Friday, March 15, 2019

EASTER BASKETS FOR THE KIDS ON THE OUTER ISLANDS



MY 12th TRIP 
March 30 - April 6, 2019

"A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed." 
Proverbs 11:25





For Christmas, I focused on the kids on the big islands of Saint Vincent and Bequia in the north of the multi-island country.  For Easter, I am going to focus on the kids on the most southern islands of Canouan, Mayreau and Union. 

I've got to come up with 96 small Easter baskets for all the parish kids on these three islands. I have already ordered the baskets and some of the candy from DOLLAR TREE to ship down in the next couple of weeks. The priest serving those islands will bless the baskets and give them out to the kids on Easter Sunday. 



WANT TO HELP ME BY SPONSORING A FEW BASKETS?

Rev. Ronald Knott
1271 Parkway Gardens Court
#106
Louisville, KY 40217

make checks out to:
St. Bartholomew Church -SVG Mission Fund














I've got to stay away from chocolate bunnies! They would melt into a mess on the way down! 




Union Island - Saint Joseph Parish 





Mayreau Island - Immaculate Conception Parish


   

Canouan Island - Annunciation Parish


Thursday, March 14, 2019

THE VINE GROVE REGIONAL PARISH MISSION

Last Night We Concluded the First of Two 

THREE-NIGHT LENTEN PARISH MISSIONS
2019







Father Dan Lincoln, Pastor of Saint Brigid. 



Tina Yates, Religious Formation Chairperson






"REFLECTIONS"
Elaine Winebrenner, Dwayne Campbell, Todd Hildreth, Don Watson, Bill Ash and Matt Scobee




Deacon Mike Ryan 



Monday Night's Hospitality Team 



Half of Tuesday Night's Reception Room



One of the three very capable lectors. 




Four of the "Caribbean Baby Dolls" I gave out to those who helped with this Parish Mission sit on the altar on the last night. 
The total collection, after expenses, goes to my volunteer work in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. 




Now, on to Holy Family Church in Louisville for our next Parish Mission 
March 25, 26, 27, 2019

Sunday, March 10, 2019

BAD APPEARING TO BE GOOD




   


Jesus returned from the Jordan 
and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, 
to be tempted by the devil.
Luke 4
There are two great “temptation” stories in the Bible – the temptation of Adam in the garden and the temptation of Jesus in the desert.  In the first temptation story, man falls and Satan wins. In the second temptation, Jesus wins and Satan falls. All other temptations in history have to do with these two stories of temptation.

What exactly is a “temptation?” It is a personal inner struggle with a choice that has at its base a desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise. It is such a part of our everyday living that every time we say the Our Father, we pray that we will not be led into temptation. 

I am reminded of something from the Book of Sirach in the Old Testament. “Before you are life and death, good and evil, whichever you choose shall be given you. No one does he command to act unjustly, to none does he give license to sin.” (Sirach 15:15-20) That is worth repeating! "Before is life and death, good and evil, whichever we choose will be given to us!"

A lot is made these days of our "right to choose," but little is said about our responsibility to choose wisely, not to mention our responsibility to accept the consequences of our choices. Some people are like kids who go through life eating the filling out of the Oreos and then throwing the cookies away. They want freedom without the responsibility that goes with it! They want to choose, but they are not necessarily willing to accept the responsibility that goes with their choices.

You may have the right to eat French Fries and Chicken Nuggets three times a day, but you also have the responsibility to eat healthily.  If you only exercise your right to eat whatever you want, without accepting your responsibility to eat well, you will sooner or later have to accept the consequences of your choices. You have a right to skip class, but you also have a responsibility to go to class. If you only exercise your right to skip, you must be willing to accept the consequences of maybe flunking out of school.  If you only exercise your right to accept a credit card, without accepting your responsibility for paying for what you charge, you will sooner or later have to accept the painful consequences of your choices -ruining your credit for years to come!  Our culture is filling up with people who keep trying to beat this basic truth!    

