AN EXASPERATED JESUS

GIVEN AT THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR HOME FOR THE ELDERLY

1-12-2024

 

The Pharisees began to argue with Jesus, seeking from him a sign from heaven. Jesus sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Then he got into a boat and went off to the other shore.

Mark 8:11-13

Like today, during the time in which Jesus lived there was a tendency to look for God in the abnormal. It was believed that when the Messiah came, the most startling things would happen. In fact, in the temptation story we read at the beginning of Lent, this was the first temptation Jesus resisted – the temptation to play into this need for stunts and dramatic shows of magic-like events. The first temptation was to turn rocks into bread so he would have “proof” that he was the Messiah. It was a sign like that that the Pharisees wanted to see.

To Jesus, such a demand was not their desire to see the hand of God; it was due to the fact that they were blind to God’s hand already working in the world. There were signs everywhere of God’s goodness and generosity. All they needed were the eyes to see it! Jesus knew that there was no need for magic bread. There was already enough bread to feed the people of the earth, if each human had the heart and the faith to share it instead of hording it for themselves. A truly religious person does not have to go to a church to find God. A truly religious person can find God active everywhere!

The great poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning out it this way:

“Earth’s crammed with heaven.

And every common bush afire with God;

But only he who sees, takes off his shoes.

The rest sit around and pluck blackberries.”

You don’t have to walk far to see the dramatic signs that the Pharisees craved to see. Over in Audubon Hospital, there are heart surgeries, organ transplants, hip, knee and shoulder replacements and corrective surgeries going on right now! Some of you are walking miracles of their medical procedures and successes.

Instead of people kneeling in wonder, praising God for his mercy and goodness, we have people running around talking about the absence of God or dismissing his existence altogether. We even have some Catholics running from shrine to shrine looking for the latest “miracle.”

Exasperated by the blindness of the Pharisees’ inability to see the evidences of God right under their noses, and sighing loud enough for all to hear, Jesus gets in a boat and leaves them standing there scratching their heads!

A LITTLE "SICK HUMOR"

 After surviving my recent surgery and accompanying health crisis in January, I think enough time has elapsed for a bit of humor about the situation.  Being sick isn't funny, but some of the things that cross your mind when you are sick can be scary, a little paranoid and even curious.  

While I was sick, my dryer broke down, the folding closet door in the guestroom fell off its hinges, the battery in my car decided to die, my washer acted up, the electricity went off for about 30 minutes one cold night before it came back on, one of the plastic panels on the sliding glass door broke and the whole valance fell to the floor while trying to reattach it, the heavy platter on top of my kitchen cabinets finally twisted the whole row of trim and caused it to fall off and onto the floor.  At one point, it was starting to get humorous! 

"GOOD" AND "GOOD AT IT"

I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

A hired man, whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves

the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. I am the

good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me.

John 10:11-18

The Latin word for a “shepherd” is a “pastor.” As you await the arrival of the who will be shepherding this flock as your new “pastor,” it might be a good time to talk to you about the qualities of a “good shepherd” – the qualities of a “good pastor!”

As some of you know, I used to teach seminarians about “spiritual and pastoral leadership” who were about to be ordained priests, over at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana. When I began to teach that course, I looked around for texts that I could use on the subject of “spiritual leadership” only to find out that there was a shocking lack of material on the particular subject. Most of the books I came across focused on personal spirituality (mostly Catholic) or parish management (mostly Protestant).  As a result, after several years of teaching that course, I decided to write this little text book for my class entitled The Spiritual Leadership of a Parish Priest: On Being Good and Good at It. The thesis of this book is that personal holiness is essential for a young priest, but it is not enough for becoming a “pastor.” The skills and ability to lead others to holiness is also needed. Even Pope Benedict XVI noted that it was easier for him to define the truth in the CDF than it was to inspire and motivate people to want to live it as the Pope.    

