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Probably most of us remember the story of the great Saint Augustine of Hippo that was told to us by our teachers in the Catholic Schools or CCD as it was called in those days. The story goes that Saint Augustine was walking on the beach one day as he was pondering the mystery of the Trinity. Like most pastors, he was probably trying to find an understandable way to communicate this great truth to his people. As he walked along he noticed a little boy who was digging a hole in the sand. After digging the hole he began running back and forth with his little bucket filling the hole with sea water. Of course, by the time he filled his bucket and returned to the hole, the sand had absorbed the water and the hole was empty again. But the little boy kept running back and forth, back and forth. Finally, Saint Augustine asked him what he was attempting to do. The boy told him that he was emptying the ocean into the hole. In a gentle way the humble saint told him that this was impossible. The little boy stopped, looked up at him, and responded that it was just as impossible for him to fully understand and explain the Trinity. With that, the little boy disappeared. Saint Augustine realized that the boy was an angel (a messenger) from God. And so the pastor of today, like myself, ponders how to explain this truth. And the answer is still the same today as it was in Saint Augustine's day. But may we ponder this truth recalling what Saint John tells us, "God is love". We may never understand the mystery of the Trinity, but we have constant reminders in our lives that God is love. Maybe that will satisfy our hungry hearts until we see God face to face and know the splendor of the Trinity.
Peace and Love in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
We will soon enter into the holiest week of the year. Hence, we call it “Holy Week”. For us Catholics it is not just a time of thinking about deeds done two thousand years ago. It is, actually, a participation in the one saving deed of the Lord Jesus. Hopefully, this calls to your minds what we learned in our sermons on the liturgy – namely that when we celebrate the memory of the death and resurrection of the Lord, God is making present this saving deed. Since we did not live in those days, yet our sins contributed to His death, God in His generous love makes present to us, today, the one sacrifice of Christ. Thus, when the popular song asks us “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”, we can wholeheartedly answer “Yes”. And so it is with the special liturgies of Holy Week. Now, this might sound like a harsh statement that I am about to write, but it is nonetheless true. Any Catholic who absents him/her self from the liturgies of Holy Week without a good reason is like the disciples who deserted Him. True, you are not required to attend these liturgies yet, if there is a deep love in your heart for the Lord who died because of your and my sins, how can you absent yourself because you are tired or hungry or they are too long or your favorite television show is on or your supposed to meet friends other than your friends who are at church and the Savior who said, “I call you friends”? I must admit, I can’t understand that. I invite you to pray with me during this Holy Week that we may respond to the Lord’s invitation to “stay and watch with me”.
Lent 2005 May the darkness of ashes and sin give way to the brightness of forgiveness and grace in our lives. We are in the holy season of Lent. We begin by being marked with the ancient sign of mourning and repentance- ashes. Each of us probably has plenty to mourn about if we are honest about sin in our lives. I know in my own life that, having just returned from Nigeria, I have been more insensitive to the suffering of the poor than I was aware. This journey has given me much to ponder and pray about. And, in a nut shell, that is the purpose of Lent - to ponder and pray. After that comes the joy of new life as we act on what the Lord shows each of us while we ponder and pray. But for Lent, to ponder and pray is enough. Let the Lord led each of us where He knows we need to go. In our new life of Easter wisdom, we can then act. Let us pray for each other that God may remove all fear in our hearts and minds so that we may willingly enter into this wondrous time of prayer and pondering.
Christmas Tide May the God of peace be with you all. Our Advent Wreaths are all burning brightly. We have been reflecting for the last weeks on the coming of the Lord and our prayer has been, "Come, Lord Jesus". In addition, our houses are all decorated with lights to reflect that our homes are welcoming homes both to the Lord and to the stranger in our midst. Our gifts, hopefully, are all wrapped and, in some cases, hidden with the hope of not being discovered or opened until Christmas. The cards are all sent. The meals are all planned. Now we can spend some time reflecting on why we do all this craziness at this time of the year. Take advantage of it. When we are more deeply aware of what we are really celebrating, it makes the whole season richer and richer. By way of example of this, I was celebrating Mass with the residents of Bay Bluff and the wonderful volunteers from our parish who join me each week. For so many of the residents, Christmas can be a very sad and depressing time. It is filled with memories of Christmas past. Yet, what would Christmas be like without these memories? They are our memories of loved ones and special gifts; of growing pains and joyful youth; of Mid-night Mass and God's love made flesh in Jesus. These memories enrich us. As I looked at the wealth of love and memories in that one room as we celebrated Mass, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of God. All those rich memories make us who we are. May the tears I saw at Bay Bluff be tears of memorial joy. For God in His love has worked wonders for us and, as we look back, it becomes so clear to us. If He has been so generous to us in the past, hold on tight. The best is yet to come. And so we say, "Come, Lord Jesus". Merry Christmas
May the God of peace be with you all. Pope John Paul has declared this next 12 month period to be "the Year of the Eucharist". Following his lead, I plan to make that a focus of my service to you during this period. Already we have spent time reflecting on the Mass in preparation for the full implementation of the new Roman Missal (Sacramentary) that contains the prayers for Mass. In our Catholic Update series, Bob Chapdelaine is presenting a three week series on the Eucharist which is open to the entire parish family. Shortly, we will begin a series of Eucharistic Holy Hours some of which will be directed toward certain prayer intentions such as vocations, peace, etc. We will also be distributing to our parishioners a shorter, easy -to-read version of Pope John Paul's "Letter on the Eucharist". Please watch the bulletin and this website for more information. In the meantime, please keep praying for our openness to God's leadership through our visioning process. It appears to be going quite well. The comments I am hearing are very good and some refer to the evening as excellent. Do take time to enjoy the beauty of God's creation as the leaves and shrubs do their best to praise God as they burst into color. Peace and Love in the Lord,
