Dear Beloved Parishioners, (of St. Justin Martyr parish 😉 )
It is Sunday night, and I am looking across the parking lot to the parish center, three quarters hidden in the pouring rain coming down at a 35% angle. And I am listening to the gutters as they overflow, simply not being able to keep up at times with the torrent. Fr. Johnson has been commenting that we need rain. Well, he certainly has his wish tonight.
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Thanks to all who have already completed the Disciple Maker Index. As of tonight, there are 232 surveys completed online (the preferred way) and at least two paper copies that I had seen returned in the gathering space by the end of the 11am Mass. If you are measuring by our average Sunday Mass going parishioner number (628 during the pandemic) then we are over a third of the way there. (37% to be precise) However, our goal is to hear from ALL of our SJM Catholics – not just an average number of folks who attend any given Sunday.
So, in those parking lot conversations, among your friends at the coffee klatch, or on the sidelines at your children’s basketball games, ask your friends if they have taken the survey yet. And perhaps share the question that was the most interesting to you or the most difficult for you to answer… Those are simple steps that you can take to become more comfortable with sharing the good news of Jesus in our lives.
(and to model that behavior – I am very interested to find out how many people agreed or agreed strongly that “the church is critical to their relationship with Christ”. And, aside from preaching (I do have an advantage here) I wonder when the last time was that I shared my personal witness story with another person…)
So, THANKS again to all who have completed the index and a word of invitation for those who have yet to do so… Go to: https://portal.catholicleaders.org/d/y3226y for the online survey…
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The following is a ‘reprint’ from my pastor’s pen in the bulletin for the week that the bulletins did not arrive. (The 7th Sunday in Ordinary time. They finally got here the following Thursday – and though we put them out, I am not sure how many people had the chance to pick one up.) I repeat it here because it was a very insightful article from Dave Baranowski about the All Things New Initiative and how quickly we want to sidestep the first two steps and start with the third… So, if you have already read this, you can skip through. Otherwise…
Most of us are now aware of the Archdiocese of St. Louis’ new strategic planning initiative called “All Things New: Steadfast in Faith / Forward in Hope.” The goal of the multi-year plan is to better equip ourselves for our mission to evangelize. The three goals are Unceasing Prayer – to be led by the Holy Spirit, Unifying Vision – empowering all Catholics to spread the Gospel message, and Intentional Stewardship – reallocating our resources to ensure the long-term vibrancy of our Catholic presence.
Since the soft roll-out of the plan last fall, many people’s first reaction has been “Will my parish be closing?” The process is in the beginning phase and no decisions have been made regarding our parishes. However, the final plan will affect everyone: parishes, schools, the Seminary, the Curia and all agencies.
St. Louis loves our “bricks and mortar.” We have many beautiful churches, chapels and schools built by previous generations. But, times have changed, in a few years we will have less diocesan priests than parishes, our current structure doesn’t represent St. Louis’ cultural and demographic shift, and there is less connection to the Church – more people now claim less religious affiliation.
It is now our generation’s turn to be good stewards of our Catholic faith. That will require a different approach. Notice the order of the goals mentioned previously. The first two goals are prayer and unity. Why is it then that our first thoughts jump to the third goal – our parishes?
Why? Because of our fallen nature, our brokenness. Whenever a significant change is on the horizon, our first reaction is usually, “How is this going to affect me?” Our self-centeredness comes front and center, and our God-centeredness and other-centeredness takes a back seat.
As good stewards, we recognize everything is a gift from God. Instead of looking at “All Things New” as a punishment, we should look at it as a gift! It is an opportunity to put our individual pride and ego aside and, under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, discern what is best for everyone. How can we, together, as one Body of Christ, become the Church that God has created us to be! Every day we pray the “Our Father.” Every day we pray “thy (God’s) will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This is our chance to really do what we pray for – to live for the greater glory of God and not for own self interests.
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It is a good problem to have…
This past Wednesday night we were scrambling to find places for people to meet. The Social Justice group and the CYC kids were meeting in the rectory basement. The Women’s ACTS retreat team was in the Gathering Space, the gym was in full practice mode, and the Knights of Columbus had to meet in the 4th grade class room (they could have met in the library, but the classroom kept them from having to do the steps…). What a wonderful problem to have again.
As most of you know, as wonderful as this campus is, we do have a lack of places for meetings. And currently, two of our better meetings spaces are tied up with storage. The back room off of the gym is filled with the extra classroom bookshelves and desks and various chairs and items that we removed to give us as much social distancing during the first stages of the pandemic as we could. The front room off of the gym currently has our ‘outdoor classroom to be’ picnic tables, and replacement benches for the grotto/eagle scout classroom behind the rectory. While I cannot do much about the former, I am soliciting your help for the latter.
