October 26th, A note from Fr. Scott

          As I drive around the area I frequently listen to the radio (except for during Lent when I give up listening to the radio as an act of self-sacrifice).  While my car radio has the capacity to program 18 different radio channels, basically I listen to 6.  (The other twelve I programmed long ago when I travelled a bit more and they are tuned to radio stations whose signals do not reach the Elmira area.  Also long ago I forgot how to program the radio which is the real reason the stations remain as they are—yes, I could probably figure out how to do it again, but 6 is actually enough, especially since I also have a CD option.)

          5 of the stations are tuned to various music genres.  2 are oldies stations (yes, I am of that era), 2 are contemporary pop/soft rock, 1 is country, and the 6^th is tuned to a talk radio station.  Clearly music is my preference as I like to sing (while I appreciate classical music, I can’t sing to it so it doesn’t make my regular play-list).

          Quite frankly I abhor talk radio in general, mostly because my (limited) experience has been that of exaggerated opinion, whether it’s sports or politics or conservative vs. liberal viewpoints.  Opinions are fine, I suppose, but I prefer non-biased facts to opinions, which are rarely balanced.  I see little value in blustery opinions that tear others down in order to “prove” their point.  (I equally abhor political attack ads on television—we’ve sunk very low on the maturity scale when our main message is to point out others’ faults instead of presenting viable plans for a better future.  But I will admit, that’s just my opinion.  Others may think differently.)

          The talk radio station to which I do listen is the Catholic Station, called the “Station of the Cross”.  I’m not even sure where it is on my radio dial, only that it’s programmed between an oldies station and a contemporary pop/soft rock station.  I catch bits and pieces as I drive around.  I know the station broadcasts Mass at 8:00 am and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at 3:00 pm, and at some point on the weekend does offer some contemporary Christian music, but what I really like are the call-in shows during which people ask for clarification about Church teaching or ask for ways to deal with family problems.  The hosts of the program as well as the guest experts offer solid information that can be both enlightening and supportive of our faith tradition.  I like the pastoral approach that seems to be a common thread throughout.  The news presented on the station also reflects things Catholic.

          For those who haven’t discovered the “Station of the Cross”, you might like to try listening sometime.  Not every program offered will capture your attention in the same way, but it’s nice to know we have a resource on local radio that can help us live out our Catholic faith—and our baptismal call.  Baptism begins a journey for us all, a journey of deepening our relationship with God through our own prayer life and the wisdom of the Church, a journey of continuing discovery of all the ways God loves and enlightens us. 

          Have a blessed week . . .

October 19th, A note from Fr. Scott

          It’s happened again.

          The best teams in baseball didn’t make it to the World Series.  (When I was growing up, baseball was the national pastime and there were no play-offs, just the World Series involving the winningest team in each league.  Today, every sport has multiple team and lengthy play-offs primarily because of the economic benefit.) 

          The American League Los Angeles Angels had the most wins of any team in baseball during the regular season, but they were quickly eliminated by a wild-card team, the Kansas City Royals (kudos to them as they hadn’t made the playoffs since before most of the team members were born).  The Washington Nationals had the best record in the National League, closely followed by the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Neither survived their first play-off round, losing to the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals respectively.

          It hardly seems fair.

          But isn’t that why we like our sports so much?  The so-called “best” don’t always win.  There’s great excitement about David defeating Goliath in our modern sports.  Media headlines often use words like “Stunned” or “Shocked”, but that smacks of sensationalism in our world of competitive sports.  Upsets happen all the time.  We ought to be surprised only when there are no upsets.  (Nearly 100 years ago, the great thoroughbred race horse, Man O’ War lost one race—appropriately to a horse named Upset.)

          If we don’t take our sports too seriously (seeing them as an end in and of themselves), there are great life lessons to be learned from sports.  Teamwork, dedication, learning that losing/failure isn’t the end, sportsmanship—all great lessons in life.  Another one of those life lessons is to expect the unexpected. 

