Dear Beloved Parishioners,
It is the night before the start of our day school, and all through the parish, children are in various states of excitement (at least if the Back-Pack Blessing and Ice Cream Social are any indication). Many can’t wait. Many CAN wait, and wished that summer would go on forever. (don’t we all?) But it is time. The classrooms are prepared, the first Thursday folder has been distributed, the supplies have been stored, the teachers have been hired (to the best of our ability – we are having to adjust because of lack of applicants… sigh) and all that is remains is for our darlings to arrive, either tomorrow, or after Labor day for our PSR students.
The challenge I left for our parents/students at the Backpack came from this past Sunday’s gospel is the one I leave with all of you – to let this be a year of STRIVING. Jesus invites us: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” The greek root of that word we translate as ‘strive’ is ‘agon’ from which we get our word ‘agony’. The implication of that word is profound. We don’t waltz our way into heaven. Rather, like Jesus’ journey to the cross, we too, have to make those daily decisions to be intentional in our walk of faith. At times, that walk will be an agony. A deliberate chosing of the way of sacrifice. And yet, when we do, we find that there is always life waiting for us on the other side of that narrow gate. Difficult? Yes! Worth it? – You betcha!
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SO, what might be ONE way to strive to enter through the narrow gate? Mark your calendars for our upcoming parish mission on Nov. 14-16. Fr. Kevin MacDonald, CSSR, we be among us, unpacking for us the gift of God’s Mercy. Fr. Kevin will speak at all the Masses on Nov. 12 and 13th, and then present the Mission on that Monday through Wednesday. There will be no other parish events scheduled those days so that everyone has the chance to attend. Baby-sitting and transportation will be provided. There will be a chance for the sacrament of reconciliation on Tuesday night following his talk, and we will conclude with the celebration of Mass with an extended homily on Wednesday night. More information to follow – but please mark your calendar now. And, in your kindness, if you could begin praying for this Mission to bear fruit in the life of our Parish by using this prayer sent to us by Fr. Kevin.
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Of the many takeaways from our All Things New presentation to all the priests this past Friday, let me share two that have stayed with me.
The first is the invitation, as we create these new parishes configurations, to create something vibrant. If all that happens is that parishioners are attending the same old, same old in a new location, then we have missed the point! (Can I get an amen?) The most pressing need brought forth from the DMI results are about the next generation of believers. They are hungry for connection and accompaniment. How do we create, even now, communities that are willing to be there for them? (And a reminder to any young adult (between the age of 18 and 39) to fill out the young adult survey at allthingsnew.archstl.org)
And secondly, the vibrant parish communities we are hoping to create will be much larger than our current ones. The ‘target goal’ is somewhere around 1,800 families per ‘parish’. As you can imagine, this is going to entail a pretty massive restructuring of boundaries of what we have experienced as ‘parish life.’ And though bigger is not necessarily better (we love our intimate SJM community) it will allow sustainable staffing by our Archdiocesan priests for the foreseeable future, and increase the opportunities for stewardship within the newly formed communities of faith.
So, continue to pray for this unfolding process. I will let you know once our listening session dates have been confirmed (some time in that first or second week of November, and before the Parish Mission), and give you the information you need to register for our two sessions…
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And a final observation. We priestly types can sometimes be a cynical and dark bunch, going to the worst case scenario on any given current topic. That is not what I experienced in our very structured time together on Friday. Rather, it was sleeves rolled up, hearts open to hear, and spirits ready to try and discern how we are being asked to shepherd the good people in this Archdiocese. No grousing. No one running out of the building shouting how unfair it is. No muttered curse words. Just an energizing feel to the work that is before us in the days to come. I cannot speak for many of my brother priests, but I spoke to my brother, Fr. Joe, and did go out to dinner with two of my classmates and they felt the same way…
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Unfortunately, I already deleted some of my more reliable sources for the Deeper Dive into the Sunday Scripture for this past weekend. So, allow me to share, for your reflection, this gem from the Center for Action and Contemplation about the mystery of suffering.
When we are inside of great love and great suffering, we have a much stronger possibility of surrendering our ego controls and opening ourselves to the whole field of life. In great suffering, things happen against our will—which is what makes it suffering. Over time, we can learn to give up our defended state, because we seemingly have no choice. The situation is what it is, although we will invariably cycle through stages of denial, anger, bargaining, resignation, and (hopefully) acceptance. The suffering might feel wrong, terminal, absurd, unjust, impossible, physically painful, or merely beyond our comfort zone. Can you see why we must have a proper attitude toward suffering? So many things, every day, leave us out of control—even if it is just a long stoplight. Remember, however, that if we do not transform our pain, we will surely transmit it to those around us and even to the next generation.
Suffering, of course, can lead us in either of two directions: (1) it can make us very bitter and cause us to shut down, or (2) it can make us wise, compassionate, and utterly open, because our hearts have been softened, or perhaps because we feel as though we have nothing more to lose. Suffering often takes us to the very edge of our inner resources where we “fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31), even when we aren’t sure we believe in God! We must all pray for the grace of this second path of softening and opening. My opinion is that this is the very meaning of the phrase “deliver us from evil” in the Our Father (Lord’s Prayer). In this statement, we aren’t asking to avoid suffering. It is as if we are praying, “When big trials come, God, hold on to me, and don’t let me turn bitter or blaming”—which is an evil that leads to so many other evils.
Struggling with one’s own shadow self, facing interior conflicts and moral failures, undergoing rejection and abandonment, daily humiliations, or any form of limitation: all are gateways into deeper consciousness and the flowering of the soul. These experiences give us a privileged window into the naked now, the present moment, because impossible contradictions are staring us in the face. Much-needed healing, forgiving what is, and “weeping over” and accepting one’s interior poverty and contradictions are often necessary experiences that invite a person into the contemplative mind. (Paul does this in a memorable way from the depths of Romans 7:14–15 to the heights of his mystical poetry in Romans 8.)
Reference:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 2009), 123, 124–125.
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Finally, the Song of the Day. In honor of the Queenship of Mary whose feast we celebrate this day, this is a rendition of the song: AVE MARIA, by Dan Kantor. It is just lovely…
blessings,
fr bill