I define “spiritual leadership” in this book as the ability to influence people to move from where they are to where God wants them to be through invitation, persuasion, example and the skillful use of the Church’s rites, rituals and rules. The focus of “spiritual leadership” is on an internal movement to deeper discipleship.  The focus of “pastoral leadership” is on an skillful use of the external tools of the Church and the ability to coordinate the charisms within the community in making that happen.

This idea is confirmed in Scripture in Jesus’ teaching today on “the Good Shepherd.” In that Greek text, there are at least two possible words for “good,” agathos and kalos. Agathos means “good” as in “morally good,” while kalos means “good” as in “good at” or “effective at” something. The “Good Shepherd,” in the gospel” is said to be kalos, “good at shepherding.” Personal holiness and goodwill alone in a designated spiritual leader will not suffice. He must also be effective if he is to be a real spiritual leader.  In other words, today’s “good shepherds,” must not only appreciate and value green grass and flowing water and have their own supply, they must be able to seek and find it for others as well as to be able to lead their flocks to it!     

Spiritual leadership, the ability to influence people to move where they are to where God wants them to be, is critical today. Surely, there is no doubt that organized religion has lost its ability to impose unquestioned rules on behavior on our people and that one of the most pressing needs facing Catholicism today is the quality of its priestly leadership. No amount of ranting and raving about how we ought to be listened to will change this situation. We simply must get better at our ability to influence and persuade instead of blaming the victims for their lack of faith and the culture for its secularism and moral relativism. Nor can we merely collect good tools by simply writing new editions of the rule books, we must be able to use them effectively to persuade people to follow the rules in those books. 

Over the years, I have observed at least two very different ways to herd sheep. One way is to walk in front of them, gently calling them with a convincing voice, while they willingly follow to where they need to go. The other way is to bark and snap from behind, like a sheep dog, chasing and intimidating them into going where they need to go. Good shepherds lead by invitation. Sheepdogs drive the sheep through fear. It is no surprise to me, that in a time when we are losing more and more credibility, the barking and snapping seem to be growing louder and louder and gaining more popularity, especially among those newest to spiritual leadership. When one cannot influence people, with convincing voices that our people want to follow, in the style of the Good Shepherd, mark my word, he will end up becoming a barking sheepdog. Such pastors may be able to drive some sheep into the pen, but more and more of our people will, no doubt, run away from us or simply become more irritated by our barking and snapping.

Instead of facing our spiritual leadership crisis, there seems to be a growing avoidance response in the Church that seems downright curious to me, at least. I would call it a “theme park” response in which people are driven to put on period costumes of nineteenth century Catholicism and build realistic stage sets from some imagined “good old days,” while pretending that nothing has changed and attempting to convince themselves that this will somehow make all the confusion go away.

Any formation of “spiritual leaders” assumes reasonably integrated individuals, but some professionals have noted that because of the shortage of seminarians, screening and formation programs have tended, at least in the recent past, to accept and tolerate candidates with demonstrable personality traits such as dependency, avoidance, narcissism and obsessive/compulsive behavior.

Priesthood, even today, offers seductions of power, prestige and flattery. These seductions attract those who are drawn to the status and practice of ministry because it helps satisfy their need to be the focus of attention and affirmation. Is this not manifested in a new exaggerated emphasis on the theology of the priest as “a man set part,” the need to wear cassocks even in public places like airports and at sporting events and the rise in the numbers of young priests sent to treatment centers or pulled out of ministry simply because “they cannot relate to people?” This focus becomes even more pernicious if it is couched in religious language about “orthodoxy” and being “servants.”

My sense, from years of pastoral experience, is that most Catholics want to be good and serve God, but many do not know how and many of us do not know how to lead them there. It seems that the more we try to define truth for them, the more they feel uninterested and bored by it. Some leave the Church to look for greener grass in other denominations, while others simply give up the search. This crisis will, no doubt, get worse in the next generation. We have a spiritual leadership crisis and seminaries must find better ways to rise to the occasion in meeting the need for more real spiritual leaders. Our people need competent and effective spiritual leaders and they deserve them. Our whole raison d’etre as priests is to “…help the People of God to exercise faithfully and fully the common priesthood which it has received.” As priests, we must more become who we say we are. We must, more and more, “walk our talk.”  Yes, we need to be personally “good,” but we also need to be “good at it!” Yes, we need to be competent as well as holy! 

