It was fun to live in Rome for the better part of nine years off and on. The historic center of the city has been described by some as a “city of surprises.” This was certainly true in my experience. It’s a fun city to get lost in. After winding your way through twisting, narrow streets, hardly wider than an alleyway, suddenly you emerge into the open where something beautiful is waiting for you.
There are lots of little surprises as well. Once I was taking a shortcut through a back alley that I had taken many times before. Since the cobblestones were uneven there, I always tended to look down where I was going, but this morning I happened to look up and notice and inscription above one of the doors. Carved into the marble in three inch Roman script it simply said, “TU SOLUS DOMINUS.” In English it can be rendered “You alone are the Lord,” as it is in the Gloria that is sung at the beginning of Mass.
But as you Latin scholars out there know, it can also be rendered in a more personal way to read: “You alone, Lord.” or “Lord, only you.”
The fun thing is that ANY of these interpretations work as we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King this weekend. We can see this feast in its cosmic sense, where Jesus is indeed Lord of all Creation. He is the one who has dominion over all creation. His is a sovereignty above all others. All nations, kingdoms, principalities, churches, parishes, corporations, co-ops, pinochle clubs, etc. will answer to him. There is nothing in the created order that will not be accountable to Christ, the King of the Universe.
In the more personal sense, the Christians acknowledge that Christ has dominion over every aspect our lives as well. There is no part of our life that is separated from God’s presence and God’s love as shown to us in Christ Jesus. If I acknowledge Jesus as Savior and Lord, that changes everything. Primarily, it will determine how I will organize my life; how I spend my time and resources and with whom.
As we celebrate the sovereignty of Christ over creation and over our lives, it’s a good time to reflect on whether or not he really is the center of our lives. Here is a simple test to see if that is the case. Look at your calendar and your wallet. Do you organize your time and the time of the household around prayer and worship of Christ? Is it the priority to which everything else must defer? If so, great. If not, then perhaps you need to make adjustments. Similarly, on what are you spending your money and other resources? Is Christ and his Church your first priority to which all other financial decisions defer? If so, great! If not, then perhaps you need to make adjustments.
It’s not rocket science. Christ is either Lord of the Universe and Lord of our lives or he is not. If we live our lives with him at the center, then everything else will be rightly ordered and no part of our lives will be separated from God.
[A reminder, this is the text of the homily. To see the video go to our parish Facebook page: https://facebook.com/stpatsak/. Enjoy!
As most of you know, I was in business before I went into seminary. In fact, on the seminary application, it asked, “If you don’t become a priest, what do you see yourself doing in five years?”
I wrote: “Working on the third million.”
But as we see in the gospel today, trade and investing were very much a part of life in Jesus’ day as well. So much so that he could tell the parable of the talents.
Of course, you know the most successful investor in the Bible was Noah. He floated stock while everything around him went into liquidation.
The mother of Moses was also a pretty savvy investor, she went the Bank of the Nile and was able to float a little prophet.
So, what is a “talent” anyway? In the Roman empire, when referring to money it was measure of weight in gold or silver. Typically, it was about 72 pounds. So in gold, at today’s market rate of $1889.20 an ounce , a talent would equal about $2,176, 358.40. A pretty tidy sum.
So, one servant gets 5 talents, one gets 2 and the last gets 1. You do the math. They each were entrusted with a huge amount. And the master goes away, for a long time.
I was always curious for about how long. Well, it was certainly long enough for two of them to double their money. So how long would that be?
Actually, it’s not that hard to figure out. In finance, there is a thing called the rule of 72 which states that the amount of time required to double your money can be estimated by dividing 72 by your rate of return. 1 For example: If you invest money at a 10% return, you will double your money every 7.2 years. … If you invest at a 7% return, you will double your money every 10.2 years.
Even assuming a healthy rate of return of 10%. The master was gone for at least seven years. That’s a long time.
So we there are two things that help us put the parable into context:
1. They were each entrusted with a LOT of money.
2. They had at least 7 years to figure out what to do with it.
That’s a lot of money, and a lot of time.
So what can we learn from the parable.
1. God trusts us and he is not stingy. If we think of the talents as representing our families or our parish, think about how much God trusts us!
