Pastor's Desk Archive (January 2009)

Happy New Year! (AGAIN) (1/4/2009)
Why Was Jesus Baptized? (1/11/2009)
You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine (1/18/2009)
Protecting the Lives of the Unborn (1/25/2009)

Happy New Year! (AGAIN) (1/4/2009)

Already one month into the Church’s new year of grace, we have entered into a new calendar year. Can you believe that it’s already 2009?! Time is as relentless as the oncoming tide. But I am among those who have discovered a way of dealing with it that brings serenity and peace. I live just one day at a time. In doing so, it really doesn’t make a lot of difference as to whether it’s January or June, summer or winter, 2009 or 1999. Each day brings with it new opportunities to accept life on life’s own terms. And when I do that, life is beautiful no matter what.

In 2008 I was hospitalized on three separate occasions, but each was brief and, thanks be to God, my recovery was swift. But I can’t complain because two members of our parish family spent months and months in the hospital before they got well; and some of our parishioners suffered this year for a time and died. Since I’m still here, I must have more to do and that’s my focus. All I know is that I can never be sufficiently grateful for belonging to this wonderful faith community and to the fellowships of recovery which bring me such vitality.

Everyone says, “Happy New Year”, but have you given much thought lately to what it means to be happy. Some think it means being popular or successful. Others think it has something to do with the size of our bank accounts or of our homes (2 or 3 bathrooms?). I’m sure you have your own good ideas, but here’s what it comes down to for me. I believe that happiness is the natural by-product of the way I live my life striving to be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. As I make a little progress along that path, the happier I become. Ironically, this understanding of happiness makes it possible to deal with all other kinds of feelings in their proper perspective. 2008 has been a very happy year for me in all kinds of ways, but there were moments of sadness, even grieving, as well as times of suffering, doubt, and confusion. As a person who looks to God as the source of my happiness, I am ready to let God be with me in all the good times and bad times, in sickness and in health, through all the days of my life. Please accept my heartfelt prayer that you will have a truly wonderful and happy 2009.

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Why Was Jesus Baptized? (1/11/2009)

If there’s one thing that nearly all Catholics know it’s that people are baptized for the forgiveness of sin. When you press Catholics to say more about the purpose of baptism, most are likely to say that it makes it possible for us to go to heaven. While there is certainly truth in both those statements, they leave a great deal unsaid about the meaning of baptism.

If people are baptized for the forgiveness of sin, then why was Jesus baptized? He had no sins to be forgiven. If people are baptized just so they can be eligible for heaven, Jesus certainly had no such need since He came from heaven and would return there once He accomplished His mission. Baptism must be about more than these things or Jesus’ baptism makes no sense.

Baptism is also a sacrament of initiation (a new beginning). Jesus was baptized because He was about to begin (initiate) His public ministry. Baptism is also about establishing our identification as children of God. When Jesus was baptized, the skies were opened and the voice of God was heard to say: This is my beloved son, listen to Him. Baptism is also the sacrament in which the Holy Spirit comes upon us so that we can live by the power of God’s grace. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove.

So the Baptism of Jesus not only refers to what He experienced at the hands of John in the Jordan River, but it’s about Jesus baptizing us through the ministry of the Church. It’s not just a pretty ceremony centered around an adorable baby, it’s about our becoming adopted children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, and members of His body, the Church.

Baptism is also about our becoming, in the words of the First Letter of Peter, part of a royal priesthood, a chosen race, a holy nation, and a people set apart. Were we not made priests in baptism, we could not offer God worship in spirit and truth. And as a chosen race and holy nation, we have been set apart by the grace of baptism so that we can bear witness to what Christ living within us is able to do in and for our lives.

So now you know why Jesus was baptized.

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You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine (1/18/2009)

Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could to help her 3-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new sibling. When they learned that the new baby was going be a girl they shared the news with little Michael and day after day, night after night, he sang to his sister in mommy's tummy. He was building a bond of love with his little sister before he even met her.

