Keeping busy in retirement

     The month of April and early May have been filled with doctors appointments and a number of ministerial activities, enough to fill up my retirement days.   The doctors appointments come with getting older, and the ministerial moments come from the needs of the people of God.

     April saw my having successful cataract surgery [the left eye on the 3rd and the right on the 17th].  There was the prior surgical consult, the days of surgery, the next day check-up to remove the shield, the daily drops, the week later follow-up for each eye with the regular eye doctor, and the appointment for the new prescription for reading glasses.   Add to that a regularly scheduled  appointment with the retina specialist, and I can say that I have seen enough of those that help you to see better.   Then there were the regular "other" doctors to be seen.  It not only keeps you moving, but it tests your memory skills. But, thank God, I am blessed.

     As I mentioned yesterday, I hope to share some of my reflections prepared for my "lectio divina" on WAOB FM radio.  One of the twelve from this past Sunday was a reflection of the 19th chapter of Saint John's Gospel regarding Mary.  I share it for your edification.

     Pope Francis this year declared a new Universal feast honoring Mary, to be celebrated on this Monday after Pentecost.  The feast is of Mary, Mother of the Church.  While new in its official status, this recognition of Mary, as Mother of the Church, has long been a part of our faith life.

     Its origins lie in verses 26 & 27 of this 19th chapter of John: "When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold, your son!'  Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother!'  And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home."

     The beloved disciple is John.  And he stands for the entire community of the beloved, the Church.  When Jesus entrusted Mary to John and John to Mary, he established a bond of deep love and affection that sustains life.

     Mary was at the cross ... she quietly rejoiced in the empty tomb ... she waited in prayer for the Paraclete ... and she was there on Pentecost.  She is our mother and companion on the journey of faith.  Let us rejoice in her love.

     Yesterday, our Holy Father announced that there would be six new saints acclaimed and canonized this coming October 14th.  Included among them is the first Pope that I was ever in the presence of, Pope Paul VI ... and Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, whose witness to the poor is well known.   These join a great company of witnesses who stand as examples to us of faith, hope and love.

     Today the Church honors Saint Rita of Cascia.

Saints of God, come to our aid!

Mary, Mother of the Church

     Today, for the first time on the official calendar of the Church, Pope Francis has authorized a memorial celebration honoring

MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH

     This celebration, set for the Monday following the Feast of Pentecost, acknowledges the place and the role of Mary in the life of God's People, as our Mother.   Remembering the 19th chapter of John's Gospel, when from the cross Jesus entrusts his mother to the beloved disciple, John and John, to his mother, we embrace Mary as our mother and accept the truth that we are her children in Faith.

     At our liturgy this morning, which I had the blessing of leading, we used the second Preface of Mary, Image and Mother of the Church.  I found it a beautiful prayer that I would like to share with you here.

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,

we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In your infinite goodness

you have given to the virgin Church

the model of true worship in the Virgin Mary. 

She is the Virgin who listens,

who embraces your words with joy,

treasuring them in the silence of her heart. 

She is the Virgin of prayer,

who sings of your mercy in her canticle of praise,

who shows concern for the bridegroom and bride at Cana

and intercedes for them with her Son,

who prays with the apostles in oneness of mind and heart. 

She is the Virgin Mother,

who gives birth to your Son

by the power of the Holy Spirit

and at the foot of the cross

is proclaimed as mother

of the people of the New Covenant.  

She is the Virgin who offers,

presenting the Firstborn in your temple

and sharing in his self-offering

beside the tree of everlasting life. 

She is the Virgin who keeps vigil,

awaiting the resurrection of her Son

with unwavering hope

and looking forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit,

with steadfast faith. 

In our joy we sing to your glory

with all the choirs of angels ...  

     On this feast of Mary we celebrate her as an example of true worship.  May our Spiritual Mother embrace us with her tender and maternal love.  

