However, sometimes we don't do it? Why, because we're proud. We're arrogant. We're not like Bartimaeus. He is humble. He's not confused about the fact that Jesus can fix his problem. There's no doubt about that whatsoever.

 

 

We talk about faith. We talk about trust. This guy, he had it. He had absolute faith that if he could get to Jesus, Jesus could get the job done. If Jesus showed up in your life today and just got in your face and said, "What do you want me to do for you?" What would you ask him for? 

 

One of the mistakes we make when we read the Bible is that we think of these people as other. We think, "Oh, it must be hard to be blind," when the reality is that we know what it's like to be blind because we all have a spiritual blindness. What is your blindness? What are your blind spots in relationships? What are your blind spots when you're judging other people? What is your spiritual blindness? 

 

 

At a recent funeral luncheon, a family member complimented the service for his brother. He said that he had not been in church for awhile. I simply asked, why not? He answered; “father, honestly, I don’t know.”

 

 

What is your blind spot about not coming to church anymore? Is it fear of getting Covid, or scandals in the church, or neighbors you judge as hypocrites., or hanging onto a few unhealthy habits. In what way are you like Bartimaeus?

 

 

So Bartimaeus is this blind man and everyone tells him to shut up. Be quiet. Leave Jesus alone. But he persists. Do you have that persistence? Sure, we come to God, and we say, "Hey, God, we need this," or cry out to God for this or that, but do we have the persistence to keep coming back and saying, "Help me. Help me figure out why I am so depressed or burnt out. 

 

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that You open our eyes so that we may see the goodness of all people. Help us to let go and drop our prejudice that comes from pride. Give us the grace to open our hearts and welcome all into our community with your love and kindness.

 

Leadership with Jesus

 

It seems obvious, but Jesus knew how to build a team, didn't he? He knew it was going to take a movement to birth the Church and change the world. And that's just what Jesus did. He built a team and he gives us some great leadership lessons here. Let me just point out three. First, great leaders inspire action when they provide a clear common goal. It takes a team. You see it all the time. When I think about my former parish at Holy Family, I had Mary, Marie, and Mary who are the sanctuary floral designers, Cheryl an organist, Chris on bass guitar, Jasmine, Liz, Carol, Sue and Jerry in the choir, Ron bell ringer, Fr. Corey the parish administrator, Fr. Don the webmaster, Rene the caterer, Steve the jack of all trades, Harry the vendor procurer, Rory the council chairperson, Sandy and Tina in finance, Tom and Julie video, our faithful seniors, couples and mom and dads with their kids. 70 people all together with one goal, a marvelous Lord’s Supper experience. For Jesus, the first team he built, he chose just these 12 men, common, uneducated, and ordinary men, according to the Book of Acts. And he invested and he poured into them. They prayed together. They ate together. They traveled together. They learned from him and from each other. 

 

In the gospel, Jesus is sending them out, two by two, for on-the-job training, and he gives them a clear common goal. Here it is. Preach the gospel. He gives them authority. "You're not on your own here, guys. You have my blessing and power." If you're building a team and you want them to work together, a clear common goal. Second, Jesus teaches us that great leaders embrace servant leadership. Jesus emptied himself of his place in heaven to pursue God's plan for you and me. He gives us a critical insight into leadership. It's all about service. 

 

Lesson number three from Jesus. Great leadership is saturated in humility. In other words, it's not about me. When Jesus comes into the world, he tells us all things are possible with God. This movement is about God and it begins with these 12 ordinary guys, members of the team. It's not about them. It's all about God.

 

The key for leadership, the number one key, humility. It's not about the leader. It's about the team. It's all about we. It's not about me. Something even greater here. With Jesus, it's the team plus God. How much gets done when no one cares who gets the credit? They're just trying to reach a goal here. 

 

This weekend is very exciting because it’s about bringing people together to celebrate an important service to the community. 

 

On Friday night, Charlotte Comfort Home will host 300 people at a meat raffle to support the ministry of caring for the dying in Wyoming County. Harry and Donna will lead the volunteers in selling tickets, but more important inviting people to think about coming back to donate two hours a week to serve as volunteers at the Comfort Home. 

 

On Saturday, Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral in Lancaster will celebrate their 125^th anniversary as a Polish National Church. The Prime Bishop will dedicate the church and incarnate Fr. Nadeem to serve as rector of this faith community to preach the gospel and invite young families and their children to join this beautiful faith community.

 

On Sunday, Holy Family Parish in North Java will celebrate their Annual Spaghetti Dinner and basket raffle. Karen will coordinate basket and raffles,  Sandy and her kitchen crew of 12 will serve over 300 spaghetti dinners and folks from areas farms will come for their supper to share stories about the past two years in this pandemic.

