An Encouraging Word

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

MISSION TRIP THREE - 2-23-16

LATE ARRIVING PHOTOS FROM SUNDAY'S MASS AND VAN DELIVERY

It was truly a wonderful day.

They were so thankful ... an answer to many prayers over a long time.

St. Martin de Porres is the smallest of the tri-parish cluster. It is located in the town of Stuubs. This is where I had Mass and delivered the van.

The van will serve three churches - Corpus Christi, St. Martin de Porres and Our Lady of Lourdes. Corpus Christi is the largest community of the three-parish cluster. Without a church, they meet for Mass each Sunday at a local Community College.

An official hand-over of the keys. The van is a great blessing. People want to go to church and church meeting, but sometimes getting there is a big problem. Walking, especially for the elderly, can be too far, too dangerous on the narrow and crooked roads and many cannot afford a car.

In the United States we take transportation for granted. One of the amazing sights every morning and afternoon are hundreds of school children, in their various color coded uniforms, walking along the narrow roads, to and from school. With no shoulders on the roads to speak of, it is a miracle that dozens of them are not plowed down at one time by the speeding cars and trucks.

Sunday Mass at St. Martin de Porres

Some of the congregation.

Father Peter (pastor), myself and Father Boniface.

The priests, myself and the whole congregation posing after Mass.

Of course, I had to tell them where Kentucky was, what it is known for and how I got started volunteering. (Everybody knew about Kentucky Fried Chicken and a few about the Kentucky Derby.) I also got the chance to tell them about R J MISSION PROJECTS, how it got started, who it tries to help and about some of its supporters.

LAY DOMINICAN INVESTITURE CEREMONY

Last night, Archbishop Robert Reves of St. Lucia, a former bishop of this diocese of Kingstown and a Dominican himself, led the ceremony in the chapel of the local convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny. He invested three people into the Lay Dominicans. One of the three was Fergal Redmond (center in dark blue shirt), a volunteer from Ireland.

Martin Folan, another volunteer from Ireland here in the Diocese of Kingstown SVG, is the local leader. Several friends attended, myself included, to show support. Martin runs the soup kitchen downtown and does a lot of social work in the prison, hospital and nursing home. He is a real hero among the poorest of the poor. Fergal oversees the finances of the diocese and helps the other staff members keep things in the Pastoral Center running and moving - from taxi service to and from the airport to shopping in an emergency. They are both a real blessing to this diocese.

SOME MORE DOWN TIME

A peaceful early evening on the porch of the "Pastoral Centre" where I am staying,

looking out toward the island of Bequia in the graying distance.

I am not used to two days of down time. I am beginning to buckle under the pressure. To relieve the pressure, I scheduled a meeting with Bishop County, another with Msgr Michael of the Cathedral and another with Father John Persand, General Secretary of the Antilles Episcopal Conference (a job Archbishop Kelly used to hold in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops). I feel better when I am working - even down here in the islands.

Monday, February 22, 2016

MISSION TRIP THREE - 2-22-16

AFTER A BUSY WEEKEND
SOME TIME TO CHILL, LOOK AT THE OCEAN AND....

....CHAT WITH SOME OLD FRIENDS

Martin, Fergal, Daphne and Fr. Richard

Father Peter and Father Boniface

Fr. Alando

Catherine and Maraika

Mrs. Tomiko Browne

Lystra Brackin

Collitta

In between all the work here at the Pastoral Centre, we manage to have a good time with lots of laughing. Collitta, pictured above, is the cook. The morning after the bishop's ordination, we were laughing so hard that Colita actually had to get down on the floor. At one point she was laying flat, pounding the floor with her fists. By the time I got my cell phone out, she was sitting up again. We were all laughing at her laughing. It was one of those great memorable moments.

Fr. Rex

Pam

Caszie

Jamal

Niggy is one of the poor that Pope Francis talks about. He shows up at the kitchen window, sometimes too often, for his daily bread. The Pastoral Staff cleaned him up, got him some new clothes and took him to the bishop's ordination. At one point in the ceremony, to everyone's surprise (and some's dismay) Niggy walked up on the platform to shake the hands of all the bishops during the sign of peace. It was, again, one of those great memorable moments down here!

SPECIAL SALUTE

I must salute the staff of the Pastoral Centre and the volunteers who came in to offer hospitality to all the overnight guests and those who came to eat at the receptions over this past long week-end. To this list, I might add the huge number of people it took to pull off the moving ordination liturgy. A special salute to the musicians, altar servers and liturgical dancers.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

MISSION TRIP THREE 2-21-16

FIRST THINGS FIRST
I want to wish my sister, Brenda, a very happy birthday!

SUNDAY HOMILY

“A Glimpse of Glory”

Rev. Ronald Knott

February 21, 2016

Jesus was transfigured before them.

His clothes became dazzling white,

whiter than any bleach could make

them. The disciples hardly knew

what to say, they were so terrified.

Mark 9

A taste! A sample! A feeler! A lick! A sip! A bite! A glimpse! A glance! A peep! A flash! A forecast! A tease! A preview! We have lots of name for it – experiencing something beforehand. This is what this mountain top experience is all about, Jesus giving his disciples a glimpse of glory in advance.

