Pastors Notes from September 04, 2022
-
September 6, 2022He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.” (Saint Francis of Assisi) We shared similar tastes in music (ie. Blues, classic rock, jazz) though she was stuck on Boz Skaggs in her later years. Barb and I met when she returned to Iowa from Kansas, newly retired and desiring to restart her Catholic faith. Until her death a year ago, she had questions about our traditions and rituals, but primarily about her relationship with God and the depth of forgiveness. She formed her own daily prayer rituals, attended Mass ‘religiously’ and questioned what more she could do to participate in the life of the parish. Shy and self conscious, and not willing to expose herself to the critique of the public eye, Barb found her niche: cleaning out and refilling the holy water fonts in church, at the same time straightening out the missals. Her time and service—done with diligence for the sake of those who would enter our church—was performed Sunday afternoons when the building was quiet, empty, void of people and yet cognizant of those who felt welcome for the Eucharist. “She who works with her hands and her head and her heart is an artist.”
As we are well aware, COVID restrictions and apprehensions abruptly altered our day-to-day endeavors and our journey of faith. Though we continue to invite and form a welcoming community for parishioners and visitors to participate in the Eucharist, there remains an absence of individuals who are able to volunteer and share in the ministries of the church. We need individuals, young and old, who are willing to share their faith and presence as lectors, altar servers, ushers and greeters, Eucharistic Ministers, in choir and as a cantor, and in ways that often go unnoticed (as did my friend Barb). Prayerfully consider such ‘opportunities’ to affirm your faith, graciously and humbly, with or without the notice of others. Contact Deacon Vern at St. Malachy’s or Monica at Sacred Heart; or simply call the parish office to receive further information. However, you can share your faith and presence within our parish ministries, publicly or quietly, such remains a gift to those who participate in the Eucharist, and no less in the eyes of our God.
Thank you to those who presently offer their time, abilities and faith, whether musically, ushering & greeting, as Eucharistic Ministers at Mass and to the homebound, as altar servers, lectors—and in ways that allows our churches to remain welcoming to parishioners and visitors alike. Your ministry, your time, abilities and faith—in public or quietly offered—is a gracious gift to our parish and surrounding community. Thank you. (Barb had her routine and when I happen to pass through church she would get sidetracked with ‘questions,’ but always returning to her ministry with a humble smile.)
“After laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work . . .” Luke’s passage in this Sunday’s gospel caused some internal reflection. What is my foundation of faith? Who provided this foundation of faith for me? How is my foundation of faith, specifically Catholic faith, differ from others, (for assuredly it does)? In an article from Catholic Life entitled “ A Strong Foundation of Faith” (Feb. 2017) the convictions of a retired science teacher is highlighted. Having taught for nearly forty years, sharing three children with his wife, and now two grandchildren, ‘Jim’ gives credit to God and his Catholic foundation through the ups and downs of life. He concluded, “I’ve always questioned and have doubts, but I think that’s why they call it faith. I don’t know if someone is normal if they don’t question at some point. . . . Science uses logic and our five senses to make the world knowable. Science gives us the ability to prove things we find hard to believe. Religion provides an avenue to believe things we find hard to prove. Religion uses faith to believe things that are beyond our five senses. . . .”
We each handle our own doubts and questions differently; some outwardly, some reserved; some with anger, others quietly distressed. Regardless of the face we put on before others or the astute language we espouse, to harbor questions and doubts is a mature aspect of our journey of faith. Such is not a push away from our Creator, rather, a healthy search for the presence of the divine before, within and surrounding our humanity. May authentic humility be our guide, as Christians, defined by St. Augustine: “Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.”
What is our foundation of faith we share in common? Within the questions and doubts along the journey of faith, it is to find our place and purpose as God intends. “It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you. . . . it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal” (Pope John Paul II). However unique our respective foundation of faith, may the grace of humility allow us to question and seek such purpose.
May God bless the integrity of your labor, Fr. Tim
FYI: We are still awaiting diocesan approval of our parish name, Ascension. As such, with one financial board we are keeping separate accounts for Sacred Heart and St. Malachy. Financials remain separate to this point; investments and memorials will always be retained by the respective church community it was intended.