 

I like to think that when someone might say, 'Where were you during this pandemic?' The voices of a 100,000 will ring out. 'We were deep in the earth tilling the soil with our hands on the tractor raising our crops.” 

 

With tears in their eyes and their resolves stiffened, the people in these parishes and ministry will return to their inglorious task because they know they are playing a role in a noble goal of preserving the love and comfort of God’s love. 

 

The goal is more important than the role. Those are the three things Jesus taught us, a clear common goal, servant leadership, saturated in humility. So, the disciples went out two by two, and they delivered the goods. They preached. They cast out demons. They anointed with oil and they healed the sick. And the results were a mighty and wonderful work. The mission succeeded, and then it grew into a movement that became the Church, the Church that's still here today. There's no other way to explain it. Jesus knew how to build a team. You want to do something great, you're going to need a team.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends and leaders that they embrace the humility and spirit  of Our Lord to bring their team together that reflects the mighty works of our God.

 

The Basement is Flooded

 

 

“The basement is flooded.” Here are four words that bring terror to one’s mind. We just had a record rainfall of three inches of rain in less than an hour. I could see the water gushing out of the drain pipes earlier in the morning during the storm. The sump pump couldn’t handle it all at once.

 

Down I go for damage control. Lucky, we have our “stuff” resting on five-foot plastic shelving. The bottom shelf is about two inches off the concrete floor. While there is water on the floor we have nothing soaking in boxes except for a box that contains furnace filters. So, thank God for wet vacuums as I spend the next three hours soaking up the puddles after the sump pump does its job.

 

Most interesting is what’s placed on those basement shelves. We have my plastic floral collection, you see I enjoy decorating the house each season. Right now, all the pumpkins are scattered throughout the house, then comes the tool section with pliers and screwdrivers. Next, the kitty carriers, for you never know when you spot a stray and that needs to be taken to the shelter to find a new home. Moving on down the line, horse supplies equipment, heirloom china, science school supplies, picnic, garden, paints and in the middle shelving with assorted jams and jellies gifts from parishioners and friends and finally the Breyer Horse collection. Question, why do we hang onto all this stuff?

 

There’s this story about the rich young man from yesterday’s Gospel that is often misunderstood.  Some deliberately will use this as a launching-off point to blast wealth and conclude that money is the root of all evil and that if you want to go to heaven you’ll empty your accounts, give to the poor.  But that’s a gross misunderstanding of this and another way where we, who aren’t wealthy, can sort of exempt ourselves from doing some uncomfortable reflection.  Because wealth, money in itself is not evil.  And the rich young man isn’t evil either. 

 

He recognizes that something is missing.  He’s been following God’s law and the commandments – which anyone of us knows isn’t easy.  He hasn’t done that perfectly. But he knows what is right and what is wrong and when he has failed he repented and asked for God’s mercy. 

 

At some point this young man has seen and heard Jesus speak and act, he’s experienced something in his heart and soul that desires more. Jesus wants him to have it. But he can’t do it.  His wealth was the obstacle. He thought about how much he had wanted the things he had purchased, the wealth he had acquired.  He was remembering what it took to accumulate, the sacrifices that he made for it.  He couldn’t imagine life without it.  He saw the wealth he possessed as a sure thing and tragically – at least at this moment – put more faith and trust in that wealth than in the Lord, who was offering him a peace, a freedom, a joy greater than he had ever experienced.

 

He’s not asking this Rich Young Man to give up his wealth, rather that his wealth has become his god that he will not forsake or make compromises with regards to.

 

What is it for us?  What are the things that have taken up a more exalted position in our life than we ever realized?  What is the show or football game that you cannot even think of missing – but when it comes to Sunday Mass we’re way to casual about things “if something suddenly comes up?”  How many hours overtime are we willing to put into that job without even a second thought but we somehow dismiss waking up 15 minutes early to pray, or to say a Rosary?  How quickly do we blow $20 purchasing something on Amazon but when it comes to offering something for someone in need we become very budget-conscious? 

 

What is the thing (or things) we’re holding onto – that’s become a bit more important than it should be? Why do we have all this stuff in our basements, or attics or garages.

