Come Holy Spirit: teach me when to sit still and when to be active.
Each morning in prayer I end my holy hour with a brief verse from Sacred Scripture followed by a small reflection and a phrase, like the one above, to ponder throughout the day. These past few weeks as we have stopped and started, planned and unplanned and replanned, as we have sought to make lemonade from the lemons this has been a very difficult question to answer: When do I sit and when am I called to be active?

“No one can stay in any golden moment, and no more will I let any trick of light betray me to a house that is nothing but a door.” (Jessica Powers from Songs Out of Silence ”No One Can Stay”) To sit and be active must remain in constant harmony in our lives. When we sit to long their becomes a frozenness hindering us from moving forward and when we fail to stop, slow down and ponder we miss the small beauties and blessings enriching the moment with love. Our life of faith must follow the joys and blessings shown in the example Jesus where even as died on the cross he looked toward the gift of life God shares with each of us. The short verse from Jessica Powers (Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit) is a reminder, all contemplative prayer must end with a choosing to seek greater and more glorious. The trick is when we have a worldly view of “great and glorious” and miss the small treasure placed before us. This is especially found in our families and circles of friends when the “great and glorious” is a shared smile, a touch or the gift of presence acknowledged and lifted to God. The betrayal of the door is the leaving behind the golden moments in search of the glory of the world the never satisfies the heart made for love. It is choosing to do the once simple act of love, blessing another with Jesus’ presence by becoming a blessing in life.
And this is not easy. Flannery O’Connor shares this recognition of how hope does not me an absence of troubles or suffering but rather the blessing of life, but at the same time knowing there is always a struggle in the seeking of hope.

“Dear God, About hope, I am somewhat at a loss. Is so easy to say I hope to––the tongue slides over it. I think perhaps hope can only be realized by contrasting it with despair. And I am too lazy to despair. Please don’t visit me with it, dear Lord, I would be so miserable.” (Flannery O’Connor from “A Prayer Journal” p. 17) How often I have often said a similar prayer. I am by nature a pretty hopeful and optimistic person and despair doesn’t creep into my thoughts that often but the struggle of the virtue of hope is real. Choosing to sit in hopefulness doesn’t mean we abandon the active pursuit of the good and holy. God has called us to be a pilgrim people, a people on the move seeking the justice and peace on which hope must rest. It’s easy to allow hope to be a destination rather than the locomotive moving us toward our true destination. It doesn’t mean I am running about aimlessly “hoping” but it does mean I am choosing to reach out and touch the other.
Before the quarantine I remember after Mass talking to a family and their almost walking baby crawled up to her father. She looked up in the hope of being gathered into his arms…when that didn’t occur she pulled herself up by his pant legs…when he still didn’t pick her up she reached as high as she could, arms above her head on the tip of her toes. This image reminds of the verse quoted below: we could be satisfied by the things of the earth, but God has made us for so much more. “God seeks a heart with bold and boundless hungers that sees itself and the earth as paltry stuff; God loves a soul that cast down all He gave it and stands and cries that it was not enough.” (Jessica Powers, from Songs Out of Silence “The Second Giving”) Each of us as we sit and as we go forth enter into a conversation of grace with God where in thanksgiving for all we have we see the place God has prepared for us filled with not the things of the earth but the love of the heavens: the warm embrace of a spouse, the laughter of a child, the gift of time shared abundantly. To sit and to be active in love is to be in the intimate, joyful and grace filled relationship with the other, with God and his holy people.
How do we do this…it’s always changing and always the same…the humbleness of the cross.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

In the Catholic Church we have several different ways of honoring the saints…there are the big ones, the solemnities, then there are the feast days followed by memorials and finally the “optional” memorials. In the practice of the Church we don’t have to celebrate the optional memorial but we can if we wish. This past week we had two great examples of this with the Memorial of St. Mary Magdeline follows by the optional memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden. In the prayer of the Church, the Divine Office each saint has a special reading attached to their day and early on in my priesthood I made it a practice of seeking to celebrate the optional memorials on the even numbered years. I know this sounds a little strange but it was a way of remembering these special saints by hearing their stories, prayers and reflections. It is an even numbered year so I once more prayed with St. Bridget on the 23rd of July and read in the Divine Office a prayer she composed. (if you want to know more about St. Bridget there is a link below)

