Lent 3

“There is a really deep well inside of us. And in it dwells God. Sometimes, I am there too. But more often, stones and grit block the well, and God is buried beneath. Then God must be dug out again.”

— Etty Hillesum, A young Dutch Jewish woman who died in Auschwitz

Recently I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods to buy a new pair of running shoes for my Montour Trail jogs. As a life-long runner I always enjoy this time of reflection, meditation and prayer and I thank God for the gift of running. Every so often along the trail there are water fountains that spring up to quench my thirst. Without water, there is no life. Dr. Ralph Herro of the Herro Allergy Clinic in Phoenix, AZ said, “If we each drank twice as much water, doctors would be seeing half as many patients.” Imagine if we applied this principle to our spiritual lives! Time spent in prayer is time well-spent.

On this 3rd Sunday of Lent we read the familiar story in John 4 of Jesus and the woman at the well, two tired travelers coming together at a place of refreshment. It was during the hottest part of the day when the woman did her ritual of retrieving and lugging water home for her family. This ordinary task became an extraordinary transformative life experience. In the culture in which she lived, the woman had multiple strikes against her in encountering Jesus, the Jewish rabbi. First, she was a woman; second, she was a Samaritan (a hated race); third, she had a checkered past (married to 5 men); and fourth, she was a social outcast. Jesus was not blinded by the categories, imperfections or sins. Jesus offered no harsh word or judgmental rebuke but the true revelation of her life with loving acceptance and understanding. Jesus is the perfect pastoral minister whose words watered her dry and despondent soul.

St. Augustine begins his Confessions with the famous declaration: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You, O Lord.” Thus there is a "God–sized hole" in each of us. At every Mass, Sunday after Sunday, we gather at "Jacob’s Well" to hear God’s Word and be refreshed through the gift of the Eucharist. This priceless gift overflows in a Christ-drenched universe, as there is an eternal slaking of thirst for God in His abundant love. Christ gifts us with His presence, veiled in appearance as bread and wine, and saves us by grace. The Carmelite poet, Jessica Powers (Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, her religious name) wrote, “God fills my being to the brim with floods of His immensity. I drown within a drop of Him whose seed-bed is infinity.” Our lives thirst for meaning, purpose, value, companionship, intimacy, union, truth, wholeness, holiness and ultimately salvation.

Wilford Owen, a British poet, reflected on his experience in World War I when he wrote, “I saw God through mud.” We all struggle with the muddiness of our human condition ... difficulties, weaknesses, disappointments, hurts, in ourselves and others. Many times we are obsessed with what we have, what we do and what people think of us. But these will not offer us fulfillment". Our human nature has many cravings, desires and tastes. They are intended to open us up to "Thee" and not "me."

God has a hope, dream and desire for each one of us. The Samaritan woman teaches that God wishes to recreate us and provide us with: 1) identity — as children of God, 2) intimacy — in getting below the surface, taking the risk, digging down into the heart to the awareness of God’s friendship, 3) generativity — the awareness that others may be enriched and benefit through our creative love, 4) integrity — the point I must reach through my choices and God’s grace in order to be truly free, and 5) blessedness — the state of realizing that God has indeed blessed me and wanting to share those blessings and graces with others.

Theodore Roethke said, “Running from God is the longest race of all.” Are we running from the Lord or are we running to the Lord this Lenten journey in 2011? Because we all wrestle and struggle with sin daily in our lives, we must seek the refreshing presence of Jesus to be faithful. It is by coming to the well of prayer in which our thirst is quenched.

Prayer with the Samaritan Woman

With the Samaritan woman,
we come to the source of living water.
Let water spring forth in our heart, Lord Jesus,
water welling up to eternal life.
Give us, O Lord, your living water,
the source of eternal life.

With the Samaritan woman,
we want to worship your Father in spirit and truth.
Help us to adore him, Lord Jesus,
by accomplishing your blessed will.
Give us, O Lord, your living water,
the source of eternal life.

With the Samaritan woman,
we come to work at the harvest.
Ripen the golden sheaves
for the barns of heaven.
Give us, O Lord, your living water,
the source of eternal life.

With the Samaritan woman, we acclaim you:
"You are truly the Savior of the world!"
May our life reveal your salvation, Lord Jesus,
to all our brothers and sisters.
Give us, O Lord, your living water,
the source of eternal life.

See, Lord Jesus, our broken cisterns
that do not contain living water.
See our cracked jars, our used ropes.
The wells that we have dug
have become filled with the sand of our negligence.
Who will give us fresh water in the high noon of our life,
water that will quench our thirst for life eternal?
Who will heal the torment of our lost loves,
who will teach us true adoration of your Father
except you alone, Lord Jesus,
for you are truly the Savior of the world,
our only hope for eternity. Amen.