 

Hopefully something is clicking inside of you that says maybe it’s time to just let go. Not because it is something evil in itself – but it reminds us of some attitudes, behaviors, and feelings that we are embarrassed about.  Because Jesus knows us intimately.  He knows us inside and out.   He knows our strengths, our successes, our best moments.  He knows our sins, our failures, our weaknesses, our insecurities, our fears.  He not only knows us, He loves us – that He suffered and died on the cross for me.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sunshine Friends, you know them. You know them inside and out the best and worst things about us and still You loves us – enough to suffer and die on the cross for you.  May that truth penetrate each of our hearts so that we can truly see who or what may be distracting, obscuring our making You the center of our lives.  May we respond to Your grace that will help loosen whatever it is that we’re gripping onto right now and just let go – so that we cling to

I Am Praying for You

 I’m sitting at my breakfast table, having my morning coffee and cereal and praying for you:

 

Rosalie Fafinski, Henry Fafinski ( our little boy having another heart surgery in Ohio), Steve Biklen  Val Richter, Veronica Faulkner, Mike Casale, Catherine Casale, Cheryl (our faithful hospicenurse in Florida who has to retire due to her poor heart),  Patti, Yvonne, Brad, Anne Marie, Bishop Mack, Fr. Adam, Fr. Nadeem, Rebecca Yaqoob, Joyce, Debby Ruszala, Nathalie & Louis Aillaud, Louis, Denny Meyer family, Dick Reisdorf (Dick went to heaven last week),  Kelli Cavanaugh, Sue Neary, all the children at Mary Cariola, and let’s add Timothy and anyone you forgot to forward prayers.

 

I’m preparing to drive to Rochester this Sunday morning to respond to a critical incident request at an urgent care facility where nurses experienced a traumatic death of a patient.

 

While briefly away with friends in the Adirondacks, I was asked it seemed that I am not retired. My humble response is that God has me launched on a new adventure. My purpose continues to minister to the needs of the poor and suffering. Know that as our paths have crossed in the past whether in a parish, hospital, school or workplace, your life and health are most important to me. I am only a text or cell phone call away, so never hesitate to call or text with an update about yourself, family or friends.

 

This morning’s Sunday Mass prayers will be at my breakfast table, but let me share one photo I took on Tuesday morning that reflects God’s love for you. May I suggest that you take one moment and imagine you are with God who is at your side to hold and embrace your tears and fears and allow him to bathe you in his love and comfort your weary soul.

 

 

 

Lord, I continue to pray for all my Sonshine Friends that you let them know not to be afraid. You come to each of us in our hour of need and to take away our tears and sorrows and pain. Fr. Matt (shepherd)

 

 

Children Are the Future

 

 

Let me share some history. I have served in eight parishes that had a Catholic school. Many times, the principal of the school would be asking me to celebrate a Children’s’ Mass on the First Friday of the month.

 

Each class would file into church with the kindergarten kids sitting in the front pew followed by all the other classes. I would get the kids attention by asking the students to say these words in a whisper: “Wake Up Spinach!”

 

What would happen next was magical. Out of a box would pop up a puppet that was given to me as a gift. A silly looking green creature, who you might think was related to Kermit the Frog. However, together Spinach and I would tell our stories about Jesus. Our kindergarten kids were memorized and even the seventh and eighth graders in the back pews were curious. 

 

Children need our help to learn that there is a God who loves them. How in the world can we expect them to grow up as strong people of faith in this morally confused, spiritually warped culture without the help of caring adults?

Notice when God became flesh, he came as a baby. He came as a child. He could have stepped out of the heavens in some big, bold spark-flying way, coming down the ladder with the keys to heaven. But Jesus came as a baby. And grown-up Jesus had a deep passion for kids. I mean, think about it, when he needed to feed 5000 people, who helped him out? The little boy with the picnic lunch with some bread and fish. When Jesus was in the middle of something, what quickly altered his schedule? A sick child or a child that folks thought had even died. Jesus stopped and he took care of children first.

 

Jesus teaches how valuable each child is. People bring children to Jesus, hoping he'll touch them. The disciples rebuke them and say, "Jesus is busy with the adults. He's got more important things to do." And Jesus says, "Whoa, whoa. If you want to be great, welcome a child.

 

Jesus even gives the kingdom of God to children. He says, "Let the little children come to me. The Kingdom of God belongs to them."

 

Children are special to Jesus. Maybe because we have so much to learn from them. Maybe because children speak the truth. The first graders were
discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different hair color than the other members. One of her students suggested that he was adopted. A little girl said, 'I know all about adoption, I was adopted.' 'What does it mean to be adopted?', asked another child. 'It means', said the girl, 'that you grew in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy!'

 

It just may be that the kingdom belongs to kids because they understand God better than we adults do. And Jesus blesses children. He takes the children in his arms. He lays his hands on them, and He blesses them. In fact, the only time in scripture that Jesus blesses someone is children. He wants what's best for each child right from the start. He wants them to have a solid foundation, not to have to wait till they're adults to try to figure things out.