I bring this up because her prayer moves me to see her love of Jesus as a model of how I must continue to grow in love of Our Lord. (I have attached a copy of the prayer below) St. Bridget in reflecting of the passion and death of Jesus lifts a song of praise and thanksgiving for the gift of our redemption. She begins each of the petitions with lifting up her voice, as we should lift up our voice, in joy. She writes
“Blessed are you”: Have you ever lifted a prayer up to Jesus that begins with this salutation? What would that look like? Often times we forget the thanksgiving prayers of the greater gifts God shares with us. Blessed are you, Lord Jesus Christ for the abundant blessings you pour out upon our parish each day in allowing us to serve you in our brothers and sisters.
“Honor be to you”: To honor God is too do his Divine will. To know the will of God is to be in conversation with him and knowing all he has shared with us, especially through Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross for our sins. Honor be to you Lord Jesus Christ, for you desire and lead us to a life of reconciliation and peace through the blood of the cross. Help us to live this love.
“Glory be to you”: Each Sunday Mass will sing out in joy “Glory to God in the highest!” Where does this callus to be? Glory does not call us to seek the grandeur of worldly honor rather it is a call to the humble service of the poor, the neglected, the most vulnerable of society. Glory be to you Lord Jesus Christ who invites us to serve and not to be served; to become like sheep among the wolves, to be childlike in faith and love even when they world mocks us and hates us for loving you.
“Praise be to you”: To say, “thank you” is one of the most powerful and impactful phrases any one can utter. It is the acknowledgement of a blessing, a gift of love offered and shared. How often we forget the gift these two simple words return when given in gratitude. Praise be to you Lord Jesus Christ, thank you! I love you!
“Rejoicing and eternal praise be to you”: Pope Francis reminds us often how the Gospel is a joyous action of life. It is not static and frozen words on a piece of paper, rather it is the living encounter with Jesus Christ. “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.” (Mt 5:12) Jesus ends the Beatitudes with this reminder of our true destination. Rejoicing and eternal praise be to you Lord Jesus Christ.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=264

From the prayers attributed to St. Bridget of Sweden

A prayer to Christ our Savior

Blessed are you, my Lord Jesus Christ.  You foretold your death and at the Last Supper you marvelously consecrated bread which became your precious body.  And then you gave it to your apostles out of love as a memorial of your most holy passion.  By washing their feet with your holy hands, you gave them a supreme example of your deep humility.

Honor be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ.  Fearing your passion and death, you poured forth blood from your innocent body like sweat, and still you accomplished our redemption as you desired and gave us the clearest proof of your love for all men.
Blessed may you be, my Lord Jesus Christ.  After you had been led to Caiaphas, you, the judge of all men, humbly allowed yourself to be handed over to the judgment of Pilate.
Glory be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, for the mockery you endured when you stood clothed in purple and wearing a crown of sharp thorns.  With utmost endurance you allowed vicious men to spit upon your glorious face, blindfold you and beat your cheek and neck with cruelest blows. Praise be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ.  For with the greatest patience you allowed yourself like an innocent lamb to be bound to a pillar and mercilessly scourged, and then to be brought, covered with blood, before the judgment seat of  Pilate to be gazed upon by all.
Honor be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ.  For after your glorious body was covered with blood, you were condemned to death on the cross, you endured the pain of carrying the cross on your sacred shoulders, and you were led with curses to the place where you were to suffer.  Then stripped of your garments, you allowed yourself to be nailed to the wood of the cross.

Everlasting honor be to you, Lord Jesus Christ.  You allowed your most holy mother to suffer so much, even though she had never sinned nor ever even consented to the smallest sin.  Humbly you looked down upon her with your gentle loving eyes, and to comfort her you entrusted her to the faithful care of your disciple.
Eternal blessing be yours, my Lord Jesus Christ, because in your last agony you held out to all sinners the hope of pardon, when in your mercy you promised the glory of paradise to the penitent thief.
Eternal praise be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, for the time you endured on the cross the greatest torments and sufferings for us sinners.  The sharp pain of your wounds fiercely penetrated even to your blessed soul and cruelly pierced your most sacred heart till finally you sent forth your spirit in peace, bowed your head, and humbly commended yourself into the hands of God your Father, and your whole body remained cold in death.
Blessed may you be, my Lord Jesus Christ.  You redeemed our souls with your precious blood and most holy death, and in your mercy you led them form exile back to eternal life.
Blessed may you be, my Lord Jesus Christ.  For our salvation you allowed your side and heart to be pierced with a lance; and from that side water and your precious blood flowed out abundantly for our redemption.
Glory be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ.  You allowed your blessed body to be taken down from the cross by your friends and laid in the arms of your most sorrowing mother, and you let her wrap your body in a shroud and bury it in a tomb to be guarded by soldiers.    Unending honor be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ.  On the third day you rose from the dead and appeared to those you had chosen.  And after forty days you ascended into heaven before the eyes of man witnesses, and there in heaven you gathered together in glory those you love, whom you had freed from hell.
Rejoicing and eternal praise be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who sent the Holy Spirit into the hearts of your disciples and increased the boundless love of God in their spirits.
Blessed are you and praiseworthy and glorious for ever, my Lord Jesus.  You sit upon your throne in your kingdom of heaven, in the glory of your divinity, living in the most holy body you took from a virgin’s flesh.  So will you appear on that last day to judge the souls of all the living and the dead; you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.  Amen

