Dear Friends,

No greater joy...

A year ago this weekend we were blest to witness Sr. Maria Kim make her perpetual profession with the Daughters of St. Paul. I remember with fondness the gang of Sisters that “invaded” our parish the week before and shared with us their great love of the Lord and their incredible teaching skills. For a pastor to see one of the young people from the parish consecrate her life to the Lord and the service of the Church, yes there is no greater joy.

This weekend a year later, we witness the ordination to the priesthood and the First Mass of Fr. Scott Sperry. Again what greater joy can a pastor have than seeing a young man lay down his life in service of Christ the High Priest? Truly there is no greater joy… Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every year in June we had someone dedicating his or her life to the service of the Gospel?

But in order for that to happen our parish has to be an incubator of vocations. Vocations rarely sprout in isolation. Most begin to germinate in the family and in the larger parish family. Both are the fertile soil in which a young person can begin to yield to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and be given the courage and support needed to accept the call to “come follow Me” as Jesus invites.

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Dear Friends,

As we enter into the week we call Holy we begin with the crowds who sing "Hosanna's" to Jesus as he enters Jerusalem but we will end the week with them by shouting "Crucify him". There are moments when we want a Savior of our own making and moments when we reject the type of Savior that God offers us. How much do we want a God who comes to us on our terms yet spurn the God who comes to us on His terms?

Having a god of our own making is to have a god that is too small and too paralyzed to fix a broken world. Besides a god of our own making would confirm our prejudices, bigotries, intolerances and fears. Such a god would also let us off the hook for our own infidelities, betrayals, and sins. And that is why we want such a god. But the God who comes to us on his own terms is not the God of our expectations. This is why the crowds turned on Jesus: he simply was not the Messiah they were expecting nor wanting.

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