Some things I think I think

Mothers Day is not a liturgical feast but it is a spiritual day. The idea of spiritual motherhood is very real in our Church. When Jesus was dying on the cross, he  gave the care of his mother to St. John. She was his mother to care for and accompany from then on . In turn  Mary became our Mother. For centuries men and women have a devotion to her as ‘spiritual mother’, whom we call upon often,  especially by praying the rosary each day or  occasionally. Our Church is also called Mother Church, because we are nurtured by her with the grace of the Sacraments. Last weekend, ‘Mother Church’ bestowed special grace and consolation to many people. There were first Communions, a wedding, a funeral, Reconciliation, Communion to the sick and, of course,  parishioners attended the weekend Masses to hear the Word and to receive the Eucharist. Certainly, the Church is  a ‘spiritual Mother to each of us. Believe it or not!  She even tells us ‘what to do’ and sometime even creates a little honest guilt or even an angry response from her children.

Happy Mother’s Day to each of you who fill a similar nurturing role! You are as important as ever in the lives of your children, both young and old. I think especially of young mothers just learning what’s it all about now that your lives have change in an instant. I think too of you single moms providing for young ones while making a living too. Of course, there are the ‘veteran moms’. You always seems to know ‘what to do’ when no one else does. There are step mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Your roles are different now, but you are still such an important part of the family. And less I forget, there are the godmothers who made the special promises to carefully care for the spiritual lives of your god-children.  Not an easy ‘role’ today! But you too are integral loved one in the life of your godchildren for their spiritual health.

Mothers! Your children know you have hearts of gold and the deepest sacrificial and unconditional love for each of us. And if you have passed on to everlasting life, our faith tells us that you still look out for us  even as we remember you with tears, but also with joy and  the satisfaction that we are here because of you.

Mothers! Your children know you were not perfect, even though we tell everyone you were the best mother in the world. Sometimes we get angry with you too and that’s being honest.  We make you anger at us too! And that’s being honest also. For what it’s worth, we are sorry! We ask for your forgiveness! We need your love! And we will look the other way when we remember, with laughter, your imperfections.  But most of all thank you, Mother for being you.

We pray today for God’s blessing, good health and your peace and joy. We hope that spiritually and humanly we have made you proud of us as we are of you! Happy Mother’s Day.

The Readings for this Second Sunday of Lent certainly are filled both with plain talk and also subtle indications of ‘awareness’ of God in our lives. In case you are wondering, I am referring to the Story in Genesis (Genesis 22:1ff) and especially that part where Abraham is about to slay his son in Obedience to the command of God. God holds him back, of course, but leaves us wondering ‘why God would even do such a thing?” Secondly,  God’s working with us comes from Jesus being transform with sparkling white garments before the eyes of some Apostles. ( Mark9:2ff) This occasion is remembered by Christians as the ‘Transfiguration” because the power of God not only took Jesus out of his ‘natural’ element, but also transformed the Apostles as well. All they could say was: “it is good for us to here.”

So what’s the point? Here’s what I think. In so many ways our life with God has many scary moments when we are called upon to really make difficult sacrifices. For myself, becoming a priest and a religious was a sacrifice. Many would say it is really ‘uncalled’ for. That kind of  pressure invades today’s young people. So, few are making those sacrifices. For others, watching a loved one suffer or a spouse die or another son or daughter waste their lives away may seem uncalled for. We can’t help ask: “Lord, what do you want from me? What are you asking? How can you love me if you want me to suffer so? Are you for real?” Well again, the simple answer is that God wants such sacrifices, not for himself, but for ‘ourselves‘. There is something to ‘leaving behind” that brings freedom and new life and well…more satisfaction. Abraham left behind his possessions only to find that deep faith and trust in God which is forever life changing and life sustaining. This kind of faith is not ‘unlike’ what we are called to have in dealing with life’s dilemmas.

You know what else is ‘scary’, but also life changing and life sustaining’…believe it or not…the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Yes! Good old ‘Confession’. It is still pretty much ‘in style’. In fact, Confession is making a ‘comeback’! No secret there. Sin is rampant in the world and people want to confess it and be forgiven. There is a great need to leave  behind the baggage of youth, experimental religion, casual sex, distasteful family feuds  and long time ago sins. Not only that, for  many want simply to ‘keep track of their spiritual journeys with God and their faithfulness to their covenants. Strange as it may seem, there is a need for spiritual accountability. It would seem that many people want more than being ‘spiritual’. Accountability  and especially Confession support that need for accountability.

It can be very scary, especially if a person hasn’t been there for a while. But I would be willing to wager that a person who honestly looks into his/her heart, recognize sin and faults that are deliberate, and mistakes that really are one’s own fault  and would be willing to submit all this in Confession, he/she would experience a ‘transformation’ and with the Apostles echo: ‘it is good for us to be here.”!