- Lucien Deiss, CSSp

Lent 2

“A mountaintop is a great place to see the stars, but to clearly see God requires a change of heart.”

- David McCasland

On Friday, March 11, as I was about to teach my eighth grade religion class in our school, there was an interruption on the P.A. system of children singing “Happy Birthday” for my 49th birthday:

I wish to thank everyone for all the cards, greetings, birthday wishes and kind remembrances. They are humbly received and gratefully appreciated. As I read through the cards which the children wrote to me, a third grader, Jessica, said, “Happy Birthday, Fr. Rich. I hope God blesses you as much as He can!” The card from my 90 year-old Godmother, Aunt Jo, from Salem, OH read, “May you be blessed with everything bright and beautiful ... on your birthday and always.”

The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (500 BC) said that change is inevitable and is a constancy throughout life. His famous quotation, “We cannot step into the same river twice. That being, the water has passed downstream.” People often ask us, “Do you feel any different or older on your birthday?” The fact of the matter is, life changes. For many, change is hard: we fear it, we resist it, we deny it, and with much obstinacy, will not face it. We even sometimes take comfort in the familiar, “Better the devil you know, than the devil you don't know." Nonetheless, change is a part of life. We grow from infants, to children, to adults; we move away from home and our parents. We find new partners; we face new responsibilities. We get sick; we grow old. We die. Change happens to everyone. We must face change, whether we like it or not. And we must even, in hard times especially, grow through it, so that we may become transformed.

Mother Church in her ageless wisdom gives us a 6-week period of time-out each year in the season of Lent which marks change. This time is set aside for quiet reflection on the meaning of our lives in faith. Through Lent, we become ever more aware of the crucible in which our faith is tested, refined, purified and cleansed. Lent offers us an opportunity to embrace change, to accept it and grow through it. Each life has its ups and downs, its high points and its low points, its moments of glory and its moments of disillusionment.

This week, on March 20, we welcome the Vernal or Spring Equinox. Equinox comes from two Latin words, “aequus” meaning “equal," and “nox” meaning “night.” In the calendar year the equinox is the time when the sun crosses the equator and on this day the length of day and night are closest to equal. This event of the sun marks, in the Northern hemisphere, the official beginning of spring (the season of birthing) from winter (a season of waiting). As we move to Daylight Savings time, the festival of life and light abounds.

I remember as a child, Mom would always say after the cold, dreary, long winter, “We must do Spring cleaning of our house to refresh and empty out the clutter of the sedentary months. To open windows, get rid of stale air, plant the garden, begin the newly grown lawn and rid the closets in the basement of things no longer needed.” So too, in the season of the soul in springtime, there is awe and wonder at the changes that take place through God‟s renewal in us. Spring generates the new life of surprise, delight, unmitigated joy, new hopes and new beginnings.

On this 2nd Sunday of Lent, Jesus gives three of His disciples, Peter, James and John, a glimpse of glory in order to help them grow in holiness. The Father glorified Jesus in His humanity and the disciples saw the holiness of His inmost reality. Jesus came to create a new humanity by transforming us and filling us with His own holiness and glory. Lent is a time for those seeking Baptism and those already Baptized to deepen incorporation into Christ by dying to our old humanity and rising with Him as a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). We must believe that we can overcome our failings, weaknesses and sins and be changed in a lasting way. Through the power of the Holy Spirit within us, we grow in faith. “My grace is sufficient for You, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). When we proclaim this truth about ourselves, we strengthen our faith in God's power to change us. Sometimes we think that we are making no real progress in the spiritual life as we continue to struggle with the same issues. However, the answer to this is that the Spirit‟s work in us is necessarily hidden: “So do not lose heart ... Our inner nature is being renewed everyday” (2 Cor 4:16). It is only through our death that the hidden work of transformation will be fully revealed.

The Russian philosopher, Nicolas Berdyaey, (1874-1948), made this comment on the beauty on the Transfiguration, “The Transfiguration of the world is the attainment of beauty. The kingdom of God is beauty. Art gives us merely symbols of beauty. Real beauty is given only in the religious transfiguration of the creature. Beauty is God’s idea of the creature, of man and of the world.” It is through contemplation of the resurrected, glorified and transfigured Lord, that we glimpse the joy and the hope of our eternal heavenly destiny.

Transform Me

Lord, transform
My suffering into growth,
My tears into prayer,
My discouragement into faith,
My fears into trust,
My expectations into hopes,
My anger into closeness,
My bitterness into acceptance,
My guilt into reconciliation,
My loneliness into contemplation,
My silence into peace,
My deaths into resurrection.

- Armaldo Pangrazzi

Lent 1

“Jesus...is my center, my meaning, my reason for living, my supreme good, my purpose in life, my joy, my glory, my law, my leader, my savior, the one to Whom I belong.”

— Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM

Last Thursday, March 3, at the Children’s Mass which was broadcasted at 5:15 PM on 106.7 FM WAOB (We Are One Body), I shared this story of 4-year-old George who was so excited about going to pre-school, that in haste, he jumped out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom. However, he missed the doorway and ran smack into the wall. His Grandmother, who heard the crash, yelled out, “George, George, are you alright?” “I’m okay,” he replied slowly, it’s just I guess I have too much dark in my eyes.”

As we begin our Lenten journey, 2011, let us take a look at the dark in our own eyes, our sinful and self-centered ways: being wrapped up in our own agendas, obsessed by status, controlled by power, weighed down by burdens, shackled by inner compulsions, veiled by hidden blemishes, halted by spiritual laziness, and haunted by destructive demons. Pope Benedict XVI said that Lent is a time for self examination and to let go of all the traces of selfishness, which is the root cause of violence. He noted that we must move from “selfishness” to “selflessness." Narcissism is a condition of self-absorption and can affect a person at any age — a spoiled child, a petulant teenager, egotistical co-worker, stubborn spouse, or an unfaithful companion. The evil strains of egotism, infidelity and hostility lead to moodiness, laziness and self-indulgence. The most insidious form of deception is self-deception—we must be as honest with ourselves, questioning our motives and examining our feelings.

On this First Sunday of Lent, traditionally called "Temptation Sunday," Jesus goes "face-to-face" with the devil in the desert, 40 days and 40 nights. Jesus is well aware that pleasures, powers and possessions are the three great illusions that can torpedo the human condition and bring it to the degradation of smithereens. We, too, must confront our own temptations. We all struggle against the world, the flesh and the devil. We face this primordial 3-faceted struggle our entire life-journey until we cross over into eternity. Don’t forget the enemy comes to steal, to kill and to destroy (John 10).

Lent is a time of Spring cleaning, spiritual renovation, a time to come face to face with our own disordered humanity. Perhaps we need to empty ourselves of our wants, desires and passions in order to align ourselves with Christ who truly knows and loves us. The allurements of the world, the temptations of our culture, the demands of our needy self and the distortions of the devil can lead us to "spiritual bankruptcy." Real freedom and real life are not gained by following the pull of the tug of war of our lusts and drives but in resisting them. When Christ calls a person it is costly. He calls us to come to die to oneself. The word “mortification” is rooted in Latin, French and Old English words denoting “deadening” or “subduing." Mortification is essential for selftranscendence.

It is only through self-denial, self-control and self-mastery that one’s true self emerges, not the false or illusional shadow-self. If we satisfy our appetites, passions and lusts by indulging them, they become our masters and we lose the monitoring of internal controls, which spells spiritual disaster and death.

Lent is a time to turn it around 360 degrees. It’s never too late for God to invigorate and revitalize a person, a relationship, a church, the world. Despite our difficulties, weaknesses, disappointments -- in ourselves and others -- it’s amazing that God, through His grace, hides in the depths of it all. In the words of the twentieth century political and religious leader Mahatma Gandhi, “My imperfections and failures are as much as a blessing from God as my successes and talents, and I lay them both at His feet.” Lent is a time to discover the "golden image" we have been created in. That precious image can be tarred, marred and scarred through one’s own sin and that of others. Perhaps read Psalm 51, a story of David’s sin and repentance, and meditate on it. It is the hallmark and chartered chapter of Israel’s "fallen king and hero," humbled, contrite and repentant, God’s grace is the healing remedy to his wandering waywardness.

Saints were certainly in touch with their sin and brokenness. Sin is not a pretty or popular subject, however sin is pervasive always and everywhere and in everyone. St. Augustine famously said, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” Jesus died to save sinners, so much does He love them. We cannot save ourselves. We are not saved by technology. We are not saved by self-help therapy. We are not saved by academic brilliance. We are not saved by robust stock portfolios. We are not saved by a perfect 10 bodily appearance. We are not saved by drowning out life’s difficulties through self-medication. Instead, our faith reminds us this Lent that drawing closer to Jesus heals, frees and saves us. He alone can save us and free us from our sins. May we all keep our "eyes on the prize" -- Jesus our Savior. May we grow in holiness, prayer, reconciliation, grace, charity and self-renunciation this Lent. Lent is a time of alms-giving. The goal is $375 per family for Parish Share 2011. That is equal to $1 per day, and $10 extra to have a Mass offered for a loved one. That’s $375.

Calm my restless spirit, my terrified soul.
Lead me to that haven where I may behold
your beauty, peace, joy, hid behind the veil of tears.

Restore my peace of mind, heal my fearful heart.
Take me to that lonely, quiet place apart.
There my soul will find rest in the shadows of the night.

