July 27th, A note from Fr. Scott

In most parishes in the Diocese of Rochester, summer is a quieter time of the year.  (Lake communities are an exception.)  Fewer meetings take place; parishioners take vacations; Faith Formation sessions are on break for the most part.  Summer provides an opportunity to slow down and relax.

          That being so, I’m taking a little time to take inventory of my “stuff”.  By “stuff” I mean all the things I’ve accumulated over the years, including mounds of paper containing minutes from meetings, financial statements, articles that could be beneficial to read, presentations I’ve given over the years, etc.  Additional “stuff” includes knickknacks, recordings, books, etc.  As I’ve admitted in the past, I’m somewhat organizationally challenged.

          The process is slow-going because I have to look through each piece of paper to decide whether or not it ought to be kept.  Do I really need bank statements from years back?  (Mostly no.)  Do I really need minutes from a committee meeting that took place at a different parish while I was there?  (Not likely.)  What about bills I paid years ago or directories from years ago?  (Why do I still have these?)  Clearly I don’t throw away a lot of “stuff”.

          However, I’m determined to change that.

          Except it’s not that easy.

          While I’m pretty good for the first 10 or 15 minutes—my throw-away pile is larger than my “keep” pile in the beginning—after that initial burst of downsizing enthusiasm, sentimentality begins to kick in and the “keep” pile starts to grow and soon overtakes the “throw-away” pile.  That’s because amidst the “stuff” are many meaningful cards and gifts.  They remind me of the person who gave them to me or of a pleasant memory from the past.  Do I really want to remove the tangible connection to those memories?  Too often I weaken and give in to sentimentality. 

I’m not sure that’s a good thing.  Not that I think being a little sentimental is bad, but when sentimentality leads to a certain sense of paralysis (not being able to part with “stuff”), there is a problem.  Being too attached to anything (other than God) isn’t the healthiest way to be.  “Stuff” (which in its wider meaning can include living things like people and animals) ought not be the focus of life.  God is the focus of life; for the Catholic Christian the focus of life is the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  God provides direction and meaning to life in a way “stuff” never can.  I believe that whole-heartedly, even as I struggle with detachment from “stuff”.  Fortunately, God is amazingly patient with me—with all of us actually—although I think God likes to see some positive effort as we journey through life.  God does hope that we are learning what really matters in the long run.

Have a blessed week . . .  

July 13th, A note from Fr. Scott

One of the more popular songs of the last few months is Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” (from the film “Despicable Me 2”).  While the tune is catchy, the words don’t seem to say a whole lot, although the word “Happy” appears multiple times in the song.  Maybe that’s why the song has been played often these past few months: everyone wants to be happy.

          However, I wonder if we’ve lost a true sense of what happiness is.  For example, just in the past few days I’ve noticed advertisements stressing the words “happy” and “joy”.  No, the advertisements have nothing to do with Church or faith or religion; they’re not about ways to de-stress one’s life; they’re not about insurance or ways to be financially secure. 

          The advertisements are about consumer goods, specifically food.  Eat this, drink that, and you’ll be “happy”.  It seems to me that we’ve reduced the notion of happiness or joy from an innate longing for ultimate fulfillment to what I would call “momentary pleasure”.  (I would even suggest that the desire to be happy is a longing for union with God, which is eternal satisfaction, not just “momentary pleasure”.)

          However, there’s not a lot of money in focusing on eternal things, so clever marketers bring the idea of “happy” into the present moment.  McDonald’s has had its “Happy Meal” for a long time and retail sales have emphasized “Happy” Holidays as a way to keep the public spending.  So we issue what has become a standard greeting to one another on special occasions: “Happy Easter”, “Happy Thanksgiving”, “Happy Valentine’s Day”, “Happy Fourth of July”, “Happy St. Patrick’s Day”, “Happy New Year”, “Happy Groundhog Day”.  Of course, the venerable “Happy Birthday” has been around a long time.  In using the greetings, we offer well wishes (“momentary pleasure”) to others—not a bad thing, of course, but it does focus an awful lot on the present moment.

