Gratitude and St. Paul: Saints John and Paul Parish: Franklin Park, PA - April 4 - 12, 2009

April 14, 2009

Peace and Good,

I just finished a Holy Week retreat at Saints John and Paul Parish (named after the patron saints of our deceased Holy Father). This is quite unusual, for most parishes prefer to do retreats outside of Holy Week. I preached Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (on the Scrutinium Gospels in the morning and the Letters of Paul in the evening). This was a great way to gear up for the Triduum. I then helped out at the various services and Masses of the Triduum, finishing up on Easter Sunday.

One of the themes that I preach on when I speak of Paul's letters is gratitude. That is found especially in his First Letter to the Thessalonians. I was speaking to the converted. I have never been at a parish when so many people thanked me for being there. (For those of us who are a little more cynical, it was not because they don't like their pastor. They have a great pastor, Fr. Mac.)

The parish is in the process of building a new Church. Its shell is already climbing up to the heavens. Its official due date is late October, but Christmas is probably more realistic. Still, on Easter Sunday, we could repeat the words that our Jewish brothers and sisters say each year at Passover, "Next year, in Jerusalem!"

Confessions have been a major activity all throughout this Lent. It is such a privilege as a priest to sit there and hear people open their hearts and souls to the Lord. For me, it's like being on retreat. Being a mission priest, I often hear long term confessions as well. You cannot believe the look of peace on the people's faces when they finish up. The same is true of those who have gone to confession all along, but who have grown older and cannot remember if they confessed something years ago. When they are released through Reconciliation, they find such peace.

I'm home in Ellicott City this week. Then off to San Diego for another mission beginning Divine Mercy Sunday.

Shalom

fr. Jude

A Mission on the Psalms: St. Thomas More Parish, Cherry Hill, NJ

April 7, 2009

Peace and Good,

Most of my missions throughout these weeks have been on the Letters of St. Paul (because this is the Year of St. Paul, the 2,000th anniversary of his birth). This past week I preached a mission based on the Psalms. We have been using these poems as forms of prayer for over 3,000 years. Every time we celebrate the liturgy, we have a responsorial psalm. Yet, some of the symbols are difficult to understand because they were written in a society that is so different from our own.

I love the symbol of walking through the dark valley in Psalm 23. What it actually says in the Hebrew is that it is the valley as dark as death. People in the ancient world were terrified by the dark. They had no artificial means of bringing light to their environment. The premise of the psalm is that the Lord is our shepherd and we are the flock. Picture a flock running through a very dark valley in which the sheep are getting skittish. What calms them down - the rod and the staff that give them courage. The shepherd taps the sheep on their back ends to calm them down and let them know that he is still there. God often sends us a little reminder when we are hurting most to let us know that he is still there. It might be a note from a friend, a moment of consolation, a beautiful site, etc.

Please pray for the Catholics in the diocese of Camden. There is a plan to close up to half of the parishes, and whenever something like this happens, there is always a lot of pain. Even when it is the right decision due to demographics, there is still the fact that this is where one was married, baptized the children, buried a loved one, etc.

I am continuing editing a series of CD's on the prophets. It will end up to be 11 or 12 CD's and should be ready in a month or so. There is also a series that is almost finished on the Book of Genesis (again, 11 or 12 CD's). When these are finished, almost all of the audio tapes I have done in years past will be available on CD. Then it is time to start new themes.

I just finished a book called Four Queens by Nancy Goldstone. It was the story of four sisters from Provence in France, the daughters of a count, who all ended up as queens during the mid 13th century. It was a great read. There was even the story of how one of their relatives from Savoy (I think it was Peter of Savoy) had a palace on the Strand in London. He house gave the name to the famous Savoy Hotel, one of the most luxurious hotels in the world.

You're in my prayers during Holy Week.

Shalom,

fr. Jude

The Sacred Heart and God's Mercy: Parish Mission in Southern Maryland

April 2, 2009

Peace and Good,

I recently had a mission in Sacred Heart Parish in LaPlata, Maryland. The town is famous because of a recent disaster. A few years ago a terribly powerful tornado passed through the town and devastated most of the downtown area, missing the Church by only a few hundred yards. It has all been rebuilt and now offers a beautiful tourist site.

Like most of the missions this year, the theme was the letters of St. Paul. Even though this must be the tenth time I have done some of the talks, I continue to marvel at Paul's insights. I keep being asked how did he figure this all out. Some of it was his temperament (he was definitely a type A personality). Some of it was his classical Greek and rabbinic training. Some of it was his mystical experience (e.g. the road to Damascus, being taken up into third heaven). But so much was the unique blend of all of the above and his own response to the call.

In the Church, there is a stained glass window of the apparition of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary. As part of the mission, I spoke about the story of how Margaret Mary's spiritual director did not believe her when she told him about the apparitions. He told her that he would believe her if next time Jesus appeared, she would ask him what sins he had confessed the past week. She did this, and Jesus' response was "I forgot." Obviously, as God, he could not forget, but he was telling her that he had let go of it, it is time to forgive ourselves as well. So many people hold on to their sins for so long, letting them torture them long after they have confessed them.

Being a history buff, I also noticed that the Mudd family has offices near the Church. Their ancestor is Dr. Mudd who treated John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln. He was imprisoned for being part of the plot, although many people and especially the family feel that he was not complicit to what had happened. This is where the expression, "his name is mud," comes from.

I noticed the unusual accent in southern Maryland while I was there. It is an interesting mixture of the Baltimore accent with something that sounds like a mix between southern and English. They tell me that it derives from the accent of the original settlers back in the seventeenth century.

You'll all be in my prayers as we begin Holy Week. I'll be in Pittsburgh this coming week at Ss. John and Paul Parish in Sewickly.

Shalom

fr. Jude

Starting Out

Peace and Good,
This is my first posting for this new blog. I am a Conventual Franciscan Friar from St. Anthony Province. My ministry is evangelization, so I travel from parish to parish preaching, teaching, celebrating the sacraments, etc.

In my future postings, I will speak about what I have found and learned in the various parishes and retreat houses that I will visit.

I will also share information on the writing and taping projects that I and the other Companions of St. Anthony are undertaking.

I will share some of my theological reflections and questions.

I will also share some of what I have discovered in the books that I am reading and listening to along the way. (There will also be a section for book reviews done by me and the other friars on our spiritual reading.)

Feel free to write with comments and questions. I will try to respond to them as soon as I can.

Please keep me in your prayers. You will be in mine.

Shalom,

fr. Jude