Those of you who are parents, think about how much God trusts you when he gives you your children? To be entrusted 18 years with another little human life of infinite worth to help him or her grow into a loving, giving adult is truly amazing. Look at how much God trusts you.
And those of us in the St. Patrick’s Parish family, think about how much God has entrusted by giving us this part of the vineyard to tend. All of the souls in 99504. Look at how much God trusts us.
God is not stingy. Neither should we be.
Lesson #2 – Eventually, we will all be held accountable for what has been entrusted to us.
Remember, there is a very deliberate reason this parable is being offered to us as the Church asks us to contemplate the end of the age.
God has entrusted us with much.
We will each be called to render an account of what we have done with it.
To return to the Lord with increase, that with which we have end entrusted.
In short, to leave this world, or at least our little part of it, just a little better than what we found it.
Do a personal inventory. Is your family, your parish, your community, your world, better for having you had you in it?
If we are faithful in small matters, like the first two servants in the parable, we will come to share the Master’s joy.
Lesson # 3: Fear is the enemy.
The last servant doesn’t fair very well.
What was the problem? Fear.
The opposite of love is not hate,
The opposite of love is fear.
Why? Because fear paralyzes us and keeps us from doing the right thing.
It can be fear of failure, fear of being embarrassed, even, ironically, fear of success.
The point here is that this life is not just about asset preservation.
It has everything to do with being about the Master’s business.
As Hunter S. Thompson once said, “Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, “Wow what a ride!”
Three lessons we can learn from the parable of the Talents.
1. God trusts us and he is not stingy.
2. It may take quite a while, but eventually, we will each be held accountable to God for what has been entrusted to us.
3. Fear is the enemy, because it paralyzes us and keeps us from doing the right thing.
No, we cannot do everything, but we can and should do something with all that has been entrusted to us in this life. We may not be called to change the whole world, but we should have a profound effect upon that part of the world with which we come into contact. So that we leave this world a little better than what we found it.
Much of this is summed up in Bishop Ken Untner’s prayer on the occasion of the death of Oscar Romero. Bishop Untner wrote:
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
Thus I took great interest that in preparation for the colonization of the Moon and the eventual mission to Mars, NASA and Space X had recently put several cows into orbit…It was the herd shot round the world.
Don’t laugh, the steaks have never been higher!
But it was not well done. They burned up on reentry. It was udder disaster.
(I’m going to get some searing comments about that one.)
Anyhoo, I like a good steak. Even more I enjoy having a good steak or any good meal with the friends in my bubble around a nice table. The parish house is very blessed to have a nice set of china donated by Helen and an equally nice set of silver.
Incidentally, as a COVID survival technique. I encourage you to break out the good China and crystal at least once a week, maybe for Sunday dinner and cook up an outrageously elaborate meal and share it with those in your bubble.
There are lot of reasons for doing this.
1. It’s fun.
2. It brings elegance and class into an increasingly drab world.
3. It’s a good way to give thanks to God for his generosity.
In a way, that’s a lot of what our Lord is getting at today in the Gospel with the parable of the Wedding Banquet.
First, let’s look at the first reading.
What’s the lesson here?
THE LORD WILL PROVIDE…IN ABUNDANCE!
Listen to the language
On this mountain the LORD of hosts
will provide for all peoples
a feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
Then he goes on to say that the Lord will establish peace among peoples, and destroy even death itself
What Isaiah is describing this the “messianic age” when the world and everyone in it will reconciled to God and live in harmony in accord with God’s plan. In a word, everything will be as it is intended to be.
The 23rd psalm echoes this sense of harmony and abundance.
“He spread the table before me in the sight of my foes.
He anoints my head with oil – my cup overflows. ”
Paul also speaks to the abundance of God’s generosity In this case, he downplays the role of the material in this world. For him, it just didn’t matter,
I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry,
of living in abundance and of being in need.
But he is very clear that God is not stingy, especially when it comes to bestowing his grace and spirituals gifts on his beloved (that’s us).
My God will fully supply whatever you need,
in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
So, now that we understand that God does not just give us what we need, but far more than what we need, especially when it comes to the grace and power we need to live the life to which we have been called, let’s dive into the parable.
Like all parables, it lends itself to multiple levels of interpretation. But the context of this one is pretty clear. Like last week, it is addressed to the chief priests and the elders. In short, those who have been entrusted with the spiritual heritage of God’s people.
