Pastor's Desk Archive (December 2008)

Rev. Alan J. Loth (4/2/40 - 12/3/08): Remembering A Dear Friend (12/7/2008)
The Reason for the Season (12/14/2008)
Repent - Make A Straight Highway for Our God (12/21/2008)
Five Great Reasons To Belong To A Parish Family (12/28/2008)

Rev. Alan J. Loth (4/2/40 - 12/3/08): Remembering A Dear Friend (12/7/2008)

I met Alan at St. Francis Parish in Del City (now St. Paul’s) in August of 1966. He had worked there as a seminarian intern the previous year and was being succeeded by Ray Mack with whom I had driven out from Boston a few months earlier. We were meeting up so that I could catch a ride with him to St. John’s Seminary in Little Rock where both of us had been assigned. Alan had been a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Omaha prior to coming to Oklahoma. He was in Third Theology and I was a College Senior. He had a little green Volkswagen “Bug” which he managed to buy from working summers at the Falstaff brewery in Omaha where his dad was a master brewer. During the ride over we hit it off and would become good friends for life—the kind that are hard to come by and for which you are sometimes never grateful enough.

Flash forward to Christmas of 1967. I was in First Theology at San Antonio and he was working as a Deacon at St. Pius X Parish in Tulsa (the seminary in Little Rock had been closed by the bishop there and all the students dispersed to other seminaries). He invited me to come to his home in Omaha for Christmas where I met his parents, Jo and Pete, his sister Jackie, and his brother Pete, Jr. They were all down to earth people, a good Catholic family of Polish—German heritage. That would be the first of many trips to Nebraska over the ensuing 40 years. His mother died of cancer in 1982 and I was asked to preach her funeral Mass. His father died just a few years ago after a long bout with Alzheimer’s, and the preaching fell to me again. They were both hard working children of immigrants who came to the Midwest in search of opportunity. They were faithful, but not “showy”, Catholics whose faith sustained them through good times and bad. They raised three good kids.

I remember Alan’s ordination and First Mass in 1968 and his first assignment as a priest to Corpus Christi Parish in OKC. From there he moved on to St. Barbara’s in Lawton after which he became the pastor of Sterling, Elgin, and Apache. Wherever he was assigned, I was there frequently for visits on days off (Woodward, Weatherford, Okarche, Paul’s Valley, Enid, Bison, and Harrah). He was a fabulous cook. Over the years we traveled together on several occasions to Europe, the West Coast, to Boston, and to any number of other vacation spots. We both loved good films and good music. We were both dedicated, each in our own way, to our lives as priests.

He suffered from rheumatoid arthritis all his life but never complained. He had several surgeries, one of which was life threatening. He always got better and went back to work. This year he got sick and never seemed to bounce back. He feared having cancer, but a biopsy came back negative. He developed a bad bladder problem and then his kidneys failed. I remember hearing his doctor say a few weeks ago that he had two end stage diseases (the arthritis and renal failure) which would claim his life. One day at Mercy we spoke about dying and heaven and faith. He knew what was happening but did not easily talk about it directly. I made frequent visits to St. Ann’s and was there this past Tuesday night to say “goodbye”. I told him that if I didn’t see him again, I would see him in heaven. He went home on Wednesday night. May he rest in peace.

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The Reason for the Season (12/14/2008)

I pray that you have made a little progress this year in shifting the focus of the season away from Santa and shopping and on to the Two Comings of Jesus Christ. The influence of the popular culture over so many years makes it so difficult to do this that making a little progress each year may be the best we can hope for. Our public schools have even done away with Christmas vacation in favor of Winter Holidays. School administrators ought to be ashamed of themselves. I went to school with lots of Jewish students and I remember well that they not only took no offense at being greeted with Merry Christmas, they said Merry Christmas back to us.

During the first two weeks of Advent the lessons and prayers of the Mass call our attention to the belief that the Christ who died and rose will also come again at the end of time. It is his Second Coming that we await with joyful hope. When we succeed in doing that we are kept free from sin and protected from all fear and anxiety. What a wonderful promise!

