Who's Watching the Till?

I just finished reading an article from NCR on making ethical business decisions, and it spoke to me about the many opportunities to do otherwise in the workplace. A friend of mine recently changed jobs and shared me with some of the inner issues at her former company related to her leaving - issues of sidelining certain employees because of jealousy, fear, and self-interest; -issues of maintaining the “inner circle”, issues of control, subtle ways to frustrate forward-thinking contributions of some rather than upset the delicate balance favorable to a few. Evil – pure evil centered on getting ahead at any cost, climbing that corporate ladder no matter whose fingers are being hammered in the process. Watching the nightly news confirms that unethical behavior is not confined to corporate America either. There’s so much guidance out there in making good, ethical decisions: James Martin dedicates a chapter in his book, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything to this topic, and the Greenwich Leadership Forum is a resource for Connecticut businesspeople concerned with such. But more simply, David Miller of Princeton University and leader of GLF begins his breakfast meetings by holding up a bible with a copy of the Wall Street Journal tucked inside. Could there be a better visual? Ethical decisions are part of our every day, whether we realize it or not. Hopefully they’re dispatched so automatically that we don’t even consider them; we form ourselves into ethical people. I begin several days each week with morning Mass, and one of my constant prayers is that my two sons, both of whom own their own businesses, make good ethical decisions. And going back to that visual, would you love to see our preachers every weekend begin their homilies by holding up a bibile with the daily newspaper tucked inside?

Family Ties

An interesting fact which I came across in the book, Confessions of a Mega-Church Pastor: there are 33,000 sects of Christianity in the world! Take it in – 33,000!!! In my time, I knew of one church which had been begun by an acquaintance and her spouse, when they no longer agreed with their pastor. And now I know of another woman who has been telling me about searching the web for an appropriate name for the church she and some of her friends are going to start because, again, they think their pastor has gone too far afield. Neither of these churches is Catholic. Wherever in the world we have wandered, be it someplace in the US or on some Caribbean Island, whether the Mass is in English or Spanish, we know what’s going on. There’s ritual, there’s an expectant rhythm; we are comfortable with the prayer and know that there’s unity of belief in the Eucharist. This morning I went to the prayer site, Pray As You Go, a Jesuit site from England. The reflection was on the beatitudes, the gospel from today’s morning Mass which I had just heard read by Fr. Dave in Dayton Ohio, shortly before. Ours is one big Church, with lots of room for disagreement and lots of opinions as well. There are many ways of praying, and lots of wrestling with Church positions. But we are a family, arguments aplenty and baggage in tow; we’re not abandoning ship and we’re certainly not starting our own churches – at least for the most part. We are catholic, in the best sense of the word – open to all. ‘Here comes everyone,’ as the saying goes. And I’m proud to be part of this.

The Appropriate Good-Bye

Babies are born – we celebrate with showers and baptism parties. First Communions, bar-mitzvahs and bat-mitzvahs, quinceaños, confirmations, weddings, anniversaries, and finally deaths are all occasions of celebration. -maybe even especially deaths, for those are times when we can appreciate the expanse of one’s life, and see that life from the perspective of many who were touched by it. I recently attended two ‘celebrations of life’ – so called by the daughter of our friends, both of whom died within 4 months of each other. The first was at Yankee Trace Golf Club, attended by probably over 100 people who were wined and dined as if it were a wedding. The table centerpieces were made up of an assortment of Angie’s (Angelo’s) favorites – favorite candy, sports tickets, computer, jokes, mini Jack Daniel bottles, and I can’t remember what else. His children stood to tell tales of their dad, while waiters poured shots of JD for a final toast. We raised our glasses and downed the Jack Daniels, remembering how he loved that drink and loved a good party. Four months later a smaller crowd gathered at the Greene Wine Loft for a similar event for his wife. There we sat in a large circle, wine in hand, as one by one folks told tales of Wanda, and tales of Wanda and Angie together. We laughed and cried as all again remembered these two dear people. I swallowed my scornful words at the disrespect of such gatherings as they truly were wonderful ways to re-member our non-believing friends. Better people one could not meet: honest, respectable, charitable, fun – just not church-goers. I have been thinking how important funerals are, for they give us a chance to bring closure to a relationship, but more importantly, they give us a chance to take one more peek into someone’s life – to see one more inspiring quality, to hear one more funny anecdote, to learn one more thing about God as reflected in this person, to be touched one more time until eternity when we will revel in each other’s presence once again.

