Newtown - Boston: What's Next?

 

When will the violence end?  When will see the time when people can live together in peace, not with hate in their hearts but with love and compassion for others?  Will we ever see the day?

 

 

 

We have been witnesses here in the United States of numerous events which brought death and destruction to others:  the attack on September 11, 2001; numerous school and college shootings; bombing of buildings, and the list can go on and on.  We struggle with the aftermath of these horrific incidents and yet they continue to occur.  Even following the massacre in Boston this Monday there are reports of bomb threats being made to government buildings, poisoned pen letters being sent to government officials, etc.  There seems to be no end of evil and hatred in our society.

 

 

 

Perhaps our view of human life has something to do with it.  When we cease to see the value of each human life, we can readily find reasons to snuff it out.  This is obvious when we witness such tragedies as Newtown and Boston.  We need to recover the sense that all human life is precious from the "womb to the tomb" as the saying goes.

 

Some of the perpetrators of these horrific crimes may have been mentally unbalanced, but there are others that are driven to these acts by sheer hatred - whether it be motivated by a sense of rejection by others or for political reasons.

 

 

 

We are currently in the Easter season in the Christian tradition - a time of new life, of joy, of hope for the future.  These things are now tainted by what happened on Monday in Boston, Massachusetts.  But as Christians we know that Easter must always follow a "Good Friday."  Let me share with you some thoughts just written by my friend, Father James Martin, S.J. of America magazine.  He says:

 

When Jesus was crucified his friends and family...must have had...overwhelming emotions.  Seeing Jesus beaten, bloodied and finally nailed to the cross must have seemed unbelievable.  How can this be?  Just the week before, on Palm Sunday, Jesus was moving through the great city in triumph....I imagine that some of those who lost loved ones, and saw loved ones injured, felt something of the same yesterday in Boston....Boston is now back in Good Friday.  And one insight of that terrible day is that we do not have a God who does not understand suffering.   Jesus is not someone who does not understand pain.  Jesus is with us in our suffering, not only because he loves us but because he suffered.  But suffering is never the last word.  There is always the possibility of new life.  How will this happen?  It may be difficult to see now, as it was impossible for the disciples on Good Friday to see, but the God who has suffered is ready to help us....That was true in Jerusalem 2000 years ago and it is true in Boston today.

 

May we be joined in solidarity with the suffering families in Boston and in all the areas of the world where suffering and tension is being played out:  Afghanistan, Syria, and on the Korean peninsula.  May the Spirit of the risen Christ help us to see the value in all of human life and continue to pray and work toward the day when all can live in peace and harmony because we are all God's children.

 

PRAYER FOR THE PEOPLE OF BOSTON

The Magnificat of Resurrection

 

My soul proclaims and my spirit rejoices, O Faithful God,

because you have removed the stone which was rolled over our hearts and we are risen.

 

Yes, from this day all generations will call us blessed for God

has called us forth from death and we have responded.

Holy is the name of God, and compassion reaches from age to age

for those who walk hand in hand with the Everlasting One.

 

You have shown power over death.  You have humiliated those

who believed they could destroy your Living Word.

 

You have enfeebled those who would rule by their own might and

empowered the simple people who trust in you, O God,

who creates and companions.

 

The anguished of heart are stilled and made whole again

by this good news, and the arrogant are reduced to eternal confusion.

 

You have come to the help of Israel, your faithful one, who

remembers you are the God who saves one from bondage, from faithlessness,

and from ultimate violence.  You are the Forever Living One,

the Shatterer of Death.

 

Amen.

Papa Francesco

 

 

 

March 13, 2013 was a momentous day for the Roman Catholic Church.  On that day, the cardinal electors, gathered in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, chose a man from Argentina to be the next pope of the Catholic Church.  The choice was a surprise to many.  Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio and why should he be the pope?

 

Since that momentous day, I believe the world has come to embrace this new pontiff with his winning ways: his obvious humility and his warmth and congeniality.  Many wonder if this will be the beginning of major changes in the Church.  Of course, the matters of doctrine - either moral or theological - will not change nor can they if we are to be true to what the Catholic Church believes and stands for in the world.  But one wonders what other things might take place with a new hand at the tiller of the bark of Peter.