I am learning to really appreciate the Gospel of Mark, which we are reading this year. My appreciation comes from the fact that it is a ‘two edge sword’ challenging me to think more deeply about the “Good News”. Secondly, the Gospel seriously confronts ‘Christians’ of our time. Why? Because the Christian Community of Mark was suffering with their identity, and their faithfulness and the wisdom of the Gospel in the light of their contemporary and pagan culture!  Mark’s Gospel acknowledges that believing and living the Good News was not easy. Disciples were challenged by what Jesus said or did. They kept asking: “who is this that speaks with such authority?”

Many ‘disciples’, people like us, ‘know’ Jesus. We know what he does, we hear what he says, and we like it, but we still don’t totally accept him as ‘Lord and Savior‘. We allow ourselves to get caught up in the attitude of so many: “Yes, Jesus says many nice things, but so did Confucius, or my philosophy professor. But believing he is God…that He is Savior. Well that is a ‘stretch’. Who can take it seriously?” Contemporary Christians, like Mark’s community, are faced with a profound ‘crisis of faith”.

This ‘crisis of faith‘ comes two ways. The first is contemporary ‘man’ gives in to the old temptation of ‘putting strange gods, before our God!”. Putting strange gods before the God of the Covenant is not so much the worship idols or statues. Rather, one temptation is to ‘make God into our image and likeness’. This permits us to make religious practice (the way we practice our faith) very much in keeping with the so-called ‘freedom of choice’. We ‘choose’ what our relationship with God will be or what the norm will be for our the moral choices. “No one can tell me what to do!” The other ‘idols’ are the usual ones: money, power and to a certain point ‘sports’ or anything else that diminishes the “Lord’s Day “to ‘my day to …….” Fill in the blank!

The second crisis has more to do with ‘institution’, especially the institutions whose purpose is to hold together and promote what is ‘the will or mind of God’.  Of course, for contemporary ‘people’ the principle challenge is the Church, to its credibility, to its holiness, to its purpose. In an overwhelming changing world, the Church seems to be ‘out of it’, behind the times, not fulfilling the needs of people, not practical. In a ‘needs based’ society like ours, there will be lots of challenges to the Church. The same challenge is true for other ‘institutions’ fostered and maintained by the Church. Institutions like marriage or priesthood. Is it any wonder that the voice of the Church seems so ‘out of it’, when we hear of so many ‘practical’ solutions to meet the needs of other religion seekers? These ‘practical solutions give us  ‘live ins’,  same sex ‘marriages’, entertainment worship,  do it yourself morality, culture wars, and lives without boundaries.

There are still many faith filled Catholics. But discipleship is not easy!  Knowing Jesus, as an adult, is stretching ourselves. Our parish offers many ways to know Jesus; to find healing and new life. Here is what is available: Griefshare, Ministry to the Divorced and Separated, Introduction to Catholicism (a Video Series), the Sacrament of Reconciliation; healing marriages through counseling or pursuing annulments, personal consultation, space for prayer, ministry opportunities. The list goes on! Discipleship is not only possible, but supportive and growing. The best way to learn is to teach. When the student is ready, the teacher will be found.

Time goes by fast, but it is difficult to believe that our Mission Team was in Jamaica and back already. The Alumni Team is there now basically working on the same projects we did: painting classrooms, building a swing for the kids and doing general chores as the Sisters need them done.

I am happy to tell you that our 2012 Jamaican Team came and went without any hitch. Our time was well spent and each member of the Team truly felt the Spirit of God working powerfully in their lives. Typical Team remarks, like those before, said simply: “ I am so happy that I went!” Others added in one fashion or another: “Something really good happened to me!” It has been my experience too that something ‘good’ happens to us. Much of the Spirit and the “Good” is the result of your prayers and also your ‘spirit’ which is so present to us when we are there. Thank you, Parish, very much!

We experience many things in the short time we were there. The weather of course was pleasant at the Retreat Center in Mandeville. But Lionel Town was super hot especially in contrast to the weather we left behind and came back to. I am also so glad to report that St. Margaret Mary School under Principal Sister Beatrice is doing very well. There now are four grades. Sister is planning for the fifth grade next year and then the sixth grade the following years. There are about 250 children at present. Our main job this time was painting a classroom from powder blue to cream and maroon. There are fancier names for these colors, but maroon and cream describe them best. The campus is shaping up very nicely.

While the painting was tedious, at times, because we had to paint around murals and because the surface was rough and the wood was grooved, which took extra effort, the hardest chores may have been keeping the children at a safe distance from the paint cans, brushes and other work items. They want to come ‘right up close’ and ‘see’ what was going on. They also wanted our attention and asked us to play with them during recess. Team members took a break to do just that, mainly ‘racing’ the children by rolling tires around. The kids love to play with the old tires. Some kicked around a beat up soccer ball. Still others, like most kids just chased each other. They too came dangerously close to the paint.