A Parent Who Prays “Relationship with Friends by Katie Warner….Jesus reminds us in the Gospel of St. John (15:15) “I no longer call you servants….I call you friends.” Who are our friends? How would we describe our friends to another person who doesn’t know them.

A funny thing happened the other day that had nothing to do with anything much. I baked some bread. Before I entered the seminary, when I was teaching, I was a very good baker. I had a lot of fun in the stress relieving aspect where kneading dough would give me after a long day/week of teaching. My friends and neighbors, as well as my fellow faculty members, enjoyed the fruits of this labor…because I couldn’t eat that much bread.
I am not just a little but a lot out of practice so a I downloaded two roll recipes and began to make my bread. As you knead the dough their is a certain texture and feeling you get that tells you it is ready and being out of practice the “feeling” wasn’t very fine tuned, and although I thought something was a little off, I soldiered forward letting the bread rise, punching it down, and then making the rolls. They tasted okay but they looked awful and I knew something was wrong.

I read through the recipe several times before i figured out what I had done wrong. Well, in truth, I hadn’t done anything wrong. I had followed the instructions to a tee but…the two recipes had gotten stuck together so I began with one recipe and using most of the ingredients for that bread and finished it with a few ingredients and the mixing and kneading instructions for the second bread.
In this small error, I go back to there reality: the rolls tasted good and have been a nice edition to several meals since the baking. And this is often how life goes…something we hope for doesn’t turn out as we had planned but we discover some blessing, some gift, some joy in the unexpected outcome.
This has been the adjustments we as a Church, I as an individual and each family, have had to discover and work with over the past 5 months as we continue face the different scenarios this pandemic has placed into our lives.
This is where the Eucharist becomes so central to our lives as Catholics because it centers us and feeds us as we move through the different struggles of life. It is in the mystery of the sacrifice where we become what we receive and join in the work of God’s creative goodness that leads us through the messiness and mistakes of life and discover the good and holy of love.

It has been the labor of celebrating the Eucharist, the sticking together of the pages so to speak, where the struggle comes but the outcome is always the glorious presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ. As Pope Francis reminds us “Every celebration of the Eucharist is a ray of light of the unsetting sun that is the Risen Jesus Christ,…To participate in Mass, especially on Sunday, means entering in the victory of the Risen, being illuminated by his light, warmed by his warmth.”
We have celebrated the Mass isolated from everyone and connected only through the gift of the internet livestream for so long, and then the limited number outdoors and the “drive-in” Mass but none of these are the true recipe of our wonderful celebrations of community surrounding the Eucharistic table of the Lord.
St. Therese of Lisieux reminds us, “Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you- for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart… don’t listen to the demon, laugh at him, and go without fear to receive the Jesus of peace and love.”
See you in the Eucharist.
God bless
Fr. Mark,

A Parent Who Prays: Gentleness by Katie Warner To care for and value another beyond their usefulness to us or what we can get from them….To seek and care for another as God our Father cares for us.

When I started going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) more than once a year and then began to practice the Sacrament monthly and then twice monthly something very frustrating began to appear in my life. It was those sins that reappeared again and again and again and again……There were times when I sought to avoid the Sacrament because my examination of conscience seemed to reveal the exact same list as it had on the previous occasion of reconciliation. It got spiritually exhausting and at some point the frustration would boil over as my confessors would gently talk me through God’s mercy and love.