USEFUL WISDOM FOR 2024 #15

 

 

IT'S BABY GEESE SEASON ON THE CONDO POND

ONE COUPLE LOST THEIR BABIES

Due to an unfortunate location to put her nest, this mother had three eggs (one more than in the photo) that were not able to hatch because a cat or other animal got to them and even destroyed the nest. 

ONE COUPLE WERE LUCKY TO HAVE FIVE BABIES TO MAKE IT

This mother was able to hatch five of her eggs and was out showing them around. However, I only saw them one day. Maybe they are hiding away and will show up again or maybe they were victims of other animals? 

                             

LOOKING FOR A QUIET RETREAT HOUSE IN A BEAUTIFUL PLACE?

FATHER PATRICK McNICHOLAS GUEST HOUSE AT SAINT THERESA CHURCH

Rhodelia, Kentucky

ST. THERESA OF AVILA CHURCH

9245 Rhodelia Rd 

Payneville, KY 40157

Office Phone: 270-496-4362

Office Fax: 270-496-4416

Email: sttheresa@bbtel.com

Office Hours

Tuesday and Thursday 8:30 am – 4:30 pm

Kathy Shacklett, Office Manager 

MAGNANIMITY: IGNORING INSULTS AND THOUGHTS OF REVENGE

GIVEN AT THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR HOME FOR THE AGED

2-19-2024

Be holy for I your God am holy!

Leviticus 19:1-2

Today, in both the first reading from the Book of Leviticus and the Gospel of Matthew (25:31-46), we are presented with powerful lists of what is required to be “holy” in imitation of God’s “holiness.”  Both readings center on eliminating those things in our lives that do not lift up, encourage and assist the suffering of this world. Holiness is presented, not in worshipping God, as much as it is as service to others, especially the poor – in loving God’s people as much as God loves them! This is how to “be holy as he is holy!”

One of the most useful insights I have ever stumbled across was one from the Nazi concentration camp survivor, Victor Frankl, in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. He wrote these deeply meaningful and truly useful words: “Everything can be taken away from a man but one thing — the ability to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

We cannot always control what happens to us or around us, but we can choose how we want to respond. Things do not always work out. People divorce. Employees need to be fired. Children break our hearts. Friends let us down. Parents fail at parenting. In a world where revenge, vindictiveness, reciprocation, retribution and retaliation seem to be the most typical responses, we can train ourselves to respond differently.

Today, I would like to talk about the virtue of magnanimity, meaning to be generous in forgiving, eschewing resentment or revenge, and being unselfish and other-focused. The word comes from two Latin words: magna, meaning great, and animus, meaning soul or mind. Being magnanimous means being “big minded” or “great souled.” It has nothing to do with who is right or who is wrong. It simply means to freely choose to be “noble” regardless of who is right and who is wrong.

It is really about “making a good response” by choosing to be “big minded” or “great souled” regardless. Magnanimity is possible only for those who are not addicted to being right and who do not have a burning need to be faultless.

In life, we come face to face with unexpected circumstances, people who let us down and things that do not turn out the way we want them to be. Misunderstandings, human mistakes, bitter disappointments and shattered dreams are actually part of normal living. The more important thing to remember in those circumstances is that what happens is often not nearly as important as how we choose to react to what happens.

It takes magnanimity to go through a divorce without bitter vindictiveness and revenge. This is especially true when children are involved. In such cases, we might not be able to teach them about the permanence of marriage, but we can teach them about how to be civil, gracious and respectful with adversaries. It is as much of a gift to oneself as it is to the other, because it takes too much energy to carry a grudge.

