Cathedral of the Assumption (Louisville) - May 16, 2021
Saint Theresa (Rhodelia) - May 23, 2021
FIRST MASS PHOTO
May 17, 1970
My third cousin, Father Bob Ray, was going to preach at my home parish celebration down in Rhodelia. I had told him not to make it "all about me." I wanted him to focus on what God and his people have done for me over the years, not what I did for God and his people during my fifty years as a priest. I wanted the focus to be on them and what we have done together, not on me.
With that in mind, I decided that I could not put people's health at risk so I could have a celebration. I couldn't live with myself if I insisted that we proceed with a public gathering in spite of the pandemic.
Neither did I want a lame, half-celebration. Therefore, I will wait till my next anniversary date and have a FIFTY PLUS ONE CELEBRATION. By then, we will know whether the world has ended or whether it is safe again to have such celebrations.
I hope and pray that I will see you there and then? Let's celebrate our ministry together for fifty years, plus one, with amazement and gratitude!
Fergal Redmond of Ireland, of course, is the real island Santa.
However, he will be assisted again this year by his trusted assistant from the United States who now has a matching beard.
A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS FOCUS ON
SAINT BENEDICT HOME FOR CHILDREN
In speaking to (Carmelite) Sister Nyra Anne (left) about the orphans she cares for at the Saint Benedict Home for Children and what we might do this coming Christmas. we came to an agreement.
Instead of toys, she asked if we might help furnish the new extension for boys with needed items. I agreed to see what we could do to help. (We have already purchased the needed bunk beds, mattress covers and bath towels.) Besides furnishings for the house, I told her that I thought we needed to give the kids something for under the tree as well. I tried to come up with something creative. He is what we agreed on together.
We will give each child $25.00 USD. Out of that, each child will make a donation to the parish Christmas collection where they go to church. We want to teach them to be givers, not just receivers. Out of what's left, they will go shopping for their own Christmas present in Kingstown and have lunch at the Kentucky Fried Chicken. Sister will teach them something about Kentucky and where their gift came from in the USA. (I have provided a world map, a United States map and a Kentucky map and some pictures of famous Kentuckians and places.) If they have any change left over, it will go into their personal savings accounts that we are setting up for each child.
The savings accounts are a new idea, but a very important one. In the past, when and if it was time to leave the home they had nothing to begin a new life outside the home. We will continue to put small amounts into their savings accounts as we go along.
IMPORTANT QUESTION
Does anyone out there have any connection with the
management at Kentucky Fried Chicken or Yum Brands?
Maybe they would be willing to help with this project or feature a story about in their business publications?
I have personally promoted their franchises on several occasions
when I have volunteered down there, as well as in Trinidad and Barbados.
If you have any connections. maybe you can get them to call me?
Father Ronald Knott
502-303-4571
One of the two KFC locations in Kingstown, SVG
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
OPTION ONE
If you would like to sponsor one of the twenty-one children for their Christmas shopping trip, their donation to a charity, their lunch to Kentucky Fried Chicken and to help launch their savings account, a donation of $25.00 USD for each child would be wonderful. Sponsor one or as many as you like.
OPTION TWO
If you would like to help furnish the new extension for boys (Unit Two), we would be happy to accept your donations toward the needed major appliances, kitchen utensils, second floor balcony safety enclosure, propane gas tanks for the kitchen and a generator when the electricity goes out (as it often does, which scares the kids at night).
This is the twenty-ninth in a series of periodic reflections on the "ordinary things" that many people do on a regular basis without much thought. During this pandemic, I am developing a need to "rage, rage" against haste and laziness and replace it with care and attention. My hope is to become personally more intentional about doing ordinary things with care and focused attention, while inspiring others to maybe do the same.
GOLDEN YEARS HAVE BECOME STOLEN YEARS
God will bless you, if you don’t give up when your faith is being tested. He will reward you with a glorious life, just as he rewards everyone who loves him.
