Blog & Pastor Letters

Can you believe Lent is here already? It seems like not that long ago I was decorating a Christmas tree! Time waits for no one and that is why it is important to make a mindful commitment now to not let this Lenten season pass you by. It is a great time to focus on growing as an everyday steward. The temptations are always there to procrastinate or to give in to spiritual laziness, but the Church’s observation of Lent offers us so many tools to help us get on track. Increased devotions such as Stations of the Cross, various parish missions, or Lenten-focused literature are all gifts that your parish may be offering to assist you in this season.

One day, my son was explaining to his mother that he felt she had lied to him. It was nothing very important, but he wanted to take this opportunity to share how important telling the truth is to him. He explained that he simply tells it like it is in all aspects of his life. But an hour later, we caught him in a lie! Again, it was not about a matter of life and death, but it was a lie. When confronted with his own previous words on how important the telling the truth was to him, he just smiled. Yes, the guilty often have no words of defense.

When a new store or restaurant opens in the area, there can be quite a buzz. People want to see what the place is like. If the establishment is lucky, a positive word of mouth can spread all over the area. The challenge then becomes keeping that buzz alive. If people start to think that the new place is not as good as advertised or they had hoped, the crowds will dwindle and soon the new place will simply become an old place. Even worse, it could become a closed place.

Sometimes I wonder what this world will look like when my children get to be my age. Everything seems to be changing so rapidly and much of that change doesn’t seem to be for the good. I do think in some ways the Church is experiencing resurgence and a strengthening, but it will have to be in the face of an increasing culture of atheism and selfishness.

There are times I wish I had no obligations. It would be great to take my wife’s hand, hop in the car, and drive into the sunset. Where we were going would not maer as much as the fact that we would have nowhere we had to be. There would be nothing we had to do. No bills. No commitments. No problems. Freedom!

Can you imagine what kind of response I would get if I asked my three children, “Who would like to volunteer to clean up the kitchen after dinner today?” Six eyeballs staring at me like I had two heads! If I couch my request in terms of volunteerism, I have suggested that they don’t have any real ownership in this matter. Perhaps they do sometimes think that their mother and I are simply hired hands to take care of them, but rest assured, I have not received a paycheck for services rendered lately.

I used to lead an RCIA session on baptism, where I would bring in my Kermit the Frog toy from when I was a child and pretend to baptize it. It was a session I especially made sure I led when we had children preparing for Easter sacraments. You would think Kermit would have become super holy having been baptized so many times, year after year. But, if he had been real, he would not have been any holier due to multiple baptisms than he was after the first baptism. He couldn’t be re-baptized. (Not to mention, of course, he is a FROG.)

God’s glory, now, is kindled gentler than candlelight under the rafters of a barn: Eternal Peace is sleeping in the hay, And Wisdom’s born in secret in a straw-roofed stable.*

When I was younger, I wrote music to and recorded Thomas Merton’s poem, “Epiphany Carol.” If you have never read it, search it out on the internet. Merton’s words are profound and paint a picture of the awesomeness of Jesus, the newborn King of Kings, lying in a simple straw bed. The shepherds and Wise Men are drawn to pay homage to the One who has been born above all others and brings with him hope for a broken world.