 

Kids aren't an inconvenience. They deserve more than leftovers from their parents, from the church, and from the world. Consider the basic facts of how you and I develop as human beings. We're made in the image of God. Your moral and spiritual development begins at age 2. You begin learning right from wrong at age 2, and then you progress rapidly from there. By age 9, your moral foundation is set. By age 12, your spiritual identity is largely set. What you believe about God, largely in place.

 

In other words, at 12, the greatest predictor for who you will be, morally and spiritually as an adult, is set. What you create early on in the life of a child is the greatest determiner for how that child will behave as an adult. If you want to help shape the church and the world, the best thing you can do, the most important thing you can do is provide deep, robust spiritual experiences for children ages two through 12.

 

Let me suggest something based on my experience in the classroom teaching our kids about Jesus with the help of my friend Spinach. Introduce your children, your grandchildren, your neighborhood kids to Jesus. Shape, their values when they're young and you will change the world. If you don't do that, the odds are that we will spend the rest of our days doing repair work and damage control.

 

Let’s say you are Uncle Steve or Aunt Marie, Grandpa Ted or Grandma Rosalie and the kids have parents who refer to themselves as secular Catholics. They don't go to church. They have no relationship with the church. And they're not doing anything intentional to shape the spiritual life of their son or daughter. So, you simply take the kids to mass and spend part of your day to build a relationship with them. The real benefit will be the relationship that grows over time between you and this child, who discovers over time that you care and love them enough to inconvenience yourself, spending time in the car laughing with them, talking to them, listening to them, perhaps talking about God at MacDonald’s so that slowly you help build that foundation closer to Jesus.

 

In a way, you are planting seeds of faith in your little one that could ultimately impact their mom and dad’s relationship with Jesus and his church. If you do that, your niece, your nephew, your grandchild is in good hands. Their moral and spiritual foundation are being set in place very well. So, let me just ask you a simple question. How will you shape the faith of a child in your life?

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who have children and grandchildren who need to hear Jesus words of compassion and joy for they are his special treasure. By the way, if you remember sitting in a pew and listening to Spinach telling you a story about Jesus, drop me an email and tell me what you remember. Fr. Matt email address: drmattkawiak@gmail.com

 

 

 

Sunrise in New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia

 

Images for Baby Hayden in Heaven

Waterrock Knob, North Carolina Sunset

 

Soco Falls, Cherokee Indian Reservation, Cherokee, North Carolina

Congaree National Park, South Carolina

Piney Point Pier, Maryland Sunrise

Pray for baby Harden today and her parents

Image of Solomon Island Bridge in Maryland

 

Who Ya Gonna Call?

 

Maggie our next door senior neighbor calls to say that her refrigerator is not working. “Who’ya gonna call” when your appliance is broke? It’s a stretch to find someone willing to do this old fashion grunt repair work. Lucky for this priest who was replacing some light fixtures when he asked the salesperson, Tony, for a referral and Jim came to mind. No clue about this vendor except I was told that he prefers to get a text. So, this “beggar priest” puts out the hook: “senior, food spoiling, refrigerator not working, help!” Luckily, I get this response, “get the make and serial number”. Next day, I get this text message, “I’m in Leroy, be at the house in half an hour.”

I think this must be my guardian angel. 

 

It reminds me that God gives us lots of names to call him by: Yahweh, Abba, Father, Jehovah. And one wonderful Hebrew old Jewish names for God is Rapha. It means Healer. God is your healer. When we need repair, we call on God as Rapha.

 

The gospel of Mark devotes more time to Jesus’ healing than any other gospel. In Mark, Jesus heals a man with an unclean spirit. He heals Peter's mother-in-law. He heals all the sick who came to him. He heals a leper. He heals a paralyzed man. He heals a man with a deformed hand. He heals a man possessed by a legion of demons. He heals a little girl near death. He heals a woman hemorrhaging for years. He heals the sick wherever he went. He heals a Syrophoenician woman's daughter. He heals a deaf man, a blind man, a boy with a spirit, and he heals blind Bartimaeus. In this short gospel that's barely 16 chapters, there are at least 16 stories of healing. Do you think the Gospel writer Mark is trying to teach us something?

In the Gospel story, Jesus heals a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment. As he does that, the people are, "astonished beyond measure.” And they say he has done all things well, Rapha. God is your healer.

 

In a Harvard study, 90% of doctors think faith has a healing effect. Sadly, only 70% of the population thinks that. In other words, more doctors than patients believe in the power of faith. And, Lord, do we need your healing? Sadly, only 61% of the people in our country are vaccinated, yet 100% of the doctors know this will keep you out of our overcrowded ICU units

Lord, we need your healing. As a grief therapist, I am often called to provide grief support to employees whose coworkers have died. I come at a time when hearts are loaded with grief, Lord, we need your healing. For a mind addicted to prescription medication, Lord, we need your healing. For a soul attached to gambling, Lord, we need your healing. For a heart restless in life, seeking purpose, never finding it, Lord, we need your healing. For a relationship broken and torn apart, Lord, we need your healing. For a country divided over the freedom to decide whether to get vaccinated or not, Lord, we need your healing. Say it with me,” Lord, we need your healing.”

