Happy New Year April 8

Do all Christians count the new Church year to begin with Easter?  For Catholics there is the Easter opportunity for a fresh start:  Happy New Year.  Naturally, there is January 1 with all the world, but for Catholics, Easter begins the Church Year.  If you need still another new year, use "Pentecost," which is the birthdate of The Church.  Last night, reflecting during Mass on a few struggles of this or that, it hit me we get a new start with Easter  It's a new year. 

Haiti.... think about Haiti in Holy Week

Every year, St. Joe-Vanderburgh County sends groups to St. James the Greater Parish, Plaine du Nord, Haiti.  To be friends and to be witness.  To learn and to help-as-we can.  You can learn a lot from finding friends in the Third World, like Haiti...

Prayer by Bishop Untener, Prayer of Oscar Romero

The Prayer of Oscar Romero

By Bishop Ken Untener, 1979

Delivered in a homily at a Mass for deceased priests by John Cardinal Dearden. 

It has somehow come to be called the Romero Prayer.

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.

Amen.

Prayer by Bishop Untener, "Prayer of Oscar Romero"

The Prayer of Oscar Romero

By Bishop Ken Untener, 1979;  Delivered in a homily at a Mass for deceased priests by John Cardinal Dearden. 

It has somehow come to be called the Romero Prayer.

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

Red Mass no more for Evansville....

After years of tradition and a special interfaith openness that the Diocese of Evansville has long been known for, last week the Diocese declined to allow non-Catholics to read from shared sacred scripture during Mass for the annual Thomas More Society Red Mass (Law Day).  So sad to be exclusive in the uglier sense of the word.  Jesus said, “everyone come to the table.”

After years of tradition and a special interfaith openness that the Diocese of Evansville has long been known for, last week the Diocese declined to allow non-Catholics to read from shared sacred scripture during Mass for the annual Thomas More Society Red Mass (Law Day).  So sad to be exclusive in the uglier sense of the word.  Jesus said, “Everyone come to the table.”

Seeing God at Six

When I was a kid, during the Eucharistic Prayer, when they rang the bells to let us all know something important was happening, I really thought if I prayed hard enough or looked hard enough that I would see God come down from the Altar Light and go into the host.  Never did see it. 
But still believe something worthwhile is happening there.