Just some odds and ends this week. As you know I have made a move once more in my priesthood and just like every time there is an adjustment and time of reassessment of life as you try to fit into life the newness of a parish, the loss of a parish and the difference that comes from the move. One of the adjustments for me is my writing time. You get into a rhythm and find your time to put down your thoughts, begin the outline of your writing and then begin to craft and put into words what you are reflecting on that week. In the move this is, by the very nature of change, changed. The almost natural and organic movement of writing begins to become fragmented and to sit down and write at different times, and even different spaces becomes a greater struggle.

After six weeks at St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish this is a reality that is I am dealing with and so my normal Friday letters have become not just published on Fridays but often on other days as I strive to find discover a new rhythm.
(And all that was written three weeks ago)
The three week break I have taken has helped to renew my batteries surely. Yet the rhythm continues to be something I am searching for. One of the bonuses is I have taken time to write down many ideas and thoughts and hopefully these will bear fruit in the future.
As I do my Holy Hour each morning and in other times of prayer next to the tabernacle at St. Lawrence I also sit next to a wonderful relief of St. Joseph, yes it is the Year of St. Joseph, and it is a reminder of how often he must have sat and gazed upon our Lord and Savior in wonder and love. And this of course is one of the comforts that I take in the change…my call to steadiness in prayer. Believe it or not, it is one of the promises each priest makes at his ordination…to pray for the Church in a very specific way. To become united with the joys and sufferings, the celebrations and troubles of the Church, the Body of Christ, in prayer, then being called out to serve and share in the life of the Church.

This is one of the blessings St. Joseph, as he keeps vigil in prayer with me during my Holy Hour, helps me to understand and live a little more deeply (I pray) each day. The chaste and holy grace of marriage he was called to share with Our Blessed Mother, invited him into a deeper participation of the mystery of God’s indescribable love he saw in the child growing first in the womb of Mary and then in the home they made together. His work as foster father and carpenter were always seen in through the light of life and love presented before him each day in the interaction of family that becomes the prayer of life we are all called to enter into as brothers and sisters to the same Christ.
No matter what the disruptions in life bring, and these past months have been a great disruption in our world, we, when we take time in conversation with our Lord Jesus, find a foundation that never crumbles and remains constant and grace filled.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

I can hear his joyful voice cry out these words, “Let the Church say “Amen!”” so clearly as I write these words it seems strange. My brother in Christ, Fr. Paul Ageyman Mensah has returned to our heavenly Father. May he be at peace.

“Let the Church say “Amen!”” I first got to know Fr. Paul when he came to the Diocese of San Jose. I was still studying at St. Patrick Seminary and there would be this short, joyous and loud priest at different functions and meetings. You could see, even before you knew him, the joy of God living in his heart so loudly it could not be contained.

When I was assigned to be pastor at St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish in 2009, Fr. Paul was one of the two parochial vicars at the parish. I had been a priest for a little more than 4 years and he had so such more experiences. It was humbling being a the “boss” of someone who had many more talents and so many more insights into how to be both a priest but also how to care for the people of God. It was a great blessing to be able to ask the harder questions and learn a little more about what it meant to be both priest and a man of faith.

“Let the Church say “Amen!”” Then there was his mission…Awaso Hope Project…bringing education to a small village, his village in Ghana Africa. It was a passion that consumed so much of his time and effort as he raised money and support for this mission in his life. His dream was how education would change the world starting in a little village in Africa. He was obsessed by this call, God’s call to reach out to those who are often left behind in poverty. He offered his life in joyful determination to offer the gift of education that had been given to him to all people.
In my one year with him in Morgan Hill he constantly questioned me about what would be best, as he picked my brain from my experience as a teacher. I shared with him all I had and I know many teachers and principals were grilled in the same manner as he saw his dream coming to fruition, even as setbacks and doubts sometimes filled the time.

“Let the Church say “Amen!”” Then he left and went back to his first love, his people, he went home to Awaso. The many parishioners throughout the Diocese of San Jose and in Canada, where he had first served when coming to North America, prayed for, donated and volunteered at helping him and the school begin and then thrive with all the bumps, bruises and missteps any new project and mission has at its foundation. Groups of parishioners would go over and learn more and share their experiences.

I was privileged to visit and see the beauty and wonder of the country, the people and most of all their faith. To celebrate the Sacraments with the community, to help plant the fields that would feed the children and workers and to talk to the parents and children was awe-inspiring and something I will never forget. I could talk about the school and work for hours but I would direct you to awasohope.org which has a in-depth look at what is happening and how it is moving forward.

One of the things I best remember is his yearly visit back to San Jose and his fund raising activity. One of the first things he would always do was visit the Hawaiian BBQ for a chicken dinner. I am not sure why, but it was always a blessing to share a meal with him. The second was his fundraising efforts. I asked him once, how he was so successful? His answer was simple, “Tell a story of hope and do it joyfully.” This is what he did. It wasn’t an act but his deep trust in our Lord Jesus and the hope and joy the Gospel message brings to the world.

