Certainly you’ve heard the adage, “you are what you eat.” And, our computer geeks are fond of saying, “garbage in, garbage out.” The point being, in both of these sayings . . something becomes in large part the sum of what was put into it. Good health comes from a good diet. A dependable computer program only works with good data input. (The bible was on to this when 3,000 years ago it said, “You reap what you sow.”)

It works like that with our spiritual life too. We are greatly shaped by what we think, hear, see, and touch. What we allow to enter through our senses creates the raw data for the kind of person we become.

So, for example:

• Child psychologists tell us that hours spent watching violent images on television elevates the likeliness of children acting out violently.
• Constant attention to a hand-held game boy or ipod inhibits a young person’s ability to interact with real people.
• Non-stop images of negative, argumentative relationships create the impression that this is how people naturally interact. Yelling, whining, cursing, name calling becomes the norm. Talk Radio is full of this stuff.
• Pornographic web sites demean the human spirit and unleash a powerful darkness.
• Pretty much any television called “reality TV” has little grasp of what’s really real.

Why not put a stop to the “garbage in, garbage out” syndrome? We don’t have to accept from the media world what it calls “reality”. Why not dedicate ourselves to “Goodness in, Goodness out”?

What does this mean? It means putting a guard over what we let our eyes see and our ears hear. I’m being literal here. Change the channel or turn off the TV when it becomes crass or trashy. Walk away from conversations that are only meant to hurt others reputations. Put away the electronic games or instruments when people are present to talk to.
And in their place? . . .

• Great music
• Good books and reading
• Cook something!
• Visit someone lonely
• Take in the world of nature
• Good conversation and listening
• Hobbies are great.
• At least 10 minutes of prayer each day (in a chair . . . talking/listening to God)
• Good TV or movies

I hope you are enjoying your summer days. This is a time to renew yourself with family and fun things. I hope you dedicate yourself to celebrating LIFE!!

Fr. Tim

Do you remember some of the things you used to do over and over as a kid? Little, personal, and sometimes quirky activities that you’d do when things got boring or you started getting nervous?

My sister Maureen would suck her thumb. My buddy Terry used to bite his finger nails. Maybe you had a special blanket you would take everywhere. Later in life my father and I battled cigarettes (I still struggle!). We call repeated actions habits; we do them without thinking. They relieve tension or anxiety and bring a mild pleasure or calming effect.

Some habits are healthy and benefit people whenever they do them. “That’s a good habit to get into,” we say. (Brush your teeth/eat your vegetables.) Other repeated actions can hurt us or others. These are bad habits. Some are bad (e.g. lying), because the act itself is bad. We call these “sinful habits”. Others are bad because they go too far,(“Too much” of anything is a bad habit) or not far enough (sloth, or carelessness) in doing the right thing.

So . . . what’s the point? It’s simple. Get in the habit of doing good things. How? Repetition. Doing something again and again will bring a certain ease of performance. A good thing, once rather hard to perform (choosing not to gossip) can, with repetition, become easier. Parents, I can’t stress this enough. “Repetition” of good actions is essential to learning the happiness of the moral life.

Our bodies themselves bear witness to this. Sit-ups/push-ups (yuk!) become easier with repetition. Fitness experts call this the “training effect” – – – ease in physical performance.

It’s really no different for our spiritual lives. Repetition makes for habit. Habit makes for virtue (an abiding strength). Virtue leads to happiness. Want to be happy? Keep on doing good. Simple, eh?

Let’s take matters of sexuality. I don’t think anyone of us is immune to the “sinful habit” that can develop in our thoughts or actions as we confront lustful images or impulses that exist within us and around us.

Our eyes (windows to the soul) by nature “want to see” . . everything. And, here’s the problems. Some things ought not to be seen. Why? Because they are not ours to have. Those intimate, beautiful parts of our bodies belong to the spousal partner. They are the “gift of ourselves” we give to the one we promised ourselves to. ”Impure” thoughts or glances really are “stealing” what doesn’t belong to us.

