I wrote some time ago that I’d be sharing some reflections on “life” and “faith” and “culture” from some really smart and holy persons. I’ve failed to do that!

So here’s a reboot of that promise called “Spiritual Masters”.

Here are two little passages from The Essence of Prayer by Ruth Burrows OCD. We so often think of God as infinite in power, all knowing, with holiness unbounded. Here she describes God as having a self-sacrificing nature as part of His very being. Wonderfully shocking when you think about it.

We stand in awe of the self-sacrificing ‘folly’ of God’s love for us. When God becomes human (Jesus) it is as the sacrificed one, the one who lays down his life in love. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (Jn 14.9) Can we not say God sacrificed Himself in creating the world and becoming our God?

It is as if self–sacrifice – which, after all, is the law of all genuine love – lies in the depths of the Divine Reality who is Love.

To be taken into that Love, to live with the life of God, must mean that sacrifice becomes our way of being too. God loved the world so much that he held nothing back from us, not even his own Son. P. 84

If we want to know God, we must look at Jesus crucified. We must gaze and gaze, not so much on the suffering, but on a love that is absolute. This is God; this is what God is really like. P. 46

Then . . . daily, secretly in prayer, in the gray simple moments of everyday life, we let that sacrificial love that is God, be our way of living too.

That “foolish” Love of God is poured out on us at every moment but most especially in the Eucharist when God takes our offering of bread and wine (a representation of ourselves) and returns to us His crucified and risen Son—which is the Father’s love for us.

Fr. Tim

PS. Spend some time with this. Feelings may not be there. That’s okay. Just say “Amen” …..and mean it!!

Pictures, as the saying goes, are worth a thousand words. Whether it’s about “a feeling” or “an idea” or “something we believe in”, it helps to get a picture in our mind that captures the essence of what we’re thinking about.

So, I was thinking the other day of what the faith teaches about “the effects of Original Sin”. You remember Original Sin, right? In the mythic story, Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command to refrain from eating the fruit of that tree. It’s the God inspired picture of an event no one was there to record. It is a great mystery.

The catechism tells us that one of the effects of Original Sin has been the wounding of our human nature. That means the creature, man, made in God’s image, has forfeited his original holiness and justice and “is wounded in the natural powers proper to it.” (reason and will) (Catholic Catechesis #405). In short, we suffer ignorance about who we are, and in this ignorance we are inclined to sin. This leaning toward sin is called “concupiscence”.

So, here’s my picture. See if this makes any sense. . . . I had an old VW “bug” way back in college. Great little vehicle – started up every time. One problem, it was out of alignment. Driving down the road, if you let go of the wheel, before long it would pull left and take you into the oncoming lane. It wouldn’t happen all at once, but you could feel a leaning. Like the car had a mind of its own, it pulled you into the other lane. To counteract this you had to drive with the wheel pegged to the right. This would keep the car in the proper lane heading straight.

It is the same with us humans. If we let go of the wheel, if we don’t take control over the direction of our lives, we eventually “pull into the wrong lane”.

Each of us experience this pull in our own way. (The classic “pulls” are called the Capital Sins – pride, envy, anger, gluttony, lust, jealousy and sloth). What’s yours?!!

The church’s teaching about the effects of Original Sin makes great sense. It’s a pull, an inclination. Going our own way, without God’s will to guide us, sooner or later we fall. Everyone sins.

Don’t be shocked that you have this tendency to sin – – – everybody has it (except Jesus and Mary – but that’s another story!) We’re in a battle. Be ready to fight. Some battles we win; some we lose. But, we don’t give up the fight.

The good news is that we’ve got the power to overcome this misalignment. God comes to our help here with the grace of the Holy Spirit empowering us to chose God’s way. But we have to do our part too. We need to be aware of the pull “and keep our hands on the wheel”!!

Pray and recognize your tendency. Ask God to help correct your alignment and the strength to avoid the places and things that approach you with their familiar enticements.

Don’t be discouraged if it takes a while to keep in the proper lane. A priest might be able to help you here. Certainly the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation (Confession) is a great source of strength and realignment.