Young friends here today, I have something to say to you. One of the benefits of being a young adult is finally being able to enjoy the freedom to make your own choices.  One of the upsides of the freedom to choose is the ability to build your own life the way you want it through a series of personal choices. One of the downsides of the freedom to choose is the freedom to ruin your own life through a series of poorly-thought-out choices. The freedom to choose, combined with the ability to choose wisely, is the ideal. Yet there are many who cannot handle their freedom well and end up losing it. Choosing what feels good at the moment, without the personal discipline to choose what would actually be good over the long haul, is a recipe for disaster.  Hearing about people ruining their lives has actually become a favorite American entertainment. Many think it is funny to watch stupid people on trash TV tell the world how they have have ruined their lives and the lives of those who have been associated with them.    

Every day people like Judge Judy, Jerry Springer and Maury Povich make big bucks featuring people who have ruined their lives and the lives of those around them because of the poor choices they have made. They have the "freedom to choose" but choose poorly. They have the "freedom to choose" but they don't have the ability to discern what is of value.  Illegitimate children, ruined marriages, sexually transmitted diseases, financial ruin, family disintegration, squandered opportunities for a good education and loss of reputation are only a few of the consequences of making choices without the ability to choose wisely.

To be able to "discern what is of value," we must develop self-mastery. By self-mastery, I mean we have to be able to name and then "stand up to" our addictions, our cowardice and our laziness in order to create the life we want to have! We must be able to "handle" ourselves and our cravings - for a higher purpose and for our long-term good. We must be able to continually clarify what we really want out of life, constantly focus our energies to reach for what we want and consistently deal in truth rather than self-deception.

People with self-mastery approach their lives like an artist approaching the task of producing a work of art. People with self-mastery know how to discern what is of value and use what they have discerned to live on purpose!  The spiritual disciplines of both East and West speak often of the practice self-mastery.  I published a new book last year on this very subject . It is an autobiography mapping the courageous choices I have deliberately made since age six and how those choices made me what I am today – for good or for bad! It is called BETWEEN COURAGE AND COWARDICE: Choosing to Do Hard Things for Your Own Good.

One of the sad things about our culture, in which freedom of choice is so highly honored, is the growing tendency to deflect responsibility for our choices after we make them.  If our culture is to survive, the freedom to choose must be combined with personal responsibility. To demand the freedom to make our own choices and then throw the blame on others when those choices backfire is the height of cowardice and irresponsibility - and yet it is so popular in our culture. Freedom without responsibility is wreaking havoc all around us.

When enough of us have the ability to discern what is of value and when enough of us have the self-mastery to choose what is of value, marriages will improve, families will improve, neighborhood will improve, the economy will improve, churches will improve, nations will improve and the world will improve. These problems can only be fixed one person at a time. In reality, no one can save us from us, but us!            

Discipline is about choosing “delayed gratification” or “good things coming to those who wait” or “the ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward in favor of a larger prize in the future.” Numerous studies have shown that the ability to delay gratification is one of the biggest indicators of success through life – be it your ability to manage your resources, choose the right spouse, maintain your weight, becoming skilled at a sport or launching a career. Those who can resist temptation in pursuit of long-term goals are blessed with an enormous advantage over the rest of the herd. In other words, too much comfort is a bad thing – long term. Yes, lack of self-mastery has a direct impact on the quality of multiple areas of people’s lives. Those who cannot establish mastery over their appetites and impulses will no doubt see many aspects of their lives quickly unravel. The ability to subordinate a lower impulse to a higher value is the essence of a satisfying life. Leonardo da Vinci was right when he said, “One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.”

The ability to discern what is of value and self-mastery in the face of severe temptation is at the heart of Jesus’ desert experience. To do his Father’s will, not his own, Jesus had to be able to see the difference between what “looked good” and what was “actually good.” Once he was able to discern what the will of his Father was, he had to have the self-mastery to follow it, no matter how tempted he was to do otherwise!