Message from Our Pastor

March 14, 2010

Dear Friends in Christ:

As you leave the celebration of the Eucharist today, I am sure you are reflecting on the message given to us by Father Thomas Benedict Baxter; he has been blessed with a grace and gift to preach and awaken our hearts to Christ! As a parish community, we are very blessed to have this Benedictine Monk present for these days of retreat. As he comes from his monastery, which is located in the desert, he has been reflecting in the silence of his heart of how we might discover the wisdom of the desert in our walk to Jerusalem. The dying and rising of our journey is unique to each of us and yet we share a unity of knowing and being called to live our belonging through the waters of Baptism. We ask for the grace of abandonment for ourselves during these days which challenges all the ways we attempt to find the answer to the longing of our hearts in an isolated manner. Often, we attempt to answer our need alone, but we have a companionship of unity in the gaze of Christ for each one of us and we are so very much the same when simplicity marks our way of being in front of the Mystery of Love.

Please bring your children and come as a family. Ask a neighbor and come together or pick up someone who finds it difficult to drive at night. When we set aside this time and make some sacrifice in order to gather with friends and our community, we are already open to the Spirit that moves us to ask Christ for a change of heart. We either cling to what we already know, or we open ourselves up to the unforeseen as it happens. This simplicity is true wisdom!

During these days you may be called to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation and there are many opportunities available across the city as we approach the Triduum and the Easter celebration. We will have a joint celebration for confession with St. Pius on Palm Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 4:00 pm – at St. Pius X. This is a graced time to come before Jesus with a vulnerable and open heart to receive the embrace of mercy.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the Triduum is also spring break for our public and private schools and this is always painful for us. I do understand your going to visit family or have some vacation time, but it makes it difficult to celebrate this Holy Week in the fullest way possible as so many are away. We will miss you and your participation, but hopefully, you will find another place to allow Christ to move you during these powerful days of ritual, worship and being struck by the dying and rising of Jesus for each one of us.

Charles Peguy, an interesting writer in the early 1900s offers some reflective words for our pondering about how much Christ needs us:

“But Jesus came. He had three years to work. He put in His three years. But He did not at all waste His three years; He did not spend them groaning and challenging the sickness and the disgrace of those times…..He cut short. Oh, in a very simple way. Making Christianity. Inserting the Christian world. He did not incriminate, He did not accuse anyone. He saved. God has need of us. God needs His creature. He has condemned himself, in a manner of speaking, to this. He misses us, misses His creature. He who is everything needs him who is nothing. He who can do all things needs him who can do nothing. He has lost His full powers. He who is everything is nothing without him who is nothing.”

A blessed Lent,

Father Jerry Mahon
Pastor