There is an old habit encouraged by spiritual directors and confessors as “custody of the eyes”. It refers to a mental readiness to turn away from seeing things that go beyond the intimacy we are permitted to have with that person. Repeated ways of acting we call “modesty”, (the way we dress, speak, the way we look at one another, or the lustful images we turn away from), become habits leading to the virtue of “chastity” or “purity”.

What constitutes modest dress or lustful glances is another discussion. The point here is to make clear these virtuous states don’t “just happen”. In fact, when left to nature, the opposite happens. Lust grows, not purity. Lies, not truth. Selfishness, not generosity. It’s part of our fallen human nature that this tendency exists.

It can only be remedied by “habits of love”, actions of reverence for others and ourselves motivated by the knowledge of who we are . . . God’s beloved children. And this friends is the way to JOY.

Everyone of us, God’s Children – no exceptions.

Bless your heart.

Fr. Tim

I’m struck by the mother’s seeming refusal to be offended by Jesus calling her a “dog”.

A word of background would be helpful. For the Jews at the time of Jesus there was a clear understanding of themselves as “The Chosen People”. God, through the prophets and Patriarchs (Moses), had called them from among all the people of the earth to be His special people (the prophet Hosea says God “espoused”/married the Jews). Everyone else was a “gentile dog”.

That’s just the way they talked. We hear remnants of that way of speaking with soldiers, teammates, or ethnic group referring to each other in rough insulting ways.

So Jesus was simply speaking with the common under-standing of the day. Gentiles were “dogs”. And so was the Canaanite woman who approached Jesus that day. She was beset with worry for her sick daughter, perhaps this Jewish holy man could help. Jesus ignores her. The disciples want to send her away.

Finally Jesus uses the “D” word. “Woman, it is not right to take the food of the children (the Jews) and throw it to the dogs.”

What does she do? Slap him? Return her own slur to him? (“You dirty so-and-so”). Stomp out of the room?
No. You see, she’s not thinking about herself. She’s thinking about her poor daughter. “It doesn’t matter what he calls me. This man can help my daughter. I believe in him.” “Jesus, you let the dogs eat what falls from the table, please, this dog is begging you, heal my daughter!”

Well . . . !! Jesus is overwhelmed with this response. “Woman, great is your faith!!” And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour. (Mt. 15:21-28.8)

Two remarkable things happen here it seems.

1. Jesus learns something. His message, the gospel, in the end is for all people not just the Jews. All one needs is faith.

2. Sometimes those least expected to receive and understand the message are the FIRST to get it. (the Good Samaritan LK. 10, Roman Centurion MT. 8)

What can we learn from these two? First off we know that the Heart of Jesus is moved by an act of faith. Christ cannot remain indifferent to one who believes in him. In fact he tells us that if our act of faith is so small (as a mustard seed) he can still work out God’s plan in our lives. What good news this is for those who feel their faith is weak . . . it’s a start. God will use it.

Secondly. What so touched Jesus’ heart in that moment? I think it was the humility of the mother, her love for her daughter, and the courage to stand in the midst of 12 disapproving men to make her need known to Jesus. All this won the heart of Christ.

So what about you and me? Can we let ourselves be small before the Lord? Can we persevere in the face of ridicule? Can we so focus on something other than ourselves like Peter last week walking over the waters toward Jesus?

Let’s ask God for the grace to be like that “dog”.

Woof, woof.
Fr. Tim

(Matthew 14:22-33)

So there they were, 4 miles out into the sea. It was about 3 am. (“the fourth watch of the night”,) and they hit a storm. Wind and waves were so strong as to make the apostles fear that they might drown.

I can’t think of a more frightening way to die. I learned to swim when I was about 8 or 9 years old, but I’ve never been very good at it. The swim instructor would tell us, “Relax, the water will hold you up. Don’t fight the water, it will only tire you out.” I never could trust this, and so any time I’m in water over my head, I’m pretty anxious.