          In my life I’ve learned through various means that God is a God of the unexpected.  God is a God of surprises.  In sports we pride ourselves on anticipating what our opponent is going to do before they do it.  That’s key if we are to be victorious.  Unfortunately, we sometimes think of God in the same way: as an opponent whose ways we must anticipate.  We think we know God and what God asks of us.  When young, we are taught to keep the ten commandments; that’s what God wants.  And we know that if we mess up, God is ready to punish us in some way.  That’s what we know about God.

But is that all there is to God?  I don’t think so.

I must admit that I don’t remember anyone ever using the word “fun” in relation to God.  In fact, my youthful recollection is that God didn’t really approve of fun; God was more of a buzzkill (I hope I’m using that word correctly!) when it came to fun. 

          Imagine my surprise when I realized that God has no problem with “fun”, although I suppose it depends on our definition of “fun”.  If “fun” has to include disrespect or harming others (or the self) or the need to be superior or if it involves immoral or sinful behavior, then God no doubt has objections.  If “fun” is the goal of life, then God no doubt has objections.  However, God has no problem with leisure activity that we enjoy and that re-energizes us.  That’s a basic human need (not just for kids), although I suppose many of us have a tendency to go overboard about it.

          Just to be clear: God never wants to be our “opponent”, our “adversary” (the word “satan” actually means adversary and God is the opposite of that).  God wants to be on our team, on our side.  If God isn’t, it’s not God’s choice; it’s ours.   

          God can surprise us in many ways: by giving us the grace to forgive others and let go of grudges; by giving us the grace to refocus on the values that truly matter in life; by giving us the grace to handle adversity; by teaching us that winning is not the most important thing in life; by teaching us to love God with our whole being and our neighbor as ourselves.  There are other surprises, none of which happen in the purely human realm.

          And one more thing: while God is on our team, God is also on every other team.  God wants the best for everyone.  Maybe that surprises us also!

          Have a blessed . . . and surprising . . . week . . . 

October 12th, A note from Fr. Scott

          On a recent morning my car radio reported a story of a group of young people who had stolen a statue of Jesus from a Catholic church somewhere in Oklahoma.  There was a video from the church surveillance camera showing two cars pulling up, 5 persons getting out (apparently teen-agers), and then stealing the statue from the garden, getting back in their vehicles and departing.

          This wasn’t just a free-standing statue, stolen as a result of a night of over-indulgence; it was a corpus of Jesus on the cross.  The crime was clearly pre-meditated as they had tools to pry the body off the cross.

          My first reaction was anger: how could anyone do such a thing!?  Is nothing sacred?!  It’s a direct affront to Catholicism and religious faith in general!  Punishment is required!

          Then I calmed down a bit. 

My second reaction was to feel sorry for the perpetrators of the crime.  What kind of values do these young people have?  Do they have any moral values at all?  Are they so unhappy in their lives that they have to try and hurt others with their mischief?  It must be difficult to go through life without being centered in Someone Who gives meaning and purpose to life.

Then I calmed a bit more.

My third reaction was to wonder if the individuals didn’t mean to be hurtful as much as funny.  Young people sometimes are fond of pranks and the reaction they elicit.  (Older people are sometimes fond of pranks and the reaction they elicit.)  I can remember being young (quite some time ago) and what I laughed at then isn’t what I laugh at now.  I prefer to hope that I’ve matured somewhat in my outlook and now realize that many forms of “funny” are actually hurtful.  Still, it took time to reach that realization.

As it turned out, some days later the corpus was returned to the church, apparently a college prank more than anything.  The church community, happy to get the corpus backed, declined to press charges, although the college may deal with the students internally.  I applaud the church for their willingness to forgive—forgiveness is always the right course of action, never out of style; but I’m not opposed to the college meting out some form of chastisement—everyone needs to learn there are consequences to their actions; we do have an effect (positive or negative) on others whether we want to or not.  It’s the reality of life.

I do have to say that my initial reaction bothers me a bit.  While I know that anger and the desire to retaliate are normal human reactions to being hurt or offended (it wasn’t even a directed hurt toward me, though I felt my beliefs were attacked), I also know that turning those emotions into action is wrong.  As someone once said, “If we live by the motto ‘an eye for an eye’, soon the whole world will be blind.”  (Jesus had something to say about that!)  Fortunately, the grace of God can stop us from taking that next step.   