With this in mind, the intent of the parable is clear. Jesus is chewing them out for being poor stewards of their heritage
The King who throws the banquet is the Lord God.
Those first invited are the religious leaders.
The wedding feast is the Kingdom of God and the very messianic age described by Isaiah in the first reading.
A word about wedding feasts in ancient Palestine.
They were outrageously lavish affairs.
Remember there were four parts to the wedding ritual.
The contract,
the betrothal,
the transfer of the bride to the household of the groom,
and the wedding banquet.
These wedding banquets went on for days.
It is surmised that the wedding at Cana had been going on for three days before they ran out of wine. Imagine that.
You can imagine how elaborate a royal wedding feast could be. That is the image that Jesus wanted in people’s minds when he was talking about the heavenly banquet.
The King sends out the invitation.
The messengers or the Old Testament prophets.
Surprisingly, the invited guests don’t come.
And we know from other places in the sacred text that many prophets were rejected, and some, like Jeremiah, were actually killed.
Here, he is scolding the religious leaders of his day for doing the exact same thing as their forebears.
So, echoing last week’s words: “tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom before you,”
the parable continues with the invitation to whomever they can find.
It’s sort of a messianic “come as you are party.”
And that’s pretty much what we try to do as well as the Church. The call to discipleship is universal.
It’s not about being worthy, it’s about being called.
The Church is a hospital for sinners, not a rest home for saints.
But now we get to the troubling part of the parable. The casting out of the fellow without the wedding garment.
It’s very intriguing because it seems so harsh What’s Jesus trying to say here?
Jesus knew the human condition better than just about anybody. And he knew his disciples were not immune from the same tendency.
They can see what he is doing, putting the religious leaders in their place. I could imagine Jesus disciples getting pretty smug as they listened to the parable about the feast.
So, the second part of the parable is for them
and for us.
In a word…don’t get smug! Don’t get complacent just because you’ve been invited to the feast.
So what’s the deal with the wedding garment?
Well, apparently in those days, especially at royal functions, as a courtesy to elevate the dignity of the guests and to make sure the decorum of the gathering was maintained, the host would give to each guest a garment to be worn.
It was a gesture of hospitality. The host wanted to you to look good for the occasion, and so he gave you the means to do so.
This would have been the case at the wedding feast described in the parable.
The implication here, is that this particular fellow was given the wedding garment when he arrived, but had removed it at some point, thus insulting the king.
The implications for us are profound.
For us, the wedding garment is the white garment placed on us at our baptism. Very much like the one (the server), Deacon Mick, and I am wearing now.
We are wearing them, of course, on your behalf. But if you wanted to, I suppose you could wear one every time you came into the church. Wouldn’t that be something to see?
We are each given on of these at our baptism, but like this fellow who removed his wedding garment, when we sin or when we even fail to identify ourselves as disciples of Jesus by our actions or inactions, in effect we remove the baptismal garment given to us by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords when he invited us to this Eucharistic feast.
Think about your physical baptismal garment.
Where is it? What does it look like now?
Now thing about your spiritual baptismal garment, the one you wear on the inside, next to your heart and soul.
Is it worn or stained? Is it moth-eaten or musty for lack of use? Does it need a good mending or washing in the sacrament of reconciliation to make it presentable at feast?
I could go on. But my point is clear.
In the abundance of God’s love and mercy, we have each been invited to the feast.
Have we been good stewards of this great gift of faith?
Have we cherished our baptism in and worn the our baptismal garment in gratitude and steadfast faith?
If so, then as Paul says, we can do all things in him who strengthens us.
If not, then it’s time to get to the confessional.
Let me close by reminding us all of the words that were said to us at our baptism when we were clothed in white garment symbolizing that our sins are always washed clean in the blood of the Lamb.
My dear friends in Christ in St. Patrick’s Parish (and beyond),
you have become a new creation,
and have clothed yourself in Christ.
See in this white garment the outward sign of your Christian dignity.