     As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, starting yesterday with the Feast of Pentecost and continuing throughout this week, it is my turn to preside at our morning Eucharistic Liturgy.  The Neumann House, the residence for retired priests in the Diocese of Greensburg, has a beautiful small chapel for Mass and prayer.  But our numbers are growing, and we are experimenting with a new, larger place of worship in one of our former lounges.  The new chapel is beautiful, and a great setting for prayer and worship.  As we pray there daily, we each remember those special to our hearts.  Know that you are in my prayers.

Come, Holy Spirit

THE GREAT FEAST OF PENTECOST

     After an absence of well over a month (with poor and inadequate reasons to be given in a future post), I am back.

I feel like the prodigal son, who I am going to paraphrase:  "I have sinned against God and against you, my sisters and brothers" for neglecting this blog for so long.  Please forgive me.

     Pentecost is about getting the message out, of proclaiming the Good News, of bearing witness to the awesome love of God in our lives.   These Journey Thoughts are my witness to the working of the Spirit in my life.
     A part of my retired ministry is involvement in the local Catholic Radio station WAOB fm - 106.7 on your dial.  WAOB stands for "We Are One Body", and I have been periodically sharing a live, "lectio divina" (teaching) on a program entitled "Drawing Life Giving Waters From Jacob's Well".  Four Scriptures are read and I give three small reflections on each of the Scriptures (twelve for each program), interspersed with music and a period of silence following each reflection.  I just returned from tonight's program (from 8 to 9 pm) at the studio in Latrobe.  This was my fourth program this month, with one more next Sunday.
     It has dawned on me that I could share some of these thoughts with you, and so I share one such reflection from tonight.  The reading was John 3:1-21.  Here is what I shared.        
    
     Our reading from the 3rd chapter of the Gospel of Saint John introduces us to the revolutionary work that God is doing among his people.  We meet Nicodemus, a leader of the people and a searcher for truth.  He comes to Jesus as an inquirer and acknowledges him as a "teacher come from God".

     Jesus says in verse 3 that one cannot see the kingdom of God unless he be born again.  He says in verse 5: "Truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
     We believe that salvation comes to those invited by the Lord to embrace the new life of faith.  To enter this new life we must be willing to enter into the waters of baptism - a rejection of sin and failure and an emergence from the waters of death into new life.  But we must be open to the fresh new beginning that the Advocate, the Holy Spirit brings into our lives.  We must be born anew as children of God.  Take a moment to appreciate this new life offered and given to us.

     Tomorrow the Church celebrates a new memorial honoring Mary as "Mother of the Church".  This celebration was set for the Monday following Pentecost by Pope Francis this past Spring.  We have been entrusted to both Mary and the Church as children of faith.  May our love for Mother Church and Mother Mary be deep and abiding.  And may you be understanding (and forgiving) in your patience with me.

      

Seeing more clearly

     One week ago at this time I was preparing with the Faith Community of Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensburg to enter into the most beautiful liturgy of the Church Year and celebrate the Easter Vigil.  It was the culmination of my first Holy Week as a retired priest, and it was both enjoyable and rewarding as well as being a bit bittersweet.   The beauty rested in not having the worries and anxiety of making sure that ceremonies went well, but also the reward of being able to join prayerfully with the People of God (although I missed presiding at these liturgies.

     Holy Week began for me as I joined with Father Jim Morley and the people of the Church of Saint Paul in Greensburg for Palm Sunday. 

     On Thursday the Diocese celebrated the Chrism Mass at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral to a packed house.  My plans on attending were stymied by an upset stomach, but the reports of this powerful and beautiful liturgy were uplifting.  This special Mass celebrating Church and the blessing of new Holy Oils for the parishes with the renewal of priestly commitment has seen "good times" and "bad times".  I remember a period of time when they brought over the children from the Cathedral school just to "fill in" the pews.  More recent years have seen a real increased in attendance, and this year there was "standing room only".  This was one of the very few times in my forty-five years ordained that I missed this liturgy, and it was my loss.

