Dear Family,
“A great 20th-century theologian said, ‘No matter how low you fall in your life, you will meet Jesus coming up from deeper down to meet you.’”
You heard me use that quote last Sunday. Since then, I’ve labored in vain to find out who the theologian is. However, I’m contacting the good Dominican in Dublin who included the quote in his gospel commentary in Today’s Good News.
It’s funny how you can get caught up in something that in the long haul probably doesn’t make much difference. After all, it’s the message that matters, not the messenger. Being lifted up with the Lord’s support under you is a pretty good message.
Truthfully, I really have thought more about the message than the messenger. Remembering that Christ supports me, enlivens me, empowers me, en¬courages me to pass on His words through my actions. At the end of the day, that’s quite an examination of conscience: “What did my actions say today?”
A few things are coming up this week that are blessings for us.
Next Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Mass Marius Garbayo and Ava Gutierrez will be making their First Communions. You may see Marius come up and check in with me during Sunday Mass while his parents are going to Communion. We’ve been on a countdown and he knows that praying for me is his special job. I’ll get Ava on that mission as well. It’s good to have friends in important places and I can’t think of a more important place than a child making his or her First Communion.
Two other folk important to our parish are Msgr. Michael Hippee who celebrates his 50th anniversary of priesthood and Father Gary Wiesmann who celebrates his 40th. Msgr. Hippee is retired from Wisconsin and Father Gary has been preaching missions on behalf of the Diocese of Mandeville, Jamaica. It’s a bit stunning to realize that between the three of us, this year marks 145 of priesthood.
I don’t pretend to speak for them, but I suspect they join me in hoping that the Lord used us and we didn’t allow too much of ourselves to get in the way.
That thought brings me back to the opening of this Twitch. With Jesus below us pushing up, we can celebrate His support, even despite our shortcomings (not that Mike and Gary have any shortcomings, of course.)
I hope you’ll be able to help me say “Thank You” to the Lord for my 55 years. Join me for a special Mass of Thanks on Thursday, May 25th at 5:00 p.m. Noshes will follow.
I’m almost afraid to mention the next item, but you can see that the “silt fencing” is up. That’s the black plastic you see strung around the east end of the Parish Center. Its intent is to keep driveway dirt and the like from moving around too much during construction.
I’ve waited 10 years to see it happen, and the reason I was hesitant to mention it is because I’m too Irish and God forbid, I jinx it. We prayed for Alex Rodriguez and his team from CRR General Contractors when we broke ground.
Now we ask the Lord to keep holding the shovel. “Bring all the parts together, Lord, to give us new spaces that widen and brighten the future of our parish, wherever the You want to lead us.”
Last Monday we celebrated St. Joseph the worker. As we build, who better to walk with us than the carpenter God picked to guide his family?
In Jesus,