James 1:12
How many ways has this pandemic affected us as people? Let me count the ways! So far this is number twenty-nine and I am just one person!
The other day, I realized that I too am going through what Michelle Obama called a "low grade depression." Yes, that's it! I feel that behind my steely determination to "rage, rage" against this pandemic, I am always battling a little bit of depression.
I have always heard that depression is about anger that you don't know what to do with. I guess I need to admit that I am beginning to feel that this pandemic is stealing my retirement years and ruining all that I had planned to do ...... and I am damn mad about it! On one level, I feel I earned it and all this seems so brutally unfair! On the other hand, I know that I am one of the lucky older ones in the great scheme of things! As a result, I am bouncing back and forth between peace and panic.
Nothing like a quick visit with someone working in a nursing home to drive my point home. The other day I was getting an update from Mother Paul at the local Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged. As I was leaving, it occurred to me how "robbed" the residents are of even a peaceful ending to their lives! They can't even enter a nursing home and receive some basic care without it being one of the most dangerous places in the world when it comes to this pandemic.
They are robbed of the comfort of visits from their children, grandchildren and friends. The best they can get sometimes is waving to them outside a closed window or hearing their voices over a phone. No hand holding! No hugs! No being close enough to carry on a regular conversation. Some die in some nursing homes totally alone in the middle of the night with no one to even notice.
Even those living at home, or being cared for by their children, are robbed of simple things like a lunch out, going to church, volunteering with other seniors or shopping from their wheel chairs at the mall.
This pandemic is for them something similar to a "mass mugging and robbery" of their most senior years. It's sad. It's unfair. It's an unfortunate reality.
Before we start feeling sorry for ourselves too much, let's put all this in perspective. Let us remember the fact that it hasn't been too many years ago that older people never got to retire or even live to a ripe old age.
CHILDHOODS ARE BEING STOLEN AS WELL
As I was finishing this blog post, it occurred to me that what I have said above could also be said of young people. Many of them are seeing their childhoods stolen by this pandemic. They have seen their classes, graduations and proms being scaled back or cancelled. Football games, spring breaks and other large gathering are becoming rarer and rarer. Many of the things that have looked forward to and dreamed about for this fall are not going to happen. It's sad. It's unfair. It's an unfortunate reality for them too!
Before we start feeling sorry for ourselves too much, let's put all this in perspective. Let us remember the fact that it hasn't been too many years ago that many children never survived polio, measles, whooping cough and diphtherea to grow into healthy teenagers and young adults. Maybe we have had it so good for so long that we are unable to put this pandemic in perspective?
Up to this point in the gospel, things were going very well in the ministry of Jesus. A mute man was able to speak. Five thousand had been miraculously fed on one day and four thousand on another. A blind man had regained his sight. A successful exorcism had been performed on a young demon-possessed girl. Another young girl had been lifted well from her sick bed. A woman with a hemorrhage had been restored to health. An insane man had been given back his sanity. A man with a withered hand had it made healthy again. A leper had been cleansed from his leprosy. A crippled man was made able to walk. A storm was calmed. Peter was able to walk on water. A deaf man with a speech impediment was able to hear and speak plainly.
Peter was so overcome with excitement by all these things that he was moved to call Jesus the "Messiah." He was the very first one to do this. The "Messiah" was the "promised one to come" that Jews had looked forward to for centuries, one who would do such things as these. The lights went on for Peter! He had come to the conclusion that Jesus had to be the "Messiah” that had finally come!
Jesus immediately took the wind out of his sails, telling him that the Messiah would not only do wondrous things, but would have to go through great suffering, rejection by religious authorities and even death on a cross. Only then would he rise victorious from the dead after three days.
Peter did not like what he was hearing, so he took Jesus aside to scold him. "Look, Jesus, we are on a roll here. The people are behind you. Soon we will be able to conquer these foreign Roman invaders occupying our country and finally throw them out. Then you can be king and we can all be part of your royal court. Please don't blow it now with all that negative talk about suffering and death!"