The next step ought to be a sense of compassion for those who don’t have a relationship with our God, Who so beautifully revealed Himself in His Son, Jesus the Christ.  It seems to me that any act of hurtfulness or violence comes from a person who is very unhappy in their lives.  (Contented people never wish harm on anyone else.)  The Source of true happiness is God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Not that we achieve perfect happiness in this life, but we get glimpses of it through our relationship with God, sort of a sneak preview of heaven!

We can’t force others to believe, but we can be a voice of evangelization by the way we live and react to life.  When we model Jesus for others, we help to plant seeds that may one day grow.  When we pray for those who hurt us, we plant seeds.  What happens to the seeds depends on the person’s free will choices as well as God’s grace.  We have no control over that, but we do have control over our own actions and reactions.  We can make no better choice than the choice to be Christ for one another, even when—especially when—we don’t feel like it.

Have a blessed . . . and Christ-like . . . week!

October 5th, A note from Fr. Scott

          “I shot an unbelievable 69!”

          That would have been my response if anyone had inquired about my last golfing venture.  No lie.  I shot a 69.

          Unfortunately, it was for 9 holes.

          To be fair to myself, I don’t golf very often.  Maybe 5 times a year, if that.  I go with my Priest Support Group.  We’ve been together for over 25 years—meeting once a month—and when the weather is decent we play golf.  I haven’t gotten any better over the years although the 69 was pretty bad even for me.

          Golf is a frustrating game.  Sometimes I’ll hit a good shot, maybe even a few in a row.  And then I always think, “I’m getting the hang of this”, only to duff the next few shots.  It’s a pattern that repeats itself pretty much every time I play.  I have no idea why I think I’ll do better next time, unless it’s because I’m a person of hope (even pessimistic people have hope apparently).  But I never do seem to improve.

          Of course, there’s an obvious solution to my golfing woes: I could practice or play a lot more.  However, I know that’s not going to happen.  If I was retired, maybe, or if I developed a great passion for the sport, maybe, but I can’t or won’t spend the extra hours in order to get better.  (And it would take lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of hours to get me to a satisfactory better.)  Hey, it’s OK.  A little public humiliation can do wonders for one’s humility. 

          In order to reach proficiency in anything, one must be willing to spend the time and the energy (and maybe the money) required for improvement.  That’s true of most every area of life (golf included).  One may have natural ability in a particular area, but without proper practice, without learning proper technique, potential is never reached. 

          That’s also true in our lives as Catholics.  Living the Catholic life requires that we put some time and energy forth (money is less important, since one doesn’t need proper equipment or expensive lessons to live out our Catholic identity).  Our relationship with God through Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit doesn’t automatically deepen as time goes by.  We have to “practice” by taking time for prayer, by taking time to learn, and by responding to the needs of others around us.  In so doing, we “get better” at living out what it means to be a Catholic.

          I’m not saying that God demands or even expects us to devote hours and hours of prayer and learning and practice every week to living out our Catholic call.  But I am saying God expects some time on a regular basis.  If we think about our week and the amount of time we spend on various activities, where does prayer fall?  Where does learning about God and the faith fall?  How about volunteer or outreach efforts to others?  Of course, we need to work or go to school; we need to eat and sleep.  But how much time do we spend watching TV or sitting in front of the computer or cleaning or giving our attention to music or engaged in a sporting activity or spending leisure time with family or friends?  Of course, none of that is necessarily bad—but it’s not all good if it prevents us from deepening our life as disciples of Jesus (by virtue of baptism we are all disciples).

          I’m fairly certain that I’ll never put in the time and energy required to be a decent golfer, but I always hope that I’ll put in the time and energy required to be a decent disciple.

          Have a blessed week . . .

September 28th, A note from Fr. Scott

Recently my phone rang.  I answered it and on the other end was a telemarketer, trying to convince me to buy some kind of movie package for my TV.  It was described as a great deal, unlimited movies (that were not the ones found on HBO and the other pay-channels) for one low price (I can’t remember the quoted price but I think it was near $30).  This was a special offer for a monthly trial, which, I think, means the price goes up considerably the second month.