Mark your calendars for March 19th, the Saturday during our day school spring break. Bring some tools (mostly wrenches and socket sets) and the willingness to do some moving and assembling of our picnic tables and meet me at 10:00 by the gym doors. We will be putting together the ten picnic tables that will be used for our outdoor classrooms (and whatever else we can use them for). And depending on how well and quickly that goes, we will also put the tent tops back on the frames we left up, and anchor those against the spring storms and winds that make their way through the region… And though you don’t need to, if you want to RSVP to me to let me know you plan on attending, that would be appreciated. Otherwise, just show up on the 19th at the gym…
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The Deeper Dive into the Sunday Scriptures…
This week’s reflection comes to us from Fr. Frank DeSano and the Paulist Evangelization Ministries.
There’s Flo on the Progressive Insurance commercials. And the emu from LIMU, Liberty Mutual Insurance. And, more dangerously, there’s Mayhem in the Allstate commercials. The others are there to make you laugh but Mayhem is there to cause . . . mayhem. He does this by distracting drivers so that they ram into the backs of trucks or drive onto highway dividers. He smirks from the side, knowing that he distracted the driver enough to cause an accident, to cause mayhem.
This is how we often think of a temptation: like mayhem, from the outside, causing us to turn away and mess something up. And this is how we can think of the Satan, the Tempter, in the Gospel today, but we need to expand our vision of true temptation. The Satan is there to distract Jesus from the very mission he is undertaking, the very mission he committed himself to accomplishing in his baptism. Instead of being God’s servant and giving his life in generous love, the Satan wants Jesus to take care of himself, to seek political power, or to make religion into a stunt. Jesus resists Satan at every point. Unfortunately, Jesus’ followers throughout history have not always been as successful.
As Lent begins, this might be one way we think of this season of purification and renewal: to look at the ways in which we are invited not to be disciples of Jesus who seek God’s will. The Satan, the Tempter, wants us to change the central story of our lives: not to be Christ’s disciples who carry on his mission, but to use our faith to keep God’s mission distant and hidden.
One of the chief ways we do this is through reducing our faith mostly to external practices: we do the rites, we receive the Sacraments, but we do not take into ourselves the depth, the meaning, of what we are doing. One easy example is the way we often mutter our prayers mechanically, as a routine or some kind of habit. Our prayers before meals, if we even say them, are formulas we go through rather than heart-felt thanks. One Lenten practice we can do is to pray and act religiously with as much sincerity and attention as we can muster.
An even more dangerous way we can be tempted is to ignore our own story of faith, of God’s involvement in our lives. In the first reading, we see the Jews had to constantly remind themselves of their history and what God did for them. We need to do the same, recalling every day that Christ has saved us by giving himself to us; Christ has made us holy by pouring his Spirit into us; and Christ promises us the fullness of life and love which is his Kingdom. We rarely think of our Catholic lives with the drama they deserve. We take our faith for granted and, as a result, do not see ourselves as part of the great story of salvation that Jesus is accomplishing. This Lent, remember the big story in our lives.
Yet another dangerous temptation is to think of our faith only in self-centered ways, as if our job was to keep ourselves from sin so we can go to heaven. No, it’s Christ who keeps us from sin by the power of his Spirit; and Christ does this to make us instruments for the caring and serving of others. The idea of a private faith is one of the greatest distortions of Christian life. What we have received, Pope Francis says, we have in order to give to others.
Lent then is a time for us to focus on the big picture, the big story, the deeper purpose of our Catholic and Christian lives. We reflect on our redemption and what that means for us personally and for the whole world. We reflect on Jesus’ mercy as the very key to our relationship with God—the healing God poured into us as soon as we are aware of our woundedness. We reflect on the vision of God’s glory, which Jesus promised all his followers, a glory which is slowly transforming the world.
Mayhem surrounds us, waiting to cause trouble as soon as we stop paying attention. But Christ is stronger than any mayhem in our lives. Christ, once tempted, now sets his face toward his destiny and brings us along with him.
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Reflection Question: What are the ways I am most tempted away from Christ’s life and mission?
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Finally, the Song of the Day was the entrance hymn at the 5pm and 9am Masses this weekend – Hold Us in Your Mercy –by Rory Cooney. (We did not do all the verses…)
It is a lovely, haunting tune, and certainly worth listening to and praying with during these Lenten Days…
blessings,
fr bill