The apostles were fishermen. We can presume they had seen their share of stormy seas. But, tonight was different . . . fear gripped them all. Adding to the terror was the strange figure of a man walking on the water toward them. “A ghost”, they thought. Surely tonight we die. So the apostles “cried out in fear.”

I don’t know about you, but I would be just as scared as they were. Life sometimes resembles that stormy night. Our life is tossed about by many things . . . sickness, a runaway child, a lost job, a broken relationship, a freak accident. All seems lost. We cry out in fear.

Then something happens. Peter calls out, “Is that you Lord? Call for me to come to you.” “Come,” he hears.

Now here’s the part that really gets me. In spite of all that’s happening around him . . . the huge waves splashing over the boat, the howling wind and screaming apostles . . . he gets out of the boat! Oh Peter, “No! You’ll drown!”
What was he thinking, this rough and impetuous fisherman? It seems to have been a blind act of TRUST. A trust that the voice he heard was his friend telling him not to be afraid. “Take courage. It is I.”

Now where do you think this amazing act of trust came from? Do you think Peter just sort of sum-moned it up out of his human heart? (Remember he was the one who, when confronted by the little servant girl, denied he ever knew Jesus). Do you think it was deep inside him just waiting for such a moment to show his great courage and faith? I don’t think so.

It was a moment of Grace. “A free and unmerited favor of God”, says the Catholic Encyclopedia, “given to empower a person to act for goodness.”

Somehow Peter was touched beyond his natural fear at that moment to turn to his Lord in faith. And lo!! He began to walk on the water toward Christ. (His faith would falter a moment later, of course, when he looked back to the waves around him and in doing so took his eyes off the one he trusted.)

But here’s the point. The grace to trust that the Lord is with you is a favor that God promises us (it’s on every page of the New Testament — but like Peter, we must call out, “Lord is that you?”)

“Help me Lord. I believe, help my unbelief.” These are wonderful prayers. Now trust . . . not in your goodness, but in God’s goodness to you.

Oh Lord, my boat is so small and your ocean is so big . . .

Bless you.
Fr. Tim

Jesus must have been a very visual person: sensitive to contrasts, colors, shapes, proportions, light and shade. He’d have made a fine artist. And he certainly was a brilliant teacher. His parables are full of stunning visuals which capture the spiritual meaning just by picturing them in your mind.

John 12:23 contains such a picture – the grain of wheat. (Take your bible and read it!) What is a seed, but a little package of life? In it is contained all that is needed for a new plant, or tree, or wild flower. But, something has to happen for it to become what it was made to be. It has to die. Unless it dies, Jesus says rather plaintively, “It remains just a grain of wheat.” As if to say, “what good is that? A seed that won’t die”.

We are like a seed, a package of Christ’s life given to us at birth and baptism. And like Christ, we must die to ourselves like a seed in the ground so that we be-come fully grown in Christ. Parents, you know all about this! I’d like to share a moment when God made this crystal clear for me in a very personal way.

It was late August of my 26th year. I was renting the upper half of a house owned by a nice widowed woman. I had been teaching high school the past two years, and after much struggle, I had been accepted into the seminary for studies for the priest-hood. I was having serious second thoughts as start up was a week away. “What were you thinking? Do you really want to do this?” I was all knotted up.

To help clear my head, I offered to clean the gutters of leaves up off the second floor roof. Climbing out my window onto the roof, I had a lovely view of the street and garden just below. Looking down I saw all these little green oak tree sprouts growing just under the gutter. The acorns had rolled off the roof and onto the ground, and there they grew little sprouts all in a straight line like school children.

All but one acorn . . . it had fallen into the gutter and sat for who knows how long. It was big and round and still had its little acorn hat. “What a smart little acorn you are,” I thought, “staying nice and safe in this gutter. You didn’t die like your little brother and sisters down below.”