“Let the Church say “Amen!”” This is how Fr. Paul proclaimed the Gospel and lived his life as a priest and a man of faith: with joy and hope. His laughter was contagious, his smile unending and his graciousness a blessing to all people. He chose to serve in this humble way, in a small village in Ghana, his village the place he was given to by our Heavenly Father. The last time I saw Fr. Paul was in 2019 because of the COVID travel restrictions. He lived to see his first class head off to high school, something we take for granted, but in this small village in Ghana, a victory beyond all telling. Fr. Paul Ageyman Mensah may have died but his hope in Jesus, his joy in Jesus lives on in the children, the parents, and each community in which he served.
Thank you brother and may the embrace of our God enfold you and keep you safe.
God bless and “Let the Church say “Amen!””
Fr. Mark

ps…if you wish to share a story about Fr. Paul I invite you to do so in the comments below.

One of the important things we believe as Catholics is the honoring of God on the Sabbath. Granted this comes to us through our Jewish heritage and all Christians are called, by the Third Commandment, to make special effort to keep holy this day of prayer and family.
Some of my earliest memories were of the family gathering around the breakfast table after Sunday morning Mass and sharing this feast of a meal as one family. It was a day when we would often visit my dad’s Mom, Grandma Mary, and see many cousins spending the day in play and family activity. I don’t think that during those wonderful days of memory I was thinking about how these activities “honored” the Lord’s Day and kept holy this Sunday sabbath. I can, looking back, see how it developed and honored the joy and peace of the family.
What does this have to do with justice? One of the definitions of justice includes, “a genuine respect for others/people.” I believe this is what occurs when we keep holy and honor the day of where family and relationship comes as the first and foremost action of the day.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in his book “Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times” tells us, “The Sabbath is one way of setting limits to the market and its mindset, focusing on the dimension of time. There are other ways, too: values such as loyalty that are not sacrificed to the pursuit of profit; aspects of happiness that derive not from what we earn or own or buy but from what we contribute toward to the lives of others; and gratitude for what we have rather than yearning for what we do not have.” (p. 114)
Rabbi Sacks reminds us of the importance of remembering that human life, human dignity and human relationships are not based on an economic foundation only but rather on an inherent goodness of who we are created in God’s image.
St. Joseph in following keeping the sabbath showed forth this model of justice in his care for and respect of his wife, Our Blessed Mother, and Jesus. Stepping back for the work of the carpenter to spend a day of prayer, rest and family activity is a sign of directing his actions, as we should direct ours, to the growth in holiness in following God’s commandments. Justice reminds us to order our lives not for the simple use of God’s creation but to be good stewards in caring for others. Archbishop M. de Langalerie reminds us of when we order our lives on seeking God’s justice we follow St. Joseph’s example, “An honest man may be guided solely by the uncertain light of reason; and he may be governed by a conscience that is perhaps influenced by public opinion. A just man, on the contrary, is directed by the Word of God, by the will of God, as clearly demonstrated in the church, and he relies on the assistance of grace for the accomplishment of the divine will in himself.” (p. 23)
If we return to my example of Sunday when I was a young boy in the late 60’s and early 70’s we see what it meant by being governed by the Word and will of God. In truth, my family, like many families, bowed to the pressure of the world and while our Sunday obligation remained constant and our visiting and sharing family meals continued, we also began to scatter and “do our own thing” as my siblings grew into teenagers and began leaving home. The public opinion wasn’t some national pressure but rather that of peer groups and the seemingly more “fun” activities outside of family.

I know St. Joseph didn’t have the same pressures or distractions we do as twenty-first century people, but he did live in a time and place where the Roman rulers did not recognize the “Sabbath” and he endured, with Mary, pressure to conform to a invasive culture, while different, were as pervasive as we see today.
Understanding justice as something beyond the juridical, as a virtue of relationship, invites us to spend time with and walk with those around us. I always think of Pope St. Paul VI quote, “If you want peace, work for justice.” This great pope understood the foundation of all relationships was one of seeking justice through knowing and caring for the other. St. Joseph did this over and over again first within the Holy Family then moving out into the world.
We are reminded to strive for the goodness, the holiness in which we are made…to strive to be a just person and not to take the easier way of vice and sin.
“(St. Joseph) was just – – just always, in all things, and towards all persons. Can we render a like testimony of ourselves? Is there not some one virtue, the practice of which we entirely neglected? We frequently declare our natural bent of character as an excuse for the defects over which we should watch with the greatest care, on account of there having become to us a second nature.” (p. 24)
May we seek the courage to be just in growing in the true peace of Jesus Christ.

God bless
Fr. Mark

https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_p-vi_mes_19711208_v-world-day-for-peace.html