          As Catholic Christians, we certainly don’t ignore the present moment, but we are keenly aware that the goal of life is not to experience as much “momentary pleasure” as we can; the goal of life is to live life in such a way that we will one day know eternal happiness.  That goal can only be achieved by embracing that to which God calls us: Scripture gives us advice, counsel, consolation, encouragement and challenge, and the sacraments are God’s way of encountering us in a deep and lasting way.  We must not only listen to, but also follow, what Jesus tells us: love God with our whole being (learning to do that is a lifelong process) and our neighbor as ourselves (often sacrificing our own wants for the good of someone else).

          Unfortunately, the culture surrounding us has little interest in things eternal (I think it did many years ago)—God and faith and prayer are best kept out of normal everyday life (according to the culture)—and so we are bombarded with opportunities to be “happy today”.  I would venture to say that’s a recipe for ultimate disaster.  Every great civilization declined when individual happiness in the present moment became more important than building for the future.  The “I” and “me” became more important than the “we” and “us”.  

Fortunately, as Catholic Christians we’ve been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, Who continually reminds us (if we’re listening) of what really matters in life.  Unfortunately, sometimes the voice of the Holy Spirit gets drowned out by the noise of the surrounding culture.  The Good News is that we can make a conscious decision to listen more to the former than to the latter.  The Bad News is that no one else will do it for us.

Have a blessed week . . . filled with the Good News of what really leads to happiness . . .

July 6th, A note from Fr. Scott

          It’s actually happening.

          Slowly, but surely.

          People in our country are watching the World Cup.  Maybe not in huge numbers, but more people watched the first U. S. match than watched the final game of the Stanley Cup and almost as many as watched the last game of the NBA championships.

          Futball (or soccer as we term it) is the most popular game in the world.  It’s always flown below the radar in the United States, in spite of the fact that most current young adults played soccer while growing up.  Still, football, baseball, basketball and hockey have always been the big four and most attention has drifted toward those big money sports.

          Why has futball (soccer) not caught on in the U. S. like it has in the rest of the world?  It’s fairly inexpensive to play—a ball and a goal comprise the necessary equipment, and maybe uniforms. 

          Has it not caught on because it’s not action oriented enough?  Scoring is often low (0-0 ties are not uncommon) and we associate scoring with action.  (Defense never quite gets as much respect as offense.)  For the last 30-40 years it seems to me that our culture has over-emphasized the importance of action.  Movies that are action oriented tend to be far more popular than quiet stories that make you think; and while some children choose reading over video games, my guess is that the latter get far more attention than the former.  (When I watch the screen of video games—not very often admittedly—I have no idea what’s happening.  Too much movement for me to follow!) 

          It seems to me that many sports enthusiasts judge futball (soccer) to be “boring”, precisely because it lacks compelling (exciting) action.  

          Apparently somehow our culture has taught us that we need excitement, and we buy into the notion that lots of action provides such excitement, fulfilling a “need” we have.  (It’s actually a want, not a need.)  I’m not sure why excitement is so appealing to humans.  Is it that excitement makes us feel good, at least momentarily?  (Everyone likes to feel good.)   

          A couple of weeks ago, there was a Holy Hour in honor of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  We did something I had never done before: we processed with the Blessed Sacrament outside, circling the church.  There isn’t a lot of action or excitement in processing, but as cars went by and people watched us process, I had this unexpected surge of pride in our Catholic belief in the Real Presence.  For me, there was a sense of “quiet excitement” about that.  It was better than scoring a goal at the World Cup!  (At least for me)

          I write this two weeks before the bulletin comes out, so I have no idea how the U. S. will fare in the World Cup, but I do know that the world watches in great numbers no matter who makes it to the end.  (Fewer Americans watch if the U. S isn’t involved.)  If a couple of billion people are transfixed by a “boring” sport, maybe we need to review what we value.  (While our relationship with God does require some action on our part—loving our neighbor requires some involvement—it also requires an appreciation of the quiet in life.)  It’s not always easy to detect God’s presence when we keep searching for what our culture tells us we need in terms of excitement. 

What we might term “boring” might actually be what we need most in our lives.  Being reflectively quiet is more likely to connect us with God than is all the excitement in the world.  And that connection is what leads us to fulfillment.

          Have a blessed . . . and fulfilling . . . week!