     Thursday evening our small community of retired priests gathered in our chapel at the Neumann House for the Mass of the Lord's Supper, followed by a social and then a festive dinner, our way of celebrating the gift of our priesthood.  We were joined by the brother of one of our men, Father Al Pleban, a retired priest of the Diocese of Youngstown who lives in the area.  Father Leo Pleban was delightful company.

     On Good Friday afternoon I returned to Saint Paul for the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion, then traveled to Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton for a delicious fish dinner with friends, before returning to Saint Paul for Tenebrae.   This was the place that I first experienced this great tradition when I arrived here as pastor in 1992.  I have celebrated this moving time of prayer every year since.

     Then, as I mentioned, I joined Father Dan Blout and the parish family at OLG for a joyous Vigil, where five individuals were received into full communion with the Church and Confirmed.  A beautifully decorated Church, tremendous choir and music, good liturgy, and deep faith made this a wonderful experience.

     I joined our community of retired men for the Easter morning Mass in our chapel, followed by an Easter brunch provided by our kitchen staff.

     That was my Holy Week.  As always, in celebrating well with the People of God, my vision of the truth and power of the Gospel message is made clearer, and I am blessed.  I am grateful to the Lord and to my sisters and brothers who shared these moments with me.

     Seeing more clearly took on new meaning on Tuesday of this week as I had the first of my two cataract surgeries.  Tuesday was my left eye, and on the 17th will be my right eye.  Surgery went well, and it is remarkable how much more clearly my vision has become.   I now understand how the blind man that Jesus cured felt, when his healing was in stages.  I see better, but I am not yet there.  But isn't that what our life is, our journey - a process.

     I hope that your Easter was great, and that this Mercy Sunday will help you see clearly the love and mercy that the Lord has for you.  Happy Easter!

Lent 2018

        My last post was at the beginning of the great period of Lent.  And now we find ourselves at the closure of that time of renewal and repentance.   Forty days have flown by, and opportunities have been embraced and some have been missed.

     My own Lenten journey, my first in retirement, was not what I had hoped for.  There were successes and failures in my efforts in making this a good Lent.  My repentance of my sins includes laziness, acceptance of the ordinary, and the missed opportunities that these last forty days could have afforded.

     I am reassured that my relationship with the Lord is as strong as ever (always with the need of improvement).   My prayer life is good, my love of the Lord and of his Church is rich, and my desire to serve him is as strong as ever.  Where I have failed is in my responsibilities to others and in the ministries that I have been called to through ordination.

     One of those responsibilities is the gift of Journey Thoughts, which I have often thought of but have not been faithful toward.  I must confess a bit of laziness here.  I cannot afford to lose my commitment to this ministry.   The other responsibility that I have taken a "leave of absence" from during these winter months is my newer ministry of sharing on our local Catholic radio station - WAOB - "We Are One Body" - a weekly hour long "lectio divina" reflection on the Scriptures.  I plan on returning to this effort in April.  I really enjoy sharing these reflections, and as I probably have shared with you before, I have been told that I have not only the voice for, but the face for radio.

     I have kept busy worshiping on weekends with either the Church of Saint Paul or Our Lady of Grace, both in Greensburg.  It is good to keep a parish connection.  I visited a few Fish Dinners at the former parish of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton on Fridays during Lent.  I helped with confessions at our Diocesan Men's Conference and last Saturday at a Day of Recollection at Saint Emma's Retreat Center.  I shared Mass on campus here at the Bishop Connare Center as part of a Diocesan Lenten Saturday devotional.  I had the honor of celebrating Eucharist and leading a Morning of Reflection for the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill at their Motherhouse at Caritas Christi - a truly blessed experience.  During this time I attended as a board member a marathon Board of Directors meeting for Saint Anne Home in Greensburg.

