An Authboigraphy in 5 Chapters

Those of you following the A-cycle readings on this upcoming scrutiny Sunday will hear the story of the man born blind whom Jesus cures. Richard Fragomeni connects this story to a 5-chapter autobiography going around the internet a few yearas ago. It goes like this:
Chapter 1: I walk down the street; there is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I'm lost, helpless. It's not my fault. It takes me forever to find my way out.
Chapter 2: I walk down the street; there is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I'm in the same place, but it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter 3: I walk down the same street; there's a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I fall in anyway; it is a habit but my eyes are opened and I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
Chapter 4: I walk down the same street; there's a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
Chapter 5: I walk down a different street.
The good news of this gospel is that we can examine our lives and identify our blindnesses; we can choose to walk down a different street, one well-lit by the blinding light of Jesus.

Dip and Dye

Richard Fragomeni tells a compelling story on one of his videos in regard to the upcoming gospel – The Woman at the Well. You see this Samaritan woman was drawn into conversation with Jesus as she came to draw water at about noon. Jesus engaged her when he asked for a cup of water. The story develops from being about H2O to living water, eternal life, which has the power to change us. He says that a mother had gone to the store and bought a Paas egg coloring kit. When she dissolved the tablets into the cups of boiling water, the colors became vibrant in the cups. Her child then dipped his egg into a bright purple cup and was excited to see the color transferred to the egg when he pulled it out. But as the egg dried, the color faded to a less-than-vibrant shade. That’s when his mother told him to “dip and dye, dip and dye”…that it takes many dips to achieve that vibrancy. As we approach the Easter sacraments, our elect too will be “dipped” into the water of Baptism, and will reflect that glow as they revel in the joy of the sacrament, and wear the white robe for the remainder of the evening. But the glow may fade as they (and we) face the challenges of life, and need to continually be “dipped” into reminders of our baptism – as we come into church and dip our fingers into the font, as we renew our baptismal promises, as we pray for courage to live them out. We could call this process dip and die – as we wrestle to die to ourselves and live for Christ. May the 7 baptisms that we will celebrate this Easter Vigil embolden you to recommit yourselves to, as St. Paul reminds us, “stand firm in the Lord.”

Another Word About Lent

If you buy the last post, that we can use this season to observe the wonderful working of God in our lives, then let me again enumerate the many ways we have available here at St. Helen to avail ourselves to God’s workings. Centerpiece: the parish mini retreat - Burn In Me, March 13 from 9-1. Father Satish will be the instrument of God in leading us to open ourselves to that fire of God’s presence in our lives. If someone said to you,

How do you experience the presence of God in your life?

Could you answer? But our Catholic faith tells us that God is active in us at every moment. Can we name the presence? By our acknowledgment, do we give that presence power to change us? This retreat is meant to help heighten our awareness of God’s constant interaction, constant beckoning, in our lives. Additionally: the Soup and Bread Suppers, Stations of the Cross, Penance Services, Evensong, Jubilee Singers, Black Books, Daily Mass, Scrutinies, Eucharistic Adoration. The toolbox is full; use the season well

Lent - Again??

Lent has never been a favorite season of mine; in fact, I dread Lent! What's so great about fasting and abstaining anyway?? I just can't wait to get to the end - that's been my one and only goal. I've done a lot of naval gazing when it came to Lent, groaning and gasping, but I have a new perspective this year. I'm refocusing on what God may do in me, rather than what I'm doing for God, and I already feel lighter - I already feel some sense of anticipation. I've been sensible in my resolutions, having decided the why of each. There's purpose in this. Hopefully, there will be spiritual growth in this. For all of you who have always appreciated the six weeks beyond the display of ashes, I applaud you for getting Lent. But if you've been a dreader like I, maybe this year we both can finally rejoice in the gracious mercy of a loving God, and properly refocus this Lenten desert experience.

I’ve had some time to read in the past few weeks and have found some interesting titles: The Help (Kathryn Stockett), Let the Great World Spin (Colum McCann), Push (Sapphire). All three books centered on the very different stories of their characters – black maids in the 60’s South, prostitutes, a religious social activist, a judge and his grieving Upper East Side society wife, a socially and sexually abused teen. I was so intrigued by the very different lives into which these stories invited me, by the personally foreign manifestations of God which I encountered. I began to wonder at how much lost opportunity there is in my life to know the living God more fully through people all about me – family, coworkers, neighbors, parishioners. If only there were comfortable places to share such intimacies without dis-ease. The dance of life continues all around us – God’s interaction with humankind. May I, may we, be so attuned to the presence of God in the story of other that we allow time and space for its unfolding.

Beloved

Last Sunday we celebrated the last feast of the Christmas season, the Baptism of the Lord. We hear about this baptism every year as we close the season, whether we are reading from the gospel of Matthew, Mark or Luke, and each of these gospels closes with the same line: "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." It's amazing to me, then, that in all of my years of listening, I have never appreciated what John Shea (The Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels for Christian Preachers and Teachers) has pointed out, that these very words are said to each of us at our baptism as well! This is God's sacramental affirmation of us, conveyed in such words as 'welcomes, anoints, clothes, Christian dignity' etc. We know, from our very inception, that we are beloved, but as with every other sacrament, the words are precious and priceless. Even with faith, though, we sometimes fall into disbelief of our belovedness. We fail to be able to forgive ourselves for certan actions or faults, and live as less - less aware of who we are in God's eyes, less grateful for God's amazing gifts to us, less aware of our ability to respond by releasing ourselves from this self-centered paralysis. May you today experience yourself as the beloved of God, and be as gentle with yourself as God is. And if this is a struggle, may you fall on your knees and pray as we read in Mark 9: "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief."

Nurturing Faith

So a new year begins, and one of my responsibilities in my parish job is adult faith formation. Wow...we've tried a lot of things: we have had scores of speakers over the years, we've had dinners, we've had hands-on experiences, we've had full catechetical courses. But my focus right now is on forming small faith groups, and we're calling this process, Faith Talk. Most of these groups meet in homes and cover a wide variety of topics: some study the Sunday readings, some are doing bible studies, some are studying the US Catholic Catechism for Adults, one is doing a book study, one is studying the sacraments. But no matter the direction, they have this in common: they are good Catholic folks getting comfortable with sharing faith. Did they all know each other before they began? -definitely not! But this faith sharing has bonded them in deeper ways than they would have imagined. They are able to grapple with the deeper issues of life, in a safe environment and are finding that theirs are common questions. Faith is becoming a lived, shared experience; it is becoming very real indeed. I encourage anyone who is serious about letting faith get into your bones and inform your everyday decisions to get into a Faith Talk group. If you don't know how, call your local parish for help in finding one.