Lastly, do really fun things. The devil hates it when people can laugh at themselves and share friendship with others who are keeping their hands on the wheel.

Please enjoy this summer. God will be pleased if we celebrate this wonderful gift.

Fr. Tim

(This article was previously posted on August 20, 2017)

“It is not good for man to be alone.” These remarkable words are spoken by God in the Book of Genesis as he seeks for a way to brighten things for a sad and lonely Adam. So God creates Eve, and she and Adam became “partners”.

Problem solved? For awhile. But then it happened. Our first parents chose to walk away from God who created them. And that’s when the sadness and loneliness of life settled in. They can no longer look at each other. They take up wearing leaves to hide their nakedness.

Loneliness is born. Oh dear.

There’s a tear in our hearts. We want to connect with others, but who is there we can trust to know us completely. (Haven’t many of us at some time assumed we’d found “Mr. or Ms. Wonderful”? Finally, we meet someone who is endlessly fascinating and fun and who delights in our every thought. How soon we discover they (and we) are not as perfect as we thought.)

Do you begin to see the peaceful co-existence of the world’s peoples hangs on the common conviction that we are created and saved by God who calls us His children? Without the assurance of the love of God, upholding creation and calling humanity to Himself, we’re left with a profound mistrust of one another.

Not even friend, lover, husband or wife will put to rest our craving for love and completion in this broken world. God created the human creature whose ultimate purpose is to know and love our Creator. He is our ALL.

So what do we do? Here’s where people can get lost. Some people will medicate their loneliness (food, alcohol, pills, etc.). Some will try to fill it with people and constant activity. Some go shopping! Why not travel?

Why not accept your loneliness? It’s part of life. It goes along with all the other moments humans experience. “There is a season and a time for every purpose. A time to be born, a time to die, a time to laugh, a time to weep” . . . . . . a time to be lonely”.

In fact, loneliness can add an unexpected blessing in our lives. It can force us to know ourselves, to truly embrace who we are (the good and the bad, the happy and sad). We stop running away from ourselves. Being alone is not so bad. (Maybe you’ve learned a little of this in these days of Covid isolation).

Best of all, loneliness can invite me to reach out to God in prayer. To confide in God what you’d speak to no other . . . . knowing that he hears and understands all of you.

Do you know who the loneliest guy in the world is? It has to be Jesus.

Who on earth could possibly understand who he was? Who could ever know the weight his mission placed on his shoulders? What must have been his loneliness in the garden that terrible night? Who could ever comfort Jesus?

But he was never alone for he knew his Father. (How often the scripture refers to Jesus spending the night alone in prayer to his Father “who sees in secret”.)

Lonely? Of course. Embrace it. Make friends with it (“Sister Loneliness”, St. Francis might say). You’ll be surprised how it will make you a better person; it can make you aware of the loneliness of others. It’s called compassion.

Last thought. There’s no loneliness in heaven. God will permeate every speck of our being. “For now we see as through a glass darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known.” 1 Cor.13:12.

God sees you . . . and loves you.

Fr. Tim

I keep coming back to a human experience that I think holds the key to understanding who we are as a human species. It is the experience of “wonder”.

Think of it, scientific knowledge, as wonderful as it is, is in the end “about things”. Science tells me an apple is a red, yellow or green sphere of cellulose, permeated with sugar and water; or ice cream, “a food consisting of cream, butter fat, sweetener and frozen”.

Does this Webster Dictionary description tell us what vanilla ice cream really is? Of course not. Human knowledge, to be more than stored computer facts, is experiential. You have to taste vanilla to understand it.

And here’s where the “wonder” part comes in. The most important human experiences elude scientific description; we say things like “you have to see it for yourself”. Some things, (the Milky Way in the night sky, a new born baby, the death of a lifelong friend, or my own mortality), present a moment that is beyond our ability to fully understand and leaves us in a state of shock and “wonder”.

The Psalms are full of this mysterious sense. “Oh Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth! / You have set your majesty above the heavens!/ When I see the heavens, the work of your hands/ the moon and stars that you set in place/. . . how awesome is your name through all the earth!” Psalm 8

Psalm 139 echoes this same moment of wonder and awe . . . “Such knowledge is beyond me, too lofty for me to reach . . . How precious are your designs O God; how vast the sum of them. / Were I to count them, to finish I would need eternity.”