     Time has gone quickly.  We now come to the end of Lent and stand on the threshold of the Paschal Triduum.  Tomorrow morning I will gather at our Cathedral with the people, priests and our bishop to celebrate the Chrism Mass, always a moving experience.  Later that day, our small community of retired men here at the Neumann House will celebrate priesthood with the Mass of the Lord's Supper, a social, and what we call a "festive dinner".

     It is good to be in touch again, and I pray that your Lenten Journey was great, and that your celebration of the Triduum lead you to truly rejoice this Easter. 

Great Lent - A Journey of Love and Truth

     The spirit of the words of the prophet Joel, which were proclaimed on our opening day of Lent this past Wednesday, calls the community of believers and each individual person of faith to stand and be counted, to gather in hope, to search heart and soul, and to turn our attention once again to the Covenant - the promise given us by our loving God.  The season of Lent is sometimes called "Great Lent", not because it is forty days long, but because it provides the opportunity to take stock, to come to grips with our reality, and most importantly to celebrate the great gift of God's love found in his promise to us.  All too often Catholics are characterized as being guilt ridden, constantly aware of our  sinfulness and failures, and wallowing in self pity.  But the real character of the followers of Jesus is a confident assurance of mercy and forgiveness, unqualified love and amazing grace given to each of us freely and without reserve by the most loving God.  So deep is that love and so all consuming is that embrace, that he sent his Son, Jesus, to give himself for us.

     On this First Sunday of Lent, the Psalm response in Psalm 25 says: "Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant."  Love and Truth are the hallmarks of the beginning of our Lenten journey.  The words of Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry following upon the arrest of John the Baptizer echo in our hearts: "This is the time of fulfillment.  The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel."  Recall the words spoken to Noah in Genesis, a promise of renewed and restored life and the promise that death and destruction will not find its way into the Lord's dealing with us.  They are reassuring words that lift our hearts to the Lord our God.  They give us reason to use this Great Lent to celebrate well the death and resurrection of Christ, and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we belong to him. 

Tempus fugit

     There is a Latin phrase - tempus fugit - that is translated "time flies".  The older that I get, the truer that phrase is in my life.  Today was a day of reflecting upon the rapid passage of time.

     My sister, Janie, and I got together for lunch following Mass to celebrate the birthday of our Mom.  We did the same on Friday in honor of Dad's birthday.  February is their month, with both birthdays and their wedding anniversary.  Dad was born on February 9, 1920, and would be 98 years old.  Mom was born on February 11 in 1919 and would be 99.  They have been gone a number of years now, but the milestone of those birthdays is worth noting.  Their 72 wedding anniversary will be on February 17th.

     An interesting side story about Dad's birthday lies in the fact that he celebrated that day on February 5th, until he retired at 62, got his birth certificate, and found that the 9th was the real date.  In the intervening years, he celebrated on both days.

     Happy birthday, Mom & Dad.

     The quick passage of time is marked in other recognitions.  It is already six months since I began retirement from active pastoral ministry and five months in my new home.  Today marks five years since Pope Benedict announced his plan to retire from the See of Peter.  It will be forty-five years since I was ordained, and seventy-one years since I was born.  Last evening at Mass at Saint Paul Church in Greensburg, Father Jim Morley, the Parochial Vicar, as part of his very good homily, remembered that in his seminary days, they were only allowed to have air conditioners in the last years, and had to rely on fans in the warmer weather.  As I sat there, I recalled that in my day we were not allowed air conditioners or fans, but sweltered in the heat.  In fact, we did not have cell phones or i-pads, computers or other electronic devices (we did have electricity, in case you are wondering).  How different things were "in the old days".  And yet, we were as blessed then as we are now, maybe even more so.  The Lord's love, which is timeless and limitless, continues to guide and bless our lives.

     The Great Time of Lent begins this Wednesday.  Prepare your hearts, and celebrate with joy.