How does God heal? Sometimes, God works through miracles. Sometimes God heals through the faith of family and friends like the deaf man brought by his friends who ask Jesus to heal him. He's healed because of them. Their faith. Sometimes God heals through the faith of the people around us. God heals through doctors and medicine. And of course, sometimes God heals through time.

 

Remember that broken refrigerator, Jim has been in appliance repair for over 36 years. He shared that he had three emergency calls today for broken freezers and Maggie was next on his list. This angel shared that in 2020, he survived two heart attacks and his wife is a cancer survivor. But instead of retiring, God blessed him to be a healer of appliances and broken freezers are at the top of his list. While he is exchanging the broken computer board, I am emptying the freezer, defrosting the shelves and drying the parts.

 

No doubt Maggie was grateful to get her food back into the freezer before it spoiled. I was delighted to connect with a man of faith, a healer of appliances who had his share of health problems but who chose to continue to repair the broken appliances that we do not understand nor have a clue how to fix. 

 

However, sometimes despite his best efforts he can’t save the appliance. When I work with someone who's just lost a spouse I know that it's going to take time to heal. Time and prayer for the grief and the pain will possibly be healed. No one fully understands how God heals or God's timing or even all of his ways. We don't always know how. We can't fully explain why. And sometimes God doesn't heal the way we expect. But that doesn't make it any less true. We have faith. If something doesn't work right, if it's broken, you take it to the one who can fix it, right? Jesus is the Great Physician. The one who made you. The one who will make you whole. His name is Healer.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who need your healing, so in my Masses these past three months, I have prayed for…Cheryl, Patti, Yvonne, Rosalie, Ted, little Henry, Brad, Bishop Mack, Fr. Adam Fr. Nadeem, let’s add our refrigerator repairman Bill, his spouse and think of people you know who need healing and spend a minute in silent prayer. Bring to mind the healing you need and perhaps give yourself a gentle hug and hold yourself for a moment. Invite Jesus’ healing touch in your life. For it's true, God is your healer. He has done all things well and he loves you more than you will ever know.

 

Gossip, Hypocrisy and Nurturing Good Habits

 

When a reading starts, "Now, when the Pharisees," you know it's coming. You know what's coming. This reading begins, "Now, when the Pharisees gathered together," it wasn't just one Pharisee. And this is the problem with the Pharisees, it wasn't just one; they were getting together. What's it about? It's about gossip, right? It's about the insidious nature of gossip. It's about how gossip destroys. The Pharisees get together; they got nothing on Jesus, so they attack his disciples. And they say the disciples, they're not washing according to all the laws, so Jesus must be bad because his disciples are doing this thing over here. And they come to Jesus. The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?"

 

Does he answer that question? No, he doesn't answer that question. I love that. He just doesn't even answer that question. He just knows “who they are.” (For Fr. Adam –RC priests telling your parishioners they’re going to hell attending your church; for Bishop Mack people who want control that we can’t spend money to save the church for future generations; for Fr. Nadeem people who resist any changes in their church). 

 

Jesus knows their heart. He doesn't even answer that question. I think that's a beautiful lesson for you and me, because sometimes people come to you. They got questions, but their questions aren't coming from a good place. Their questions are coming a place of judgment and criticism. The Pharisees and the scribe, they all get together, they all have their little gossip sessions, and then they confront Jesus and they say, "We've got this question for you, Jesus." He doesn't even answer the question. It's brilliant. What does he say? "Isaiah prophesied well about you hypocrites. It is written this people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. In vain, do they worship me teaching as doctrines the precepts of men."

 

It's powerful. It's strong, right? I can understand why their hatred for him grew because he's calling them out all the time. He's calling them out all the time, and you have to have a great humility to be able to be called out and say, "Yeah, there's wisdom there. There's insight there. I can change. I can grow." And they didn't have that. But you know what? I'm that Pharisee. I'm like those Pharisees. There have been regretful times in my life where I've gotten together with other people and gossiped about other people.

 

What does Jesus say? "You people honor me with your lips." There's been times in my life I've done that, "but your hearts are far from me." There's been times in my life-- "in vain, do you worship me teaching as doctrines the precepts of men," how often in my life have I clung to the worldly teachings of people rather than the eternal teachings of God? And so, if we-- if we pay attention, what do we discover? Well, the readings about gossips and hypocrites, and sometimes we are those gossips and hypocrites. And when we read the scriptures, unless we can see ourselves in each and every single person, we're deceiving ourselves.