This is the spiritual battle and turmoil almost every person experiences in their lives and it is something that must be confronted. I often get this same feeling with the shelter-in-place and at time conflicting messages receive about caring for ourselves, our family and the community during this pandemic. The confusing and sometime contradicting information we receive can, at times, leave me wanting to not examine the news or avoid the latest announcements in fear they will be the same thing again and we will be trapped in the endless circle of waiting an focussing on the same little pebble irritating my soul.
Of course in the end I must look and enter into the next “step” no matter how small or seemingly unimportant because I know, we all know, it is in the little steps that progress is finally made.
It is often like the heavy sin that lays upon your soul for years and seems like being trapped underneath a boulder that is to enormous to move but slowly one chip at a time, a chip that is often to small to see, we grow stronger as the sin is eroded and finally it flies off and we are free. We often think this is some miracle and forget the years of prayer, battle and hurt we have lived through in thanking God for this freedom. It is the middle part which is so very difficult to live through and we wish to forget because it seems endless, pointless and without hope.

This is where I find myself very often today: In the middle of it all. And my feelings mirror the spiritual battle against my habitual sins as I wonder if they will every be gone from my life, yet I know we are in the middle.
When I was on my retreat, the week before the lock down began, God put on my soul the need to take the spiritual fruit of joy and kindness into my heart, my life and my ministry. When I was in prayer during this time I was confused as to why these two fruits seemed to pop into my thoughts again and again as I placed my self in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. And now I know.
God’s wisdom is greater than mine, and while I have too often failed in accepting these fruits over the past 5 long months they have continued to draw me back into the heart of Jesus, into the service of God’s people and into the life of peace. This past week with the confusing and contradictory messages we have received I have once more been reminded of the need for joy and kindness in the battle against sin and the hope against despair.
We are not there yet, but I trust in God and we will get there. That is my sure and certain hope. That is my faith.
Come Holy Spirit
Fill the hearts of your faithful with the fruits of joy and kindness
Enkindle in them the fire of your love….

God Bless
Fr. Mark.

Fear of the Lord “A Parent Who Prays” by Katie Warner Proverbs 1:7 “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom” Recognizing that God is loving and just. We find ourselves in awe of the mystery of goodness of God. We deepen our faith in embracing the mystery.

A few days ago I was speaking with a parishioner and we were remarking about how it was already July…the time over the last few months just seemed to slip by as all the normal markers of our lives were swallowed up in the bland routines of sheltering-in-place. Yes, in truth the saint days, my birthday and other important occasions did mark the movement of time but for the most part it has all blended together as a fairly long blur of just one more day.

The only other time I had this feeling was when I was serving in the Marine Corps and our squadron was assigned for one year to the USS Forrestal. We went on a years cruise. How romantic is that? Well it wasn’t. While at sea our work schedule was 12 on and 12 off, seven days a week, each and every day of the month. This was only broken up by the occasional port call, which often seemed like a four day weekend only to pull up anchor and begin again. It was made worse by our use of the Julian calendar to keep track of different work and maintenance schedules…time seemed to meld together into an endless boredom where very little changed.
What happened during that long year on the boat was something very important in my life, it began with books. I was a voracious reader at the time…mostly very bad science fiction and crime novels. The long work hours and the time off with nothing much to do gave ample opportunity to read. Luckily for me, I was directed by two wonderful men to read something beyond the pulp and throw away novels I was consuming. I can remember beginning to read “The Guns of August” by Barbara W. Tuchman and the questions each of them asked as I digested this story of the beginning of the First World War. It was not the quick and easy read of war and destruction I was used to but rather a deep and thoughtful (and yes troubling) description of the toll of those first bloody days.
What followed was the reading of several great books and the same times of questions and answers…it made the days move by differently as it focused the hours of boredom into a time of contemplation and pondering some of the greater things of life.

Maybe this is one of the lessons we can learn from these long months of time slipping by, the willingness to ponder and contemplate, the ability to slow down and wrestle with the greater things of life. What we find when we take the time to rest on an idea, and issue or a problem…when we take time to share thanks for the blessings, the graces and the gifts is…it’s not always simple or as straight forward as we imagined it would be when we began. The world wishes to offer us hashtag and simple solutions so we can run to the next hashtag and simple solution fixing problems, issues and implementing ideas in one quick dash to an imaginary line. Happily, that is not how life works. Life, as God gives, is a deepening and strengthening of loving relationships where each and every problem and blessing, idea and grace, issue and gift is mixed into knowing our soul and the souls of others in the light of God’s creative goodness.
Resting and wrestling with life, with our brothers and sisters, with God draws us into a more profound understanding of our human weakness and strength and how much more we are than an isolated individual when we choose to join in the celebration of our differences and gifts.
Happy 4th of July weekend.
God Bless
Fr. Mark.