 

In an earlier post (written on January 15 of last year), I stated the following:

 

In our Christian tradition, we have calls to particular states in life and these are invitations by God to serve him and our sisters and brothers in those states of life.  One of my favorite titles that is given to the Roman Pontiff is Servus Servorum Dei - Servant of the Servants of God.  This title is a reminder to all of us involved in ministry - whether pope, bishop, priest, deacon, vowed religious or lay minister - that our call is to service.  When those of us in ministry become more concerned with our titles and the special recognition that we believe should be ours, then we are in trouble.  We begin to lose sight of the fact that we are called to serve others and that should be our most important concern.

 

From what I have observed to date, I believe the papacy of Pope Francis will be one of service.  It is certainly what he exemplified as priest and bishop when he ministred in his native land.  There was a signal of this during the homily he delivered on the occasion of his inaugural Mass this past Tuesday:

 

Certainly, Jesus Christ conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of power was it?  Jesus' three questions to Peter about love are followed by three commands:  feed my lambs, feed my sheep.  Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter even more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross.

 

He went on to say:  He (the Pope) must open his arms to protect all of God's people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love:  the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt. 25: 31-46).

 

The world has responded with affection to the emergence of Pope Francis.  Our prayers are with him as he begins his papacy.  He has modeled himself on Jesus who came not...to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mf. 10:45).   In my previous posting cited above, I stated this:

 

 

 

One of my favorite images of Jesus the Servant was that of his getting to his knees to wash the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper.  A task usually carried out by a slave or servant became that of Jesus....He instructed his disciples that they, too, (and this includes all of us) should go out and wash each others' feet.  Only then do we really serve our sisters and brothers.

 

 

 

The picture I have included here demonstrates that Pope Francis takes this admonition seriously (as he did in his previous ministries).  Just today it was announced that he would celebrate the liturgy of Holy Thursday (a day on which the symbolic washing of the feet takes place) in a prison for juveniles instead of at the Vatican.  May we follow this kind of example in our lives as we strive to serve our sisters and brothers.  May God bless Papa Francesco.

Reminders of Our Mortality

 

As I come within a few weeks to the beginning of my seventy-ninth year on this planet, I am aware more and more of my mortality and the fact that the greater part of my earthly life is behind me.  This is a natural phenomenon when one approaches your senior years but it has been brought back to me most graphically by the loss of three people close to me over the past few months.

 

It began on January 19 when a dear friend - Brother Robert Gilroy - a brother of Holy Cross, died suddenly and unexpectedly.  Returning to the brothers' residence following the burial of another brother, he suddenly felt ill and then collapsed, suffering a major heart attack.  He was a year younger than I.  I had the privilege of serving as the deacon at his funeral liturgy.  I had come to know Robert when he joined the ecumenical choir I formerly conducted.  At one point, a few years ago when he was superior of the brothers' house, he invited me to conduct the brothers' annual retreat which was a pleasurable and enriching experience for me.  Just a few months ago, he recommended that I be appointed to serve on the Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of which he was a member.  We enjoyed a number of good times together and he is greatly missed.

 

 

 

Then on February 7, a funeral was conducted for a fellow deacon - Deacon Frank Yankowski - whom I had known for sixty years beginning when we were minor seminary students in the 1950s.  Frank had dealt with a number of medical problems in his life including major heart surgery and cancer which had gone into remission.  It was the cancer that returned earlier this year and required him to undergo chemotherapy.  After the first session, it was determined that the chemo had destroyed his white blood cells and he was unable to fight off an infection he came down with and this caused his death.  Frank was six months older than I.  Again, I had the privilege of serving as deacon at his funeral Mass and delivered the homily for my good friend.  I spoke of how he had lived up to the challenge given to him at his diaconal ordination when the bishop, handing him the Book of the Gospels, tells him:  Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you now are.  Believe what you read; teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.  Frank certainly lived up to that challenge in the over twenty-six years of service as a deacon.  May he rest in peace.

 

 

 