With your family and friends to help you by word and example,
Once again, Deacon Mick has given an excellent homilly – this time on Respect Life Sunday. His text is below. – LAW
The parable of the vineyard, to a certain degree sums up the story of redemption. The leaders of Israel were given care of the vineyard but they didn’t produce for the Lord. They rejected and killed the Son who came to help, assist and guide them in producing a yield for the Lord. Finally, the vineyard was then given to new stewards and keepers. These new stewards, these new keepers, these new managers of the vineyard in todays world are you and me.
The vineyard is our world, our society. It is rich in abundant blessings. So—what are we doing with the vineyard? How are we caring for it? You see, within this vineyard is the most precious gift of all, the gift of human life.
Do we reverence life? Of course, we reverence life when we see a beautiful baby, a young married couple, a person at the height of his or her powers. If something should ever happen to such individuals, all the medical resources of this society would be gathered and mobilized to help save a life.
The real challenge we bring to our vineyard, our country is to ask not whether we reverence life in the beautiful, the healthy, the talented but whether we care for all human life.
Now, some people say the Catholic Church is preoccupied with abortion, with protecting the unborn. Once a baby is born, they say, the Catholic Church disappears. This is absolutely false! If there is any institution on earth that for the twenty centuries of its existence has looked after the poor, the sick, the orphans, the hungry, the uneducated, those afflicted with cancer, aids, Covid-19, the homeless, addicts, refugees and immigrants (even when unpopular), it’s the Catholic Church.
This massive commitment by the Catholic Church to the works of mercy is true not only in the United States but around the world. Today, however, the Church focuses especially on the unborn because that is where a major threat resides today.
To disregard life at its most vulnerable, when you can’t see it, can’t tickle it, can’t touch it, can’t look into its eyes is the beginning of the dehumanizing and trivializing of all human life, the start of the slippery slope to the disregard for all human life that we see escalating today.
That is why the Church today is the voice of the unborn, as she was for the lepers, the disabled, and the orphan in the past. The wider issue, of course, is not only what is happening to the unborn but what is happening to us.
There are groups around that take care of the environment because the environment can’t take care of itself. There are groups of people dedicated to the taking care of wildlife, following the mandate of Genesis, because wildlife in today’s world can’t protect itself.
So what about the care of human life, especially unborn life? These human beings cannot protect themselves either.
God gave us a beautiful world in which we can come to grow in His image and to know Him. The crown of this vineyard is human life.
If this portion of the vineyard, human life, is ravaged, it won’t be from outer space, it will be from neglect here on earth. It won’t be from some outside invasion but from within, as human life is wasted and destroyed by our action or inaction.
My friends, choose some dimension of human life, the elderly, the disabled, or especially today, the unborn and make that your area of special care, your way of serving the Lord and caring for the vineyard.
The month of October and specifically this Sunday has been designated Respect Life Month by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
It’s a time for us to evaluate how well we are doing in the vineyard to respect life of — all ages, races, colors, and creeds from conception to natural death. To respect the precious gift of life especially for those who are unable to protect themselves or speak for themselves.
God has given us a vineyard, the only one like it, as far as we know, in the universe blessed with the miracle of human life. The Lord has sent his Son to help us through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord has truly given us a beautiful country, this vineyard called the United States. Whether it’s a place where all human life has a chance to grow and thrive is up to us — up to you and me. Whether the future holds a respect for human life is not decided by the stars, it will be decided by ourselves.
We have been given a job to do by the Lord. None of us can do everything. We all can do something to restore respect for human life In our vineyard —- in our time of stewardship.
Or as we heard in today’s gospel——-
“Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit”
Last week I talked about how every sin we have ever committed or ever will commit has already been forgiven by God. Our response to that grace is to place ourselves at the foot of the Cross in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). This week sort of follows up on that with the parable of the generous vintner.
It was a common thing in the ancient world (and even the modern world in some places, like Home Depot) that day laborers would gather in central square and those landowners and contractors who needed workers would go there to hire them for the day. The usual daily wage was a silver coin worth ten donkeys called a denarius. (Hence the name, for you Latin scholars out there.) A typical workday was from dawn to dusk.
Given the brief hiring process, the owner usually had to keep an eye on the workers so that they didn’t slack off or steal his stuff. The odd thing about the story is that he keeps going there at different hours of the day. This should be the first hint to the listener that my thoughts are not your thoughts/nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. (Is 55:7)
This is an important thing for us to keep in mind, especially in a parish like this. Alaska is one of those places where longevity brings credibility and status. People will introduce themselves to you and immediately tell you how long they have been in the state, in the parish, in the neighborhood, etc. There is a temptation to think of oneself as a bit more important or deserving simply because one has been here more than one winter.