So, with my thumb I pried the little cap off the acorn to look inside. And there it was, filling the entire acorn with its bright orange body . . . a giant maggot. It had eaten the entire inside of the acorn. No green little oak leaves sprouting up from the ground, this acorn was now home to a giant worm.

I threw the acorn to the ground, and not a minute lat-er the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart “. . . but, if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Unlike that hesitant acorn, I came down off that roof and planted myself in the seminary . . . where I had to die about ten more times before becoming a priest!! Those little oak trees would be 40 years old by now.

God bless you, you little seed you.

Fr. Tim

That’s how children’s stories start, right? Do you remember your parents saying, “Ok, go brush your teeth and get your pajamas on, and I’ll tell you a story.”? That was about the most exciting moment of the day, “Oh wow, a story!!” Off we raced to get ready for bed . . . “Dad’s going to tell us a story!!”

Your young heart was so eager for the chance to imagine, to dream, to picture people and places far far away. And the best part was, this story was being told by the ones you loved the most (mom and dad).

Story time had a special feel all its own. It felt safe and warm, and was a soft entrance to the sometimes lonely task of falling asleep. “Yay! We’re all here together and this story is going to make us happy and glad,” your child’s heart would say. I remember tales about “being honest”, “trying your best”, “helping a person in need”, “standing up for what’s right”, or my favorite, “the Best thing in the world” (going to heaven and being with Jesus and all the wonderful people, like Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle).

I picture Mary and Joseph telling Jesus bedtime stories. They must have been wonderful at it, because their son became a brilliant story teller. He knew the power a well told story had in touching the heart of the listener. He himself must have listened in awe as a child.

And that’s the power of the stories we’re hearing in the gospels this summer. Instead of “once upon a time”, Jesus begins them with “The Kingdom of Heaven is like . . . “ and with this playful invitation to imagine, Jesus instructs us about the most important things in life.

The instruction comes not from lecturing about “the seven virtues of the moral life”, but by inviting us to imagine we were farmers, bakers, jewel merchants, day workers for a temp agency, a run-away boy and his home schooled brother (all parables in Matthew 13 and Luke 15).

The story brings the meaning straight to our heart because we already know what something like that “feels like”. Take for example the Gospel this Sunday. We hear about a fortune hunter looking for buried treasure . . . suddenly there it is!!.

You can feel the rush of excitement; so much so that he buries it again so no one else can take it from him, and then, just to be safe – – he buys the whole field just in case he forgets the exact spot he buried it. It’s that, “I’ve got to have THAT ONE” feeling. Quick before it’s gone!!

What’s the message? The Kingdom of Heaven is what I’ve been looking for all my life. I’ve got to have it! And where is it?

It’s in the words Jesus speaks this Sunday in the gospel. It’s the reality that these stories not only point to, but are actually planted in our hearts and “fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21)

And who dare speak these stories about things we cannot see? Christ of course, the Word made flesh, “and the teaching you have heard is not mine, but comes from the Father, who sent me.” Jn. 14:24.

God loves you so much.

Fr. Tim

Save the Date

Parish Picnic
Sunday, September 7th from 12 noon to 3:00 pm.
More to follow!

(Another Previous Article.)

I’ve asked several whiz kids if there was a gizmo (see how tech savvy I am?!) that would, with a push of a but-ton, trace lost articles to their source. Sort of a GPS for misplaced keys or calendars. I’d buy it in a second.
These weren’t available to shepherds at the time of Jesus either. Luke’s gospel, Chapter 15, tells us the story of the lone sheep who leaves the 99 to wander about. Why not clip a little chip on each sheep and know its position on your shepherd radar screen?

It’s not like that. Things get lost. Keys, pens, cars, you, me. Have you ever been lost? It can be scary. I remember my father in his early 80’s arriving home two hours late for our dinner. Mom, was sick with worry. Dad arrived white as a ghost, almost trembling.

