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Father Barry's May 2010 Pastor Pages
The Prayer and Action program of the Salina Diocese is a mission program that provides meaningful opportunities to young people
to serve others. Because many of our high school and college students cannot travel to foreign countries for a mission experience, Prayer
and Action was created to provide an opportunity for them to serve the needs of people in our local communities.
This year the parishes in Norton and Concordia are serving as host parishes for Prayer and Action. Beginning the first week in June there will
be 60 young people and their sponsors from across the diocese descending on Concordia for one week intervals. They work on various projects for
those in need during the day and in the evening they participate in various spiritual formation activities that help them to grow in their Catholic,
Christian faith. Each week there will be a new group of 60 students with their adult sponsors. They will be residing in the old Catholic grade school,
spending the nights there and working during the day. There is no charge for their services, although they will take donations to offset the cost of
supplies (i.e. paint, brushes, tape, wood, nails, etc.)
Because the students do not bring any equipment or tools with them, there is a need to 'borrow' them during the month of June so they can work on
various projects. They need to borrow from the community the following tools:
- 20 ladders of all heights, both extension and A-frame.
- Yard tools such as loppers, shears, bow saws, clippers for trimming trees, bushes and brush removal.
- Rakes, brooms, pole saws, hammers, hand snippers and any other tools you think could be useful.
- Three chainsaws and a couple of trailers or trucks for hauling brush and trash to the dump. The chainsaws will be used by the adult
sponsors who are assisting the young people.
If you are willing to loan any of the above mentioned items to the Prayer and Action group during the month of June, please call the
office (243-1099). We will either pick up the tools or you may deliver tools to the parish office. Please place your name on the tools/equipment
so we can return them to you at the end of June.
This is the season for high school and college graduations. If you are a parent, brother/sister, grandparent, great-grandparent, aunt, uncle,
cousin then you have attended or will attend numerous graduations. Why have graduations? Why are graduations meaningful? Graduation means
what it says. It means graduating from one stage in life to another stage in life, moving from one level to a higher level of learning
and understanding oneself, God and creation. It is ascending from one particular phase in life and moving up into another phase of life.
Graduations mark a change and a transition in a person's life.
This Sunday we remember and commemorate the ascension of Christ into heaven. What meaning does the Ascension have for us today? Perhaps
the metaphor of graduation would be useful. The word "graduation" comes from a Latin word which means "to take a step" and to move
up to a higher level. So graduation is all about graduating to a higher level of perceiving, learning, understanding and acting. In a similar
manner, Christ calls us to experience a life with him that lifts us up, graduates us to a higher plain of living, loving, sharing, serving, forgiving,
helping, and dying. Christ wants to lift us up to himself to such an extent that we begin to see the world through his eyes, love others through his
heart, think through his mind, to hear others through his ears. In the communion with Christ, we ascend to living in a way that allows other people
to experience Christ through us (words, actions, example). In essence, we become bearers or carriers of his grace, presence and love.
We may not think of ourselves as powerful people. I'm certain the apostles at the very beginning of their life with Christ did not perceive themselves
as powerful people - most of them were fisherman, not trained scholars of religion nor materially rich. Many of the disciples taht followed after the
apostles were not people of privilege either. But through the power of the Holy Spirit they ascended to a new level of seeing, learning, serving,
and loving.
Jesus ascends into heaven and he invites us to follow him, not just at the end of our earthly journey, but to celebrate moments where the Holy Spirit
empowers us to ascend now in our lives. These many small ascensions in our thinking, loving, and acting allow us to be in communion with Christ now
and in union with God's will. And we can look forward with hope to a final and glorious ascension with Christ at the end of our earthly journey.
Jesus spoke not only of God as Father but also described God using maternal or motherly qualities of nurturing care, unconditional love
and compassionate wisdom. Even the Old Testament used the image of mother to describe God (Isaiah 46:3-4; 55:1-5; 49:14-16; Hosea 11:1-4).