On this Third Sunday in Advent we lit the pink candle which symbolizes a shift in our focus to preparing for the celebration of Christ’s First Coming at Bethlehem. Did you know that Bethlehem means House of Bread? How fitting that Jesus—the True Bread that came down from heaven was born in the House of Bread. Jesus Christ is The Gift of God to all who believe in Him as our Lord and Savior. Christmas, then, is all about Presence rather than Presents. The Son of God came wrapped in swaddling clothes to abide with us forever. The presents come wrapped in shiny paper with ribbon and bows which we promptly throw away.

Do you really think Christmas would be spoiled, even ruined, if we started teaching children at an early age that Jesus is THE GIFT? Why couldn’t we tell them that parents, grandparents, and others exchange gifts at Christmas as an expression of our gratitude to God and our love for one another? We could tell them the truth about Santa. That he is a character who once upon a time represented Father Christmas and St. Nicholas who inspired the giving of gifts to poor children, but who now represents the need for stores to sell lots of things at Christmas. Then we tell them The Greatest Story ever told.

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Repent - Make A Straight Highway for Our God (12/21/2008)

This was and remains the message of John the Baptizer to all who pray “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This “straight highway” is the one that Jesus would call the “narrow road”, the one that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven. When the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, will many people be saved”, He told them in so many words that no human being will succeed in saving themselves, but that “with God, all things are possible.”

We are about to celebrate the birthday of The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the one who suffered and died on a cross to make it possible for those who believe in Him to follow Him into the kingdom of heaven. How wonderful it will be to unite ourselves with Christ in Holy Communion on His birthday. But before we can do so, we’d best make a good and worthy confession of our sins—whether mortal or venial—so that we will not receive Him in vein.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul speaks sternly of people who are eating and drinking the Body and Blood of Christ unto their own condemnation. He was addressing those who did not first examine their consciences before partaking of communion. He went on to say that some of them were getting sick and even dying as a consequence of receiving the Lord unworthily. This is why the Church urges all of us to make a sincere and thorough confession to a priest especially before the Great Feasts of Christmas and Easter.

ADVENT PENANCE RITE

THIS SUNDAY 12/21 AT 5PM

Come and admit to yourself, to God, and to a priest who represents Christ, the exact nature of your wrongdoings. Come and ask God for the grace and the willingness to avoid these sins in the future. We can’t do this using only our own will power. How fortunate and blessed we are to believe that Christ himself gave the authority to forgive sins to the Ministers of the Church. On Easter night he stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you! Whose sins you forgive they are forgiven.” Notice he didn’t say anything about confessing their sins secretly or privately?

All Catholics should make a practice of confessing their sins “directly” to God on a regular basis, but this is in addition to celebrating the sacrament of penance with a priest of the church. We are expecting 15 priests to be present on Sunday evening so it should not take long for hundreds of us to have our sins forgiven. See you there.

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Five Great Reasons To Belong To A Parish Family (12/28/2008)

Our sanctuary is always filled to capacity on Christmas Eve because of our many visitors. To be sure, some of our visitors are actively involved in local churches of every kind. But among those who bless us with their Christmas presence are many people who, at the moment at least, do not actively belong to any parish or congregation. To them, in particular, I would like to offer a little Christmas present in the form of Five Great Reasons for Belonging to a Parish Family:

1. We live in the midst of a popular culture that is more likely to help people lose their way than to find it. The parish community is made up of ordinary people of all ages who are looking for a way to live that inspires integrity, faith and hope.
2. A parish family represents far more than just a particular set of beliefs and practices. It’s more like a big extended family in which both the ordinary and extraordinary events of life take place. A parish offers understanding, support, and strength through good times and bad, through sickness and health.
3. The beginning of new life, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and other significant events, represents good news that is important enough to be shared with a broader community of friends, neighbors, and fellow believers. Parish members rejoice with us!
4. The loss of a family member, a serious difficulty or failure in a marriage, a life threatening illness, or other great disappointments and sorrows are burdens that can be lightened when they are shared. Parish members stand, weep, and mourn with those who are suffering.
5. The members of the parish community are growing in their conviction that Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead and living in our midst. Parish members experience Him at church, at home, at work, at school, or at play as The One who gives meaning to their lives, who shows them The Way, who forgives their wrongdoings, and who nourishes them with His own Flesh and Blood.

The pastor and people of St Andrew’s hold the door wide open to you.

Come and see.

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