The pregnancy progressed normally for Karen, an active member of the Methodist Church in Morristown, Tennessee. In time, the labor pains came. Soon it was every five minutes, every three, every minute. But serious complications arose during delivery and Karen found herself in hours of labor. Would a C-section be required? Finally, after a long struggle, Michael’s little sister was born. But she was in very serious condition. With a siren howling in the night, the ambulance rushed the infant to the neonatal intensive care unit at St.. Mary's Hospital in Knoxville. As the days inched by the little girl got worse and worse. The pediatrician had to tell the parents there was very little hope and that they should be prepared for the worst.

Sadly, Karen and her husband began to make plans for her funeral. It just didn’t seem likely that she would get to go home to the special room that they had decorated for her. Little Michael, however, kept begging his parents to let him see his sister so he could sing to her as he had done so often when she was still in her mother’s womb.

After two week in intensive care it looked as if a funeral would come before the week was over. But Michael kept nagging about singing to his sister. Though little kids are never allowed in Intensive Care, Karen just decided to take Michael in whether they liked it or not. She knew that if he didn't get to see his sister right then, he may never see her alive. She dressed him in an oversized scrub suit and marched him into ICU. He looked like a walking laundry basket. But the head nurse recognized him as a child and bellowed, 'Get that kid out of here now. No children are allowed.' Karen looked at her and declared, 'He is not leaving until he sings to his sister’ Then Karen towed Michael to his sister's bedside. He gazed at the tiny infant losing the battle to live.

After a moment, he began to sing in the pure-hearted voice of a 3-year-old:

'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine; you make me happy when skies are gray.' Instantly the baby girl seemed to respond. The pulse rate began to calm down and become steady.

'Keep on singing, Michael,' encouraged Karen with tears in her eyes.

'You never know, dear, how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away.' As Michael sang to his sister, the baby's ragged, strained breathing became as smooth as a kitten's purr. 'Keep on singing, sweetheart.', she urged him.

'The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms.' Michael's little sister began to relax as rest, healing rest, seemed to sweep over her. 'Keep on singing, Michael.' Tears had now conquered the face of the bossy head nurse. Karen glowed.

'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. Please don't take my sunshine away. The next day-the very next day-the little girl was well enough to go home. The moral of this true story is never, ever, ever, give up, especially if there’s a “big” brother waiting for his baby sister to come home.

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Protecting the Lives of the Unborn (1/25/2009)

On Thursday, January 22nd, the annual March for Life was conducted in Washington, D.C. and in other spots around the country. I scoured the Internet for media coverage of these events and found virtually nothing. This is the same media that went gaga over the throngs of people who gathered for the inauguration of President Obama just two days before. It seems to me this is just the latest indication of the moral bankruptcy of journalism in the U.S. The country has been divided on this issue since the day the Supreme Court ruled that it didn’t know when human life begins in its infamous Roe v Wade decision in 1973.

I have no doubt whatsoever that my life began at conception, isn’t that when your life began...and everyone else’s for that matter? Politicians as well as so-called journalists have deliberately obscured what’s really at stake by rattling on about a “woman’s choice”. Woman’s choice of what? Have you noticed that they never complete the sentence? If they did, they’d have to say that they believe that every woman has a right to end the life of the unborn child developing in her womb. They’re also fond of suggesting that pregnancy is some kind of disease or illness that can only be dealt with by a woman and her physician. Don’t physicians take a solemn oath “to do no harm”? While it is true that a very small percentage of doctors will actually perform abortions, those who do have apparently amended their oath to say something like “do no harm unless it’s a tiny, innocent human being growing in its mother’s womb.” Shame on them!

More shameful has been the conduct of politicians who claim that they are Catholic while declaring themselves “pro-choice”. It is true that women may legally obtain an abortion in accordance with the 1973 Supreme Court decision, but that in no way makes it a moral act. Abortion is an immoral act because it involves the deliberate killing of an unborn child. That a woman’s life might be greatly disrupted by an unplanned for pregnancy, no circumstance can justify solving her problem by killing an innocent human being. Some say that it’s just a part of her body with which she can do as she pleases. That is nonsense. While the developing child is completely dependent upon its mother, it is a unique and separate being with its own DNA.

The new president has been outspoken in his pro-choice convictions. While as an American I wish him well and pray for him, I will not be silent if he advocates policies that result in further eroding the defense of human life. We are talking about a matter of life and death. I hope you will stand up for life.

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