Mixing It Up

I just finished reading an interview with Oblate Missionary and seminary president Fr. Ronald Rolheiser. Rolheiser, as many of you know, has written some wonderful books on what really is going on in our culture and what are the deepest longings of the human heart. In this interview he was asked how he gets ideas for what he writes, and his answer is so interesting: he says he is always reading several different kinds of books at once (novels, history, spiritual, etc) and tries to find a common thread among them and explore that. Great idea. Right now I am reading Little Bee, Confessions of a Mega-Church Pastor, The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything, and The Faith Club. It seems fairly obvious to me that the thread among these books is “making good decisions.” Wow – and on the heels of Pentecost! Do we truly believe in the fire of the presence of God’s Holy Spirit, and how much do we truly rely on her to inform our decisions? Yesterday a young man came to our rectory door and asked if he could be allowed into the church. (It was after hours and everything was locked.) As I took him over, he explained to me that he had to make a big decision at work and needed to sit before the Blessed Sacrament. Making a godly decision, one inspired, was critical for him. I’d like to say that all of my decisions are made with such deliberation; I‘d like to say that, but I still have some work to do. I’m anxious to get back to The Jesuit Guide…to see what Martin has to say about decision-making, and to finish Little Bee to discover how Sarah’s resolve plays out. Mixing it up – trying to see the crossroads of faith and culture. What can that say to us as Catholic Christians?

Thank God for the Resurrection!

Is our Dayton, Ohio weather getting to you about now? -May day after May day of rain and cold and gloom? My daily mantra: this weather has got to be the reason for my bad humor of late. But THANK GOD FOR THE RESURRECTION! -that belief in Christianity that, in the end, all will be well. I used to think that the resurrection was contained in the belief in Jesus’ emerging from the tomb, and someday I too would have life everlasting after a long and glorious time here on earth. But I have come to see that my days are filled with deaths and disappointments, large and small, followed by life and joy, still large and small. The paschal mystery is lived out in the cycle and rhythm of all of life, and we lay it on the altar every Sunday, infusing it with deeper belief and surer hope. To live a life embedded with this kind of faith is a gift, and it only takes spending time with someone who has not received the gift to fall on one’s knees with gratitude. So today I pray: thank you God for this rain and gloom, because it’s good for the earth and I know that sunshine will follow!! Amen!

Advocate of Wisdom

In the second reading for this coming Sunday, the day on which we celebrate the Ascension, the author of Ephesians prays that “God may give you a Spirit of Wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.” In last Sunday's Gospel we heard "the Advocate...will teach you everything..." The Spirit, the Advocate, has been mentioned repeatedly in the past weeks, both during the week and at Sunday Mass – the Advocate – the Spirit who advocates for the Father and reveals God’s wisdom to us, if only we receive and act upon it. Recently I had an opportunity to observe someone hearing and acting on the wisdom of the Advocate. It was an elderly gentleman, tenderly urging his wife along a sidewalk. She was an Alzheimer’s victim, with all of the manifestations of that debilitating disease. She had trouble putting one foot in front of the other, trouble allowing him to urge her on. And yet he continued to smile and cajole, continued in his kindness and patience, continued to move her forward even as she resisted, continued to hear the Advocate reveal God’s wisdom to him. He continued to see in the feeble body of his life’s companion, the image of Christ, and with every part of his actions and words, he loved her.

May we be so convicted in the Word that Wisdom is our anchor and our path as we make decisions and move through the challenges and chaos our own lives.

The Unanswerable Why

One of my tasks every Monday morning is to compile the Prayer Requests and send it out to all on our parish prayer chain. Dealing with all of the tragedy each week is humbling. Our cancer list keeps growing – just yesterday two parishioners called to report this diagnosis and asked to be placed on the list – one parishioner called to report that her friend lost her 16-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son in an auto accident; others call with an assortment of requests, all placing their faith and trust in our mysterious God. And we ask why…and we ask why…and there is no answer. And others laugh – laugh at this faith that instructs us to “ask, seek, knock…” (Matt 7:7) Experiencing the cross can have 2 effects: it may challenge our faith, or it may strengthen us to depend even more fully on the goodness of God, experienced through prayer, and through the body of Christ – the kindness and generosity of our friends and faith community. May you be one for whom the disruptions of life prove to be fertile ground for an explosion of growth of our most precious and vulnerable faith. And may you be a witness of this for all who need strong friends to carry them when their own faith falters.