          After the spiel, the last line was, “So can I sign you up for the month?”  I do try to be polite to telemarketers because I know their job isn’t easy and I believe they are often treated rudely on the phone, so I tried to frame my answer softly: “No, I really don’t have much time to watch movies, so it wouldn’t be worth it to me.”  Then I realized the telemarketer had hung up on me immediately after the word “No”.  There was no “All right, thank you for your time” or “Maybe another time” or “Have a nice day”.  There was no goodbye.  Just a rude hang-up (at least that’s how I received it).

          The next day, I was walking out of a grocery store with my mother and was maneuvering around behind a car when the driver honked his horn.  Horns tend to be loud and both my mother and I were startled by the unexpected loud noise.  As we walked a few more feet, the driver of the car saw us and apologized profusely for startling us.  The driver was trying to get someone’s attention and didn’t know we were there.  I was most impressed by the caring reaction of the driver.  No hint of rudeness whatsoever, just sincere concern. 

          As an occasional recipient of rude behavior (aren’t we all?), I admit that rude behavior leaves a negative feeling inside me—rudeness implies that I don’t matter as a person and that’s not a pleasant feeling.  It can affect the rest of my day.  The opposite happens when someone treats me like I matter.  I experience a pleasantly good feeling which I think affects the rest of my day.

I’m not sure why it’s so difficult for people to say “Excuse me” or “I’m sorry” or even a simple “Thank you”.  It seems to me that that takes less energy than ignoring another person or being deliberately negative toward them.  Growing up, I had the idea that men were supposedly ruder than women (who were more sensitive), although I’m not sure that’s exactly the case today.  The telemarketer I encountered was a woman; the driver a young man. 

Somehow I don’t think there is any room for rudeness in Christianity.  That doesn’t mean we act wimpy and let others walk all over us.  Jesus certainly confronted people who taught others misunderstandings about God, but characteristically Jesus wasn’t what we might call negative. He brought the Good News of salvation to many (no, not everyone always listened to Him); He gave second chances; He ate with sinners; He treated others with respect unless (until) they were leading others astray (then in a chastening way, He spoke up and spoke out about the dangers of such sin).

Rudeness flows from an “I”-centered existence.  (“I” am more important than anyone else; “MY” way is better than anyone else’s way.)  That is not, of course, what our faith teaches us—and if we think it does, we’re misunderstanding both the faith and God.

I realize we are all victims of rudeness on occasion, but that doesn’t give us the right to act the same toward others.  If we react in kind, then we’ve become the perpetrators.  The grace of God gives us the ability to make better choices.

Have a blessed week . . .

September 21st, A note from Fr. Scott

Last week I attended a funeral.  He was 17, diagnosed with leukemia less than one month before he died.  I saw his mother shortly before the Mass and just gave her a wordless hug.  She simply said, “There are no words.”

          No, there aren’t any words at a moment like that, at least no words that make any sense.  And yet we desperately want words that make sense, that bring some sort of comfort to those moments of intense grief.  But such words are not to be found.

          Two days after I attended that funeral, the Church celebrated the Feast of Our Mother of Sorrows.  There are two possible Gospels for that day.  One selection is from the infancy narratives in the Gospel of Luke where Simeon holds the child, Jesus, and tells Mary “and you yourself a sword will pierce”.  One wonders if she had any idea of what that meant.  Clearly she must have remembered it or it would never have been recorded in Scripture.

          The second Gospel is from John and takes place at the foot of the cross.  Standing there are Mary and the beloved disciple.  Near death, Jesus gives to the beloved disciple Mary, and to Mary the beloved disciple.  And then Mary witnesses the painful death of her Son.

          For most of us there is a tendency to associate suffering with sin.  One suffers because of sin.  If we can’t recall anything in particular we ask the question, “What did I do wrong?”  And while it’s true that sin often results in suffering (sin upsets the balance God creates for our world), we are mistaken if we think all suffering is a result of sin.  We have only to think of Mary to realize that.  In spite of her sinlessness, she knew grief.