The final reminder of my mortality came the next day - February 8.  My younger daughter, age 41, had been complaining for some time about what she felt was a problem with her gall bladder.  This was causing her bouts of pain and on occasion brought on vomiting.  She feared surgery because as a victim of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (a disease I have written about and she discussed frequently in her blog (Grace Lines, accessed by going to atticusmom1.blogspot.com), she feared she would have to undergo a long convalescence.  She was trying different foods in an attempt to relieve the distress she was feeling.  On February 8, we had not heard from her during the day (which we usually did every day as she lived near us in our apartment complex) and finally in the afternoon, I went to check on her as her car was parked and had not been taken out that day.  Much to my shock, I found that she had passed away (probably during the night).  We experienced several days of mourning and grief.  At her wake service, about 300 persons came to express their condolences.  There have been numerous Masses scheduled for her as well as enrollments in Mass societies.  Several people have also contributed to the national association for her disease.  Our family has received wonderful support from our friends and our parish and diocesan community for which we are eternally grateful.  It is said that it is not natural to bury your children and we sorely miss her company.  She was always there with a smile and while disabled, continued to pursue her art and writing - pieces of her will live on anywhere her art is seen and her writing read.  I know she is in a better place and might have had to face a great deal of difficulty if we had preceded her in death and she was left to fend for herself (although I know she would have had the support of her sister and brother).

 

So I have been certainly reminded of my own mortality having lived through these recent experiences.  But it is my faith in the promises that Jesus Christ has made to me and to all those who will hear that he has gone to prepare a place for us in the kingdom.  I look forward to the day when I will again be reunited with my friends Robert and Frank and my beautiful daughter Christine.  Until then, I pray to them to watch over all of us as we continue our journey in this life.  May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.. Amen.

How Much Does God Love You?

 

A few weeks ago on the social network Facebook, there was a discussion centering on the reverence shown (or sometimes not shown) at the reception of Eucharist.  Some were saying that there was an increase of an approach to Eucharist that did not seem reverent while others stated that they (mostly ministers of Communion) had only seen a few instances of a lack of reverence.  One of those commenting asked how would people react if Jesus was to appear to them in person.  Would they go up and pat him on the back and shake hands and say "How are you doin'"?  He obviously felt this was not the way one should reverently act if Jesus was to appear in person.

 

 

 

I commented that I felt that if Jesus were to appear to me, he would embrace me - not because I am anyone special - but because he loves me.  The person who asked the question fired back with a comment that I should "get over myself" and this would not be how it would play out should such an appearance occur.  Others liked my comment.

 

Obviously if Jesus were to appear in person to me I would certainly be awestruck.  But I stand by my comment about Jesus embracing me because that is the way our God is with us; our God loves us with an unconditional, boundless love no matter who we are or what we have done in our life.

 

I believe too often we forget how much our God loves us.  We often are feeling sorry for ourselves or feel that we do not have much worth.  We may have what is termed "low self-esteem."  But God has created us to be loved not only by him but by others.  All we need to do is to accept God's love and be grateful for it.  We might call sin when we fail to accept that love and do something that would stand in the way of our relationship with God.  But God never gives up on us - no matter what.

 

When we feel downhearted or do not see ourselves as worthy, we should remember again the words of Psalm 139:

 

You formed my inmost being;

you knit me in my mother's womb.

I praise you, so wonderfully you made me;

wonderful are your works.

 

Yes, we are wonderfully made by a gracious and loving God.  May we always be conscious of that fact and readily accept that generous and unconditional love.

 

Sometimes we may wonder if God really loves us when all sorts of things befall us: sickness, loss of employment; loss of a loved one, etc.  Yet God's love never ceases; God does not promise that our lives will be totally free from distress; even he (as a man in Jesus Christ) experienced all those things that humans experience.  God does not will that bad things happen to us but he leaves his creatures free and this often means that such freedom may be abused and may end up hurting others.  When we feel let down by God, it may be well to read the words of the great doctor of the Church - St. Francis de Sales- who wrote:

 

Do not look forward in dear to the changes of life;

rather look to them with full hope as they arise.

God, whose very own you are,

will deliver you out of them.

He has kept you hitherto,

and he will lead you safely through all things;

and when you cannot stand it,

God will bury you in his arms.

Do not fear what will happen tomorrow;

the same everlasting Father who cares for you today

will take care of you then and everyday.

He will either shield you from suffering,

or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.

Be at peace,

and put aside all anxious thoughts and imagination.

 

May God's love be with you always and bring you to peace.



