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