Fear and reverence accompany such experiences. We meet face to face a truth that is real but beyond our ability to fully comprehend. It overwhelms us with its mysterious presence.

Such a moment came to me at age 19. I had tickets to an outdoor summer concert by the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. Its world renowned concert director, George Szell, had just died. There at mid-stage was placed the empty Maestro’s chair.

Before some 8,000 rapt concert goers, with the sun setting on a soft summer night, the orchestra (without conductor) played the soulful strains of Bach’s Air on a G String in his honor. Something happened to me and I think to many in the crowd that night.

All I can say is, I was overwhelmed by “beauty”. And I mean beauty on a thousand different levels: The music transcendent, the new grass all around, the man (now gone) who created this magnificent orchestra, but still present as his musicians played, the thousands of people, silent and in rapped attention . . . and me, feeling 19, and ready to change the world.

It was a moment. We were all plugged into something that I can only describe as JOY. Something bigger and sweeter and more powerful than any one of us. We were together, but each of us still ourselves. And, we all “looked and saw how good it was”. Can we say Heaven was there for a moment? I can; at least a hint of heaven.

So what’s the point to all this “wonder” stuff? Quite simply these moments are the foothills of God. Children waken to these hills every day. Everything is fresh and full of wonder. They hold that key to who we are . . . the creature that can know and love the Lord.

What’s happened to us? Somehow we’ve lost the eyes to see and the ears to hear. We fill our senses with far lesser beauty. Our cell phones and computers, as wonderful inventions as they are, “reality TV” replaces real life with its wondrous joys and sorrows.

Is there a remedy? Of course there is. Prayer.

Every day. “Lord I want to see your face, your presence.” He knows your need. Ask Him.

Fr. Tim

It’s human nature to want to be recognized, set apart, or seen as unique. We take great efforts to insure this happens throughout our life beginning with the very names we give to our children. Names are chosen to honor the child with the memory of some loved one who has gone before them.

With our special names we set out to make our mark in the world. As kids we decorate our bikes with streamers and flashing lights. We start to develop our own “style”. The haircut we get, our favorite color, the shirt we like.

Certain music talks to us. Certain entertainers or sports figures become our heroes. We decorate our homes, lockers, offices, all in such a way as to say “this is me”.

Why do we do this? Because we need to be noticed, appreciated. No one has ever existed in earth like you. This is something to be celebrated . . . this wonderful you. Parents, isn’t this your goal with your children? To raise happy, confident young persons who know who they are and what gifts they bring to the world? Of course.

But . . . . . . .

We must be careful here. Why is each human “special”? It comes from God making us in His image and from those who pour their love into us (parents, family, friends). To them we are special. As for the world . . . we happen to be just one of what?, six billion human beings living on this earth.

My point is “being special” comes from being who God made us to be and from being loved. Everyone needs to be loved. Where things can go wrong is thinking the world owes me love in the form of fun and excitement and boundless opportunity . . because “I’m special”.

I’m afraid we’re raising children in such a way that when life deals disappointment and heartache (and it certainly does), when the world turns cold and could care less about how unique they are, our young ones feel like they’ve been tricked. “This is not the world you told me I was entitled to!”

“This is hard. The world is not respecting me and my plans for life. Don’t they know “I’m special?”

This is where unhappiness happens for millions of people in our country. Life just didn’t turn out the way they thought. Somehow happiness was just supposed to hap- pen.

No thought was given to how you deal with failure and disappointment. They are given no concept of life as “struggle”, no resource to deal with life’s setbacks.

So what do many do? Some of the options available are:

1. Get bitter. Life stinks and my mission in life, my contribution, is to let everyone know how unfair life is. Be a “bitter realist”
2. Blame someone or something else for your problems. It’s the government, the school system, the coach, the current administration, the job market, etc.
3. Drop out. Just stop trying. What’s the use? The world doesn’t care that I’m special, so why should I try? “I didn’t ask to be born.”