“WHERE have you been?!” “I was lost.” Dad said. It turned out he’d had a mild stroke while driving the car. A city that he knew like the back of his hand suddenly lost all recognition. “Where am I?” Nothing looked familiar. He could have been in Buenos Aires for all he knew.

Slowly, the confusion passed. Buildings and street signs started to communicate where he was and finally he’d found his way home!

So, what’s the point? In Luke’s gospel, Jesus was having dinner with “sinners”, people who had lost their way, wandered off. The scribes and Pharisees insisted that these people be shunned until they found their way back. Jesus says “No. These are the ones I’ve come for.”

He searches the highways and byways for us. What does this search look like? Dinner. Conversation. Wine. Laughter. Stories. Friendship. Not church. Not yet.

What does this say about our children and grandchildren who have seemingly walked away from the faith? Will He find my lost child?

Yes. But probably not the way you would imagine.
Something new has to happen. Something, that on the surface has nothing to do with “Church”, or priests, or going to mass and confession.

Sometimes, we have to meet Christ on the street or in the pub, or a movie, or a conversation with your closest friends. Something beautiful needs to happen. Something that reminds us of a “home” we have always longed for, a moment that touches us with its beauty, power and humanity.

Like, Sleeping Beauty, a person is invited to a deeper life. It’s called love. And this love comes from Christ. And all who abide in this love are children of God.

Parents. Grandparents. You have this love in you. Be confident of it. Give it to your young ones lavishly, humor-ously, gently . . . then, when you are alone . . .beg Jesus to add the church thing!

Remember, he’s out on the heath looking for them. He’s the Good Shepherd. Come. Meet Him at Mass.

God loves you more than you know.

Fr. Tim

A talent that comes so naturally to a child, but one that sometimes fades as we get older, is the ability to be surprised or delighted. Those of us who think they have seen it all can be slow to hear new things or consider different ways of doing things. It’s called being “stodgy” or old fashioned or “set in your ways”.

I’m dangerously close to that. Sometimes I think I know what you’re saying before you’re done saying it. Why? Because “I’ve heard it all before.” I know how the sauce will taste because I’ve eaten Italian all my life. And of course, there are no new jokes. Really, haven’t you heard every joke in the world? “A man walks into a bar . . . “ yeah, yeah.

But something happened last weekend while I was in Syracuse that really surprised and delighted all of us. A young man (now a deacon in Syracuse, soon to be ordained a priest) gave a talk on “discernment”. How do you figure out what path in life God wants you to take?

He used this image. See what you think.

Picture you’re weaving a cloth with a shuttle and yarn attached to it. Only this cloth is suspended over your head. The garment you’re weaving is, of course, “your life”.

You view your cloth from the bottom and see several openings which will receive your shuttle. So, seeing the pattern you’ve already begun, you choose an opening that seems to best add to your cloth. You push the shuttle through and wait for its return.

Meanwhile, God is there above to receive your choice. He takes his time in returning the shuttle. He’s partnering with you as co-weaver! Finally, He drops the shuttle back down to you, but not exactly where you thought He would. It’s “over there”.

“Oh,” we think. “That changes things. Now what? Where do I send my shuttle back to Him?”
And up and down the shuttle of life goes. Each time we make the best judgment we can about life’s choices . . . Is this the person I should marry? Do I work or stay home with the children? Do I apply for the new opening at work? Where do we send the children to school? What should I say about recent developments in the family? How do I handle this new problem? Etc.

Get the picture? It’s really a nice meditation on the partnership God has with us in guiding us through our lives.
Two points seem critical to me in this process.

1. When we ponder where to send up our choices, (the shuttle) there needs to be some sort of Prayer. “Oh Lord, please guide me, enlighten me. Show me where to send this choice in life. I give it to you. Help me.” Then act with the confidence that God will indeed help your choices. He loves you!