 



I Have A Dream - A Martin Luther King Tribute Revisited


It was 50 years ago when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood at the base of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to deliver what has become one of the most moving speeches in the history of American rhetoric. While there has been improvement in race relations in our country - part of the dream Dr. King had for the future of our country - there are still mountains to climb and obstacles to overcome in the way we deal with each other. What would Dr. King's dream be today? I am in no position to speculate on that; I would rather offer some of the things that I would still dream about in 2013.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day we will recognize that all people - men and women - are created equal and entitled to the same respect regardless of gender. I have a dream that women will be accorded equal pay for equal work (there has been some improvement here). I have a dream that in some countries where women are denied education it will be recognized that they have much to contribute to our society and need to have the opportunity to grow and learn.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

As I noted before, I believe there has been improvement in race relations in our country. The most obvious example of this is the fact that we now have a President of African-American descent - something that would have been unheard of in Dr. King's time. Regardless of our political affiliation we must see this as a major step forward in the acceptance of all races in our country. But hatred still exists - in some cases there is still hatred of those whose skin color is other than ours; hatred of certain people because they worship in a different way from the way we do; hatred because someone's sexual orientation is different from ours. I have a dream that one day we can put aside these hatreds and, as Dr. King stated: sit down together at the table of brotherhood (and sisterhood).

From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Those stirring words at the conclusion of his speech will resonate for years (and perhaps centuries) to come in our nation's history. Yet there are still places on this earth where freedom does not yet ring, where people are still subjugated because of their ethnicity, their creed or other reasons. Dr. King also quoted from Isaiah in his speech where he looked for a time when every mountain and hill shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight.

I have a dream that one day peace will reign again in the mountains of Afghanistan, in the cities and towns of Iraq; that peace will come and Israelis and Palestinians can sit at the same table; that war will not be the answer for the peoples of the Koreas. Is this too lofty a dream to have?

In the past month in our nation we have heard the reaction of many as they witnessed the tragedy in Newtown. Calls are being made for better gun control. It is hoped that a reasonable ground can be found in this debate, preserving the second amendment rights of gun owners but finding a way to halt the progress of violence in our nation. In an earlier part of his speech, Dr. King made these remarks not often quoted: Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

It is interesting to note that less than three months after this remarkable speech was delivered, grief overcame this nation when its young President lay dead in a Dallas hospital, the victim of violence. We need to heed these words of Dr. King again today. May we go forward to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow with a faith in our national purpose, a faith in our God who wants us to become a peaceful nation, and a faith in each other regardless of creed, political affiliation, gender, race, or sexual orientation. May God continue to bless us and bless the United States of America!

 

 

 

When I was in formation for the diaconate in the Roman Catholic Church in the early 1990s, our priest director of formation would always greet us with the salutation Peace, Love, and Joy.  It is in that spirit that I wish everyone a most blessed New Year as we begin another year on this fragile planet we call earth.  Those three words - peace, love, and joy - are my wishes for this new year.

 

 

 

 

PEACE:  Wouldn't it be the most wonderful thing in the world if during 2013 we could see peace return to this world.  It is a prayer that has been on many lips and in many hearts but we cannot help but wonder if we will ever see the day when people can live in harmony.  War is still being fought, peoples are still being enslaved or being oppressed by tyrannical governments, and day after day we hear and read about stories of abuse against women and most recently in my own country attacks on little children.  Jesus came into this world to bring peace but many of us still need to learn about his message and bring that message to others.  If we cared more about the needs of others rather than just our own, we might see the beginning of a glimmer of what could eventually become true peace.  Remember that peace is not just the absence of war - it is an attitude of caring and concern for others.

 

 

 

LOVE:  True peace can only be brought about when we understand what true love is.  Again, love is not just a romantic notion only seen when two people "fall in love" and make plans to share their lives together - although this is certainly part of love.  True love is when we care for the other even when things are not so romantic or when things are rough in our lives.  It means caring for the other even when we are angry with each other.  It also goes beyond the love between two people and reaches out to embrace all others - even those we may not particularly like, but being there for them in their need.  It means caring for the poor and unfortunate in our society - the homeless, the abused, the abandoned.  Government programs can certainly help these people but programs - whether governmental or private - must be laced through with a love for those being served.  Jesus reached out to many during his ministry on earth and he loved them all - the blind, the leper, the sinful woman, etc.  As disciples we must do the same.

 

 

 

JOY:  Joy is not just feeling happy about something.  True joy is a deep feeling of knowing that we are loved by our God even when we mess up.  Joy is knowing that we can be of service to others.  Joy is finding true satisfaction in the career of our choosing so that we can use our talents and skills to benefit others.  Jesus brought joy into the lives of the many he touched but that joy did not mean that at times there would not be suffering - as he himself experienced.  God does not want us to suffer but suffering is a part of the human condition and knowing that there will be an end to it sometime can give us the joy that we need to continue on.

 

My wish, then, for the new year for all are those three words: that your lives will be filled with peace, love, and joy.  Happy New Year!