When he heard this, Jesus spun around in disgust and said to himself, "Satan said he would be back to tempt me again and here he is disguised as Peter!" Jesus then looked at all of his disciples and addressed Peter directly, "Get behind me, Satan! You are not thinking like God, but like a human being! I went through these kinds of temptations in the desert before I began my ministry! I rejected them then and I reject them now! That is not what God wants from me!"
As Peter's face fell, Jesus addressed the whole crowd following him, "Now listen up because you need to get one thing straight! If you are going to follow me, you have to be ready to suffer with me, for whoever loses his life will my sake will save it. Otherwise, if you go down the path that Peter has just proposed, you will certainly lose it! You will not be thinking like God, but like human beings!"
Just because Jesus stood up to Peter in this story, we do not need to conclude from this story that it's never OK to scold and argue with God. The fact is that many of the major figures in the Bible and church history argued, scolded and had words with God - people like Job, Jeremiah and Theresa of Avila. Just as Peter learned a lesson today, sometimes the only way they learned what God's will was for them was through a struggle. As any good teacher knows, encouraging, challenging, questioning, discussion and debate are the best way to learn. Like students, when disciples are allowed to think through and discover things for themselves, the best learning takes place.
The prophet, Jeremiah is a case in point. Jeremiah was a very young when God called him to be a prophet and to preach in his name. God says to Jeremiah, "Hey, Jeremiah! I've had my eye on you since the moment of your conception. I want you to go to the people and preach to them for me!" What was Jeremiah's response? "No thank you! I'm not interested in preaching to anybody! I'm too young! I have other things I want to do in life! Besides, I'm not good at public speaking!" God snaps back, "Do as I say and don't give me those lame excuses! Wherever I send you, I will be with you! And don't worry about what to say, I will put the right words into you mouth as you go along."
This wasn't the last time that Jeremiah argued with God. After he was deeply involved in his ministry as prophet and everything seemed to be going wrong, Jeremiah returns to give God a royal chewing out. "You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped. When I speak in your name, I am a butt of people's jokes and mockery. I tell you what! I quit! Take this job and shove it. I ain't working here no more! From now on I am never going to mention your name again!"
After he had unloaded his guns on God, Jeremiah must have felt better because he follows his rant with these words. "On the other hand, your words are like a fire in my heart. They are embedded in my bones. I grow tired trying to hold them in. I guess I'll just have to keep going!"
Sisters, many of us grew up being told that faith is about unthinking trust and acceptance of God, the Bible, the teachings of the Church and the trials of life. To question any of those things was to demonstrate a weak faith and a blasphemous heart. However, faith does not grow through unthinking submission, but through a process of questioning that leads to understanding. Just as Jacob wrestled with the angel, a real commitment to God often involves a deep, honest and sustained wrestling with God. The only sin is never to enter the ring, but just walk away because the struggle is too much trouble! The real sin is to dismiss God without ever really engaging him, not arguing with him! If you insist on rejecting God and his Church, at least do it after an honest fight! At least, give God a chance to win!
I challenged you to enter the ring with the rest of us. We go into the ring as a tag team. Together, we wrestle with God - in here and on the floors of the Home. We need to put up a good fight and not wimp out just because we are old, lazy or scared. God will win, of course, but when the match is over, we will all know more about God and how he operates than we did when we first entered the ring. We will have flexed spiritual muscles we never knew we had and we will be strong enough to handle the inevitable struggles of religious life or priesthood to the end!
Finally, always remember the words of St. Jeanne Jugan who lived in tougher times than ours, “Jesus is waiting for you in the chapel. Go and find him when your strength and patience are giving out, when you feel lonely and helpless. Say to him: ‘You know well what is happening, my dear Jesus. I have only you. Come to my aid….’ And then go your way. And don’t worry about knowing how you are going to manage. It is enough to have told our good Lord. He has an excellent memory.”