2. When God drops the shuttle back down to you, no matter how unexpected its placement, trust that it is God’s answer to your prayer. The events of our life that follow our prayerful action is what we call God’s Providence (His loving grace given to us, His children). Trust that He has heard you and has answered your prayers.

Case in point: We prayed for months that God would guide the selection of our next bishop. Bishop Salvatore Matano is God’s answer to us! Welcome bishop! Now let’s all get to work.
God is waiting for your next prayer.

Bless you.

Fr. Tim

There is a prayer league called the Christopher’s who have as their motto, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness”. What a wonderful motto. I bet you can explain its meaning without much coaching . . . spread the light, not the dark.

But, what does that mean in practical ways? It means there is a choice to be made in many of our human activities, a choice between goodness and meanness, or truth or lies, or generosity and selfishness.

There are, of course, “neutral choices” or choices of preference (the soup you eat or the toothpaste you buy) that don’t spread light or darkness. But, think for a minute how many times in the day we are confronted with opportunities for goodness or evil in the twinkling of an eye.

Do I:

Say something positive about a person, or join in the litany of faults that others enjoy telling?
Watch something funny or human or beautiful on TV, or search out programming with ultra violence, fear or lewdness?

Try to find something hopeful in a difficult situation, or enjoy describing how terrible things are?
Do I wait for the smallest opportunity to “be offended”, or do I take any personal slights as coming from some-one whose day is probably harder than mine? Or, some-one who needs my patience?

Do I take the old comfortable path of minimal effort, or do I try to make something beautiful or excellent?

Do I give a person the benefit of the doubt, or do I pre-sume their motives are small and mean?

Do I enjoy getting angry and being hurt? Or, do I try (not always successfully!) to ignore or forgive?

Do I grab that parking spot, or let someone else have it?

Do I enjoy a whining? (“It’s just not fair!”) Or, do I try to point out what’s wrong in a way that people are invited to correct? (“Why don’t we try this? Let’s try to make this better).

Did you know that the light is more powerful than the dark? (Sometimes we wonder, don’t we?) Think about it though; what is darkness, but the absence of light. Darkness is removed by lighting a light. I think of the Easter Vigil – how the Paschal Candle burns alone in the Church announcing the Resurrection? Darkness has no power over light . . . so long as it shines.

“Dear God, help me to learn to love your Light. Help me to learn that I carry your Light. Oh God, use me to spread your Light.”

Bless you always,
Fr. Tim

The detail almost slipped by me, but last Sunday was the first day of Summer. Aren’t you glad that smarter people than you and me took the time to figure out just when it happens?

So, what are your plans for this summer? Travel? Family get-togethers? Gardening? Maybe just some time to relax. I want to do all those (except the gardening — too many years weeding my dad’s garden).

So, here’s what I hope my summer can be about:

• I want to get back to Ohio a couple times this summer. My sisters, Patty and Maureen, totally spoil me, and their husbands don’t mind. “Tim, come again, I only get to eat like this when you come by.”
• I’ve played golf since I was 9 yrs. old. I really like it. Over the years some college buddies have taken me to the cleaners. I mean, they see me coming! It’s time for payback! (By the way, are you planning to play in the parish golf tournament July 27? Sign up!)
• Sometime this summer I will be driving with good friends to Quebec City. I am not a good traveler, but it is fun to tag along with those who love seeing new sights. Bon Voyage!!!!
• Now that we’ve made our goal for “This is My Parish!” I want to bring the two projects we told you about (Phase 1 of the church roof, and the new parking surfaces), to completion. I hope by mid-September we can have those done.
• There are a few fellows I know who are thinking about the priesthood. I hope to have a cookout and conversation with them sometime this summer.
• There are three new books on my table I’m looking forward to reading.
• Eventually, this summer (not right now), I’ll have to start talking with our Parish Council about the next pastoral year. “What is God asking us to do this year?”

Anyway, I hope these precious summer days are filled with peace and a growing awareness of God’s love for you.

As always, for you.
Fr. Tim