The Gift of Family

     This past Holy Week was a great experience of family for me, in it's various dimensions.

     Palm Sunday morning I shared the liturgy with my priest family at our chapel at the Neumann House, the priests' retirement residence for the Diocese of Greensburg.  It was a great way to begin this week that we call Holy.

     Later that afternoon I joined with a large group of parishioners at the Church of Saint Paul in Greensburg for a parish Palm Sunday dinner.  I was graciously invited and welcomed again this year to this annual event.  I served as pastor of Saint Paul from 1992 to 2000, and in my retirement they have become my adopted parish were I often join them for liturgy.  Great people and many wonderful friends.

     On Thursday morning I missed the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral for only the third time in my priesthood.  A visit to Uniontown of eight family members from Costa Rica - a cousin, two of her children, a spouse of her son, and four grandchildren - led me home to join them for lunch along with my sister, Jane.  We had a great visit, a delicious lunch, and the joy of the youngsters.

My cousin Joy Stoviak Flores and her daughter, Jenifer

 Jenifer and her two children

Joy's son, Isra's wife and two chilren

     Thursday evening I returned for our Neumann House Evening Liturgy celebrating our priesthood, followed by a social and then a special dinner for this special day for priests.  There are fifteen of us in residence here.

     Good Friday (for the afternoon service and for the evening Tenebrae Service) and the Easter Vigil on Saturday night I spent with my Saint Paul family, with beautiful and prayerful liturgies, music and decorations.  A truly holy experience.

     And finally on Easter morning I traveled home to Saint Joseph Church in Uniontown to celebrate the 10:00 am Mass.  In addition to the standing room only crowd were my Costa Rican relatives and a host of other local cousins and their families.  We posed for a group picture (by the way, there are more cousins not pictured here: some from out of town and some who went to the 8:00 am so that they could prepare brunch).

A part of the Stoviak Clan including the Kula, Flowers and the Flores families: in this picture I believe I count five cousins, their children and grandchildren.

     Family is a great gift ... where ever that experience of family manifests itself.  As I have been saying more and more often in my "old age", I am truly blessed.

     I hope that you know the joy of family and that Easter continues to be a time of blessing for you. 

An Empty Tomb

     There is a quote that says:

"Actions speak louder than words."

    If there is any truth to that quote,

then my Lent could be described as

"The Sounds of Silence."

     This past Lent has not been a stellar one for me.  It was good - my prayer life remained strong ... my liturgies were grace filled ... my thoughts and reflections were actually more intense - but there was no recognizable moving forward, much less devotional life, and of course, very few "Journey Thoughts" posts.  For that I am sorry.

     But I can say that the "sounds of silence" were not total.  There were words: expressed in a Scriptural Reflection for the diocesan website; the twelve small reflections (three for each of four chapters of Scripture) for my weekly live broadcast of "Drawing Life-Giving Waters From Jacob's Well" [a lectio divina program on Saturday evening from 8 to 9 pm on WAOB - 106.7 FM radio]; my preparations and homilies for about a half dozen liturgies that I presided over; and of course, the direction and spiritual guidance that I was able to share in the Sacrament of Reconciliation during a number of Lenten Penitential Services before Holy Week.

     There were many times when my heart and mind took flight or dealt with the challenges of life, but unfortunately I failed to put them to pen (or rather to type).  Chief among these are my ongoing roller coaster of emotions that are a part of the life of the Church regarding the sexual abuse scandal within the Church as well as within society.  I find myself painfully aware of the hurt and turmoil in the life of those who have been victimized by others, but just as aware of how hard it is to prove an accusation.  I am keenly aware of the effect of an accusation on my brother priests and their reputations, especially when they are no longer among us to defend themselves, and particularly if they were accused of a single transgression and not accused of repetitive offenses.   I struggle with efforts by the press, those in authority and the general public to go beyond dealing with the problem and instead paint the Church with broad strokes as an evil institution that does not care for her children.   The description of the crisis rarely looks at the major strides made in the last 20/30 years to protect children and vulerable adults from the crimes and sins of some within the Church.

     I also struggle with the Church in her handling of the crisis.  Missing in the entire equation is the message of the gospel which is rooted in acknowledging and repenting of sin, paying the price for our transgressions and accepting the Lord's redemption, being reconciled (both sinner and those sinned against) with the Church and with each other, and being restored to dignity as a child of God.  We have a "one strike and you are out" policy, a zero tolerance policy, that is not found in the gospel.  Recently we heard of the woman caught in the act of adultery.  The mob wanted her stoned to death, but Jesus gave her mercy and forgiveness with the very clear command to "go and sin no more".  This she did: repentant, redeemed, reconciled and restored.  This could not have happened with a "zero-tolerance" attitude.   We continue to struggle ... we continue to try to right wrongs that can never be healed without mercy and love ... we continue to learn how to be humble ... and we continue to move forward as the Church established by Jesus Christ for the life of the world.   It sounds like a trite saying or a cover-up to say this, but the Church is not made up of saints dealing with sinners ... but rather sinners striving to be saints and sharing the peace, the love and mercy of the God who calls us to himself and to the glory of his dignity.

     All of us, saints and sinners alike, are on that journey home to the Lord.  Like Jesus on his way to pay the price for our sins we stumble, once, twice, three times or even more on the way to our death to the old order and our embrace of the new life with him.  May we never lose sight of our goal ... may we never despair in our struggle ... and may we always stand affirmed in his love.

     It is god to be back on our journey together.