Parents, grandparents, here’s how you can help. Teach your children that life is real and earnest. It’s not a cake walk. You will teach them everything they need to succeed but only by their efforts will they carve their own path through life.

Yes, sometimes life is not fair. But strangely enough it’s in these moments when the wonderful virtue of CHARACTER happens. (The quality that comes when you keep trying in the face of disappointment, when you re- fuse to give in to bitterness and name calling).

Yes, you are special; not because you’re smart or cute or athletic or popular or funny or charming . . . it’s because God made you and put His image in you and wants you to love Him and everybody else till we see God in the “Great Wow” yet to come.

Oh Summertime ……………. Thank you Lord. Fr. Tim

. . . During this time of “staying home” we find ourselves with lots of time on our hands. Time to think, to wonder, to remember.

Here are 20 questions that might add to your thoughtful moments. Some are quite personal and not to be shared; others might bring a nice conversation with a loved one. Go slow. Don’t do them all at once.

Can you remember a time as a child (@6-12yrs.) that God seemed close to you? Where were you? How did it feel?

1. Children often have childlike experiences of God. What was yours?
2. Now that I am older, I experience God . . . . how?
3. What makes you shy about telling a story with you and God in it?
4. Things that make it hard to believe in God are . . .
5. Do you pray? How do you pray? When do you pray?
6. Finish this sentence. “The time I knew God was with me was when . . . “
7. How do you know when your love for someone is really real not just a momentary feeling?
8. Do your children or friends know you believe in God? How would they know?
9. Do you worry sometimes that God can’t (or won’t) make this world “right”?
10. Have you ever done something that cost you time and frustration (and gave you nothing in return) solely because it was the right thing to do? What was it? How did that feel?
11. Has anything hurtful or frustrating happened to you that later on, contained a hidden “goodness”, that showed you God was there?
12. What would you say is “a grace”? Give an example.
13. What do you think children most need to know to face the world and its challenges?
14. Tears are most times a sign of love. What would move you to tears?
15. What does the current bickering in Washington, almost monthly acts of senseless violence, natural disasters around the world do to your faith?
16. Jesus tells us, to be his disciples we will experience the cross. What cross (suffering) do you carry in union with Him?
17. “Life is more __________ than I thought it would be.” (What word(s) would you use to reflect your thought?)
18. Looking back, do you wish you could change any thing?
19. Looking forward, do you wish to change anything?
20. What has happened in your life that you would NEVER change?

. . . Just some questions to think about and maybe share with someone? (bet you bump into some God Stuff you didn’t realize was there).

God’s going to get you. But you’ve got to let Him.

Fr. Tim

Picture a locomotive sitting in a train yard. The engine car has sat idle for over two months. The long line of cars attached are waiting to be set in motion. How do we get things rolling again?

Holy Trinity, up and running, has 1200 people attending weekend masses, 10 weddings, 40 First Communions, 50 teens waiting for Confirmation, 50 funerals each year, 12 parish committees, and about 10 parish ministries having over 300 volunteers.

All has been on hold since Palm Sunday in April. How do we start up yet continue to be safe during the ongoing Covid 19?

Starting this Sunday, June 14, Holy Trinity will be open to the public for Sunday worship. It is right that we begin the start up of our parish by gathering for the most important thing we do . . . worship of God in the Eucharist.

Current public attendance is limited to 25% capacity of each particular gathering space. That means HT can handle 300 people at any one mass. (This is divided up into three spaces – – – Church Proper, Gathering Space, and the new Trinity Hall).

You will find on our website and Facebook the particular procedures we will be using to facilitate the safe gathering of all who come to mass. PLEASE READ THESE OVER CAREFULLY so you will be ready to help make a peaceful gathering for all.

In the meantime let me make a couple comments that will make our gathering a sign of our love for each other.

• We need to begin with the attitude that things will be different for the time being. Where you sit at mass, the wearing of a mask, the way we go to communion, will all be a part of a new experience at mass.
• Please be patient with the things that may irritate you. (Signing up for mass, people instructing you where to sit, no singing, social distancing etc.).
• Remember we are all here to be with Jesus Christ and one another. The fullness of the Eucharistic presence is with us; no mask or distancing changes that.
• This is only for awhile. We pray that our normal way of gathering will happen soon.
• Smile!! You’re so pretty when you do.