 

We're deceiving ourselves because each and every single person in the scriptures is a messenger who comes to teach you and me something about ourselves, not something about somebody else, but something about ourselves. And then Jesus answers the real question. He says, "Hear me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside of man which is going into him can defile him, but the things which come out of a man of what defile him." What's coming out of you? How are you nurturing your heart? How are you nurturing your spirit? How are you nurturing your mind?

 

So, the good things are percolating in there so that when you engage with others, when you're in relationships, when your parish has to make tough financial decisions, when you are invited to give a new priest a chance to grow your parish, good things bubble up and overflow into this world. What's he saying? He's saying, "Nurture the inner life. The external is a reflection of the internal."

We can't control everything that's going on around us, but we can have enormous influence on what's going on within us. And he's encouraging us to pay attention to what's going on within you? What spiritual food do you need to nurture? What is going on within you so that we can resist the temptation to be gossips and so that we can align our actions with our values and not be hypocrites like the Pharisees.

Give Him A Chance

 

People are leaving the church. Why you ask? Too hot in church, no air conditioning, sermons too long, music sounds like a dirge, people in the pew gossip and are grumpy. Too many rules to follow, too much sandal, or simply no time, it’s the start of the football season and the Bills are expected to win the Super Bowl. 

 

Funny, same thing happened to Jesus. People were leaving. It says in the gospel, “they no longer went with him." And so, Jesus looks at his closest disciples, and he asked them, "Will you also go away?" It's a great question for your faith, isn't it? 

 

And it's a great question for your life. When the going gets tough, will you go away? When your relationship is challenged, do you find a way to hang in there?  When a bad habit produces a negative result, do you keep grinding it out, or do you give up. Here’s the question of the day for two parishes. When your church is not going the way you want, do you stick it out or do you walk away?  

 

Let’s be perfectly honest, it’s not easy being Catholic. Following Jesus, having faith, and really trying to become the best version of yourself. I mean, we all have bad days, we say stupid things like I heard this weekend, “What kind of nationality is that new priest coming to our church.”  We all have moments where we wonder, "God, are you really with me or not?" 

 

So, let me remind you of a forgotten word, a very unpopular word, “faithfulness.” You may know his cousins stick-to-itness and perseverance. Faithfulness, it's not the sexiest word around, is it!

For you and me, being faithful usually means being heroic in ordinary things. 

 

So, let’s skip the grim statistics that show less then 15% of Catholics are attending church. We don’t say it out loud but you might wonder, are we getting ready to close our churches for good? 

Not at Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral in Lancaster, not at Holy Family in North Java, because a bishop has made a radicle decision to invite some young, enthusiastic disciples to stir the bushes and knock on doors.  

 

Sounds just like Jesus with his young fellows, walking door to door in the marketplace and preaching the “Good News.” 

 

Next Saturday and Sunday, a young priest and his spouse, Fr. Nadeem and Rebecca will travel from Florida to preach the Good News to the cathedral and Holy Family. They have accepted the mission to knock on doors and invite your neighbors to come and taste the sweetness of the Lord. That’s probably means Fr. Matt will have to make more Snickerdoodle cookies.  

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends to remain faithful, not to be so critical or hesitate to take a chance not knowing the end result, but trusting that Your spirit will guide our churches to continue the saving work of your Son and Our Savior. Give Fr. Nadeem a chance, give Fr. Adam a chance people, they both need your prayers, your love and your support.

Knock on the Door

 

The cellphone glass was shattered. Didn’t drop it, didn’t smash it against the steel tractor. It just happened. Now the real problem. Where does one go to get it either repaired or replaced? Your choices are not too inviting. Either wait online for your customer service to replace or off to Target to find a customer service agent who assures you that it’s not a problem to transfer all your contacts, photos, whatever and then teach you how to use the newest and latest technology. No two screens look the same.

 

After several calls to different stores, Louis, the agent, says it’s a piece of cake. Meet him at 10am because by 10:15 lines will form and take hours. Only problem, arrive at 10am and no Louis.  Ron is working instead, apologizes for any misunderstanding. He takes my old phone, unboxes the new replacement and literally takes his fingers and says, “cross our fingers father, and hopes this works.” There’s a pit in my stomach that says, “we’re in trouble.” After several attempts, Ron says sorry you will have to upload each contact on your old phone. The old cell technology won’t talk to the new phone. I knew I was in trouble when he said “do you know your password for Google.”

 

I drove an hour from Rochester to Buffalo thinking I found my tech, instead I am driving home kicking myself saying things like, “should have done nothing, could have bought a new screen, should have walked away.”