Revive my drooping spirit, my downcast will.
Pour Your soothing oil over my wounds until
death has lost its hold on me and new life enters in.

Then will my soul rejoice -- my spirit sing praise.
To You will I make music throughout my days.
For now You are, Comforter, Healer, Savior, Father.

— Sr. Kathryn J. Hermes, FSP
"Making Peace with Yourself: 15 Steps to Spiritual Healing"

Ordinary Time 9

Today is Parish Share Weekend! The following letter reflects the letter sent to every registered family:

Dear Parishioner,

“Prayer, fasting and almsgiving may be good in themselves: yet it is not in these practices alone that the goal of our Christian life is found, though they are necessary means for its attainment. The true goal consists in our acquiring the Holy Spirit of God.”

- St. Serapham of Sarov (Russian Monk, 1759-1833)

When I was a child I always enjoyed visiting my Uncle Sam who lived in Pemberton, NJ. He served in the Army for over 40 years. He took special pride that he lived in the Garden State. His garden was abundant in fresh vegetables and he tended to it with great devotion and care. Whenever I would visit him in his home next to Fort Dix, I stood in awe of mother nature and Uncle Sam’s faithful toil.

As the Pastor of St. Joseph Parish in my third year, I stand in wonder and awe of a parish that has existed since 1891. For 120 years our Catholic Faith has been passed on here. Let us continue to extend Christ’s mission not only spiritually but also materially. Our true vocation in life: to love, to care, to connect and to share with others.

Since 1979, the program entitled Parish Share (PSP), initiated by Bishop Vincent Martin Leonard, 9th bishop of Pittsburgh, has continued in our Diocese. Every single parish of the 212 parishes in the Diocese of Pittsburgh are assessed a designated amount in order to contribute to the overall garden of good works and ministry that are done throughout the Diocese. As Christians we are not isolated persons or communities, but living members of a single Body, the Church. I feel richly blessed and humbled to serve this faith community. You inspire me by your holiness, sacrifice, reverence, prayerfulness and charity.

A Bishop friend of mine, Bishop Robert Morneau, Auxilliary Bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay, wrote beautifully on the “12 Gardens of Stewardship." The way of Jesus is the way of love, forgiveness, total self-giving and building right relationships with God, self, others and all creation.

GARDEN OF THE BODY: Get proper nutrition; exercise and rest; and avoid chemical abuse, smoking, and in our culture, obesity.
GARDEN OF THE SOUL: Cultivate a prayer life.
GARDEN OF FAMILY & FRIENDS: Take the time to nurture relationships with those important to you.
GARDEN OF THE GLOBE: Care for the environment; recycle; don’t waste natural resources.
GARDEN OF EMOTIONS: Aim for a balance emotionally; work at being in good humor.
GARDEN OF THE “POLIS”: Be politically aware, be an informed and involved citizen, and vote; attend community meetings.
GARDEN OF THE MIND: Keep learning.
GARDEN OF DECISIONS: Make well-informed choices; work toward understanding and consensus; keep the vision and mission of Jesus in mind.
GARDEN OF THE CHIP: Use technology for good purposes.
GARDEN OF HISTORY: Know and value the things of the past; keep lessons of history fresh in the mind.
GARDEN OF THE ARTS: Listen to, read and watch the best in books, music, movies, theater, artwork, radio and television.
GARDEN OF MONEY: Use financial resources well; set and keep a budget; set spending limits; ask how much money is enough.

By now you should have received your 2011 pledge card in the mail. Please fill out the card and return both the “Parish” and “Diocese” copies to the rectory. As in the past, you will receive a monthly reminder of your pledge by mail. The Finance Council has suggested that we keep the pledge amount at $375 from each registered family. This pledge of $375 may be paid in 10 monthly installments at $37.50 per month from March through December. I realize that for some on limited incomes, $375 is a far stretch; but for others who may be more well off, it may not be so difficult to even go beyond. We are delighted by your gracious generosity.

Recently, a parishioner went to Florida to visit his mother and sister. While there, he visited three modern churches and noted that they were spacious, well lit and beautiful, but however, not St. Joseph’s. This experience taught him the great treasure he had in his entire life as a life-long member of St. Joseph Parish. He said that this truly is some place special and he’s grateful for the gift of this parish family and church in his life.

I want to thank you for nurturing and fertilizing the garden here at St. Joseph Parish. With your continued help we can flourish. Our tradition here in the past has been strong and steadfast. Now let us do our part to share through almsgiving as we begin our Lenten journey. The strength of our future depends on our sacrifices and commitment. I pray that all of us will nourish the garden entrusted to our care for the good of the Kingdom of God. It is never too late for God to invigorate and revitalize a person, a church, the world. Thank you for your participation in our Parish Share Program 2011 (PSP). With your help I trust we will reach our goal! God bless you.