It takes magnanimity to forgive an ungrateful or hurtful child, an angry Sister or a hostile resident and treat them well without being bitter, resentful, caustic and hostile. All the time and energy it takes to nurse wounds that we would as soon not heal is ultimately self-punishing anyway. It takes magnanimity to forgive someone and make the first move toward reconciliation without needing to exact an apology. That is noble indeed. Taking the high road of humility is not a bad road to take for a human relationship worth saving.

BELIEVING IN A "RESURRECTED" BODY

 

Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.

Luke 24:35-48

Well, I am going to dive into some deep water today for sure! I will do my best and I hope it makes sense to some of you. I am pretty sure I will be in over my head, but that has never stopped me before, so here I go - again!

We say in the Apostles Creed that we "believe in the resurrection of the body." (In the Nicene Creed, "the resurrection of the dead.") Do we really believe that? If so, what does that mean? What will we look like when we are resurrected? Will we look like we do now, look different from before or look about the same? (I, for one, hope that I have lost some weight and have been though some kind of heavenly plastic surgery - either that are people won't notice details things like "old, fat and ugly" when they get to heaven!)

We get a glimpse of what our resurrection bodies will be like when we read several of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances in the weeks following Easter, especially in today's meeting in the upper room. Risen from the dead, we are told that Jesus still had visible wounds and His disciples could physically touch him, yet he was able to travel effortlessly and appear and disappear at will. He could go through walls and doors and yet he could also eat and drink, sit and talk. Scripture informs us in the Letter to the Philippians (3:21) that our “lowly bodies” will be "just like his glorious body." Indeed, the physical limitations that hinder our ability to fully serve him on earth will be gone forever, freeing us up to praise, serve and glorify him for all eternity.

Our current bodies are characterized by weakness and debility. They are undeniably fragile and susceptible to the plethora of diseases that ravage humankind. However, one day our bodies will be raised in power and glory and we will no longer be subject to the flaws and fragility that pervade our bodies today.

Our "resurrected body" will be a spiritual body with recognizable natural features. Our natural bodies are suited for living in this physical world. After the resurrection we will have a “spiritual body,” perfectly suited for living in heaven. This does not mean that we will only be spirits—spirits do not have bodies—but that our resurrected bodies will not need physical sustenance or depend on natural means of supporting life here on earth.

Knowing "how" this will be is our problem. The "how" this will be exceeds our imaginations and understanding. It is accessible only through faith which makes it so hard to believe in our "scientific" and "material" world! This teaching implies that, after death, we will be in an "in-between" state - somewhere in between a physical body and a spiritual body. I can't prove that, but I am open to it in faith. As I was trying to imagine this reality, what came to mind in that inscription found on the cellar wall in Germany during the Holocaust. "I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when I cannot feel it. I believe in God even when he is silent." That quote reminds me of a serious basic truth. We believe a lot of things we cannot prove, see or touch! We only believe them because we trust the one who told us that they are true! I realize that I am going to have to trust Jesus on this one!

If you can’t believe in any of what I have tried to say, you will have to dismiss the Doctrine of the Assumption that tells us that Mary was assumed into heaven “body and soul.” If you can’t believe in any of what I have tried to say, you will have to dismiss all the apparitions of Mary who supposedly could be seen, talked to, have her clothes, hair and facial features described by those she appeared to and who was here one minute and gone the next, only to return over several days: Our Lady at Lourdes in France; Our Lady at Fatima in Portugal; Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico; on and on around the world!

Will we be able to recognize our loved ones in the next life? I can't prove it, but I can accept it because the disciples, we are told, recognized and spoke to Jesus in his resurrected body. I can't prove it, but I open to believing it because I watched my mother speak to her dead brothers and sisters at the foot of her bed as she was dying - none of her living brothers and sisters, just those who had already passed from this life! She said she recognized them, one by one, standing there and clearly seemed to have communicated with them. Had they come in their resurrected bodies to welcome her to heaven? Maybe so! Maybe so!

