Wednesday, March 28, 2007

CLOSER TO HONDURAS

This past Monday I found a buyer for my house, through a local realtor. I am glad that I will not have to worry more about this, but it is bittersweet. The house has been a blessing for me - a place to call home, a place that sheltered my dying father for a year, a place to welcome friends and students, a place to pray.

But a new place, a new home awaits me. And I have found some great friends here to support me and to help.

It will be hard to leave - and I am beginning to feel the pain of leaving, of separation. Some of it is a letting go of control, as I leave behind my ministries. But it is also a leaving behind of friendships, accomplishments, memories.

But I feel confident that this is where God is calling me. The signs are so clear. And though it will be hard, this is where my heart is calling me.

In my talks at our Antioch retreat I often quote Frederick Buechner: "The place God calls you is the place where your deepest gladness and the world’s greatest hunger meet."

There is great need in Honduras and I feel great joy at the prospect of serving.

May God help me be faithful in this new mission.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

HANDicapped

A week ago in New Orleans working with a group from St. Thomas with Catholic Charities' partner, Rebuilding Together, I fell and broke the metacarpal bone connected with the ring finger of my right hand. I will be in a 'cast' for four weeks.

This will be a test of my ability to undergo adversity. I'm not doing very well,since I find myself frustrated at how long it takes to do things and how difficult some daily routines are.

Lord, give me patience.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

THE RICH MAN and LAZARUS

Tonight's Gospel is Luke 16: 19-31, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. As I prepared for a reflection at Thursday Night Liturgy these texts came to me:


“When you give something to the poor, you are not giving him what is yours, but are just giving back to him what is his, since the goods of this earth belong to all, not just to the rich.”
St. Ambrose


“O man, if you do not have a coin, give a poor man your hand, because he shows greater mercy who by his own hand leads a poor man who is weak to his table. He gives his very self to the poor man who devotes himself to his service, makes himself the poor man’s servant.”
St. Peter Chrysologus


“The abyss was one a gate that could be opened easily, but with recurring choices to ignore the need of others the gate separates us and becomes inaccessible.”

“Today we are reminded to look to the gates in our lives and see who waits for us, for it is God who sits begging for us to notice.”
Megan McKenna


“The church is asking you to be attentive to the weak and the vulnerable, those in whom Jesus Christ rejoices because they see what has been hidden [from] the clever and the capable (cf. Matthew 11:25). Never forget this criteria: it is the most precious, the most certain, the most concrete criteria which will help you to recognize what Christ expects from you… The direction is clear: live poorly as Christ did, live with the poor in order to live with Christ. The renewal of the church always comes as we dare to live a covenant with the poor.”
Cardinal Roger Etchegary
a talk to young people in Rome for the new millenium