Reflections of Our Parochial Vicar

Let You Who are Without Sin Cast the First Stone

One of the purposes of Lent is to recognize that sin does exist in the world and that we are sometimes guilty of sinning.  This seems to be a wholly unacceptable position for many of us Americans and even many Catholics.  The practice of becoming humble through reflection and prayer; through an examination of gifts received compared to gratitude for those gifts or better, an honest appraisal of how giving we are to others is against our “me first!” culture or seems antithetical to our goal of success, success, success!  We all have been guilty of giving Jesus second place in our lives despite His Passion and sacrifice for us. Jesus did not need saving, we did.

In our gospel today we have the religious leaders of the time looking for fault with Jesus and posing what seemed a straight-forward question, “We have caught her in the very act of adultery”,( which carried with it the penalty of being stoned to death for the woman).  Jesus is disgusted with them. Biblical scholars have come to an agreement what exactly Jesus was writing in the sand with his finger. It was the sins of the woman’s accusers, which embarrassed them so deeply that they simply walked away, one by one, as Jesus kept enumerating their sins. Then, when the last of them had gone, Jesus asks the woman what became of her accusers and she responds that they have all left. Then Jesus utters one of the most hope laden short sentences when he responds “Neither Do I accuse you.  Go and sin no more.”  Jesus exercised compassion to the terrified woman and saved her earthly life from religious zealots who were more interested in living to the letter of the law rather than the intent of the law.

According to the rules, she would have been stoned; according to God’s mercy for a repentant sinner, she was completely forgiven. Unequal situations sometimes exist, such as the woman being guilty, and the man going free. I believe because she had to confess her sin, suffer terrible embarrassment, and mostly because she made the resolution to sin no more, she had a better chance of going to heaven than the man she was sinning with, against whom there was no earthly charge.  Which brings us to our conclusion, God loves a repentant sinner!  To turn from the ways of the world is not easy, but can be done, particularly if we ask God’s help.

This weekend, we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the co-patron of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. In an interesting anecdote about St. Patrick, it was the night before his ordination to priesthood and he was feeling terrible about an incident that he had rationalized and that he thought would separate him from God. It seems  St. Patrick, as a youth who could easily find trouble, was troubled that he had gotten into a fight and in the ensuing melee, had killed his adversary, not intentionally, but he was dead nonetheless.  St. Patrick sought out his spiritual director and made a full confession of the event and received absolution through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. With integrity of heart, he went on to ordination , to become a famous monk and eventually Bishop of Ireland, but always with a heart close to God. Now this fallen man who loved God so deeply that he realized that there would be no secrets between them is a famous saint of our Church.  I am not recommending murder and then contrition. What I am recommending is that we all stand in need of the Sacrifice of Calvary and God’s forgiveness for our non-charitable actions.  Our act of commission/ omission might seem small or it might be larger. Regardless, we all stand in need of Jesus’ mercy. Our first step towards healing is to acknowledge, as did St. Patrick, that we need healing and then just ask and utilize the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

 

Fr. Mike

 

Parish Retreat – Not having attended any retreats as a kid, the word “Retreat” sounded mysterious to me.  I had visions of monks going away somewhere, meditating in silence for long periods of time so as a teen, it didn’t seem very appealing to me.  One of the earliest retreats I remember attending, as a young adult, was a weekend Silent Retreat.  And that I found hard to do, to be silent the whole weekend long.  But besides Silent Retreats, there are other kinds of retreats that can be more like a conference, where we listen to a speaker introduce a topic.  Time is usually given for us to reflect quietly on what we’ve heard, and also to process that with others.  As my life becomes more and more hectic, I’ve come to enjoy the break from the routine to attend a retreat.  Our parish is offering a Lenten Retreat led by a great speaker, Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco, Robert McElroy,formerly pastor of St. Gregory in San Mateo.  He not only has a Master’s of Divinity degree from