In the history of our Catholic Church various saints have addressed God as 'Mother'. St. Paul describes God's Kingdom or the heavenly
Jerusalem as our Mother (Galations 4:26). But what would the chief teacher of our Roman Catholic Church, the Pope, say about the suggestion
of calling God our 'Mother'? In answer to such a question, in 1978 Pope John Paul I wrote, "God is Father; even more, God is Mother."
Many people have found refreshment and renewal in their prayer life by expanding their image of God in include 'Mother'. Obviously no one
image can adequately capture or describe God. The various names we assign to God assist us in becoming aware of all the ways God cares for
us in love. In all humility we must recognize all the titles we give to God are paltry efforts in naming our infinite God.
There is a common question that many non-Catholics have about communion. the question is this: Why is it when I go to a Catholic wedding
or funeral communion is only offered to Catholics and not to everyone? Why can't everyone go to communion no matter what denomination
they belong to, no matter what they believe or don't believe, like they do in my church? Don't you like us?
The answer to this question has many aspects but I'll only mention two. Our Catholic Church does not have what is called an 'open
communion', where it is open to people of all denominational backgrounds because of the very nature of what communion is to signify and
represent. "Communion," the very word and concept, means to be in communion with, to be in mutual agreement with, to be in union. When
we gather together for Mass or Eucharist as a Catholic family we gather professing a common creed or belief in what we hold to be true
about God and how God manifests divine love and salvation in our lives. One of the central parts of our faith as Catholics is that the living
presence of Christ comes to us through the sacrament of the Eucharist in a real and present way, not in a symbolic way or an artificial,
make-believe way. Those who do not belong to teh Catholic Church do not share in this belief or faith in the real presence of Christ in the
sacramental bread and wine. In most non-Catholic churches they either don't have the Eucharist, and if they do they do not consider it a
sacrament (it is not a visible sign of Christ's invisible presence); for them it is a symbolic representation of what Jesus did 2,000 years
ago, not a living reality present today.
As Catholics we take seriously Jesus' words in the Gospel when he says at the Last Supper "this is my body" and "this is my blood." Jesus
did not say this a sign of my body or this is a symbol of my blood. Jesus was communicating to the disciples that his living and active
presence would remain with them in a sacramental way - through the visible bread and wine which when consecrated becomes his living presence,
body and blood. Jesus makes this belief very clear when he says in John's Gospel: "Let me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of
the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them
up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them."
(John 6)
St. Paul reaffirms this belief among the earliest disciples when he writes: "The cup of blessig that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood
of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?" (1 Corin. 10:16).
The Eucharistic prayer and the Communion we share as Catholics during Mass unite us together in an expression of this common belief in Christ's Real
Presence at Mass. Communion is an expression of how we are united together in a shared faith and tradition concerning what we believe about God,
Jesus Christ, salvation and Eucharist, among the many other shared beliefs and practices. Communion means just that, we are in communin as a particular
church family we call 'Catholic'.
This means non-Catholic guests or visitors who attend a Catholic Mass, although they may share a few beliefs of our Catholic Faith (like there is a God
and there is Jesus), they are not in full communion or agreement with what defines the Catholic Church--our tradition, our approach to Sacred
Scripture as well as our beliefs about baptism, confirmation, marriage, holy orders, Eucharist, anointing of sick, salvation, church, justice...
just to name a few.
Not sharing common communion at Mass is tragic and it is not meant to be a way of demeaning or alienating non-Catholic guests. It is an expression of
our human community injured by sin and our need to continue to work for a great unity among all Christians. A final important not is this. To ignore
or gloss over the very real differences between our Catholic, Christian tradition and other Christian traditions by just saying it doesn't matter,
does a disservice to the uniqueness and richness of not only our Catholic heritage but also the Protestant tradition. It is not respectful of
the value and significance of the differences that can contribute to the final richness promised by a complete unity and oneness.
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Pastor Pages Archives/h4>
The Meaning of Communion 5/2/10
Image of God as Mother 5/9/10
Ascension and Graduation 5/16/10
Tools Needed for Prayer and Action 5/23/10
December 2009 Pastor Pages
January 2010 Pastor Pages
February 2010 Pastor Pages
March 2010 Pastor Pages
April 2010 Pastor Pages
Current Pastor Pages
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