 

That night, I’m receiving phone messages and I am lucky enough to reply but I have no clue how to get back to the home screen or how to upload the hundred phone numbers. Then a miracle. I contact my good friend Fr. Don who asked “how am I doing?” His response, come over his home, Ben his son, just completed uploading and changing over his new phone. Yes, there are angels!

 

As I walk in the door, this young man who is going to college to be an IT specialist, takes both the old and the new and within minutes has them talking to one another. No language barriers, no crossing fingers. With gratitude in my heart, I ask for a tutorial on how to use this new technology. How to download a text, how to change the ring tone, how to mute the sound during Mass.

 

We all have become dependent at pressing our cell phones to stay in contact with our family and relatives.  In some ways, the pandemic has allowed us to visit distant family although it’s not the same as giving them a hug ourselves. In the gospel, Mary comes to Elizabeth and we learn that the moment she comes through the door, the two women press flesh by giving each other a hug and Elizabeth baby’s moves inside her. She says he leapt for joy because she realized at that moment that Mary too was pregnant with the Son of God.

 

Today if people want to get in contact with you they have established YouTube videos for them to chat and meet people online. But I have another idea. Two surveys have shown that over 90% of youth have stopped going to church after finishing their Catholic education. Churches will continue to close, but I have an idea that reflects what Mary was doing this morning. 

 

An editor from The Tablet, Margaret Hebblethwaite, reports upon a diocese where 34 parishes have begun a program of using lay people as pastoral visitors. As the editor puts it, "Each member of the neighborhood pastoral team is responsible for making and maintaining contact with a dozen households. They are Catholics who want to live out the belief that the Church should care for 100 percent of its members, and not just the 15 percent who go to Mass. Sadly, another survey reported that during this pandemic 70% of the people watching Mass from their homes will not be returning to church. 

 

In reaching out to your neighbors, there is no suggestion that people might like to come along to church. In last year alone, these visitors have made more than 6,000 contacts.

The pastor writes ahead to say a parishioner will drop in. They do not go in pairs, to avoid any kind of intimidating posture. Basically, you are just calling on your neighbor. Somebody who may not be "practicing,' as we say, but who is in your parish. With what results? One team member discovered a disabled man who knew nobody in the street; neighbors had even been throwing rubbish over his fence. But now neighbors have helped to clean up his garden and got to know him, and a Eucharistic minister brings him communion. Another woman found one of the lonely people on her list singularly unresponsive, until the seventh time she came to see him, when he told her, to her amazement, 'I do so enjoy your visits.'"

This approach is a radical change. The usual teaching is that baptism brings one into the community of the faithful. Here the order is reversed; it is the knock on the door. The sacraments may follow later; we don't mean to imply that they are unimportant. But more important is to get to know people, to become friends, and if needed, to be of service. One visitor goes with lemons from her lemon tree to break the ice. Another takes her ten-year-old son, who asked, "Why are we going to this house?" She answered, "Because the parish thinks we ought to be more caring of each other and get to know people." He responded, "Oh, that's a good idea."

The approach is made to Catholics, but many people move, and visitors encounter people of other faiths or none. But they are still neighbors. And, as the editor writes, "The street is the place where the range of social problems is found: domestic violence, racism, loneliness, the trials of old age, adolescent rebellion, family stress and mental illness, not to mention a wealth of happiness, skill and generosity waiting to be tapped. 

 

One of the pastoral team says, "We are identifying a new mission ground. This is where we rub shoulders with those whom we do not choose for community, but rather with those whom God has called us to love - literally, our neighbors."

One woman in a wheelchair, who gave the visitors a long tirade about the way she felt the church had treated her, finally concluded, "If only the church was all like you, I don't think I would have ever left it."

Today Mary and Elizabeth show us the way to establishing relationships through this kind of visiting.  Our bishop is very worried that churches will close so his response has been to recruit young priests to come to his cathedral and here in North Java and a new parish in Las Vegas to inspire this community to press the flesh and to get to know the neighbors. 

 

In two weeks, Fr. Nadeem and his wife Rebecca will come to North Java for a visit with the intention assigned by Bishop Mack to start a new ministry at Holy Family. I trust that you will welcome them both with open arms like Elizabeth greeted Mary and help them both invite your neighbors to come and taste the goodness of the Lord at this altar.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends and miss you all very much. I am proud of all the good work you continue do in the name of the Lord. May the Blessed Mohter prtect you and keep you close to her Son.

 

Invisible Sin

 

Fr. Adam was feeling super anxious after he received his new assignment to start a new parish in Las Vegas. The devil began to attack him with thoughts like “am I going to be OK. Will people come to support him as he starts this new faith community.”