          Suffering, grief and loss are part of human life.  I don’t know why it has to be that way, only that it is that way.  Maybe it’s God way of prompting us to think of the promise of eternal life.  We may want heaven on earth, but that’s not possible.  Heaven is our term for eternal happiness.  Oh, we catch glimpses of happiness here on earth: when we experience forgiving love, when we serve one another, when we follow God’s will and our heart realizes it, when God gifts us with a graced moment.  All amazing and wonderful, but not everlasting.  Interspersed is suffering and sorrow.

          In the midst of it all, we’ve been given the gift of faith which helps us endure the painful moments of life.  Faith isn’t meant to eliminate the experience of grief in our lives, but it does help us cope.  Personally, I don’t believe God gives faith to some and not to others; I believe we all have the capacity for faith.  It’s true that not everyone taps into their capacity for faith and perhaps some have never had much of an opportunity, but no one is without the potential. 

          Maybe it’s part of God’s plan to work through us in the lives of others when it comes to faith.  If people witness our faith even in the midst of hardship and pain, suffering and grief, it may stir something within them that leads them to God.  We may never know the effect our faith has on someone else, but we don’t have to know.  God will let us know if we need to know—maybe we’ll find it all out in the next life.

          But then again, it probably doesn’t matter.

          What does matter is how we live out our faith in the present.

          Have a blessed week . . .

September 14th, A note from Fr. Scott

At a recent family gathering, someone mentioned the old TV show “My Three Sons” (I have two brothers and no sisters); the unlikely follow-up question was “What was the name of the dog on the show”?  Of course, no one could remember.  Out came a smart phone and within a matter of seconds we had the information and everyone nodded and said, “Oh, that’s right!  I remember now!”

          TIME magazine recently released an issue with the headline “The Answers Issue: everything you never knew you needed to know”.  It began with an article about the information explosion that now influences our lives.  The demand for maps or travel agents or encyclopedias has diminished, replaced by GPSs, the internet, and Wikipedia.  The article did point out some dangers of this new information age, but insisted our quality of life can be enhanced by what we can now know.

          The magazine then asked and answered multiple questions: What is the most patriotic color?  (Red, the most common color in national flags)  Where do designer dogs come from?  (Deliberate cross-breeding; I now know that actor Jeremy Irons owns a Labradoodle, a cross between a Labrador Retriever and a Poodle)  Are there any safe places left to live (regarding the least likelihood of natural disasters)?  (Areas of Montana and Idaho are your best bets)  They even offered a quiz: “Are you smarter than a teen-ager?”  (I failed miserably, although in my defense it’s been nearly 40 years since I bid adieu to my chronological teen years and more than 25 since I said good-bye to my psychological teen years.)

          The issue even analyzed the U. S. population according to income level.  I was actually surprised to find that the percentage of “very happy” people was highest in those with the highest incomes and lowest in those with the lowest incomes.  Maybe money does buy happiness, although I think not.  It makes me wonder how we define happiness.  Is happiness defined by having what we want?  Personally, I think of that as pleasure, not happiness.  Happiness to me is an inner contentment that reflects our right-relationship with God.  Not surprisingly, the article said nothing about God or faith or religion or morality, but I suppose those topics are not exactly information based or fact based and the article wasn’t geared in that direction.  Still, the questions it posed have far less to do with the quality of life than do questions about God and faith and religion and morality.  If we think sinful lives are happy lives we are only deluding ourselves.     

          This weekend the Church celebrates “The Exaltation of the Holy Cross” (replacing the 24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time).  The cross, of course, represents the suffering of Jesus.  We talk about “carrying our crosses” and by that we refer to burdens that are difficult.  Logically, the cross doesn’t suggest happiness, and yet our faith reminds us that without the cross there is no resurrection.  When Jesus willingly accepted the cross (and the suffering and death to which it led), He became a model for us: we, too, must accept the crosses that come our way by living our faith in a secular world.  The world consistently tells us to reject the cross in favor of easier paths, but our faith teaches us that’s not the way to happiness.

          It’s nice to be able to know things in a matter of seconds, but that won’t fulfill our destiny as children of God.  Making the choice to live our faith each day will.

          By the way, the dog’s name on “My Three Sons” was Tramp.

          Have a blessed week . . .