At the same time, we Alaskans and St. Patrick’s folks are pretty darn good at welcoming the newcomer. We love our state, our town, our neighborhood, and our parish. We want other people to love it too. So we bring cookies to new neighbors, help folks out with furniture, get them connected to things going on in the local scene that might interest them. In many ways we do this better than in other places. Probably because most of us came here from somewhere else too.
This is the virtue that Jesus is talking about in the parable. In this sense, the denarius represents our relationship with God and each other. What matters is that at some point we have been invited into the vineyard. When we get there is meaningless.
This is because the Kingdom of God is about relationships. Sometimes you will hear me talk about “Our parish family”. This is very intentional. Think about your own immediate family, such as it is? Is the last child any less a part of the family than the first child, simply because they arrived on the scene later? No. In the same way, none of us is less a member of the parish, less a member of the Church, less a member of the Kingdom because we got here later than someone else.
Let us strive then to welcome others into this little part of the vineyard we call St. Patrick’s Parish, and to invite as many as we can into this gathering of holy goofballs we call the St. Patrick Parish family.
We’ve been shut down for a week here at St. Patrick’s in Muldoon. The threat is real. So do all the things that are being recommended. It does mean that we have become a bit more creative in how we are bringing the Word, if not the Sacraments to the masses. To wit:
Livestreaming “CyberMass” on our parish Facebook page www.facebook.com/stpatsak/ Daily Mass is at 12:00 noon ADT, Weekends on Saturday at 4:00 PM.
The office is shut down too, so we are all working from home as best we can.
Let’s all keep each other in prayer, as well as those most directly affected by the virus, and especially those who care for them.
The text of this weekend’s homily is below. You can see and hear it at the links above.
During this COVID-19 Inter-MISSION, it is
normal to ask the question, “Why? Why is
this happening?” Some of my well-meaning friends of other Christian traditions,
and also some Catholics have shared with me that they think it is divine
retribution for all the sinfulness found in society at the present time. The
story of the Man Born Blind in the gospel this week obliterates such a notion.
Seeing the man, his disciples ask, “Who sinned?
This man or his parents?” It was
a common notion in those days, based on Deuteronomy 5:9, that if anyone bowed
down to a foreign god, the Lord would bring punishment for their “parents’
wickedness on the children…down to the third and fourth generation.” Jesus response is firm. It wasn’t him. It wasn’t his parents.
The harsh reality is that because the
world is not God, it is not perfect. Sometimes those imperfections are merely
irritating, such as a broken shoelace or a vending machine that takes your
money without delivering the goods. But at other times, it can be tragic—a
child born blind or a viral pandemic that paralyzes the world. The world is
neither benevolent or malevolent; it is simply indifferent and imperfect.
The Good News is that we have a God who
is neither indifferent nor imperfect. Rather, the benevolent God enters into
the very imperfection of the world and transforms it by his presence. This
happened in particular way for the Man Born Blind who received his sight. It happens in a universal way for all of us
who receive the forgiveness of our sins.
But strangely enough, such sacred
mysteries are not self-evident. It takes a bit of humility to realize that we,
like the world, are imperfect. This was the mistake of the Pharisees. In their
zeal, they lacked the humility necessary to see the significance of the
miracle. Thus our Lord can say to them. “If you were blind, you would have no
sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.”
We live in an extraordinary time that has
deprived us, for a time, of the sacraments which are ordinary means of grace.
Can we have eyes of faith that see God entering this new, imperfect reality of
the present day and transforming it with extraordinary grace? I pray that we can.
Well, it’s been a good week here at St. Patrick Parish. I’m still living with my mom, but we have found another really nice house not too far from here and we the deal may be done by the first of December. Kind of reminds me of a story.
One Sunday morning, a mother went in to wake her son and tell him it was time to get ready for church.
He replied, “I’m not going.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“I’ll give you two good reasons,” he said. “(1), they don’t like me, and (2), I don’t like them.”