May the God of peace be with us all. It feels like autumn is here already. As I write this at 7:30 am, it is cool and crisp outside. The beauty of our weather makes us all the more aware of the devastation caused by the hurricanes in the Caribbean and in Florida and other states. May God inspire people to rise to the difficulties they face. Our parish has sent a donation to the Red Cross to help in the emergency relief. It is our prayers, however, that are the most important. Our parish visioning process is beginning. As I mentioned before, we will be empowered by God to discern God's plan for our parish from what flows from the hearts and minds of our fellow parishioners at our visioning sessions. It is so important that we both pray for this process and participate in it. From this vision will flow the guiding direction for our parish for the next many years. From this process will arise a clear picture of what resources we need to fulfill this vision. I do hope that each parishioner is aware of how important your hopes and longings, dreams and needs for our parish and city are. To all of you who have worshipped with us this summer, know that we will truly miss you. We pray that you have a safe journey home. We all experience some sadness at the end of this season. That sadness makes the expectation of next summer even sweeter. We already look forward to your return. Go in peace. Peace and Love in the Lord,
May the God of peace be with us all. Well, it seems like all good things must end. But only to allow something good to begin. Hence it is with so many things in our lives. This beautiful summer will soon give way to a beautiful autumn. The hustle and bustle that we enjoy each summer will soon give way to a slower paced season as our visitors and summer residents return to their homes. My friend, Father Moses, will start his journey home to Nigeria on August 25th. It looks doubtful that he will be able to return next summer. However, he hopes to return the summer of 2006. All good things must end only to make room for something better. It is my prayer for all of us that we can experience the rightness in the cycle of life that leads to the ending of good things. Life is a series of deaths and resurrections. We know from these experiences that endings of any kind are painful, like death; yet we also know that, in God's merciful love, a different joy dawns in our lives like a new resurrection. Eventually, all of us come to the end of this series. Thanks be to God that we believe that this series in our lives doesn't end with the death part, but with the resurrection. To all of you who have worshipped with us this summer, know that we will truly miss you. We pray that you have a safe journey home. We all experience some sadness at the end of this season. That sadness makes the expectation of next summer even sweeter. We already look forward to your return. Go in peace. Peace and Love in the Lord,
Greetings in the Lord! This has been a wonderful week and I want to thank God for it. So many wonderful things have happened. I witnessed the entrance of a parishioner into eternal life and helped her be prepared with blessings and prayers with her and her family. God was there. I was there when people reconciled with God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. God was there. I was present when a family gathered for a meal and asked God to be present to them. God was there. I saw God, because I was looking for Him, in the person who let me make a left hand turn while she waited for that extra moment. God was there. As I drove down Main Street many times this week, I saw God in the relaxed face of parents, children, elders as they talked, ate ice cream (God forgive them), talked, and widow shopped. For the next couple of weeks I will be one of them as I go on vacation to visit with family and friends on the East Coast. May people see the same thing in my relaxed face as I do everything I mentioned above except eat ice cream (I promise!!). Thanks, Lord, for showing yourself to me all week. It helps me look forward to next week.
Greetings in the Lord! I walked outside about an hour ago. I felt warmth! I haven't felt that since we turned the heat off. Maybe we really are going to have a summer. When I see all our summer parishioners here and all the visitors around town, I feel a real sense of joy. Our city comes alive and sparkles with smiles and laughter, music and song. So, all right, maybe it does get a little crowded but that's life here in Harbor Springs. Even though I have only been here for one year, it is wonderful to see the people I first got to know last summer. It is like a homecoming. I do hope that all of you who are reading this message know that you are most welcome here at Holy Childhood Church. Our parish family offers an especially warm hand to any of you who might be estranged from the church for whatever reason. Sometimes, being in a different town and relaxing on vacation turns our hearts and minds to thoughts of God. If you hear Him calling you home and you need someone to walk with you, give me a call. I hope to hear from you. Peace and Love in the Lord,
Happy Independence Day! This year, as you know, the Fourth of July falls on a Sunday. What better way for us to celebrate this great gift of God, our liberty and freedom, than by giving thanks in the Eucharistic Celebration of the Mass. We hope you will join us for Mass this holiday weekend. Please know that we are praying for all of you who are traveling to celebrate these days with family and friends. On another note, I would sincerely like to thank all our parishioners who supported our Catholic Services Appeal this year. We have more than reached our target. It is so encouraging as the pastor of a Catholic parish to see that our people have a deep sense in what it means to be Catholic. It goes well beyond being a parish. We are part of the universal church (catholic means universal) and we have a responsibility to co-build the Kingdom of God. Thank you to all who are doing just that. The CSA is one way of contributing to the work of the Church. I am most grateful. Peace and Love in the Lord,
It is almost a year since I arrived in this holy parish in this wonderful town. This year the Lord has given me has been extraordinarily rich and I am most grateful to God. First, I want to share with all of you what a warm and welcoming parish this is. The visitor, including myself a year ago, never feels like a stranger unless they want to. And we respect that, too. The ever growing awareness of what it means to be Church (not just go to Church) is a strong support for the people of God. The many years of Franciscan service here helped build on that foundation which is Christ. As we continue to grow in holiness and develop as a people of service and ministry, I invite you to tour our web site and maybe find some hope and comfort in the joy of being Catholic. There are many graces we have yet to accept. But what we are accepting is empowering us to blossom as a community of loving service, forgiveness and acceptance, challenge and hope. We pray for all the people of God everyday. If you are near or far, know you are always welcome here. I know this is so, because I have been.
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