St. Patrick’s Seminary, but also a Bachelor’s degree in History from Harvard, a Master’s degree in History and a Doctorate in Political Science from Stanford, as well as a Doctorate in Moral Theology form the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.  He is well known for his spiritual depth and pastoral wisdom.  As Pope Benedict, Emeritus, asked Catholics in the Year of Faith to grow and know their faith more deeply and to revisit the teachings of the 2^nd Vatican Council, Bishop McElroy will help us reflect on “The Continuing Grace of Vatican II in the Life of the Church.”  It should be interesting to revisit where we were, the changes we’ve gone through and where the Holy Spirit is leading us now.  Please plan to join us, and I would especially encourage our pastoral ministers such as Eucharistic Ministers, Lectors, Choir Members, Marian Servers &SVDP members, to use this as a yearly renewal in your ministry.  It will be held on Saturday, March 16 from 9am – 2pm in our Church Hall.  Please RSVP by Mon., March 11.  Thank you.

 
Parish Pilgrimage – As part of our Year of Faith (YOF), the YOF committee extends and invitation to you, to join me in our parish pilgrimage to Medjugorje.  Medjugorje is a place where the Blessed Mother continues to appear daily and it has transformed many lives.  The dates for the pilgrimage will be from Sep 26 – Oct 5, 2013 and the cost will be $2,650.  Space is limited to 35.  See flyer for more information.

Stations of the Cross – Early Christians made pilgrimages to the Holy Land so they could walk in the footsteps of Christ and have a deeper encounter with Him.  One of the popular routes was the Via Dolorosa, Jesus’ journey to the cross.  When the Turks in the 16^th century closed off access to the holy sites for pilgrims, the Church made these sites “available” in our parishes, in what we now call, the Stations of the Cross.  Praying the Stations, helps me have a deeper understanding of the sufferings Christ bore for us, and also invites me to share my burdens with Him.  Somehow, someway, my burdens don’t seem as heavy as I walk with Him, along the Stations of the Cross. 

I invite you to join in the Parish’s Stations of the Cross, every Friday of Lent at 7pm.  And on Good Friday, we will pray the Stations at 12pm & at 7pm.

Praying that you are having a good and fruitful Lent,

Fr. Dan

 

Reflections of Our Parochial Vicar

Is our Faith bearing fruit?

 In today’s gospel message, Jesus asks his listeners if they believed if the people killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them were greater sinners than others that had not suffered that fate. This is because at the time of Jesus, people believed that if a person suffered a terrible accident or was maimed or even ugly, it was because they were sinners.  When I reflect upon the tragedies of the common man/woman that we will each experience – sometimes disappointment, sometimes loss of a family member or friend, just plain rotten days we have or any of the myriad of challenges that we all must face, it  “boggles the mind.”  I look at the disappointment of elementary children when not successful in applying to the high school of their choice; college graduates and veterans who cannot find a job; parents and even children  who return to God earlier than we would expect; the loss of physical and mental abilities as we age, ( perhaps owing to my being 60 years of age); and worse and I see the ravages of life and human suffering, but never once did I think any of the victims were sinful. I believe that if we experience tragedy or disappointment in our life on earth, that we have a “cheerleader”, of sorts, who is cheering for us to pick ourselves up and continue with life. This “cheerleader” is God himself who asks us to turn to him in difficult moments and find solace and confidence- and always God’s ever extended hand to help us. We need to ask for help and realize that we are not 100% in control of everything. I believe the asking and the resultant growth in faith is what is meant by us becoming fruitful in our spiritual lives. The sad part is that many of us do not want to ask for the offered help.

 Rev. Walter Paulits in his book Listen Lord, summarizes this point as prayer:

 “ We pride ourselves on not doing what is wrong. But not doing what is wrong is only the beginning of uprightness; when we cease to do wrong, we must begin to do right. Until we do, we are not even off our bellies yet. 

Lord, grant that none of us make that mistake. You have given us so much, and we
do try to respond, even though we stumble.  Our great joy is that you never give up
on us, even if sometime we almost give up on ourselves. But you know the good that
is in us, you want us to cultivate it, and to bring forth the kind of fruit you know we
can bear. Stay by us, Lord. Help us to continue to grow in your love, and to rejoice
when you see so much in us that even Calvary did not stop you from winning us.

Lord, through your eyes, we see our worth!”

 

Fr. Mike