His mother replied, “I’ll give you two good reasons why you SHOULD go to church: (1) You’re 59 years old, and (2) you’re the pastor!”
This week, Our Lord gives us a very good
example of that in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. In the
Jewish mind of first century Palestine, you could not get a more diverse
comparison. The Pharisees were seen as those who studied the Law of Moses and
tried to live it out to fullest. They were held in highest regard. On the other hand, tax collectors were seen
as collaborators with the Roman occupational government and enriching
themselves by their position. They were
despised by all. So at the outset of the parable, the sympathies of the crowd
would very much have been with the Pharisee and very much against the tax
collector.
But Jesus turns that notion on upside
down. In the parable, it is the arrogant
Pharisee whose prayer is fruitless and the tax collector who goes away
justified. The reason is clear. The Pharisee is honest, but arrogant; the tax
collector stands honest and humble.
Can humility be so easily perverted?
Absolutely. There is one kind which is particularly insidious. Sometimes it is
a wisp of subtle, underlying cynicism. At other times, it is a pervasive sense
of accommodation to a make-shift solution. Most often it is an expression of undeniable
frustration. Or the ubiquitous, “That’s just the way it’s done around here.
In Psychology, this phenomenon is called
“learned helplessness.” Fr. Dan spoke to this a couple of homilies ago when he
gave the example of the elephant that remains tied to the stake because he does
not believe he has the strength to pull it out.
Oddly enough, even when things are out of whack, and even when we know they are out of whack, we are oddly resistant to change.
[Here I told the THE THOU ARE EAGLE STORY. Really, it’s best just to listen to it on the audio file.]
And so my
dear friends in at St. Patrick Parish, I have but one question for you…
Are you chicken?
or are you eagle?
As Christians, we are never helpless. In
the power of the Holy Spirit, we are a light on a lampstand, the salt of the
earth, the city set on a hill. We were created to be great saints, right now,
right here in 99504.
Well,
it’s been a good week here so far in St. Patrick Parish. I’m finally over my cold, it seems, and the
voice has returned. So hopefully, you can hear me this week.
Summers
in Alaska are always fun. Summer is when we go outside to play, and stay up way
too late talking because it’s still light out.
Right
now, my mom’s house if full of out of family and out-of-town guests. It’s a part of the joyful chaos that is
summer in Alaska.
We Alaskans are particularly good at
hospitality, I think, don’t you? We are
always welcoming guests and showing guests around and taking them fishing and
playing tour guide. For many of us, it’s
the only way we get to see certain things in our own state. I don’t know about you, but the only time I
ever go to Denali National Park is when I have guests in town.
So I
would imagine that most of us can identify quite well with Abraham and Sarah
and Martha and Mary as they demonstrate for us in today’s reading the value of
hospitality as a religious virtue
I’d like to spend a few minutes
reflecting on Christian Hospitality as a hallmark of the good disciple and of
the good Catholic parish.
It was
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, in 1825, who said:
To
welcome a guest is to be answerable for his or her happiness so long as he is
beneath your roof.
To
help us do exactly that I think we all need to be aware of at least these seven
attributes of remarkable hospitality. This is true in our homes and in our
parish:
In
short, Good hospitality:
Is
welcoming, friendly, and courteous
Is
knowledgeable
Is
efficient
Is
flexible
Is
consistent
Communicates
effectively
Exceeds
expectations
Is welcoming, friendly, and
courteous
First impressions matter.
Are people greeted as they
come through the door?
Are there designated and
trained greeters and/or ushers?
Are they well dressed and
groomed?
Are people with special needs
accommodated in architecture and design?
Do ushers/greeters and
parishioners smile?
Is
knowledgeable
Where is the first aid kit?
Where is the
defibrillator?
Are ushers trained in its use?
Are there gluten free hosts
available? If so, where are they?
Do greeters/ushers know who
the medical personnel in the parish are?
Is efficient
Are people greeted immediately
at the door? In the narthex?
Are there enough ushers to
seat people expeditiously?
Is the collection taken with a
smile and without wasted effort?
(Second Collection after the
first.)
Are major announcements done
BEFORE Mass?
Is
flexible
Are
all parishioners trained in the basics?
Can
they change their routine to accommodate the guest?
[‘YOU’RE SITTING IN MY SEAT!!]
Are parents with children accommodated with
courtesy?