Some Thoughts Amid Tragedy

 

On the weekend of the First Sunday of Advent, I shared a beautiful Advent carol with the congregation.  The first verse goes like this:

 

Each winter as the year grows older, we each grow older, too.  The chill sets in a little colder; the verities we knew seem shaken and untrue.

 

Little did I know that within two weeks of that presentation, the "verities we knew" would be shaken and seem untrue.  Those verities include the belief that we should all be kind and compassionate to one another, that someday peace may become a reality in our world, and that violence can be curbed and hopefully eliminated in our world.  We know we still live in a world that is broken and troubled; our country is still involved in war in a far-off place called Afghanistan; there is violence and upheaval in parts of the Middle East and we continue to see and hear news stories every day about murder and abuse in our communities.

 

But tragedy has hit in a very pronounced way in these past few weeks.  A little over a week ago in our area of New York State, four young people - all high school students - were involved in a serious automobile accident that claimed the lives of two of them and left the other two seriously injured.  The outpouring of grief and support was overwhelming as communities tried to come to grips with the loss of these well-loved students.  The cause of the accident seems to have been excessive speed on the part of another young man who struck the students' vehicle causing it to flip over and eject some of the passengers.  I was struck the other day with the sentiment expressed by one of the surviving students who said that he wanted to "forgive the other driver in person because that is the right thing to do."  I wonder how many of us could bring ourselves to offer such forgiveness in the light of the loss of friends and injury to ourselves.  This young man is to be commended for his belief.

 

If that wasn't enough, yesterday in a small community in the state of Connecticut (our neighboring state), tragedy struck again - this time in the violence of a young, obviously disturbed, man who murdered his mother in their home and then went to the neighborhood elementary school and opened fire within the school; the result was the deaths of twenty children (ages 5 to 10) and several adults including the school's principal.  This tragedy has rocked not only this community but the reverberations have been felt around our country.  Our President said it best when he stated in his statement yesterday: Our hearts are broken today...these are our children.  One person I know compared the slaughter to that found in the Gospel of Matthew when Herod murdered the children in an attempt to rid the world of the Messiah.  We can truly refer to these children as the "holy innocents of Newtown, Connecticut."

 

Police and other authorities are trying to piece together information to help us all understand what may have motivated this killer (who committed suicide after killing the others) to carry out this tragedy.  Whatever the reason, it has caused everyone to pause and realize what a precious gift life is and many parents I know reached out in a special way to their children yesterday to let them know they are loved.

 

This weekend in the Roman liturgy, we celebrate Gaudete Sunday - "Rejoice Sunday."  It comes half way through the Advent season as we look forward to celebrating again the coming of the Messiah into our world.  I must admit it is hard to rejoice at this time given the tragedy of yesterday.  What can we make of it?  What is there to rejoice about?  I believe that at times like this, only faith and prayer can get us through it all.  I truly believe that God was present there yesterday in Newtown with the children, the teachers, the parents (who either lost a child or had a surviving child) and community members.

 

I believe the sentiment that I wish I could express has been expressed best by my friend, Father James Martin, S.J. of America magazine who offered the following prayer.  I leave you with this to that all of us can find some comfort amid all the tragedy.

 

Where were you, God?

 

We are crushed with grief, God.

We cannot bear to think of so many people killed.

We cannot bear to think of children being killed.

It is unthinkable to us, the worst tragedy.

 

Children.

 

Where were you, God?

How could you let this happen?

Why is your world like this?

We are sad and angry and confused.

 

But God, we know that you know what it means to have a child die.

For your Son died a violent death.

 

And we know that your Son understands grief.

For he wept bitterly when his friend Lazarus died.

And he was moved with compassion when he saw suffering.

His heart broke like our hearts do.

He cried like we do today.

 

We know, too, that your Son raised Lazarus from the dead.

And that you raised your own murdered Son from the grave.

As a sign of the eternal life you have planned for us.

The life into which you know place the victims, whom you loved, and love.

 

We know that you understand our terrible anguish.

You accept our bitterness and our confusion, too.

And we know that your Son is beside us, weeping with us.

 

We know that you are still with us, God, in the darkness.

In our compassion for the families and friends of the victims.

In the love that moves us to care for one another.

In the anger that drives us to put an end to violence.

As your Son tried to do in his time with us.

 

Most of all, eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,

And let perpetual light shine upon them.  Amen.