I am neither overly pious nor easily gullible, but I am “open” to realities that I have never experienced personally. I can’t prove they exist and I have never experienced them myself, only heard about it, but I remain open to the possibility of “glorified bodies,” somewhat spiritual and somewhat physical, that the Scriptures describe for us today!

Jesus appeared to them and said, "Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.

BAD NEWS FROM MY HOME PARISH - HISTORIC ST. THERESA

Two Juveniles Charged In Church Vandalism

APRIL 10, 2024 BY MABLE CUNDIFF

Two juveniles are facing charges after a burglary and vandalizing of property at St. Theresa of Avila Catholic Church in Rhodelia.

On Tuesday (4/9), deputies and detectives from the Meade County Sheriff’s Office responded to the church about a vandalism complaint.

Deputies met with church staff who were able to provide video of two juvenile subjects on the property vandalizing the exterior of the buildings. Deputies entered the church building and observed extensive damage to the inside. It appeared the juveniles had dispersed several fire extinguishers inside the church and destroyed numerous religious artifacts. The juveniles spread holy oil over the floor of the building destroying the carpet and turned the cross upside down on the altar. The damage to the church and Parish Hall is estimated at this time to be well over $10,000.

Detectives processed the scene at the facilities and collected numerous items of evidence. Deputies also took notice and processed additional damage to headstones at the cemetery across from St Theresa Church that were damaged the previous day.

Detectives were able to identify two juvenile suspects who are in custody at this time.

The suspects are being charged with Burglary in the Second Degree and Criminal Mischief in the First Degree. The investigation will be turned over to the County Attorney and Commonwealth Attorneys Office for prosecution.

NOTES FROM FATHER KNOTT

Thank God, they did not enter the new St. Theresa Family Life Center (old Cross Roads grade school) that we had just completed renovating several months back. However, our new security cameras that I had insisted on installing caught them on the videos. Neither did they enter the new Guest House (old rectory). They also did extensive damage in the Parish Hall. However, they did destroy several old tombstones in the old St. Theresa Cemetery including pushing over the headstone of Matilda Hurd Chisley that I had just recently had cleaned and reset. It was not broken completely, thank God, and is already being reset. 

Matilda is the grandmother of the Venerable Augustus Tolton who was the first black Catholic priest ordained in the US and will hopefully soon be declared a saint by the Pope. Both Matilda and her daughter Martha Jane (mother of Augustus Tolton) were enslaved members of St. Theresa Parish. Martha Jane was moved to Missouri at age 17 by her "owner." Augustus Tolton was born enslaved until his mother escaped with him and his siblings from Missouri to the free state of Illinois as a child. Father Augustus Tolton attended seminary and was ordained in Rome because no US seminary would accept a black seminarian at that time!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOPE - THE SUN IS STILL SHINING EVEN AT NIGHT

 

 

USELESS FEAR

FEAR = Fantasy Events Appearing Real

I heard years ago that over 90% of the things we fear never happen! That's sounds to me like fear is basically a useless emotion that consumes a lot of our time. When afraid, we have three choices: be brave, be a fool or be a coward - that is (a) proceed to do what needs to be done, (b) deny that anything is dangerous or (c) be scared of everything. As a believer, I have always found this prayer very wise advice. 

Do not look forward in fear,

rather look forward with full hope.

God, whose very own you are,

will lead you safely through all things,

and when you cannot stand it any longer,

He will carry you in His arms.

Do not fear what might happen tomorrow;

the same good God who cares for you today

will take care of you then and every day of your life.

He will either shield you from suffering

or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.

Be at peace and put aside

all anxious thoughts and imaginations.

St. Francis de Sales

WE ARE CALLED TO LOVE OUR NOT SO PERFECT CHURCH

 

The community of believers was of one heart and mind.

Acts 2:32-35 

Hardly and Easter goes by that I don’t remember family “picture taking” from childhood, especially on Easter Sunday morning when we were all decked out in our finest new “Easter clothes.” Back then we got new clothes twice a year – when school started and Easter – so it was a big deal.