God loves you.

Fr. Tim

The work of a parish priest gives the chance to observe people in many different life situations.

The elderly smile and shine with pride when their children and grand-children are home visiting. The steely determination of parents as they sacrifice for their children. Nervous newly engaged couples approaching the church to plan their wedding. A stay in the hospital tends to bring out anyone’s true colors. We priests see it all.

But the ones that touch me the most are our young children and teens. They’re so “out there”, so new and raw, so . . . wonderfully goofy. Let’s  marvel for a moment at our young ones.

Doesn’t it kill you when . . .

• They smile that kid’s smile. It’s radiant without their knowing it. The smile doesn’t have the slightest notion of what we know (that heartache isn’t too far down the road.) “Oh,” we say, “If only they could stay here.” So beautiful.
• A young person shows off some talent or favorite activity getting friends or family to smile and applaud.
• The girls break into singing the current youth “anthem” at a party or game. They’re so free in that happy way.
• The boys power down unbelievable amounts of spaghetti and get hungry 20 minutes later.
• The whole school turns out for a prayer service for one of their sick class mates.
• They try putting on some idea of adult behavior just to see how it feels.
• They collapse in tears and fall into your arms . . . and still want you near them.
• After days of whining and selfishness they come out of themselves and do something amazingly thoughtful for someone. “Yay! It’s working!”, parents think for a moment.

And don’t you wish you could . . . . . you know . . . control their lives!

• Spare them the hurt you know life eventually hands out?
• Let them see what you see in them (how wonderful they are)?
• Give them the confidence they need without them having to earn it through trial and error?
• Choose their friends?
• Spare them bad, impulsive choices?
• Find the perfect job, boyfriend, girlfriend, room-mate?
• Get them to experience God’s Spirit working in their life?
• Ensure their happiness and safety throughout their lives?

Oh how we want to live their lives for them!

So the question for parents and grand-parents is this:

Do you think God loves these children less than you? He made them!! He loved them so much He gave each of them a unique personality, style, and soul. To top it off. . . God gave them YOU.

So what’s your part in their life now? Here they are, physically grown, and old enough to make their own choices. So many choices out there; so many voices calling them to follow. They need you to witness to your belief in the goodness of life. They need you to show them why you continue to hope in spite of trouble and darkness . . . why you pray, why you believe in the goodness of people. Why you follow Christ. 

Jesus may have been thinking of teenagers when he said, “Watch the wild flowers grow . . . they neither spin nor worry . . . yet not even King Solomon is as beautiful as these. Won’t God be sure to watch over you?” Luke 12: 27-28 

BUT!   Teach these young ones to “Seek FIRST my will in their life,” says the Lord. “And these other things will come to pass.”

What’s God’s part? “Take courage.” He says. “I have overcome the world”.

God is with you. Trust Him

Fr. Tim

What does it mean TO HAVE HOPE?

The common everyday meaning of hope has to do with a DESIRE for some particular thing to happen for me or for others. For example: “I hope it snows all night so there’s no school!!” Or “I hope the Bills make the playoffs next year.” Or “I hope he calls me for dinner.” Or “I hope this medicine works.”

It’s sort of related to “wishing”. “I wish I could putt (sing, dance, pray. . .) better.” In other words it is my desire for improvement at something. Now to the degree that a certain result lies in my power to achieve, then, it would seem, if I applied myself, “I would have every hope of succeeding”.

But more often we use hope to express our best wishes for ourselves and loved ones, hopes that are by no means certain. I hope you: win the lottery, do well on your SAT’s, get the promotion, meet up with her at the party, find those car keys. And to that, hope a friend would respond, GOOD LUCK. Good luck because “chances are” it might not happen. The New York Lottery is fond of playing on this “hope” of a win. “Play the Lotto because. . . Hey, you never know”.

This is not what Christians mean by hope. Hear the words of the Universal Catechism: “Hope is the virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises – – – not on our strength.” (1817). Scripture says, “hold fast the confession of hope, for he who promised is faithful.” (Heb 10:23).