On a mountaintop, you can see in all directions. On the mountaintop in this gospel story, Jesus was able to see in all directions, not only literally, but also symbolically. He could see the past, the present and the future. He could see where he came from, where he was and where he was going. He could see how the prophets of the past foretold his coming as the Messiah. He could see the necessary suffering in front of him. He could see the glory that awaited him after his resurrection. This insight, this realization, was a mind-blowing, clothes-glowing, religious experience when everything came together for him. In other words, it everything came into focus. As we say today, he “got it!” From this gospel, we have created a word for these kinds of experiences. We call them “peak” experiences.

The only problem with a taste, a sample, a feeler, a lick, a sip, a bite, a glimpse, a glance, a peep, a flash, a forecast, a tease and a preview, we end up wanting more, right now! That’s what was on Peter’s mind, when he blurted out in the middle of this mind-blowing experience, “Lord, this is so wonderful, so unbelievable! Let’s just set up some tents and stay up here forever!”

This is what happens when we have been on a wonderful retreat or have gotten a major insight at a workshop or program. We want to repeat it over and over again and make it permanent. We even crusade to get other people to go where we went for that experience so that they can have the same experience. How many times have we been hounded by people who insist that we, too, go to Marriage Encounter, Alcoholics Anonymous or Medjugore so that we, too, can have the same wonderful experience that they experienced?

“Peak experiences,” however, are normally unique, not transferable nor repeatable. They serve a unique purpose. Like the one in the gospel today, these experiences help us go through the bad times, without losing hope. What happened on that mountain that day helped the apostles make it through the rough days ahead of them. They had to come down from the mountain and face the passion and death of Jesus before he could rise from the dead. When they did see the risen Christ in his brilliant white robes, they remembered – they remembered their mountain top experience with Jesus in his “dazzling white clothes, whiter than anyone on earth could bleach them.” They actually got a glimpse of the glory of the resurrection beforehand.

The thrill of a new perspective cannot be sustained for an indefinite period. We normally have to go back to reality and deal with all the old issues and old problems. If these experiences are personal, unique, temporary and not transferable, then why bother with them to begin with? Isn’t it just a cruel tease? Absolutely not! Rene Daumal described the slipping back into the old realities this way: “You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees, one descends; one sees no longer, but one has seen.” There is an art to living in the world of real life, with its real problems. When one can longer see, one can at least remember what they have seen and keep going.

I believe that a “peak experience” is what separates those who remain in the church and those who drop out. Without that one special Mass, that one special retreat, that one special experience of the holy, it is hard to keep going in a church that seems to be experiencing so many problems. The deeper the “peak experience,” the more desert one can endure. It is impossible to explain this to someone who has never been “on the mountain.”

I have been fortunate enough to have two or three of these experiences as a priest, times when I felt, beyond a doubt, that God had worked through me to help others. They do not happen every day, but they are so powerful that I could remain in the priesthood, without giving into hopelessness.

For this reason, I am committed to turn my time and attention to doing some extra work to make the money to send some of the youth of this diocese to World Youth Day in Poland in July. One of them, Raphique, is from this parish. I believe puts them in a position to have a unique, once-in-a-lifetime religious experience that will sustain their faith for years to come. I am hoping it will be one of those "peak experiences" for these youth.

These “peak experiences” cannot be staged or arranged. They are gifts from God that come in God’s own time. If you have never had one of these experiences, pray for this gift, pray for your “glimpse of glory.” They make the tough times bearable. They help us make sense of all the nonsense so many of us have to endure.

A DAY OF GREAT REJOICING

A VAN FOR THE CORPUS CHRISTI COMMUNITY

Funded by a donor through R J MISSION PROJECTS, a charity started by my friend and I.

This is our second van. The first was given to the St. Benedict Community last December.

The priests receiving the van for the Corpus Christi Parish.

Father Peter Okonkwa and Father Boniface Oganna, volunteer missionaries from Nigeria, serve three communities,
Corpus Christi in Villa. St. Martin de Porres in Stubbs and Our Lady of Lourdes in Argyle.

I had Mass here in Stubbs this morning at 10:00. I presented the keys to the parish at the end of Mass. Some great photos to follow in posts of the near future - as soon as they are available to me.

This is the third church in the trio of parishes the van will serve. This is Our lady of Lourdes in Argyle near the new airport that is being built. It is several years behind schedule, but it is coming along. It appears to me that the latest March 2016 deadline will also be missed. Once it is done, I will be able to fly directly from Miami without having to go through Barbados.

Corpus Christi Community itself does not yet have a church. that community meets in a classroom at the Community College in Villa where the new bishop's ordination was held.

SPECIAL THANKS TO JAMAL

I want to thank, Jamal, for driving me from the Pastoral Centre to the churches and back home. We used the new van this time. The last time, we used his Toyota pick-up truck!

WORLD YOUTH DAY

Through our R J MISSION PROJECTS friends, we are proud to sponsor six SVG young people to attend World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, this July.