In those days, people would never think of going to church without being all dressed up. Most women wore hats and gloves and carried purses.  Most men wore coats and ties. Boys wore ironed shirts, shiny shoes and even ties sometime. Girls wore dresses and hats and carried purses.

On Easter, however, we went all out. There are innumerable photos in our family album to prove it. I especially remember my brother and I all lined up, with and without our Easter baskets, looking very frozen in uncomfortable shoes, bow ties and slickly combed hair. It seemed that we took turns taking pictures of each other – often Mom and the girls in one picture and Dad and the boys in another. We were always smiling, even if it looked forced sometimes. Our clothes were always pressed with an iron.  Our hair was always combed. We always stood there smiling into a blazing sun and trying to look our very best.

It is what the pictures didn’t show that is worth mentioning today. We have no shots of the screaming, yelling and name-calling that went into getting ready. We have no shots of my Dad in one of his rages. We had no shots of my mother, looking haggard and worn, late at night, ironing all those clothes by hand for six kids, herself and my Dad, who never did learn how to take care of his own clothes. We have no shots of any of the pain and struggles that we went through as a family back then. If you just look at our Easter snapshots, you would think we were the Walton’s on “mood altering drugs!” Snapshots never tell the whole story! They are only “snapshots” – moments in time!

Such in the case today with the first reading! It is one snapshot of the church during its infancy. If you read only that passage, by itself, you would have to conclude that the church has gone to hell in a hand basket since then! In reality, it is like the “Easter pictures” of my childhood.  It only tells part of the truth. 

In the beginning, the church did have some days when its members seemed to be “of one heart and one mind,” some days when “many signs and wonders were done,” and some days when “they enjoyed the favor of all the people.” If we just read this one reading and looked around the church today, we would have to conclude that the church’s original luster and beauty has indeed faded. However, if you continued to read on in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, you would start reading what Paul Harvey called “the rest of the story” and the “rest of the story” would sound very much like the church today.

Thank God that "the rest of the story" stories are included in the Scriptures. It helps us not to idealize the church in its beginnings and be discouraged by its weaknesses today. 

In today's gospel, we read about the doubt of Thomas who refused to believe until he saw and touched Jesus' wounds personally. We read about a bunch of people walking away from Jesus because they could not believe his teaching on being the "bread of life." We read about some of Jesus' family who showed up while he was preaching to take him home because they thought he was "out of his mind." We read about James and John, the "climbers," who made a move behind the other apostles' back to get the best positions in Jesus' new kingdom. Then there is the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter and the total abandonment by all the apostles at the crucifixion except John an some women.  

If we kept reading on past the Acts of the Apostles reading today, we would quickly read about Ananias, and his wife Sapphira, who made a pledge to give the proceeds of the sale of some of their property to the church.  Later, with his wife knowledge, they held back part of the pledge and even lied about it.  Caught in the lie, they both dropped dead. If we kept reading, we would read about the future Saint Paul hunting down Christians and having them killed and even holding the coats of those who stoned St. Stephen to death. If we kept reading, we would read about Paul and Barnabas having such a falling out that they could not work together and having to go their separate ways. If we kept reading, we would read about Peter acting one way around Jewish believers and another way around Gentile believers, resulting in his being called “two-faced” by Paul. If we kept reading, we would hear about Greek and Jewish widows arguing over their fair share and apostles with “too much to do.”

There are many beautiful snapshots of the early Church in the Acts of the Apostles, but they are balanced by some snapshots of the ugly side of the early church as well.  Just as Jesus was fully human and fully divine at the same time, his body, the church, may be of divine origin, but it is also full of real human beings and human weaknesses!  In spite of this, Jesus has promised to be with the church till the end of time and has promised that even the power of hell shall not prevail against it. Therefore, hang in there and hang on! If the church was supposed to be perfect, we would never have been invited to join - and, with us as members, that church would no longer be perfect!

Pope Francis washing the feet of men prisoners on Holy Thursday previously. 

   Pope Francis washing the feet of women prisoners this year on Holy Thursday.