In fact Christian hope has nothing to do with wishing or chance. Through the merits of Christ’s Passion “this hope (of Eternal Life) does not disappoint.” (Rms 5:5). Hope is the “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul that enters where Jesus has already gone as a forerunner on our behalf.” (Heb 6:19-20).

In other words Christian hope IS A SURE THING. It’s for sure because it is based on a promise by God- – – God who can neither deceive nor be deceived. When Jesus (the Word made flesh) says: “I am the resurrection and the life.” “Whoever puts their faith in me will never suffer eternal death”, “I am going to prepare a place for you and then I will come back and take you with me.” HE MEANS IT. IT’S A SURE THING. He’s not kid- ding around. He’s the way, the TRUTH, and the life.

So hope is based on the Word of God (the promises made through Jesus Christ). It is of course preceded by faith. FAITH gives us the power to believe in the promises. HOPE now desires those promises as real and attainable. And these two give rise to CHARITY which, given the certainty of the promises, frees us from ourselves and our selfishness. We are then able to love God above all things and our neighbor as we love ourselves.

It is this peaceful, confident (based on God, not us) hope of a blessedness which we at Holy Trinity Parish desire to extend to all who are in need. How will we do that? By being people of hope.

Come join us in our mission!
Fr. Tim

If you were God and you chose to be born a human being how would you have done it? Find a list of choices below and see how your preferences compare with God’s. (Remember, you are God, the whole world is yours.)

1. When would you come to earth? Probably around this time right? At least a time in history with electricity and light and indoor plumbing and TV of course! Wrong!! God came 2000 yrs. ago not long after the Bronze Age. People were just learning farming and writing.

2. Where would you be born? Let’s see . . . Paris? New York? Hawaii? Some exotic and beautiful place probably. Wrong!! God was born in a backward little town called Bethlehem next to the largest desert in the world.

3. Who would be your family? Your blood? Some famous stock of Roman or Greek or Egyptian nobility? Wrong!! Your blood is Jewish, a minor tribal grouping of people who were slaves for most of their history.

4. What would your financial situation be? I mean really . . . God is rich. Right? God, as man, would have the material world at his fingertips. What comfort would not be yours while on earth? Wrong!! He was born in a stable. His parents had to stretch to make the simplest of payments. The bible says he literally had no home.

5. Who would your friends and associates be? The educated, the executives, the cultured and high class, the religious for sure. Wrong!! He hung with the working class. Fishermen, carpenters. He ate with the outcasts: extortionists (tax collectors), prostitutes, lepers.

6. Who would you have close to you? Your wife? Your cabinet? Cleopatra? The Queen of Sheba? The Harvard Board of Directors? Wrong!! You never marry (“What’s wrong with that boy?”). Your Cabinet (The Apostles) prove to be traitors and cowards.

7. What would be your greatest achievement? To be universally acclaimed as King of all the world? To have every people and nation bow to your smallest command? Wrong!! Your greatest achievement will be your death—naked and nailed to a cross— and then your Resurrection.

I think you begin to see how differently God chose to live his life from the way you and I would. That’s because we don’t get it. We think the purpose of life is to enjoy, to be fulfilled, to be happy in the ways this world can deliver. And as lovely as they are, we must be careful. We can get blinded by the shiny, sparkly things and begin to think that having them is why I’m here on earth.

To correct this Jesus came to show us what God the Father had in mind when he made us humans. How we are to be a Light to the World, not a sponge. We are a seed that dies to itself so it can give life a hundred fold. We are a branch united to God’s Vine (Christ) that receives his very life into us. (Read Mt. 5:13 – – The Beatitudes for the new key to happiness.)

And here’s the point . . . if we miss this we miss everything . . . “apart from me you can do nothing.” Jn. 15:5 Like a branch separated from the vine, we wither over time. That’s because we’re living life apart from our source – God.

What wondrous love God is! The small, the humble, the gentle, reveal His infinite power. This power of love has overcome the world. Jn. 16:33

It’s still Easter!!
Fr. Tim