Is
consistent
People may come to our church
for many reasons, but they will return for only one
…They
like it!
Consistency can make the
difference.
Communicates
Effectively
Does signage and posted placards help people
find their way to the restroom, parish hall or office?
Are the fire extinguishers well marked?
Is the information desk/rack easily accessible?
Do ushers/greeters give clear, concise
information and instructions?
Exceeds
expectations
Are people asked their name and place of
origin? Are these announced by the
Presider?
Are birthdays, anniversaries or other
significant events noted in the bulletin, monitors and pulpit?
Are returning guests remembered?
Are new families welcomed and given information
about the parish?
Welcoming breakfasts/luncheons?
In
short, Good hospitality:
Is
welcoming, friendly, and courteous
Is
knowledgeable
Is
efficient
Is
flexible
Is
consistent
Communicates
effectively
Exceeds
expectations
Hospitality
comes easily to us Alaskans because it literally comes with the territory. By and large, as a parish, I think we do a
pretty fair job, at least this newcomer’s first impression is pretty good. Nevertheless, there are many things I think
we can do that would set us in a class by ourselves.
Good
hospitality is not only an act of kindness, it is one of the primary Christian
virtues. To welcome the stranger it is a
corporal work of mercy. As a parish
family, may we be the heart and the arms and the hands of Christ, reaching out
in welcome to those come to our doors, so that they may indeed encounter Risen
Christ within these walls and return to the world refreshed, renewed, and better for the experience.
My
dear friends in Christ in St. Patrick’s Parish.
It is nice to be here after 24 years of
being away.
For me, this is a bit of a
homecoming. As many of you know, I was
the Associate Pastor here from 1995-1996, while we were building the building
in which we now worship.
It is
always an exciting and nervous time for a parish to get a new pastor. The first question that most people ask is a
positive one:
What is
he like?
The
second is more tenuous…
What’s going to change?!
Let me
answer the second question first and the first question second.
What’s
going to change?
The
quick answer is: Nothing for now.
The
reason for this is simple. The first
order for me is to become a part of the parish community.
Yes, your new pastor comes with a lot of
local, national and international experience.
…and WAAAAY too much education.
As I
mentioned last week, I just finished 27th Grade!
In due time, all that experience and
expertise will be put to good use.
But not right now.
Now is
the time to listen, to learn, to get to know each other.
This is a very different place than when
I was here 25 years ago.
Let’s take our time…and get to know each
other.
Which
brings us to the second question: What’s he like?
Actually,
in the weeks, months and years to come, you are going to get to know me pretty
darn well.
So
instead, let me tell you what I have heard about you!
Let’s
start general and then get a bit more specific.
As you
know, St. Patrick Parish was founded in 1971. The name was chosen, quite
frankly, because the Archbishop’s name was Ryan and the parish was to be
located on Muldoon Road. Its boundaries were drawn to coincide with the 99504
zip code, and remain unchanged to this day.
The parish covers approximately 6.3
square miles.
It is primarily a residential area. There are 15,642 households, of which 14,986
are occupied, meaning there are 656 unoccupied dwellings in the parish.
Of those 14,986 occupied households, 1128
of them are registered parishioners of St. Patrick Parish.
The parish is home to 40,917 people,
about 4174 of whom are members of the parish.
Thus, we are a little over 10% of the population in the area.
The average
household income in the parish is $92,815 which puts us about in the middle for
the Anchorage Bowl. We are not poor, we
are middle to upper middle class. Statistically, 6.8% of our households make
over $200,000 a year.
You
are fairly generous. Last year, ordinary revenues from Sunday and Holy Day
Collections and donations was $708,920.67, although this was about a 11% from
the previous year of $723,780.64
Also, I was happy to note that just this
week, you have just passed your parish goal for the One Bread One Body
Archdiocesan Appeal. Now everything that comes in goes directly to the
parish.
Just to give a nudge to those of you who
are still contemplating what you are going to do for OBOB. I have yet to make
my own pledge, but I plan to do so in the amount of $500. I never ask my parishioners to do something I
am not willing to do myself. You may take this as a guide, or a challenge as
you so choose.
As a
community of faith, we have a history that is long, and colorful, sometimes
magic, sometimes tragic.