 

Then toxic thoughts got into his head, when he discovered that his former dioceses were sending notices that he no longer was a valid minister of the sacraments.  He feared: “would he be able to withstand the attacks from his enemies and haters and distractors and naysayers and fear mongers and the religious sectarians who will say that the PNCC is not real and valid and legitimate and not a licit Catholic Church.” Fr. Adam had a bad case of “monkey brain” when we only think the worse.

 

Fr. Adam prays that it would be nice to be vindicated. But more importantly, he asked, "Now, where do I go to get my name back?" It's a good question. After your name is dragged through the mud, after your reputation is ruined, after hearing the whispers and feeling the stares, where do you go to get your name back? Whoever said sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me didn't know much about gossip, did they?

 

"Where do I go to get my name back?". Within days of being incarnated into the PNCC, his former religious brothers had him all but condemned. Never mind that Fr. Adam was seizing the opportunity to start a fresh new democratic church in an area steeped in addictions where he would be a shepherd to save hundreds of lives. And yet his life would be ruined, dragged through the mud, through rumors and innuendo and gossip.

 

That naysayer never gazed into the sad faces of a family whose son has died in a tragic car wreck and heard the unfounded rumors, never heard them ask, "What causes people to feed on half truths and spread them with such ferocity?"

Truth matters because anything less than the truth eventually leads to pain for someone. The people of Israel love to murmur, and they love to complain, especially about Moses. They even complained about God. And all kinds of people love to gossip and murmur against Jesus just like this week’s gospel.

The truth is a powerful thing. In fact, our whole society depends on it. Every relationship you have, business, marriage, friendship depends on truthfulness, doesn't it? And when we don't tell the truth about other people, when we gossip, stick our noses into areas where they don't belong because of a desire to be in the know, when we slander, intentionally set out to hurt somebody with our words, bad things happen, marriages crumble, relationships sour, friendships end, churches are divided and sometimes lives are destroyed. 

 

The tongue is a dangerous weapon. It's a powerful tool, and there are no tongue control laws. Tongue is remarkable. It can destroy thousands of lives without shedding an ounce of blood. Most of us don't think of ourselves as murderers, do we? But we murder people's reputations when we gossip or when we stand by and let somebody else assassinate a person's character. Gossip can never be undone. Some people will never look the same way at that person again. It's evil. Gossip is the invisible sin. And tragically now, gossip is just another name for conversation. Social media has made murmuring normal. In fact, it's made it accepted, encouraged, and not even noticed. In fact, a lot of people have gotten rich off gossip. 

 

But you and I are called to be the people of truth. Honesty is not the best policy. Honesty is a way of life. People of God deal honestly with other people. We live the truth. We shouldn't look like the world.

 

A Cornell study found that we lie to people most often when we're on the phone and face to face, and least often via email and text, where there's a written record of what we actually say. But you and I are called to be different. Words have power. Words have the power to heal, to give hope, to encourage. 

 

So here's three simple questions to ask yourself before you speak. Number one, is this true? Take this seriously before you say something. Ask yourself is it true. If you don't know that what you say is true, stop. Second, is this necessary? Sometimes there's no denying the facts, but it's just not helpful to broadcast them or to have other people take pleasure in the shame of somebody else. There are times to remain silent, and the best way to prevent gossip is to ask yourself is it really necessary to say this? Does this person really need to know? And if the answer is no, stop. Third, is this charitable? Slander means to intentionally use words to hurt someone. And slander is easily prevented by this question. Will these words bring hope or healing? If it's not charitable, if the words can't bring hope or healing, stop. You and I are called to stand for the truth. We're called to stand out for the truth, to speak the truth, to use words to help, not to hurt. We are called to be a people of truth.

 

Fr. Adam shared a recent memory going to breakfast with two bishops after he was incarnated to a local restaurant in Scranton, Pennsylvania. To his surprise, the breakfast menu included “a pierogi omelet.” OMG, he said to himself. At that moment he felt that his grandma was with him and he knew instantly that he was going to be OK. He would be just fine.

 

Why, because when his “Babcia” shows up, everything is OK, she makes it all well. She always did and she always will. She taught him to be a person of truth, to be a minister of hope and healing. In his heart, Babcia brings Jesus and if Jesus is with us who can be against us?

 

He prays: “Jesus, I trust in you.” He asks his new parishioners to repeat that prayer everyday with him, and every day he promises to bless you with a big pierogi smile and a big hello. Come to his new church, Divine Mercy and know the truth that in his presence you will OK and experience the healing power of Jesus.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who have suffered from loose lips and narrow minds. With your grace, may we persevere in our quest and pursue our dreams. Put on your “pierogi smile” that drives away toxic thoughts and say to our distractors, we walk in the light and love Our Lord for who can stand against us.