St. Patrick’s has always known how to
throw a good party. We love to sing and
dance and celebrate the best parts of life and liturgy.
But we have also known the worst trauma
that a parish can experience in the betrayal of sacred trust by the founding
pastor.
Here at St. Patrick Parish, the scandal
of clergy sexual abuse is not an abstract distant concept,
for
many in the parish, your new pastor included, it has a name and it has a face.
It is personal.
Many
of us are still hurting from this betrayal. Let us walk together on the path to
healing.
In recent times we have also experienced
a lesser tragedy with some notable earthquake damage to many parish buildings,
including the probable loss of the JPII Center.
The primary result of this is not only the loss of needed meeting and
classroom space, but also it also means that there is no place for your pastor
to live.
We’re going to take our time on this.
There are many people in the parish I need to consult with. I’m still finding out who they are. But in due time we will take care of this and
related issues in a way that makes the most practical and financial sense for
the parish.
Finally,
I am convinced that our best and most exciting years lie just ahead.
In the past few years, I have noticed
that both physically and spiritually, you have been embarking on a deliberate
program of making something beautiful for God.
Whether in the Sacred Liturgy, or programs
of catechesis, the deliberate formation of intentional disciples, or
evangelization to those in the parish who are not yet part of the parish family;
Whether in the multitude of ministries of
service already in place to those within the parish family or to those in our
parish boundaries who have never set foot on the grounds;
Whether in our personal lives of prayer,
in our homes, our small groups, and finally our liturgical and other ministries
of service to the parish or the community
It is important that we build something
beautiful for God.
Beautiful lives of faith, a beautiful
community of grace
Housed in beautiful spaces to celebrate
them as only the people of St. Patrick Parish know how.
The
basics of discipleship are not hard.
As Moses said to the people:
[It]
is not too mysterious and remote for you.
It is not up in the sky, that you should say,
‘Who will go up in the sky to get it for us
and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?’
Nor is it across the sea, that you should say,
‘Who will cross the sea to get it for us
and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?’
Believe
me, I have been across the sea. It is no
different here than it is there. In fact, here we have a lot more fun here than
in Italy, but perhaps not as much as in Africa…yet. Back to discipleship…
No, Moses says, it is not something far
away…
…it
is something very near to you,
already in your mouths and in your hearts;
you have only to carry it out
St.
Paul rightly points out that the fullness of the Mystery of God’s love was
revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
He is “the image of the invisible God.”
Nothing mysterious here.
Finally,
in his interaction with the scholar of the law
[Yes,
my canon lawyer radar went up at the reference…]
Jesus reveals to us just how
simple it is.
The
exchange follows the typical style for rabbinical teaching of the day. It is ritual dialogue.
It begins with a standard question by the
student.
“Teacher,
what must I do to inherit eternal life.”
This
is followed by an insightful answer by the teacher.
His
interlocutor is a scholar of the law, so Jesus refers him to the law. With
great insight, he articulates for Jesus, the Great Commandment for love of God
and love of neighbor.
Once they have established common ground,
the student is expected to justify himself by asking a more probing
question. “And who is my neighbor.”
Here
we dive with Jesus into the depths of understanding. Thus, the Parable of the
Good Samaritan.
The point of the story is clear.
As disciples of Jesus Christ
As stewards of the many gifts that God
has given us here in 99504
As a community of faith
As the parish family of St. Patrick’s
Our
task is two-fold
We must love God, with all our heart, being,
strength and mind
And we must love our neighbors as
ourselves.
In short, our job as disciples, as
families, and as a parish is to become so much a part of the life of the community
in which we find ourselves that they cannot imagine life without us.
This will be true in your home, on your
street, in your neighborhood, in all of this part of the Kingdom in Anchorage
which Our Lord has given us to look after for him,
known
to the world simply as 99504,
but
known to God and to us in the realm of grace, as St. Patrick Parish of the
Archdiocese of Anchorage.
We
have a mission.
We
have been given this little part of the Kingdom to do with as we please.
Hopefully,
we will care for it in a way that is pleasing to the Giver.
So that in due time, we may
give it all back to him better than we found it.
To become so much a part of
the landscape, that they cannot imagine life without us.
I am
so very happy to be here.
Together, let us make something beautiful
for God.
